Chapter 25: Golden Orb Weaver
It had been over half a month since the western suburban uninhabited zone reopened. Most of the people at the maglev bus station were heading there, many of whom were just there to join in the excitement. The four of them squeezed through the crowd and finally got off the bus.
After the mutated beast rampage, many guards had been added to the uninhabited zone, and new ‘contaminated zone hunting rules’ had been established.
The new rule map not only marked the species and ranks of mutated beasts living in each area but also listed the central area of the uninhabited zone as a restricted zone, which no one was allowed to enter.
“The M412 star government should have done this long ago!” Ke Lai opened the recording function of her Star Brain and took a picture of the contents on the notice board.
“Let’s go to this area first.” Li Xiang pointed to the area marked 【Insect Star】 on the map. Just by hearing the name, one could tell that this was a nest of insect-type mutated beasts. Their ranks were mostly between D and C. He could use them to practice.
Ke Lai quickly checked the prices of the mutated beasts in this area on the official website of the mutated beast trading market and nodded in agreement with Li Xiang’s proposal. “The prices of the Golden Orb Weaver, Woodlouse, and Red-Eyed Toad have been above the market average recently.”
“There’s no time to lose. Let’s set off quickly.”
Li Xiang took the initiative to take the lead, leading the other three into the desert area. As soon as they entered, they felt a hot wind wrapping around their bodies like a steamer. Their exposed skin was constantly being scorched. It was even hotter here than it had been five years ago.
He activated his wood-type psychic energy and covered his entire body with it. The scorching heat finally subsided a little.
This was something he had figured out on his own in the past two days.
The wood-type ability had strong defensive and healing capabilities. It could resist external damage and also heal himself and others.
Ji Fan looked at Li Xiang with envy. He also wanted this kind of heat-insulating ability.
Ke Lai glanced at him and reminded, “It’s at least another thirty kilometers to the destination. Continuous use of an ability consumes a lot of psychic energy.”
She was well aware of the mentality of newly awakened ability users like Li Xiang who liked to show off their abilities. But it was precisely because they had just awakened that they used their abilities too frequently. When their psychic energy couldn’t keep up, it was easy to overdraft the psychic energy in their bodies, resulting in it being unavailable when they needed it.
There were many teams heading to Insect Star along the way, but most of them were driving heavy-duty trucks. Few were walking like them.
Thirty kilometers would take six or seven hours to walk.
Less than halfway through the journey, Ji Fan started to be unable to walk. He whined, “It’s so far. I should have driven my dad’s car over.”
“Young master, you’re so delicate and weak. When are we going to get there!” Li Xiang sighed and looked at Ji Fan impatiently for the third time.
“I didn’t say I wasn’t going. Can’t we stop and rest for a bit?” Ji Fan pouted.
Li Xiang snorted coldly and turned to look at the other two. “You’re the only one being so difficult. Jiang Ning and Ke Lai haven’t said anything.”
“I’m not walking anymore,” Jiang Ning suddenly stopped.
“Huh?” Li Xiang and Ke Lai both looked in her direction at the same time.
“It’ll be dark by the time we get there,” Jiang Ning licked her dry lips.
Ke Lai looked at her, puzzled. “What do you mean…?”
“Isn’t there an acquaintance right there?” Jiang Ning’s finger pointed gently behind her.
Behind them, a bright yellow truck was speeding across the desert. In the entire uninhabited zone, his truck was the most conspicuous.
After seeing the person in the truck clearly, Li Xiang exclaimed, “Is that… Scarface?!”
Before he could stop Jiang Ning, he saw that she had already walked to the middle of the road and was waving to stop the truck.
Scarface, who was driving, saw someone suddenly appear in the middle of the road. He slammed on the brakes and finally stopped two meters in front of Jiang Ning.
“Are you fucking blind? You dare to try and scam me in this place?” Scarface’s temper flared up. He rolled down the window and started yelling at them.
“Scarface, long time no see,” Jiang Ning greeted him with a smile.
“It’s you!” Scarface had a deep impression of Jiang Ning. Five years ago, it was this girl who had proposed a bet with him. The most infuriating thing was that he had actually lost to Yan Zhou’s group.
“Interested in cooperating again?” Jiang Ning asked, blinking.
Scarface gave her a strange look.
Jiang Ning said, “This time, we’ll divide it according to the number of kills. We’ll each rely on our own abilities, and no one will take advantage of the other.”
“In that case, why should I cooperate with you?” Scarface didn’t take her bait.
Jiang Ning said without changing her expression, “We have three ability users here. As for cooperation, we can help you with the high-level mutated beasts you need to hunt. Of course, you must also help us when we need it.”
Scarface was silent for a while. He rolled up the window and discussed with the person in the passenger seat for a while before finally nodding in agreement to her proposed cooperation.
They did need ability users in their team.
Scarface glanced at Jiang Ning and the few people following behind her, his eyes holding a hint of an unreadable meaning. Who would have thought that the two kids from back then would both awaken abilities!
“Where are you going now?” Jiang Ning asked.
“Insect Star.”
Seeing that her goal was achieved, Jiang Ning raised an eyebrow and said, “Coincidentally, we’re going there too. Let’s go together.”
Scarface unlocked the doors. Jiang Ning immediately pulled open the car door. There were only two people in the truck, Scarface and Black Pearl. The back row was empty. Jiang Ning was the first to get on and found a seat by the window. Ke Lai then sat down next to her.
The heavy-duty truck sped in one direction. Looking out from the window, one could only see a trail of red sand. The axle tracks were quickly covered by the kicked-up sand.
“We’re here,” Black Pearl said coldly.
The truck stopped on a barren red land. A closer look revealed that it was no different from the scenery along the way.
“The map doesn’t mark any mutated beasts here?” Ke Lai opened the projection of her Star Brain and carefully checked the location.
“Insect-type beasts are good at ambushing. Driving a heavy-duty truck over is too conspicuous and can easily be attacked by a group,” Jiang Ning explained to her.
As long as it was about mutated beasts or plant-related books, she would read them all. After so many years of research, Jiang Ning had a general understanding of mutated beasts.
After everyone got off the truck, they walked forward for about half an hour before arriving at the location of Insect Star marked on the map.
Scarface and Black Pearl looked at each other. Black Pearl was the first to step out, drawing a soft sword from her waist.
The material of the soft sword was very special. The moment it was drawn, it lost its soft nature and became extremely hard.
Black Pearl’s body was as light as a wild goose. She held the sword and soared into the air, then plunged downwards. The soft sword pierced into the red sandy ground, its body continuously extending and sinking into the ground.
At the same time, Black Pearl gripped the hilt and turned it forcefully in one direction.
A vibration came from the area she had pierced. It spread out from where Black Pearl was, and the red gravel began to churn downwards. Something was about to crawl out from underground.
The next second, many black and gold spiders continuously emerged from the desert.
Golden Orb Weavers!
Black Pearl sheathed her sword and retreated back to the team.
These mutated beasts were not large, but their numbers were overwhelming. Black Pearl’s sword strike was like a switch, and the dense spiders quickly filled the area.
Ji Fan’s scalp tingled, and he felt like he was about to have a bout of trypophobia.
The base half of the Golden Orb Weaver’s limbs was yellow, while the rest was black. Its abdomen was nearly long and oval, with a brownish back. Its walking legs had many short, thick spines.
The Golden Orb Weaver was also known as the human-faced spider because the pattern on its back, upon closer inspection, resembled a small human face.
“Be careful of the listening hairs on the tibia of their limbs. They can easily cut through the skin and release poison.”
Jiang Ning’s voice clearly reached the ears of everyone present.
Li Xiang released his psychic energy, allowing himself to float in mid-air, and continuously released attacks downwards to attract firepower. Ke Lai, on the other hand, set up an energy light cannon and blasted it directly.
“Hey! Be careful, you almost hit me!”
The power of the energy light cannon was immense. It was Ke Lai’s first time using it, and she didn’t control the force well, almost blasting Li Xiang, who was in mid-air, down.
“Sorry!” Ke Lai scratched her head apologetically.
Fortunately, this one shot wiped out a small group of Golden Orb Weavers.
On the other side, Scarface and Black Pearl cooperated tacitly, with a stable output, and also took care of quite a few.
On the other hand, Ji Fan and Jiang Ning, holding light blades, were only defending and not attacking the mutated beasts.
“Jiang-Jiang Ning, should we go first…” Ji Fan glanced in Jiang Ning’s direction and asked in a small, tentative voice.
There were simply too many spiders here. With his bottom-tier strength, it would be good enough if he didn’t cause trouble for the others and make them have to save him.
Jiang Ning ignored him. She had been defending only to observe the spiders’ movements.
“Clang—”
Her figure moved, and she charged into the spider swarm. The light blade cut into the Golden Orb Weaver’s body, making a piercing sound. Dozens of spiders were thus dismembered.
Their bodies were not as hard as imagined, and their defensive ability was almost zero. Other than their large numbers, they were really easy to deal with.
Jiang Ning became addicted to killing, killing and storing them in her nano-ring as she went.
Ji Fan watched Jiang Ning wantonly slaughtering the mutated beasts in the spider swarm, his thoughts in a state of chaos.
Was it his imagination? Why did he feel that Jiang Ning’s speed was even more agile and faster than Ke Lai, who had awakened a B-rank ability?
‘Swish—’
A light blade came towards Ji Fan’s face. Faced with this terrifying pressure, Ji Fan swallowed his saliva in fear.
The light blade flew straight behind him, pierced into the abdomen of a Golden Orb Weaver, and stuck into the ground.
Jiang Ning walked over and neatly pulled out the light blade.
“What are you standing there for?”
Ji Fan’s body trembled as he turned around and saw that the spider Jiang Ning had killed was less than half a meter away from him.
A wave of fear washed over Ji Fan. If Jiang Ning hadn’t acted just now, would he have been bitten by this spider?
“At a time like this, it’s hard for everyone to look after you. If you want to get hurt less, you have to rely on yourself,” Jiang Ning said, then charged back into the spider swarm.
Only Ji Fan was left standing there in a daze.
He looked around blankly. Everyone was busy dealing with the mutated beasts in front of them.
The spiders respawned quickly. As soon as one wave was killed, the next wave would immediately emerge from the ground.
Ji Fan’s hand holding the light blade tightened. It seemed that a certain determination had been made in his heart.