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A shiver of apprehension threaded through Lin Feng as he faced Zhang Xiaohong, who now exuded a sinister aura, a stark contrast to his former self. An unsettling question looped through Lin Feng’s mind: was there a hive mind connecting them, or could the Queen weave her malevolence through each entity she created?

“You don’t have to stare so hard,” Zhang Xiaohong whispered ominously, “soon, you and I will be more than acquainted with each other.” A sly, dark smile crept across “her” face. “I wonder, will you be sweeter than those humans? Ah, once I feasted upon a cat—albeit a male one, not so tender in flesh. Hmm~ I eagerly anticipate savoring you.”

With a sinister gentleness, Zhang Xiaohong glided a finger delicately across Lin Feng’s cheeks, etching a slim, crimson line. He sampled the emerging blood with a slow, deliberate lick, savoring the metallic essence.

“Lin Feng!”

An arrow whistled through the tension-charged air, interrupting the horrifying intimacy.

Without preamble, it impaled Zhang Xiaohong’s heart, pinning the spider mercilessly against the nearby wall. A dribble of dark blood oozed from his mouth as he stared, stupefied, at the arrow protruding from his chest. His eyes, laden with a mingling of shock and malevolence, lifted to meet Hao Jian, the archer. With a breath teetering on the brink of stability, he whispered, “This…isn’t over.”

“Hao Jian?”

A note of astonishment colored Lin Feng’s voice as he turned towards two figures making their descent from a distant tree.

“Are you okay?”

Song Zhe advanced, hands reaching out to extricate the spider silk entwining Lin Feng, but its stubborn, adhesive strands resisted easy removal.

“Wait, why’d you come back? I thought—”

Hao Jian’s eyes met Lin Feng’s, determination meshing with the latent tension in his voice. “We set up the oil drums. Junior sister, we’re not leaving you to deal with this alone!”

“Let’s save the talk for later—we’ve gotta move, and fast! After taking down Zhang Xiaohong, I bet a whole swarm of spiders is heading our way!” Lin Feng interjected swiftly, sidestepping the use of ‘junior sister’ while observing Song Zhe grapple with the tenacious spider silk.

“Ugh, not even my mutated powers can crack this!”

Song Zhe’s frustrated sigh, ripe with palpable tension, pierced through several futile attempts to free himself.

Suddenly, a black, spotted spider crept from the shadows, voraciously and graphically dismantling Zhang Xiaohong’s corpse. It was a morbid spectacle, observed by the group with a mix of horror and fascination.

“Song Zhe, snap out of it! We have to move, now!” A voice, edged with stark urgency, broke through, diverting his gaze from the macabre scene.

Mumbling a quick agreement, he hoisted the cocoon-wrapped Lin Feng onto his shoulders. The group hurriedly set their course toward the archery hall, hearts pounding in their chests.

One day later…

“Lily, your chess game is terrible,” Anna grumbled, her gaze shifting between Lin Feng, sprawled languidly before her, and the dismal 10-1 score displayed on the nearby board.

Lin Feng’s once-sleek fur was now a chaotic mess of sticky spider silk tangles, resisting all attempts to be washed clean. Fortunately, the silk, courtesy of the red spider, was non-toxic, serving solely as a binding agent.

The anticipated swarm of spiders never descended, leading Lin Feng to speculate whether it was some intrinsic territorial instinct that kept them away. Evening observations of the girls’ dormitory, through his binoculars, revealed layers of spider webs, large and small, draping the upper sections while zombies writhed in a futile struggle upon them. The orchard, partially obliterated and marred by scorched traces, saw spiders toiling to transport unspecified items underneath.

Contrary to Lin Feng’s expectations, Hao Jian had merely suffered minor injuries, prompting wonder whether it was a stroke of luck or the initial blow from the wooden zombie had simply been less severe than anticipated.

“How is that my fault? And for the record, we’re playing chess, not Xiangqi. If you really want a challenge, bring a Xiangqi board next time,” Lin Feng countered, his chest meticulously wrapped in bandages, while Song Zhe stood guard outside. Song Zhe had honed a new skill — not exactly “unlocked,” but finally mastered after being employed more frequently during their recent expeditions.