Chapter 37

Chapter 37

"Forced labor?" Director Liu wondered if he had misheard. "What kind of forced labor?"

Lin Juan summoned the Forest Cabin to restrain the two small spiders. "This spider silk should be useful, right?"

"I observed earlier—these silk threads are soft yet resilient, fire-resistant and water-resistant, and also offer some resistance to contamination. They’d be great for making protective suits or other uses."

Director Liu pondered Lin Juan’s words. "Sounds doable. Let’s take some back for research."

Lin Juan pushed the two bundled-up spiders toward Director Liu. "Look, what perfect silk-producing tools."

Director Liu stared into their four bewildered eyes and drifted into thought.

It seemed...

not out of the question.

If the silk was useful, then spiders capable of producing it continuously would indeed be necessary.

Zhuang Yufeng’s precognitive dream had shown that in the future, anomalies are here to stay. Humanity couldn’t eradicate them entirely but had to find ways to coexist. Making use of every resource to secure a better future was paramount.

Director Liu decided to hold a meeting to discuss this further.

The superhumans brought over two quarantine units, each half a person’s height, perfect for housing the two spiders.

Lin Juan placed the spiders inside and examined the sealed containers. "These look different from the previous ones."

"That’s right," Director Liu said. "These are newly developed containment units specifically for live anomalies. Only three have been produced so far, and we brought two here for testing."

Lin Juan remembered this and was surprised. "They finished them this fast?"

"We’re racing against time," Director Liu said half-jokingly. "It’s a race against time."

After dealing with the two small spiders, Lin Juan remembered that, no matter what, these spiders were Lu Yanzhou’s nephews. He tapped the quiet man’s arm.

"What is it?" Lu Yanzhou asked softly.

"Any thoughts?" Lin Juan whispered.

"What?" Lu Yanzhou was puzzled.

"About the fate of those two spiders," Lin Juan muttered. "I mean, they were Lus once, your nephews or nieces... right?"

Were they?

Lin Juan wondered.

When did Qiu Lishu mutate? If she had been an anomaly from the start, how did she hide her true identity in human society for so long? If not, when was she infected?

Lu Yanzhong, the second brother, wasn’t contaminated, yet all three children were. This shouldn’t be the case. Logically, if Qiu Lishu had been infected earlier, Lu Yanzhong, who slept beside her, would have had a higher chance of being infected too.

It wasn’t just Lin Juan who was puzzled; Director Liu and the others were also confused.

Lin Juan and the superhumans returned to the third floor.

It barely resembled a floor now.

The entire space had been hollowed out by the human-back spider, forming a massive cavity filled with silk—the nest it had built.

Yellowish-green ooze covered the floor, corroding everything it touched, be it the floor, silk, or other objects.

The area had already been cleaned up once. Lin Juan stepped over the dried yellowish-green sludge as he approached.

The giant human-back spider lay in the center, its body cleaved in half. No matter how many times they saw it, the superhumans passing by couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe toward Lin Juan.

A single slash.

What kind of slash was it?

It left the Class B Anomaly, the human-back spider, completely helpless, dead.

They wondered: Could they do the same?

The answer was no. Even the most powerful gifted individual at this stage couldn’t kill a Class B Anomaly with a single blow.

That just showed Lin Juan’s immense strength.

Lin Juan deliberately steered clear of where the woman was. On one half of the body, the woman fused with the human-back spider remained intact.

Worried that Lu Yanzhou might be frightened, Lin Juan grabbed his hand.

His hand enveloped by the warm, soft touch, Lu Yanzhou stopped short, then took charge, tightly clasping the offered hand.

"It might be a bit scary," Lin Juan gave him a heads-up.

"With you here, I’m not afraid."

"Over there."

Even without Lin Juan pointing it out, Lu Yanzhou saw it. Passing a web, a giant spider corpse split in half came into view.

The spider, a full story tall, lay lifeless on the ground, a gruesome sight. The fur on its body was like blades—sharp and lethal. One could imagine the terrifying wounds it could inflict if struck.

Yellowish-green ooze continuously seeped from the severed sections, pooling on the floor as if endless. A rank, fishy smell filled the air, and small spiders crawled around the webs.

Suddenly, a gifted agent yelled, "The person on the human-back spider moved!"

Lin Juan instinctively looked up.

He had confirmed the human-back spider was lifeless. Was it playing dead earlier?

"Everyone, be careful! Don’t get too close!" another superhuman warned loudly.

"I’ll check it out." Lin Juan slipped his hand free from Lu Yanzhou’s grip. If the human-back spider wasn’t dead, he’d need to finish it off.

He always felt the human-back spider went down too easy from that single blow.

His hand now empty, Lu Yanzhou felt a pang. Lin Juan had work to do, and he couldn’t stop him. "Be careful," he whispered.

"I will. You be careful too." Leaving Lu Yanzhou—powerless—by himself made Lin Juan uneasy.

A superhuman guard nearby noticed and quickly said, "Mr. Lin, don’t worry. We’ll protect Mr. Lu."

Lin Juan leaped onto the human-back spider and approached the person fused with it.

As he drew closer, Lin Juan saw the woman fused with the human-back spider twitch.

Lin Juan kept walking without stopping.

To get a better look, he crouched down and checked for a pulse or breath from the humanoid creature.

There was no breath.

Qiu Lishu, barely recognizable, lay with her eyes tightly shut. The moment Lin Juan withdrew his hand, her eyes suddenly flew open.

The supernaturals watching vigilantly nearby jumped in alarm, but Lin Juan showed little reaction. Instead, he studied Qiu Lishu’s face thoughtfully.

Her face was also covered with eyeballs.

One after another, they crowded together, and as Qiu Lishu opened her eyes, they seemed to come alive, rolling and shifting, emitting a "squishing, squelching" sound as they pressed against each other.

“Still alive?” Lin Juan looked around, unsure.

Qiu Lishu stared at Lin Juan with pure hatred, opening her mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out.

Her mouth, too, was filled with eyeballs.

All she could do was glare at Lin Juan with pure malice until the eyeballs spread across her entire body, reaching their limit. With a "pop," they burst apart and scattered in all directions.

Like scattered balls, they rolled away.

Wherever they went, the tiny spiders quickly scuttled away.

For a moment, the web-covered nest was filled with crawling black spiders of varying sizes.

No one noticed a small spider, covered in eyeballs and seemingly a tiny replica of the giant spider, crawling uncontrollably toward Lu Yanzhou.

Mixed among the other small spiders, it suddenly disappeared.

Lin Juan and the supernaturals worked together to tidy up the mess.

Spiders of all sizes filled multiple sacks—some were taken out with powers, while the remaining ones would be sent to the research institute for study.

By the time everything was handled, daylight had broken.

Lin Juan and Lu Yanzhou walked out of the villa together. Gazing at the lush green plants, Lin Juan sighed, "I swear I see spiders every time I blink."

He didn’t ever want to see spiders again in his life.

Hearing this, Director Liu chuckled and said, "Not just you—everyone on today’s mission probably won’t want to see spiders again for a while."

The never-ending stream of black spiders, though not highly dangerous, was just too many.

Once anything overruns, it’s never easy to manage.

The fellow supernaturals nodded along.

The investigation results came out the following afternoon. At the time, Lin Juan and the Lu family were in the quarantine wing of the hospital. Lu Yanzhong was still unconscious.

Old Master Lu had remained silent since hearing about the incident, racked with guilt: "If only I had paid more attention to them."

If he hadn’t been so hands-off with his second son’s family for so many years, could he have noticed their abnormalities earlier?

"Grandpa, it’s not on you," Lu Mingxuan said, holding Old Master Lu’s arm to comfort him.

No one could have predicted something like this would happen.

Lu Yanzhong’s wounds had been treated, and the contamination on his body had been purified by Zhuang Yufeng. The doctor said his continued unconsciousness might be due to the severe shock he experienced before blacking out.

No one knew what had happened to Lu Yanzhong before he lost consciousness.

Lin Juan hadn’t yet shared his suspicions with the Lu family, but he had passed the investigation to Director Liu. If it turned out to be unrelated to Qiu Lishu, telling Old Master Lu would just upset him more. If it was related, evidence would be more convincing.

As soon as clues were found, Director Liu shared the information with Lin Juan.

As Lin Juan had expected, Lu Yanzhou’s coma was related to Qiu Lishu.

After reading the report, Lin Juan couldn’t help but look over at Lu Yanzhou.

His eyes held a faint hint of pity.

Though Lu Yanzhou never spoke of it, after spending so much time together, Lin Juan could sense that Lu Yanzhou was someone who was big on family. He regarded the three children of his second brother’s family as younger relatives.

From Lu Mingxuan, Lin Juan learned that Lu Yanzhou always brought gifts back for his family after business trips. Lu Mingxuan received one every time, as did the three children of his second brother.

Yet it was one of these very nieces, whom he cared for and trusted without guard, who had stabbed him in the back.

Lin Juan had grown up away from his parents, following his master in cultivation. He was accustomed to the backstabbing and power struggles between people and had developed a detached personality. Those he considered his own were few and far between, only a handful.

In this world, only the Lu family had been added to that list.

With Lin Juan watching him like this, and with Lu Yanzhou’s attention mostly on him, it was hard not to notice the change in Lin Juan’s mood.

"What’s wrong?" Lu Yanzhou walked over.

"I think I might know who was behind your last coma," Lin Juan said, his voice somber.

Lu Yanzhou rarely saw him so downcast. He crouched down in front of him. "Xiao Juan, don’t be upset. It’s in the past now."

"Besides, if I hadn’t fallen into a coma, I wouldn’t have met you. In a way, I should thank her."

Thank them for bringing you to me.

Seeing that Lu Yanzhou was genuinely unbothered, Lin Juan relaxed a little. He held out his phone. "I asked Director Liu to look into it. It’s all here. Take a look first."

"Don’t crouch. Sit here," Lin Juan said, patting the spot beside him.

Lu Yanzhou stood up and sat down next to Lin Juan.

Whether intentional or not, he sat very close, their thighs touching, the warmth of the other’s body warming him through.

Warm, slightly feverish.

Lin Juan’s attention was entirely on Lu Yanzhou’s reaction to the news, so he didn’t move his leg away.

Lu Yanzhou showed little reaction, as if he were reading about something that happened to someone else rather than his own being targeted.

Estimating that Lu Yanzhou had finished reading, Lin Juan carefully said, "If you’re upset, you don’t have to keep it to yourself."

To be honest, Lu Yanzhou wasn’t very upset. He had gone abroad for studies at a young age, missing the time when his second brother started a family and had children. Call him cold-hearted if you will, but he had only a limited bond for his second brother’s three children.

But he truly hadn’t expected that the child named Lu Yuqing would harm him.

It had to be said, the person behind this knew how to play people.

Who would have any reason to suspect a child, especially their own brother’s kid?

However, seeing Lin Juan's worried expression, Lu Yanzhou put on a slightly sad expression and averted his gaze: "I'm fine."

How could he be okay?

Putting himself in that position, Lin Juan felt that if a junior he cared about treated him this way, he would surely be heartbroken.

He reached out and placed his hand over Lu Yanzhou's, trying to comfort him in different ways for a while.

Old Mr. Lu snapped out of his sadness and saw his youngest son and son-in-law huddled together, whispering about something, which gave him some comfort.

Lin Juan was a good person—a lucky accident after all.

Yanzhou had never been interested in romance. Approaching thirty, he still hadn't had a single relationship—not even a crush. Every day, it was all work and more work, as if he intended to spend his whole life with his job. Old Mr. Lu had been deeply worried.

But now, things were better. He had found someone he loved and seemed more alive.

What happened with Qiu Lishu made it impossible to hide the matter from Old Mr. Lu. After discussing it, Lin Juan and Lu Yanzhou decided to wait until Old Mr. Lu had calmed down a bit before telling him.

"Finally back home—it’s so comfortable here," Lin Juan sighed, spread out on the bed after cleaning up.

From being woken by a phone call in the middle of the night until now, he hadn't slept for nearly twenty hours. Lin Juan rolled over a couple of times on the bed and soon fell asleep.

After finishing his wash, Lu Yanzhou came out and saw the young man taking over the whole bed. He couldn’t help but smile.

He walked over, sat on the edge of the bed, and stared fixedly at the young man on the bed.

After some time, as if sensing someone nearby, Lin Juan drowsily opened his eyes: "Lu Yanzhou?"

Lu Yanzhou murmured a low "Mm."

Lin Juan scooted over toward the inside of the bed: "You haven’t slept in a long time either. Come lie down for a bit."

He had just made space for Lu Yanzhou.

Lu Yanzhou lay down as suggested.

Lin Juan rolled over again, moving close to Lu Yanzhou. Their bodies were almost touching, and Lu Yanzhou caught a faint scent coming from Lin Juan.

His arm moved slightly—he had the urge to draw the young man into his arms.

In the end, he restrained himself.

Time flowed slowly, and the night grew deeper.

Lu Yanzhou fell asleep.

The nightlight cast a soft glow. Unknown to anyone, beneath the quilt, something intangible stretched out from Lu Yanzhou and crept toward Lin Juan.

They eagerly climbed onto Lin Juan, spreading over him like a blanket, covering him.

When he woke up, the sky was already bright.

Lin Juan sat up, feeling like something was off.

He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Pushing the covers aside, he got out of bed and went to the bathroom, standing in front of the mirror to examine his reflection.

Nothing unusual.

Was it just his imagination?

Lin Juan rubbed his neck and didn’t dwell on it further.

Lu Yanzhou had gotten up earlier and gone to exercise. Knowing that Lu Yuqing was the one responsible, Lu Yanzhou and Lin Juan discussed it and decided it was time to announce his recovery.

Lu Yuqing was only a child—there must be someone behind her. Even Qiu Lishu, according to the information uncovered by the Paranormal Special Affairs Office, was acting under orders.

But the mastermind was too deeply hidden; clues kept cutting out at critical points.

Three days later, Lu Yanzhong woke up.

Old Mr. Lu, worried about his son, had been practically living at the hospital these past few days. Upon hearing that he had woken up, he rushed to the ward without even stopping to eat.

The butler followed hurriedly with a food container.

After receiving the call, Lu Yanzhou set aside his work and went to the hospital with Lin Juan.

When they arrived, Zhuang Yufeng had just finished examining Lu Yanzhong.

Lu Yanzhong was recovering well, but his expression was grim.

As Lu Yanzhou pushed the door open and entered, Lu Yanzhong, who had remained silent until then, spoke.

"Does Er-Ge know?" After Lin Juan came in, Lu Yanzhou closed the door.

"I've remembered now. I'm sorry—because of me, you were harmed." Lu Yanzhong wasn’t that old, but after going through this ordeal, he seemed to have aged considerably.

Hearing this suddenly, Old Mr. Lu was startled: "What do you mean, because of you, Yanzhou was harmed? Does your last fainting incident have something to do with you?"

Old Mr. Lu had been through many storms and was sharp. Almost instantly, he connected the dots.

"Why would you do such a thing?!"

Lu Yanzhong lowered his head and remained silent.

His thoughts were chaotic. During the three days he was unconscious, it felt as though he had sunk into a bizarre dream, viewing his life over the years from a perspective he had never imagined.

Upon waking, he realized that it wasn’t the dream that was absurd—on the contrary, the dream was real. He had been living in a carefully crafted illusion by someone else, like prey caught in a spider’s web: the more he struggled, the deeper he sank.

It wasn’t until a powerful external force tore the web apart that he was finally freed.

But that only threw him into another nightmare.

For a brief moment, he wished he hadn’t woken up—that he could have continued living in ignorance, rather than facing the harsh reality.

"Dad, you’ve always asked me what I liked about Qiu Lishu, haven’t you?"

For Qiu Lishu, he had abandoned his family, abandoned his true first love, and even driven her to madness. Nearly, his own family had been harmed because of him.

No—they had already been harmed because of him.

If it weren’t for Lin Juan, if his father hadn't by chance married Lin Juan to his younger brother, his younger brother’s fate would have been just as bad as his first love’s.

Untangling his thoughts, Lu Yanzhong said, "Actually, I don’t even know what I liked about her. Did I love her? No, I didn’t. From beginning to end, I’ve only loved one person—someone I'm no longer worthy to mention."

Old Mr. Lu was puzzled: "Then why—"

Yes, why?

Why did he do such a thing?

Lu Yanzhong fell into reminiscence.

The first time he saw Qiu Lishu was when they brushed past each other; it hardly counted as a meeting. He was shielding his girlfriend from the rain, and he didn't even notice who had passed by.

Yet the seeds of regret were sown on that rainy day.

He began to encounter Qiu Lishu everywhere.

Qiu Lishu, dressed like his girlfriend.

They had no connection, and Lu Yanzhong wouldn't spare another woman a second glance, except for his girlfriend.

When did his affection shift to Qiu Lishu?

It was another rainy night, and he was waiting for his girlfriend in a café. Qiu Lishu, dressed as a waitress, brought him a cup of coffee.

Unsweetened, bitter.

After that cup of coffee, he found himself uncontrollably drawn to Qiu Lishu. In his eyes, she was the one he had loved for years.

He had abruptly fallen out of love with his girlfriend and into love with Qiu Lishu.

"Knock knock."

The knocking interrupted Lu Yanzhong's thoughts. Director Liu entered, carrying a black box.

"We have some new findings," Director Liu placed the box on the coffee table. "We saw some fragments from those recycled eyes."

"It's related to Mr. Lu Yanzhong and the deceased Ms. Qiu Lishu. I think you have the right to know."

The black box was opened, revealing its contents.

It was a box of eyeballs, with the largest one in the center as big as a human head, surrounded by a circle of eyeballs the size of eggs.

"The rare item 【Eye of Memory】 dropped from the 【humanback spider】. When activated, it allows one to see the past memories of the creatures the eyeballs once parasitized."

Memories unfolded like watching a silent film from the last century.

They saw the sixteen-year-old Qiu Lishu.

A beautiful girl from the deep mountains, destined to face many hardships.

Qiu Lishu's life wasn't too difficult because she was fortunate enough to receive support from the Lu family.

Although she had schemed to secure this sponsorship opportunity.

She attended university and was captivated by the city's glamour. She didn't want to return to the mountains; she wanted to stay in the big city forever, to put down roots and flourish there.

She met Lu Yanzhong, representing the Lu family, who had come to the school to deliver a speech.

Once she learned who he was, she dreamed of standing beside him someday, just like the girl who always wore white dresses.

So carefree, clearly well-protected.

She was like a mouse peeking into someone else's happy life, fantasizing about replacing the woman in his life while seething with envy at the girl’s fortune.

She engineered countless 'chance' encounters with him, but he never once looked her way. He had eyes only for that girl.

How enviable.

Jealousy leads to wrongdoing.

The turning point came when she picked up a pair of glasses.

She returned them to their owner, a man in a long black coat whose face was unclear. The man gave her a small box containing an eyeball.

Curious, Qiu Lishu opened the box, like opening Pandora’s box.

The eyeball transformed into a streak of light and burrowed into her body, giving her the power to rewrite a person’s memories.

Without hesitation, she rewrote Lu Yanzhong’s memories.

She took the place of the girl she’d once envied and stood by Lu Yanzhong’s side.

The memory abruptly ended.

The hospital room went silent.

“There’s more. The Eye of Memory has a cooling-off period. We’ll have to wait another six hours to continue seeing the rest,” Director Liu’s voice broke the quiet.

“Which means the paranormal was already around at least before Qiu Lishu met Second Brother Lu.”

Lin Juan’s words immediately shifted everyone’s attention.

“Not just emerged. The eyeball was given to Qiu Lishu by the man in the black coat, indicating that someone had already discovered the existence of the paranormal and had begun using it for their own ends.”

This timeline was even earlier than what the Paranormal Special Affairs Office had initially assumed.

Director Liu treated it with high priority: “I will report this discovery to my superiors.”

This was no longer something he could handle on his own. If the paranormal had truly appeared this early, they had much more to do.

Like who the man in the black coat from the Eye of Memory was.

Who was he?

What was his connection to the paranormal?

Leaving the Eye of Memory behind, Director Liu left in a hurry.

With the memories temporarily inaccessible, Lin Juan closed the black box and forwarded the documents Director Liu had sent him to Old Mr. Lu and the others: “This is some information I asked Director Liu to investigate. It’s directly related to Lu Yanzhou’s coma, as well as Qiu Lishu and Lu Yuqing.”

After reading it, Old Mr. Lu also understood why his second son had apologized to the youngest.

“Second Brother, tell me honestly: were you involved in this? Did you know about it?” Old Mr. Lu put down his phone and asked sternly.

“I didn’t know,” Lu Yanzhong did not defend himself. “Even though I didn’t know, I can’t claim I’m not connected.”

If Qiu Lishu hadn’t been his wife, she wouldn’t have been able to easily learn Lu Yanzhou’s schedule, not to mention Lu Yuqing. If Lu Yuqing hadn’t been his child, how could Lu Yanzhou have been caught off guard?

“I’m sorry. I know sorry isn’t enough, but once I’m discharged, I will—”

“No need,” Lu Yanzhou interrupted him. “I just need to know that you weren’t involved and didn’t know about it.”

Hearing the distance in Lu Yanzhou’s tone, Lu Yanzhong felt sad, but he also knew he couldn’t blame Lu Yanzhou. He was the one who had let the wolf in. If he hadn’t insisted on marrying Qiu Lishu, if he and Qiu Lishu hadn’t had three children, none of this would have happened.

The hospital room went silent once more.

Old Mr. Lu couldn't take the tension any longer. He was frustrated by his second son's incompetence, but he also knew that, to be fair, his son was a victim too. He sighed and said, "Just focus on recovering for now. Don't overthink other things."

Lu Yanzhong remembered what had happened before he fell into a coma and volunteered to explain the events of that night.

The situation that night had truly been perilous; Lu Yanzhong was sure he was a goner several times.

"And the other two children..." — Lu Yanzhong hadn't seen his younger son and daughter since waking up — "how are they doing?"

"As for them," Lin Juan thought about it, "they might be undergoing corrective labor."

Lu Yanzhong recalled the ages of his two young children, glanced at his phone to confirm he had only been unconscious for three days rather than three years, and asked in confusion:

What could two kids under eight even be doing in labor reform?