The thin thread was incredibly flexible, tightening around Zhou Yuan's neck until his eyes rolled back in pain.
He had already been scared half to death by the chubby woman earlier, and now history was repeating itself. Desperately, he glanced at Lin Ye Bai, his will to survive kicking in:
"Save me..."
[Melonfield Mistakes]: This tragic sight is too much for my eyes to bear.
[Uchiha Bubble Tea]: As long as the young man's spirit is intact, even peeing yourself is a sign of strength.
Lin Ye Bai took two steps forward, raising his hand slightly. The bone knife easily sliced through the thread.
The thread had been tightening too hard, and suddenly being freed, Zhou Yuan collapsed onto the floor, coughing violently.
Lin Ye Bai sidestepped into the room, carefully avoiding the dirty spots on the floor. In an instant, five or six more thin threads shot out from the corners. Lin Ye Bai dodged them one by one, but the threads stuck firmly to the walls.
Lin Ye Bai moved one of the threads, and a soft buzzing sound filled the room.
Tough, slightly sticky, and incredibly elastic, the threads once fixed couldn't be moved, almost like spider silk.
The threads shot toward Lin Ye Bai, attempting to entangle him.
With the limited space in the room, even if Lin Ye Bai avoided them, his range of movement was shrinking. He looked terribly ill, and if he exerted any more energy, his fatigue would show.
It seemed the outcome was inevitable—these two were about to become monster food…
The night was pitch-black, and the creature in the corner hadn't noticed yet, as Lin Ye Bai grew closer.
On the other side, Zhou Yuan couldn't see anything in the room. All he could hear were the sounds of movement and the occasional rustle of the threads. Should he leave Lin Ye Bai behind and run away alone?
Zhou Yuan quickly discarded that thought, cursing himself. Lin Ye Bai had just saved his life—how could he be so ungrateful?
Soon, he was caught by another thread around his throat. Trying to escape was useless now, but his hands were still free.
Thread... thread...
Struggling to breathe, Zhou Yuan's mind raced. He desperately pulled out his lighter from his pocket, also accidentally grabbing some tissue paper.
He tried to light the tissue, but couldn't bend down, relying solely on his sense of touch.
He clicked the lighter, and the room briefly lit up.
That light was enough for Lin Ye Bai to spot the source of the spider silk.
In the corner, there was a bizarre creature: its upper body was that of a muscular young man, with a rough face, thick muscles, and short hair, closely shaved to the scalp. Below the abdomen, the body seamlessly transitioned into that of a spider, with a rounded, bloated spider belly and eight long, hairy spider legs.
Those threads were indeed spider silk, coming from the young man's spider abdomen.
[Ordinary Me]: Little quirky, but looks pretty real.
[Beautiful Life]: Eight spider legs, perfect proportion.
[God of Death]: Kinda looks like those hellish demon spiders.
[Abyss Lord]: A hint of disdain flashed in the deep eyes, thin lips parted slightly: "Is that all?"
The spider-man was momentarily distracted by the light. In that brief moment, Lin Ye Bai swung his knife. The bone knife was sharp and deadly, aimed directly at the creature's most vulnerable spot—the neck.
The strike was so swift that it sliced through the air with an ear-piercing sound.
The spider-man's vision was affected after his transformation. He only had spider legs, not the multifaceted eyes of a real spider. He couldn't see clearly and had to rely on the hair on his legs to sense his enemies' location.
The sudden deadly blade caused the hair on the spider-man's legs to tense up instantly. His eight legs slipped and split into a perfect split, narrowly dodging the bone knife by pure chance.
[Flowers of Wealth]: Didn't expect his flexibility to be that good, even able to do a split.
[Ordinary Me]: A split? Maybe just barely able to charge.
[Uchiha Bubble Tea]: Though human XP is versatile, I'd still recommend you see a doctor.
The originally horrifying and creepy scene suddenly turned comical as the spider-man did a split.
Lin Ye Bai looked down at him, the bone knife still poised at his neck. If the creature moved even slightly, its head would be separated from its body. He wasn't quite sure what the chat meant by "charge"—was it suggesting the spider-man would suddenly charge at him?
The spider-man shuddered. His silk sac was empty, and even if he had more threads, they probably wouldn't be enough to entangle Lin Ye Bai.
"Don't kill me!" he trembled, shifting his position, and all eight legs knelt at once.
[Ordinary Me]: Found a treasure, really good flexibility.
[I Am a Little Dragon]: I suspect you're trying to make some jokes, and I have the evidence.
Zhou Yuan finally found the light switch in the room, feeling around several times before realizing it was in the wrong spot.
Even after all these strange events, the electrical system in the room seemed fine, and the bright lights lit up the living room clearly.
In the corner where the spider-man was, a thick layer of spider webs had formed, with several cocoons wrapped in silk, tightly bound. Zhou Yuan couldn't tell what was inside.
Then Zhou Yuan got a good look at the spider-man's face and was horrified. This was Coach Wang from the neighborhood gym!
He frequently posted gym ads in the neighborhood group: half a year's subscription with three free months, or a 40% discount on a one-year subscription. Zhou Yuan had gotten an annual card six months ago but hadn't gone even once. Could he still get a refund?
"Coach Wang? Why are you in my house?" Zhou Yuan frowned.
[Uchiha Bubble Tea]: The young man furrows his brow, realizing things aren't so simple.
[Super Rich Orange Seat]: This is Zhou Yuan's home? The young man has exquisite taste...
[Literary Master]: At this moment, Coach Wang's eyes held three parts coldness, three parts ridicule, and four parts indifference.
"..."
Because of his many legs, Coach Wang knelt in a bizarre position and froze. "Wait, this is my home?!"
Coach Wang looked around, confirming it was indeed his house.
Zhou Yuan, a bit dazed, glanced around, his expression turning strange.
"This is my..." Coach Wang started, but Zhou Yuan coughed awkwardly, quickly apologizing: "Wrong place, sorry..."
No wonder the light switch felt off, he had been searching for it forever—it was actually Coach Wang's house.
He lived just across from Coach Wang and, after being terrified earlier, his mind had become a bit fuzzy. He thought the door was unlocked, assumed he'd forgotten to lock it when leaving last time, and had just walked right in.
Lin Ye Bai's hand on the knife trembled slightly.
Even though he had seen many strange things, he had never encountered anything like this.
???
[Magician's Big Zen Stick]: Amitabha.
[Wolf from the North]: Uh…
[Beautiful Life] gave a 1000-star coin tip.
[Beautiful Life]: Here's some stars to calm you down.
[God of Death] gave a 2000-star coin tip.
[God of Death]: Thanks, that really made me laugh.
"Coach Wang, what happened to you?" Zhou Yuan tried to change the topic.
"Dammit! I want to know that too!" Coach Wang was furious, but the knife still hadn't been removed from his neck. It wasn't exactly a knife—it looked more like bone, with dried blood on it.
What kind of strange creature grows bones like that?
Coach Wang glanced at his spider legs, unwilling to speak.
Probably some weird creature like me.
"Kill or spare?" Lin Ye Bai asked Zhou Yuan.
Coach Wang was definitely a mutant, but Zhou Yuan knew him. Since Zhou Yuan didn't escape when he had the chance, Lin Ye Bai asked for his opinion as a sign of respect.
Coach Wang didn't doubt for a second that he would die. He had seen death row inmates before, and the young man in front of him, dressed in a security uniform, reminded him of them—distant and indifferent about life.
"..." Zhou Yuan hesitated. If this was his home, he would have nodded without a second thought. But it wasn't. If they spared Coach Wang, he might hold a grudge and take revenge later.
"I think we should..." Zhou Yuan's gaze darkened slightly.
"Wait, let me say something!" Coach Wang, who originally thought Zhou Yuan was just a former internet addict, figured he would apologize and everything would be over.
He didn't expect Zhou Yuan to look guilty yet harbor a cold cruelty, as though he was about to say something terrifying!
Coach Wang immediately understood Zhou Yuan's intent and interrupted him.
Damn, this is like trouble coming out of nowhere while I'm just sitting at home!
His survival instinct kicked in, and he quickly listed his reasons for living:
"First, I haven't changed my mindset. I'm just like you guys—an ordinary citizen raised under socialist values, enjoying equal rights."
"Have you ever seen other mutants? They may look human
, but they're crazed, extreme, and crave killing, whether it's other mutated beings or normal people."
"When Zhou Yuan came in, I could have snapped his neck right away, but I wasn't sure if he was human, so I dragged him inside."
"You were too fast. I thought you were a mutated monster trying to kill me, so I fought back with all my might."
Coach Wang glanced at Lin Ye Bai with a mixture of fear and regret. His eyes seemed to cry out for sympathy.
He had been happy before, now his sweet mood turned bitter. He was so sad and wanted to cry.
Lin Ye Bai turned to look at the paintings hanging in the living room. They all depicted muscular men, shirtless with just underwear and red bandanas, looking seductive. What the hell were these? Maybe they were door gods, pasted on the wall to ward off evil?
Coach Wang sighed, his mood low and full of sadness:
"I've been trying so hard, suppressing my urge to kill, not wanting to turn into a monster."
"I've really tried..."
Coach Wang suddenly clenched his fists. Lin Ye Bai instantly became alert. The muscular spider-man started pounding the walls, crying:
"Why did the world abandon me?"
"Why did things turn out like this?"
"Ugh... after all my efforts, I'm not even worthy of living?"
"The real world is so cruel, only the anime world is truly warm..."