Chapter 36 Part 1

Recalling what the Giant Spider had said, Lin Juan felt that he couldn’t let it be eaten just like that.

At least, he needed to figure out what it meant by “helping mom,” and whether it had anything to do with Lu Yanzhou’s coma.

The thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. Lin Juan grabbed one end of the Wood Rope, and it swiftly wrapped toward the Giant Spider, snatching it from the giant spider’s mouth.

Lin Juan yanked the Wood Rope, pulling hard.

The Giant Spider was dragged away.

Its miserable scream cut off abruptly.

It seemed surprised to be rescued. It opened its eyes wide, and Lin Juan saw bewilderment in those eyes that were still somewhat normal for the moment.

Having its food stolen, the giant spider flew into a rage. It stomped its front limbs and charged at Lin Juan.

Lin Juan dodged to the side while kicking out with one foot.

“Boom!”

The giant spider was sent flying, crashing into the wall with a massive thud.

The ability users seized the chance to unleash their supernatural abilities.

With Lin Juan there, dealing with the giant spider wasn’t too difficult.

Even the tough spider silk it spat out could be easily torn apart in Lin Juan’s hands.

Seeing it was no match, the giant spider spewed out a huge mass of spider silk, trapping Lin Juan and the others. By the time they broke free, the giant spider was gone.

Lin Juan searched around but couldn’t find any trace of it.

“Such a huge thing—did it hide?” The giant spider’s massive body couldn’t possibly vanish without a trace.

Scattered small spiders crawled around on the ground. Lin Juan’s gaze fell on the Giant Spider, which lay there uncertain if it was dead or alive.

The Giant Spider’s body shrank, and gradually, its spider form disappeared. In its place appeared a little girl.

“How is that possible?!” The ability users who witnessed this were stunned.

It was common knowledge that those fully polluted turned into weird phenomena, a process that was irreversible. But what had they just seen? A fully transformed weird phenomenon reverting back to human.

Was this little girl still human?

Sheng Tianzong approached cautiously. The little girl had her eyes tightly closed, unclear if she was asleep or unconscious. The Pollution Detector beeped, showing that the pollution value on her body was steadily dropping.

Soon, it fell below the critical threshold.

The little girl’s eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Sheng Tianzong tensed up, watching her without blinking.

The little girl looked to be only around ten years old, inheriting all her parents’ good looks. She was adorable, but in this situation, no one would treat her like an ordinary child.

The other ability users held their breath, staring at the little girl as well.

They couldn’t tell if she was human or weird right now. What had just happened was too unbelievable.

The news reached the higher-ups of the Anomalous Affairs Bureau immediately. Upon hearing it, they took it very seriously. Director Liu came personally with his team. They had to determine whether the little girl was human or weird.

If she was human, how could she switch freely between weird and human? If they figured that out, could it lead to a way to completely cure pollution sickness?

A spark of hope ignited in Director Liu’s heart.

Zhuang Yufeng rushed over upon receiving the news, but he held a pessimistic view. After all, in his previous life, they had thoroughly understood the weird phenomena and still hadn’t found a way to turn humans who had weirdified back into humans.

In the future, some fully weirdified entities did wear human skin again, but that was just disguise. No matter how human they looked on the outside, inside they were no longer human—they had lost everything that made them human.

Weird phenomena were just weird phenomena. No matter how they disguised themselves, they wouldn’t become human.

That was the consensus of everyone in the future.

A consensus forged from countless painful sacrifices.

It had been a long time since his rebirth, and in Zhuang Yufeng’s memory, weird phenomena capable of such disguises shouldn’t have appeared this early.

But perhaps the weird phenomena had evolved this ability long ago, and they just hadn’t discovered it.

In the villa.

“What do we do with this kid?” Gu Kai looked at his team captain. They couldn’t just ignore her, but taking her along—what if she suddenly weirdified into a Giant Spider and bit them?

They had seen how huge that giant spider’s mouth was earlier. The mucus inside was highly corrosive; if it touched skin, it would burn a huge hole. And it wasn’t just corrosive—the mucus was also extremely poisonous and couldn’t be touched lightly.

The Giant Spider had called the giant spider “mom,” so it might be poisonous too.

Even if she looked human now, no one could guarantee she really was.

Frontline combat troops who had dealt with countless weird phenomena wouldn’t be so naive.

Sheng Tianzong fell silent.

This was the first time he had encountered something like this. He had already contacted the outside, and Zhuang Yufeng had warned him that anything unusual required utmost caution.

As captain, Sheng Tianzong was responsible not only for his own life but for the safety of everyone present.

But executing a child just like that…

Sheng Tianzong clenched his fingers.

Perhaps sensing something, the little girl slowly opened her eyes.

Caught off guard by the strangers, she shouted and sat up, hugging her knees. “Who are you?”

She looked vigilant, undisguised fear in her eyes. Seeing the chaotic surroundings made her fear turn to terror. She shrank back. “What do you want? Where are my mom and dad?”

The bewilderment and terror in her eyes didn’t seem fake. Sheng Tianzong couldn’t judge if it was an act.

Gu Kai twitched his lips at being looked at like a criminal. He wanted to explain but didn’t know where to start.

Lin Juan had an idea. The Wood Rope shortened, tying his loose long hair back behind his head in a casual knot.

“Yuqing.”

Hearing her name, Lu Yuqing instinctively looked over.

She saw a very handsome young man with long hair tied back, draping over his shoulder. He wore a simple shirt and pants, exuding an air of laziness and casualness.

“You’re…?”

“Don’t you remember?” Lin Juan tossed the question back. “You called your Little Uncle in the middle of the night, saying your mom had gone crazy and wanted to eat you guys. I’m here to look into it on his behalf.”

The ability users were startled that Lin Juan would state the facts so directly.

Was it okay to just say it like that?

“I…” The long-haired young man didn’t seem like a liar. Lu Yuqing tried hard to recall. “I don’t remember. My head felt dizzy today, and I went to bed early.”

Sheng Tianzong and the others weren’t sure if she was lying.

Lin Juan didn’t say whether he believed her. He only said, “Where are your mom and dad? I need to understand the situation so I can report back to your Little Uncle.”

To ease Lu Yuqing’s doubts, Lin Juan added, “If you’re skeptical, you can call your Little Uncle.”

Lu Yuqing was half-believing.

She wouldn’t trust strangers easily, but she trusted her Little Uncle. Dad had said Little Uncle was family they could rely on.

“Want a phone?” Lin Juan pulled out his phone and approached.

Lu Yuqing hesitated, then nodded.

“My phone has your Little Uncle’s contact. You can call or video chat—whatever you want.” Lin Juan unlocked the phone and held it out to her.

The ability users watched Lin Juan silently, not stopping him.

Lu Yuqing was from the Lu Family. Setting aside the high chance she was weird, they wouldn’t interfere much in Lu Family matters.

Of course, if it was confirmed she was undeniably weird, they would act.

Lu Yuqing hesitated a bit longer before choosing video.

Outside the villa, a suddenly vibrating phone drew the attention of the nearby ability users. Lu Yanzhou took out his phone, intending to hang up. But seeing the contact name on the screen, he paused.

“Who’s calling at this hour? It’s not even dawn,” Lu Mingxuan grumbled. Catching sight of the name on the screen, he coughed. “Little Uncle?”

Wasn’t Lin Juan in the villa? Why was he suddenly video calling?

On the fifth vibration, Lu Yanzhou answered. Seeing the little girl on the screen, he swallowed his words.

“Lu Yuqing?” Lu Mingxuan leaned over. “How do you have Little Uncle’s phone?”

“Little Uncle…” Lu Yuqing stared blankly at the people on the screen. The moment she saw family, the tears she had been holding back poured down her cheeks. “A bunch of weird people came into the house, waaah, Little Uncle. They say you sent them, that I called you and said Mom went crazy and wanted to eat us…”

Lu Yuqing cried as she recounted everything that had happened.

Seeing Lu Yanzhou not speaking, Lu Mingxuan stepped in. “Yeah, not just you—your little brother and sister called all of us too, saying pretty much the same thing. Have you seen Little Uncle? The really good-looking guy with long hair. Don’t be scared. Tell him what happened. Little Uncle is super capable—he can solve anything.”

“Little Uncle…” Lu Yuqing ignored him, staring pleadingly at the tall man on the screen.

Lu Yanzhou spoke. “Yes, that’s your Little Uncle. You can trust him.”

“Believe it now?” Lin Juan wiggled the phone.

He turned the phone around, aiming the camera at himself. “Good thing they modified the phone last time to block pollution and external connections. Anyway, we need to go find Second Brother Lu at your house.”

With that, Lin Juan ended the video.

With that video call, Lu Yuqing clearly trusted Lin Juan much more.

“Can you walk on your own?” Lin Juan asked.

“Yeah.” Lu Yuqing lowered her head and followed beside Lin Juan.

“You might see some scary stuff soon,” Lin Juan warned her ahead of time. “But don’t worry. I can handle it.”

On the way, they passed Lu Yuqing’s little brother and sister’s room. Lin Juan and Sheng Tianzong went in to check but didn’t see the two children.

Those two were younger than Lu Yuqing. It was unknown if something bad had happened to them.

The closer they got to Second Brother Lu and his wife’s bedroom, the denser the spiderwebs became. More small spiders crawled on the floor and walls, and the mutations were more severe.

Those spiders were covered in eyeballs that glowed with eerie red light in the dim environment.

Coming face-to-face with a bunch suddenly was enough to stop a heart.

At the location, there was no door left—just a massive spiderweb.

The white spiderweb had replaced the door, separating inside from outside like two worlds. From outside, they couldn’t see what was happening inside.

The ability users tore open the spiderweb. In an instant, an indescribable stench wafted out.

Lin Juan covered his nose. “So gross.”

It was like rotten fish fermented for a month. The fishy stink hit straight to the brain, making everyone’s eyes water and heads spin.

Pushing aside the spider silk, they moved forward.

They weren’t walking on a normal path anymore but through a cave formed entirely of spider silk. White silk surrounded them on all sides, with occasional red glows peeking through—the small spiders hiding behind the silk.

“Watch out!”

As soon as the words fell, rustling sounds approached from far to near.

A fist-sized spider lunged at them.

Then a second, a third…

The ability users shielded Lin Juan and Lu Yuqing in the center, keeping the spiders away.

The Wood Rope in Lin Juan’s hair untied itself automatically, elongating and sweeping outward. Everywhere it passed, spiders fell in swathes.

Lu Yuqing was terrified by the sight. She clamped her hands over her mouth and pressed tightly against Lin Juan’s leg.

Her body felt terribly wrong, like something was growing out from inside. Only by sticking close to Lin Juan did it feel a bit better.

“So uncomfortable…”

The little girl murmured unconsciously.

Lin Juan looked down and saw something faintly bulging under the skin on Lu Yuqing’s exposed areas, as if trying to burrow out.