The spider's corpse still lay on the ground, giving off foul-smelling black smoke. The women covered their noses as they skirted around it, walking considerably faster than before.
Moontrace ran ahead, little paws pattering against the rocks, tail held high. Every so often, Moontrace glanced back at Chen Hao, as if saying, "This way."
The cavern grew wider, and more fluorite appeared overhead. The light shifted from dark green to pale blue, bathing the rock walls in a glow like an underwater world.
But Chen Siyao was in no mood to admire the scenery—she noticed that, since they had passed the giant spider, the webs had gradually disappeared, and something else had begun appearing on the walls.
"Bro." Her voice was a little tight. "Look at the wall."
Chen Hao looked where she pointed. There was a snake in a crack in the rock wall.
It was small, about as thick as a thumb, and blue-green. Coiled in the crevice, it flicked its tongue. When it saw them, it neither fled nor attacked, simply remaining tucked quietly in place.
"A snake?" Yang Wanqing leaned over for a look and sighed in relief. "At least it's not big."
Girls were naturally afraid of snakes. Compared with spiders, these slippery, silent creatures frightened them even more. If it were any bigger, how could they stand it?
Chen Siyao was not as optimistic. She kept walking, sweeping her flashlight over the walls—one, two, three... More and more snakes came into view.
The small ones were like chopsticks, the large ones like arms. Some coiled in cracks, some hung from stalactites, and others poked their heads out of holes in the walls.
They came in every color: green, black, patterned, golden. But they all had one thing in common—they did not move. They were