Chapter 8

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Chapter 8: Spider Web

The stone coffin was hollow, and gusts of wind blew out from it, proving that the abyss below the stone coffin must connect to the outside world.

The bottomless black abyss—forget about going down, even looking at it from above would make one’s heart tremble with fear. So after Xu Yan suggested escaping through the stone coffin, except for Tiezhu who remained silent, all the other children shook their heads.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to—they just didn’t dare.

There was no path below the stone coffin, only a strange web. By Xu Yan’s estimation, as long as the web could support the weight of his companions, they should be able to crawl across it. As for where they could crawl to, that remained unknown.

The unknown path ahead seemed full of danger, but it was indeed the only way to escape. Tiezhu understood this clearly, because after digging for a day and a night, even he was exhausted. Digging out a passage was simply impossible.

“I’ll go down first to check.”

Xu Yan lay on the edge of the stone coffin for a while, finally making his decision. He turned back and said jokingly, “If I fall down, you can continue digging. Dying in a ready-made coffin isn’t a loss—you won’t even need to bury me.”

With a wail, Xu Yan’s joke made little Xiaohua cry again. Tiezhu stood nearby with a pale face and said, “Pig brain! Dying in someone else’s coffin… If it doesn’t work, come back up. I’ll pull you.”

When Xu Yan descended along the coffin wall to the large web at the bottom, the boys led by Tiezhu held onto each other, all gritting their teeth. Last was Xiaohua, who tightly gripped the boy in front of her, fearing that her Brother Yan would fall into the abyss and never return.

The method of “monkeys fishing for the moon” appeared in this narrow ancient tomb. Shortly after Xu Yan’s feet touched the large web, he let go of Tiezhu’s hand and pressed down hard, causing his entire body to drop suddenly.

The boys gathered around the coffin mouth exclaimed in alarm again, but this time it was better—Xu Yan, who had fallen, sank no more than three feet before bouncing back. After this happened several times, confirming that the web was extremely sturdy, Xu Yan waved to his companions above.

“It’s quite solid. Come down one by one!”

The large web was indeed very sturdy, but somewhat sticky. Xu Yan shook his hand and found that the sticky feeling remained, so he ignored it and began to survey his surroundings.

It was dark below the stone coffin, but a faint light appeared in the far distance. The abyss below the web had no visible bottom. In this deep, dark space, only the howling of the wind could be heard. Suddenly, Xu Yan’s pupils contracted sharply—he seemed to see something move in the darkness beneath his feet.

Something writhing, very large, like a vast patch of darkness. But Xu Yan knew that darkness doesn’t move. ‘Only living things can move!’ he realized with alarm.

Behind him, companions were successively coming down. The web was stretched further downward. By the time Tiezhu, the last one, also stood on the web, this large web that clung to the bottom of the stone coffin had been stretched open by more than five feet.

Above their heads was the cold stone wall, and below their feet was a bottomless abyss. The feeling of floating in such a place was not pleasant—it felt as if they might fall at any moment. The boys were all trembling with fear, and no one dared to say a word, especially Xiaohua, who wouldn’t dare to take a step if she wasn’t holding onto Xu Yan.

“Let’s go!”

Withdrawing his gaze, Xu Yan said the word “go” in a low voice, and led the way toward the distant light, holding Xiaohua’s hand.

To say they were walking would be more accurate to say they were half-crawling, half-walking. The ceiling was too close to their heads, and the ground beneath their feet was very sticky and slippery. The boys followed behind Xu Yan, moving slowly forward in a half-crouching, half-walking manner. If one looked from below the abyss, it would appear as if a team of tiny ants had appeared on the ceiling, crawling toward the exit.

Although they were young, these half-grown children were not small in size—at least much larger than ants. However, in the eyes of some strange beasts, this team of young people was still as weak as ants.

As the boys crawled toward the exit, in the darkness of the abyss, a pair of blood-red eyes also moved slowly with them.

At some point, the wind had grown stronger. Even Xu Yan, who was at the front, needed to shield his head and face with his arms to move forward. Otherwise, he could hardly keep his eyes open. His companions behind him were the same, all covering their faces. Apart from being able to see the back of the person closest to them, they couldn’t see anything else.

The advantage of covering their eyes was not only to block the fierce wind but also to shield the depths of the abyss—that terrifying monster with its huge, extended claws!

As long as they couldn’t see it, they wouldn’t be afraid. The story of “covering one’s ears while stealing a bell” actually had a positive side in this situation—at least those boys wouldn’t be frightened to death.

In the distance, the light had grown larger and larger. It was a long crack connecting to the outside world. Once they reached there, this life-and-death journey full of dangers would come to an end.

The hope of escape was right before their eyes, yet Xu Yan’s heart grew increasingly cold.

Because he could see!

Even with the fierce wind blowing in his face, even though he could barely keep his eyes open, Xu Yan’s peripheral vision could still see that in the darkness below, a huge creature was stretching its ferocious face in the weak light.

It was a spider—a massive spider whose eight legs, when fully extended, could cover an area of a hundred feet in diameter!

‘Spider web!’ Xu Yan thought with horror.

The large web at the bottom of the stone coffin was actually an incredibly huge spider web. The spider that wove such a massive web was certainly no ordinary beast—it was probably a demon even more ferocious than the demon wolf.

Their forward steps became slower and slower, until they finally stopped. Xu Yan handed Xiaohua’s hand to Tiezhu and said in a low voice, “Hurry, don’t look at anything.”

Tiezhu was stunned for a moment, then nodded, holding Xiaohua’s hand and continuing to move forward with difficulty against the fierce wind. ‘Forget about looking down—being able to distinguish the distant light is already my limit,’ he thought. He had no mood to look around.

Before long, Xu Yan had changed from the front of the line to the rear. He followed behind the last companion while staring intently at the abyss below, his hand already gripping the second thunder pearl.

The spider web greatly limited Xu Yan’s stone-throwing skill, and his arms were still somewhat sore and numb, unable to exert full strength. But in the current situation, only the thunder pearl in his hand might be able to stop the approaching monster.

The escape continued. Tiezhu at the front was getting closer and closer to the exit. At this moment, the boy at the very back of the line suddenly heard Xu Yan behind him let out a muffled grunt. Something was thrown by him into the abyss below the spider web.

The boy had no time to look more closely. After confirming that Xu Yan was still there, he hurriedly followed his companions’ footsteps.

The second thunder pearl was thrown down with all of Xu Yan’s might, but there was no sound. Perhaps the distance was too great, or perhaps the fierce wind changed the direction of the thunder pearl—in any case, there was no sound at all.

Although the second thunder pearl achieved nothing, the giant beast in the darkness obviously stiffened, only moving again after a long time. This period finally gave the boys precious time to escape. Tiezhu’s figure had already led Xiaohua out through that long, narrow crack.

This crack was located among some strange rocks halfway up the mountain. Tiezhu, who had crawled out of the crack, finally saw the blue sky and white clouds. The mountain path below was somewhat treacherous, but for these children from poor families, it was already a great joy. Even if they broke a leg going down the mountain, it would be better than being buried alive.

“Quick, give me your hand!”

While Tiezhu reached out his hand at the crack to help his companions, Xu Yan at the very back also issued the same urging.

“Hurry, hurry up!”

Unlike Tiezhu’s voice full of joy, Xu Yan’s voice carried extreme anxiety. At this moment, a strange rustling sound had already come over, and even Tiezhu outside the crack heard it clearly.

“Hurry! Hurry!”

The contrast in light made it impossible for Tiezhu to see clearly what had appeared behind, but he could hear the urgency in Xu Yan’s voice. As that eerie rustling sound came, Tiezhu hurriedly roared, grabbing his companions one by one, not caring if they might fall after being pulled out, continuously pulling the boys behind, wanting to get them all out quickly.

One, two, three.

By the time all the dozen or so boys except Xu Yan had been pulled out, in the light and shadow deep within the crack, Tiezhu finally saw a horrifying scene that he would never forget in his life.

He saw that behind Xu Yan, several huge, hairy claws emerged from beneath the large web, like giant sickles, suddenly smashing down from above Xu Yan’s head!