Chapter Seventy-Two: Opportunity

"Don't come any closer—I seem to be stuck to something." Liu Chang waved his arms vigorously in the air, but no matter how much strength he used, he could only manage the slightest tremor. It was as if some invisible shackle bound him, completely restricting his movements.

"Stop struggling!" Seeing Liu Chang thrashing about, Li Qingshui sternly stopped him. One hand gripping his knife, he reached for the mist lamp at his waist with the other, switched it on, and shone its beam around Liu Chang.

"Oh, hell! It's spider silk!" Under the illumination of the lamp, Liu Chang looked down and finally saw the pink strands of spider silk binding his body. These threads were crystal clear, almost merging with the color of the red mist—easy to conceal. Cloaked in darkness, they were nearly impossible to detect, even for someone with the sharpest eyes.

"Don't move. Spider silk is nine times tougher than steel, and this mutated variety looks even sturdier," Li Qingshui warned as he carefully approached Liu Chang, keeping the mist lamp focused. "The more you struggle, the more entangled you'll get."

"So, what now?"

"Don't worry, I have an idea." As Li Qingshui spoke, he took a lighter from his pocket, tore a strip of cloth from his clothing, and wrapped it around a branch. "We’ll burn it off."

"Uh," Liu Chang exhaled in relief, then darted his eyes around, alert to any movement. "Hurry, then. I bet as soon as I got caught, the vibrations from the web alerted the spider that made it."

"You're right. It's already coming!" Li Qingshui had just finished wrapping the branch when a shadow flashed before him. Quickly, he tossed the branch aside and gripped his knife tightly.

"Where is it?" Liu Chang strained to twist his head, but with silk plastered across his face, he couldn't turn at all.

"Don't bother looking. You can't see it—it's behind you!"

"Kill it! Don't let it bite me!" Knowing the spider was right behind him, Liu Chang thrashed violently, desperate to shake it off. "How big is it?"

"Not too big. Hold still." Li Qingshui eyed the spider—about the size of a washbasin, its body a mix of red and white. It stopped behind Liu Chang, likewise fixing its eight beady eyes on Li Qingshui.

Man and spider faced off for half a second.

Then, they moved at the same time.

The spider paid no mind to the immobilized Liu Chang and lunged straight at Li Qingshui.

Li Qingshui, in turn, thrust his knife at the spider.

The spider’s lunge was lightning-quick—Li Qingshui’s attack, by comparison, was slow. In fact, next to the spider, his movement was positively sluggish. By any ordinary logic, the spider should have struck first, knocking Li Qingshui off balance and biting him fatally.

But reality defied logic. As the spider leapt, Li Qingshui’s arm, barely raised, was abruptly halted in midair. At that precise instant, the spider collided headlong with the blade he was holding.

It was like a bizarre, freak accident—everything aligning just so: the spider’s leap, Li Qingshui’s raised hand, and before his arm had even cleared his chest, the spider impaled itself on the knife.

Most coincidentally of all, the point of impact was the spider’s most vulnerable spot—the junction between its head and body, beyond the protection of its bristling hairs.

And fate’s irony was not done—the force of the spider’s own lunge drove the blade deeper. The knife spun lightly in Li Qingshui’s grip, and with almost no effort, he severed the spider’s head at the root.

Even as its body flew forward, it missed its would-be killer entirely. The force of the blow sent it tumbling into the grass, skirting past the human by a hair.

From the leap to the crash—all in less than a second.

“It’s dead,” Li Qingshui announced, stowing his knife and retrieving the branch from the ground.

“No way, that fast?” Liu Chang, still reeling from the fact that only a heartbeat ago the spider had been behind him, could barely believe it. “Was it just weak or something?”

“I’m not sure. Anything I can actually land a hit on isn’t much trouble, but I couldn’t say if it was weak,” Li Qingshui replied. He flicked his lighter, setting the rag-wrapped branch alight to make a small torch.

He brought the torch closer to Liu Chang, softening the spider silk with the heat. As the threads loosened, Liu Chang jerked free of their grip.

“Finally!” Liu Chang dropped to the ground, quickly stretching his limbs. “Being a fish on the chopping block is no fun.” He took the mist lamp from Li Qingshui. “Keep it on—without this light, there’s no way I’d see these webs.”

“Alright,” Li Qingshui nodded. “But this place feels strange. Stay alert.”

“I will.”

With the lamp’s yellow glow, Liu Chang’s vision broadened. In its light, he was struck by a cruel realization—webs were everywhere.

Ahead, the forest was blanketed in spider webs of every size, strung from the treetops, draped across the ground, large and small, a tangled mass as far as the eye could see. Judging by the sheer coverage, it was easy to imagine how many spiders this place harbored.

“How dangerous do you think that spider just now was?” Liu Chang asked, casting his light over the webs and glancing at Li Qingshui.

“About 1.5, I’d say. And judging by its appearance, it’s likely venomous,” Li Qingshui answered honestly.

“That’s not good. If there are more than eight of those, we’re finished. And from the looks of it, there aren’t just eight—more like eighty.” Liu Chang swept his light over the trees and ground. “But where are they all? With this many webs, there shouldn’t have been just one!”

“No idea. There’s no way there’s only one—it doesn’t make sense.” Li Qingshui frowned and shook his head. “Where could the others have gone?”

A shrill screech suddenly echoed from deep within the web-strewn forest—a sound both men immediately recognized. They’d encountered this monster twice before, its cry unforgettable—a millipede’s roar.

And from its voice, the millipede was in excruciating pain.

“That’s it. Most of the spiders must be attacking the millipede that wandered into their territory. Let’s use this chance to find Fatty.” Hearing the cry, Li Qingshui’s spirits lifted. He grabbed Liu Chang and hurried forward.

“Let’s move. No dawdling.”

“Got it.” Relieved, Liu Chang quickly lowered his head, searching for tracks.

With the mist lamp lighting their way, they slipped through the web-laced forest, following the trail until they found a familiar figure hanging from a tree.

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