Chapter 1408: Save Lives

The Markelov brothers were bad-tempered, but they were smart, or they wouldn’t have been recruited by a talented special forces unit.

After the two brothers accepted Li Du’s employment, they kept a low profile.

They knew that they have not earned Li Du’s full trust yet, and were usually quiet and obedient. They talked little among themselves, and would only occasionally communicate with Brother Wolf and Firecracker.

They were all soldiers and had more in common.

Another night, the helicopter appeared over the mountains.

They returned to the gold cave. The helicopter slid down a rope, and the strong iron box was tied on to it. Li Du, Brother Wolf, Godzilla, and others took out the gold box and placed in the iron box.

Then the box was locked and the helicopter flew away with it.

The mountain terrain was very rugged and they would have had to use the special forces’ method to get on the helicopter and climb up the rope ladder.

This move was very dangerous. Brother Wolf and the other soldiers would not try it if they had a choice, not to speak of Li Du, Godzilla and Lu Guan who did not have any such experience try.

They went down the mountain the same way they came up, which might be tiring and time-consuming, but safer.

After the helicopter left with the gold, Li Du had no more worries and went down the mountain without rushing.

When they had walked some distance, Ah Ow suddenly turned toward the side of the mountain and issued a low growl.

She found something. Li Du nodded to the crowd and said, “Be careful, go and see what happened.”

For more than a century, the gold hoard of the Kochena tribe had been attracting treasure hunters. There were always people who would try their luck. They figured they weren’t losing anything, and if they did find it, their life would be good.

Li Du was worried that Ah Ow had come across a treasure hunter. After all, the helicopter was here with a very clear target. It was carrying a big metal box and could be easily noticed.

Led by Ah Ow, they walked several dozen meters into the mountains and saw two natives lying on the ground.

A poisonous snake was on one of the men’s back. The snake was about a meter long, with a distinctly triangular head, reddish-brown patches all over its body and a lurid yellow tail. Its color was beautiful but evoked danger.

Needless to say, the two men were bitten by a snake.

Li Du said in a hurry, “Save them but be careful of this poisonous snake. Let Ah Meow deal with it!”

Big Markelov casually said, “Boss, this is a copper-headed viper. It’s not very poisonous. Let me handle it.”

As a newcomer, he had to prove himself.

Li Du nodded, but Big Markelov did not move. He whispered to his brother, “Take care of it. The boss is a wildlife lover.”

Young Markelov nodded. He picked up a stick at random and attempted to use it to pick up the viper.

When provoked, the viper poked its head into the air and bit. As it bit the stick, Young Markelov picked up the stick and threw it far away.

Getting rid of the venomous snake easily, Young Markelov crouched down to help the native man. At the same time, he tugged his lips and said, “The copperhead snake… this thing is worth hundreds of dollars.”

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The copperhead was a typical North American viper inhabiting rocky lands, hillslopes, marshes, and desert oases. It fed on small mammals, lizards, birds or frogs. Its breeding season was in spring and it would lay from 4 to 16 eggs each time.

Big Markelov knew what his brother was like, so he explained to him in advance that Li Du was an animal protection activist, telling him not to harm the snake.

Li Du hurried to help up another native and found it was a youth who looked only fifteen or sixteen years old.

His eyes were closed, his teeth were clenched, and his face was dark red.

“What about the serum we brought? Take it out, save them!” Li Du said anxiously.

“Never mind, boss, copperhead venom isn’t deadly, it doesn’t usually kill anyone,” said Big Markelov

.

Brother Wolf said, “Yes, the copperhead is responsible for 30 percent of snake bites in the United States, but it’s rarely fatal.”

He found two wounds, one on the back of the man’s hand and one on the arm.

“Look at the time, Driver. Do some compression, but not longer than 15 or 20 minutes to prevent tissue necrosis,” said Brother Wolf. “Firecracker, take out the viper serum and potassium permanganate, make a potassium permanganate solution.”

Big Markelov took out his knife and cut a cross shape over the bites. He started to pinch their wounds and fresh blood flowed out.

They had the serum and the rinse, and they had the kettle with plenty of water with them, so they had a lot of potassium permanganate solution.

Somebody used potassium permanganate solution to wash the wound ceaselessly, while someone else kept squeezing. With the double action, the blood outflow was gradually reduced, and the two people slowly regained their consciousness.

Young Markelov waved at Lu Guan and said, “Hey, thin monkey, don’t idle over there, come over here. We need someone to suck out the venom, you gargle and come over to suck it out.”

Lu Guan glared at him and said, “Stop it, I know that one is not supposed to suck the venom when bitten by a poisonous snake, and I have mouth cavity ulcer. Do you want to kill me?”

Young Markelov gave him a contemptuous look and said, “Coward!”

He covered the wound with gauze, then got down on his stomach and sucked the venom out.

Generally, it was ill-advised to suck the venom out of a snake bite, especially when one had wounds or ulcers in the mouth, which could easily lead to poisoning. However, with adequate protection and when the venom has been diluted, sucking out the blood near the did have a detoxifying effect.

The arm was always tied up, and the blood flow was not good, so the wound would soon have no blood flow, which made sucking the blood a better way to detoxify.

Slowly the native man in Young Markov’s hands opened his eyes. He stared at the group, then at the boy who was still being treated, and whispered, “Oh, thank you! Thank you very much! How is my nephew?”

Yong Markelov said, “He’ll live. He’ll wake up in a minute. How are you doing?”

Copperhead’s venom wasn’t exactly potent, and they both looked a lot better after drinking some water and eating some candy.

The boy woke up and asked, “Where is the copperhead?”

Li Du said, “What, do you want revenge?”

The boy shook his head and said, “No, its serum and venom are worth a lot of money. We wanted to take them back to the tribe to raise them and make money from them.”

Li Du understood. “So you were trying to catch the snakes and were bitten, you weren’t attacked by a snake?”

Young Markelov snorted. “Of course! This snake is worth a lot of money, but it has been released. Anyway, it would belong to me, not you.”