Chapter 198: 189. Discovery and Cooperation

189. Discovery and Cooperation

"Li Yi, the battle is over, take a rest." Lin Yue walked over, breathing lightly, and patted Li Yi on the shoulder. "How are you? Any injuries?"

Li Yi's vertical pupils glowed, his blood still churning; he frowned. "Something's off."

"What's off?" Lin Yue asked.

Li Yi said, "Though there were many of these spider monsters, not a single one tried to flee during the fight. That's unreasonable. Earlier, in the danger zone, I encountered spider monsters when Tao Ge was leading us. He found a spider-human in an abandoned building and fought it—finally, the spider-human escaped, wounded."

"This means these spider monsters have intelligence. They know fear. They don't just charge blindly."

"True. Given our strength, these monsters should have fled if they realized they couldn't win. Survival instinct is universal." Lin Yue frowned in thought. "Li Yi, are you suggesting there's another reason these spiders are charging at us without regard for their lives?"

"Exactly. I suspect these spider monsters are acting under orders. And the only thing worth such sacrifice is one thing."

Li Yi's gaze shifted slightly toward the end of the street.

"The mother spider is nearby."

At the street's end, silence reigned. No spider monsters. Only lifeless buildings.

Lin Yue paused, then nodded. "Your guess is likely right. If they're protecting the mother, they'll fight to the death—like an ant colony. The queen is vital; without her, the colony can't reproduce, grow, or survive."

"Zheng Gong, abandon the vehicle. Keep moving deeper into the old district. I feel today is our chance. If we're lucky, we can kill the mother spider." Li Yi said.

"Now? Don't we rest first? My sniper rifle is out of ammo. Yuan Mingjin has only two rounds left." Zheng Gong said.

Li Yi waved his hand to cut him off. "These spider-humans are using their lives to stall us, drain our time. If we stop to rest, we'll never find the mother spider again. Didn't you tell me to take a risk? This is the moment."

"Fine. If you say so, we press on. Two rounds are enough. One well-timed shot can end this support mission." Zheng Gong immediately nodded.

Li Yi immediately returned to the vehicle and drank another bottle of Golden Nutrient Fluid in one gulp.

After the battle, his stomach was empty again.

But after drinking the nutrient fluid, his cultivator's powerful absorption kicked in—his strength rapidly recovered, and the blood he'd expended while punching was steadily replenished.

"Go."

Li Yi didn't hesitate—he pressed forward.

The others wasted no time and followed immediately.

They crossed the street littered with spider corpses and continued along the lifeless highway.

Strange as it was.

Beyond that stretch of road, the next section was unusually safe—no danger, no trace of spider monsters. This made no sense.

"It seems all the nearby spider monsters were drawn into the earlier fight. Now that we've cleared them, this old district has returned to its usual safety." Lin Yue's eyes flickered as she scanned her surroundings—she was a spiritual sense expert, the most perceptive among them.

Yet even she sensed no imminent threat.

"The more normal it seems, the more suspicious it is. Analyzing the spiders' approach routes, if we keep moving straight ahead, we might find something." Li Yi said.

Yuan Mingjin, clutching his sniper rifle, whispered, "Li Yi, I've only got two rounds. If I fire both and the mission isn't over, I'm useless."

"I understand. Trust me. If things go wrong, I'll order a retreat." Li Yi signaled.

Yuan Mingjin nodded, saying nothing more.

He wasn't afraid—he simply needed to inform Li Yi of his condition, to avoid miscalculating the team's combat capability and causing unnecessary losses.

They advanced further.

At a street intersection, Li Yi spotted a pool of blood. Several mangled corpses lay scattered on the ground—clearly, a battle had occurred here recently. Someone had died.

But then—

Lin Yue suddenly grabbed Li Yi's arm and stopped. Her expression turned grave; she signaled everyone to be silent.

The group froze.

Li Yi looked at Lin Yue.

She said nothing, only pointed toward the roof of a nearby residential building.

Everyone turned.

There, hanging down from the roof of the modest building, was a pale white arm—part of a spider monster. But the arm was enormous. If its owner was also a spider monster, its size must be staggering.

Due to their angle, they could see only the arm, but it was clear: the monster was resting on the roof, unaware of their presence.

"That's the white spider mother." Zheng Gong's voice trembled with excitement.

Yuan Mingjin's breath hitched. He immediately chambered a round and instinctively aimed.

Li Yi waved his hand to stop him. "Shooting from this angle will only sever its arm—not a fatal wound. Zheng Gong, you and Yuan Mingjin find a sniper position in a nearby building—hurry. Lin Yue and I will try to hold the creature back and give you a clear shot."

"That's too dangerous. That spider's size makes it nearly a transcendent being." Yuan Mingjin whispered.

"We can't ignore it if we've found it. You two handle the shooting. If two rounds don't kill it, retreat immediately. Fighting a transcendent being of this size head-on is a terrible idea." Li Yi said.

"Alright. Be careful." Yuan Mingjin nodded and dashed with Zheng Gong toward the tallest nearby building.

They needed to seize the high ground and find a firing position as fast as possible.

Li Yi and Lin Yue moved too, advancing toward the mother spider's location, moving silently, avoiding any noise that might alert the monster.

The old district's terrain was complex. Even if the monster was large, hiding it was still easy.

But just as their plan proceeded smoothly—

Another group appeared in Li Yi's line of sight.

Leading them was Gu Mengping and several unfamiliar external combat personnel. All were drenched in blood—some from monsters, some from themselves. They'd clearly fought a battle with a group of spider-humans and suffered heavy losses: Li Yi saw no investigators among them, meaning their investigator had died in the earlier attack.

"Li Yi?" Gu Mengping spotted Li Yi and Lin Yue. He opened his mouth to greet them, but quickly sensed something wrong.

He turned his gaze along their direction of advance.

His pupils sharply contracted.

Clearly, Gu Mengping had seen the giant spider-human crouched on the roof.

In that moment, Gu Mengping's face lit up with delight.

His team had fought for five days to eliminate the spider monsters in the old district. He never expected luck to finally turn—here was the mother spider. If they killed it, this grueling mission would be complete, and his spot in the Golden Academy would be guaranteed.

But then Gu Mengping glanced at Li Yi and Lin Yue.

They'd found the mother spider first. If he moved now, it would look bad.

Li Yi and Lin Yue were also watching Gu Mengping. Neither had expected other external combat personnel to appear at this critical moment. Though they were colleagues, the Bureau had released Golden Academy slots—everyone was now a competitor.

After such a hard fight to find the mother spider, no one would give it up willingly.

This was no time for politeness.

Becoming a Cross-Boundary Practitioner meant survival for their future.

"Gu Mengping, we found this first. By protocol, we get the first strike. If we fail, then you move." Lin Yue stared directly at Gu Mengping.

It was fair.

It would avoid conflict.

But only if Gu Mengping agreed.

Yet Gu Mengping shook his head. "I've spent five days on this mission. The hardship speaks for itself. I lost one investigator. I won't let it slip away at the last moment. Here's my proposal: we cooperate. Whoever lands the final blow gets the credit. That way, no hard feelings. How's that? This thing isn't as easy to kill as it looks. If we don't work together, someone will get hurt—and it won't help anyone."

His suggestion seemed reasonable.

Lin Yue frowned, ready to refuse—but Li Yi stopped her.

"Fine. We cooperate. Whoever kills it gets the credit."

"Good. Li Yi, cooperation at its best."

Gu Mengping smiled. He hadn't expected Li Yi to agree so easily. But now that the words were spoken, he had no qualms—he gestured, and his team's sniper immediately sprinted toward the nearest tall building.

Lin Yue whispered, "Li Yi, you shouldn't have agreed. We found it first."

"I know. But Lin Jie, understand this: it's dangerous. We can't be sure we can kill it. Cooperation is the best option now—it reduces our risk and avoids conflict. Besides, I want someone to test the waters for us." Li Yi's gaze flickered.

"I see." Lin Yue nodded, finally understanding Li Yi's reasoning.

No one knew the mother spider's true strength. It was best to have someone test it—but the tester risked death.

"Still, I worry—if Gu Mengping succeeds, we'll have wasted our effort." Lin Yue voiced her concern.

Li Yi said, "Gu Mengping's presence reduces our risk, but we pay a price. Still, his chance of success is low. His team has only one spiritual sense expert and one sniper. Ours has two snipers and two spiritual sense experts."

"Two spiritual sense experts?" Lin Yue blinked. "When did you become one?"

Li Yi said, "In actual combat, my strength equals a spiritual sense expert. Not on the level of Yang Yi Long, but comparable to an average one."

He wasn't boasting.

In a real fight, he could fully match a spiritual sense expert's combat power.

"Now that you say that, I can accept your earlier proposal." Lin Yue nodded. "Let Gu Mengping go first. We wait for our chance."

"They're moving. Let's go."

Suddenly, Li Yi saw Gu Mengping's group scatter and swiftly advance toward the mother spider.

Li Yi didn't want to fall behind—he moved immediately.

Lin Yue said nothing more, alert to all surroundings, ready to strike at any moment.

"Gu Mengping, Li Yi and Lin Yue are moving too. Watch out—they might strike first." One of Gu Mengping's external combat personnel said.

Gu Mengping replied, "No choice. We sent the distress signal. Other investigators will come. The old district has too many spider monsters—we've wasted too much time. If we didn't call for help, we'd be stuck here forever, never finishing the mission."

"Thankfully, it wasn't Pastor Pete. He's both a spiritual sense expert and a top sniper—there's only one like him in Tianchang City. But Lin Yue isn't easy either. She broke through and killed Wei Bin, mastered the fist technique, and passed the White Bone Murals test. These people are all monsters. It's a nightmare."

He trailed off, frustrated, and fell silent.

Soon—

Both teams reached the base of the building.

But as they approached, spider-humans poured out of surrounding residences—alerted, they let out strange, signaling cries.

Trouble!

The sudden change instantly turned their faces pale.

They thought the spider monsters in this area had all been wiped out, but there were still some hidden ones.

These hidden spider monsters were rare, and all of them were especially small—not like combat creatures, but seemingly bred solely as sentinels. Precisely because these spider monsters posed no danger at all, the cultivators failed to notice them, just as one unconsciously ignores ants on the roadside.