The next day, when Luo Su left the house, he had a necklace around his neck. On the black string of the necklace was a woman’s ring.
It was a signal for one to lose themselves in fanciful delusions, making them misunderstand him as having a story, a tragedy.
But Ashley did not think so. As a young girl in love, her IQ was finding lower levels to descend into every day. She believed that Luo Su would use this ring to propose to her. While secretly delighted, she remained outwardly aloof and said nothing. Occasionally, while she was snuggling in Luo Su’s chest, she would take the ring and play around with it.
She played around with it the entire morning…
With an enemy lurking in the shadows, Luo Su was in no mood for romance. He wasn’t someone who would lose himself the moment he saw a woman. While cuddling with Ashley, he continued to wait for Samantha’s report.
In the afternoon, he wandered around the entrance to the abandoned mine, trying to use live bait to draw out the starving mutant spiders.
The EPA lab in Phoenix sent a reply to Samantha. The chemical sample she had sent was a prohibited substance that was primarily used for medical treatments. The American government allowed the expert of the finished drug, but it banned the selling of the raw material. It was a monopolized product that had its annual output strictly controlled.
The controls on its production made this chemical extremely rare and worth more than gold on the black market. The Phoenix EPA had already reported this matter to their superiors, under the impression that someone was illegally exporting this substance.
Considering that Arizona bordered Mexico, the buyer was obvious!
Other than its use in drug manufacturing, this chemical was also used in biological research. It was a stimulant for insects and arachnids, acting as a growth hormone and causing insects to mutate. However, it had no effect on the human body and would not directly contaminate the environment.
Upon learning this, Luo Su ruled out Vioro Chemical as the source of the mutation. It was clear that this chemical company was not an Umbrella Company, just some people trying to make a little extra money.
Luo Su didn’t care about who those people were. Joshua’s autopsy report had come out. He had died an extremely gruesome death, with seven never-before-seen poisons in his body.
These seven unknown poisons represented seven unknown or mutated creatures, attracting the interest of specialists and professors. A group of researchers had already made plans to set up shop in Prosperity, hoping to win a Nobel Prize or a money-making patent.
This was good news. They were all experts in their field and wielded great authority in society. Once they saw those mutant spiders, no, maybe even just a spider leg, the spiders of Prosperity would meet their doomsday.
It wasn’t that Luo Su couldn’t stand the mutant spiders…fine, he couldn’t stand them.
The mutant spiders were truly frightening. Their organization and numbers made them a lethal and aggressive force, but this was no longer the era of spears and swords. When humans took out planes and artillery, weapons that stood at the top of the food chain, all the spiders could do was find a comfortable position on the dissection table.
Three research teams entered the Prosperity, one of them from Arizona State University. Luo Su became their guide on the excuse of making a little extra money, but a good college didn’t mean a good research team. This group was lacking money and was anxious to produce results so that they could get a sponsor.
Besides that, the male lead, Chris, also returned, a scruffy man with a shy and awkward personality.
Chris’s arrival meant that the spider army was about to finish reorganizing. In the movie, he exterminated the massive female orb-weaver spider, but Luo Su didn’t have much hope in him. The plot had gotten off track, and it would be very difficult for Chris to perform the feats his counterpart in the movie had.
The brothers had not met in ten years. Luo Su didn’t have any memories of the man and didn’t know what to say while Chris wasn’t good at expressing his emotions. The two of them simply hugged to commemorate their reunion.
There truly was nothing good to say between men. However, when Chris learned that Luo Su was with Samantha’s daughter, he became very uncomfortable.
He still hadn’t started with the mother, but his little brother was already going out with the daughter. Although they weren’t related by blood…this was disrespecting his seniority! He needed to sort things out!
Chris was a good person, but he was too hesitant, not daring to confess to the one he loved. Luo Su was determined to help him out, and on the next day, he brought him to Parker’s home and knocked on the door.
Coincidentally, they ran into Samantha the moment they arrived at the Parker home. One of the research teams had encountered a problem. Two fearless students had entered the mine and had not come out for a day and a night.
As the sheriff, Samantha needed to find those two suicidal students as quickly as possible. Chris volunteered to join, offering to guide the way and saying that he had grown up in the mines.
This was clearly an empty boast. He had been gone for ten years, and there was no way he could remember the layout of the mines.
Samantha was extremely willing. She knew that Chris was looking for a chance to kiss up to her, and she had the same idea. As they were both willing, the smitten man and the unmarried woman quickly formed a pair.
Luo Su went with them, but the three of them found nothing. Let alone spiders; there wasn’t even a spider carapace in the mines.
These spiders had truly grown intelligent. They were playing hide-and-seek with humans!
Luo Su knew that the spiders wouldn’t be hiding for too long. The two missing students indicated that they were in dire need of food. More and more people would start to go missing soon.
Just as expected, starting the next day, many cases were reported to Prosperity’s police station. The mayor’s ostrich flock had gone missing, several people had failed to return home after a night at the bar, and some were saying that their neighbors’ homes were empty. Even Deputy Pete’s pet cat had vanished.
The spiders were no longer afraid of covering their tracks, so Luo Su was forced to take a risk. He needed to get evidence. If he waited until the spider army began its invasion, he and the town of Prosperity would be finished.
Once he got home, Luo Su opened his journal and began to make his plan, but plans could not keep up with a rapidly changing situation. His French bulldog Bruce began to madly bark. It led Luo Su to the basement and dug a large hole out from behind a broken cupboard.
Luo Su looked at this sinister hole and then carried Bruce out of the basement. After getting his oxygen mask and tank and a sharpened metal pipe, he walked into the hole, his M9 holstered on the back of his waist. The hole was connected to the mines, and there was no telling where the gas was. There was little meaning in bringing the gun, and he was basically restricted to close combat.
Compared to his marksmanship, Luo Su’s close combat abilities, especially with melee weapons, were extremely mediocre. But as he had a strong body and Character Cards, he was sure that the giant spiders couldn’t stop him as long as he wasn’t surrounded.
It was dark in the mines, and Luo Su walked step by step, his helmet light illuminating the way. He moved very slowly, his light scanning every direction, particularly above him.
A rustling sound came from the darkness, like the sound of a many-legged insect crawling along the ground, amplified several dozen times. It caused goosebumps to rise on his skin.
[Ding!]
[User has encountered plot character ‘Giant Orb-weaver Spider,’ triggering the lottery phase. Would you like to pull now?]
Ignoring the system’s notification, Luo Su looked down at his feet. A thin layer of white spider webs covered the ground, not sticky due to the dust covering them. Upon realizing that he had entered the hunting area of the giant orb-weaver spider, he began to fall back. Only a fool would charge right in. What he wanted was a one-on-one duel.
The spiders were very cautious. Luo Su wasn’t sure how many there were, but once he retreated a certain distance, the spiders would stop their pursuit.
When Luo Su came forward, the spiders would get close. When Luo Su retreated, the spiders would stop.
Forward…back…forward…back…
After several rounds, the spiders were enraged. The dignity of a predator had been challenged, and they charged at Luo Su’s position.
Luo Su was very close to the entrance. The larger spiders couldn’t get through, but the orb-weaver spiders that were only as tall as half a man were unimpeded. He charged out of the hole and returned to the basement. The moment the first orb-weaver spider appeared, he flung out his arm, thrusting out the metal pipe with astonishing strength.
Clack!
The metal pipe pierced through the spider’s body and nailed it to the entrance. The spider struggled and shrieked, sprinkling dark green blood all over the place.
The spiders behind it began to charge at the entrance, and the comrade blocking the entrance was swiftly torn to shreds by its comrades. A flood of spiders was soon rushing into the basement.
If Luo Su had a machine gun, he could singlehandedly hold the entrance, but he only had an M9. Moreover, once he began shooting his gun, he would find it very hard to explain where he had gotten it from.
But he needed to conserve whatever he could. As this was a problem that could be solved with bullets over cards, he still decided to shoot.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang…
“System, use ‘Character Card: Ding Xiu’!”