Chapter 558 – Death Sentence
On a street near the TV station.
The abandoned buildings and the disorderly green belts were accompanied by dense weeds growing through the cracks in the ground.
Suddenly, a group of crows perched on the power lines took flight, startled by something. At the same time, a dark shadow swiftly swept across the street below.
“Ugh…”
The rushing wind from moving so quickly, along with the cawing of the crows, roused Ling Mo from his unconscious state.
A throbbing pain on his forehead left him dazed for a moment, but his strong mental power allowed him to quickly overcome this predicament.
“Where am I… That’s right! That girl, Lucy!” Ling Mo recalled the moment he was knocked out by Lucy’s surprise attack.
“To think I was ambushed by her…” Ling Mo opened his eyes in frustration, trying to move his body, but he soon realized something was terribly wrong.
His vision was filled with blood-red, and his body was completely immobilized, except for a few fingers that could still twitch slightly; he had no room to struggle.
“What’s happening?”
Ling Mo was now fully alert. He moved his fingers and tried to shift his body, soon coming to a realization.
He was bound by something… by some kind of cold and intricately woven threads.
“Alright, I’ve been caught. And by the sounds of it, I’m still on the move,” Ling Mo analyzed his situation, immediately sensing grave danger.
The distance between him and Ye Lian and the others was increasing!
However, the good news was that Ye Lian and the others seemed to have noticed something was wrong and were hurrying in his direction.
“About five or six minutes…” Ling Mo estimated the time it would take for them to meet, based on their speed.
But the problem was that the speed of the entity that had kidnapped him was also increasing, and it seemed far from reaching its limit.
“It can’t be Lucy… What in the world is this…”
Ling Mo tried to extend his mental Tentacles, attempting to tear through these threads, but he quickly realized the difficulty.
The threads were too resilient. Whether pulling or piercing, it was hard to deal with them.
If he had time, he could slowly wear them down, but he only had five or six minutes left.
Whoever this kidnapper was, they definitely had considerable strength, not to mention Ling Mo could feel several clusters of mental energy nearby.
If Ye Lian and the others caught up, a fierce battle would undoubtedly ensue, and Ling Mo did not want to be a burden at such a time.
“Stay calm… think of a solution.” Ling Mo took a deep breath and carefully thought through the sequence of events.
The one who knocked him out was Lucy, who ambushed him, but the one who kidnapped him was someone else… or something else.
To be able to take him from a high-rise building right under the guards’ watch, accompanied by allies, and also possessing these dense, tentacle-like things…
“Oh…” Ling Mo came to a realization.
But this realization was definitely not good news for him, as it meant that he was about to face something far more formidable than a simple hunter.
“Today must be my darkest day, just my luck…” Ling Mo clenched his teeth and began to exert effort to extend his mental Tentacles.
In his mental vision, six clusters of mental energy quickly appeared.
The strongest one, which was also the closest to him, was definitely the kidnapper’s…
Under Ling Mo’s control, a mental Tentacle stealthily approached that cluster of energy and then reached into it…
“Ah!”
As soon as Mental Strangulation was activated, Ling Mo felt all the red threads tighten into his flesh.
It wasn’t painful, but it was definitely an unpleasant sensation.
“Do that again, and I’ll cut your tendons first,” a voice devoid of emotion, lacking any intonation but resembling that of a little girl, entered Ling Mo’s ears.
“Okay, okay… just loosen them a little bit,” Ling Mo said.
“So you can continue to think of a way out? Sly and cunning human, you’d better not entertain that thought again. The insides of my tentacles are lined with suckers, which are full of sharp teeth invisible to the naked eye. If you fancy being skinned in an instant, then carry on,” the Spider Queen said.
“Ugh… That’s ruthless…” Ling Mo sighed.
“It was you who led me into the human trap, almost killing me. But it’s only natural for humans to want to kill me, especially when I’m looking for you and posing a threat,” the Spider Queen said, her intelligence evidently having increased since their last encounter.
Ling Mo gave a bitter smile, “You seem quite reasonable. Can we negotiate…”
“No.” The Spider Queen refused immediately without even listening, “You humans have taught me one thing. Any words that come out of your mouths are meaningless unless they’re words I want you to say.”
“Even under severe interrogation, you might not hear the truth…” Ling Mo said helplessly.
The Spider Queen was silent for a moment, then said, “Thank you for teaching me another thing.”
“I… When did I… Forget it, that’s not the point.” Ling Mo spoke feebly, “I’m not here to discuss human nature with you, what do you want to do?”
“I’ve said it before, face you head-on, then kill you,” the Spider Queen declared.
“Can’t you be a little less stubborn!” Ling Mo tried to persuade her. From their brief encounter just now, he had a deep understanding of the Spider Queen’s current strength. And his head was still spinning… For that, he could only blame Lucy…
“I don’t want to either, but you are the first one I mated with, and your body is the most suitable for my reproduction. Your body is practically a copy from mine, though not perfect yet,” the Spider Queen said somewhat hesitantly. However, this was certainly not due to shyness but rather her effort in finding the right words.
“Hey, hey, hey! When did I mate with you… uh…” Ling Mo started seriously but quickly lost his composure. He remembered his two upgraded versions of the ‘Thousand Years of Death’1…
The Spider Queen continued methodically, “The first time, you left your scent within me, which is why I started tracking you. After my rebirth, my memory of you was the most profound. However, it wasn’t until our second mating that I truly considered you as a reproductive partner.”
“And when you first started tracking me…” Ling Mo asked, puzzled.
“Prey, nothing more. Your body has my blood; isn’t that the most suitable flavor for me?” The Spider Queen seemed to lick her lips as she spoke.
“Sorry for not understanding your way of thinking… So does this mean I’ve been upgraded?” Ling Mo inquired.
“You could say that. However, ultimately, you will become my nourishment. For the health and growth of our child, you will be the first grand meal. Aren’t you proud? Daddy?” The Spider Queen spoke with a tone of longing.
But… although it sounded like a couple sitting on a bench, envisioning a beautiful childbearing plan against the sunset, for Ling Mo, these words were no different from a death sentence…
“Alright…” Ling Mo sighed weakly.
Trying to negotiate with a mutated zombie, especially one of the boss level, was indeed a futile effort…
“A mutated zombie that can be called a progenitor, along with her five underlings, facing off against our own Ye Lian and the others… Damn it! I need to think of something fast!”
Ling Mo’s heart started racing instantly, and he was also distracted by counting seconds in his head.
Three more minutes to go!
…
“About three minutes left,” Xia Na suddenly leapt over a broken wall and declared.
“Mhm…” Ye Lian followed closely and nodded.
Li Ya Lin was still out of sight, but her voice came from ahead: “Got it.”
“Tch… Why do I have to do this for Sausage Humans!” Yu Shiran complained while sitting atop Xiao Bai, watching the scenery rise and fall before her. It felt as though she was about to crash into the buildings, yet she swerved away at the last moment. This thrilling scene, enough to make ordinary people scream or even cry, didn’t seem to faze the zombie loli at all.
“Ah… Ban Yue, Ban Yue! Ahhhhh!”
The zombie loli cried frantically.
As she wailed, in a city far from City X, atop a pile of building ruins, a shadow fell from the blood being splattered around, as if sensing something, glanced in the direction of the zombie loli…
Footnotes:
Thousand Years of Death (千年杀): Thousand Years of Death’ is a funny move from the ‘Naruto’ anime where Kakashi surprises someone by poking them in the butt.