Chapter 26 - Spider's Journey and Cicada's Transformation Part 1

Loading bullets, inserting the barrel, installing the spring…

Thud!

A heavy collision sound came from outside the cabinet, as if something had hit open the front door and barged into the classroom, followed by the detailed sound of footsteps crossing the floor.

From the distribution of the noises, it seemed like there were three Spider Monsters.

Ye Jiaying’s face suddenly turned pale, her mind instinctively conjured the image of a person trapped in a cocoon, being transported to an unknown place.

Even so, she didn’t scream.

Instead, she forced herself to calm down, slightly shifting up the hand holding her phone, and using her fingers to cover the flashlight on the back of the phone, leaving only a faint light necessary for Yuan Zhixia to assemble the firearm.

Her other hand put unrelated items like the Beeping Alarm and Chili Water Spray back into the backpack and slowly zipped it up.

The sound of the Spider Monsters’ footsteps was getting closer.

Yuan Zhixia gave Ye Jiaying an appreciative look as she silently sped up her movements, completing the assembly of the entire handgun, and finally taking out a titanium alloy silencer disguised as a water bottle filter.

The silencer had openings at the front connected to multiple internal baffles.

When firing, the burning gases first passed through these baffles, their force diminished before ejecting forward.

This design not only provided noise reduction but also prevented the backflow of burning gases towards the shooter.

Similarly, this silencer was also self-made by Yuan Zhixia using a metal sintering printer.

With the silencer attached, the handgun was fully ready.

Yuan Zhixia held the gun in her right hand and supported it with her left beneath the right hand, signaling Ye Jiaying with her eyes to turn off the phone flashlight and to put on sponge earplugs for both of them.

The cabinet plunged into darkness, leaving only the increasingly close footsteps outside.

Creak—

A footstep nudged open the cabinet door, and the moment the outside light streamed in, Yuan Zhixia did not hesitate to pull the trigger.

Bang!

The bullet flew out of the barrel, creating a fierce noise in the semi-enclosed space of the cabinet.

Even with the silencer on the muzzle and sponge earplugs in her ears, the noise still caused a ringing.

The unknown creature hit by the bullet had its head caved in, spewing green fluid.

Its eight legs instinctively curled into a ball and rolled backwards.

It was called an unknown creature because it was not simply a larger version of an ordinary Earth spider.

Its jointed limbs were thicker, its abdomen had fin-like breathing organs, and its head’s colorful patterns faintly outlined a human face,

making it clear from any angle that this was not a species that could naturally evolve in Earth’s ecosystem.

“Run!”

Yuan Zhixia burst open the cabinet door and dashed out of the classroom, with Ye Jiaying following closely behind.

The two Spider Monsters already searching in front of the classroom immediately started chasing them, their speed as fast as a human’s full sprint.

Perhaps attracted by the gunshot or maybe because the Spider Monsters had some form of long-distance communication, more spiders were crawling over the webs outside the corridor.

A dense shadow blocked the sunlight outside the corridor, their ears filled with nothing but the rustling sound of scurrying footsteps.

The two suppressed their fear and sprinted along the corridor.

Through the windows, they could see classmates under the shadow in the classroom, still napping at noon, completely oblivious to what was happening in the world just separated from them by a curtain.

Reaching the end of the corridor and running down the stairs to the first floor,

By now, at least six Spider Monsters were following them, nearly catching up.

Yuan Zhixia tucked the Glock into the holster of her tactical vest and took off a Coca-Cola glass bottle from the vest, biting open the cap with her teeth.

This bottle was actually an Incendiary Bottle, containing a brown flammable liquid disguised as cola.

At the bottom of the cap, a damp piece of cloth was stuck.

On the front of the cap, a piece of sandpaper and a match were attached.

Yuan Zhixia held down the matchstick with one hand, struck it across the sandpaper, igniting the matchstick immediately.

She then flipped the cap, lighting the piece of cloth with the match, before turning around swiftly and hurling the Incendiary Bottle heavily onto the ground.

Bang!

The glass bottle smashed on the floor tiles, instantly shattering.

The splattering flammable liquid ignited in seconds, forming a wall of fierce fire that temporarily blocked the chase of the Spider Monster.

Shooting, running, going downstairs, throwing incendiary bottles.

All these events happened in just over a minute, Yuan Zhixia had done the best she could within her capabilities.

Yet, when she turned her head to look at the exit of the teaching building, despair still inevitably rose from the depths of her heart.

The Technology Building adjacent to the teaching building was mostly covered by spider webs.

Dozens of Spider Monsters outside the building sensed the commotion here; some descended from the rooftop hanging by their webs, others climbed down the exterior walls, while some spilled out of the classrooms, swarming towards them.

Ambush ahead, fire wall behind, with no escape possible, the sound of running echoed from the end of the corridor.

A figure burst through the locked doors of the teaching building, leaping forward off the walls, breaking through the fire wall, passing by the two unresponsive people, and plunging straight into the circle of the surrounding Spider Monsters.

“Be careful—”

Yuan Zhixia only managed to utter a warning before she saw the man swing his arm, extending a bizarre bone knife from under his wrist, reflexively slicing a Spider Monster lunging at his face in two.

Two Bone Blades slashed back and forth, slaughtering the nearby spiders; repeating this a few times, the Spider Monsters stopped their futile deaths.

Including those blocked by the fire wall behind, they all scattered and fled out of sight.

Drip, drip.

Green blood dripped from the Bone Blades onto the ground,

A seemingly ordinary man in black clothes, or rather, Li Cheng who had altered his appearance using worm genes, slightly turned his head and hoarsely said to Yuan Zhixia and Ye Jiaying without any expression, “Five hundred thirty-eight thousand six hundred and seventy-seven dollars and thirty cents.”

“Huh?”

“You two, owe me that much money.”

Li Cheng, pulling out an alcohol swab he had readied from his pocket, wiped the grime off the Bone Blades and took big strides ahead, coldly saying, “Keep up, don’t die here before you pay off your debt.”

Who is this man?

Yuan Zhixia and Ye Jiaying exchanged glances as they followed behind.

The unfamiliar man in black seemed unusually familiar with the current situation; unflustered, with firm steps, he led the way through the spider-web-covered campus.

Also, the bone-like blades extending from his wrists seemed more like…an organ rather than a sleeve dagger or folding knife?

And that amount over five million, how was it calculated?

The man, seemingly aware of their confusion, indifferently said, “Last year, the monthly average consumer spending of Yin City residents was 4375 yuan, roughly calculating the annual inflation rate at 2.5%.

Assuming you start working at twenty-two, retire at fifty, and work for twenty-eight years, the total sums up to 2,693,438.66, doubled it’s 5,386,877.32.

That’s the price for your lives.”

Buying…lives?

Yuan Zhixia pursed her lips; from an economic calculation standpoint, this figure is quite rough.

When determining the inflation rate, one needs to select a price index to represent the general price level change, which could be the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), Retail Price Index (RPI), Consumer Price Index (CPI), or the Gross Domestic Product Price Index.

The variations calculated by different methods are quite significant.

Calculated by the CPI, the ten-year average inflation rate is only 2.6%, but based on the annual increase in M2 minus GDP growth speed, it reaches as high as 4.6%.

Moreover, using average monthly consumer spending rather than average monthly net income doesn’t seem quite right to calculate the price for lives.

However, given the surrounding crisis, there’s really no room for negotiation.

Yuan Zhixia cautiously showed a gentle smile displaying eight teeth, without any aggression, sweetly asked, “Sir, how should we address you?”

…Girl, act normal.

You’re wearing a bulletproof vest and clearly carrying a homemade gun, what are you trying to play at, sweet sister?

Li Cheng inwardly ridiculed frantically but maintained a stern and serious face, indifferently saying, “Just a mercenary paid to do the job, call me Taisai Zhi.”

“Good name,” praised Yuan Zhixia, “‘Zhou Li Tian Guan Zong Zai – Da Zai,’ the position of Da Zai, controls the six codes for founding a state, assisting the king in governing the state.”

Li Cheng glanced at her, coldly saying, “It’s unrelated to that, just a nickname.

I have a cousin called Little Zhi Zai and another cousin called Taisai Zhi.”

…Why don’t you say you have a brother called Little Flipping Zai and another brother called Grandlord then?

I really like a phrase by Taisai Zhi in ‘No Longer Human’, cnm, you little arm brat, have you truly never seen the underworld?

Dare to compare notes with me?

Yuan Zhixia’s expression stiffened, and she nodded sheepishly.