18: Chapter 18 Escape

The woman's eyes widened, as if she hadn't expected anyone to dare speak to their boss like that.

The scarred man, however, laughed.

"Do you have any idea that you're in trouble?"

Wang Lin laughed too.

"Whether I'm in trouble or not, I don't know. I only know that I've struck it rich."

The scarred man stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly sighed.

"Kid, do you know what these are?"

"Cocooned people," Wang Lin said. "Inside are people, each with a bracelet, and inside the bracelet are points."

"And then?"

"And then?" Wang Lin raised an eyebrow.

"Then I save them, they pay me points. A fair trade."

"A fair trade? They're all unconscious; how can they trade fairly with you?"

Wang Lin glanced at him, his expression clearly saying: None of your business.

The tall, thin man's face darkened, and he started to step forward to teach Wang Lin a lesson, but was stopped by the scarred man.

"These cocoons are the Mist Spiders' granary."

"The Mist Spiders catch people from nearby, wrap them in silk, hang them on trees, and eat them slowly."

"I know," Wang Lin said. "That's why I'm saving them."

"You're saving them?" The scarred man laughed.

"Look at those cocoons. Some are still moving, while others have already stopped."

"Open one up. If the person inside is alive, you've saved a life."

"If the person inside is dead, you've earned a stash of points."

"But do you know why the Mist Spiders' granary can accumulate so many?"

Wang Lin didn't speak.

"Because this forest is their territory."

"You're messing with their granary in their territory. What do you think they'll do?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a rustling sound echoed in the surrounding mist.

Dense and numerous.

Coming from all directions.

Wang Lin looked up and saw that the twisted trees had been covered with spiders at some point.

The large ones were the size of a human head, and the small ones were the size of a fist.

Thousands of eyes were all staring at him.

Wang Lin's smile slowly faded.

He saw a dozen more behemoths slowly crawling out from behind the trees.

Each one was half a person's height, with eight long legs covered in barbs, and eight eyes glowing with a faint red light in the mist.

True Mist Beasts.

The smaller spiders scattered, making room for these big guys.

The smile on the scarred man, Zhou Lie, completely vanished, replaced by an expression of seeing a ghost:

"I didn't expect these Mist Spiders to come so quickly..."

He suddenly turned his head and glared at Wang Lin: "You brat, you've ruined our grand plan!"

Wang Lin glanced at him: "I do my thing, you do yours. What does it have to do with you?"

"You—!" Zhou Lie was choked speechless by him.

The young woman stamped her feet in anxiety: "You brat, it's all your fault! We're surrounded now!"

The tall, thin man's face turned pale as he looked at Zhou Lie: "Boss, what do we do now?"

Zhou Lie took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

He scanned the giant spiders eyeing them covetously and lowered his voice:

"There's no other way; we have to fight. We'll look for a chance to escape in a moment..."

He turned and glared at Wang Lin: "Brat, I'll settle this with you later..."

Before he could finish speaking, he caught a glimpse of Wang Lin already bolting away.

"What the f*ck?!" Zhou Lie's eyes nearly popped out. "You motherf*cker..."

Before he could finish cursing, those giant spiders moved.

They lunged from all directions with startling Speed.

The few in front opened their massive mouths, revealing two rows of jagged fangs, with viscous liquid dripping from their mouths.

Zhou Lie gritted his teeth: "Run!"

He and the young woman turned at the same time and sprinted in the other direction.

The tall, thin man was half a step slow. Just as he took a step, his ankle suddenly tightened.

Looking down, a thumb-thick white spider silk was wrapped around his ankle.

His face changed drastically, and he struggled desperately, but the more he struggled, the tighter the silk coiled.

More spider silk shot from all directions, wrapping around his legs, waist, and arms—

"Boss—!!!" He let out a heart-rending scream.

Zhou Lie paused for a moment and looked back.

The tall, thin man had already been wrapped into half a cocoon by the spider silk and was being dragged up a tree by several giant spiders.

The expression on his face was one of despair, fear, and pleading.

Zhou Lie only looked for half a second.

Then he turned his head and kept running.

The young woman followed behind him, not daring to look back even once.

Behind them, the tall, thin man's screams grew more distant, finally disappearing into the rustling sounds.

Wang Lin was running very fast.

He didn't choose a straight line; instead, he wove back and forth between the trees, using the trunks to block the spiders chasing behind him.

But those spiders were faster.

Their eight legs scurried across the ground with astonishing Speed, and they could move on tree trunks as if on flat ground, closing in from all directions.

Wang Lin heard the sounds behind him getting closer and closer.

He didn't dare look back, fearing that doing so would slow his Speed.

He raised his hand and waved it forward.

A wall of blue fire rose out of thin air.

The flames burned fiercely, causing the surrounding mist to churn and surge.

The scorching heat wave rushed towards him, but he was the master of the fire, so it couldn't burn him.

Wang Lin leaped, jumping over the wall of fire, and continued sprinting without looking back.

A sharp hiss came from behind.

The giant spiders chased up to the fire wall and slammed on the brakes.

They were naturally afraid of fire, especially this eerie blue fire, and dared not approach it at all.

But they didn't give up.

A few leading spiders let out low hisses, then led the pack to circle around, attempting to flank from both ends of the fire wall.

Wang Lin looked back, quickly calculating the distance and time.

The fire wall could block them for at most a dozen seconds.

He took a deep breath and kept running forward, while waving his hands repeatedly.

Another wall of fire blocked the left side diagonally.

Another one sealed the right side.

Wang Lin adjusted them so the fire walls were arranged in a "V" shape, like two barriers protecting him in the middle, leaving only a path directly ahead.

The spiders caught up and were blocked by the fire walls again.

They hissed angrily, forced to continue detouring.

Taking advantage of this gap, Wang Lin widened the distance by another few dozen meters.

Repeating this process.

Wall after wall of fire rose up behind him, one after another blocking the pursuers.

Sweat began to bead on his forehead, and the power within him drained away wildly like water from an opened sluice, but he dared not stop.

To stop was to die.

Finally, after raising the seventh fire wall, the rustling sounds behind him gradually faded.

Wang Lin ran for another distance, then looked back.

The mist surged, and nothing could be seen.

The sounds of the spiders had completely disappeared.

He stopped, resting his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

Sweat dripped down his cheeks, hitting the ground.

The power inside him felt drained, empty, and aching faintly.

But the corners of his mouth slowly curled up.

He had survived.

Wang Lin straightened his back, took a few deep breaths, and steadied his pounding heart.

Then he looked down at his bracelet.

[4012]

The number was still there.

He grinned.

"Damn, these four thousand points almost became an inheritance."

As soon as he finished speaking, a voice came from the side:

"Inheritance? Share half with me."

Wang Lin turned his head sharply.