Chapter 5 — The One Who Keeps The Venom Saves People

The boat glided through the dark water, the head flashlights of all three people were only enough to clearly illuminate a small circle in front of the bow, the rest was in the thick darkness. Nguyen kept the throttle steady, weaving the boat close to what used to be the edge of the field, now only a few drifting water hyacinths and the tops of the palm trees were half submerged.

"This place used to be Mrs. Tu's field." Nguyen spoke, his voice had to be harsh to drown out the sound of the machine. "Now that the water has reached here, it is considered that three-quarters of the field has been submerged, only the mound of earth where the earth god temple is still rising."

Du sat still, eyes scanning the sides, trying to visualize the dry terrain beneath the flowing, murky water. Eight years into her career, she has learned to read a flooded area not by what she sees above the water, but by what she remembers about it before it was flooded — the slope, the direction of drainage, the high mounds where snakes often seek shelter when the water rises.

"Mr. Nguyen, the rocky shore near the Earth God Temple, how far are we from?"

"About fifteen minutes." Nguyen glanced at his waterproof watch. "A quarter to one. What time do you plan to finish catching it?"

"The sooner the better. But it depends on whether we can find it."

Khiem sat in the back, holding tightly to the side of the boat, his eyes fixed on the flashlight beam scanning the water surface. Occasionally he was startled when a piece of wood drifted past the side of the boat, mistaking it for something swimming.

"Miss Du, how should we find snakes in this scene?" He asked, trying to keep his voice normal. "Where did it hide when the water flooded?"

"It looks for the highest place that's still dry - a mound, a large tree trunk, an abandoned roof, a high pile of firewood. Snakes don't know how to swim as well as you think, and for species that live in mountains like Mist-Scaled Viper, they're even less used to fast-flowing water, so they'll cling to any place higher than the water surface and stand still there, not moving any further unless threatened." Du explained, her voice monotone as a professional reflex that helped her stay calm. "That's also why it's more dangerous than usual right now — people go past those high mounds to take refuge, to catch snails, to find things, not knowing that snakes are also hiding in those same places."

"That sounds terrible." Khiem muttered.

"That's why I need to get in here before there's another bite case." Du said. "It's not just to save one child Nhi. There are many other people staying on those mounds tonight without knowing it."

Nguyen nodded, his eyes still not leaving the water in front of him. "Last year, my team also encountered a similar situation, not a green snake but a tiger snake, crawling into the straw of people's houses on high hills to avoid floods. Luckily, the dog discovered it first and barked so fiercely that the homeowner knew and avoided it." He increased the throttle a little to get through the whirlpool. "How long have you been doing this job?"

"Eight years at the camp, but learned the trade from a young age, from my grandfather." Du replied, his eyes still scanning the lights along the banks even though the boat was moving fast, a habit he couldn't stop. "He is a snake master in the area, specializes in catching dangerous snakes for villagers, and also knows how to treat bites with folk remedies before the commune health station has adequate serum."

"So you must know this area very well."

"Clear." Du only replied with one word, without further explanation, and Nguyen - like a person accustomed to not everyone wanting to tell their whole story in the middle of a rainy night - did not ask any more questions, just focused on driving the canoe.

The boat slowed down when Nguyen turned the wheel around a bend, where the water suddenly swirled stronger, creating heaving waves that hit the side of the boat. Du tightened her grip on the side of the canoe, a familiar feeling of fear rising from the bottom of her stomach, but she suppressed it by focusing on her work — checking the snake hook tied to her side, checking the lock of the canvas bag containing the caught fish, checking the spare flashlight.

"There, the earth god temple hill." Nguyen pointed forward, where a piece of land rose about a meter above the water surface, with luxuriant trees surrounding a small temple roof roofed with yin and yang tiles that were chipped in many places. "I can only get the boat close to the edge, from there you and this guy have to walk."

"Okay." Du replied. "I'll wait here, keep in touch by walkie-talkie, we'll be in about thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes, no more." Nguyen emphasized. "The water is rising, I monitor the water level with the marker I placed in the afternoon. You see, an hour ago it was at the third mark, now it is at the fifth mark."

Du looked in the direction Nguyen pointed, a bamboo stake was tilted near the mound, red painted lines marking the hourly water level were clearly visible under the flashlight. The latest line has flooded almost to the position that an hour ago was half an arm's length from the water's surface.

"Got it." She spoke, her voice became sharper, completely shifting to a working state. "Khiem, follow me into the water, walk close together, scan low and close to the ground first, don't sweep haphazardly, startling the snake and running away."

Khiem nodded, took a deep breath, then walked down after Du, the water up to his knees, cold through the thick rubber boots. The mud under your feet is mushy and slippery, you have to grope carefully with each step to avoid slipping.

They entered the high ground under the shade of dense trees, the flashlight's light swept into two parallel streaks of light on the wet ground covered with rotting leaves. The temple of the earth god appeared before us, small and silent, a bowl of incense tilted on the altar whose paint had peeled off.

Du divided the search area into small boxes in her head, a habit she learned from her grandfather - never scanning the search area in an unorganized manner, because this is both time-consuming and easy to miss. She walked around the foot of the front altar, where the land was still the driest within a radius of twenty meters, checking every crack, every pile of rotten leaves that could be a shelter.

"Why don't we turn the lights on as bright as possible to make it easier to find?" Khiem asked, trying to follow Du's footsteps, one hand still holding the handle of the snake's hook even though he had not yet taken it out of the bag.

"The light is too strong, making it wary, it can hide deeper into the rocks or attack defensively if it feels cornered." Du replied, not stopping walking. "The light scans diagonally, low and slow. Snake eyes are more sensitive to movement than light intensity."

They went around the back of the temple, where a pile of dry firewood was piled high near the wall, part of which was soaked from the water splashed in from the rain. Du stopped, shined his light along each gap between the firewood, and saw nothing but a ground spider crawling quickly to hide in the darkness. She continued to move, her steps light and steady, her eyes never leaving the ground.

Khiem's heart beat faster with each step, not because of fatigue - the water was only up to his knees, a distance of less than fifty meters - but because of the feeling that he could be standing just a few hands away from a venomous snake that causes blood clotting disorders, in the darkness so thick that he could not see beyond the scope of the flashlight ring. He tried to keep his breathing steady, remembering what Du told him when preparing: panic is the most dangerous thing in this job, more dangerous than the snake itself.

They moved closer to the front of the altar, where the first slither was discovered. Du lowered his body even further, almost kneeling on one knee on the wet ground. The flashlight shone close to the ground at an angle so that the small edges of the tracks cast shadows more clearly.

"There are traces." Du stopped suddenly, raising his hand to signal Khiem to stand still. She crouched low, the flashlight shining closely down on a thin line printed on the dry mud left in the hidden corner under the temple roof, where the water had not yet reached.

"Mist Scale?" Khiem asked silently, his voice almost breathless.

"The slithering tracks are narrow, even, without the stripes of a water snake." Du followed the crawling path with the light, not touching anything with his hands. "It's still fresh, probably not more than an hour old."

She looked up, sweeping the light along the gaps between the rotten wooden slabs at the foot of the altar, where the darkness was thickest, where any creature wanting to escape the light and floodwater would choose first.

And in that darkness, a faint streak of light like sparkling white chalk reflected her flashlight, silent, not moving at all.

Khiem held his breath and stood rooted to the spot exactly as Du had told him before getting off the boat - whenever she raised her hand to stop, he had to stop immediately, not ask again, not move even half a step further. The sound of rain falling on the roof of the temple, the sound of water flowing in the distance, and a strange silence enveloped the small space under the altar, as if the entire flooded forest was holding its breath with him.

Du kept the same position, did not lift the lamp higher, did not take another step. She learned that lesson a long time ago, so deeply that it became reflexive — every hasty movement in the first moment of encounter could be the last.