Chapter 4: She actively chose to live.
Catherine clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her flesh, and the pain brought her back to her senses.
She turned her head with difficulty, and the alien spider's kiss followed her movement, sliding down from the corner of her mouth and finally landing on her neck, bringing a slight tickling sensation.
Catherine struggled to open her eyes. The heat steamed her brain, blurring her vision for a moment.
The intermittent kisses from the alien spider behind her kept distracting her. Catherine tried to focus and struggle to break free again. However, the spider seemed to anticipate her every move, and eventually, both her hands were restrained by one of its large hands.
As the stalemate continued, Catherine's gaze shifted from the alien spider's side to the partially eaten prey on the ground.
Catherine froze, feeling her mind instantly cool down. She suddenly realized that she had never truly had the option of "rejecting the alien spider."
Unless, of course, she wants to leave this relatively safe cave and return to the dangerous Devil's Forest outside.
...
Now Catherine is faced with a choice.
Should we choose to conform, or should we choose to escape?
The former means she can at least live until the alien spider's mating season ends. Choosing the latter means she will soon die a gruesome death in the forest, perhaps from the bite of a large wild animal or the penetration of plant toxins.
As for Catherine, she would never choose the second option.
No matter how difficult or agonizing the situation, choosing to end her own life was never something she would do. She always chose to strive to live. And for the past twenty years, Catherine had consistently done so.
Whether in the slums, in the Vatican, or... in Devil's Forest.
Catherine relaxed her body, which had become somewhat stiff from resistance, and turned to look at the alien spider. His face was so close to hers that Catherine could even see the reflection of his eyelashes in his pupils.
She leaned forward, closed her eyes, and gently kissed his lips.
She chose to live.
We must survive, no matter what.
Feeling the soft warmth on his lips, the alien spider's pupils narrowed to slits. He excitedly cupped Catherine's face in his hands and probed her mouth with his tongue.
Catherine felt the alien spider's body temperature getting hotter and hotter, and her own body temperature was also burning as if she were on fire.
Her head felt dizzy, like the fever she used to feel after catching a cold. But instead of the excruciating pain of a splitting headache, the rising heat brought only a pleasant sensation. And at that moment, this feeling was comparable to a tranquilizer.
Her gaze was unfocused as she looked at the face so close to hers. In her blurred vision, the outline of the person in front of her seemed to soften, and the pupils transformed into another pair of amorous blue eyes.
“Field…” Catherine murmured softly.
Catherine was curious about Field's awkwardness this time, but she quickly came up with the excuse that "it's just for fun." She reached up and hooked her arm around his neck, pulling him down to deepen the kiss.
Desires are soaring, and the heat is almost reaching a point where humans feel uncomfortable.
A white light seemed to appear before Catherine...
Everything ended with that final kiss.
...
The surrounding temperature was slowly dropping, gradually reaching a level where it would only feel warm. Catherine, who had just finished, shifted her waist slightly, feeling a little uncomfortable, and rubbed the skin of the alien spider's waist.
The alien spider picked up Catherine, her hand touching the skin of his arm, which had returned to its initial icy temperature. The spider placed Catherine back where she had been and then went to clean up the uneaten carcasses of the wild beasts on the ground.
Although it's already early September, the weather is still quite hot. If left unattended, it will likely rot in a few days.
Lying on the fur blanket, free from the sweltering heat, Catherine's mind gradually cleared. She looked down and saw the spiders processing the "food" on the ground.
He cut the enormous corpse into several pieces of the same size, then wrapped the prepared food in spider silk, turning them into white, translucent cocoons. Finally, he hung these cocoons from the ceiling of the cave.
Catherine's face turned pale.
She finally satisfied her curiosity and found out what was at the top of that indistinct hole—it was probably the alien spider's "food storage room."
Fortunately, she couldn't see the top of the room when she first woke up, otherwise she probably would have been frightened first.
Catherine lay there, quietly watching the spider devour its prey. She now understood that she had been abducted by the alien spider to help it through its mating season.
From early August to the end of October, this is the mating season for the alien spider. During mating, its body temperature gradually increases, which is one of the most prominent characteristics of the alien spider's mating season.
Catherine then remembered this.
Two days before entering the Devil's Forest, she learned from the vice-principal of the convent that she had been chosen as a sacrifice. For two days, Catherine took leave on the pretext of feeling unwell, and then secretly spent her time in the library, stumbling as she memorized the heavy "Devil's Forest Monster Compendium".
By the time she was about to enter, she had only memorized a small portion of it, but that was already her limit. To expect her to memorize every single detail would be virtually impossible.
So now she remembered the main characteristics of the alien spider's mating season—there were just too many wild beasts in the Devil's Forest.
However, even in the "Devil's Forest Monster Compendium", there is no record that the alien spider seeks out other races to satisfy its mating needs.
Catherine's gaze unconsciously followed the alien spider as it gradually cleared away the beasts from the ground.
She knew in her heart that once his mating season ended, her fate would be no different from that of any wild animal on the ground. Imagining herself being slowly corroded by the venom of the alien spider, Catherine was quite certain that she did not want to experience that kind of suffering.
So during this month, she needs to make the spider feel that she still has other uses, in exchange for the right to continue living after her estrus cycle ends.
After some time, the prey below was cleared away, and the alien spider easily climbed up the rock wall to Catherine's side. The bed he had prepared for Catherine was still a bit too small for his enormous body, so he didn't squeeze in with her, but stood aside watching her.
Catherine felt a chill run down her spine under his gaze and tentatively asked, "What's wrong?"
He stared at Catherine for a long time before finally speaking haltingly: "Tar...asc...os"
This was the first time the alien spider had spoken in front of Catherine. His voice was hoarse, strange in tone, and as cold as his body temperature.
"What?" Catherine asked, somewhat puzzled.
The alien spider was clearly not speaking the language of Vilandel, and she couldn't understand what he was saying.
“Tar…as…co” But before Catherine could figure it out, the alien spider repeated the word again.
This time he spoke much slower and with a much stronger tone.
“Tara…sco?” Catherine repeated hesitantly. Her pronunciation was halting and not very standard.
But she saw the alien spider's eyes suddenly widen, its narrowed pupils seemingly filled with an indescribable excitement.
She suddenly realized: "Tarasco...that's your name?"
Tarasco didn't respond to Catherine's question; instead, he stretched out his arms and pulled her into a full embrace. He rubbed her skin with delight, like a child who had received a rare toy.
A note from the author:
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