Li Chuan was always paying attention to Zhang Jun’s movements. He grabbed Zhang Jun and impatiently demanded him to open the blueprint, "Where’s the female queen, point it out."
In front of them, Lu Chen and Rong Bai were engaged in a fierce fight, Su Mo glanced at him but didn’t stop his rough approach.
Zhang Jun, pulled around by him, didn’t dare to make a sound, just tremblingly spread out the blueprint and started to look, "The female queen that can accommodate ten times her volume must be inside the control panel."
He shakily pointed out the location for them.
It was the path they had to take, the control room that connected the entire power grid.
Su Mo frowned and asked, "If we kill it, what will happen to the male spiders?"
"Without their leader, we will at least still have a chance," Zhang Jun folded the blueprint, his heart filled with a tinge of sorrow. He had just escaped the fate of starving to death, and now he faced death again.
Su Mo immediately looked at Li Chuan, grabbed the collar of his coat, and stared at his bewitching face, "You have to protect him, he cannot get into trouble before we’ve dealt with the control room"
Li Chuan willingly leaned forward, his nose almost touching her face, his voice frivolous, "How will you pass through the spider swarm?"
"That’s none of your concern, just protect him," she said dismissively, letting go of his collar, and went off to find Lu Chen.
Li Chuan stood up straight, with a trace of a smile on his face, he turned to glance at the trembling Zhang Jun, his hands bursting into flames, he stood in front of him.
Jianxiong was still carrying two people, so Zhao Changsheng and Li Qian guarded him. Seeing Su Mo breeze past them, Zhao Changsheng grabbed her desperately, "Momo, the spiders ahead are even denser, don’t go."
Su Mo shook off her hand and gave her a reassuring look, "Lu Chen and I are going to the control room, you guys help Rong Bai."
Zhao Changsheng felt helpless, she could only continuously resist spiders crawling from the top of the corridor. Li Qian’s superpower could only delay the Level 3 Spiders for half a second, giving Zhao Changsheng the chance to kill the spiders and retrieve the Crystal Cores.
The embedded lights at the top of the corridor had been damaged a lot, aside from the colorful superpowers, there was only darkness.
She moved closer to Lu Chen with her Tang Blade in hand, and above her head were spiders scuttling across the ceiling, trying to reach her. Su Mo took out a Shape Simulation Bun from her System Bag and bit into it.
In the pitch darkness, she stared intently at the spider, beginning to mimic its appearance.
In the blink of an eye, the girl standing there had disappeared, replaced with a hideous, eight-legged spider monster.
A giant spider above her head sprayed silk from its spinneret onto the wall as it descended towards her.
Clutching the blade tightly, Su Mo allowed the spider to get close.
She could already smell the stench hitting her face, the two hook-like mouthparts opening and closing in front of her.
The spider seemed puzzled; it dangled in front of her, its iron-like, penetrating legs neither attacking nor retreating.
Su Mo held her breath, inching her feet backward step by step, giving the blade in her hand room to swing. With space to maneuver, she swiftly brought the blade down onto the spider’s head.
The blade didn’t split the spider’s head completely open but sank halfway in. The spider fell to the ground, struggling violently, its eight legs thrashing wildly. Seeing this, Su Mo swiftly delivered another blow, splattering green viscous fluid all over.
Knowing that the Bun’s simulation effect was very successful, she shed the disguise, exerted force to pry out the Crystal Stone and, without delay, ran towards Lu Chen.
She spotted the dazzling man glowing with silver light at the forefront, and called out to him, "Lu Chen!"
The man immediately turned back, his superpower not ceasing.
"I’ve got a plan!" she yelled to him.
Lu Chen stopped, and several superpower users stepped up to fill the gap he left.
With the half-eaten Bun in her hand, she whispered, "The control panel is ahead, all the male spiders are controlled by the female queen, we need to find a way to kill her."
"Good idea," Lu Chen looked down at the bun and nodded in agreement.
"I’ve tried it, Shape Simulation can even mimic scent. They can’t detect us," she said, handing over the half-eaten bun to his mouth.
The man bit into the part she had eaten without any disgust and stuffed the small remainder into his stomach.
[Shape Simulation enhancement successful, duration 10 minutes]
He took another sip of Jasmine Tea, making sure his energy was sufficient, then said to Su Mo, "Let’s go, follow me."
She nodded her head, gripping the Tang Blade tightly in her hand.
Rong Bai’s eyes were red with killing; spider corpses surrounded him, piled up as high as half the length of his leg. His superpower would soon be depleted, and the soldiers behind him also reported they would soon be unable to hold on.
"Hold on for a while longer," Lu Chen said next to Rong Bai.
When Rong Bai turned his head at the sound, a shield flew at him, and he cursed, "Fuck, when did you get by my side!"
Lu Chen took a few steps back, knowing his transformation was successful, and pulled Su Mo directly through the spider swarm.
Rong Bai was stunned for a moment. He watched dumbly as two spiders ran back the way they came. Why weren’t they attacking him?? Without pondering long, he looked up again to deal with a spider above that almost spat its silk at him.
Lu Chen, protecting Su Mo, moved rapidly through the spider swarm, which didn’t notice them at all—in fact, they even made way for them.
The ten minutes of Shape Simulation were short, and they ran frantically through the corridor, where the webs became thicker the deeper they went.
Even though the corridor was impenetrably dark and white, it was chilling to the bone.
Su Mo, leading with her superpower, arrived first at the door of the control room. The large door was wide open, sealed shut by a dense spider web.
She raised the Tang Blade and sliced through the webs, parting them to enter.
What greeted her was a vast control room, with walls and floors stacked with human cocoons.
She looked up, and her heart began to pound violently.
The gigantic prime spider that nearly covered the entire ceiling lay motionless, its eight black legs hanging on the spider web, and its huge abdomen swollen nearly to transparency, densely packed with spiderlings.
Lu Chen pulled her in after him, pressing her against the wall.
The female queen did not notice their anomaly as its several-meter-long legs pierced a cocoon, lifting it to reveal a rotting arm with sharp nails. In just moments, the cocoon was sucked dry, leaving only a husk of skin.
Su Mo finally understood why zombies were reluctant to set foot on this land; spiders weren’t choosy eaters.
"What should we do? It’s pregnant," she said, looking up at the gigantic, writhing spider abdomen with goosebumps.
If they were to kill it and the abdomen burst open, all the spiders inside would swarm out.
Lu Chen was also troubled for a moment. If they couldn’t kill it in one blow and damage the egg sac, the spiderlings would be enough trouble for everyone behind them.
Time was running out. Su Mo thought for a moment and tapped the panel; in her System Bag, she had a gas cylinder she had taken from Happiness District. She took it out and set it on the ground.
The ground was covered with spider silk, which should be flammable.
"There’s still half a tank of gas left inside. Should we burn it?" Su Mo asked, looking up at him.
Lu Chen nodded to her, "We could give it a try."
He took the gas cylinder from her, glanced at the stack of cocoons under the female queen, opened the valve, and threw it over.
Thrown amidst the cocoon pile, the gradual release of the gas from the cylinder began to agitate the female queen above, causing its eight legs to move erratically.