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As Lin Feng observed the receding trail of red spiders, he cautiously re-emerged from his cover. A soft rustling from above caught his attention.

“Mr. Spider!” he called out, a hint of relief in his voice, upon recognizing the familiar arachnid. His mind was bursting with questions.

/Stay focused. Prioritize your mission./

Mr. Spider’s message was brief and to the point. Moments after, an alertness crept over him, his many eyes widening in apparent concern.

/Quick… Follow me./

With swift urgency, Mr. Spider sped towards the rooftop of the female dormitory, Lin Feng practically nipping at his heels.

Once atop, Mr. Spider’s quietly but frantically signaled for him to take off his clothes. Swallowing his brief hesitation, Lin Feng stripped off his clothes, his cheeks flaming with embarrassment. He instinctively used his tail as a makeshift shield for modesty.

Reaching the top, Mr. Spider’s silent yet urgent gestures prompted Lin Feng to shed his clothes. With a momentary blush of embarrassment, Lin Feng quickly disrobed, cleverly using his tail for some semblance of cover.

Mr. Spider gave the clothes a brief look, his disappointment evident. Swiftly, he unleashed venom on a concealed spider nearby, nullifying it in an instant.

/Those foolish Red-clan spiders believe they can co-exist with those mindless wooden beings. Our factions disagree. You’re now a target! Act quickly. Time is against us. You have an hour, at most./

With that pressing message, Mr. Spider swiftly leapt off the rooftop, vanishing from Lin Feng’s view almost instantly.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Feng rapidly dressed. He recognized the gravity of the situation. Regardless of the inner conflicts of the spider clans, the threat posed by the peach tree was palpable and had to be confronted. If Mr. Spider’s information held true, these Red spiders would undoubtedly oppose him in a bid to protect their fragile equilibrium.

In the shadow of the looming peach tree, Lin Feng hastily reconvened with his team. They worked with precision, spreading diesel around the tree’s base, always wary of the lurking zombies nearby. Days of sun had parched the earth, making it a tinderbox. It was a point of no return.

Once soaked, a mere spark from a matchstick was all they needed to set the tranquil peach grove ablaze.

However, just as Song Zhe was about to ignite the match, a lethal jet of venom sprayed from an overhead branch.

Song Zhe, though not as nimble as Lin Feng, relied on his mutant reflexes. He dodged, rolling away in the nick of time, as the venom descended and the match was extinguished in its trajectory. The venom scorched deep, leaving hollows wherever it touched.

From deep within the grove, a bone-rattling roar erupted. The colossal peach blossom zombie, standing an imposing three meters tall and draped in dust from ages of stillness, awakened. Each of its booming footsteps stirred the dormant zombies, rallying a terrifying army that charged headlong at Lin Feng and his team.

“Damn it!” Song Zhe cursed, realizing that his lone match had roused a nightmare. Without hesitation, he sprung into action.

“Watch out! Their bones are like wood!” Lin Feng warned, snatching a match from Song Zhe. Desperation mounting, he fumbled to ignite it, but a tidal wave of spiders poured from the treetops, launching venom with deadly accuracy.

Trapped in the crossfire of venom and the urgency to ignite the match, Lin Feng was blindsided by the behemoth zombie’s sudden lunge. The creature’s forceful charge catapulted Lin Feng through the air, and he collided violently with a tree. As the match fell from his trembling hand, blood smeared across his lips. “A windproof lighter would’ve been smarter…” he gasped internally.

“Junior! You will pay for touching her!” Hao Jian roared, swiftly repositioning himself. With seamless precision, he notched and loosed three arrows, all zeroing in on the titan’s head.

(End of Chapter 83)

As the arrows embedded themselves into its skull, the giant zombie reeled, momentarily dazed. But just as Hao Jian’s heart surged with triumph, the overhead peach trees retaliated. They expelled a suffocating deluge of pollen, blanketing the entire area in an impenetrable fog.

“Feng!” Liu Mengqi cried out, panic and urgency tingeing her voice. The sudden shift in events highlighted her frailty, reminding her of the stark difference between her human limitations and their mutated abilities. She frantically tried to locate Lin Feng amidst the blinding fog, knowing he was hurt.

“Junior! Respond!” Hao Jian bellowed, securing his bow and pushing through the thick haze towards where he last saw Lin Feng.

“Feng…” Song Zhe murmured, frustration evident in his tone as he tried to discern shapes through the engulfing pollen.

“Thank God, I’ve found you!” Relief washed over Hao Jian as he located and carefully lifted Lin Feng. “But why aren’t the others here?” His usually warm eyes were now clouded with irritation.

“****! Those blind fools. Don’t worry, junior, I’ve got this!” With determination, Hao Jian sped towards the exit, cradling Lin Feng.

“They… cough… Mengqi… Song Zhe…” Lin Feng’s weak voice trailed off, his feeble hand clutching at Hao Jian’s sleeve.

“I promise, nothing will harm you this time,” Hao Jian vowed, pressing forward even faster despite Lin Feng’s weak objections.

“Behind… cough… look out!” Lin Feng gasped.

A colossal wooden club blindsided them, sending them sprawling. Scrambling to their feet, Hao Jian’s expression twisted into disbelief.

No way! He’s still standing?

The imposing figure of the giant zombie, three of Hao Jian’s arrows still embedded in its head, loomed ominously overhead. The feathers of the arrows protruded, mocking their last confrontation.

Driven by adrenaline, Hao Jian quickly grabbed his bow and unleashed a flurry of arrows.

The giant crumpled with a deafening crash, its eyes dimming as life drained away.

Lin Feng, panting heavily, struggled to sit up, gripping the severe wound on his side.

“Are you okay, junior?”

“For the last time, I’m not a ‘her’,” Lin Feng snapped, punctuating his words with a weak cough. “Find the matches. We need to burn this place down, or this nightmare will persist.”

However, before Lin Feng could elaborate, the towering giant zombie began its eerie resurrection.

Hao Jian’s fingers tensed around his bow, eyes flashing to his dwindling arrow count. “How many lives does this beast have?!”

Detecting Hao Jian’s imminent strike, Lin Feng acted on instinct. Snatching clothes from a nearby downed zombie, he hurled them with all his might over the giant’s face, momentarily obscuring its vision.

“Move. Now.” Lin Feng’s whisper cut through the silence, his grip tightening on Hao Jian’s arm.

“We need to get out, Lin Feng.”

“No,” Lin Feng shot back. “Matches first. Then we locate the others, set this damned grove ablaze, and only then do we escape.”

With laser-focused recall, Lin Feng darted to the matches. Their next steps: find their team and set the plan in motion.

Unexpectedly, a gust of wind sliced through the air, sweeping away the suffocating blanket of pollen in the forest.
/Now!/

A surge of purple spiders scribbled a hasty message beneath Lin Feng before dispersing in urgency.

“Song Zhe! Liu Mengqi!” Lin Feng shouted, spotting them in the distance and sprinting towards them.

“We need to go. Now!” Lin Feng urged, pushing them towards the fresher air away from the pollen’s clutch. Pausing briefly at the edge of the captivating peach garden, Lin Feng gripped a match, his eyes blazing with resolve.

Suddenly, a fierce clash caught his eye. “Can it be… Mr. Spider?”

Amidst the peach blossoms, two figures clashed with blistering speed. Through the blur, Lin Feng recognized Mr. Spider locked in a deadly embrace with a mysterious woman. Their fierce struggle was underscored by the whirl of spiders around them, their venomous sprays corrupting the once-peaceful orchard.

(End of Chapter 83.)