Animals can mutate too?
Yun Ying felt the world had gone completely mad. She was shielded behind Yu Yao, but she could still look up and see that spider.
Even before the apocalypse, she had rarely seen such a thing. The Yu family estate was enormous, with no shortage of servants. Pest control and cleaning were done daily, so no bugs or grime ever appeared before Yun Ying's eyes.
After the apocalypse, a spider the size of a green bean had mutated, growing to the size of a small pickup truck. Its pedipalps had split into more than double the original number, and every bristle was sharp and hard.
The giant spider crawled along the ceiling beams, making strange sounds, as if assessing Yu Yao's combat strength. It had simple cognitive ability and a certain degree of intelligence.
Yu Yao shielded Yun Ying and slowly backed away, speaking into the earpiece: "Come provide support and take Yun Ying away."
Cheng Zainan and the others were rushing toward him: "Captain, what about you!"
"I can handle it," Yu Yao replied calmly. "I'll count to three, then you run back. Take what you're holding. If you run into danger, drop it."
Yun Ying said nervously: "But you're alone—"
Before she finished, she pressed her lips together. She had a clear understanding of her own combat ability and knew that staying here would only drag Yu Yao down. At a time like this, acting tough wasn't bravery—it was foolishness.
"Alright, be careful."
"Three."
Yu Yao backed away with Yun Ying, and the spider was also approaching them.
"Two."
Yun Ying gripped the woven bag containing sanitary supplies, hung the bucket of lollipops with a handle in the crook of her arm, and stepped back a few paces.
"One." Yu Yao exploded into action, pushing Yun Ying's shoulder with one palm. "Run!"
Yun Ying ran without looking back. The giant spider was provoked—it absolutely would not allow its prey to escape. Spider silk shot out from all directions. Yu Yao raised his gun and fired several shots in rapid succession; the bullets wrapped in fireballs rushed out and exploded.
Yun Ying ran past the corner. Two strands of spider silk broke through Yu Yao's wall of fire and wrapped around her arm. Yun Ying reacted quickly, drawing the dagger from her waist and viciously cutting through them. A few scattered zombies charged from the distance. She raised her gun and fired wildly, rushing toward the long-stopped electric escalator and running down.
She heard the sounds of supernatural abilities mixed with gunfire above, and the rustling of the giant spider crawling on the beams. She knew the situation above was chaotic. Yun Ying didn't dare look back, running down with all her strength, dragging the supplies down the escalator. She had barely run a few steps when a powerful force yanked at her ankle, sending the things in her hands and her gun flying.
Yun Ying was pulled into the air by spider silk that had silently extended at some point. The feeling of weightlessness made her head rush with blood. She drew her dagger to cut it, but faster than her dagger was a sharp golden shard that flew in and severed the silk wrapped around her.
Then a vine wrapped around her waist and snatched her down from the air, along with the supplies Yun Ying had brought down. Lu Yao stepped forward and caught her.
Lu Yao asked urgently: "Are you hurt?"
Yun Ying shook her head: "I'm fine, don't worry about me."
He Fangchen said: "You two take the girl and leave. I'll go find Captain Yu!"
Among them, only He Fangchen and Yu Yao had offensive superpowers.
He was just about to run up when Yu Yao's cold refusal came through the earpiece.
"You take them and drive away, get out of the city first. If I don't catch up within an hour, head back to the base without me."
"Captain—" He Fangchen started to speak but was pulled back by Lu Yao.
"Listen to the captain." Lu Yao's voice was grave.
The massive commotion had already drawn the wandering zombies from nearby. With no other choice, the group grabbed Yun Ying and ran outward, swiftly dispatching the zombies that got close, then drove toward the other end of the county town.
The supplies they'd gathered were tossed carelessly into the vehicle, and the bucket of lollipops still hung from the crook of Yun Ying's arm.
Lin Xizhi was tending to the wounds on Yun Ying's arm from being dragged, and when she looked up and saw the lollipops in Yun Ying's hand, she seemed frightened, her gaze vacant.
After finishing the wound care, Lin Xizhi said, "My supernatural ability has a very long cooldown period. It hasn't fully recovered yet, and it has a limited range. Each time I tear open a domain, it's only twenty meters in diameter. I can't go help the captain."
Yun Ying's thoughts were interrupted, and she was briefly stunned by Lin Xizhi's words before realizing she was explaining herself. It seemed Lin Xizhi really had only used her ability once—after using it, her complexion had been poor the entire ride, and she'd rested in the car for a long time.
"I don't blame you. I was just thinking about something earlier." Yun Ying quickly shook her head and stuffed the lollipops from her arm into Lin Xizhi's embrace. "You've all helped me so many times. I'm very grateful."
Cheng Zainan drove while He Fangchen and Lu Yao fired out the windows on either side, taking down wandering zombies. Yun Ying suppressed her racing heart and shared the guess she'd just formed.
"I just remembered—back in university, I took an elective called Animal Behavior. It covered a type of spider called the wall penny spider. That spider looked a lot like a mutant wall penny spider. I saw earlier that its abdomen was extremely large, and it kept guarding the ceiling. That might be a nest it built to lay eggs."
Lin Xizhi's eyes turned cold. "Do mutated animals still engage in reproductive behavior?"
Yun Ying said urgently, "That's what's been puzzling me too. I'm certain the one from earlier was a female. Its abdomen was enormous—maybe not because of mutation, but because it was in the post-mating stage."
Lu Yao asked coldly while firing: "And then?"
"If it really is a post-mating female wall penny spider—the most typical trait of wall penny spiders is that male and female cohabit and do not cannibalize each other. The male doesn't leave after mating or get eaten by the female. Male and female wall penny spiders build nests and hunt together. And when nearing the egg-laying period, the female guards near the nest while the male patrols and hunts on the periphery."
Yun Ying finished in one breath and grabbed Lin Xizhi's hand. "We have to go back. There might be more than one mutant there."
No sooner had she spoken than Cheng Zainan yanked the steering wheel hard, and the RV sped back toward the mall.
Neither He Fangchen nor Lu Yao spoke up to stop him—they were still dealing with zombies. They were too decisive.
Yun Ying's lips parted slightly, and she said quietly, "But I might be wrong. I just thought it looked a lot like a wall penny spider. I'm not sure if mutated animals engage in reproduction and cohabitation. This is just my guess."
"It's fine. We trust you." He Fangchen blew a zombie's head off with one shot, his voice calm. "If you're right, the captain's in danger."
Lin Xizhi stuffed several magazines into Yun Ying's pockets and said to her, "Nothing will happen. Don't worry."
Yun Ying had never seen a team like this, with such strong mutual trust and protectiveness. Facing unknown mutated animals, unsure just how powerful the mutants might be, they still dared to go back.
She looked down at the gun on her knees.
Yu Yao was always telling her that in the apocalypse, she had to abandon some of her principles and emotions, to be more selfish—that only those who looked out for themselves would fare better. Lu Yao and Lin Xizhi told her the same thing.
But they didn't do that themselves. The most dangerous missions were still shouldered by Yu Yao himself, and when faced with life-threatening danger, these teammates didn't abandon him either.
Before the apocalypse, spiders lurking in wall corners only ate flying insects and mosquitoes. After the apocalypse, they leaped to near the top of the food chain, and their prey became humans.
Yu Yao noticed that this spider had an extremely strong protective instinct toward its nest. So he kept firing at the ceiling, and sure enough, the giant spider lost interest in chasing He Fangchen and the others, trying to protect the nest it had painstakingly built.
Yu Yao emptied his magazine. Bullets wrapped in fireballs exploded against the massive body of the giant spider, which was too large to dodge easily. Even though its carapace had grown much harder after mutation, it couldn't withstand the powerful suppressive fire. The giant spider was slammed against the wall by firepower like cannon shells, black blood continuously pouring from its body.
About to enter its egg-laying period, it desperately needed flesh and nutrients. It climbed up the wall recklessly, hanging upside down as it ran toward Yu Yao.
This human was so tiny, yet dared to bombard the nest it had spent months building. In its open mouthparts, one could even see some pale bones—undigested human bones stuck within. It had eaten many people.
Just as the giant spider was about to charge at him, Yu Yao flipped and leaped down to the first floor. The giant spider, unable to stop due to inertia, crashed heavily into the wall behind Yu Yao. As it was about to turn and charge again, a roaring wall of fire formed a circle, trapping it.
The giant spider seemed to have limited mobility—it was just larger in size. Trapped by his fire wall, it was difficult to contain this giant spider with supernatural ability alone. Yu Yao loaded a new magazine and unleashed another round of firepower to annihilate it, hearing the giant spider's heart-rending roars.
The new magazine was emptied. Black blood pooled beneath the giant spider, its pedipalps shattered and scattered on the ground. As its head was about to separate from its body, it used its last strength to let out a shrill cry.
Yu Yao turned and ran outside at extreme speed.
The giant spider had never left its nest, yet there were still undigested human bones in its mouth—proving something was hunting and feeding it.
Swollen abdomen, strong protective instinct toward the nest, limited mobility—very much like a creature in its egg-laying period.
And that final shrill cry—that was a distress signal.
Everything told Yu Yao that this giant spider had a companion.
Its companion arrived much faster than Yu Yao had anticipated.
He had just run out of the mall entrance when a giant spider leaped down from a tall building across the way, blocking his path.
This spider was only two-thirds the size of the previous one, with a larger cephalothorax proportion, slender legs, and noticeably swollen pedipalp tips—very typical male spider characteristics. Yu Yao knew his guess had been correct.
The one inside was probably a female in her egg-laying period; the one outside hunting was the male.
It seemed to sense its mate's death, the male spider became extremely agitated, its venomous stingers raised, and silk threads wrapped toward him from all directions, even passing through Yu Yao's flames.
Yu Yao dodged aside and fired his gun, but this male spider was not a pregnant female—it was far more agile. The bullets slammed into its carapace, yet it could still withstand the powerful recoil and leap onto the mall building, its pedipalps piercing through the glass to anchor itself before turning and lunging at Yu Yao.
While he was dodging, several silk threads that seemed to come from nowhere pierced through Yu Yao's calf. He frowned, pulled out his dagger to cut them, rolled to the side, and immediately sprang back to his feet, gathering his ability into a thick wall of fire in front of him to briefly trap the male spider inside.
Yu Yao had just turned around when a gust of wind came from behind. He sidestepped to avoid it, but it was too late—he barely dodged the spider's pedipalps but was sent flying dozens of meters by its raised carapace, crashing heavily into a streetlamp.
The male spider, wreathed in flames, felt no pain at all, consumed only by hatred. It charged at him dragging its burning body. Yu Yao spat out a mouthful of blood and was just about to get up when the streetlamp that had been snapped in half came crashing down on him, pinning him heavily beneath it.
When the male spider was just a few steps away from him, Yu Yao heard the sound of a motorhome racing toward them through the ringing in his ears.
The heavy truck-motorhome came with clear purpose, charging from the intersection and slamming into the male spider. Dozens of steel blades extended from the crossbar at the front of the vehicle, long and sharp, piercing through the spider's carapace. Cheng Zainan floored the accelerator, and the motorhome drove the male spider straight into the mall.
The screech of brakes echoed through the mall. The doors opened and two people jumped out. Lu Yao and He Fangchen raised their machine guns and sprayed fire at the male spider that had been smashed into the wall, bullets clattering to the ground.
Cheng Zainan sharply reversed, the motorhome speeding backward out of the mall entrance.
Lin Xizhi jumped off the vehicle and shot down the approaching zombies. Yun Ying also came down and ran toward Yu Yao.
A streetlamp was pinning him down. If he weren't a seventh-rank superpowered individual, an ordinary person hit like that would either die or be crippled.
Yun Ying grabbed the streetlamp and tried to lift it, but her strength was useless—the lamp didn't budge an inch. Yu Yao gradually shook off the dizziness in his head, shook his head, his vision blurry. He couldn't see clearly, but he could still recognize who that pale blue figure was.
She really never let him rest easy.
Yu Yao said in a low voice, "Yun Ying, get back in the vehicle."
Yun Ying wrapped her arms around the streetlamp, her face flushed red from straining, but the lamp simply wouldn't move. Cheng Zainan jumped down from the vehicle, and dozens of thick vines grew from his palm, curling around the streetlamp that was pressing down on Yu Yao.
Yun Ying saw the blood spreading from beneath Yu Yao. The silk threads had punched several holes through his body, and with the streetlamp pressing down on top, too much blood was gushing from those holes.
Cheng Zainan came over and carried Yu Yao on his back. Yun Ying helped steady him, and once Cheng Zainan had carried him into the vehicle, she followed on board. Just as she was about to let go, Yu Yao grabbed her wrist.
Yun Ying looked down and met Yu Yao's half-open eyes. Even gravely wounded, he refused to soften his stance in the slightest, threatening in a low voice, "There are a lot of zombies here. Don't run."
Even at a time like this, he was still worried about that. Yun Ying said sarcastically, "Do I look like an idiot? Running off at a time like this?"
She had no vehicle and no ability. An ordinary person running at a time like this—where could she even go?
Two people ran out of the mall. He Fangchen used his supernatural ability to temporarily seal the building, while Lu Yao and Lin Xizhi jumped into the vehicle, followed closely by He Fangchen and Cheng Zainan. The heavy truck RV sped away.
He Fangchen walked over and helped Yu Yao onto the small bed behind the partition. Just as he was about to tend to his wounds, Yu Yao looked toward Yun Ying, who was sitting outside.
"Let her do it."
He Fangchen's eyes widened. "Captain, at a time like this, you're still ordering that young lady around?"
"I said let her do it." Yu Yao looked at Yun Ying. "She knows how to bandage."
Yu Yao had heard from people at the Jiangcheng base that when Song Huai had been cut by a steel frame while working there, Yun Ying had taken care of him at home—cleaning the wound and applying medicine. She knew how to do a lot of things.
She could bandage her husband's wounds, so why couldn't she take care of him too?
Everything she had done for that man, Yu Yao wanted her to do for him as well—to erase every trace of him from her. Eventually, she would forget.
Yun Ying pressed her lips together.
This bastard might as well have been knocked unconscious just now.
He Fangchen smiled stiffly and muttered low to Yu Yao, "Looks to me like you're not in that much pain."
Yu Yao chuckled a couple of times.
It actually hurt like hell—he'd probably cracked a few ribs—but since becoming a Seventh-rank superpowered individual, his physique had grown far more resilient. A wound like this would heal in a few days back at base.
He Fangchen looked at Yun Ying, not wanting to put her in an awkward position. Yun Ying walked over and took the medical kit he offered.
The partition door slid shut, squeezing the two of them into the cramped space. Yun Ying sat by the bed, placing the medical kit on her lap, refusing to look at him.
She unzipped Yu Yao's fleece jacket, revealing a short-sleeved shirt underneath. With a cold expression, she cut through the fabric, exposing his perfectly built body.
Broad shoulders, narrow waist, with clean, flowing muscle lines across his abdomen that rose and fell with his shallow breaths. Beads of blood traced down along the V-lines of his hips, disappearing beneath his waistband.
Yu Yao stared at Yun Ying. Her face was utterly expressionless—no different from looking at a slab of pork.
She was actually this calm. Her husband was so skinny he probably didn't even have muscle. Wasn't Yu Yao far superior to him?
Yu Yao let out a laugh of pure frustration. Watching Yun Ying pick up a bottle of mineral water to rinse her hands, he said coldly, "What about my pants? My legs are injured too."
Yun Ying finally reacted, glancing over.
Yu Yao gestured with his eyes.
"Miss Yun, won't you consider treating my leg wounds as well?"
Yu Yao was only teasing her, figuring that with how thin-skinned she was, taking off his top was about the limit. Still, there was a knot of frustration in his chest. When a man likes a girl, showing off his looks, wealth, and ability is all part of courtship—even the most composed person unconsciously becomes childish.
Seeing Yun Ying stay silent, Yu Yao quirked the corner of his mouth and stopped teasing her. "Call Old He over—"
Before he could finish, Yun Ying grabbed the waist of his tactical pants and deftly unbuckled the belt.
Yu Yao clamped a hand over hers. "What are you doing?"
Yun Ying lifted her eyelids slightly to look at him. "Didn't you tell me to take them off?"
Yu Yao clenched his jaw, staring into her somewhat bewildered, dissatisfied eyes. There was no shyness in them—as if this body, so perfect in the eyes of others, held absolutely no appeal to her.
Her hand at unbuckling a man's belt was far too practiced.
Yu Yao couldn't help his thoughts wandering elsewhere. His hand pressed against the back of hers, fingers tightening around her palm.
Yun Ying frowned, wondering what madness had gotten into him this time. Yu Yao had many habits when it came to intimacy—for instance, he always loved ordering Yun Ying to undress him. Even how to unbuckle his belt, he had taught her hand over hand.
His favorite thing was to sit on the sofa and have Yun Ying straddle him, using her slender hands to undo his tie, shirt, and belt, personally unwrapping a gift he had forced upon her—
Her brother.
Yu Yao's body was all too familiar to Yun Ying. She even knew about the tiny mole on his lower abdomen, and she knew how his waist and abdomen tightened when he was aroused, his veins bulging with tension. Even the most perfect physique becomes ordinary once you've seen it too many times.
His own body held no attraction for the girl he liked. Yu Yao was both angry and frustrated, and in his heart he grew even more jealous of that useless man. What right did such an ugly body have to catch her beautiful eyes? Could it be that Yun Ying liked the frail type?
It seemed he really needed to correct her aesthetic taste.
Yu Yao said coldly, "No need to undress me. I'm not in pain."
Seeing that he wouldn't let her undress him again, Yun Ying muttered, "Psycho."
She disinfected her hands and continued treating the wounds on his upper body. Her soft hands brushed over his body—first wiping away blood with gauze, then using an elastic bandage to simply stabilize his ribcage. More detailed treatment would require a visit to the base hospital.
As for flesh wounds, those were even easier to handle. After the apocalypse, Yun Ying had learned first aid—stopping bleeding, cleaning, disinfecting, bandaging. The process wasn't difficult. He had many small cuts on his body, and Yun Ying also noticed some crisscrossing scars.
Those were all old wounds. Yun Ying said nothing, knowing they were injuries Yu Yao had sustained on missions.
Ability Users had powerful self-healing, but they could still get injured and scarred.
Yun Ying worked her way down from his collarbone. She was very focused right now, leaning in close, her light breaths spraying against his body—warm and ticklish.
Yu Yao leaned back against the headboard, staring at her face so close to his. He could even see the fine down on her face. Because the small space had poor ventilation, there were thin beads of warm sweat on her face.
How could she be so beautiful?
How could someone have every single eyelash curve grow perfectly into one's heart?
Yu Yao truly felt that in his past life, he must have owed Yun Ying a debt of love, such that in this life he fell in love at first sight.
Effortlessly, she could make his blood boil, heat surging toward a certain place, awakening the desire deep in his body, turning the calm Captain Yu—this strongest Ability User of humanity—into a lustful, lecherous man.
After Yun Ying finished debriding the wound on his waist and abdomen, she took the bandage and wrapped both arms around his waist, carefully bandaging layer by layer. Just as she finished and cut the gauze, her peripheral vision caught something. Her gaze landed below his lower abdomen, and a dense heat crept up the side of her face.
This wicked thing actually…
She said through nearly gritted teeth: "Yu, Yao!"