On the western side of the Rainforest Zone, a group of combat members crouched in the tall grass, their heads covered in makeshift vegetation camouflage—nicknamed “grass nests.” From a distance, they quietly observed the Hunting Spider Woman lurking among the trees.
This was the Seventh Combat Squad, led by their captain, Ji Ou.
Unlike Team One, they didn’t have any Awakened members capable of hiding their presence from monsters, so all they could do was rely on this kind of barely-effective disguise.
The slightly sunken patch of grass in the middle was where Ji Ou himself was squatting. He was a small, unassuming man—completely unlike the stoic powerhouse who led Team One. Ji Ou was what people called an “Emperor Ou”—the kind of person blessed with freakish luck.
That wasn’t just a saying; it was literally his awakened ability—“Man of Fortune.”
The ability wasn’t much help in combat, but it always kicked in at unexpected moments.
Sometimes, a monster about to finish him off would suddenly trip over a pebble. Or the creature he happened to land the last blow on would drop a rare item. Or whenever his team needed to find a specific monster—it would just… show up.
Ji Ou crouched obediently in the grass, keeping his profile low. Though he was an “Emperor Ou,” he wasn’t good at fighting.
Before entering the game, he had been just a regular office worker. After getting pulled into the system, he somehow ended up being absorbed into the combat division—and by sheer dumb luck, became the captain of Team Seven.
That, too, was probably a form of luck.
Ji Ou was well aware of his role. Technically, he was the “captain,” but in practice, he was the team’s mascot—the guy everyone looked at when no one knew what to do. When all else failed, they relied on luck.
And today, luck seemed to be on their side again. Only three minutes after HQ asked all teams in the rainforest to report any sightings of the roaming field boss—the Hunting Spider Woman—she’d literally passed right over their heads chasing prey.
Come to think of it, the fact that such crude camouflage had worked at all might itself be another stroke of good fortune.
Ji Ou carefully observed the Spider Woman. Her lower body was that of a large, brown spider—covered in thick, bristling hairs that were anything but cute. Her upper body, however, was the shape of a beautiful human woman… if one ignored her face.
Ji Ou glanced up at it—just once. The upper half of that perfectly shaped, heart-shaped face had eight crimson compound eyes, and he immediately shuddered and looked away.
Good god. No matter how many times he saw that kind of monster, he never got used to it.
The Spider Woman’s humanoid upper body seemed to be just for show. When she fed, she shoved her prey into the spider portion of her body. Ji Ou didn’t dare look too closely; he had zero interest in finding out how spiders actually ate.
They were only tailing her so they could transmit coordinates to He Wuning’s group.
This Spider Woman was a unique case—she didn’t spin webs and wait for prey. Instead, she hunted actively, ambushing anything that passed by—and never failed to kill.
That alone meant she was terrifyingly strong.
Normally, Team Seven would never provoke a monster like that. Ji Ou couldn’t help feeling like he was dancing on a tightrope—if this thing spotted them before He Wuning’s team arrived, they’d all be dead meat.
Except maybe his deputy.
He thought grimly.
Next to him crouched a girl with long, silky hair and a gentle face—Tang Yu, his deputy and the strongest fighter in their squad.
Still shaken by the spider’s monstrous form, Ji Ou couldn’t help glancing at Tang Yu again to calm his nerves. She turned to meet his eyes, smiling sweetly. “Captain,” she said softly, “do you know how spiders eat?”
Ji Ou blurted out, “No—and I don’t want to know.”
Too late.
Tang Yu smiled wider. “You know how tiny a spider’s mouth is, right? But they often catch prey many times larger than themselves. You’d think they couldn’t possibly eat it, huh?”
“But they can,” Tang Yu continued cheerfully. “They use their fangs to inject venom that paralyzes the prey. Then they pump digestive fluid into the wound, liquefying all the flesh inside… and finally, they just slurp it all up—like jelly. Oh! Captain, do you know those old snacks called jelly squeeze-pouches? I think they might’ve been inspired by spiders!”
She leaned closer, her smile still as soft and gentle as ever. “Captain,” she murmured, “if one of these spiders ate a person… do you think it’d leave behind a whole, empty human skin?”
Ji Ou shuddered all over, nearly in tears. “I told you I don’t want to hear it! Are you insane?!”
His deputy was everything one could ask for—strong, beautiful, gentle, could cook, start a fire, perform first aid, and had even worked in scientific research before entering the game. She was used to doing fieldwork, so her survival skills were impeccable. She had just one flaw— She loved horror stories.
And not just loved them—she loved telling them anytime, anywhere.
Sometimes Ji Ou seriously suspected that this teammate had been sent by the system to make the game harder. They’d fought a giant python while she explained in detail how snakes digest their prey, fought a tree spirit while she discussed how much nutrition a human body could provide to a tree, and now they were about to fight a giant spider—while she described how spiders ate their prey like jelly.
Ji Ou trembled, wishing he could just go home on the spot.
He peeked out from the grass and shifted uncomfortably. “Why isn’t He Wuning here yet?”
When was that guy going to show up and take over this mess? Ji Ou had suffered more than enough for one day.
Just then, rustling came from the bushes behind them. The lookout glanced at Ji Ou—seeing the captain still sitting there with a dead-eyed expression, listening helplessly to his deputy ramble, he relaxed. If the captain hadn’t noticed anything, it meant the noise wasn’t an enemy.
Sure enough, when they parted the grass, a bald man with an aura of righteousness poked his head through.
It was Master Zhi Yin. He pressed his palms together in greeting, glanced around, and whispered, “Am I early? Has Mr. He not arrived yet?”
“Not yet,” one of the combat members replied. Most of them had met the monk before—he was hard to miss. They made space for him and even plopped a “grass nest” on his shiny head for camouflage. “He should be here soon…”
Then came more rustling from the side. This time, a hand signal appeared from the grass—people from Team One.
Ji Ou turned his head and almost jumped out of his skin. At some point, his entire back row had been quietly filled with additional teammates.
He gaped. “Why are you all here?”
“To help,” said Xing Yue, the captain of Team One, giving him a brief glance. He didn’t bother asking the obvious—“He Wuning isn’t here yet?”—because if those two were going to show up, they were definitely not the subtle type.
Ji Ou scratched his head, looking at the now “luxurious” lineup. “Didn’t HQ say He Wuning and Yi Luo would handle this themselves? What’s with all of you coming?”
Xing Yue cleared his throat. “Which rule exactly am I breaking by being here?”
His expression turned a bit awkward. “I just… don’t feel comfortable leaving them alone.”
Last time, it had taken a whole team to bring down that tree demon, and this wasn’t an easy boss either. If those two went in alone and ran into another monster carrying a Fragment, things could go south fast.
Ji Ou gave him a complicated look. “Honestly, I feel less at ease now that you’re here.”
Xing Yue grinned, flashing a row of white teeth, and cracked his knuckles threateningly. Ji Ou immediately flinched and grabbed his deputy for protection.
Tang Yu leaned in, smiling her usual sweet smile. “My, my, I didn’t expect everyone to be so interested in this monster,” she said pleasantly. “But really, I think boys should stay away from her.”
Ji Ou’s survival instincts screamed at him not to take the bait—but curiosity got the better of him. “Why’s that?” he asked.
Tang Yu glanced at the Hunting Spider-Woman, a subtle smile curling on her lips. “Well,” she began softly, “based on her traits—she doesn’t weave webs, she hunts actively, and her venom is extremely potent—I’d guess her design is based on an Earth species called the banana spider.”
Xing Yue frowned. “Why? Because she looks like a banana? Or likes to eat them?”
Tang Yu’s smile deepened. Ji Ou knew that smile. That was the “story’s about to get horrifying” smile.
He swallowed hard but couldn’t help listening anyway.
Tang Yu said, her voice gentle and calm as ever, “Oh, nothing too bad. It’s just that the banana spider’s venom causes… sexual dysfunction.” Her tone remained sweet. “Victims may experience… um, abnormal erections—or complete impotence.”
“……”
The clearing fell into utter silence. Every male combatant instinctively shrank back a little.
Ji Ou turned pale with horror. What a vicious spider! Not only could it kill you—if it didn’t, you’d be socially dead or single for life!
Team One’s deputy, Cao Wu, slowly stepped back, face twisted in pain. “Captain,” he muttered, “I can’t. I’ve got a wife.”
Xing Yue’s face went dark. “...Just don’t let it bite you!”
Easier said than done — but his expression betrayed a flicker of unease.
Master Zhi Yin fell silent for two seconds, then exhaled deeply. Determination flashed across his solemn face. “In that case… let me go!” he declared with righteous resolve.
Everyone looked shaken. “Master!”
“No, Master! Think this through!”
“Uh—does Bai Yan’s healing skill even cure that kind of debuff?”
As the group hesitated and argued, Xing Yue suddenly turned his head in alarm. From the east, a bright pink milk-tea car, covered in tiny colorful flags, came bouncing out of the rainforest at full speed—no slowing down at all—as it charged straight toward the Hunting Spider Woman.
The spider jerked up, sensing its “prey” approaching. Instead of retreating, it lunged to meet the vehicle head-on—
Just as spider and car were about to collide, the milk-tea car swerved in a sharp serpentine maneuver, spun, and slammed it with its rear bumper, knocking the creature into the air. During the forced one-second knock-up, a mounted anti-air machine gun rose from the top of the car. Q-chan popped up from the hatch, gripping the candy-pink barrel, and shouted: “ORA ORA ORA ORA——!”
A storm of bullets tore into the spider-woman’s soft underbelly.
When the barrage ended, Yi Luo had already taken aim and blown out all of the creature’s compound eyes. The spider flailed blindly, its limbs thrashing in confusion. He Wuning stepped forward, gripping his blade with both hands. From below, he slashed upward in a single clean motion, flipping the creature over and exposing its weak spot.
He shouted, “Q!”
Q-chan, already reloaded, saluted with her tiny hand. “Roger! Round Two—Fire!”
“ORA ORA ORA ORA——!”
The second barrage rained down on the creature’s soft abdomen. Amid the blazing explosions, the Hunting Spider Woman was shredded into glittering loot.
It was flawless—smooth, efficient, and over in seconds.
Yi Luo stepped down from the milk-tea car, slinging the gun over his shoulder. His gaze swept toward the opposite side of the clearing—where, hidden in the grass, a bunch of familiar faces were crouched, staring at him in stunned silence. He raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. “…What are you guys doing? Team-building exercise?”
“Heh-heh…” Tang Yu let out a soft laugh, but Ji Ou—quick as lightning—slapped a hand over her mouth. “Please, auntie,” he hissed. “I’m begging you. Not another word.”
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The author has something to say:
The spider’s real-world prototype is the Brazilian wandering spider, but since the story’s set in a futuristic world, I used the alias “banana spider.”
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