There were seven days left until the assessment period ended.
Bai Maomao and the others discussed and decided to spend the remaining time sightseeing in the small mystical realm.
If they happened to find another wooden token, great — if not, the two they had were already sufficient.
So after a well-deserved day of rest, the six of them leisurely had a hearty breakfast and wandered around gathering information.
It wasn’t until noon that they set off again.
There wasn’t much scenery to enjoy on the grassland, but since this pocket dimension was a relic from ancient times, many animals and plants here couldn’t be seen in the outside world.
As students from the pharmacology institute, encountering rare species naturally meant a good opportunity to study.
Bai Maomao looked around curiously as well.
But because he habitually wore a serious expression, the others thought he was seriously studying new specimens — only Xiao Hei and Bai Maomao himself knew he was just looking out of curiosity.
They moved slowly, and after half a day had only just crossed the grassland.
Not far ahead was a forest.
Unlike the one they had first camped in, this one was sparse, the trees short but thick.
Their overlapping canopies created a massive green tent.
Still haunted by memories of the meat-worm army from before, they all felt a bit uneasy seeing this new forest.
Just as they were debating whether to go around it, a cry for help came from inside.
“Help—!”
It was a girl’s voice.
They exchanged glances.
Mo Qin, being hot-tempered, dashed ahead without hesitation, not even considering it might be a trap.
The others followed him.
Sure enough, the cry came from a girl.
A petite girl was stuck on a massive spider web, struggling so violently that the web only tightened around her.
“Don’t be afraid, sis! We’ll get you down!”
Mo Qin was the most eager.
He picked up a stick and ran forward to poke the web.
The girl, tightly bound, froze upon seeing them, then cried even harder.
Her tear-streaked, innocent face was heart-wrenching.
Mo Qin felt his blood rush — he charged forward with the stick raised.
But Bai Maomao quickly grabbed his arm.
“Why are you stopping me?”
Mo Qin asked, confused.
Bai Maomao lazily pointed deeper into the web.
“Look. What’s that?”
“Huh…”
Mo Qin looked where he pointed.
His adrenaline-fueled brain instantly cooled.
He stammered and shrank behind Bai Maomao.
“What the hell kind of species is that? It’s huge!”
Bai Maomao rolled his eyes.
The web stretched between five or six trees, big enough to trap two adults.
The spider that spun it was crouched silently in the shadows of the leaves — only its basketball-sized, red-tinged black eyes glowed faintly in the dark.
That alone hinted at its terrifying size.
As if sensing it had been spotted, the spider twitched the web and slowly crawled out of the foliage.
“…Mother of god,”
Mo Qin muttered, jumping back behind Bai Maomao again.
The spider was pitch-black with a fiery red stripe running from its forehead down its back.
Its massive body made the web sag under its weight.
Eight agile legs crawled to within two meters of the girl, its glowing red eyes fixed on the group.
Mo Qin peeked out, his skin crawling.
But when he saw the girl silently pleading for help, he poked Bai Maomao’s back.
“Maomao…can we beat it?”
Bai Maomao twitched at the ticklish poke and fought back a smile.
With a blank face, he said,
“We can try.”
“Then you go distract it. I’ll rescue her.”
“Why not you?”
“……”
Mo Qin shut up.
After thinking of the tearful girl again, he gritted his teeth.
“Fine, I’ll go. Just make sure to get her out.”
Bai Maomao smirked slightly, then exchanged a look with Lang Junxian.
Lang Junxian immediately understood.
He reached into his pocket and formed a few hand signs, summoning a bolt of lightning that zapped the spider hard.
Before it could react, Bai Maomao darted forward and kicked it off the web and into a tree.
He gave it no chance to recover.
Grabbing half a dead tree branch, he smashed it again and again before the poor spider could even rise.
Meanwhile, Mo Qin and the others rescued the girl.
The web’s silk was incredibly tough and sticky.
Mo Qin poked it helplessly for a while with a stick, but it took Yan Miao burning it with fire before they could get her free in one piece.
By then, Bai Maomao had thoroughly stunned the spider.
It lay motionless on the ground.
Disgusted by the hairy-legged black spider, he gave it one last whack for good measure, then turned to leave.
Just then, the little vine curled around Bai Maomao’s wrist — which had been playing dead — slipped off and began sneaking away.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Bai Maomao grabbed the squirming vine and held it up to eye level.
The vine, now a vibrant green after digesting its previous meal, looked quite cute.
With a serious face, Bai Maomao stared at it.
The vine curled into a hook shape and nodded at him.
He didn’t react.
Then it wriggled into an S-shape and twisted around.
Bai Maomao loosened his grip a little.
Encouraged, the vine began rubbing its tip against his hand affectionately.
Annoyed, Bai Maomao finally gave in.
“Fine. But clean up after you eat. Don’t climb on me all sticky.”
The vine nodded enthusiastically and zipped down to devour the spider.
Meanwhile, Yan Miao and the others finally cleared the webs off the girl.
Mo Qin had done nothing but comfort her the whole time while she cried.
Bai Maomao walked over.
The girl shyly glanced at him and gave him a teary smile.
“Hey hey hey!”
Mo Qin grumbled jealously.
“I was the one comforting her all this time!”
Bai Maomao gave him a sideways glance.
“And who was hiding behind me just now?”
“…Bro, no need to hit where it hurts.”
Mo Qin glanced at the girl.
“At least save me some face.”
Bai Maomao bared his teeth at him in a sinister grin.
Mo Qin shut up and obediently stayed by the girl’s side.
She had quite a few cuts from the web and her clothes were in tatters.
Yan Miao handed her a spare outfit and gently asked her name.
The girl shook her head silently, her face full of sorrow.
She lowered her eyes and didn’t say a word.
Mo Qin immediately felt a pang of sympathy.
“She’s just been through a scare. Let’s not question her now—let her rest first.”
As he spoke, he looked around at the others.
“Did anyone bring medicine?”
Bai Maomao rummaged through his qiankun pouch and pulled out a small porcelain bottle, tossing it to Mo Qin.
“Three times a day, one pill each time.”
Mo Qin smiled warmly and handed the bottle to the girl.
“Here — three times a day, one pill each time.”
“Thank you.”
The girl gave him a timid glance, a blush appearing on her cheeks.
Mo Qin was immediately overjoyed.
Worried the forest wasn’t safe, the group led the injured girl out and found a small cave to settle in.
Bai Maomao gave Little Vine a heads-up.
The vine, its belly full and round, rolled lazily twice on the leaves to make sure it was clean before wrapping itself neatly back around Bai Maomao’s wrist.
After clearing out the cave, they decided to camp there temporarily.
None of them noticed that deep in the forest, a pair of venomous eyes was watching them intently.
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