Under the intentional guidance of He Lanxin and Tang Jingjing, the four "white-eyed spiders" were led into the ambush.
Mo Chuan first saw a gleaming bald head carrying two people rush past the ambush point, followed by He Lanxin and Tang Jingjing. The latter two pushed upwards and were pulled up by Mo Chuan, who was in a tree.
"They're here," Mo Chuan nodded. Seeing that two spiders had entered the designated area, he shouted, "Fei'er! Go!"
Mo Fei, holding the Chengying Sword, leaped from the tree and landed directly on the back of the first spider, then thrust her sword downwards, exclaiming, "Sun Halo!"
A golden light flashed on the ground, and a majestic sun totem lit up. The totem then contracted, drawing the two spiders to its center.
Mo Chuan swung his grappling hook, hitting one spider's abdomen with a single strike. He tossed the lantern to Zhang Hanshan, who was ambushing in a tree on the opposite side, and then leaped down from the canopy.
Zhang Hanshan grabbed the lantern, activated Mingwang Nu in mid-air, and was then flung by Mo Chuan towards the two immobilized spiders.
"Smash! Them!"
Zhang Hanshan's body radiated red light, and he crashed onto the two white-eyed spiders like a small asteroid.
"—"
The battered white-eyed spiders let out screams of agony.
Mo Chuan then landed between the two pairs of spiders. Looking at the two spiders baring their fangs at him, he activated his skill, "Nether Prison."
As his voice fell, a pentagonal, ghostly green wall rose from the ground, separating the two pairs of spiders from each other. The two spiders slammed hard against the ghostly green wall, their souls visibly detaching from their bodies, emitting cries of pain.
He Lanxin and Tang Jingjing exchanged glances and also jumped down from the trees to join the fight.
Mo Fei, who had just cut off a spider's leg, was stunned and then shouted indignantly, "Is this the protective skill you mentioned? It's clearly an area control damage skill!"
"What do you know, little girl?" Mo Chuan said, absorbing the soul of one of the white-eyed spiders killed by He Lanxin, with a serious expression. "If I kill all the enemies, won't I have protected you all?"
"..." Everyone was rendered speechless.
...
Mo Chuan collected the last soul, and the system's voice sounded in his ears:
"Ding! Temporary mission issued: Find the Reason. Objective: To figure out why the giant beasts are hiding. Reward: 600 experience points, one blue gift package."
Hearing the mission, Mo Chuan sensed something amiss. After a moment of thought, he turned to Zhang Hanshan, who was collecting blood.
"Old Zhang, what time is it?"
"... Two or three in the afternoon."
"How many are left to complete the mission?"
"Two, why?"
"Did you have fun fighting just now?"
"To be honest, it was great."
"Want to try again?"
"...? What do you mean?"
"We'll complete the objective early, so we can avoid any accidents on the last day."
"Hmm... Okay. The monsters are hiding now, and the proctor hasn't said we can't take others' test tubes. I guess many people who haven't collected enough will cause trouble tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll tell Sister He. We'll take the fox cubs to find the monsters."
"Alright, Brother Chuan, I'll listen to you."
Before long, Mo Chuan, Zhang Hanshan, and Su Yueqing set off. However, Mo Fei insisted on going too, so they had to bring her along.
Tang Jingjing moved the unconscious woman onto a mat of dry grass, then examined Liang Hui's injuries and asked, "What happened? Why were those four white-eyed spiders chasing you?"
The bald man took a sip of water and said bitterly, "We are from Penglai Middle School. Since we entered here, we haven't encountered a single monster. We wandered in the forest for most of the day, exhausting our energy. In desperation, we had to find a place to rest. Unexpectedly, we stumbled into the nest of the white-eyed spiders and were chased."
"Why are there only three of you? Where are the other two?"
"Eight white-eyed spiders were chasing us then. To escape, we split up and ran." Liang Hui said, "Nana inhaled some anesthetic gas from the white-eyed spiders in the cave. She'll probably wake up in a while. I sprained my ankle when I stepped on a tree root while running earlier."
"Although white-eyed spiders are social monsters, it's not common for eight of them to live in one nest," He Lanxin said, walking over with her arms crossed. "In fact, white-eyed spiders live in a group where one male mates with multiple females. However, two of the four spiders chasing you were male, and both were adults, which is very telling."
"So you're saying..."
"We received news that the monsters sensed some terrifying aura, which is why they are all hiding together."
"?"
At dusk, on the other side, at a cave on the edge of the forest.
"Little Teddy, are there really any high-level monsters here that are easier to deal with, like you said?" Mo Chuan looked at the deep cave with hesitation.
"Of course... Wait! What did you call me? I'm not a dog! I'm a fox!"
"Alright, Labrador," Mo Chuan replied perfunctorily. "Shall we go down then?"
"Let's leave one person on top, just in case," Zhang Hanshan said.
"Mo Fei, you stay on top. If things go wrong, run immediately. Do you understand?"
"Why?! I'm not a child anymore! I don't want to!"
"Listen."
Mo Chuan pressed his hand down, messing up Mo Fei's hair into a bird's nest, and quickly retreated before she could get angry.
Mo Chuan, holding Su Yueqing, who was biting his arm with all her might, followed Zhang Hanshan to the cave entrance. Zhang Hanshan asked softly from behind, "Brother Chuan, why are we looking for high-level monsters? Aren't we supposed to be completing the mission?"
"My intuition tells me that this monster retreat is not a simple matter," Mo Chuan frowned. "We must find out. If the situation is urgent, we need to report it to the proctor immediately."
"As expected of Brother Chuan. Then what if the situation is not urgent?"
"We'll see based on the actual situation..." Mo Chuan rubbed Su Yueqing's little head. "Alright, stop gnawing on my arm and lead the way."
Seeing that she couldn't break Mo Chuan's skin no matter how hard she tried, Su Yueqing gave up. She jumped to the ground, transformed, and became a little fox, running into the depths of the cave entrance.
"Let's go, follow," Mo Chuan summoned his Soul Guiding Lamp and ran into the cave, with Zhang Hanshan following closely behind.
...
After winding left and right, Su Yueqing led Mo Chuan and Zhang Hanshan to a huge, deep pool. The water was peculiar; it was clear to the bottom around the edges, but the deeper it went towards the center, the greener it became, until a small island in the center of the pool.
"Wuwuwu—" Su Yueqing howled up to the sky a few times.
Nothing happened, but the wind near the pool was a bit chilly, making Mo Chuan and Zhang Hanshan shiver.
"Labrador, can you do it?" Mo Chuan looked at the unresponsive deep pool and frowned.
"You can doubt me, but you can't doubt Grandpa Jiang!" Su Yueqing transformed into a white-haired young boy and hit Mo Chuan's knee with her fist. "Also, I'm a fox, not some Labrador!"
"Labrador is a breed of fox."
"Ah?"
While the two were bickering, Zhang Hanshan frowned and patted Mo Chuan's shoulder. "Brother Chuan, there's movement."
Mo Chuan and Su Yueqing simultaneously stopped their conversation and turned their gaze to the deep pool. As expected, the small island in the center of the deep pool seemed to shake a few times, causing ripples.
"Su Yueqing."
"What is it?"
"What is your Grandpa Jiang's original monster form?"