The early morning mist had not yet dissipated when a three-person team silently departed from the safe house.
Chen Shouzhou led the way, a rusty wrench in one hand and a simple, homemade flamethrower—fashioned from a flashlight and an iron pipe—in the other. His usual cavalier expression was gone, replaced by a rare gravity.
Su Wan'er followed closely behind, carrying a medical pack filled with first-aid supplies, each step careful and deliberate.
Sixteen-year-old A'Jie, agile as a panther, brought up the rear, scouting their path. He held a sharp short knife, his eyes warily scanning every corner of their surroundings.
Their destination was the abandoned power substation five kilometers away, to rescue the trapped female scientist named Lili. It was a race against death.
The atmosphere on the journey was exceptionally tense. The closer they got to the substation, the eerier the scenery became. Large patches of sticky, translucent, web-like mucus began to appear on the ground and walls, and the air was thick with a cloying stench of rot and blood.
"Looks like Old Zhou wasn't lying. This place really is a spider's nest," Chen Shouzhou muttered, tightening his grip on the flamethrower.
When they reached the perimeter of the substation, A'Jie suddenly stopped, pointing to a broken iron ladder on a high wall. "Chen-ge, look," he whispered. "There are fresh scratches on the ladder. Someone climbed up here recently."
Without waiting for Chen Shouzhou's command, he scrambled up the wall like an ape, using ledges and pipes with practiced ease, to scout ahead. His movements were light and swift, displaying a climbing skill that belied his age.
"Holy crap, was this kid Spider-Man in a past life?" Chen Shouzhou stared, dumbfounded. His quip slightly eased the tense atmosphere.
Soon, A'Jie poked his head out from above and gave them an "all clear" signal.
The three of them successfully entered the substation. The interior was extremely dim. The vast workshop was filled with massive transformers and a complex web of pipes. The walls and ceiling were covered in thick, white webs, like giant cotton candy cocoons, looking both grotesque and nauseating. On the floor lay tattered clothing and human skeletons, gnawed clean of all flesh.
Su Wan'er immediately took out her modified alcohol sprayer and began disinfecting the air and ground to prevent the spread of viruses and bacteria.
Chen Shouzhou activated his [Resource Appraisal] skill, scanning the entire environment.
[One gnawed human skeleton. Condition: Deceased for over 72 hours. Remark: May the deceased rest in peace.]
[One pile of medical kits wrapped in webbing. Condition: Sealed and intact. Utility Value: Very High.]
[In the shadows of the corner: Lurking Mutated Wolf Spiders x5. Danger Level: C.]
"Ambush!" A chill ran down Chen Shouzhou's spine. He immediately pulled back A'Jie, who was about to inspect the medical kits.
He pointed to the corner, then lit a rag soaked in alcohol and threw it.
Flames erupted, illuminating the shadows. Several spiders the size of millstones, with crimson eyes, shrieked as they were scorched by the fire and scurried out of the corner.
"A'Jie, flashbang! Dr. Su, fall back!" Chen Shouzhou commanded calmly.
A'Jie immediately threw a homemade flashbang. With a pop, the bright light exploded, momentarily disorienting the spiders.
Chen Shouzhou seized the opportunity and pulled the trigger on his flamethrower.
WHOOSH—!
A scorching dragon of fire spewed forth, instantly engulfing the spiders. Amidst piercing shrieks and the smell of burnt protein, the battle was over quickly.
"Nice work!" Chen Shouzhou praised A'Jie. He walked over, opened the medical kit, and put several precious vials of antidote into his backpack.
Following Old Zhou's intelligence and Su Wan'er's map markings, they cleared out scattered spiders along the way and soon approached their target floor—the central control room on the third level.
Just as they were about to reach the control room door, an intense, suffocating sense of danger suddenly enveloped them all.
Chen Shouzhou snapped his head up. On the ceiling above them, a giant mother spider, the size of a small car, was hanging upside down in complete silence. Its eight crimson compound eyes, each as large as a cooking pot, gleamed with a cruel, cold light, locked firmly on the three of them.
"Holy shit! The big one's here!" Chen Shouzhou's scalp tingled. "Welcome to the Marvel Spider-Man training camp! Except today, we're the villains!"
Before he even finished speaking, he threw the last of his chili smoke bombs at the mother spider and pulled Su Wan'er back towards cover.
The thick smoke erupted, effectively blocking the mother spider's vision.
"A'Jie! Plan B!" Chen Shouzhou roared.
A'Jie understood instantly. He didn't retreat. Instead, like a gecko, he climbed up a nearby pipe, quickly circling around to the mother spider's back from a higher position. Then, he threw his last flashbang with precision, aiming near its compound eyes.
BANG!
The bright light exploded at close range. Even the giant mother spider was stunned, letting out a furious roar as its massive body thrashed violently on the ceiling.
Now!
Seizing the moment of chaos while the mother spider was distracted, Su Wan'er shot forward like an arrow towards the control room door. She quickly cut through the tough webbing with her dagger and burst inside.
Just as they expected, in a corner, a young woman in a researcher's uniform was trapped in a web. It was Lili.
But the situation was worse than they had imagined. A deep wound, clearly pierced by the mother spider's fangs, was on Lili's abdomen. Her face was a deathly blue, her breathing faint. She was already on the verge of death.
"Quick!" Su Wan'er rushed forward, frantically cutting the webs to free her.
However, the mother spider recovered from the flash far faster than they had anticipated. It let out a deafening roar, ignoring A'Jie who was still harassing it, and slammed its massive body directly into the control room wall.
CRASH—!
The already fragile wall was instantly shattered, sending rubble and rebar flying.
"Dr. Su! Danger!" Chen Shouzhou screamed, his eyes wide with horror.
One of the mother spider's sharp, scythe-like forelimbs shot forward with a vicious gust of wind, aimed straight at Su Wan'er, who was trying to rescue Lili.
In that split second, Lili, who had been unconscious, found a final burst of strength. She snapped her eyes open and, with her last ounce of energy, shoved Su Wan'er aside.
SQUELCH—!
The sharp limb instantly pierced through Lili's frail chest.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
There was no pain in Lili's eyes, only a sense of release. Her head slumped to the side, and she was gone.
"No—!" Su Wan'er let out a silent scream, her eyes filled with pain and self-reproach.
ROAR—!
Missing its target, the mother spider became even more enraged. Its other forelimb swung again, determined to tear the two humans to pieces.
"Fall back! Get back now!" Chen Shouzhou's eyes were bloodshot. He knew the rescue had failed. Now, he had to save his companions.
He fired his backup flare gun, precisely igniting a gunpowder fuse they had laid on a ceiling beam.
RUMBLE—!
The pre-set trap detonated. Several massive concrete slabs collapsed from the ceiling, landing squarely in front of the control room door, completely blocking the mother spider's path of pursuit.
Chen Shouzhou didn't look back. He rushed forward, grabbed the shell-shocked Su Wan'er, and yelled at A'Jie, who was still high up, "Jump down! Let's go!"
Without another moment's hesitation, the three of them fled with all their might, not daring to look back at the hell on earth that had given them hope, only to rip it away in an instant.
When they returned to the safe house, no one spoke. The atmosphere was heavy.
They had failed.
They had risked their lives, only to be met with such a cruel end.
Su Wan'er knelt on the ground. Chen Shouzhou slumped against the wall, silent. His face, which was always smiling, was for the first time etched with exhaustion and defeat.
The system's prompt sounded, cold and emotionless, like a heartless taunt.
[Ding! Mission 'Rescue Before Dawn'... FAILED.]
[Warning: Key NPC 'Lili' is deceased. A portion of the main quest storyline has been severed.]
Chen Shouzhou stared at the glaring word "FAILED" on the system interface, his fists clenched tightly.