1 Widowmaker

"Hmm..." In a small, dim room, a figure lying on the ground seemed to twitch and let out a groan.

Amidst the sound of rustling clothes, the man struggled to sit up as he used one hand like a crutch and the other to rub his forehead. He looked at his surroundings blankly.

The room was about eight square meters wide, and aside from a single bed and a computer desk by the window, there was also a cabinet close to the wall. It looked like one of those cabinets from a pharmacy.

The difference was that its drawers were much larger than a medicine cabinet, and it was made out of transparent acrylic.

Each compartment was filled with low-wattage night lamps that radiated dim light.

There was a fish tank sitting alone by the corner; its usage was unknown.

The man sat there for a few more minutes, and his thin, pale face, as well as slightly blank eyes, could be seen under the faint illumination.

A car sped past on the street outside the window, and a strong light shone through the glass onto his face. He subconsciously raised his right hand to cover his eyes before he stared at his right hand in a daze as if he had remembered something.

"I'm Shao Zifeng. I'm 19 this year and a sophomore at Sucheng University. My major is advertising and exhibition...

"No... my major is culti...

"Today is Wednesday, February 19...

"No... today is Tuesday, February 18...

"There's still an order that I haven't processed yet, but... wasn't I bitten by the Daboia viper?" Shao Zifeng muttered to himself.

He looked at his pale right hand blankly. His fingers were long and slender, while his skin was smooth and firm without any bite marks that were in his memory.

The tangle of memories and an inexplicable feeling of alienation made him scratch his messy head in irritation.

Shao Zifeng was a student of Sucheng University. In addition to his status as a student, he also worked part-time as a store manager. However, what he sold in his store was rather special, which was mainly niche pets.

For example, on the cabinet against the wall, the upper levels were filled with pet snakes of various species, while the bottom level contained a few lizards. If his customers needed them, he could help them order curious pets like spiders or centipedes.

When he was in class today, he had received an order. Someone else had introduced the customer to him, and the customer had requested him to secretly raise a Daboia viper.

Speaking of the Daboia viper, its nicknames need to be mentioned.

The creature was commonly known as the kidney killer snake or the widowmaker. Even if one survived a bite from it, its venom would cause irreversible damage to one's kidney. It was extremely terrifying.

Even so, that was obviously not the reason why he kept it a secret. It was because the snake had been included on the National Biodiversity Red List, and he dared not sell it.

If someone ended up bitten, it would be chopped up and eaten.

If he sold it, he would be languishing in prison.

Yet, he was reluctant to let it go.

In the end, he still agreed to the request. He had originally wanted to refuse, but the other party offered too much money. He was just a poor student who wanted to support himself with his own hands.

After school, Shao Zifeng had hurried back to his rented room, and as usual, he had bought dinner and double color balls on the way back.

Yes, ever since he bought a 300 yuan jackpot ticket under his friend's influence, Shao Zifeng had always felt that he could win the jackpot and waltz his way to the pinnacle of life. He could then go on to lead a luxurious retirement life in advance.

He could also buy a house with a yard for his mother and hire a few people to help her take care of the stray pets she had taken in.

Unfortunately, reality had given him a sound slap on the face. Even so, he would still buy a double color ball for each draw, not for anything else but that dream in mind.

After he had arrived at his rented place, Shao Zifeng had picked up his notebook and gotten busy before he ate his dinner.

He had opened a drawer and carefully held a snake in his hand as he carefully observed it.

It was a small white snake with golden-yellow patches. Its smooth slender body was covered with fine scales, and above its head was an arrow-shaped mark that pointed toward its nose. The color on its upper and lower lips was lighter, whereas the scales by the side of its mouth formed a different pattern. Its eyes were round and reminiscent of rubies.

"Albino corn snake, juvenile, box temperature is 23 degrees Celsius..."

Placing the snake back into the drawer, Shao Zifeng had bit the cap of his pen and held it in his mouth as he carefully jotted down the information in his notebook.

That was a habit he had developed since he started to raise reptiles. He would keep a great record of the pets he cared for, from their individual breeds to their development and even their feeding times.

After recording, he would feed the snakes that required feeding when the time came, based on their serial number.

The food he fed them were baby mice that he had specially bought from the Internet. Of course, it was the frozen type. After all, he still considered himself a somewhat compassionate person and could not feed them live ones.

Feeding snakes was quite simple. It was twice a week for the young ones and once a week for the adolescents. As for the adults, once their skin took form, he just needed to feed them once every few days, but he could not feed them for too long, or else they would see him as food.

After he had fed all of the big shots in the snake cabinet, Shao Zifeng had moved to the fish tank by the corner of the room.

The bottom of the fish tank was lined with a thick layer of sand, and there were a few fake mountain-like stones, as well as animal bone models, on it. A lizard that was more than ten centimeters long had looked warily at his approaching hand.

The armadillo lizard had a dark, yellowish body, with six large and obvious spikes on the back of its head. Meanwhile, its body and tail had visible stripes, as well as scaley protrusions, too.

It was an interesting lizard, but when in danger, it would quickly rush into the rock crevices to hide.

If it was caught, it would curl its head and tail into a ball to protect its soft abdomen.

Due to difficulties in breeding, the armadillo lizard was difficult to export because of its protected status, so it was often sold at sky-high prices in China (a Chinese water dragon only cost a few hundred yuan, but an armadillo lizard could easily sell for tens of thousands of yuan).

This armadillo lizard was something a customer had ordered from him, and Shao Zifeng had to look around for a long time to get it. However, by then, the customer no longer wanted it.

Aside from the thousand yuan deposit he received, he ended up losing a few thousand yuan.

Shao Zifeng had looked at the armadillo lizard that had already turned into a ball and could not help but poke its rough scales with his finger.

The armadillo lizard then looked at Shao Zifeng nervously, its body trembling a little.

"You money-sucker, eat up."

Seeing its state, Shao Zifeng had gently patted its head with his finger and placed some food by its side.

Despite losing some money, he liked the little guy very much.

The South African armadillo lizard stared at him with relieved apprehension.

Once he was done with that, Shao Zifeng had stretched his waist and thrown himself on his bed, no longer having the desire to eat. He pinched the bridge of his nose to relieve the soreness in his eyes, sensing that he had forgotten something.

He then picked up his phone and looked at the time...

"Crap, I forgot to ship something out.

"Hmm... it's all right if it's a day late, right? He didn't set the time anyway," Shao Zifeng muttered to comfort himself before he fell heavily on the bed again.

After he had gotten some shuteye for a short half an hour, it had become close to nine o'clock. Then, he had turned on his cell phone to tune into a regular radio channel. He often listened to that particular channel because of the DJ's sweet and lovely voice...

And she would be announcing the winning numbers for the jackpot.

Putting his phone together with the lottery ticket on the table, Shao Zifeng had proceeded to approach the drawer where the Daboia viper was housed amid the DJ's sweet voice.

Looking at the Daboia viper, which had curled up at the corner of the compartment, he then subconsciously opened the drawer of the snake cabinet.

The snake had not exactly been purchased from a proper source, but it had been given to him by an uncle who had retired from the scene after clearing his inventory.

At that time, Shao Zifeng had just joined the circle. He had taken a lot of young snakes from this uncle for a high price. The uncle's eyes had formed a line as he smiled, and he had mentioned that there was a surprise for Shao Zifeng at the bottom-most box; it was a private gift.

Shao Zifeng clearly remembered his shock back when he checked its details and took notes. Bloody hell...

"Little guy, how about I find you a new owner tomorrow."

Shao Zifeng had squeezed the Daboia viper's triangular head and applied pressure until its mouth was wide open. Then, two crystal clear fangs had protruded out of its mouth.

The fangs had venom flowing down them as the snake hissed. Its slender body had been tightly wrapped around Shao Zifeng's arm, and its tail coiled had been coiled around its own body as it tried to squeeze his arm.

Shao Zifeng had been unfazed, and he had even looked at it with a smile as if he was looking at his wealth balance.

"My dear listeners, it is now time to say good night. As usual, before we part, I, Xiaoxin will announce the winning numbers of the double color ball. The winning numbers for this draw are 03, 06, 17, 22, 25, 27... And the final number is 08... Again, 03, 06..."

Buzz...

Shao Zifeng had felt a rush of blood in his head as the numbers announced by the DJ, Xiaoxin echoed in his ears. This was clearly the draw he had been after.

"Wow! Yes! I won!" Shao Zifeng had quickly run to the table to pick up the lottery ticket, and the winning numbers of the current draw had been on it. In his excitement, Shao Zifeng had not even noticed that the Daboia viper had bitten his hand when he loosened his grip on it, and due to his excitement, the rapid flow of his blood had sent the venom straight to his heart.

The sudden dizziness interrupted Shao Zifeng's euphoria, and a sudden loss of balance struck his head as he snapped back to his senses.

Looking down at his right hand, the Daboia viper was still biting into his hand. A pair of emotionless snake eyes met his gaze, and he could even feel the Daboia viper inject venom into his body.

He had wanted to raise his right arm, but it had felt as heavy as lead.

After a few staggering steps, his entire body had fallen heavily onto the ground.

His mind had turned more blurry as if it was frozen, and he could just vaguely feel that he was holding the viper, as well as the winning jackpot ticket, in both hands.

"I... I seem to have won the jackpot...

"Also... I have been bitten by a snake...

"And it's the bloody kidney killing snake, the Daboia viper!

"My kidney..."