“Reform through labor?” Director Liu suspected he had misheard. “What kind of reform through labor?”
Lin Juan summoned the 【Forest Cabin】 and bound the two small spiders with it. “These spider silks should be useful, right?”
“I observed them earlier. The spider silk is soft yet tough. It’s also fireproof and waterproof, and it offers some protection against pollution. It should work well for making protective suits or other gear.”
Director Liu followed Lin Juan’s line of thinking. “That does seem feasible. Let’s take some back to study.”
Lin Juan shoved the two spiders, bundled together, right in front of Director Liu. “Look—two perfect silk-spitting tools.”
Director Liu locked eyes with the four bewildered ones staring back at him and fell deep into thought.
It seemed…
Not impossible.
If the spider silk proved useful, then spiders that could produce it endlessly definitely had value in being kept alive.
Zhuang Yufeng’s 【Precognition Dream】 had shown that in the future world, weird phenomena would persist indefinitely. Humanity couldn’t eradicate them completely and could only find ways to coexist with them. Utilizing every available resource to improve humanity’s future was of utmost importance.
Director Liu made up his mind. He’d call a meeting when he got back to discuss it.
An ability user brought over two containment boxes, each half a person’s height—perfect for holding the two spiders.
Lin Juan stuffed the spiders inside and eyed the sealed boxes. “They look a bit different from the previous ones.”
“They are different,” Director Liu said. “These are newly developed containment boxes specifically for live weird phenomena. We’ve only produced three so far, so we brought two over to test them out.”
Lin Juan remembered this development and was surprised. “They researched and made them this quickly?”
“We have to race against the clock,” Director Liu said half-jokingly. “Battling weird phenomena is a race against time.”
After dealing with the two small spiders, Lin Juan remembered that no matter what, they had been Lu Yanzhou’s nephews. He nudged the arm of the man who hadn’t spoken a word.
“What’s wrong?” Lu Yanzhou asked softly.
“Do you have any thoughts on this?” Lin Juan whispered.
“Hm?” Lu Yanzhou looked puzzled.
“About where those two spiders end up,” Lin Juan muttered. “After all, they used to be Lu Family members—your nephews… right?”
Were they?
Lin Juan had his doubts.
When had Qiu Lishu mutated? If she had been a weird phenomenon from the start, how had she hidden her true nature in human society for so long? If she hadn’t been one originally, when had she become polluted?
Second Brother Lu hadn’t been polluted, yet all three of his children had. That didn’t make sense. Logically, if Qiu Lishu had been polluted early on, then Lu Yanzhong—who had shared a bed with her—should have had a much higher chance of being polluted.
Lin Juan wasn’t the only one puzzled. Director Liu and the others were equally baffled.
Lin Juan and the ability users returned to the third floor.
It could no longer be called the third floor.
The entire space had been hollowed out by the 【Humanback Spider】, forming a massive cavern filled with spider silk—the nest it had woven.
Yellow-green liquid had flowed everywhere, corroding the floors, the spider silk, and anything else it touched.
The area had already been cleared once. Lin Juan stepped over the dried, crusty yellow-green muck as he approached.
The massive 【Humanback Spider】 lay split in half right in the center. No matter how many times they saw it, the ability users who passed by felt a surge of respect for Lin Juan rising in their hearts.
Just one slash.
What kind of slash was that?
It had killed the B-Rank anomaly 【Humanback Spider】 without any resistance.
If they were honest with themselves, could they have done it?
The answer was no. Not even the most powerful ability user at present could one-shot a B-Rank anomaly.
This demonstrated just how formidable Lin Juan’s strength was.
Lin Juan deliberately avoided the area where the woman had been fused. Half of her intact corpse remained attached to one side of the 【Humanback Spider】’s body.
Worried that Lu Yanzhou might be scared, Lin Juan took the initiative to grasp his hand.
His hand was enveloped in a soft, warm touch. Lu Yanzhou paused in his steps, then took control, tightly encircling the hand that had come to him.
“It might be a bit scary,” Lin Juan warned Lu Yanzhou in advance.
“With Xiao Juan here, I’m not afraid.”
“It’s right there.”
Lu Yanzhou spotted it even without Lin Juan pointing. Rounding a swath of spiderwebs, they came face-to-face with the corpse of a giant spider, cleaved clean in half.
The giant spider, towering as tall as a whole floor, lay lifeless on the ground. The visual impact was terrifying. The fine hairs covering its body were sharp and blade-like; one could imagine the horrific wounds they would inflict if they pierced someone.
Yellow-green mucus continued to ooze endlessly from the severed sections, pooling on the ground as if it would never stop. A foul, fishy stench spread everywhere, while small spiders crawled to and fro across the webs.
Suddenly, one of the ability users shouted, “The person on the 【Humanback Spider】 moved!”
Lin Juan instinctively looked up.
He had confirmed it earlier—the 【Humanback Spider】 was dead. Was it playing dead after all?
“Everyone, be careful! Don’t get too close!” another ability user warned loudly.
“I’ll take a look.” Lin Juan pulled free from Lu Yanzhou’s hand. If the 【Humanback Spider】 wasn’t dead, he’d have to deliver another slash.
He had always felt that it had died too easily under his blade.
His hand suddenly empty, Lu Yanzhou felt an emptiness in his heart as well. Lin Juan had important business, so he couldn’t stop him. He could only remind him softly, “Be careful.”
“I will. You watch out too.” Leaving Lu Yanzhou—who had no supernatural ability—behind made Lin Juan uneasy.
The ability users standing guard nearby spoke up at once. “Mr. Lin, don’t worry. We’ll protect Mr. Lu.”
Lin Juan leaped onto the 【Humanback Spider】 and approached the human figure fused to it.
Up close, Lin Juan saw the woman twitch.
No, it could no longer be called human. The humanoid figure was covered in eyeballs, their surroundings yellowed. They stared fixedly at Lin Juan, wriggling like living things. Anyone who saw the sight would feel a chill run down their spine.
Lin Juan kept walking forward without pause.
To examine it better, he squatted halfway down and checked the humanoid’s nostrils for breath.
There was none.
The unrecognizable Qiu Lishu had her eyes tightly shut. The instant Lin Juan withdrew his hand, her eyes snapped open.
The ability users vigilantly watching her jumped in fright, but Lin Juan showed no reaction. Instead, he thoughtfully studied Qiu Lishu’s face.
Eyeballs had grown all over Qiu Lishu’s face too.
One after another, crammed together. As she opened her eyes, they came alive, swiveling this way and that. As they jostled, they made squishing sounds like “squish squish.”
“Still alive?” Lin Juan glanced around, uncertain.
Qiu Lishu glared at Lin Juan with venomous resentment. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.
Her mouth was also filled with eyeballs.
She could only glare resentfully at Lin Juan until the eyeballs covered her entire body and reached their limit. With a “bang,” they burst apart.
Like scattered balls, they rolled in all directions.
Wherever they went, the small spiders scrambled away in a panic.
In an instant, the nest of white spiderwebs was crawling with black spiders of all sizes.
No one noticed as one tiny spider—covered in eyeballs, like a giant spider shrunken a million times—crawled uncontrollably toward Lu Yanzhou.
Blending in with the other small spiders, it abruptly vanished.
Lin Juan and the ability users cleaned up the aftermath together.
They filled several sacks with spiders of all sizes. Some were outright eliminated by the ability users, while the rest would be sent to the Research Institute—two of them specifically for study.
By the time everything was handled, the sky had brightened.
Lin Juan and Lu Yanzhou walked out of the villa together. Gazing at the lush green plants, Lin Juan sighed. “Right now, spiders are all I can see, whether my eyes are open or closed.”
He never wanted to see another spider again in this lifetime.
Director Liu overheard and laughed. “You’re not the only one. Everyone on this mission probably won’t want to see spiders again for a while.”
The endless stream of black spiders hadn’t done much damage individually, but there had simply been too many.
Anything that proliferated into a disaster was no easy matter to handle.
The other ability users nodded in deep agreement.
The investigation results came out the next afternoon. At that time, Lin Juan and the Lu Family were at the Pollution Illness Special Zone Hospital. Lu Yanzhong still hadn’t woken up.
Old Master Lu had remained silent ever since hearing the news. He blamed himself deeply. “If only I’d paid more attention to them.”
If he hadn’t neglected them for so many years, would he have noticed the abnormalities in his second son’s family sooner?
“Grandpa, this has nothing to do with you.” Lu Mingxuan supported Old Master Lu and comforted him.
No one could have foreseen something like this happening.
Lu Yanzhong’s wounds had been treated, and the pollution on his body had been purified by Zhuang Yufeng. Yet he remained unconscious. The doctors said it might be related to the immense shock he had suffered before passing out.
No one knew what had happened to Lu Yanzhong before he lost consciousness.
Lin Juan hadn’t told the Lu Family about his suspicions for the time being. Instead, he had entrusted the matter to Director Liu for investigation. If it had nothing to do with Qiu Lishu, there was no need to tell Old Master Lu and upset him further. If it did, evidence would make it more convincing.
The moment a lead turned up, Director Liu shared the information with Lin Juan.
As Lin Juan had expected, Lu Yanzhou’s coma was connected to Qiu Lishu.
Lin Juan finished reading and couldn’t help looking toward Lu Yanzhou.
A faint heartache showed in his eyes.
Though Lu Yanzhou never said it aloud, after spending so much time together, Lin Juan could sense that he was someone who truly valued family ties. He had treated the three children from Second Brother Lu’s family as his own juniors.
Lin Juan had learned from Lu Mingxuan that Lu Yanzhou always brought gifts for the family whenever he returned from a business trip. Lu Mingxuan received them every time, as did the three children from Second Brother Lu’s family.
Yet it was his own nephew, whom he had cared for without any defenses, who had struck him from behind.
Lin Juan had grown up apart from his parents, cultivating under his master. He had seen too much of the cutthroat interests between people and developed an emotionally detached nature. Very few could enter his circle of trusted ones.
Coming to this world had only added the Lu Family to that list.
Under Lin Juan’s gaze, Lu Yanzhou—who already had most of his attention on him—quickly noticed the shift in his mood.
“What’s wrong?” Lu Yanzhou walked over.
“I think I know who put you into that coma last time.” Lin Juan’s voice was somewhat heavy.
Lu Yanzhou rarely saw him in such low spirits. He squatted down in front of him. “Xiao Juan, don’t be sad. It’s all in the past.”
“Besides, if I hadn’t fallen into that coma, I might never have met you. In a way, I should even thank them.”
Thank them for delivering you to my side.
Seeing Lu Yanzhou truly didn’t seem to mind, Lin Juan relaxed a bit. He handed over his phone. “I had Director Liu look into it. It’s all here—take a look first.”
“Don’t squat. Sit here.” Lin Juan patted the spot beside him.
Lu Yanzhou rose smoothly and sat next to Lin Juan.
Whether by accident or design, he sat very close. Their thighs touched, and the other’s body heat transmitted through the thin fabric.
Warm. Slightly hot.
Lin Juan’s attention was fixed on Lu Yanzhou’s reaction to the information, so he didn’t shift his leg away.
Lu Yanzhou showed no particular reaction throughout. It was as if he were reading about someone else’s misfortune rather than his own.
Lin Juan gauged the time and, once Lu Yanzhou had nearly finished, spoke thoughtfully. “If you’re upset, you don’t have to hold it in.”
Truth be told, Lu Yanzhou wasn’t all that upset. He had gone abroad for studies in his youth and had missed Second Brother Lu’s marriage and the birth of his children. Call him cold-blooded if you like, but his feelings toward those three kids were quite thin.
Still, he hadn’t expected the child named Lu Yuqing to harm him.
He had to admit, whoever was behind it knew exactly how to manipulate people.
Who would guard against a child for no reason—especially his own brother’s daughter?
But seeing Lin Juan’s worried expression, Lu Yanzhou appropriately showed a trace of sadness. He turned his head away. “I’m fine.”
How could he be fine?
