Zhang Hua felt utter despair.
He never imagined that his once gentle and lovely wife had such a violent side.
Who knew what You Chuyao had stuffed in her bag—it hit hard and hurt like hell. The others just watched him get beaten without any intention of stopping her.
After all, he had treated Father You and Mother You like his own parents and shown them filial piety for so many years. But when push came to shove, they just stood by and watched him get bullied.
If Father You and Mother You knew what he was thinking, they would surely spit at him. Otherwise, what—would they join in?
Zhao Ruoyan watched her best friend pummel the scumbag with great interest. If she weren’t worried about drawing too much attention, she would have cheered her on, waving flags and shouting encouragement.
“You guys aren’t going to do anything? Just let this crazy woman beat me?” Finally finding an opening, Zhang Hua shouted while clutching his head.
Lin Juan glanced at him. “So what if she beats you? It just hurts for a bit. Nothing serious.”
“You—ow—” Zhang Hua clutched his kicked crotch and couldn’t speak.
“Hiss.” The ability users who had watched the whole thing drew in sharp breaths.
After thoroughly beating the scumbag and venting the negative emotions that had built up over this time, You Chuyao smoothed her hair and reverted to her gentle and graceful image.
But her words were far from gentle.
“Zhang Hua, I’ll settle the accounts between us one by one. You had better pray you haven’t done too many things to betray the You Family.”
With that matter resolved, the Anomalous Affairs Bureau’s people needed to interrogate Zhang Hua about how he had learned the location of the 【Forest Cabin】 and lured the two children there.
Zhang Hua was hauled off to a special prison. The Anomalous Affairs Bureau had plenty of ways to pry the information they wanted out of him.
Less than a day later, Lin Juan heard the follow-up from Director Liu.
Zhang Hua had learned about the 【Forest Cabin】 purely by chance. He had overheard a classmate mention that strange things were happening there, so he figured he would give it a try. If it worked out, great. If not, no real loss.
“So Zhang Hua didn’t know any specifics about the weird phenomenon?” Lin Juan found it utterly unbelievable.
Zhang Hua had been ruthless enough to target two children based on nothing more than that vague hearsay.
“That’s right. Zhang Hua didn’t know weird phenomena existed. He had no idea the place he lured the kids to would turn them into monsters.”
“Even if he had known, he wouldn’t have cared,” Lin Juan sneered. “People like him only ever care about themselves.”
Zhang Hua’s crimes were made public. Besides the parts involving weird phenomena, the entire country learned what an ungrateful wolf he was. It sparked heated discussions online and made many wealthy families with only daughters scrutinize their future sons-in-law even more closely.
That same night, deep in the wee hours, Lin Juan was jolted awake by his phone ringing.
“Who is it?” He rubbed his eyes and mumbled.
“It’s Lu Yuqing.”
“Hm?” Lin Juan didn’t recognize the name, but she was a Lu. “One of your relatives? Why call so late?”
“Second Brother’s eldest daughter. She said her mom went crazy and was going to eat them.”
“Oh…” Lin Juan was still groggy, but he suddenly snapped awake. “Ah? Eat them?”
Lin Juan bolted upright in bed. “Was she having a nightmare?”
Lu Yanzhou wasn’t sure.
Although Old Master Lu refused to acknowledge Qiu Lishu as his daughter-in-law and rarely saw the children she had borne, they were still Lu Family blood. He couldn’t completely ignore them and occasionally checked in on them.
Now fully awake, Lin Juan’s mind cleared, and something felt off. “Why would she call you in the middle of the night? Has she ever called you before?”
“She sends holiday greetings.” And in return, she always got big red envelopes from Lu Yanzhou.
“What now?” Lin Juan glanced outside. It was pitch black; dawn was still far off.
“If she’s lying, that’s fine. But if she’s not, sending someone over casually could be dangerous.”
If a weird phenomenon was really involved, whoever they sent might end up harmed.
Lu Yanzhou got out of bed. “I’ll call Second Brother first and ask.”
The call didn’t go through.
A bad premonition stirred in Lu Yanzhou’s heart.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Something might have happened over there.”
Lin Juan got up too. “I’ll go with you to check it out.”
Lu Yanzhou paused mid-change of clothes. He couldn’t bring himself to refuse—truth was, he needed Lin Juan along.
If a weird phenomenon was truly at play, having Lin Juan there made it safest.
The two quickly dressed and headed out, only to find Old Master Lu and Big Brother Lu’s whole family already up.
“What’s going on?” Lu Yanzhou thought for a moment and understood. “You got calls from Second Brother’s place too?”
“You too?”
The Lu Family members exchanged glances.
Without exception, they had all received calls from Second Brother Lu’s house—desperate pleas for help from the children.
“Xiao Juan and I will go check it out. Dad, you all stay here at Lu Garden,” Lu Yanzhou said.
“I want to go too.” Lu Mingxuan had finally gotten some time off and didn’t want to miss out. “Little Uncle, take me along. I’m good with kids.”
Lu Mingxuan knew his little uncle had zero patience for children. Before Lin Juan came along, work was all Little Uncle cared about; everything else was a waste of time.
To make sure he’d be included, Lu Mingxuan turned to Lin Juan. “Little Uncle, bring me too. Little Uncle’s legs aren’t great for this—otherwise, maybe just me and Little Uncle?”
Lu Yanzhou gave him a flat look.
Lu Mingxuan shut his mouth and wilted like a frostbitten eggplant.
Lin Juan found it amusing. “Then we’ll all go. Uncle Lu, you wait at home for our update.”
“That works.” Old Master Lu didn’t object. His old bones were better off not causing trouble.
In the end, Lin Juan, Lu Yanzhou, and Lu Mingxuan piled into a car and headed out.
Lu Mingxuan darted to the driver’s seat. “I’ll drive. You guys can relax.”
He knew better than to interrupt Little Uncle and Little Uncle’s alone time.
The car slowly pulled out of Lu Garden.
One hour earlier, at Second Brother Lu’s house.
Lu Yanzhong had been out socializing until the wee hours. Reeking of booze, he knocked on the door. “Li Shu, Li Shu, I’m back. Open up.”
After a few knocks, there was a click, and the door opened.
Drunk as he was, Lu Yanzhong stared at his wife. “Li Shu, why do you have three eyes?”
Qiu Lishu steadied the swaying man. “Aiya, how did you drink so much? Three eyes? You’re drunk and seeing things.”
Was he?
Lu Yanzhong was skeptical.
He struggled to pry his eyes open wider. Double vision hit, and right there on his wife’s smooth forehead, a big eye had sprouted out of nowhere. It rolled around greedily, staring right at him.
“Really… really there…” Lu Yanzhong reached out to touch it.
Qiu Lishu’s expression changed. She slapped a hand to her forehead—and sure enough, felt something bulging and rolling under her palm.
Gritting her teeth, Qiu Lishu pressed down hard.
“Squish—” The eyeball let out a sickening sound as it burst. Yellow-green liquid oozed out, sticky and foul-smelling.
“What smell?” The stench hit hard, and Lu Yanzhong retched before vomiting right there.
The smell of puke filled the air, mingling with the original stink. The room reeked.
Qiu Lishu’s face turned ghastly.
“It’s your vomit. Come on, I’ll help you wash up first.”
She struggled to drag Lu Yanzhong into the bathroom, then staggered to the mirror, clutching the wall for support.
She slowly lifted her hand.
In the mirror, the woman’s face was smeared with yellow-green filth. Smack in the center of her forehead protruded a massive eyeball, swiveling left and right.
How could this be?
Why had it grown back?!
Qiu Lishu stumbled back a step.
A massive black shadow loomed behind her. Her features began to warp. Countless eyeballs sprouted from her body, popping up all over as she frantically covered one spot after another.
A tearing pain ripped through her spine, accompanied by a rip.
Under the cold water’s shock, Lu Yanzhong sobered up. He wobbled to his feet and stumbled out of the bathroom.
The door swung open to reveal a giant eye staring back.
“Ah!!!”
Caught off guard by the massive eye, Lu Yanzhong recoiled in terror.
What the hell was that?!
The alcohol fled Lu Yanzhong’s system completely.
He cautiously crept forward and peeked out.
Through the door crack, he saw the bedroom crammed full of a giant spider.
“Crammed” was the perfect word.
The spider was enormous, filling the entire room to bursting. The eye peering toward him was wider than the door itself.
Where was Li Shu?
Thinking of his wife gave Lu Yanzhong a spark of courage amid the endless fear. He cracked the door a bit wider for a better look.
Bang—
The giant spider sensed its prey. A hairy leg shot out, slamming into the door.
The door groaned under the strain.
It didn’t hold for long before being pierced.
A spider leg thrust inside. Lu Yanzhong hugged his head and dodged.
The giant spider didn’t seem intent on killing its prey right away. It toyed with him, leg lashing out repeatedly.
It herded Lu Yanzhong right out of the bathroom.
Out in the open, the spider’s sheer size hit him full force. Lu Yanzhong went cold all over, terror overwhelming him.
What kind of monster was this?!
In his extreme fear, his mind raced. In an instant, he recalled the recent weird phenomenon incident.
Where was his wife?
Dodging the giant spider’s legs, Lu Yanzhong shouted her name at the top of his lungs.
“Li Shu—”
“Li Shu—”
No matter how he called, there was no response.
The fuzz on the spider’s legs was razor-sharp—not fuzz at all. Lu Yanzhong had been slashed several times already, blood pouring from the wounds.
The scent of blood only excited the giant spider more.
Finally, Lu Yanzhong spotted his wife’s clothes—draped over the spider’s back.
Dodging and weaving, he edged closer to the rear.
The instant he got a clear look at the giant spider’s back, Lu Yanzhong’s mind went blank.
There, fused to the spider’s back, was a woman.
The woman’s body was covered in eyeballs rolling every which way. The giant spider had sprouted from her spine, the two inseparably linked.
Lu Yanzhong’s mouth fell open, but no words came out.
The giant spider seemed to tire of the game. Its massive leg sliced through the air, hurtling straight toward him.
Lu Yanzhong stood frozen, as if scared stupid.
Just a second before the leg impaled him, a little girl’s voice piped up from outside.
“Mommy, it’s so noisy.”
Lu Yanzhong snapped to his senses. Seeing the giant spider start to turn its head, he roared and lunged at it.
“Run! Don’t come over!”
The little girl outside sounded bewildered. “Daddy?”
“Get out of here!!!” Lu Yanzhong bellowed.
“Wah—” The girl had never been yelled at by her dad like that. She burst into frightened sobs.
Lu Yanzhong was helpless.
Alone, he couldn’t hold back the giant spider.
The spider’s huge eyeball swiveled, emitting sound waves beyond human hearing.
The girl’s cries gradually faded.
Then stopped entirely.
Lu Yanzhong had no idea what happened. He was pinned to the wall, unable to move.
He wanted to check on his youngest daughter, but the more he struggled, the more blood poured out. Losing too much, his vision started blacking out.
Out of sight, countless tiny spiders crawled up from the floor. They swarmed over his eldest daughter asleep on her princess bed. Countless eyeballs sprouted on her body, slowly turning as they curiously scanned the surroundings.
