Zhong Xuezhi sensed danger unlike ordinary people. If he said something was approaching, then something definitely was.
The others did not doubt him for a second. They immediately summoned their weapons and went on high alert.
Two or three minutes later, the sharp-eyed Qiu Cai was the first to shout, "Captain! It's those Infected from the Underground City!"
Du Jing spat. "Knew it was them. They come wreck the teleportation array every other day. They just never quit."
Infected?
Mu Yi had encountered another unfamiliar term. He narrowed his eyes, focusing on the distance.
A line of pitch-black, long-legged spiders came clattering toward them.
Perhaps calling them spiders was not quite right, because their upper bodies were human.
Mu Yi stared at them without blinking, equal parts curious and excited.
Zhong Xuezhi leaned close to his ear and quietly warned him, "All Infected can spread the infection. Try not to let them get close."
"If you get infected..." Zhong Xuezhi said teasingly, "you'll turn into a giant spider just like them."
Mu Yi looked disgusted. "That's way too ugly."
Half a second later, he asked, "How do they spread it? Surely just getting close won't infect you?"
Of course not.
Zhong Xuezhi said, "Ghost Spiders are Class C Infected. Their rank isn't particularly high. They have to make physical contact with a target and inject an infectious agent."
"Oh~" Mu Yi understood. So he could still get close.
By the time their hushed conversation ended, the giant spiders had clattered over.
With Variant genes having completely consumed their human consciousness, they had long since lost the ability to speak. All that emerged from their mouths were dry hisses.
Zhong Xuezhi wasted no words on creatures incapable of normal communication. With his great scythe over his shoulder, he took the initiative and charged at them, the other members of Team 404 close behind.
Mu Yi was itching to join in, but unfortunately, he was currently playing the role of a weakling and could not fight.
Instead, he stood beneath the crystal and watched them battle.
At first, the Ghost Spiders' attacks were fairly straightforward: lunging with their long legs or biting.
But once they entered the next phase, every Ghost Spider's enormous abdomen suddenly began contracting violently. By the time the contractions stopped, a dense swarm of little spiders had gathered at their feet.
It was an assault on the eyes. Mu Yi could not help looking away.
When he looked back, all the little spiders had surged toward them. Some reached his feet, and he crushed them with a few stamps, splattering dark yellow bodily fluids everywhere.
The stench was foul beyond belief.
Looking thoroughly disgusted, Mu Yi scraped his soles hard against the ground a few times, then moved aside before he felt a little better.
But the instant he planted his feet, a Ghost Spider's corpse crashed down beside him with a thud.
He turned his head and looked in the direction it had flown from. Sure enough, he spotted Team 403's support specialist.
Zhao Qing wore a malicious grin. Then his lips moved, silently forming a few words.
Mu Yi quickly read his lips. He seemed to be saying, Kid, here's a big present for you.
A bad feeling struck him, and he lifted his foot to retreat.
Before he could, however, the Ghost Spider's corpse beside him burst open, disgorging a heap of black baby spiders and dark yellow fluid.
They sprayed into the air, then pattered down like a localized shower of black and yellow rain.
Mu Yi forcibly suppressed his instinct to defend himself with Pheromones. Relying solely on his physical speed, he narrowly dodged everything that fell.
Yet the little spiders that landed seemed convinced he was their mother's killer. They all swarmed at him.
Mu Yi gave a cold laugh and sprinted straight toward Zhao Qing, trailing the swarm behind him.
Before reaching him, he secretly flicked a wisp of Electric Flame onto Zhao Qing with lightning speed.
Before Zhao Qing could react, his clothes caught fire.
He hurriedly slapped at the flames, but they burned fiercely. No matter how hard he beat at them, they showed no sign of going out.
Just then, Mu Yi arrived with the spider swarm and reached out to tear at Zhao Qing's clothes. "I'll help you!"
With several ripping sounds, Zhao Qing's combat uniform was deftly stripped off.
Zhao Qing had just breathed a sigh of relief when a burning pain flared at his waist. Even his undershirt had caught fire.
Worse still, the flames raced downward, covering his thighs in the blink of an eye.
"Fuck!!" Zhao Qing frantically beat at the flames. When that proved useless, he simply dropped to the ground and rolled back and forth.
Mu Yi tipped his head back in silent laughter. Then he swung his long arm, whipping the flaming garment he had just stripped from Zhao Qing toward the little spiders at his feet.
The little spiders feared fire and retreated under his sweeping strikes, but Mu Yi had more in mind than that.
He shook out the burning garment and dropped it over the little spiders, then bent down and scooped them up.
Then he scattered them over the spot where Zhao Qing was rolling.
Whoosh-!
A shower of spiders drenched Zhao Qing's head and face. As he rolled, he crushed quite a few, and all the dark yellow fluid that burst from them stuck to his skin.
"Urgh-" The foul stench coming from his own body made Zhao Qing retch.
Mu Yi looked down at him for a while, then suddenly lost interest.
He casually tossed aside the nearly burned-out garment and flicked his hands in disgust.
Then he turned away and subtly moved his fingers, reducing Zhao Qing's last scrap of modesty to ash.
Zhao Qing's eyes widened, and he swiftly clamped his legs together, but he was still a moment too late.
When Zhong Xuezhi swept over in a blur of afterimages, he had the misfortune of catching a glimpse. He tried to hold back, failed, and bent down to ask, "Bro, been eating plenty of bean sprouts lately?"
"Zhong Xuezhi!!" After one torment after another, Zhao Qing completely lost it.
He tried to get up, but sticky spider fluids covered the ground around him. After struggling for ages, he not only failed to rise but fell flat on his back with his limbs in the air.
"Oh dear..." Zhong Xuezhi turned his head, unable to bear the sight.
The clown's performance was so pathetic that it held little appeal.
So, after turning away, Zhong Xuezhi simply grabbed Mu Yi's wrist and led him toward the teleportation crystal.
As they walked, he kept scolding him. "I take my eyes off you for one moment, and you cause this much trouble."
Mu Yi did not particularly like being dragged along and had been about to pull his hand free. Then he noticed the cartoon Snow Leopard head he had sewn last time on the cuff of the hand holding him.
It was right beside the one he wore on his own wrist.
He stared at them for a few seconds and somehow began to smile.
Heh, two Snow Leopards.
Zhong Xuezhi glanced back at him, puzzled. "What are you so happy about? Did you hear what I said?"
Mu Yi suppressed his smile and replied nonchalantly, "What's the rush? I haven't blown my cover."
Zhong Xuezhi said, "With how much you stand out, you'll blow it sooner or later."
As he spoke, he had already pulled Mu Yi back beneath the crystal tower and quickly made several hand signals to his teammates.
The four received his signal and slowly drew closer to the crystal tower while continuing to fight.
Meanwhile, Team 403 was still battling the Ghost Spiders around the thoroughly rattled Zhao Qing.
Seizing the right moment, they all tapped open their Identity Bracelets and entered the return code displayed in the shared data.
With two beeps, the return code activated just before it expired.
In an instant, every member of Team 404, along with Mu Yi, whose wrist Zhong Xuezhi held firmly, vanished into thin air beneath the crystal tower.
As if sensing something, Qi Tianhe whipped his head around and immediately roared, "Zhong Xuezhi! This isn't over-!!"
There were only a few Infected left now. Team 403 could finish them off with a little more time, but they definitely would not make it back to turn in the mission alongside Team 404.
With that little maneuver, Zhong Xuezhi repaid all the frustration they had suffered earlier in the Dread Gloom Forest in one fell swoop.
Before you continue