Chapter 32: The Black-Haired Monster

The monster was hideously grotesque, its body a bloated ball covered in long, coarse, curled black hair. From this mass protruded long, spindly legs bristling with stiff, short black bristles. Draped over the front of the creature was the upper half of a human body, its head hanging limply and its hands nearly dragging on the ground.

Cheng Xiangru had never seen anything so terrifying. His skin crawled, his legs turned to jelly, and he nearly let out a scream.

"What... what is that thing?" Cheng Xiangru’s voice trembled as he instinctively took two steps back.

Leng Ying was equally startled. "You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"

Their situation was dire. Because Leng Ying had triggered a trap, she dared not move, leaving her virtually defenseless. As for Cheng Xiangru, he could barely overpower an average person, let alone contend with such a monster.

"Do you have a gun?" Cheng Xiangru whispered.

Leng Ying handed him her red-tasseled spear. "What do you want a gun for? Do you even know how to use one?"

Cheng Xiangru didn't take it, blurting out urgently, "I don't mean that kind of spear! I mean a gun—the kind that goes 'bang-bang-bang' and fires bullets!"

Leng Ying retorted dryly, "Do I look like I have one?"

Cheng Xiangru racked his brain, searching his memory for the contents of the five transcripts he had studied, but he could find no description that matched this creature. What were they to do?

The monster seemed to be observing them with equal uncertainty. It remained stationary, yet its posture suggested it could strike at any moment.

Leng Ying stared at the monster tensely, seemingly noticing something. "Hey, look at that thing. Doesn't it look like a giant spider?"

Cheng Xiangru shook his head. "Do spiders look like that where you come from?"

If one looked only at the long legs, it did resemble a giant spider. But what spider had a human torso growing out of it? Even in the most bizarre legends, there were creatures like human-headed serpents or human-faced birds, but never a half-human, half-spider hybrid.

"Do you think it's possible," Leng Ying analyzed calmly, "that it’s actually just a big spider, and that person is its prey?"

Prompted by this, Cheng Xiangru noticed that the human torso was wearing clothes—standard cotton-padded winter gear. Moreover, the torso was completely unconscious, hanging motionless.

"That actually seems possible," Cheng Xiangru’s eyes brightened, though they quickly dimmed again. "But so what? Even if we know it's a giant spider, we can't defeat it!"

"We don't necessarily have to defeat it; we just need to drive it away. Look, it already has food, so its aggression should be reduced. If we give it a hard time, it will surely leave."

Cheng Xiangru nodded thoughtfully. "That makes some sense. But how do we give it a hard time? You can't move, and I don't have any ranged weapons."

"Think about it—since it’s so big, is it still a spider at its core? And what is a spider? It's an insect!"

Cheng Xiangru was suddenly overjoyed. "Insecticide!"

He found the situation almost laughable. He had never heard of anyone carrying insecticide while out and about, but this seemingly trivial item suddenly proved invaluable. It seemed he would have to make a habit of keeping it on hand for future travels.

Leng Ying did not hesitate. She took off her backpack, rummaged through it, and tossed the can of insecticide to Cheng Xiangru. "Spray it!"

"Right!" Cheng Xiangru unscrewed the cap and, gathering his courage, took a slow step forward.

The black-haired monster remained motionless, as if quietly observing his movements. Cheng Xiangru dared not get too close, unsure of how fast the creature could strike. Keeping a relatively safe distance, he slowly raised his arm, aimed the nozzle at the monster, took a deep breath, and pressed down firmly.

"Hiss... hiss..."

A stream of white mist with a pungent, faint scent sprayed from his fingertip, slowly diffusing into the air and lingering in the confined space, growing thicker by the second.

Behind him, Leng Ying pulled a notebook from her bag and fanned it vigorously, directing the mist toward the creature.

At first, the monster didn't budge, but as the mist drifted over it, it clearly sensed a threat and began to back away slowly. After a while, the monster moved its long legs in alternating rhythm, turned around, and actually retreated.

Cheng Xiangru retreated to Leng Ying’s side and let out a long sigh of relief. "I can't believe that actually worked."

Leng Ying complained with some dissatisfaction, "Didn't you spray a bit too much? I think you’ve almost used it all up."

Cheng Xiangru flushed with embarrassment. "I was afraid it wouldn't work if I didn't use enough!"

Leng Ying shook her head. "Forget it, forget it. Didn't you say you had a way to disarm this trap and that I should listen to you? Tell me, what should I do?"

The threat of the monster was temporarily neutralized, but the trap remained, and they were not yet out of danger.

Cheng Xiangru pointed toward the corner of the ceiling. "Look there. Where the wall bricks meet in the corner, there are many small holes, right?"

Leng Ying raised her flashlight, and sure enough, she saw many thumb-sized holes in the upper left and right corners, covering a wide area from front to back.

She nodded. "I see them."

Cheng Xiangru continued his analysis. "You can imagine that the moment you lift your foot and the stone tile resets, the trap will be triggered. In all likelihood, those holes will fire bolts or something similar, and we’ll both be turned into pincushions..."

Leng Ying impatiently interrupted, "Stop talking about that. Just tell me what I need to do!"

Cheng Xiangru knelt beside Leng Ying. Near the sunken tile, he tapped the floor gently with the insecticide can, listening intently as if searching for something by sound.

After a series of dull thuds, the sound changed. He pointed to the tile he had just tapped. "It's hollow underneath. Do you have anything to pry this brick open?"

The tile was right by Leng Ying’s feet. It was square, not particularly large, and there was already a gap between it and the sunken half-tile.

Leng Ying thought for a moment, nodded, and pulled a crowbar from her backpack to hand to him.

Cheng Xiangru looked at the crowbar, then back at her bag. *Good grief, what exactly is she carrying in that thing?*

After a brief moment of shock, he took the crowbar, wedged the flat end into the gap, and put his entire weight into pressing down.

With a grinding, buzzing sound, one end of the stone tile lifted, exposing a hole at an angle. Cheng Xiangru stood up and kicked the tile twice, forcing it into a vertical position to widen the opening.

He shone his flashlight down and, sure enough, saw a thick chain. One end was connected beneath the tile Leng Ying was standing on, while the other extended off into the darkness.

A chain in the ground and holes in the wall—it was clearly a "linked crossbow trap," exactly as he had surmised.

Since that was the case, it would be easy to handle!

"What do we do next?" Leng Ying’s eyes lit up.

Cheng Xiangru smiled. "You don't need to do anything. Just sit back and watch me work."