# 159
**Chapter 159: Soul-Body Spiderweb**
The Straight Blade sliced through the air with a sharp hum, piercing with pinpoint accuracy into…
The empty wall half a meter beside the spider.
Lin Qiye: …
Not only were Cao Yuan and Shen Qingzhu behind him stunned, even the spider itself froze. In all its life, it had never seen someone miss so badly…
Wait? Could it be this man’s target… wasn’t actually it?
Lin Qiye was speechless. His [Mortal Divine Realm] had only expanded to twenty meters. Within that range, he could hit whatever he aimed at. Beyond twenty meters… it was all up to luck.
And this spider was clearly at least forty meters away. Missing… was understandable.
The moment Lin Qiye’s blade went wide, Shen Qingzhu behind him raised his hand like lightning. A spark flashed from the black ring on his finger, followed by a crisp snap echoing through the cafeteria.
Boom—!!
A violent explosion erupted, blinding flames engulfing the ceiling where the spider had been. Shattered wall fragments rained down like hail, the entire cafeteria shaking from the blast.
Amid the rolling black smoke, a gray-white spider shot out like lightning, its crimson compound eyes glowing with an eerie light.
“A River Realm mystery…” Lin Qiye sensed the terrifying aura emanating from the spider, his brows furrowing tightly.
He gripped his other star-forged blade, the night around him expanding once more, eyes locked on the lightning-fast spider, every muscle tensed.
Cao Yuan also reached back solemnly, ready to draw his sword and unleash [Black King’s Annihilation Slash].
Under everyone’s tense gaze, the gray-white spider suddenly veered mid-air, smashed through a side window, and vanished from sight in a flash.
Lin Qiye: ?
Everyone: ???
The three stood frozen for two seconds before slowly processing…
That murderous River Realm spider…
Ran away?
Huh?!
Lin Qiye glanced suspiciously at Wang Li’s mangled corpse, then at the broken window the spider had escaped through, lost in thought.
Strange… this spider should’ve been a ruthless man-eater. With such a huge strength gap, why did it flee?
While Lin Qiye pondered, Cao Yuan exhaled in relief, lowering his hand from his sword—clearly grateful he wouldn’t be tied up by the “Cao Yuan Chastity Lock” again today…
“It ran too fast, we couldn’t catch it.”
A few recruits who’d tried to chase it returned, panting.
Shen Qingzhu frowned at Lin Qiye. “What now?”
“Strange… this doesn’t make sense.” Lin Qiye shook his head, pushing aside his doubts. “That spider’s fast and strong—chasing it further is too risky.
Let’s stick to the plan: head back to Building Three to rescue the people inside. But to prevent the spider from ambushing us, leave more guards at Building One to protect the sleepers.”
Shen Qingzhu’s eyes sharpened, images of the sleeping Deng Wei, Li Jia, and Li Liang flashing through his mind. After a moment, he spoke up. “I’ll go back and guard them.”
“Good. You’re strong—if the spider comes, you can hold it off for a while.” Lin Qiye nodded.
With the plan set, the three retreated to the entrance, split the recruits into two groups, and quickly left the cafeteria.
Once they were gone, two figures quietly emerged in the silent cafeteria.
“Tsk… this spider kid’s such a coward. How’s running away supposed to pressure these rookies?” One sighed in exasperation.
“Good thing we made Wang Li’s corpse look real enough to spook them, or our whole atmosphere setup would’ve flopped.” The other chuckled.
“Still, Lin Qiye’s solid—careful, bold, decisive. Good seed.”
“No kidding. Chosen by two gods as their agent? Of course he’s got skills.”
“True…”
“By the way, did they haul off the unconscious Wang Li?”
“He’s lying outside the camp now.”
“Good. Nothing left here. Let’s hope the atmosphere team at Building Three does their job…”
…
On a deserted path.
A gray-white spider scrambled for its life. A flash of white light, and it transformed into a boy.
He looked eleven or twelve, with ash-gray hair and a pale face faintly veined with spider patterns. Crimson pupils darted around nervously, his expression on the verge of tears.
“AAAAHHH!!
What do I do, what do I do?! That knife-thrower looked terrifying! And the guy who exploded things with a snap—his eyes screamed ‘I’ll dice you into eight pieces!’
I was being good! I just… wanted a place to sleep! Why’d they attack me?!
Waaahhh…
No, this place is too dangerous—I’m out!”
The spider boy spun to flee the training camp—then shuddered.
“No, can’t leave… those scary instructors said if I sneak out, they’ll stew my spider legs in soy sauce…
Bad guys!
All bad guys!
What was I supposed to do again?
Right, right—first control the sleepers’ minds, then hide…”
He glanced around, slipped into a tiny storage shed, and spun silk until the whole space became a cobweb kingdom. Then he lay peacefully in the center.
“They’ll never find me here…” he murmured on his silk bed. “Let’s check how the sleepers are doing…”
His crimson eyes flared. In his vision, translucent spiritual threads extended from his fingertips, weaving across the camp into a vast invisible web.
Each strand ran like a kite line to the recruit dormitories, anchoring to every sleeping rookie.
A soul-web only he could see, blanketing the entire camp!
At six o’clock it had glued every sleeper’s soul to the silk. Even if their souls woke, they couldn’t return to their bodies—hence the endless sleep.
Watching the struggling souls overhead, the spider boy yawned lazily.
Suddenly he spotted a corner of the web where one plump, white soul still slept soundly.
Everyone else’s souls were awake but trapped; only this fatty’s had snoozed straight through.
“Sleeping so sweetly… I envy you…” He propped his chin, staring wistfully.
On the web, the chubby soul rolled over, eyes blinking drowsily open…