Chapter 30 - Spider's Journey and Cicada's Transformation 5

Massive memory manipulation?

No, it can’t be called memory manipulation, because if it were just memories, it wouldn’t be able to fool the surveillance cameras.

It’s more like…

cognitive pollution.

Is this possible?

Li Cheng unconsciously slowed his pace, cold sweat suddenly breaking out on his forehead.

The more he tried to think, the more blurred his memories related to spiders became, to the point where he briefly forgot why he was standing here and why he should keep walking forward.

“People eaten by the giant spider, their families and friends would forget them, as if they had never existed.

People would concoct a reasonable explanation.”

A small Spider Monster, covered with a layer of white gauze on its head, muttered to itself: “If a child’s parents were captured and eaten, then the adults would believe that he has been an orphan without parents since childhood.

The child himself would think the same.”

“If a factory worker was captured and eaten, then the adults would think that this factory has always been hiring but could never fill the vacancies.”

“I secretly saved many people in the shopping mall.

But after they left, they couldn’t remember the giant spider, nor me…”

Perhaps it was the overly familiar tone, Ye Jiaying suddenly stopped, her voice trembling: “Yang…

Yang Ling?”

The small Spider Monster’s figure suddenly stiffened; it moved its feet and slowly turned around.

Buzz—

A subway train roared past, the fierce wind lifting the white gauze from its head, revealing its head.

On the left side, its head was no different from that of ordinary Spider Monsters, with four single eyes, chelicerae, and mouthparts.

On the right, there was half of a face of a little girl, approximately seven years old.

The features were especially familiar.

Boom!

Li Cheng felt as if a thunder had exploded in his mind.

A mysterious rotting smell pervaded the classroom of the recent Fifth Class…

Classmates and teachers were always tripped by something in the right aisle…

The homeroom teacher, Yang Hui, had a sudden change in personality, becoming irritable…

A rush of fragmented memories flooded his mind.

Everything now had an explanation.

Her name was Yang Ling, the daughter of the homeroom teacher Yang Hui.

Her father had died heroically when she was young, and her mother, to take care of her, let her sit in a seat on the right side of the podium after school in a high school classroom.

Every time school ended, Li Cheng and his classmates liked to go over and tease her.

If she was in a good mood, she would sweetly bid them “Goodbye, brothers and sisters.”

No sooner had she recalled this than the related memories in Ye Jiaying’s brain began to recede rapidly, like a receding tide.

She could only press her forehead, desperately repeating the name, “Yang Ling, you are Yang Ling!

I remember…”

“Big sister Ye,”

Yang Ling’s half-human face showed a sad smile, “How has my mom been recently?”

“Your mom?

Your mom is Yang Hui?

She, she has been fine lately, just a bit bad-tempered.

Wait, you are Yang Ling?

Your mom is Yang Hui?”

Ye Jiaying abruptly slapped herself to maintain the memory a bit longer in her mind, “I will remember you, I will call the police to help you.”

“Thank you, big sister Ye, but, it’s useless.

My ‘existence’ has already been consumed, I can’t leave here.”

“It won’t be useless!” Ye Jiaying took off a hairpin from her head, and with the metal edge of the hairpin, carved Yang Ling’s name on her wrist.

“Even if you carve down the name, you will forget it after leaving.”

Yang Ling said softly, “Even if you see the name, you won’t remember anything about me.”

She stopped, leading the three of them, coming to the subway station platform.

People were coming and going on the platform, each wrapped in a layer of shadows, waiting for the train on their own.

Ding dong.

As the indicator light turned on, a train arrived at the station.

Just by boarding and traveling a few kilometers, the three of them could leave the Shadow Realm and return to reality.

And forget everything about this nightmarish experience.

“I’m already so happy to know that my brother and sister are okay, and to find out that mom has been well lately.”

Yang Ling stood in front of the train door, smiling, “Let’s go.”

Li Cheng stood motionless, his right hand covering his face, fingers digging deep into his hair, his expression unreadable.

“Mr.

Dazai, sir?” Yuan Zhixia asked in confusion.

“Give me money,” Li Cheng suddenly spoke, reaching out his palm to Yang Ling, “One dollar.”

“I have it here.” Ye Jiaying hesitantly took out a dollar from her wallet, but Li Cheng remained unmoved.

Yuan Zhixia snatched the coin and handed it to Yang Ling, who stretched out two fingers, picked up the coin, and placed it in the warm palm of Li Cheng.

“Thus, the contract is made.”

Li Cheng took the dollar, nodded, and then abruptly turned and walked back towards the shopping mall.

“Mr.

Dazai, where are you going?!”

“She saved my life, so I gave her a 99% discount, returning her favor with a life.”

Li Cheng said without looking back, “If leaving the mall means I’ll forget everything about that spider, then let’s stay here and kill it.”

Blood boiled hotly, his heart thumped wildly, gums oozed blood furiously, and his tongue tasted the rich metallic sweetness once more.

The Master of Insects’ infection and the genetic suppressant, like incompatible forces of water and fire, contended within Li Cheng, restraining his body.

Until now.

He pulled a metal cylinder, smaller than a thermos, from his clothes, filled with sawdust, containing a Hercules beetle pupa that would take over a month to hatch.

Taking out the pupa, he placed a Blood Amber on it.

Upon touching living tissue, the Blood Amber melted and fused into the pupa.

Surging strength stirred within the pupa, drastically shortening the usually lengthy pupal stage.

The soft shell first hardened, then shattered.

Li Cheng held the emerged beetle in his palm.

Cold wind from the subway blew, quickly hardening the soft, pure white wing covers of the newly hatched beetle, turning them black with a metallic luster.

The long spear-like protrusions were sharp, the armor tough and robust, its body nearly thirty centimeters long, far exceeding the species’ typical size limits, resembling a mini tank, truly worthy of the name Hercules.

The blood-driven bond made the beetle crawl obediently in Li Cheng’s palm.

Li Cheng no longer suppressed the effects of Genetic Hunger, allowing the skin on his palm to sink in, absorbing the genes of this mutated Hercules beetle.

Hunted by monsters, infected by the Master of Insects, transformed into a non-human form, and learning that he only had two months to live, treated by the company as a valuable specimen worthy of vivisection.

From his youth, teachers, society, and the media instilled the belief in him to trust official narratives.

But faced with stark choices of interest, the Special Affairs Bureau would not spend astronomical resources to save someone not even a player like himself.

All he could expect was a bullet smashing through his skull.

He was a monster in the eyes of the Special Affairs Bureau, but they hadn’t managed to clear out the real monsters right under their noses.

“Screw it.”

Newly formed genes reshaped his body, black armor-like shells grew on his cheeks, forehead, chest, and back, and sharp barbs extended from his elbows, while horns sprouted from his forehead.

Boom!

He kicked the staff entrance of the mall, and with a clang, the metal door slid ten meters on the ground, slowly turning to ash.

The loud sound alerted all the Spider Monsters in the Demon Nest, who paused and looked downward.

Click.

Li Cheng twisted his neck, shaking his arms, extending the Mantis Arm Bone Blades that had grown significantly longer.