Chapter 137 Spider 24
Lin Yue tasted a salty, bitter taste, the sweet blood enveloping the flesh of his palm, exuding a rich, alluring aroma. He had a long neck, fair skin, and with his head slightly bowed, his Adam's apple, hidden from Xu Zhao's view, rolled. Not only was his neck slender, but so was his Adam's apple, like a round, precious pearl hidden within.
Noticing Xu Zhao's move to pull her hand back, he stretched out his weak arm and lightly clasped her wrist.
"Whisper, they can't hear you."
Lin Yue's lips turned pale. If Xu Zhao had looked closely, he would have noticed that the dry skin covering his legs had stopped moving. It was as if he had been forced to press the pause button. Beads of sweat beaded on his forehead, and he looked slightly restless, but deep down, he was delighted to lick Xu Zhao's palm.
A noisy environment affects the molting process.
The legs wrapped in soft spider silk struggled a few times before slowly and quietly drooping. He was more concerned about the content of the conversation outside the door.
The hand gripping her wrist wasn't very strong, but Xu Zhao didn't dare to break free. Her palm felt sticky, and she curled up slightly. She took two deep breaths, suppressing the strange, indescribable emotion that suddenly surged up. She raised her eyes and raised her brows slightly.
It means what you want to say.
Lin Yue huddled in the golden net bag. In front of Xu Zhao, he always appeared vulnerable and pitiful. This was the first time he showed anger and heartache.
"...That night," Lin Yue blinked and stared at her: "What did they do to you?"
He didn't care about what was happening in the town and knew nothing about what was happening there. On the night Xu Zhao escaped, he smelled the scent of her blood from a distance, and when he left the thatched cottage, he saw a scene that made him angry.
He carried her back to the hut, filled with both heartache and joy. Xu Zhao slept soundly that night, and when she woke up again, she said she wanted to stay. At that moment, he didn't dare ask any more questions. This one piece of news had surprised him so much that he was at a loss for words, afraid to do something wrong and disturb the sweet dream Xu Zhao had brought him.
But now, the men's curses, mixed with vicious insults, were like fists hitting his heart. He grasped Xu Zhao's thin wrist, not daring to use force. Beneath his gentle and harmless face, he hid dark and evil thoughts.
How dare they curse such a beautiful Xu Zhao? What happened that night? Did Xu Zhao suffer any additional harm? Anyone who hurt her should pay the price!
Xu Zhao, on the other hand, was wary of the two people outside the door asking about him, while he responded to Lin Yue: "That day, actually, nothing happened..." He tightened his grip on Lin Yue's wrist. Lin Yue felt aggrieved and dissatisfied, as if he didn't like Xu Zhao's evasive attitude. There were more mixed emotions. Xu Zhao didn't observe carefully and could only tell the truth:
"...They took their anger out on the outsiders because of the tour group incident, believing they were the ones who brought the disaster. And I just discovered a few days ago that the tour group members were likely sacrificed to the spiders in order to pray for their own safety. When I arrived, everyone in the tour group might have died, so they turned their attention to me. That night, Lian Jinguang and Lin Jindong spoke outside my room, and that's when I confirmed my suspicions... Then I used some tricks to put Lian Jinguang in a sack, escaped, and was rescued by you... That's how it is."
Xu Zhao's words were halting, and when he mentioned the sack, he paused for a moment, as if he was considering whether to tell the truth. Lin Yue was a gentle, kind man, willing to stand up to protect the people of the town. If he knew that Lian Jinguang was indirectly killed by her, what would he think? Would he think she was cruel and vicious? Would she... distance herself from him?
She was nervous and looked at Lin Yue quietly.
Lin Yue's soft gaze made her feel relieved. As he exhaled, he slowly dragged his exhausted body out of the net bag, leaned close to her and said, "It's all my fault. If I had met you earlier, or if I hadn't bitten you and frightened you, you wouldn't have to stay in that place and be bullied...Xu Zhao, did they hurt you that day?"
Xu Zhao shook her head, and her palm suddenly touched her soft lips. Lin Yue only dared to touch it lightly. Then, she pressed half of her cheek against her palm. The gentleness in her eyes made Xu Zhao's heart beat wildly and his whole body stiffen.
From time to time, a man's curse could be heard outside the house, but it seemed as if there was always a barrier between them. The house was full of cobwebs, and Xu Zhao felt nervous and uneasy in the almost enclosed space.
"You, don't come out, go back to the spider web..."
Lin Yue pursed his lips, pretending not to hear, staring at her with his watery eyes: "What did they say?"
Xu Zhao's brain was slow: "...Huh?" She really couldn't understand how the climate of Blackwater Town could produce such a delicate person, as delicate as tofu. Not only was his face stunning, but his every move was radiantly seductive. His cheek felt soft and gentle, and from time to time, it would rub against her palm. Her heart, as hard as stone, was torn by him.
"Lian Jinguang and Lin Jindong, what did they say outside the door?"
Half of Lin Yue's body was sticking out of the net bag. Because he was shedding his skin, he looked even weaker and paler than when they first met. Xu Zhaozhen was worried that he would fall out, so he hurried forward.
Who could have imagined that the next moment, Lin Yue carefully rested his head on her shoulder, tilted his chin slightly, and his hot breath was like a soft little brush brushing across Xu Zhao's neck from time to time.
She couldn't retreat even if she wanted to, and could only bite the bullet and keep moving. She actually understood Lin Yue's feelings very well. He had been lonely and unloved since childhood, and now that he suddenly had a friend, it was natural that he couldn't wait to stick to him all the time. She felt this way very well - she understood!
Trying his best to ignore Lin Yue's presence beside him, Xu Zhao said, "...the two of them had an argument about something that happened before, uh, something involving you. Lin Jindong seemed quite upset and felt a bit guilty. He accused Lian Jingguang of being ungrateful... To be honest, it was only with his help that day that I was able to successfully leave town."
No matter what he did now, the damage done to Lin Yue by the past could never be undone. But if Lin Yue knew that his father still missed him, blamed himself, and was still feeling sad, would his heart, broken by the townspeople, find any comfort?
Lin Yue listened quietly. He was smart, not stupid, so he naturally heard the comfort in Xu Zhao's words. What kind of expression did she want him to show?
Lin Jindong blamed himself for him, and suffered because of him. Once, when the spider was about to take him away, Lin Jindong begged the mayor to let him go, but so what? Lin Yue thought to himself that the bond of blood and kinship that belonged to humans had long since disappeared for him with the shattering of his body.
——At this moment, he was a monster in the form of a spider. In front of Xu Zhao, he pretended to be a kind, innocent, and somewhat naive boy.
Lin Yue pressed his cheek closer to Xu Zhao's palm. The warmth from Xu Zhao made his frozen heart feel briefly warm.
"...So he's still sad and hasn't completely forgotten me." Lin Yue lowered his eyes, hiding his hidden emotions. His fluffy hair brushed against Xu Zhao's neck. He tilted his head back, "...You're so smart. Have you guessed what happened to me? Do you know how Lian Jinguang treated me?"
The sweat-soaked hair on her forehead couldn't hide the eyes on her forehead. The two black, shiny spider eyes were slightly gray, as if covered by a thin layer of skin, but when the human gaze fell on her, they suddenly lit up.
Having seen this kind of scene many times, the initial weirdness disappeared. Xu Zhao naturally glanced at his forehead, then looked at Lin Yue and nodded.
Lin Yue was like a delicate flower broken by the wind and rain, his frail body contrasting sharply with his joyful expression. He smiled brilliantly towards Xu Zhao.
"You took revenge on Lian Jinguang because you felt sorry for me."
Lin Yue was telling the truth. Lian Jinguang's actions alone were not enough to make Xu Zhao want to take revenge on him.
She only wanted to stay away. She wasn't one to fight back, but when she heard Lian Jinguang wasn't grateful to Lin Yue and instead spoke harshly about him, she was filled with anger and did something she hadn't dared to do before, but...
Lin Yue's tone was strange. He said she felt sorry for him, and she did, but his tone was filled with joy, and when his words reached her ears, they always carried a vague emotion that was hard to explain.
"...hiss!" Xu Zhao felt pain in his palm and pulled back subconsciously.
Lin Yue held her wrist tightly.
The sharp teeth bit her flesh and grinded slowly twice.
Xu Zhao widened his eyes in disbelief. Why was he biting himself?
But he quickly loosened his teeth, a smile on his face, and pressed his lips against the place where he had bitten, leaving a red mark: "...Xu Zhao, thank you."
What kind of thank you is this! Xu Zhao curled his lips, feeling baffled and not taking his actions to heart.
…
Xu Zhao had underestimated the Lian family's hatred. He hadn't expected them to stay around for an entire day, refusing to leave until almost dark. How could they, at this moment, be so unafraid of spiders, risking their lives to avenge Lian Jinguang? If they had possessed such reckless courage, Blackwater Town might not be what it is today!
The next day, at dawn, the two men were back. They hesitated outside the door, "Brother, is that bitch Xu Zhao hiding in this shabby house? If she's still alive, there's nowhere else to hide except here. There are only two roads. The deepest road in this shabby house leads to the forest. If we enter the forest, we'll be dead."
The eldest brother of the Lian family had a heavy expression on his face. "Mother is ill in bed, and as her sons, we can only fulfill her wish and avenge her brother! I won't be at peace until I see Xu Zhao's body... You're right. By noon, if we don't find her nearby, we'll break the spider silk. Even if there's a spider inside, we'll accept our fate!"
The sound of trampling weeds echoed as the two men searched the area, uttering vicious curses, their mental state clearly on the verge of collapse. The spider's killing spree, their brother's death, their mother's weeping, and the hopeless future. Both of them, under the pretext of avenging their brother and fulfilling their filial duty to their mother, vented their anger and resentment on Xu Zhao—the only person they could vent their wrath on.
All kinds of vicious words emerge one after another.
Xu Zhao didn't care. It was precisely because they were powerless that they vented their anger in the most cowardly way. Hearing their manic abuse outside, she curled her lips, and then heard them rushing in.
She pinched her fingertips nervously and looked at Lin Yue.
I don’t know what happened, but starting from last night, Lin Yue’s condition became very bad. Cold sweat kept coming out, his cheeks were pale and bloodless, and his lips were chapped and cracked.
No matter how much water he was fed, he always looked dry.
If the Lian family forced their way in, Xu Zhao couldn't guarantee they would let her go just because Lin Yue was still alive. People like them, unaware of the life-saving favor, took it for granted. So when they found Lin Yue and Xu Zhao together, and Lin Yue still looked so strange, it was hard not to do something nasty.
Xu Zhao pinched her fingertips, becoming more and more anxious as time passed - she had to find a way to stop them from breaking in.
His gaze fell on Lin Yue in the corner and suddenly stopped.
He huddled up, his brow furrowed in deep furrows of irritation, the dry skin on his lower limbs remaining unchanged. A whole night had passed, and there had been no progress at all. He was even weaker, and there was no sign of him having the strength to break free from the old skin.
What is going on?
Xu Zhao tried to break away from human thinking and imagine himself as an animal about to shed its skin, rather than a human with a cold and fever.
She was not familiar with insects, but she knew something about cats and dogs.
Take them giving birth, for example. If their relationship with their owners cannot reach the level of trust, they will need an extremely safe and quiet environment when giving birth, and any slight disturbance will make them alert and uneasy.
If you make a mistake, you may lose your life.
What about the spider when it sheds its skin? At the beginning, Lin Yue's process went smoothly, so the reason for his difficulty in shedding his skin was not her.
Ever since the Lian family showed up yesterday, he's been agitated to varying degrees. The molting process, which had been going smoothly, was completely paused today. He curled up in the spider web. The noisy environment must have made the process painful for him.
"Lin Yue. Put the water bottle next to the spider web. Drink from it when you're thirsty. Don't make any noise. I'll go out and lead them away. Stay in the room and be safe."
Lin Yue's eyelids moved.
Xu Zhao did not stay for long. She was not the type to drag her feet. Knowing that it was Lian's family that was hindering Lin Yue, she quickly made moves to lead them away.
Spider silk is extremely resilient. She avoided the sticky silk and climbed to the beams using the horizontal silk and occasional protrusions on the wall.
She lifted the thatch that she had patched with her own hands and crawled out of the broken house.
Thanks to the recuperation she had received over the past few days, her arms and legs had returned to normal. She grabbed the protruding wooden eaves of the roof with both hands and rolled down onto the thatched pile in the corner.
There was a loud noise when she fell. She gritted her teeth and endured the pain, then ran forward swiftly - the path leading to the forest.
"Hey! You two, I'm here!" Xu Zhao shouted, without stopping.
"Brother, look! It's Xu Zhao! She's not dead after all! Just wait for me, you stinky cousin! I'm going to catch you and avenge my brother today!"
They chased Xu Zhao into the dense and dark jungle.
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