A spider silhouette, about two meters tall, loomed in the hazy white mist like a terrifying shadow cast by one's own heart. Its head resembled a human skull, with sharp barbs along its edges. Dozens of thick spider legs, also covered in barbs several dozen centimeters long, stretched out to about four meters. Even the usually slender tips of its legs were covered in dense, small serrations.
There was no doubt that if such a leg scraped against a human, it would peel away not just skin, but flesh and blood.
Six greyish-white compound eyes reflected the blue monster blocking its path. Light as thin smoke, mist drifted from its menacing, moving mouthparts. Viscous, yellowish-brown liquid dripped from its sharp mandibles onto the ground, producing a sound that made one's scalp tingle with its corrosive nature.
"Hiss—!"
A shriek imbued with a special meaning emanated from its constantly trembling mouthparts.
The next second, the flow of mist became turbulent. One after another, smaller than this two-meter-tall spider, each the size of a basketball, emerged from every dark corner. Resembling sea urchins covered in spines, they raised their front legs, adorned with tiny barbs, threateningly towards the enemy.
All of this happened in less than ten seconds.
"This monster again!"
Wilson, the first to snap back to reality, cursed. He glanced quickly at the road conditions behind them, shifted into gear with one hand, yanked the steering wheel with the other, and slammed the accelerator. The blue sedan's tires let out a screeching friction sound, followed by a violent backward lurch.
"Hiss hiss—!"
Billy, sitting in the passenger seat, clearly saw spherical grey-black figures the size of basketballs leap from the white mist above and towards their blue sedan.
Fortunately, Wilson's skill in navigating off-road vehicles in combat zones was no joke. With a sharp turn of the steering wheel, he executed a car-head drift, narrowly avoiding the falling grey spider, leaving only the enraged grey spiders to hiss and pursue the blue sedan with their excellent jumping abilities.
"We'll drive around and out of town! Leave the cleanup to you!" Wilson yelled. The car spun around at a crossroad, and as Wilson made one last powerful turn to straighten out, they moved forward, him driving with intense focus.
Billy swallowed nervously, clutching his shotgun, and stared vigilantly at the white mist outside the window as if facing a great enemy.
Bella and Conner were well-coordinated. Given the cramped interior of the car, Conner, whose sniping skills were more precise, used the shotgun for defense, while Bella used a handgun.
Tang Sui, sitting in the middle, had nothing to do. She stared at the large group of pursuing spiders in the rearview mirror. With her excellent eyesight, she noticed about an egg's size, but forming a continuous line, of mini-spiders on the asphalt road. She frowned slightly, "Were there this many spiders at the beginning?"
"Probably not. The ones that attacked us at first were just a few of those jumpy things. That big one was only seen yesterday evening. It seems like they are expanding their territory," Bella said, her expression tense, her eyes filled with disgust and hatred, "These guys are shameless invaders!"
"Rationally speaking, animals expand their hunting territory for better sustenance. Female spiders are generally more ferocious and dominant. That large grey spider is likely the female you hadn't seen before; she must have gone to lay eggs. And now, those small spiders have hatched," Tang Sui pointed to the pursuing swarm in the rearview mirror, signaling them to look carefully at the lowest point.
"See those small black spiders moving on the asphalt horizon? They should all be newly hatched."
Except for Wilson, whose nerves were taut, needing to maintain speed to avoid being caught by the pursuing spider swarm while also being wary of a potential car appearing ahead, requiring sudden turns.
Bella and the others frowned, their gazes fixed on where Tang Sui pointed, their expressions changing dramatically.
They were indeed small spiders!
Conner, staring at the spider swarm that was only about ten meters behind them, suddenly rolled down the car window.
The ethereal white mist immediately poured into the car, but Conner paid it no mind. He raised his shotgun, flipped the safety, aimed at the gigantic grey spider's skull-like head, and pulled the trigger.
"Bang—!"
Fire erupted in the white mist, like a fleeting fireworks display in the night sky that quickly extinguished, accompanied by the grey spider's pained roar as it fell.
A headshot, but not a complete one. Sudan Novel Network.
Seeing the grey spider still moving despite a shot to its head, Conner’s expression turned grim. Without a word, he pulled the trigger again, hitting the skull precisely once more.
"Roar—!"
The female grey spider screamed again, its forward momentum slowing.
Besides the dense swarm of tiny black spider offspring, the basketball-sized grey spiders had slowed down. One by one, they raised their front legs, anxiously surrounding the female grey spider.
A clear case of "kill the chicken to scare the monkeys."
A hint of admiration flashed in Tang Sui's eyes as she watched Conner roll up the car window, blocking the white mist that kept pouring in.
Billy, who had no use but a clever mind, silently turned on the car's ventilation, allowing the system to slowly replace the lingering white mist inside the car.
"Nicely done!" Wilson said happily, watching the spider swarm gradually fall behind them in the rearview mirror, and let out a celebratory whistle.
Conner nodded and once again settled down with his gun.
As the spiders, no longer pursuing them, were gradually obscured by the white mist and disappeared from sight, Bella also let out a sigh of relief, though her eyes held a hint of melancholy, for she knew that with the terrifying speed of this spider swarm's reproduction, the town was likely...
At seventy kilometers per hour, Wilson and Billy, exhausted from the constant tension, switched places.
Wilson, in the passenger seat, closed his eyes and fell asleep. Bella and Conner's spirits were also somewhat drained.
To ensure better mental states, they took turns resting and keeping watch.
For Tang Sui, staying up all night was basic operation for a soul master, so she wasn't tired at all. While looking at the map, she would only tell Billy which way to go at the next intersection, and otherwise observe the world completely shrouded in white fog.
At over eighty kilometers, the group arrived at a gas station.
After discussing it, they all got out of the car and teamed up to head towards the gas station, intending to see if there were any new vehicles there.
If not, after checking for any danger, they would drive their car over to refuel.
During this dangerous and special period, being alone was the beginning of death, so sticking together was the best course of action.
Ahead, the white mist still swirled. Inside the gas station, besides the distinct smell of petroleum, there was a smell of decaying flesh.
Billy looked at a large pool of what appeared to be intestines on the ground, now crawling with maggots and flies, and covered his mouth, suppressing the rising stomach contents, nearly vomiting.
Tang Sui's expression was blank. Although this was more extreme than what she had seen in the City of Slaughter, her human emotions, as her strength grew, had become as diluted as her cooling blood. Only the threat of death could stir her.