Ghost-Faced Spider

Xia Leng watched the pale, ghastly face less than half a meter away, a bead of cold sweat trickling down his temple.

Ghost-Faced Spider?!

When did it sneak in?!!

The Ghost-Faced Spider was another mutant product of this apocalyptic world.

Though not large (relative to current creatures)—only about a meter across—it was notorious for its lethal toxicity and the human-face pattern on its bulbous abdomen.

If bitten by this spider, you would collapse from total paralysis within three seconds.

Following that, your muscle tissue, internal organs, and even your bones would rapidly melt into a pool of blood within a minute, leaving you as nothing more than a human-shaped skin bag filled with fluid!

Crucially, you would remain fully conscious throughout the entire melting process, feeling the Ghost-Faced Spider sucking the delicious juices from your body.

Finally, to compensate for your lost organs, it would "apologetically" lay thousands of eggs inside you, leaving you to experience the sensation of baby spiders hatching from within your own body...

Xia Leng watched the ghastly face on the spider's abdomen, his breathing becoming so shallow it practically ceased.

Beneath the pale face were two fist-sized discs emitting an eerie red glow, with six smaller red dots below them.

Those were the Ghost-Faced Spider's pair of primary eyes and three pairs of compound eyes.

Its head was currently facing the Giant Armor Beetle carcass that Xia Leng had one-third dismantled on the floor; clearly, it was weighing whether to waste its precious venom on this lifeless beetle.

The Ghost-Faced Spider had been lured here by the faint, fishy stench of the Giant Armor Beetle!

Perhaps this three-story abandoned building was its territory to begin with.

If the Ghost-Faced Spider kept its abdomen tucked inward, its jet-black shell easily blended into the surrounding gloom, making it difficult to detect. That was why Xia Leng's initial sweep upon entering had failed to notice its presence.

Xia Leng held his breath, quietly gripping the bone dagger at his thigh. Through sheer restraint, he even managed to keep his heartbeat incredibly faint.

This vicious arthropod was an aggressive predator; any living creature or animal that entered its crimson field of vision would trigger a lightning-fast strike from its fangs!

It was only distracted for the moment by the Giant Armor Beetle carcass.

Xia Leng understood that the beetle, which contained less than two pounds of edible meat, wouldn't be enough for a single gulp. Once it finished this appetizer, it would realize there was a much larger piece of "meat" waiting behind it.

Therefore, he had to seize the opportunity to strike first!

He was waiting for a chance—waiting for the Ghost-Faced Spider to waste its limited venom on the beetle, waiting for it to begin gorging on its prey, and waiting for the people on the street to move further away. That would be his moment to attack!

However, fate had a cruel twist in store for Xia Leng.

Perhaps his lone-wolf lifestyle was no longer favored by the Goddess of Luck.

A palm-sized Blood-Sucking Mosquito, at the most inopportune time and place, buzzed its way in from outside, completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere in the room.

It seemed attracted by the drop of sweat sliding from Xia Leng's temple to his chin, and it immediately raised its sharp, middle-finger-length proboscis, flying excitedly toward his face!

The high-frequency vibration of the giant mosquito's wings finally drew the attention of the Ghost-Faced Spider!

Xia Leng saw the eyes on the ghastly face curve upward; it was "smiling"!

The spider's abdomen tightened—it was preparing to launch a fierce assault!

In the next second, it would snatch the giant mosquito while simultaneously pouncing on Xia Leng's ash-smeared face!

Finally! Xia Leng stopped waiting; hesitation meant defeat!

Hiss!!

The Ghost-Faced Spider let out a shriek like a gas leak, spraying a basin-sized green web from its abdomen that instantly enveloped the Blood-Sucking Mosquito just as it was about to reach Xia Leng's face.

At the same time, Xia Leng had prepared to dodge a second in advance; otherwise, that corrosive web would have plastered itself onto his own face!

He performed a practiced roll, narrowly avoiding the dramatic predatory strike.

But in doing so, he pressed down on the scattered rubble on the floor, producing a crisp, cracking sound that seemed piercingly loud in the silent night!

He had intentionally placed the rubble there to alert him if any stealthy mutant creatures or other survivors tried to sneak up on him while he was in a semi-conscious state; if they stepped on the debris, the noise would allow him to react in time.

He never imagined that, because of this absurd scene, he would end up triggering his own trap...

"Boss, did you hear a strange sound from the building next to us just now?"

On the street illuminated by the crimson moonlight, the five men hadn't gone far. With senses honed by long-term survival, the crisp sound had naturally reached their ears.

"Yeah, I heard it."

The leader signaled his men to stop, quickly finding a massive concrete block to use as cover. He crouched behind it, his sharp eyes fixed on the direction of the sound.

Crunch~

Several more crisp sounds echoed from the building, clear as day to the five men!

"Boss, could it be a Night Demon... maybe we should just leave," a tall, thin man said, his voice trembling; it seemed the mutant creatures known as Night Demons had left him with significant psychological trauma.

"Hmph, you coward. If it were a Night Demon, it would have already pounced down to tear us apart. Do you think they have the intelligence to set an ambush? I think there's a fight happening up there—maybe between mutants, or maybe between scavengers. Heh heh."

The burly leader gave a sinister laugh. His intent was clear: when the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman gains.

No matter what was fighting up there, one side would end up dead, and the other wouldn't be in much better shape.

If it were a Night Demon hunting up there, it would never cause such frequent sounds of combat; the moment you were locked onto by that monster's gaze, you would see the blood gushing from your own neck the very next second, without being given any time to resist.

In that sense, the Night Demon could even be considered a relatively "kind" creature, ending your life with a single strike and sparing you from suffering even a moment of extra pain.

"Let's go, we're going up to take a look."

On the other side.

Xia Leng knelt on one knee, breathing heavily as he stared at the mass of twitching, rotting black flesh before him; after a bitter struggle, the Ghost-Faced Spider had finally been slain by his hand.

However, the cost was high: his face, arms, and even his torso were covered in shocking lacerations from the Ghost-Faced Spider's razor-sharp appendages, some deep enough to reveal the bone beneath.

Yet, compared to being bitten by the Ghost-Faced Spider's fangs, these superficial wounds were a stroke of fortune amidst misfortune.

Of course, Xia Leng did not lower his guard in the slightest, for he knew that the few people outside had also set their sights on him because of this...