Huo Xiaoxie’s warning was not loud, yet it carried an unyielding resolve that left no room for argument.
The atmosphere on the training field grew increasingly tense.
Huo Feng stopped in his tracks, his gaze falling on the small child before him who, despite his size, radiated an overwhelming presence.
That face looked as though it had been carved from the exact same mold as his own when he was young.
But when he had been five or six, he had still been playing in the mud with the children in the compound. The child standing before him, however, was calmly coiling a deadly venomous snake around his hand.
“I…”
Huo Feng’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he tried to say something.
Yet despite having a thousand words to say, his throat seemed blocked, and he could not utter a single one.
What could he say?
Ask her why she had left without a word?
Ask how she had survived these past five years?
Or ask this child why he harbored such intense hostility toward him?
As the king of the special forces and the “Wolf Head” of the anti-drug front, Huo Feng was accustomed to giving orders and controlling everything.
But at this moment, facing this child who might very well be his biological son, all his experience and methods had become useless.
He did not truly take a child’s warning to heart.
In his eyes, this was nothing more than a child’s resistance caused by unfamiliarity.
He slowed his breathing, trying to make his expression appear gentler. He even forced out a smile that felt stiff to him.
“Child, I mean you no harm.”
As he spoke, he slowly raised his hand again, reaching around the little boy in an attempt to touch Su Man behind him.
He desperately wanted to confirm it.
To confirm that this woman was real, and that this was not a dream.
His movements were slow and tentative.
However, just as his fingertips were about to pass Huo Xiaoxie’s shoulder and touch the edge of Su Man’s traditional Miao attire—
Something happened!
Huo Xiaoxie’s eyes suddenly turned cold.
He issued no further warning.
He merely gave his wrist a slight flick.
The golden krait that had been docilely coiled around his hand seemed to receive some kind of command.
Its body instantly tensed before shooting forward like a streak of golden lightning, lunging straight at Huo Feng’s outstretched hand!
It all happened far too quickly!
So quickly that no one present had time to react.
Huo Feng felt a sharp sting on the back of his hand.
He let out a muffled groan and instinctively pulled his hand back.
Looking down, he saw two tiny puncture wounds oozing dark blood clearly imprinted on the back of his hand.
After landing its bite, the golden krait did not linger for even a moment. It withdrew like a ghost, coiling itself around Huo Xiaoxie’s wrist once more.
Its triangular head was raised, its cold, serpentine eyes fixed on Huo Feng.
“Hiss…”
It flicked its tongue as if proudly displaying its victory.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl at that moment.
Huo Feng’s tall body merely swayed slightly under everyone’s watchful eyes.
Then, a visibly bluish-purple color began spreading rapidly from the wound on the back of his hand.
In just two or three seconds, the discoloration had crawled past his wrist and begun spreading up his forearm.
His complexion changed just as rapidly, from bronze to a deathly gray-blue.
“Commander!”
Deputy Captain Zhang Li let out a horrified shout.
The entire field erupted into chaos!
“It’s venomous!”
“Quick! The medic! Where’s the medic?!”
“Bring the antivenom! Hurry!”
The entire camp instantly descended into turmoil.
No one had expected that the mighty “Wolf Head” Huo Feng, who had looked like a god of war only moments earlier, would be taken down in a single encounter by a five-year-old child wielding a venomous snake!
And judging from the situation, the snake’s venom was far more potent than anything they had ever encountered!
Several bold soldiers immediately rushed forward, trying to support the staggering Huo Feng.
“Don’t touch me!”
Huo Feng growled with the last of his strength.
Cold sweat had already covered his forehead, his lips were beginning to turn purple, and his vision was growing blurred.
Yet he still forced himself to remain standing.
His gaze passed through the chaotic crowd and once again landed on Su Man’s face.
From beginning to end, the woman had simply stood there watching.
There was no panic on her face, no concern, not even the slightest ripple of emotion.
As if the man bitten by the venomous snake were not someone with whom she shared the closest possible relationship, but merely a complete stranger.
That extreme indifference hurt Huo Feng even more deeply than the snake venom.
The little girl sitting on the wild boar’s back tilted her head curiously as she watched and asked her brother,
“Brother, is he going to die?”
Huo Xiaoxie cast a cold glance at Huo Feng’s bluish-purple face and calmly replied,
“Mom said that if Little Jin’s venom isn’t neutralized within three minutes, even a god can’t save him.”
The siblings’ conversation was not loud, yet their words struck the hearts of every soldier around them like two heavy hammers.
Three minutes!
Almost a minute had already passed since Huo Feng was bitten!
“Quick! The antivenom! Where’s our antivenom?!”
The medic came rushing over with a medical kit on his back, practically crawling, his hands trembling.
“No, Captain. The antivenom we have is for ordinary cobras and green pit vipers. The golden krait’s venom is too potent, and… and this snake isn’t normal. Its venom is far stronger than that of a wild one!”
The medic’s words made everyone’s hearts sink.
Huo Feng’s body swayed even more violently. He could feel his breathing becoming increasingly difficult, while his heart seemed to be clutched by an invisible hand. Every beat brought excruciating pain.
His consciousness was rapidly fading.
Just before he slipped into darkness,
he saw Su Man finally move.
She walked slowly toward him on her bare, snow-white feet.
She looked down at him from above, and at last, a trace of emotion appeared in her beautiful eyes.
It was not concern.
Nor was it pity.
It was… appraisal.
As though she were assessing the value of an object.
Su Man crouched down, reached out with her slender fingers, and gently grasped Huo Feng’s chin, forcing him to raise his head.
Her voice was cool and mesmerizing as it sounded beside his ear.
“Huo Feng.”
“Now, can we have a proper talk about child support?”
“Or would you rather die once first, and then talk?”