Half an hour later.
The convoy rumbled as it plunged into the darkness of Changling Tunnel.
Once inside, the Red Moon outside vanished from sight. Only the car headlights cast a pale, sickly glow against the damp walls. As the light swept past, it revealed deep cracks running through the concrete.
*Static…* “All units, pay attention.”
Wang Ziming’s cold voice crackled over the walkie-talkie.
“Changling Tunnel is 5.8 kilometers long.”
“Everyone, turn on your high beams and floor it.”
“Those on the perimeter, stay close. Something… isn’t right here.”
Little Frost and the other two were in the stolen van. Mu Yingying was driving, her palms slick with sweat as she gripped the steering wheel. White Night remained in the back seat. The gas was holding out, and since Mu Yingying was a skilled driver, they managed to stay in the middle of the pack without falling behind.
*Huff… huff…*
Mu Yingying’s cheeks puffed as she chewed a piece of gum.
“This damn place is way too creepy.”
She stared intensely at the darkness overhead, one hand reaching into her pocket to touch the Smooth Gold Coin.
“I have a feeling something is about to happen. Something big is coming…”
She was only halfway through her sentence when it happened.
*Pop!*
Several emergency lights on the tunnel ceiling suddenly exploded. That small section of the tunnel was instantly plunged into total darkness. A piercing screeching sound echoed from all directions, like the sound of countless sharp claws scraping against concrete walls. It was a grating noise that made one’s eardrums ache.
*Screeeech!*
“Above us! They’re in the walls, too!”
“Run! It’s the Human-Faced Spiders!”
In the flickering glow of the taillights ahead, someone gasped in horror. The dark walls at the top of the tunnel were covered in a dense, crawling mass. They were malformed spiders the size of millstones, their eight legs long and sharp as they scurried across the ceiling. Even more terrifying were the twisted, pale human faces on their backs.
Those faces looked agonized, their features distorted and their mouths wide open, dripping a green fluid that smelled of bitter herbs.
“Monsters! There are monsters above us!”
The crowd erupted in chaos. A Human-Faced Spider lunged from the ceiling, slamming onto the roof of a private car.
*Thud!*
The roof collapsed instantly. The spider’s long legs shattered the glass and stabbed into the driver’s cabin.
“AAAAHHH — !”
The man’s scream was cut short. Reddish-black blood sprayed from the shattered window, coating the windshield. In the back seat, a woman clutching a child let out a heart-wrenching scream as she tried to shove the door open and run.
A second later, the car door was ripped off by brute force. A barbed spider leg dragged both the woman and the child out together.
“Help! Someone help me!”
The woman’s screams echoed through the tunnel, quickly turning into the bone-chilling sound of mastication and the *crunch* of bones being snapped and ground.
Without an **Awakened Ability** or weapons, ordinary people stood no chance against such monsters. They could only watch in despair as they were devoured.
“Damn it! Don’t panic! Hold the line!”
Wang Ziming was the first to react. He leaned halfway out of the sunroof of his SUV, pushing his gold-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose.
“Rise!”
He gave a low shout, and several discarded steel bars inside the car levitated and flew out the window.
**Metal Manipulation**!
“Go!”
Wang Ziming flicked his finger.
*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*
The steel bars whistled through the air toward the spiders overhead.
*Squish! Squish!*
The heads of several Human-Faced Spiders about to pounce were impaled. Green sludge splattered everywhere as they fell to the ground, screeching. However, even more of the massive spiders leaped onto the vehicles.
“Don’t hold back! The road is blocked. Carve a path out of here!” Wang Ziming roared.
The **Core Team** members around him also moved. A bald, muscular man let out a roar as his skin was instantly covered in a layer of grayish-white stony armor. He lunged out of the car window and actually grabbed a pouncing spider with his bare hands. Activating **Lithification**, he exerted his **Supernatural Strength** and ripped the millstone-sized spider in half!
But there were too many monsters. They didn’t just attack people; they frantically smashed the vehicles. One van’s tires were bitten through, causing it to skid sideways and block the road. The cars behind it couldn’t dodge in time and piled into a massive wreck.
The survivors were trapped, forced to abandon their cars and run.
“Get out of the way! Let me through first!”
“Move!”
To save their own skins, some people shoved those beside them toward the monsters. Others were so paralyzed by fear that they collapsed on the ground, waiting for death. Some even tried to bash the spiders with wrenches in a mad frenzy, only to be torn to shreds.
“The front is blocked!”
Little Frost watched the convoy descend into utter chaos and slammed on the brakes. The van let out a sharp screech, stopping just inches away from a burning sedan.
“Get out! Staying in the car is a death trap!”
Mu Yingying shoved the door open and jumped out. Little Frost followed suit, reaching into the back seat to grab White Night and the **Rusty Bicycle**.
“GET BACK!”
Little Frost roared, her right fist whistling through the air. A small spider trying to ambush White Night had its head pulverized by her punch, splattering her in green sludge.
“Yingying! Help me protect White Night!”
“Got it! You stay careful, too!”
Mu Yingying swung a solid steel pipe with a fierce wind. She didn’t have an **Awakened Ability**, but her terrifying arm strength and precision strikes managed to shatter the joints of several spiders.
As they fought their way back, they seemed close to breaking through the encirclement.
*BOOM!*
A massive explosion echoed from the very front of the convoy. All hope of an exit was shattered.
A **Spider Queen** as large as a small truck had crashed through the side wall of the tunnel, blocking the path! Its massive body obstructed all passage, covered in a black, hard shell, with eight eyes glowing with a sinister red light.
To make matters worse, the tunnel ahead had collapsed. Countless tons of rock and concrete blocks had fallen, forming a solid wall in front of the convoy.
The path ahead was cut off. Behind them was an unending tide of spiders.
“Crap!”
Wang Ziming punched the steering wheel, his face turning pale. He looked at the stone wall ahead and listened to the screams coming from behind, his palms soaked in cold sweat.
“Leader Ming! What do we do? There’s no way out!”
The **Core Team** members were also panicking. The man with **Lithification** tried to charge forward to fight, but the **Spider Queen** spat a glob of venom onto him. His stone armor immediately began to hiss and corrode, forcing him to retreat with a cry of pain. Wang Ziming tried to use sharpened metal plates to slice the **Spider Queen**, but they only produced a few sparks, unable to pierce its defense.
Everyone felt as though they were going to die here. Protected by Mu Yingying, White Night watched the desperate situation, her soul trembling.
‘What should I do… what should I do…’
‘The road is blocked… no matter how strong Auntie Frost and Yingying are, they can’t stop this many monsters…’
‘Am I going to die here?’
‘I’m not willing to accept this!’
Just as White Night was at her wits’ end, the **Black Bow Tie** in the basket suddenly emitted a surge of black light.
*Hum…*
The surrounding screams and roars suddenly grew muffled, sounding as if they were coming from far away. A voice, childish yet carrying an undeniable authority, rang out clearly in White Night’s mind.
“White Night…”
It was the **Little Girl**’s voice.
“You’ve run into some trouble.”
The bow tie vibrated slightly, the black light pointing the way.
“Use the gift I gave you.”
“Combine it with Big Sister Frost’s power to blast through that wall.”
The **Little Girl**’s voice carried a hint of a smile as it spoke into White Night’s ear.
‘Blast through it?’
White Night suddenly snapped back to her senses. Looking at the bow tie in the basket, she understood.
‘Auntie Frost!’
White Night’s voice shouted in Su Shuang’er’s mind, urgent and determined.
‘We have to charge through!’
Su Shuang’er, who was currently punching a spider back, froze for a second. “What?”
‘That bow tie! The Little Girl told me we can use its power to blast through the collapse ahead!’
‘It’s our only way out.’
After hearing this, Su Shuang’er’s eyes lit up. She didn’t doubt it for a second. If White Night said it was a way out, then it was.
“Yingying! Grab White Night! Follow me!”
Su Shuang’er roared, stopping her defense. Her eyes were fixed on the stone wall ahead.
“You got it! Let’s go!”
Mu Yingying swung her pipe to knock a spider away with one hand, while the other grabbed White Night’s handlebars. Pushing the bicycle, she followed Little Frost as the three of them carved a bloody path through the monsters to the very front.
“GET OUT OF THE WAY!”
Little Frost was covered in green spider blood, and her **Alloy Gauntlets** were dripping with thick, viscous slime. She stormed up to Wang Ziming’s SUV, her eyes devoid of emotion and terrifyingly cold.
Wang Ziming froze, recognizing the two women. The girl with **Supernatural Strength**, the tall one, and that bizarre bicycle.
“It’s you?”
Wang Ziming narrowed his eyes, his levitating steel needles instinctively pointing at them.
“If you don’t want to die, have your people cover me.”
Little Frost didn’t waste words. She pointed directly at the collapsed wall, her voice raspy but forceful.
“I can blow it open, but I need time.”
“If you don’t want everyone to die together, have your men hold the line behind us.”
Wang Ziming stared hard at Little Frost. He was a smart man. He knew that suspicion was useless now; if he didn’t trust her, they would all die. He looked deep into Little Frost’s eyes and saw a suicidal sort of madness.
“Fine! I’ll bet on you this once!”
Wang Ziming made a snap decision, flinging his arms out. He turned and roared at his men, “Everyone, ignore the front! Hold those spiders back! Throw everything you’ve got at them! If anyone retreats a single step, I’ll execute you myself!”
“YES, SIR!”
The **Core Team** members gave it their all.
“**Earth Barrier**!”
The man with **Lithification** desperately summoned earthen walls to block the path.
“**Metal Storm**!”
Wang Ziming’s face was deathly pale as he overextended his mental strength, controlling countless metal fragments to create a whirlwind that stalled the giant spiders.
The concentrated attacks temporarily suppressed the spider tide, clearing a small space for Little Frost and buying her a few seconds.
Little Frost stood before the wall of debris. She regulated her breathing, her hands trembling slightly.
‘White Night… it’s up to you.’
She whispered in her heart. White Night’s soul hovered over the seat, watching the woman who was fighting so hard to survive.
‘Bow tie, give Auntie Frost your power.’
*Hum — *
The **Black Bow Tie** responded. It suddenly melted, turning into two streaks of black light that wrapped around Su Shuang’er’s arms.
Su Shuang’er’s body jolted. A cold, heavy power flowed through the black light and into her body. Her once heavy **Alloy Gauntlets** now felt weightless. Black light converged on her fists, causing the air around her to distort.
“AAAAAAAAHHH!”
A long, inhuman howl escaped Su Shuang’er’s throat — a release of the overflowing power. She held nothing back, her right foot stomping down so hard the concrete floor cracked. Using that momentum, she pulled her body back to full tension and threw her right fist forward with a momentum that could destroy anything, slamming it into the wall of debris that was over 10 meters thick.
“GIVE ME — OPEN UP!!”
*BOOM!*
The punch didn’t send rocks flying. Where the fist struck, the hard stones didn’t even have time to shatter; they turned directly into black powder and vanished. A shockwave of pure darkness carved a straight tunnel through the 10 meters of collapsed debris.
From the other side, a long-forgotten night wind carrying the cool air of the outside world rushed in through the hole.
It was light! The light of the exit!
For the first time, everyone felt that the crimson glow was beautiful. Simultaneously, they were all stunned by the sheer power of that single punch.
The tunnel fell silent. Whether it was Wang Ziming, his subordinates, or even the spiders feasting on corpses, everyone was paralyzed by the magnitude of that blow.
“It’s… it’s open?”
The metal fragments in Wang Ziming’s hands clattered to the floor. His eyes behind his glasses were wide with shock. Was this even human strength? If that punch hit the **Spider Queen**, it would probably be turned into a pile of mush.
“Go! Move now!”
Little Frost had no time to acknowledge their shock. That punch had drained all her strength, and the black power quickly receded, turning back into the bow tie and flying back into White Night’s basket. Dizziness washed over her. Her body felt hollow, and her legs buckled.
“Shuang’er!”
Mu Yingying reacted instantly, catching the exhausted Little Frost. With her other hand, she grabbed White Night’s handlebars.
“Go!” Little Frost urged in a weak voice.
Mu Yingying was also injured, but she couldn’t care about the van anymore. She helped Little Frost onto the back seat of White Night, told her to hold on tight, and then hopped onto the bike, pedaling with all her might.
*Squeak, creak.*
Two sets of hips weighed down the small, broken bike, which groaned as if it were about to fall apart. However, White Night didn’t make a sound, exerting all her will to control the internal mechanisms to help them move forward.