Lin Yuan glanced at the map, deciding it was best to leave the city first as it was too dangerous here.
"Don't go yet."
Ji Xuanyan stopped them, her eyes closed as she carefully sensed something.
"We can't leave. My children are back."
"Your children? Spiders?" Jiang Hai asked as he checked Wan Changfeng's injuries.
"Yes, around 300 of them. Some are a bit far, so I can't sense them clearly," Ji Xuanyan blinked her four eyes, her tone somewhat innocent.
Lin Yuan and the others indeed heard rustling sounds coming from all directions. Retreating to the bar was out of the question. They needed to find a defensible location and report the situation.
"Quick, to that shop."
A nearby shop with a sign depicting cat fruit tea had only one entrance, with all other sides sealed off. It was the most suitable place to defend against the spiders coming from all directions.
The other team members saw the shop too and followed Lin Yuan, rushing over.
Inside the shop, apart from a small amount of mushrooms and green mold growing on the crafting table, there was nothing else.
Upon entering, everyone began to divide tasks. Kong Ming and Jiang Hai quickly cleared a clean area and placed Wan Changfeng there, giving him two cushions so he could lie down and shoot, not completely losing his combat effectiveness.
Kong Ming stayed to re-examine his injuries, while Jiang Hai went to help set up the defensive perimeter.
The chairs from the milk tea shop were piled up at the entrance, leaving a few firing ports and observation holes.
Ji Xuanyan's "children" were fast. Before the defensive measures were even fully built, the thermal imaging detected numerous red dots approaching from the fog.
"Lethal spore concentration: 35%..."
"Lethal spore concentration: 35.6%..."
At this moment, the spore concentration in the air was slowly increasing. The zombie horde was approaching!
"Captain!! What do we do? The command center also notified us that the toxic fog is moving towards us."
Lin Yuan hadn't expected that the commotion underground would be detected by the zombie horde in a neighboring county.
"We'll finish this quickly. By the way, Comrade Ji Xuanyan, these spiders shouldn't have anything to do with you, right?"
While most spiders in nature are good mothers, their offspring are not. There were instances where the young spiders sucked their mother dry after hatching.
"They have nothing to do with me. In fact, they want to eat me now," Ji Xuanyan's face returned to that of a blank-faced, emotionless spider girl, and her extra eyes closed. However, her original eyes were still red, with black rings contracting around her pupils.
Seeing her like this, Lin Yuan and Wang Xiaoxin twitched their mouths. The slight fear in their hearts turned into admiration. They envied her ability to remain unruffled by everything. If Ji Xuanyan had mind-reading abilities, she would surely say that if you had gone through what she had and could still speak properly and maintain your sanity, then you too could remain unfazed even if Mount Tai collapsed before you.
"They're here!"
The light green mist rolled in the front, and one by one, dark green spiders rushed out, their eight legs crawling frantically. The instinct-driven spiders only knew that there was something before them that they desperately craved.
"Holy crap, these things are so ugly!" Zheng Mengmeng didn't want to look after just one glance.
Indeed, these spiders were the ugliest among all spiders in the world. These spiders were as large as washbasins, covered in disgusting dark green. None of their eight legs were the same length, and the eyes on their heads were randomly distributed. Instead of the usual spider chelicerae, their mouths had become gaping maws filled with irregular, sharp teeth, somewhat resembling Ji Xuanyan's. However, Ji Xuanyan's teeth, though somewhat long and sharp, were not thin, were very neat, and did not show when her mouth was closed. Compared to these spiders, she was worlds apart.
"Why did I give birth to such ugly things..." Ji Xuanyan, despite having no expression on her face, was also wondering in her heart. Were these things truly born from her? After thinking, she couldn't come up with a reason, so she decided to kill them all. After all, they weren't her own flesh and blood. These creatures were monsters nurtured from her body as a breeding ground. There was only some connection.
However, the spiders were not resilient. Their exoskeletons couldn't withstand bullets. Lin Yuan and the others held them back at ten meters. Fortunately, the zombies lacked brains, otherwise, she would truly believe they were the new humans.
The battle on the other side was nearing its end. Under the precise aiming of Lin Yuan and his team, the ground outside was already covered with spider corpses. They had one magazine of pistol ammunition left and two magazines of rifle ammunition. Only a few dozen spiders remained.
Ji Xuanyan, who had been interrogating Wan Changfeng with many questions, finally let him go and walked up to Lin Yuan, saying, "Leave the rest to me." With that, she leaped out. For the remaining minutes, Lin Yuan and his team only heard the sound of sharp blades cutting through the air. For the next operation, they must apply for medium-length cold weapons from the superiors. Letting the rescued people take action while they stood by was unacceptable. Daggers were too short, and one couldn't take risks unless in dire straits. They truly hadn't expected to encounter so many enemies on their first investigation. A miscalculation, a miscalculation.