"It's fine. Once they get used to you, they won't bite anymore." Bai Jie was unconcerned.
With Lin Binbin's Vitality, it was impossible for him to be bitten to death by the spiderlings, and since he had been transformed by Bai Jie's Mutation Venom, he could be immune to the vast majority of protein toxins in the world.
"Take them away from here. Take good care of them. Come find me again the evening after tomorrow."
Bai Jie had already sensed that danger was about to descend, so he decided to temporarily transfer the three little ones to Lin Binbin's custody.
Thus, Agent Lin Binbin's second official mission was to serve as Bai Jie's temporary daycare center.
"Lord Bai Zhi, is something about to happen?" Lin Binbin nervously asked.
"Don't ask too many questions. Just handle what has been entrusted to you." Bai Jie coldly transmitted. "Anything else? If not, withdraw."
Lin Binbin cautiously said: "Um... Lord Bai Zhi, is there anything I should pay attention to when taking care of them?"
This truly stumped Bai Jie.
After pondering for a moment, he then transmitted: "Pay attention to a cool, moist soil environment, ventilated indoor air, don't be too noisy as it could scare them. Feed them some young venomous bug larvae every day..."
"In short, if any accident befalls them while in your hands, you won't want to know the consequences."
The final words carried a frigid, sinister edge.
Lin Binbin shuddered and silently descended the mountain with the three little ones on his person.
After Lin Binbin went down the mountain, two of the spiderlings, disliking the sunlight beating down, hid inside the pockets of Lin Binbin's clothes.
The remaining one, however, quietly stayed on his shoulder, perfectly motionless.
"Handsome, is that a specimen? That's way too cool! Where'd you buy it?"
"Bro, can I touch your big spider?"
"Miss, for the sake of your life's safety, I'd advise you not to."
A beautiful large spider like this naturally drew high head-turning rates from passersby, and quite a few people even wanted to take photos with Lin Binbin, but were mercilessly refused.
Lin Binbin adhered to the principle of low profile above all else, and swiftly ducked into an exotic pet shop.
He needed to buy a terrarium as quickly as possible, and also buy some small bugs along the way, to settle these three "little ancestors."
...
Bai Jie did not choose to flee, but neither did he remain at the spider nest. Instead, he went to the shaded side of the back mountain.
The sense of crisis in his heart had still not dissipated, but Bai Jie was merely somewhat tense, not yet at the point of panic.
Thus, his intuition told him that this crisis was not fatal.
If he chose to flee, it would be hard to guarantee that the crisis would not find him again and again, over and over.
Therefore, Bai Jie resolved to pull up the problem at its roots, completely annihilating the crisis at its source.
In the afternoon, he first went to catch some venomous bugs, then went to browse around the Blood-Shade Spider Queen's nest, which could be considered scouting out the future home for his spiderlings.
In the evening, Bai Jie walked to the water pool where Bai Huahua lived and drank several gulps of bathwater... no, rather, clear, refreshing mountain spring water.
Strangely, Bai Huahua did not appear, and Bai Jie did not intend to summon her with his spiritual thoughts, so he just left on his own.
Because he did not want the little snake to be caught in the crossfire when the crisis erupted.
The sun was just about to disappear, and the city had gradually begun to light its lamps...
In this very instant, all the hairs on Bai Jie's body suddenly bristled. He halted his steps, then abruptly leaped up onto a tree.
The rustling sound of summer wind stirring the leaves arose abruptly.
Scritch, scratch...
Next came the sound of leaves and grass being trampled and pushed aside.
Faintly, Bai Jie even seemed to hear human voices!
He strained to amplify his perception and finally managed to barely make out a man's voice: "Elder, the Gu-Seeking Cicada's reaction is growing stronger and stronger. It looks like it's nearby."
Another deep, aged voice said in a low tone: "Be a bit quieter. Leave the rest to me. It won't be able to escape."
Elder? Such an archaic form of address?
Bai Jie instantly made the association with the men who had come to Zheng Yueling's home to seize him.
Could these people be from the Wu Gu Clan?
The rustling sounds grew more numerous and louder.
Bai Jie saw that the grass, standing a finger's height, was crawling full of fiery red giant ants, and they were still rapidly swarming and spreading outward.
Before his eyes, they had already arrived beneath the tree where he was hiding.
Target: Fire-Eating Ants (Mutant Form)
Vitality: 1.5
Body Length: 5cm
Status: Healthy
"Holy crap! So many ants, and each one has a Vitality of 1.5?"
At the same time, Skill · Stealth Camouflage activated.
With Bai Jie's current body size, if he didn't activate Stealth Camouflage, he would be easily discovered in a tree whose branches and leaves were not dense enough.
Perhaps sensing something abnormal, a portion of the Fire-Eating Ants inexplicably crawled up Bai Jie's tree.
"Looks like hiding won't work anymore."
Bai Jie muttered to himself. As far as his gaze could reach, he finally distantly saw figures suspected to be Wu Gu clan members walking toward his direction.
Five people in total. The one in the lead, at the center, was a benevolent-looking elder dressed in a short-sleeved cloth shirt. The other four wore Sun Yat-sen suits without minding the heat, with youthful appearances.
What caught Bai Jie's attention were the cloth pouch hanging at the elder's waist, and the cicada held in the palm of the sinister, pallid-faced man.
From the cloth pouch, Fire-Eating Ants were continuously crawling out, as if by magic, seemingly containing its own universe with no end.
The cicada, on the other hand, exuded an aura of mutation, with no numinous essence reaction. It seemed to be a naturally formed Gu insect.
Target: Gu-Seeking Cicada (Mutant Form)
Vitality: 3
Body Length: 6cm
Status: Good
"The old man, did you snatch that pouch from Doraemon's hands? And, it's this unremarkable so-called 'Gu-Seeking Cicada' that tracked me down?!"
As danger approached, Bai Jie still did not forget to silently snark, lamenting how this world truly had no shortage of wonders.
He then looked at the five people's information panels and found that their Vitality was all at the standard of ordinary humans, which put his heart slightly at ease.
"I'll give you all a warning first. If you don't know how precious life is, I don't mind collecting your lives for you."
A cold, grim light flashed in the spider's eight eyes.
"No, I've changed my mind. Since you came, not a single one of you will leave here alive!"
His hiding place absolutely could not be exposed.
In a single thought, a terrifying pressure burst forth instantly.
At the same time, the urticating hairs on Bai Jie's body also drifted into the air, scattering with the wind.
Under the oppression of this high-tier aura, the Fire-Eating Ants that had just climbed to the middle of the tree tumbled down in droves, and even the ant colony on the ground seemed pinned in place, unable to move.
"Not good! It must be that demon spider!"
The elder cried out in alarm, hastily removing the cloth pouch from his waist. He unfastened the mouth of the pouch and shook it, and a fat, thick, fully crimson ant was shaken out.
This was unmistakably an ant queen! Fully as long as an adult's arm, the widest part of its abdomen was even thicker than a kettle.
The ant queen dropped to the ground, its abdomen still continuously birthing Fire-Eating Ants. Its mandibles opened, and like a flamethrower, it spat out a tongue of flame two meters long.
As the flames spewed, countless drifting urticating hair poison needles, the moment they encountered the fire, all emitted crisp crackling sounds one after another, then vanished without a trace.
"Quick, bring out your Gu insects! I'll have the ant queen cover us!" the elder bellowed.
Seeing the curtain of fire shielding the five people, Bai Jie's heart sank. He was keenly aware that fire had a countering effect on many of his skills.
Target: Volcanic Ant Queen (Awakened Form)
Vitality: 30
Body Length: 60cm
Status: Stable
From the shadows, Bai Jie's mouthparts opened and snapped shut - Poison Arrow Shot!
Pssh! Pssh! Pssh!
In the space of a breath, several streams of venom shot out like arrows, while several other poison arrows traced precise parabolic arcs, descending on the crowd like raindrops.
Despite the Volcanic Ant Queen's best efforts to spew flames to block them, two youths were still struck by the poison arrows. They immediately collapsed, wailing in agony, as though suffering tortures straight from hell.
In no time at all, their wounds had festered until white bone was exposed. Their faces were ashen purple, their breathing short and shallow - seemingly about to report to the gates of the underworld.