Awakened Girls

The girls woke even faster than the Spider Tribe had expected. From their experience, anyone who received spider venom had to sleep for at least four or five nights, and more than seven nights meant their life was in danger.

However, after Henry discussed it in depth with the tribe, he learned that the so-called danger was actually caused by dehydration and malnutrition. The tribe's primitive medical methods had no way to keep those unable to feed themselves alive for longer.

Those who could wake after three nights were all exceptional recipients of spider powers, such as Juan, the elder who had guided Cathy and the others. He possessed a certain degree of precognition and was one of the tribe's most important elders.

Yet the girls all woke around the same time at noon on the third day after the ritual. In other words, they had spent only two nights undergoing the spider venom's transformation, which the tribespeople found utterly unbelievable.

However, Henry also noticed that no one felt jealous because of it. They attributed everything to the spider's choice.

Besides, if the spider's collective consciousness was truly so powerful that it could make little spiders display such humanlike behavior, then it was hard to say whether human consciousness might not also be affected by it.

If people could be influenced by the spiders' collective consciousness, then they probably had only two kinds of emotions.

One was disgust toward those cursed by spiders, like Ezekiel Sims; the other was affection for those who had been chosen—the girls who had come to the tribe.

And that fondness extended to those associated with them. Henry, who had a little spider following him, had also received plenty of goodwill within the tribe. Even though that little creature's target was probably Gwen, who had