Relying on the last bit of light, Chang realized that the spider zone had expanded to be a few times bigger than before.
The light reflected on the spider silk, making them visible to Chang. The spider webs were weaved between tree trunks, one next to the other. The number and density of the spider webs grew, and they were more difficult to evade for invaders the further into the their zone.
The number of spider webs positively correlated with the population of the spiders. It must be unimaginably large now.
As flexible as Chang was, he had to duck between the splits. He was doing it so carefully that none of the spider silks were touched.
The reason behind his cautiousness was because he knew that spiders were a different type of predator from other species. Their predation habits relied on the sense of touch. The hair on their limbs were extremely sensitive to vibration. If there was a prey thrashing about on a web, the spiders would rush to the source in a surge.
Except for the sense of touch, the vision and olfaction of spiders were weak. Therefore, Chang believed that if he was heedful enough, he should be able to stay away from the hunting spiders.
Chang slipped between the slits, aided by his superior vision. He saw spiders lurking on the edges of their own webs, dozing off comfortably in their spots. His figure was shielded by the red fog, so none of the killers, who became active at night, were bothered by his presence.
The darkness was inevitable. It slowly shrouded the jungle. In the last minute before the sun entirely disappeared, Chang backtracked and left the spider territory. He squatted down with eyes closed, silently calculating and analyzing the route. Based on what he had observed, he drew a map with the locations of spider webs in his mind.The map helped him plan out his route of advance.
Upon finishing his preparations, Chang removed his jacket and threw it into the spider zone. He then vanished in the darkness.
15 minutes later, the hooknosed woman and the gene-altered soldiers surfaced from the red fog. They were lucky enough to stop before the dense spider webs.
“The target is in front of us.” The woman took a deep breath, her nosewing twitched. “He stopped moving, I think he set up a trap again.”
“Ah.” The gene-altered soldiers didn’t understand her assertion, only responding to the first sentence. Knowing that the target was in front of them, they set foot in the spider zone without giving it a second thought.
The woman followed her subordinates, sighing.
However, they didn’t go too far. Number One became glued to the “invisible” spider silk. He roared, confused by the sudden restraints.
“Ah!” Number One was the one who had walked at the very front. Suddenly though, his body could no longer move as he wished it to, and hence, he kept his walking posture at where he stopped. Apparently, the creature was irritated. He struggled to pull off the tenacious spider silk from his body, but instead, the spider silk swathed his body even tighter when he waved his hands more vigorously.
Number One’s scuffle with the spider web startled the host. As it sensed the damage of its web, a spider as big as half of a human jumped off from the edge to attack its invader.
Chang peaked at the spider, realizing that it had become more perfect than it was a month ago. The perfection was nothing more than the advancement of its weapon without enlarging the body size too much. It had its hair staighten out to better sense the vibrations in the air, and its limbs became much more muscular. The mouthpiece got sharper, so that it was almost as if it had daggers at the front of its head..
The spiders had evolved to be more deadly.
However, even though the spiders had improved, the gene-altered soldiers were much more advance in power. Number One threw his fist at the spider, cracking its torso in half. The spider flipped as it was hurled away. The gene-altered soldier was designed to kill, after all, and the spider, as a product of natural evolution, was less formidable.
Chang had waited for this moment for a time. He hadn’t expected the the first spider to cause any injuries on the gene-altered soldier, but was instead waiting for a perfect moment when the gene-altered soldier would stay still. When the chance arrived, he fired the first shot of his handgun without hesitation
The timing was perfect as the gene-altered soldier was within Chang’s vision, and he was trapped in the spider silk. All these conditions ensured that Chang would get a headshot.
Besides, he also believed that if the shot hit a spot where the bulletproof skin was damaged, it may cause a lethal wound. If the wound was on the heart or the head, even though the genes were altered to be bulletproof, death was the only option for his target.
Bang!
The great kinetic energy not only brought a dazzling lights, but also a bullet of an unusual size hidden within the sparkles. It travelled through the air at its greatest speed, penetrating the brain of the gene-altered soldier. The force of the bullet pulled the soldier’s body for a few meters to the back, and left a fist-sized wound on the skull.
It was a crisp killing shot. As long as Chang had enough time to aim, causing a lethal wound to a gene-altered soldier wasn’t impossible.
Besides, the odds were favoring him in hitting the target as he could make fine calculations over his actions.
However, flighting was the most difficult part in this battle. The first shot brought danger to him.
Number Two and Number Three immediately reacted upon the gunshot; the sparkle from the muzzle, and the sound cued the origin’s source to them. 15 meters were almost just a big leap to them. The beast instinct urged them to detour so that Chang wouldn’t have a second chance to fire.
While Chang was turning away, and the creatures were chasing after him, the thundering gunshot lit up the spider filled jungle. The dozing spiders were brought wide awake in the darkness. Their behaviors were bizarre. Instead of climbing down along their silk, they bounced among the webs, briskly making their way to their prey.
Chang had already known the consequences before ever fired his handgun, and hence, he made a 180 degree turn, digging his way into the center of the spider zone.
Number Two and Number Three weren’t distracted by the spiders that were bouncing around them. They were a few times faster than Chang, but he didn’t look back, sliding within the den and planning out every step he took before hand.
The gene-altered soldiers didn’t sail through the spider webs as smooth as their target. They fumbled and stumbled around the webs. Even though they were capable of getting rid of the sticky webs, their speed was greatly reduced.
What was more, for every spider web they crashed into, the following vibration was sent out to the spiders that hung on the web. As if triggered, the spiders crawled over the broken webs, twitching their mouth pieces as if promising revenge on the gene-altered soldiers.
Of course, not only the gene-altered soldier were targeted. As one of the troublemakers, Chang was attacked by a few of the spiders, too.
The attack from the spiders was well-organized. It seemed like the group living style trained them to be group hunters. Their battled tactics weren’t limited to pouncing and biting. The soft and sticky spider silk was ejected from the end of their abdomen so that the silk would stick on the invaders. As they also realized the lethality of these gene-altered soldiers, the majority of these spiders decided to swathe their prey from far away.
Streams of spider silk poured and rained on Number Two and Number Three.
Yet the gene-altered soldiers seemed not to care about these soft attacks. In their eyes, capturing the target was the priority. Other enemies, as well as their own lives, were placed second.
In this chasing game, Chang realised his calculation ability was a huge advantage in siege attacks.
Threads of spider silk showered him, but Chang was able to calculate where they would land according to their current location. The pouncing spiders were slower as they paused briefly between each bounce, and hence, Chang could find the best path to escap
e before the spiders encircled him.
Although the den of the spiders had expanded, as Chang ran further, the density of spider webs reduced. He dodged and strolled through the spider webs effortlessly. In comparison to his spry footwork, Number Two and Number Three seemed deeply troubled.
They jostled and elbowed around, though they tried dodging the showering spider silk, their reckless motions actually got more spider silk wrapped around them. For every spider web they crashed into, the broken web cloaked one more layer on them. With the additional spider webs poured over their heads, they soon were forced into a sticky spider silk coat. It was so tenacious that the gene-altered soldiers were prevented from moving forward.
Their struggle became slower over time as the layers grew thicker. Chang turned his head when he felt the time had come. He fired four consecutive shots toward Number Two and Number Three.
Chapter 98: Seeing in the Dark
The capacity of the cylinder was five bullets. Except for the one that Chang had fired for the headshot, the remaining four were all he had. He shot them all at once.
His decision came with reason—although the gene-altered soldiers were encumbered by the tenacious spider silk, it was still hard to aim for fatal injuries. Thus, in order to improve the damage dealt, he had to fire more shots.
Besides, the spiders over his head were also getting in the way of him shooting accurately.
Therefore, of these four shots, two were shot to prevent the soldiers from jostling. Although only the last two whacked them, the force of the bullets disrupted their ability to move—one thrust into Number Two’s chest, the impact of the bullet fracturing his chest bone and resulting in a big hole in the center of his chest. He fell backward, pushed by the invisible force of the bullet. Number Three lost his balance due to the hit on his thigh and rolled, blown away by the handgun’s great might.
The spiders acted out of instinct when they saw the gene-altered soldiers severely wounded. They bounced off of the webs more quickly, ejecting their silk on the gene-altered soldiers more intensively.
The first batch of the spiders were suicide squads since the gene-altered soldiers smashed them when they landed on their bodies. However, the spiders were fearless. They continuously set foot on the mushy corpses of their brethren, leaving no room for the gene-altered soldiers to stand up.
Soon after, Number Two and Number Three were enveloped in “chrysalises”. Their strong physiques weren’t helping them in this situation anymore. They wriggled on the ground as if they were two unborn silkworm.
As the only witness of this brutal predation, Chang now understood why the millipede had roared resentfully before it died—its gigantic and brawny body would habe been useless in this chrysalis. Death was the only fate for those caught in the spider silk.
The gene-altered soldiers were turtles in jars. Chang knew by heart that the spiders would torture them to death in all the ways they knew how.
Even though Chang had trapped his biggest enemies, he was still distressed.
He nimbly slaughtered the four arachnids that surrounded him and exited the den of the spiders. His first goal outside was to find the hooknosed woman, since as long as she was alive, there would be no peace for his mind.
The chasing game during the last few days had helped Chang to identify the person with the tracking ability. If he didn’t exterminate the woman this time, she would then bring more special forces in her next pursuit.
In fact, Chang was blessed with good luck that he had escaped being annihilated. If he was to confront these super humans again, the odds might not in favor him like this time.
Thus, capturing the woman was his primary concern now. The troop was put to rout, and the gene-altered soldiers were imprisoned in the chrysalises. He must not let the leader flee back to the lab.
Chang returned the way he had come, but the woman was nowhere to be seen at the place where he had fired his gun. “She might have witnessed the gene-altered soldiers’ situation… Or she might have just smelled all of those things happening there,” Chang thought. “She is gone...”
Without hesitation, Chang sprang up to chase after the commander. To his amusement, he didn’t need to go far to find the woman. She didn’t take any action at all when she saw him. All because she was hopelessly stuck in the worst possible situation. She was stuck in a spider web.
“Hahaha, I was going to kill you, you know.”
The woman was stuck in a weird posture as the glutinous spider silk fixed one of her arms to the spider web. Chang looked around, knowing that the spiders wouldn’t come until they finished gnawing the gene-altered soldiers. He said, “It seems like it isn’t worth the effort to kill you, the spiders will help!”
Chang hated this woman, more than he had ever hated any other person in his life. Because of this hooknosed woman, Jing was captured, and he didn’t even know if she was still alive or not. He was also forced into this jungle, constantly escaping from the jaws of death. Half of his face had collapsed thanks to the gene-altered soldiers, and it would never be the same even if he got it fixed. The woman had brought all of those disasters to his life, and he wished for her die in excruciating pain so that she would suffer like he had suffered.
As he spoke, Chang raised his leg. He thought of kicking the woman so that the spider silk would wrap tighter around her, and the vibration made would deliver a signal to the spiders to come for their meal.
But he reconsidered it. This was too cruel even though he wanted the worst possible fate for this woman. After all, she was merely an executor of Zhuo’s evil plan. Plus, Chang could never forget about the other woman who he had relieved from pain with a bullet. He put down his foot, pulling out his dagger.
“Tell me where Jing is! If you do it, I’ll let you die at ease.” Chang put the blade against the woman’s neck, saying, “Or the spiders will let you know what hell feels like. They won’t kill you at first, but disable you with their venom! Then they will cut slits in your skin with their sharp mouthpieces to lay eggs in. When the eggs hatch, you will be the source of nutrient for their newborn babies. It is at that time that the effect of the disabling venom fades away. Those evil babies will nibble at your flesh bit by bit. By the time that happens, you will be regretting your decision not to answer me now.”
“...” The woman swallowed, her mind in chaos because of Chang’s words.
“Don’t even try to bite off your tongue to commit suicide, I won’t let you do it. If you dare to attempt it, I’ll stuff your mouth and you’ll still die as I said you will.
“Now, hurry up and tell me where she is. The spiders are coming.” Chang listened carefully and heard the gene-altered soldiers screeching—it was a scream mixed with desperation and rage.
“Please, please don’t kill me. I can lead you to where she is.” Apparently the woman had heard the last roar as well. She quickly said, “I am the only person who knows where she is. Plus, I was a spy serving in the military, so I can tell you inside information. Even if you kill me, you have to know that I am not the only tracker working with Zhuo. He will just send someone else to pursue you. But if you keep me alive and let me join you, my ability will be able to aid you to backtrack them.”
The woman hurried her pleading as she noticed Chang’s hesitation, hastily saying again, “There is no reason for you to not believe me. I think you have heard about what kind of person Zhuo is. Do you think I’ll remain alive if I were to go back to report?”
The gene-altered soldiers released their last shriek, followed by a scream. Hundreds of spiders were dismissed from the battlefield. They once more bounced towards Chang and the hooknosed woman.
“All right, you are indeed a good persuader. You got a lighter or something similar on you?” Their conversation was brief as some of the spiders began to enter Chang’s view range. “Hurry up! Do you have it or not?”
“No! I don’t smoke.” The woman saw the spiders bouncing over her head, and the shadows brought out a howl from her
. “Do something, please! I don’t think a lighter would help at all.”
“Well then, we only have one solution.” Chang kicked over a spider with a back flip, raising his dagger and chopping off her forearm. Blood gushed out from the amputation site, and her forearm was left behind on the spider web forever. Chang lifted the woman and quickly ran away from the spider zone.
He kept on sprinting at his full speed to escape from the spiders. Because they could only bounce between spider webs, he wasn’t concerned that they would catch up with him. In fact, if he wasn’t in the den of the spiders, the chance of getting caught would be zero given their chasing speed. It would have also been impossible for them to swathe the gene-altered soldiers if they weren’t in their territory.
In Chang’s eyes, the spider webs were avoidable. Even if the terrain of the jungle was complicated, he found his own route using his calculation ability. He didn’t slow down even though he was carrying the woman with him. A moment later, he lost the spiders and headed towards Zhengzhou like he had done the first time.
Chang was much faster now than last time he had been in the jungle, so soon after, he crossed the edge of the jungle and returned to the city.
“Blood, blood...” The commander groaned in Chang’s arms. “Help me stop the bleeding, otherwise I’ll die...”
Glancing at her pale face, Chang put her on the ground, and ripped off a long piece of cloth from his shirt to tighten it around her upper arm to stop the blood from oozing out.
“This is the best I can do. You aren’t a weak EM, I think you’ll survive this.” Chang double-checked her amputated arm and said, ”We’ll get Jing first, and after that, I’ll find you a doctor. Neither of us can stand for long with our injuries.”
Chang pointed at his bandaged face when he explained it to the woman.
The woman nodded, asking, “Jing, is this her name?”
“It is.” Chang too nodded. He stared at the murkiness of the sky with his single eye. “She is my family.”
“Are you an EM with mutated vision?” The woman looked at Chang.
Global Evolution Page 44