Chapter 36 Part 2

Lin Juan didn’t need to measure to know—Lu Yuqing’s pollution value was rising rapidly.

Something inside was directly affecting her.

They needed to hurry.

Otherwise, Lu Yuqing might mutate right there.

Lin Juan quietly told Sheng Tianzong the situation. Sheng Tianzong adjusted the battle plan, and the group sped up. Soon, they reached the end of the spider silk tunnel.

Ahead was a vast space. The ceiling had been broken through at some point, and a huge spiderweb spanned the open area. The giant spider crouched on the web, glaring menacingly at the intruders.

Lu Yuqing stared blankly at the giant spider before her.

She should have felt afraid, terrified.

And she did—but not of the giant spider itself. It was a primal fear from the bottom of her heart, the dread of prey facing the top of the food chain.

It will eat me.

It will eat me!

It’s Mom.

Mom will eat me!

Countless whispers echoed in her mind.

Lin Juan noticed something rolling rapidly under the little girl’s skin. Soon, her skin split open, and a round eyeball poked out.

Sensing Lin Juan’s gaze, the eyeball turned toward him maliciously, staring fixedly as if he were prey trapped in the web.

Lin Juan narrowed his eyes and stared back without showing any weakness.

That eyeball froze under his gaze and rolled in another direction.

Sheng Tianzong noticed Lu Yuqing’s abnormality and was about to speak when he saw Lin Juan subtly shake his head at him.

Sheng Tianzong swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.

It wasn’t just Lu Yuqing. Under the unrelenting pollution’s influence, the ability users were affected too. If a pollution detector were used at that moment, it would show each ability user’s pollution value rising rapidly.

Ability users were accustomed to this situation.

When fighting weird phenomena, using supernatural abilities, or under the influence of the weird phenomena itself, their pollution values would rise significantly.

Its territory invaded and its feeding interrupted, the giant spider flew into a rage. Its massive forelimbs drummed rhythmically on the spiderweb, and in an instant, spiders poured in from all directions, blotting out the sky.

“Holy shit, where did all these spiders come from!”

The ability users dealt with the spider tide while Lin Juan pulled the dazed Lu Yuqing along the spiderweb toward the front.

His target was the giant spider.

Behind the giant spider, he spotted a massive cocoon with the head of Lu Family Second Brother Lu Yanzhong protruding from the top.

Whether Lu Yanzhong was alive or dead, whether he had mutated—Lin Juan had to find out.

Sheng Tianzong, locked in combat with the spider tide, spared a glance ahead.

That one look glued his eyes in place.

Lin Juan seemed to carry the power of thunder as the wood rope in his hand transformed into a massive scythe, raised high.

To the weird phenomena, Lin Juan at that moment was no different from the Death God wielding the Death God’s Scythe.

He was the god of the underworld come to reap their lives.

The scythe slammed down heavily. The giant spider offered no resistance and was cleaved in two.

Yellow-green slime splattered everywhere, and countless eyeballs rolled out from the giant spider’s body.

A foul stench filled the entire space, and wherever the yellow-green slime flowed, large holes were corroded into the surfaces.

The giant spider, split in half, twitched once and went still.

Lin Juan walked to the spider’s head and kicked it.

No reaction.

Dead?

Lin Juan couldn’t be sure.

But the surrounding small spiders scattered in fright, retreating swiftly into the spiderweb and vanishing.

The ability users who had finished the fight stared dumbfounded at the bisected giant spider.

And it was over?

How long had it even taken?

Oh, Mr. Lin had only used one move.

One move!

Such overwhelming power far exceeded their understanding.

The ability users’ gazes gradually heated up.

People like them, who suddenly gained extraordinary power, were power-worshippers at heart. They might feel defiant or eager to challenge someone only slightly stronger, but for power far beyond their comprehension, only reverence remained.

In the face of absolute strength, all else was empty talk.

The B-Rank Anomaly [Humanback Spider] was eliminated too abruptly. Not only the ability users on site, but when the news synced outside, even Director Liu fell into deep doubt.

He confirmed repeatedly, “You really took down the [Humanback Spider]?”

“Not us,” Sheng Tianzong emphasized again. “Mr. Lin.”

“If I remember right, just ten minutes ago, you reported finding the [Humanback Spider]’s hideout?” Director Liu’s voice was dazed.

He knew Lin Juan was powerful and had seen it with his own eyes, but solving a B-Rank Anomaly in ten minutes—no, in one move—still far exceeded his expectations.

With the [Humanback Spider] eliminated, the villa’s pollution began to drop. Director Liu wasted no time and sent people for cleanup.

The villa was thoroughly ruined now.

Lin Juan exited with the ability users, feeling a pang of regret. “These weird phenomena are such a pain. They wrecked another villa.”

“Can’t they nest in some deep mountain forest?”

Why always ruin people’s nice houses?

Suddenly, Lin Juan sensed something and turned his head. “Someone’s watching us from the shadows.”

Director Liu’s expression darkened at the words. “We’ve sealed off the surroundings. No one should be there unless… the other side has ability users too.”

Pinpointing the direction from Lin Juan, Director Liu immediately sent people to investigate.

Unfortunately, they were a step too late.

The black-clothed man, who had timely hidden in the shadows, clicked his tongue lightly and pressed his earpiece. “Plans changed. Experimental Subject A-023 recovery failed.”

“But…” In the darkness, an odd light flashed in his eyes. “The seeds have started sprouting.”

Bat-like black wings unfurled from his back. He flew up high, glanced once more toward Lin Juan, and murmured, “To sense my presence… sharp as expected.”

With that, his wings beat, and he sped away.

Lin Juan wasn’t needed for cleanup, but as the main force in eliminating the [Humanback Spider], he had to brief Director Liu on some details.

Even with accounts from Sheng Tianzong and the other ability users, Director Liu still wanted Lin Juan’s firsthand perspective.

By the time the chat with Director Liu ended, dawn had broken.

Lin Juan returned to the car for a brief rest. This incident involved Lu Family Second Brother and was likely tied to Lu Yanzhou’s coma, so the Lu Family had to be present.

Lin Juan shared his suspicions with Lu Yanzhou. “After Lu Yuqing mutated, she said some things. I’m not sure how much was true or false, but I figure you’re a cautious person. If someone could easily get to you, you wouldn’t have survived unscathed all these years. So your last coma was probably when you let your guard down.”

Lin Juan didn’t spell it out definitively. After all, this involved Lu Yanzhou’s second brother. Whether Lu Yanzhong knew or not, Lu Yanzhou had to handle it himself.

Lin Juan couldn’t step in.

“If only I’d held back a bit,” Lin Juan muttered here. “Keeping the [Humanback Spider] alive might’ve gotten us some info.”

Director Liu, passing by and overhearing, twitched at the corner of his mouth. What did he mean, held back? So chopping weird phenomena was as easy as chopping watermelons for him?

“Even if the [Humanback Spider] were alive, words from weird phenomena aren’t trustworthy,” Director Liu couldn’t help interjecting.

“True. And what Lu Yuqing said might not be entirely accurate either.” Thinking of Lu Yuqing, Lin Juan recalled something. “Where’s Lu Yuqing? And Second Brother Lu’s other two kids—did you find them?”

“We did,” Director Liu sighed. “Couldn’t find the other two kids. Just found two smaller cocoons behind the one wrapping Lu Yanzhong. They’re fully sealed, so we don’t know what’s inside yet.”

“I’ll go take a look.”

“I’ll come with you.” Lu Yanzhou took Lin Juan’s hand hanging at his side. “I want to see Second Brother.”

“No matter what, he’s family. When I was little and sick, Second Brother would buy me candy and even dress as a bunny to cheer me up.”

Though young Lu Yanzhou had found it childish back then.

No need to tell Lin Juan that.

Lin Juan glanced down at his hand enveloped in the man’s large palm. Lu Yanzhou’s palm was very warm, his tone normal, but Lin Juan still caught the deeply buried sadness.

Consider it comfort, then. Lin Juan didn’t pull away and said warmly, “Second Brother Lu will be fine.”

“Mm.”

The three large white cocoons had been moved to the first floor. Lin Juan and Lu Yanzhou entered and immediately saw several ability users gathered around Lu Yanzhong’s large white cocoon, trying to peel it open.

But the cocoon was extremely tough, and unsure of the situation inside, they moved cautiously, somewhat restricted.

“Can’t open it?” Lin Juan walked over.

“We can, but it’s tricky. Sharp tools might hurt the person inside, and dull ones can’t cut the spider silk.”

In the end, the ability users used their supernatural abilities bit by bit to peel away the silk-formed cocoon.

Lu Yanzhong was in bad shape—covered in blood, with a large hole right in the middle of his abdomen crudely plugged with spider silk, which had barely kept him from bleeding out.

Director Liu hurriedly arranged emergency aid.

One cocoon opened, two left.

The smaller one reached Lin Juan’s knee, the other about to his waist. Lin Juan circled the cocoons twice. “Lu Yanzhou, your second brother’s other two kids… they wouldn’t happen to be in these, would they?”

Director Liu’s people had turned the entire villa upside down, killed a bunch of spiders, but the two kids were nowhere.

The most likely spot was these two cocoons.

“[Humanback Spiders] have a habit during nesting of treating husbands and grown-but-unleft-home children as stored food, using the nutrition from devouring them to nurture the next batch of offspring.” Sheng Tianzong poked at a white cocoon. “Mr. Lu Yanzhong and the other two kids were probably turned into reserves.”

“No wonder Lu Yuqing said Mom was going to eat her.”

In eliminating the [Humanback Spider], Lin Juan had conveniently brought Lu Yuqing out too. Away from the pollution source, the eyeballs on her body decreased somewhat, but some remained on her skin, tightly shut like tumors grown from it.

Lu Yuqing’s condition was special—who knew if she still counted as human? Zhuang Yufeng tried his purification ability on her, but the effect wasn’t great. And even unconscious, Lu Yuqing showed a pained expression when he used it.

“It’s already weird phenomena.” Only weird phenomena would react so strongly against purification abilities.

Lin Juan wasn’t surprised by the outcome. She could turn into a giant spider, after all—clearly no normal human.

“Full mutation is irreversible,” Zhuang Yufeng stressed to everyone. “No matter how human it acts, it’s no longer human.”

Since he knew that, he wouldn’t let the tragic experiences of his previous life repeat.

“Can weird phenomena get secondary pollution?” Seeing the eyeballs growing on Lu Yuqing, Lin Juan asked.

“There weren’t any on the giant spider she turned into before.”

“Yes,” Zhuang Yufeng’s expression darkened slightly. “Different weird phenomena have different pollutions. Secondary-polluted weird phenomena become more chaotic and insane.”

“But secondary pollution conditions are extremely harsh. Normally, weird phenomena that are already pollutants won’t suffer it again unless the new pollution source is extraordinarily powerful.”

Like that S-Rank Anomaly from his previous life, which could repeatedly pollute weird phenomena and turn all it polluted into its own fodder.

“Were the eyeballs on that giant spider secondary pollution too?” Lin Juan wondered. “What caused their secondary pollution?”

“We’ll investigate.” Director Liu’s expression was grave. The events at Lu Family Second Brother’s villa were suspicious everywhere—they had to investigate thoroughly.

Crack.

A faint sound came.

Lin Juan turned his head and saw faint movement from the two slightly smaller white cocoons.

Ability users’ senses far exceeded normal humans’. Hearing the noise, everyone’s gazes converged on the white cocoons.

Was something inside coming out?

What would it be?

The white cocoons were slowly torn open from within, and one large and one small black spider crawled out.

Lin Juan moved swiftly, scooping one up in each hand.

Gazing at the broken white cocoons, he mused, “Director Liu, do you guys take in labor reform cases over there?”