Tuantuan pulled Jiang Che back into the mist, the thin gray fog making the two of them appear translucent.
Ya's screams grew sharper and sharper, carrying a sense of impending doom.
Sensing the fear thickening in the air, Tuantuan felt confused and gripped Jiang Che's hand even tighter.
Because she could sense that the scent of fear was only getting stronger, and after all this time, none of it had dissipated.
Doesn't that evil spirit feed on fear?
Tuantuan frowned,
Getting closer to Ya wouldn't take her much time, but now, she purposely kept her distance in the fog, slowing their approach, so she could better analyze what was happening over there.
Evil spirits all feed on fear. Flesh and blood can help them grow, but the boost from fear is much greater.
Most evil spirits love to chase their prey while feasting on fear, like one appetizer after another, and only at the end do they enjoy a feast of flesh as dessert, ensuring none of the fear is wasted and allowed to fade away.
Of course, there are also evil spirits that don't feed until the end—those are the truly cruel ones, torturing their prey to enjoy a final, gluttonous meal.
This is Tuantuan's mist. Here, when she doesn't want to be seen, it's hard for other evil spirits to notice her presence.
Jiang Che stayed close, his gaze able to pierce through the swirling fog, seeing farther than before.
He faintly saw that Ya was now with Wang Bing.
Wang Bing?
Jiang Che looked at him in surprise. Last time, Wang Bing was wounded and taken away by someone cosplaying Spider-Man, and now, seeing him return, it seemed his injuries were healed.
But he looked like he'd lost a lot of weight, his whole figure shrunken and withered, for reasons Jiang Che couldn't guess.
During the short time he'd spent with Ya, Jiang Che had encountered all kinds of strange-looking evil spirits in the dungeon, and in the areas he and Ya had passed through, he'd glimpsed some uncanny figures.
Those weird-looking figures only took a quick peek at them from the distance before slipping away again.
He hadn't minded, nor had he told Ya, because their appearance might look just as odd to people like Ya.
If he had told Ya, Ya and her group would likely have rounded them all up, forced them to take medicine, or tied them up.
Back in the mental hospital, he often heard the "patients" around him say things like: I'm a mushroom, I'm the sun, I'm a tiger…
When the staff got impatient, they'd tie the patients up and leave them hungry for a few meals.
Other than his obsession with his family, Jiang Che was able to speak normally most of the time. He'd never been treated like that, but it didn't mean he thought the doctors were right to do it.
The people at the hospital labeled them all with one term: mentally ill.
Jiang Che didn't think any of them were sick; it must be that people just didn't understand them.
Just like before, he believed he had a family, but everyone told him he didn't.
Now, hasn't reality proven that he really does have family?
Now, in this dungeon, he really had seen lots of strange, strange people. He never mentioned it to Ya, for fear they'd end up suffering again, just like in the hospital.
If those hospital people saw their strangeness, they would surely find a way to capture them all, using so-called "treatments" to torment them.
"That's our friend, Wang Bing. He was with us before, but got injured and went off to recover." Jiang Che introduced Wang Bing to Tuantuan.
Tuantuan watched as Wang Bing and Ya grew closer. Only then did she realize why this evil spirit hadn't consumed the fear lingering in the air.
Because the person before her…was a human!
The two of them quickly approached. Ya was motionless, hiding in a corner. She could sense a thin layer of spider silk clinging to her body; now she felt just like prey trapped in a web—no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't escape.
And across from her, Wang Bing, who had once been well-built, was now shriveled and emaciated, his skinny body like a piece of dried jerky, and slight movement of his chest showed he was still alive.
White spider silk covered his body, draping across him and wrapping up more than half his form.
If previously Wang Bing's eyes had been full of confidence and disdain, now they were only filled with viciousness.
Wang Bing always thought he'd be the one to survive to the end. Even if he couldn't escape the dungeon, at least he wouldn't die before the two useless burdens in the group.
He never imagined, not even a second before Zhao Qi pulled the trigger, that he would die not at the hands of an evil spirit, but betrayed by a fellow human.
"Where's Zhao Qi?"
On the live stream from Ya's perspective, after her screams she'd started to run, hiding herself in a distant corner. Maybe her screaming had drawn Wang Bing's attention too.
Wang Bing had approached silently, pulled spider silk from his wrist, and bound Ya into place.
As Wang Bing watched the spider silk being drawn from his wrist, he felt a pang of heartbreak. He was already weak, and using his ability hurt him badly.
This was the power given to him by Spider-Man—the one who told him to help hunt for prey.
[Silk Extraction: Able to draw out one's own flesh and blood, transforming it into spider silk to restrain a target.]
Ya's live chat went wild. Everyone thought Wang Bing was dead.
The moment Zhao Qi betrayed him with that gunshot, his fate seemed sealed.
Both Ya and everyone in the chat immediately focused on Wang Bing's legs. Zhao Qi had shot twice, straight through the backs of his knees, his kneecaps shattered.
By rights, Wang Bing should never have been able to stand again.
But now, his knee joints were wrapped tightly in layer after layer of spider silk, forcibly binding and supporting the damaged joints.
"Surprised, aren't you? I can still stand. Where's Zhao Qi?" Ever since Spider-Man had let him go, besides the [Silk Extraction] skill, Wang Bing had gained another passive ability—he could faintly smell certain human scents, letting him track down his targets.
He took a deep sniff, the foul air piercing his nostrils.
But there was still no trace of Zhao Qi's scent.
He didn't believe Zhao Qi was really dead. A ruthless guy like Zhao Qi—so long as Ya survived, he wouldn't die.
Someone like that never hesitates to sell out others.
[Holy shit, Wang Bing isn't dead!]
[What's that spider silk coming out of his wrist? Isn't he human?]
[Did anyone watch Wang Bing's stream? Can anyone explain how he survived and got that power?]
[Nope. When someone's about to bite it, everyone just exits their POV's stream. Time in these dungeons is way too precious—who wants to see someone's final death scene?]
[The first thing this guy did when he got his ability was go after Zhao Qi for revenge. What a shame, Zhao Qi's dead now.]
[I really didn't expect Zhao Qi to die at Blood Slaughter's hands. That gunshot was pure reflex, he did what he had to, just a pity.]
...
The audience was endlessly curious, desperate to know how Wang Bing got the [Silk Extraction] ability. They'd all seen for themselves—he pulled spider silk from his own wrist to tie up Ya.
The silk was frighteningly strong—once it stuck to you, it was impossible to move, and you could only be at someone else's mercy.