49 Chapter 49

In the west area, Bai Shui and He Ruiqi sheltered themselves inside a cave. The rain from the octopus beast hurled all the way to some parts of the planet nearby the north area. Although it wasn't as fierce as in the source, it was still pouring quite rapidly.

They decided to wait for Lixue and Thirteen. When or if the storm calmed down, they would also try retracing back to the north to look for them. The space storage they took from Jing Hao contained enough beasts for two of them to pass, although not much of a variety, so their current priority was to regroup with the other two.

"Thank god the suit is water-resistant or else we'll be drenched from head to toe." Bai Shui shook off the water from his body.

"I think the suit is designed to resist elemental attacks to some degree. Luckily, it became convenient at a time like this." He Ruiqi agreed. He turned on his light and looked around, "I think there's a path inside. Let's check it out."

"No way. Aren't we waiting for Huang Lixue and Lin Shisan?" Bai Shui shook his head, "Moreover, we don't know what's inside. I only remember the south area."

"Well…" He Ruiqi couldn't refute it. He also only remembered the east area, "But even if we got the beasts from Jing Hao, it is only sufficient for 2 of us. Huang Lixue and Lin Shisan might be in trouble for all we know. And didn't we agree to continue collecting beasts even when we split? I promised you guys to help, right?"

"Still…" Bai Shui hesitated.

"We won't go too far from here. We'll also mark our path along the wall and go back after an hour or two. If we encounter anything dangerous, we'll go back here straight away. But if you still don't want to I won't force you," He Ruiqi added, "You can stay here and keep watch if Huang Lixue and Lin Shisan come. There might also be some beasts wandering here for shelter."

"N-no thanks, I'm coming with you."

They both entered the inner cave with their lights. Fortunately, or unfortunately, after an hour roaming around, they didn't find any beasts.

He Ruiqi sighed, "Let's go back."

Bai Shui also exhaled a breath but from relief, "I've been waiting for you to say that."

When they were walking back along their path, He Ruiqi suddenly stopped.

"Did you hear that?"

"What?" Bai Shui turned around.

He Ruiqi's brows tightened, "Like a clacking sound."

"Huh?"

Before He Ruiqi could explain further, a white thing suddenly appeared heading straight towards them. He Ruiqi responded swiftly and pushed Bai Shui away from it. But the white thing's target wasn't Bai Shui, it was him. Unluckily, his light shield was already broken last night.

"He Ruiqi!!" Bai Shui reached out his hand to catch He Ruiqi, but he couldn't catch up with the speed of the white thing.

Bai Shui nervously pulled out his gun and chased the captured He Ruiqi. His heart was beating heavily hoping the beast wouldn't be too fierce, or else he could only pray to god and rely on fate that someone would come to their aid.

He Ruiqi's body was wrapped by the white thing tightly. He wanted to pull out his gun, but he couldn't even move his arm.

He knew what this white thing was.

Last night, before managing to get out from the underground path and struggled with Irregulars, he was chased by this thing. He finally saw his brief 'acquaintance' from last night.

A Night Spider.

Its 5 pairs of glowing red eyes reflected his figure caught by its web. Its body was full of thin white hairs with blue stripes. 8 long legs dug into the walls supporting its body. There were green fluids dripping from its mouth with fangs protruding out. Without looking closely, he could easily tell the beast was wounded quite heavily on its body. Even one of its legs was crooked. Seems like it was broken.

For it to have these many wounds, it must've fought with a strong beast or those Irregulars that also crawled along the walls he saw yesterday. It was apparent that it was angrier than yesterday.

He didn't know what problem this beast has with him. It persistently chased him and even found him here somehow.

"Seriously, what's your problem? Have I offended you somehow?!" He Ruiqi struggled.

Looking at him struggling, the spider moved its grip on him and spin another layer of web to make him stop moving and dropped him to the ground.

"…Back…"

"?"

"…Give…Back…"

A light passed by above him and a plasma bullet hit the spider right on its face. Bai Shui saw that He Ruiqi looked like he was about to become the beast's evening snack and shot consecutively.

"He Ruiqi, you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Bai Shui kept shooting the beast while He Ruiqi finally managed to reach the spike and freed himself. The beast saw that he was about to escape and shot another web at him. This time, He Ruiqi dodged it and reached Bai Shui.

The spider opened its mouth and sprayed green liquid towards them. The range was far and even if they tried to avoid it, they would still have gotten hit. Both of them felt their body became numb and fell down.

"Ugh! I can't move my body!" Bai Shui tried to move his legs, but he couldn't feel anything from the neck down.

"I think it's some sort of a paralyzer." He Ruiqi wasn't in any better state than him.

The spider approached them. It saw the small drone hovering in front of it and also shot it down with its web thinking it was another device that could hurt it.

Then, it shifted its attention back to the pair paralyzed on the ground. It looked towards He Ruiqi for a second before changing to Bai Shui. Then, it raised one of its legs and aimed it towards Bai Shui. Bai Shui was facing upwards and saw the spider's killing intent. His pupil contracted in fear.

He Ruiqi was facing him and also saw the dangerous situation.

"Damn it! Move!" he aggressively tried to command his body to move.

However, when the beast thrust down its legs, he still couldn't get himself to move. Bai Shui closed his eyes.

"No!!"

Suddenly, the ground below him froze and ice spread rapidly around him. It formed a cover around Bai Shui, making the beast hit solid ice instead of Bai Shui's heart. And when the leg hit the ice, the ice didn't shatter. Instead, it crept up to its leg, freezing the tip and slithered up towards its body.

The beast panicked by the sudden appearance and spreading of the ice. It fiercely tugged out its leg to free it from the ice, but the result was it broke off its leg rather than freeing it whole. It cried either from panic, surprise, anger, or something else.

He Ruiqi felt a cool sensation coursing through his body. It was as if his blood itself became a glacier of ice. Miraculously, when a part of his body was washed with this cold blood, he could feel the sensation of his body back. It was recovering him from his paralyzed state.

"Mine! Give! Back!"

A loud screech suddenly pierced his ear. The beast didn't care anymore about Bai Shui or its leg. It directly lunged to He Ruiqi like it wanted to swallow him whole. Only his upper body has recovered, and he reflexively raised up his arm.

Ice formed from the tip of his fingers and created a sharp arc from the ground towards the beast. The beast was falling in mid-air and couldn't stop itself from being pierced by the ice.

It didn't die yet, but like the previous ice it hit, the ice arcing in its body quickly spread into its inner organs. The spider hurriedly smashed it with its available legs. It tumbled down onto its back, trying to pluck out the ice inside it.

He Ruiqi watched as the spider gruesomely pierced its body with its own legs. In the end, it died from self-harming itself and its dead body gradually froze into an ice sculpture.

---

"Fire! There's a book on fire!!"

"What?! That's impossible!"

"Well, now it's not! Hurry up and get some water!"

"Uh…From where?"

"…" the guy who shouted slapped his own forehead, "I'll go take it out. Help me with the ladder."

The girl quickly slid the ladder to her right where her senior was. The man hurriedly climbed up and pulled out the book that was caught on fire. He accidentally dropped it because he couldn't stand the heat.

"We have to report this to the Scribe!"

"Then, I'll go to the Librarian."

They reached an agreement and ran to each of their destinations.

In the place full of papers, another section was burned.