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"Whew—damn! Finally done! Time to move!" Shawn Young knew time was tight. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, tossed aside the empty P5 pistol, and stepped right onto the dead Ironclad Deathspider, heading deeper into the tunnel.
After crossing the Ironclad Deathspider's corpse, he made his way further into the cave. Rounding the next bend, a wave of bizarre, stinky air—like rotten tofu—came wafting out.
Suddenly, a spacious depression appeared before Shawn. Down in the cave, a strange glow lit up the dark red nitre walls, making them shimmer eerily. Standing on a protruding rock, Shawn peered down, and was instantly shocked—his scalp tingled. It was a massive nest! No doubt, the Ironclad Deathspider’s lair!
The nest floor was coated in slime. Hundreds of huge, basketball-sized white spider cocoons clustered together, squirming and pulsing as if breathing in sync—creepy as hell. Scattered bones and animal remains littered the ground, clearly the Ironclad Deathspider’s catch. Those white cocoons must be the eggs laid by this hermaphroditic Ironclad Deathspider!
According to the Codex of Ascension, the Ironclad Deathspider lives for ages, shedding its shell fifteen times—once every hundred years. After its final molt, it hunts everywhere to replenish itself, using its bizarre hermaphroditic biology to lay eggs and reproduce! Clearly, this Ironclad Deathspider had finished laying eggs and was about to transform into a monster!
At the center of the nest, hanging from the cave ceiling, was a giant white human-shaped cocoon wrapped in spider silk. It still squirmed and trembled, with human clothes and limbs faintly visible under the sticky mess. Clearly, there was a living person trapped inside!
Shawn recognized the clothes instantly—that was Black Eye, the guy he’d been hunting! Ignoring the gross nest, he jumped down, feet sinking into the sticky slime, and hurried to the upside-down giant white cocoon. He whipped out his tactical knife and slashed the spider silk several times, cutting it loose.
Thud—the cocoon hit the ground, trembling and struggling. Shawn quickly tore away the slime clogging Black Eye’s head, working hard to scrape the nasty goo from his mouth and nose with the knife. Black Eye’s face was turning purple from lack of air; if Shawn had been a few minutes later, he would’ve suffocated for sure!
Thud—the "dumpling" hit the ground, trembling and struggling. Shawn quickly tore away the slime clogging Black Eye’s head, working hard to scrape the nasty goo from his mouth and nose with the knife. Poor Black Eye’s face was purple from suffocation; if Shawn had been a few minutes later, the guy would’ve suffocated for sure!
"Damn! Black Eye, you bastard, even you have days like this! Caught alive by a giant spider—hahaha! Looks like I just saved your sorry ass! Heh, let’s see if your slippery escape tricks can get you out of this spider silk!" Shawn looked at the struggling, still cocooned Black Eye on the ground and sneered.
But Black Eye, still upside down, was clearly in shock. His face was ashen, completely drained of color, and his eyes were wide with terror. Covered in that disgusting slime, he gasped desperately for air, and stammered in English, "Big spider! So scary—" He looked totally out of it.
Shawn frowned and checked Black Eye’s pulse. He could feel it was erratic and weak—definitely the result of intense shock. The guy was totally out of it and probably wouldn’t recover anytime soon.
"Eh? You’re just going to be this out of it? Aren’t you supposed to be some elite agent? Geez—" Shawn muttered, searching Black Eye’s body. Luckily, he found a black metal canister strapped to his waist. Shawn quickly unscrewed the lid and checked inside—it was a stack of stealth drone schematics and data, just what they’d been chasing all the way to Afghanistan!
"Damn! Lucky break—I didn’t let this treasure fall into American hands!" Shawn said excitedly, sealing the black canister and stashing it away. Then he stood up, grabbed Black Eye by the legs, and started dragging him out of the cave.
Just then, the ground shook violently—like a sudden earthquake. Shawn braced himself against the wall as rocks tumbled from the ceiling and cave walls. He hurriedly dragged Black Eye back into the nest to dodge the falling debris.
Boom—boom—huge boulders crashed down onto the Ironclad Deathspider’s white eggs, splattering foul blue blood everywhere. In an instant, hundreds of those eggs were destroyed!
After a while, Shawn could faintly hear a thunderous explosion rolling in from outside the cave! The violent shaking gradually subsided.
Shawn suddenly remembered—the blast was from the X-447b stealth drone airstrike launched by the Bagram Airbase. The Blu-2 smart bombs were being dropped on the village for a 'clearing strike.'
As Shawn marveled at the terrifying power of the Blu-2 bombs, he grew anxious about whether Tang Xianxian and Han Feng had made it to safety. Impatiently, he dragged Black Eye toward the cave entrance.
Crash—suddenly, there was a rumble of rocks collapsing behind him. Shawn turned to look—thanks to the earlier quake, the deepest part of the Ironclad Deathspider’s nest had split open, revealing a new cave about the height of a person. From inside came a dazzling, mysterious light, and Shawn immediately caught a whiff of an intoxicating, strangely fragrant scent!
Drawn in, Shawn couldn’t help himself—he dropped the now-immobile Black Eye on the ground and walked straight toward the newly revealed, mysterious cave.