Return to the City: The Strongest King

Everyone rushed towards that place, including Lin Qing and Zhou Canghai. Such events like in Wilderness Village are not so easily encountered, and it was the first time Lin Qing and Zhou Canghai had personally experienced such an occurrence.

"Everyone back off, it's dangerous here!" Song Xiaodong suddenly shouted.

Lin Qing halted his steps, looking at Song Xiaodong with some confusion, but Zhou Canghai didn't mind at all and continued running forward.

"Mr. Song, why do you say so?" Lin Qing asked.

Song Xiaodong's gaze was fixed in another direction, and then he took a deep breath, saying, "There are giant pythons."

"Python God?" Lin Qing exclaimed in shock.

"That's right!" Song Xiaodong nodded, then pointed in that direction.

Following Song Xiaodong's pointing, Lin Qing looked over and saw a dark hole. His face immediately changed drastically, as he saw something like a pair of lanterns rapidly emerging from the hole, followed by a huge snakehead.

"Everyone retreat quickly, there's a Python God here!" Lin Qing shouted, turning to run towards the entrance he came from. The fear of Python God is something inherent in everyone here.

Lin Qing wanted to escape, but the giant python had already extended itself from the hole, and the entrance was slantingly above, with the python's head hanging down, blocking the entrance. It meant that if Lin Qing tried to run, he would be heading straight into the python's mouth.

Everyone else had seen the giant python by now, and all were pale with fear, clueless about what to do.

Song Xiaodong, however, remained exceptionally calm. Although the python was large, seemingly ten meters long and as thick as a barrel, it was clearly much smaller than the previous two he'd encountered.

This should be a young giant python, which wouldn't be as difficult to deal with as those huge ones.

But soon, Song Xiaodong's face turned grim.

Because after this python landed, another six giant pythons crawled out of the hole one after another.

Lin Qing's legs were weak, and he clung to Song Xiaodong's arms just to barely stand, his lips trembling, unable to speak.

Those pythons then slithered toward the crowd, their massive forms moving incredibly fast, with one directly lunging at Song Xiaodong and Lin Qing, its huge mouth aiming to bite them.

Song Xiaodong leaped away, conveniently dragging Lin Qing along to dodge.

Lin Qing was as limp as a noodle, unable to move. If Song Xiaodong hadn't pulled him away, he would have been bitten by the giant snake.

Song Xiaodong couldn't help but sweat. Lin Qing was supposed to be a capable person; he shouldn't be so useless.

Sweeping his eyes across, Song Xiaodong's face darkened again, seeing that when those giant pythons reached the guards, a few didn't even dodge and were bitten directly by the pythons.

Those bitten could only scream and struggle, unable to do anything else. The others didn't know how to attack the pythons to save their comrades, they didn't even know how to run; all were just shivering there.

Song Xiaodong was nearly speechless by this reaction. The reverence these people had for the pythons was beyond words.

It seemed as though in this world, humans weren't at the top of the food chain, and these pythons held that apex status. Humans inherently saw themselves as prey to the pythons, void of resistance and ability when faced with them.

Among these people, Song Xiaodong had some sense of acquaintance with Lin Qing, but no feelings for the others, yet as a fellow human, he naturally couldn't just watch them all be swallowed by pythons.

He shouted loudly, "These are just young pythons, not that scary."

But those people showed no reaction.

Lin Qing, almost sleep-talking, muttered, "The Python God is here, the Python God is here!"

Song Xiaodong was almost driven to madness by these people, knowing that yelling at them wouldn't bring their wits back.

He lunged forward, directly facing one of the pythons. It was currently biting a guard from the Lin Family, someone who had exchanged words with Song Xiaodong earlier, leaving a deeper impression on him.

With his ability, Song Xiaodong wasn't sure if he could directly deal with a giant python, so naturally, when saving someone, he chose the one he was most familiar with.

While moving, Song Xiaodong picked up a spear, and as he landed by the python, he thrust the spear with all his might into the python's body.

"Puff!" This python seemed not yet mature, so its leather armor wasn't that tough. Song Xiaodong added two streams of True Qi to his thrust, directly piercing through the python's defensive leather armor, deeply into the python's body.

The python writhed fiercely in pain, its body initially coiling around its prey to constrict but now whipped toward Song Xiaodong.

Song Xiaodong couldn't pull out the spear in time, and the python's immense strength snapped the spear shaft.

Using this force, Song Xiaodong vaulted, avoiding the sweeping python's body, and upon landing again, grabbed another spear and thrust it once more into the python's body.

The python, struck twice, released its mouth in pain and opened wide to bite Song Xiaodong.

Song Xiaodong swiftly dodged the python's wide-open mouth and found an opening to grab and toss the rescued man over to the still-dazed crowd.

"Aren't you going to help?" Song Xiaodong shouted again.

But those people merely caught the man Song Xiaodong tossed and still showed no response.

Song Xiaodong was truly driven to the brink by their reactions. Some were indeed capable, and even if they couldn't fight the pythons, fleeing should have been entirely possible.

Yet their response nearly approached waiting for the pythons to eat enough; whoever wasn't eaten would consider themselves lucky.

Since they were of no help, Song Xiaodong could only dodge the injured python's attacks while seizing an opportunity to save another person.

But the remaining few were beyond saving, as they were not only bitten but also constricted tightly by the pythons, their immense coiling force crushed their bones, suffocating them to death.

Watching as the few were swallowed by the pythons, Song Xiaodong felt an unspeakable bitterness. After all, they were humans, and being swallowed by mere snakes was a powerful psychological blow.

He too was starting to understand the people's reaction. Whether from hearing or seeing firsthand, a strong fear of pythons had deeply ingrained in their hearts, difficult to dispel.

This was merely a fleeting thought for Song Xiaodong, who was still handling the attacks of two pythons.

This was no easy task, as the python's strength was immense; their tails could fling hundreds of pounds of rock into the air. If smaller stones were struck, they would shatter. One careless sweep could severely injure him, and no one here would rescue him.

Fortunately, the other five pythons were busy devouring their prey and didn't attack Song Xiaodong. Otherwise, even he didn't believe he could handle an assault from the whole herd.

The others watched Song Xiaodong battling the pythons as if in a stupor, yet their eyes slowly revealed a peculiar gaze...