Chapter 011 The Most Dangerous Fusion

These eight terrifying spider-hounds were born from human bodies, exuding a pungent, blood-soaked aura that instilled fear at first sight. Even more dreadful was their uncanny speed and agility—their eight legs moved in unison, propelling them forward at an astonishing pace, quickly closing in on the trio and baring razor-sharp fangs, poised to bite.

At that moment, Lin Yu blocked their path from behind, shouting loudly to Qin Qisan and Wu Miaoran above, “You two head to the rooftop first. I’ll catch up right away.”

With those words, Lin Yu pressed a button on his Mist Mop, which began flickering with blue light as it absorbed the surrounding moisture. Lin Yu’s Insect Eradicator No. 2, Mist Mop, appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary mop, yet its capabilities were formidable. The mop could absorb ambient water vapor through its head, condense it, and use it to fight—especially effective against fire- and earth-type core insects.

As five spider-hounds rushed at him, Lin Yu gripped the Mist Mop tightly. The air around him grew noticeably dry, and the mop head hardened. When the hounds lunged, Lin Yu swung with all his strength, sending two of them flying with a powerful blow.

Immediately after, he squeezed the mop, summoning even more water vapor. “Imprisoning Bubbles!” Lin Yu shouted fiercely, whipping the mop. Dozens of luminous, crystalline bubbles shot forth from the mop head, hurtling toward the enemy.

Upon contact, the bubbles burst and became extremely sticky, wrapping the spider-hounds and slamming them against the wall before binding them tightly.

Nearby, Master Lu was caught off guard and struck by a bubble as well, immobilizing him in place.

Meanwhile, three other spider-hounds bypassed Lin Yu and charged toward Qin Qisan and Wu Miaoran. Wu Miaoran’s Insect Eradicator was an auxiliary type, lacking combat prowess, so she could only hide behind Qin Qisan.

Qin Qisan enlarged his imposing comb, wielding the massive wooden brush with a sweeping motion to smash the oncoming spider-hounds. His attack was powerful, like a cleaving strike, but the spider-hounds merely yelped upon impact, quickly regaining their feet. These monsters, born from human bodies, seemed far more formidable than the golden hounds that had crawled up from the cracks below.

Despite repeated attacks, Qin Qisan found them completely unharmed, still charging with reckless abandon. “My goodness! These things are unbelievably tough—not spider-like at all, more like cockroaches!” Qin Qisan exclaimed.

“Quick, don’t tangle with them! Head to the rooftop now!” Wu Miaoran urged, seeing the situation grow dire.

Lin Yu had already caught up, swinging the mop and launching five more bubbles, binding all the relentless spider-hounds chasing the pair, slamming them against the wall.

Then, Lin Yu hurried upward as well. Behind him, a dense swarm of spiders poured up the stairs.

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Lin Yu knew well that the Imprisoning Bubbles he created could only restrain the spider-hounds temporarily; the binding power would rapidly diminish over time, losing effectiveness every thirty seconds. The spider-hounds struggled furiously against the wall, and judging from their state, they would likely break free in about two minutes.

Master Lu was also bound by a bubble, but he did not struggle; instead, he stared malevolently at Lin Yu, wearing a rigid, horrifying smile.

Golden Gathering Snacks stood in the only multi-story building facing the street within the neighborhood, the entire row of storefronts attached externally to a three-story structure. After reaching the third floor, the trio opened the external staircase and entered the rooftop.

Fortunately, the rooftop was not locked. They rushed in, pushed the nearly rusted bar, and locked the rooftop completely.

The rooftop was cluttered with oil drums and discarded kitchenware. The three worked together to pile all the heavy junk at the doorway, then hid behind the door, breathing heavily as they watched.

“Why did we come to the rooftop? If we wanted to escape, shouldn’t we have headed for the back door?” Wu Miaoran asked.

“It's not just about escaping—we need a suitable place to defeat it. The Mutator core insect itself is a large crimson spider, capable of spawning the original spiders we saw earlier.

The original spiders, though seemingly ordinary, can burrow into hosts, reach their brains, and receive signals from the main body, allowing it to control the invaded host.

Downstairs is cramped. If the original spiders gather en masse, we could easily be invaded and controlled during battle,” Lin Yu explained.

“But even if it’s good for fighting here, escaping would be difficult. The building is so tall—jumping straight down would be fatal or crippling,” Qin Qisan worried.

“Relax, I’m not Han Xin—I won’t make you fight with your backs to the river. I promise,” Lin Yu reassured them.

“Now that we have a moment, tell us about this thing’s traits,” Qin Qisan prompted.

Lin Yu nodded. “Time is short, so let me give a brief overview.

The Mutator’s danger level is 19; it’s a control-type core insect. Since it’s a controller, not a parasite, it can survive independently. This creature usually hides in the abdomen or other unnoticeable parts of its host, directing them to kill to fulfill its needs.

Its most terrifying feature is its bizarre pincers. The Mutator’s pincers can absorb the traits of the target organism. In essence, the pincers act like a seed spreader—once they pierce a target, that organism becomes fertile ground for the insect’s derivatives.

The initial derivatives are the black spiders we saw earlier, known as original spiders. But the horror is, each time it invades a species, it retains that species’ traits and combines them with those previously encountered, enabling it to spawn even more powerful derivatives.

To put it simply, the Mutator first pierced the big golden dog, used its body as a medium, and bred numerous original spiders. At the same time, its pincers kept the canine traits.”

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Afterward, it controlled Master Lu and pierced the bodies of two servers. When it used the servers as mediums, the resulting derivatives possessed both spider and canine traits—thus the terrifying spider-hounds we just encountered.

Hearing this, Wu Miaoran couldn’t help but cry out, “My God… If I hadn’t noticed my wound in time, does that mean a golden dog would have crawled out of my body?”

“Yes. But even more astonishing, its pincers don’t just work on living things—they can use anything with organic matter. So when Master Lu scraped the ground with his claws, dogs could crawl out from the cracks.

However, such mediums are inferior to living hosts, so the dogs that emerged possessed only a single trait and looked just like the big golden dog, without mutating into spider-hounds,” Lin Yu explained.

“That makes sense. No wonder the spider-hounds are so much stronger than those golden dogs from the cracks—it’s because the medium is different,” Qin Qisan remarked.

“Did the materials Xiao Yu sent mention any weaknesses of this core insect?” Wu Miaoran asked urgently.

Lin Yu frowned. “Yes, there is a weakness, but it’s hard to exploit here. Like other core insects, the Mutator fears fire. But judging from Master Lu’s state, the Mutator is probably hidden in his right hand, perhaps fused with it. If we try to kill it with fire, Master Lu would inevitably be harmed.”

“At this point, should we really worry about hurting Master Lu? If we don’t stop him here, more people will die,” Qin Qisan said anxiously.

Lin Yu didn't answer, lost in thought.

Just then, Wu Miaoran suddenly cried out, “Oh God! Don’t you two realize something?

Lin, you said… If the core insect’s pincers pierce anything, that thing becomes a medium for monsters to spawn, and its traits are preserved, right?”

Wu Miaoran swallowed, her expression tense as she looked at Lin Yu and Qin Qisan.

Neither answered, but cold sweat broke out on their foreheads—they had clearly grasped what Wu Miaoran meant…

Master Lu had just killed two servers and used their bodies to create terrifying spider-hounds. That meant the Mutator’s pincers now possessed human traits!

Boom—

At that instant, a bone-chilling explosion sounded at the door. The iron gate to the rooftop was horribly deformed, and dreadful howls echoed from below.

The sounds were like the wails of owls and ghosts, making their bones shiver and their skin crawl…