Chapter 78

Chapter 78

Trapped in the spiderweb, Yu Li’s thoughts struggled to cohere as she forced herself to calm down.

What did they want with her? Were they malicious? When would they let her go?

The orange-haired sentry before her smiled, eyes narrowed. His bright, handsome appearance should have been harmless, yet the cross tattoo on his face and the swirling vortex hidden within his dazzling eyes imbued him with a strange, seductive decadence.

—Such a man was like a con artist at a casino, skilled in using beauty and sweet words to lure others step by step into the abyss of greed.

“So resilient, Officer,” he admired Yu Li’s tear-filled, yet controlled, expression. “Not crying anymore? Would you like something to eat?”

Based on her experience, Yu Li knew she couldn’t appear weak when dealing with these unstable sentries. Crying was out of the question. But the sticky spider silk in her throat was terribly uncomfortable, making her parched.

While he spoke, Yu Li quickly scanned her surroundings and observed the two Insect Sentries below.

Once calm, Yu Li began to retrace her steps. She judged that she hadn’t been separated from Adrian for too long—before entering the prison tower, Slyther had said he would act if they weren’t out within an hour.

If an hour had passed and Slyther had initiated an emergency rescue, the prison tower wouldn’t be this quiet, nor would they be so leisurely toying with her.

Perhaps… only seven to ten minutes had passed?

Due to the high concentration of beast blood in his body, Adrian possessed the weaknesses of a snake—poor vision and hearing, but an acute sense of smell. Yu Li guessed that one of these sentries had a skill that could manipulate perceptions, mimicking her scent to mislead Adrian, then seizing that brief window to hypnotize and abduct her.

The reason the Paranormal Section restrained Adrian was simple: though criminals, they were still White Tower warriors. Their temperaments, appearances, and abilities were simply highly unusual. In their view, the warden was righteous, and they wouldn’t act against order.

As they had said, these peculiar men merely wanted to play a little game with her.

Yu Li didn't know how far they would take this dark, humid game.

She glanced at the custom prison garb, chains, and collar on the man before her, feeling her cheeks flush and every nerve in her body stretched to its limit.

Calm down, calm down… Find a way to buy time.

Her body trembled, heating up, every inch of exposed skin tingling uncontrollably. Yu Li’s throat grew even drier.

“Alright, Arachne, let her down.”

The orange-haired man snapped his fingers and asked, “My hallucination has worn off. How are your clones monitoring things? How much longer until the warden reaches us?”

The spiderweb vibrated, and from the dark corners came the rustling sounds of countless tiny spiders crawling.

After a moment, Yu Li heard the black-haired man below, his face obscured by his long hair, his demeanor gloomy yet beautiful, reply, “…Five minutes.”

“Not much time left, friends. Next time we want to catch this adorable little officer, it’ll take some effort.” The orange-haired man stepped forward, and Yu Li saw a flash of light behind him as a pair of brilliantly patterned wings unfurled.

A strange scent filled the air.

—Yu Li finally realized his spirit was a butterfly, possessing a hallucinatory ability akin to hypnosis, capable of mimicking others’ scents.

As his body’s transformed features manifested, his butterfly wings brushed against the dense spider silk, and the restraints binding her snapped. Yu Li fell from midair, and the sentry lazily opened his arms, effortlessly catching her.

Yu Li still had a wad of spider silk stuffed in her mouth, unable to speak. Her pupils burned with intense emotion as she glared at the orange-haired man, committing his face to memory.

“Don’t struggle, little girl. That’s Arachne’s silk on you—it may look soft, but the more you struggle, the tighter it gets.”

He smiled, staring unblinkingly at Yu Li, his palm gently resting against the small of her back as he leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Shh… Don’t get agitated. From the moment you entered the White Tower, Arachne’s spider children noticed you. His spies are everywhere in this tower.

Lately, his nesting period has arrived, and his surveillance of you has grown ever more obsessive. If I hadn’t intervened, things would have gotten much worse. Do you want to be dragged onto his silk web?”

“Cooperate with us, won’t you, good officer?”

“Coincidentally, we’re all very interested in you. You can choose whichever side you prefer,” his dazzling eyes darkened. “If you don’t want to put in the effort, we’ll still welcome you into our paradise… We won’t let you feel any pain, alright?”

Yu Li’s struggles grew more frantic.

Tears beaded her lashes as she shut her eyes, her shoulders pushing against him in refusal, adamantly resisting his temptation.

Yu Li knew very well that if she agreed, these men would believe embracing her was an orderly act. Then, they would slowly chip away at her limits, until she didn’t know what kind of corruption she’d sink into.

Who would do such a thing…?!

“What a pity.”

The man with antennae and compound eyes listened to the approaching footsteps from the end of the hallway and said, “Why won’t you follow your desires and make a choice?”

“We’re much more likable than that warden. Among the Insect Sentries, there are also men with powerful builds.”

“For example, Arachne,” he pinched Yu Li’s small chin, his thumb rubbing her lips as he murmured, “Though spiders are gloomy, love surveillance, and are a bit neurotic… he’s willing to give you children.”

Outside the silken cocoon chamber, Adrian’s footsteps grew closer.

Not just the sentries in the room—even Yu Li could sense his murderous rage.

—In the darkness of the prison tower, Adrian’s already weak vision was severely limited. To find Yu Li, he relied on the power of his beast blood to batter down cell after cell, subduing the criminals inside before flicking his forked tongue, desperately sniffing and sensing for Yu Li’s whereabouts.

Yu Li heard his labored breathing, the sound of blood dripping onto the floor.

Adrian was severely injured.

He had noticed Yu Li’s scent vanishing on the fourth floor. The massive serpent didn’t have time to think—he immediately began searching the nearest cells for her. Yu Li had seen the number of cells on the fourth and fifth floors of the prison tower—before returning to the fifth floor, he must have subdued over twenty A+ to S-rank sentries.

Most of these Insect Sentries possessed unnatural powers. Even if Adrian countered them, the fights couldn’t have been easy.

Yet in less than twenty minutes, he had nearly reached where she was trapped.

Yu Li felt both relieved and worried for him.

Adrian was badly injured, his strength terrifyingly depleted. Judging by their auras, the sentries around her were all S-rank. Could the massive serpent handle all three of them at once?

Her heart raced, but her expression remained calm. She decided to conserve her strength, waiting until Adrian passed her cocoon room before struggling violently to signal him.

The warden’s approaching killing intent didn’t faze the criminals in the slightest. The orange-haired sentry with compound eyes narrowed his eyes in delight. He loved watching humans writhe in distress, balanced on emotional knife’s edge—it made him eager to crush their rationality.

…Wait. She had the potential to unfold into deeper desires.

The heat brought prickling sweat as the man suppressed his excited, racing pulse and said,

“No helping it. Since you refuse, it seems we don’t have time for a costume game.”

“At any rate, you’re an Infiltration Group guide. We’ll have plenty of chances to meet and play later.”

Hearing this, Yu Li couldn’t help but breathe easier.

…So this meant they wouldn’t make more trouble this time, right?

“Before we part, your seniors have one last gift for you.” He curved his rosy-eyed, reminding her, “We haven’t properly entertained you yet, little officer. Close your eyes—that web in your mouth still needs dealing with.”

Yu Li went rigid defensively, shaking her head, but the man with the fraudster’s charm gave her no room to resist this time. His large hand covered her eyes. Yu Li let out a stifled cry, biting her lower lip as she curled in on herself, hearing him say, “Laisi, let her taste your honey.”

“How much is needed?”

A slightly hoarse yet warm male voice spoke up. Yu Li recognized the voice—she’d just seen him. The owner of the voice was one of the three Insect Sentries in the room, a golden-haired man with a sun-kissed honey-brown complexion.

“The spider silk in her throat needs your honey to dissolve. Didn’t you brew plenty of it? Go ahead and saturate her.”

The man’s voice was cheerful as he added, “If she’s uncomfortable, I’ll see it on her face and let you know.”

A strange foreboding crept over Yu Li.

Blindfolded and held in someone’s arms, she breathed shallowly as the unfamiliar man approached. His thumb worked its way between her lips, stirring and stretching them before withdrawing, wet. Then, something cold and slender—a tube—was pressed against her tongue, slowly releasing a small stream of sweet honey.

The honey was delivered near her throat, and Yu Li instinctively swallowed.

…So sweet.

Her cheeks flushed pink as she closed her lips around the tube, drinking for a long while like she couldn’t get enough. Even though her stomach felt full, she subconsciously took a few more sips.

The man holding her let out a soft hiss, his voice gone husky as he tugged at his combat suit. His large hand rubbed her slightly swollen belly. “Stop sucking. There’s no more. If you’re willing to come down later, I’ll make you drink until you’re full.”

Dazed, Yu Li nodded faintly, honey-drunk.

The spider silk in her throat dissolved under the honey’s effect, and the sounds of doors being battered down outside the cocoon room grew clearer. She was carried by two men and placed on the bed. Before leaving, the Butterfly Sentry leaned down, producing a whip he’d readied and placing it into Yu Li’s weakly curled fingers.

His lips curled up as he guided her hand to swing the whip, leaving a fierce, bruising mark across his chest.

“There. Now you’ve given me a gift in return.”

He chuckled, baring his fangs, his eyes swirling with disturbing intensity as he pressed his forehead against Yu Li’s. “You’re the first to leave a mark on my body. Let’s meet again on the surface next time, the warden’s little mistress.”

…

Adrian found Little Fish in the cocoon room, her cheeks flushed like she’d been drinking, her body carrying a sweet fragrance. The heavily injured serpent lifted her and hurried out of the prison tower within an hour.

After regaining consciousness, Yu Li couldn’t quite recall what had happened inside the prison tower. She wasn’t injured—only this particular memory fragment in her mind seemed deliberately erased.

Though Slyther walked her through it repeatedly, all she could remember was being separated from Adrian that day.

The Stealth Group launched an investigation into the prison tower. Slyther seemed to have a suspect in mind, and now that Yu Li’s psychic level had improved, she felt she might recall everything after some time.

Adrian’s regenerative abilities were astonishing—his wounds were nearly healed by the third day. Yu Li visited him daily, relieved to see his condition improving.

On the day Ji Suiyun messaged her about progress in the investigation of the missing [Ghost] and arranged to meet, Yu Li found two gifts from strangers at her doorstep.

Huh? Who knitted me a sweater?

…And a jar of honey? Why honey?