How Can Others Snore Beside My Bed

This shouldn't have concerned Ye Qin, but now that he lived on this mountain, the appearance of poachers had shattered the peace.

There was no guarantee they wouldn't discover his existence.

Moreover, Ye Qin had just seen the bearded man catch a lot of snakes.

What did he want with so many snakes?

Regardless of the man's reasons, his very presence was a huge threat to Ye Qin.

He felt an inexplicable sense of danger.

What's more, these men didn't look like good people. Their desires were bottomless, and Ye Qin feared that many animals on the mountain would fall victim to their cruelty.

Ye Qin didn't like this feeling. Rather than wait for death, he preferred to take the initiative.

Following the poachers' footprints, Ye Qin quickly caught up.

Seeing the heavy snowfall that wouldn't stop anytime soon, they figured any tracks left behind would be quickly covered. Plus, with no one else expected to be on the mountain at this time, they didn't bother to conceal their trail.

Who would have thought a snake would be following them?

Following their tracks, Ye Qin easily found their base camp.

He spotted a wooden cabin not far away. It was likely built by forest rangers before, then abandoned and unused until these two poachers turned it into their base.

Snakes had a keen sense of smell. Ye Qin, even from a distance, could detect the strong scent of blood in the air, his forked tongue flicking out to taste it.

"It seems many animals have already met their end."

With such a potent, foul smell, there must have been dozens of them.

However, the reality was far more brutal than Ye Qin had imagined.

He crept silently towards the wooden cabin and climbed up to the window. What he saw inside made his pupils constrict in shock.

Inside the room, dozens of bloody pelts were hanging, clearly freshly stripped and unprocessed.

Mangled animal carcasses were piled up, forming a veritable mountain of gore that was utterly nauseating.

In addition to this, there were cages in the corner, holding numerous small and medium-sized wild animals, many of them rare or endangered.

Their fur was matted together, their bodies covered in wounds, blood mixed with filth. The animals' eyes were dull, as if they had already accepted their fate.

The gruesome scene in the room all pointed to one thing: the poachers had had a very profitable winter.

Ye Qin's pupils suddenly narrowed, transforming into vertical slits, giving him a distinctly bloodthirsty look.

Next to the cages lay piles of snake carcasses, each one bloody, discarded like trash, an unbearable sight.

So, before this, the poacher had already killed this many snakes! What he had seen earlier in the man's hands was merely the tip of the iceberg.

"Poachers, you deserve to die!"

These two had killed and captured wild animals. Just the sentencing alone could range from twenty years to life imprisonment.

He no longer hesitated. Poachers were inherently greedy, and given the current situation, they wouldn't stop until they had hunted the entire mountain clean.

If you can't sleep soundly with someone snoring next to your bed, how can you tolerate these people here?

Furthermore, they were like lips to teeth!

This was essentially his territory now. With these men around, Ye Qin couldn't even focus on his cultivation. He would always have to be wary of them finding him.

He wasn't a saint wanting to champion the animals. He simply felt threatened.

Rather than remain passive, it was better to deal with the two of them, ending the problem once and for all. It would be a way to punish evil and bring justice to the animals who had died in vain.

A ruthless glint flashed in Ye Qin's eyes.

Meanwhile, the scarred man and Li Han were in another room, completely unaware of the impending disaster.

This room was tidier. In the center sat a pot, its fiery red bottom bubbling and steaming like fresh blood.

The scarred man skillfully tossed slices of meat and vegetables into the hot pot. He then grabbed a few bottles of white wine from the side and bit open the caps.

"Today is the Great Cold solar term, isn't it? On a day this cold, nothing beats a hot pot. Brother Li, it's been a while since we've had a drink together. We won't go home sober tonight!"

Outside, snow fell heavily, while inside, a bonfire blazed. As the room's temperature rose, the two men removed their thick fur coats and hung them on the side.

"After this job, we'll probably make a lot of money. We can live it up for a few years. It'll be worth all the hardship we've gone through."

"Let's not drink too much today. I've arranged a time with the buyer to hand over the goods tomorrow. We can't afford to mess this up."

Even as he said this, Li Han took a bottle of white wine from the scarred man. A gulp of the liquor warmed him from the inside out, dispelling the lingering cold of the past few days.

The scarred man chuckled, "Brother Li, you know I just love my drinks. Don't worry, it won't delay anything. We've been working hard for days, it's time to relax."

"Clink—"

Their wine bottles met in mid-air with a crisp sound.

"Cheers to our wonderful lives!"

The poachers' so-called wonderful lives were bought with the lives of countless wild animals.

The room here was filled with a rich aroma, the spicy hot pot base floating with slices of beef, marbled with fat and lean. A gentle clip of chopsticks, and they seemed to meld with the red oil, unbelievably fresh and tender.

The two of them ate until their mouths were slick with oil and their foreheads were beaded with sweat. The rising steam increased the temperature around them considerably, and they had shed their sweaters, wearing only thin, light long-sleeved shirts underneath.

But in another room, icy death stalked like a shadow, and the stench of rot and decay permeated the air.

Corpses and several bloody animal hides were piled haphazardly on the ground. Countless animals were confined in cages, their throats emitting desperate cries and whines.

Though separated by only a single wall, it was like two different worlds.

Feather-like snow began to fall again, blanketing the small wooden cabin and instantly whitening its roof. From a distance, it resembled a giant white tomb.

Icy, faintly glowing snake eyes took in everything. Ye Qin silently arrived in the room where the animals were being held.

Seeing the arrival of an unfamiliar guest, several pairs of dim animal eyes lit up in the darkness.

The animals were kept in iron cages, about two fingers thick, with locks on the outside. For Ye Qin, this presented no difficulty.

His tail coiled around one of the bars.

The animals inside the cages watched Ye Qin's movements quietly. In this moment, they seemed to possess human-like understanding, as if they knew Ye Qin had come to rescue them. None of them made a sound.

"Crack—"

A faint, almost imperceptible sound was heard. The seemingly indestructible cage was forced into an unbelievable arc by the snake's tail.

Ye Qin followed suit, damaging another bar. The gap created was just wide enough for the animals to escape.

After the animals ran out, they glanced back at Ye Qin before disappearing into the vast snowy landscape.

Li Han and the scarred man, who were feasting in the next room, did not notice any of this happening.