Chapter 35: A Tide of Larvae

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Cheng Xiangru could clearly feel the hand Leng Ying had clasped around his trembling violently. His heart gave a sudden jolt. Leng Ying must have seen something horrifying—otherwise she could never have reacted so strongly.

Yet even though he had braced himself, the moment he turned toward the wall beside them, what he saw still frightened him into stumbling several steps backward.

The wall was smeared with blood and draped in dense layers of spiderwebs, but that was not the most terrifying part. What truly horrified Cheng Xiangru and Leng Ying was the half of a human body wrapped in one of those webs, still dripping blood.

Only two legs and half a belly remained. The flesh was completely drenched in blood. Perhaps the person was not entirely dead, for the body was still twitching faintly. The intestines hanging outside the abdomen swayed gently with the trembling of the legs.

Cheng Xiangru raised a hand to cover his mouth, barely managing not to vomit on the spot.

The sight struck him with such force that he felt reduced to an empty shell, all ability to think stripped away. The only thing reminding him that he was still alive was the turmoil churning in his stomach.

Leng Ying might have seemed worldly and unshakable in the face of anything, but her condition was even worse than Cheng Xiangru’s. She had already turned away and crouched by the corner of the wall, pulled off her mask, and begun vomiting violently with her back to him.

Cheng Xiangru could imagine that the man who had died without a complete body must have been one of Gao Zhuang’s companions, though he could not tell whether it was Chen Shangke.

This chamber was spacious enough, but there was no other way out. They had not yet found Chen Shangke, and the situation appeared grim.

“Are you feeling any better?” Cheng Xiangru asked in a low voice, his face deathly pale, when Leng Ying finally straightened up again.

Leng Ying waved a hand to indicate that she was fine, then raised her flashlight and swept the beam around.

Apart from the blood covering the floor and the small spheres as white as mutton-fat jade, the only suspicious thing was the coffin. Aside from the bloody half of a human body, there was no one else in sight—not even another incomplete corpse.

If there was nothing else here, then where had the others gone? Where was the missing half of the dead man’s body? And what had killed them?

Cheng Xiangru also scrutinized the secret chamber warily. A chill crept over his back, and he could not shake the feeling that something might suddenly leap out and attack him and Leng Ying.

Suddenly, Leng Ying let out a soft cry and directed her flashlight toward the ceiling above them.

“Look up there!”

Cheng Xiangru hurriedly raised his head. A huge mass of white spiderwebs had pinned a person to the ceiling. The man’s eyes were tightly shut, his limbs hanging limp and motionless. It was impossible to tell whether he was alive.

After looking more closely, Cheng Xiangru recognized him.

It was Gao Zhuang.

If Gao Zhuang was here, where were the others?

Cheng Xiangru hurriedly searched the rest of the ceiling and spotted two more people bound there by spiderwebs, their fate likewise unknown. One of them was Chen Shangke.

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“I found Brother Chen! Do you have anything we can use to get him down—”

Cheng Xiangru was speaking when he noticed Leng Ying holding her red-tasseled spear, staring tensely toward the left rear corner of the chamber as though facing a formidable enemy.

“What is it?”

Cheng Xiangru quickly turned to look. A huge, dark, hairy mass was hanging upside down in the corner. Four black, gleaming spheres—two large and two small—were arranged in a horizontal line amid the disordered black fur, staring at him and Leng Ying like a cluster of eyes.

Not good! It was a giant black-haired spider!

Cheng Xiangru’s expression changed drastically. He hurriedly retreated several steps, backing all the way into the tunnel.

Leng Ying also withdrew, her eyes fixed tightly on the black-haired spider hanging in the corner. She seemed ready to strike or defend herself at any moment.

Cheng Xiangru studied it carefully for a moment, then suddenly let out a soft exclamation, as though he had discovered something.

In the corner where the spider clung, dark green liquid mixed with crimson blood was trickling down the wall.

“It looks like it’s injured!” Cheng Xiangru quickly voiced his conclusion.

Leng Ying nodded without speaking.

It made sense. Gao Zhuang and the others had come here twice, firing a great many shots each time.

With such a large target, it was impossible for every bullet to miss. They must have hit it, so it was hardly surprising that the black-haired spider was wounded.

The only question was how serious its injuries were, and whether it was still capable of launching a sufficiently dangerous attack.

Cheng Xiangru and Leng Ying did not retreat any farther. They stood at the entrance to the tunnel, facing the black-haired spider tensely while trying to think of a way to rescue Chen Shangke from the ceiling.

Suddenly, a faint, disorderly rustling startled them both.

Grinding her teeth, Leng Ying said in a low voice, “Blue Fatty, I’ll keep an eye on it. Quickly check whether there are any more of these things in here.”

Cheng Xiangru had been thinking the same thing. The sudden rustling had raised gooseflesh all over his body.

He immediately turned and swept his flashlight around the chamber again.

But apart from the three people whose lives were uncertain on the ceiling, there was only the black-haired spider in the corner. Other than the coffin and the white jade spheres scattered across the floor, the chamber contained nothing else.

Wait.

Something was wrong.

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Cheng Xiangru suddenly realized what had disturbed him. His forehead covered in sweat, he stared at the white jade spheres. The longer he looked, the more alarmed he became, and the more his scalp prickled.

The white jade spheres were not all intact. Some were damaged. Examining them closely, he saw that the broken spheres were not solid at all; they were merely thin shells.

A chill spread through Cheng Xiangru’s entire body, even as the sweat poured more heavily from him.

“Do you think it’s possible that those spheres are actually this creature’s eggs?”

Though the speculation was supported by evidence, it was terrifying beyond words.

Cheng Xiangru continued scanning the chamber in panic. Then he saw countless red spiders emerging from around the half-corpse, from behind the stone coffin, and even from the pools of congealed blood. They spread out in a tightening ring, surging toward him and Leng Ying like a flood.

The red spiders came in all sizes. The largest were as big as fists, while the smallest were no bigger than fingernails. There were too many to count, and Cheng Xiangru’s calves trembled uncontrollably at the sight.

Leng Ying seized his arm and slowly began backing away.

“We have to get out of here. Now!”

“But Brother Chen—” Cheng Xiangru cried.

“We can’t worry about him!”

With that, Leng Ying turned and dragged Cheng Xiangru into a run.

Cheng Xiangru knew that if they did not leave immediately, it would be too late. He stopped hesitating and sprinted after her toward the exit.

Against so many man-eating larvae of the black-haired spider, what use would a pistol or a red-tasseled spear be? Even a Gatling gun would be useless!

As he ran, Cheng Xiangru silently prayed:

Brother Chen, don’t blame me. I really did everything I could. If I don’t run now, I’ll have to stay behind and become spider food alongside you…

Suddenly, Leng Ying, running ahead of him, came to an abrupt stop. Fortunately, Cheng Xiangru reacted in time and skidded to a halt, narrowly avoiding crashing into her.

“What is it?” he demanded anxiously, irritation already rising in his voice.

The tide of spider larvae behind them was about to close in. Why stop now? Wasn’t that the same as waiting to die?

Leng Ying said nothing. She shifted slightly to the side, allowing Cheng Xiangru to see what lay ahead.

Less than ten meters away was the exit of the tunnel.

Blocking it stood the black-haired spider that had previously been carrying the upper half of a human body in its jaws. Its four pitch-black eyes—two large and two small—stared greedily at Cheng Xiangru and Leng Ying.

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