Chapter 117 Spider 4
If you observe carefully, you will find that the residents of Heishui Town, apart from being respectful when facing the mayor, and carrying the filial piety and deference passed down from their ancestors towards the mayor, have a strange sense of guilt and self-blame when facing Zhao Chunhong and especially Lin Jindong.
The town was far away from the city, and due to the ancient customs, every household had a cellar to store food. Even if the spiders trapped them in Blackwater Town, they could at least survive for two to three years based on the food that the townspeople had stored.
Thanks to the backward mountain roads, they had the habit of storing food. But because the mountain roads were rugged and travel was difficult, the townspeople were besieged in Blackwater Town with no hope of rescue.
At this time, food was extremely precious. Xu Zhao saw with his own eyes someone carrying hot porridge and pickled sausages into Lin Jindong's arms. Guilt filled his face.
Lin Jindong, who took the food, did not show the satisfied expression that Zhao Chunhong deserved. Instead, he was heartbroken and held back his tears. At that moment, the middle-aged man in his prime seemed to have aged ten years, and his back became more bent.
Xu Zhao closed the door, leaned against the wall, and stared quietly at the little boy sobbing on the bed. She had long guessed that this room was the bedroom of the eldest son of the Lin family who might have passed away. At that time, she was surprised that there was a mother who disliked her child to such an extent. It turned out that the mother of this boy named Lin Yue had died a long time ago, leaving the sick child to live with his father.
She wanted to learn more about Blackwater Town and verify the mayor's words. Lin Wang's arrival was perfect timing. Even though she had no experience coaxing children, she was forced to learn it by heart.
"I heard you calling for your brother. Is this the house where your brother used to live? If there's anything I can do to help you, please tell me... I'll do my best to help you..."
Lin Wang burst into tears: "...Brother, this is my brother's room, but he can never come back...I hate mom, she always bullies my brother. My brother is the most sensible and gentle, he is not as naughty as me...If only I could grow up earlier and protect him!"
"What's wrong?" Xu Zhao asked bluntly.
Lin Wang sobbed silently.
The little boy's face was covered with tears and snot, and his cheeks were flushed with anger. Xu Zhao unzipped his backpack, took out a clean towel and handed it to Lin Wang. Lin Wang refused to take it and stared at the clothes stuffed in the backpack. Those were the clothes that Lin Yue had worn before. He wanted to take them back, but when he thought of the hundred yuan that Zhao Chunhong had taken, his cheeks puffed up with anger.
Xu Zhao had no choice but to wipe his face clean.
I stopped beating around the bush and said, "...Speaking of this, it would have sounded like a made-up story to me before, but reality is so magical. There actually exists a spider monster half the height of a man. Um...was your brother captured by it?"
The tears that Lin Wang had wiped away with great difficulty rolled down again. Perhaps it was Xu Zhao's gentle gesture that reminded him of the time when Lin Yue took care of him. At that time, it was freezing cold and the family had already lit the coal stove for heating. Zhao Chunhong thought that the building next door was too big and wasteful of coal, so she only allowed Lin Yue to stay at home for a short while and would soon be driven back to the small and cold room in the hotel.
Lin Wang sneaked into his brother's room.
Lin Yue's cheeks were pale and he was shivering with cold, but he covered Lin Wang's cold face with his warm hands and comforted him by saying that his brother was fine and asked Lin Wang to go home and not make his mother angry.
Lin Wang glanced at the clean bed.
Lin Yue was frail and often sickly. But unlike those bedridden patients, his face expressed pain and resentment. He accepted his frailty with equanimity. Even when Lin Jindong secretly urged Lin Wang to take better care of his brother, Lin Yue always refused.
He had grown up surrounded by medicine, yet he required little care from those around him. He kept this small room spotless. Zhao Chunhong never entered it, disdaining the bad luck of chronically ill patients. The sheets and quilt were freshly washed by Lin Yue, carrying a refreshing soapberry scent. Every corner of the room was spotlessly clean.
Lin Wang caught a glimpse of the dust falling on the corner of the table and the windowsill.
Remembering the reality of Lin Yue's death, tears fell like beads from a broken string.
The fight on the other side of the wall subsided for the time being. Just as Lin Wang was about to speak, Zhao Chunhong pushed the door open, grabbed Lin Wang by the scruff of the neck, and dragged him out, cursing as she did so: "...You ungrateful brat, I'm your real mother! I rush around taking care of sick people all day, and you're still crying over someone's death. Cry, cry, cry! Lin Jindong is making a coffin at home. Are you two trying to piss me off to death?"
"...He deserves to die. Don't come here again. What bad luck!"
Lin Wang couldn't break free from Zhao Chunhong's shackles. He stared at Xu Zhao with red eyes, as if holding back his strength. When Zhao Chunhong cursed Lin Yue again, he shouted loudly: "...It was my brother who saved us! If it weren't for my brother, we would have died long ago! You are not allowed to curse him!"
…
Xu Zhao was a light sleeper. When she heard footsteps in the corridor, she opened her eyes. Her wrist was wrapped in spider silk, and her other hand was holding a kitchen knife she had picked up in the corner of the hotel. She was not sure which was harder, the kitchen knife or the spider's carapace, but at least she felt safe with the weapon in her hand.
The door opened.
Spiders can't turn doorknobs, can they?
Xu Zhao whispered: "Who?"
"...Sister, it's me. Please open the door quickly. The corridor is too dark and I'm scared..."
Are you afraid yet you come?
Aren't you afraid of being caught by spiders?
Xu Zhao opened the door.
Lin Wang hurried in.
Xu Zhao wasn't sure if the spider would suddenly appear, and she had no idea if Lin Wang had caught the spider's attention on his way here. She held her breath and waited quietly. When she heard no other sounds coming from the corridor, she lowered her voice and asked, "What are you doing here so late?"
Lin Wang: "I want to sleep in my brother's room. My brother is a hero. In my brother's room, I won't be afraid of spiders. I want to learn from my brother..."
"Sister, my brother is not what mom said. He is a hero. He saved all of us. If it weren't for my brother, mom, me, and many uncles and aunts in this town would have died. Do you believe what I said?"
Xu Zhao fastened the door bolt.
I walked over and said, "Oh? Your brother is so strong that he can resist spiders?"
Lin Wang nodded heavily, his face proud.
"Mom always says my brother is a sickly child, but when the monster appeared, my dad, the neighbor who works out, and even the mayor were all terrified. They were terrified and looked like unmanly people! Only my brother dared to duel with the spider, and he saved so many people..."
In response to Xu Zhao's seemingly casual questioning, Lin Wang was thinking of clearing his brother's name. Or perhaps it was because the sister in front of him was wearing his brother's washed-out long-sleeved shirt, and had the same gentle expression on her face, no, even more gentle than Lin Yue's.
Lin Wang always felt that although Lin Yue accepted his frail body and the disease that was difficult to get rid of, he was gentle and sunny in front of others, but there was always a fragile glint in his eyes.
The sister in front of me is stronger and more resilient.
Before he knew it, he was telling everything he knew.
Xu Zhao believed what the child said more.
In Lin Wang's memory, the spider appeared at the same time as the mayor said, when the tour group screamed and fled down the mountain. The town has undergone earth-shaking changes since then.
Back then, the streets were thick with blood and severed limbs. Humans relied on their brains to build weapons capable of destroying everything in the world, but humans themselves were tiny and fragile. Without the hard shells of arthropods, they relied only on kitchen knives and sticks. Compared to the spiders' hideous mouthparts, they looked like delicious food.
The living gathered together. Old and young, men and women... They were emaciated, their faces pale as they watched the corpses of their own kind being brutally devoured before their eyes. Those who witnessed this were all horrified and lost in thought. The thick, bloody air that filled the streets made them huddle together in despair.
The rustling sound of the spider's legs hitting the ground made them think that the end was coming. At this moment, Lin Yue bravely stood up, picked up the sickle placed beside him, and used his thin back to support a hopeful tomorrow for the people behind him.
Someone brave enough to join in.
Some people are hesitant to move forward.
Some people are afraid, while others are used to hiding behind others and being protected.
Zhao Chunhong was arrested.
Lin Yue stepped forward and was pierced in the thigh by the spider's hard legs. However, he successfully used his sickle to chop through the spider's big belly that was hanging behind it, and accidentally pierced its heart.
He saved more people.
The more blood flowed, the long-sleeved shirt that had been washed white eventually turned a glaring bright red.
Not everyone is as brave and reckless as he is.
Unfortunately, most of the survivors are afraid of death.
According to Lin Wang's description, Lin Yue eventually became a bloody man.
…
Xu Zhao covered Lin Wang's whimpering mouth and made a shushing gesture. She didn't want to attract the spider's attention. Although the owner who used to live here was very brave, she was not sure she could escape from the spider's mouthparts.
It was not until Lin Wang indicated that he would not cry that Xu Zhao let go of his hand. The little boy looked so pitiful with tearful eyes that he touched his hair perfunctorily.
"...Your brother was very brave. He died fighting for everyone. He was a hero."
"No."
Lin Wang shook his head: "Brother is not dead, brother chased the spider away, and he survived."
Xu Zhao was stunned: "...He's not dead, so where did he go?"
Could it be... A face similar to the boy's, but more beautiful and fragile, appeared in my mind.
Speculations arose in his mind, but before they could emerge, they were suppressed by Lin Wang's next words.
"My brother was weak, and killing the spiders took a lot of energy. After making sure everyone was safe, he fainted," Lin Wang recalled the scene, his eyes reddening. "...Everyone was grateful to him at the time. The mayor held Dad's hand and refused to let go, saying that my brother was the lifesaver of the entire town. Later... the spiders came again, and this time they were bigger than all the previous ones. We hid together, and my brother was seriously injured, so I was responsible for taking care of him..."
Lin Wang's tears were surging. "I was just too tired. I took a nap, and when I woke up, my brother was gone... It was my fault that I didn't protect him well. Dad said a spider broke into our hiding place. No one was prepared at the time, and many people were captured and killed, including my brother... If only I hadn't fallen asleep, I could have picked up the knife to protect him. Even if I died, I would have died with him!"
Xu Zhao: "Is there a bigger spider? Has it ever appeared?"
Lin Wang shook his head: "I haven't seen it."
Xu Zhao continued to ask: "Are all the people in the tour group dead?"
Lin Wang was confused: "I don't know them, I don't know what happened to them..."
The next morning, Zhao Chunhong ran to the hotel and cursed loudly, even implicating Xu Zhao. However, Lin Wang was not sad. Instead, he smiled because Xu Zhao believed what he said. Even when Zhao Chunhong pinched his ear, he refused to give in.
Xu Zhao waited until Zhao Chunhong finished scolding her and left, then walked towards the public toilet. To get rid of the hateful and angry looks of the town residents, she walked along the path behind the public toilet towards the thatched house.
…
A dilapidated thatched house.
No one dared to pass by here, not even to look at it.
Under the bright sunlight of the day, the grass and trees outside the thatched house were covered with sticky spider silk, like mold growing wildly at the bottom of a lake. Looking around, the white spider silk covered every place that could be covered, and the scene was weird and terrifying.
There was a big hole in the roof.
The boy leaned against the wall in pain.
The lower body has hideous spider legs and a huge belly.
The sunlight penetrated the cracks in the roof and fell on the boy's soft hair, delicate cheeks, pale and thin chest, and his legs that emitted bright blue light.
The sunlight that once felt so warm and friendly now burned on his thin skin with an unbearable heat like a raging fire. Itchy blisters immediately rose where the sunlight touched. The human skeleton that looked skinny in the darkness now had a few more hideous scars.
Some of them had already scabbed over and turned black, while others were still oozing with blood and blisters.
The boy's eyes were hollow, his soft hair wet with sweat from pain, clinging to his forehead, revealing two round, black eyes. All four eyes were equally emotionless, like a stone, a dead tree, or a pool of stagnant water...
Hungry.
Very hungry.
Very hungry.
Smell the aroma of food.
The fragrance was getting closer and closer.
Finally stop and watch from afar.
Come closer.
Come closer.
The boy turned his head and stared at the closed wooden door.
The predatory instinct takes over.
He stood up straight, holding onto the wall, and his front foot moved forward, but it stopped where it was.
He was confused.
The neck and wrists were tied with spider silk.
Pin him firmly in the corner.
But why...
A voice deep in my heart is shouting: It’s not worth it, it’s not worth it, it’s not worth it, they all deserve to die!
A creaking sound was heard.
Someone was standing at the door with his back to the light.
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