Huo Feng’s pupils contracted to pinpoints in an instant.
Those red laser targeting dots were like the eyes of the Grim Reaper, firmly fixed on Su Man and the two children.
It felt as though someone had grabbed his heart in a tight fist, making even breathing incredibly difficult.
They were mercenaries!
And not just any mercenaries—they were highly trained foreign mercenaries equipped with top-of-the-line weapons!
“Get down! Get down, now!”
Huo Feng roared as his body exploded with unprecedented speed, desperately trying to throw himself over and use his own body to shield them from the bullets.
The special forces soldiers behind him also raised their rifles, but they were too far away. And this was a minefield—they had no way to maneuver tactically.
Just when everyone thought the gunshots would ring out at any moment—
Su Man merely yawned lazily.
She stood there without moving an inch, not even bothering to glance at the red dots.
“So noisy.”
She extended her slender fingers and lightly flicked the dust from her fingernail.
“Disturbing people’s sleep in the middle of the night comes with a price.”
Huo Feng froze in mid-lunge.
Because he suddenly noticed that the red targeting dots had begun to tremble violently.
Then—
A bloodcurdling scream came from deep within the dark forest.
“AAAH!”
“Snakes! Where did all these snakes come from?!”
“Help! My eyes! My hand!”
The previously silent jungle instantly erupted into chaos, as if the eighteenth level of hell had suddenly opened its gates.
Screams mixed with the sounds of heavy bodies hitting the ground, along with frantic gunfire as bullets were fired wildly into the sky.
Huo Feng was stunned.
The soldiers behind him were stunned as well.
The red dots disappeared.
Instead, several figures came stumbling and crawling out of the forest.
They were heavily armed men in camouflage, carrying the most advanced sniper rifles.
But at this moment, they had no time to fire.
Their bodies, faces, and even the gaps in their bulletproof vests were covered with colorful little snakes and enormous black scorpions.
One burly man had barely taken two steps when a green bamboo viper hanging from a tree struck and bit him on the neck.
His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed stiffly onto the grass, which was covered with landmines.
“BOOM!”
His body detonated an anti-personnel mine, instantly spraying blood and flesh in all directions.
Even more bizarrely, the venomous creatures that should have been caught in the blast seemed to have anticipated the danger. One second before the explosion, they all launched themselves toward a safe area.
In less than half a minute—
The elite mercenary squad that had been enough to give the border defense forces a massive headache was completely incapacitated.
Some were blown to pieces, some had been poisoned unconscious and were foaming at the mouth, while another was kneeling on the ground, frantically clawing at his own face as if millions of ants were crawling beneath his skin.
The entire scene fell deathly silent.
Only the rustling of leaves in the night wind could be heard.
Huo Feng remained frozen in the position he had taken while trying to rescue them, every muscle in his body rigid.
Slowly, he turned his head toward the woman standing beneath the moonlight, her skirt fluttering gently in the breeze.
Su Man still looked as though she had just woken up.
Holding the faintly blue-glowing lantern, she leisurely walked over to Huo Feng and lightly kicked his military boot.
“What? Is Captain Huo paying me his respects?”
“They’re nothing but a few blind rats. Did you really have to be that scared?”
Huo Feng climbed to his feet, his throat dry. He pointed toward the mercenaries who had long since lost their ability to fight.
“This… was all you?”
Su Man shrugged innocently.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“The locals here just have bad tempers. They don’t like strangers coming in.”
“Besides, didn’t I tell you? This is my backyard.”
“If someone barges into my backyard without knocking, why should I stop my guard dogs from biting them?”
Huo Feng took a deep breath, forcing down the storm raging in his heart.
He looked deeper into the minefield.
Now that the danger had been dealt with, what about the two children…?
When his gaze landed on Huo Xiaoxie and Huo Xiaoman, the shock on his face instantly turned into horror.
Huo Xiaoxie was holding a little shovel. Looking thoroughly annoyed, he grabbed a golden krait that had crawled back from one of the mercenaries.
“Xiaojin, stop messing around. I’m working.”
The little boy, who looked only five years old, was treating the highly venomous golden krait like a mine detector.
He poked the snake’s head into the soil.
“Hissss—”
The golden krait flicked its tongue and burrowed nimbly into the earth.
After a while, its tail swayed three times outside.
“There’s something here.”
Huo Xiaoxie precisely drove his shovel into the ground and gently pried.
A rusty pressure-activated mine was dug out as easily as though he were digging up a potato.
Without even looking at it, he casually tossed it behind him.
Clang!
The landmine landed directly on the stomach of a poisoned mercenary, making the unlucky man groan.
Meanwhile—
Huo Xiaoman was riding on Big Flower’s back, pointing at the fallen mercenaries and laughing hysterically.
“Brother, look! Those uncles are dancing!”
“Big Flower, let’s dance too!”
The five-hundred-pound wild boar snorted and actually started preparing to run through the minefield.
“Don’t move! For heaven’s sake, don’t move!”
The engineer platoon leader, Zhang Daguo, who had just arrived, nearly lost his soul when he saw this.
He was holding a mine detector and moving forward with extreme caution, every step deliberate, huge beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.
“That place is full of interconnected mines! If you trigger one, the whole area could blow!”
“Little kid! Don’t move! Uncle is coming to rescue you!”
Zhang Daguo was the best mine-clearing expert in the entire regiment. He had studied this minefield for three years and still hadn’t dared venture deep into it.
Now, seeing two little children playing around in the very heart of the minefield, he felt as though his entire professional career had suffered an unprecedented blow.
However—
Hearing the shouting, Huo Xiaoxie turned around and gave Zhang Daguo a look as though he were an idiot.
“Uncle, you’re too slow.”
“At this rate, by the time you clear a path here, I’ll have grown a beard.”
Zhang Daguo was furious.
“What do you know?! This is a technical job! That’s an American M14! It has a plastic casing. A mine detector can’t detect it!”
Huo Xiaoxie curled his lips.
He snapped his fingers.
“Hisssss—”
Dozens of little snakes of various colors suddenly emerged from the grass.
As if they understood his command, the snakes spread out in a fan-shaped formation and quickly slithered across the ground.
Their bodies were light enough not to trigger pressure-activated mines.
Yet they were extremely sensitive to the smell of explosives and metal.
Before long, seven or eight snakes stopped and remained coiled in place, their tails raised high.
Huo Xiaoxie pointed at the locations where the snakes had stopped.
“There. There, and there.”
“Eight in total. They’re all those plastic-cased ones you mentioned.”
“They’re five centimeters deep, and the fuses have already rusted shut. I recommend detonating them directly.”
Zhang Daguo froze.
Not believing it, he cautiously brought his probe over to the spot where a red-necked pit viper was coiled.
“Clink.”
The probe touched something hard.
He carefully brushed away the loose soil.
A dark green M14 landmine, only about the size of a compact powder case, lay quietly beneath the dirt.
Its location and depth were accurate down to the smallest detail!
The probe slipped from Zhang Daguo’s hand with a clatter.
He stared wide-eyed at the little boy wiping his nose and felt as though his entire worldview had shattered.
What the hell was this monster?
Using venomous snakes to clear mines?
Was this even a human being?
At that moment, Su Man impatiently glanced at the wristwatch that wasn’t even there.
“Enough showing off.”
“Xiaoxie, clear the path. We’re going home.”
“It’s late, and there are too many mosquitoes in this lousy forest. If Xiaoman gets bitten, I’ll hold you responsible.”
Huo Xiaoxie immediately dropped his aloof expression and obediently nodded.
“Got it, Mom.”
He hung the golden krait around his neck and swiftly made several hand gestures in the air.
The snakes, insects, rats, and other creatures scattered throughout the minefield suddenly converged into a black torrent.
Using their bodies, they forcibly pressed out a path about one meter wide.
Wherever they had crawled without triggering an explosion was guaranteed safe ground.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Huo Xiaoxie swaggered ahead.
Huo Xiaoman rode on the wild boar like a little queen, following behind.
When she passed Zhang Daguo, she even pulled a handful of sunflower seeds from her pocket and offered them to him.
“Uncle, want some sunflower seeds?”
“These won’t explode in your mouth. They’re pretty tasty.”
Zhang Daguo stood there holding the small handful of sunflower seeds, watching the family of three—plus one pig—walk out of what was known as the “Death Zone” as casually as though they were strolling through a market.
He was completely dumbfounded.
Huo Feng stood at the opening in the barbed-wire fence, watching the woman who had haunted his dreams for five years walk toward him with their children.
Moonlight spilled across Su Man’s face, making her look both holy and bewitching.
Yet beneath that beautiful exterior was a terrifying level of power capable of making an entire special forces unit tremble.
Venomous snakes clearing the way, a wild boar as her mount, and an elite mercenary squad wiped out while she casually chatted.
Huo Feng suddenly felt that—
He, the mighty “Wolf Head” who had struck fear into the hearts of those along the border—
might really be nothing more than a little puppy without its fangs in front of this woman.