After finishing his meal, Chen Du left the villa and set off for an abandoned mine.
According to Bai Xi's intelligence, there was another gold-tier supply crate located here. At this point, any resource classified as gold-tier was invaluable to him. Without wasting a moment, he hit the road.
As he drove to the outskirts of the mine, staring at the pitch-black entrance, Chen Du recalled Bai Xi's warning before he departed:
"Chen Du, don't say I didn't warn you. The outer area of this mine isn't the most dangerous—it's nothing you can't handle with your strength. The real threat lies inside. All I know is that there are hordes of zombies in there, and survivors who barely escaped mentioned something about a giant spider. No one believed them back then, but now it seems likely they were talking about some kind of mutated creature."
Chen Du nodded solemnly after hearing this. He knew better than anyone—mutated creatures weren't foes to be underestimated.
With resolve hardening in his eyes, Chen Du moved. Drawing his twin Enhanced Arming Swords, their edges gleaming faintly under the moonlight, he darted forward with lightning speed. In mere moments, his blades sliced through the necks of the lurking zombies outside the mine entrance. It was over almost as quickly as it began; the ground littered with decapitated bodies. With a flick of his wrists, Chen Du shook off the blackened blood staining his blades and stood at the mouth of the mine.
The darkness ahead swallowed all light, save for the faint echoes of zombie growls and chilling gusts of wind whistling through the cavern.
Chen Du had already made up his mind. If things went south once he ventured deeper, he wouldn't hesitate—he'd turn tail and retreat immediately. Gold-tier resources could always be found later, but life came only once.
Taking a deep breath, Chen Du stepped into the abyss. The interior was pitch black, and he relied solely on the beam from the flashlight strapped to his head to illuminate the narrow path ahead. Every five or six meters, he carved a hole into the rocky walls and inserted a gasoline-soaked torch, casting flickering shadows across the damp stone surfaces. This deliberate process slowed his progress, but caution was key.
As he pressed further into the depths, the remnants of past explorers became evident. Scattered human limbs and rotting flesh littered the ground—grim reminders of those who had dared to venture here before. Once you were this far in, escape was nearly impossible, and death was inevitable.
Suddenly, several zombies were drawn by the glare of his flashlight and charged toward him. Chen Du took a few measured steps back, creating space between himself and the horde. Without hesitation, he hurled a couple of Molotov cocktails. The ensuing inferno momentarily blocked the advancing undead. But these zombies were different—they no longer feared fire as they once did. Many continued their relentless charge, their burning forms writhing grotesquely yet undeterred.
Chen Du opted not to use his pistol—the mine was too dark, and hitting a zombie's head accurately would be next to impossible. Instead, he drew his twin Enhanced Arming Swords again. Though he wasn't particularly skilled in dual-wielding, his sheer physical prowess more than compensated. Swinging wildly but with incredible speed, the blades cleaved through the zombies like butter. Limbs flew, heads rolled, and within moments, the horde lay in pieces around him.
As the last zombie collapsed, Chen Du exhaled deeply, steadying his breathing. "Strength truly does overpower skill," he muttered to himself. "Our ancestors weren't wrong about that."
With his Critical Strike- Arming Swords cutting a swath through the mine, Chen Du advanced steadily, obliterating every obstacle in his path. The confined space of the mine amplified the effectiveness of his weapons, making them feel almost divine in their lethality.
A guttural roar echoed through the cavern as Chen Du yanked his blade free from the final zombie's skull. Silence returned, heavy and oppressive—but still, no sign of the gold-tier supply crate Bai Xi had mentioned. Something felt… off.
Frowning, Chen Du paused. Could Bai Xi's intel have been wrong? Or had someone beaten him to the prize? Yet considering the fresh wave of zombies he'd just faced, that theory seemed unlikely.
Just then, a sticky strand of webbing shot out from the darkness, catching Chen Du completely off guard. The force of it was immense, nearly toppling him as it wrapped tightly around his left arm and began dragging him deeper into the mine. In the dim glow of his torchlight, Chen Du finally spotted the culprit—a massive spider lurking in the shadows, its presence utterly silent until now.
"Well, damn," Chen Du cursed under his breath, struggling against the webbing. Acting swiftly, he grabbed a nearby torch and burned through the silk binding him. Only then did he get a full view of the monstrous arachnid.
The creature loomed above him, perched atop the cavern ceiling like a nightmarish sentinel. Its body shimmered with an eerie purple hue, while its multifaceted eyes glinted like gemstones, watching him intently. Eight impossibly long legs stretched out, each thicker than a man's thigh, dominating the space with horrifying ease.
Staring up at the beast—one that looked like it had crawled straight out of a video game—Chen Du had a thousand thoughts swirling in his mind. But ultimately, they boiled down to one word:
"Fuck."
Facing such a colossal mutated spider-zombie hybrid, Chen Du felt a pang of unease. He remembered how Sheriff's team had barely managed to take down their first mutated creature—and that had required the combined efforts of an entire squad. And now, here he was, facing this monstrosity alone.
"I should probably leave," Chen Du muttered aloud, backing away slowly. "Look, big guy, you stay here and enjoy yourself. Me? I've got a wife waiting for me at home. Not that you'd understand—you're probably single, aren't you?"
Before he could retreat further, the spider let out a series of piercing shrieks—high-pitched and ear-splitting—before unleashing a torrent of webbing. Instinctively, Chen Du dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the sticky strands.
"Hey, come on! I was just joking!" he shouted, half-serious, half-exasperated. But as he glanced behind him, his stomach sank. The spider hadn't been aiming at him—it was sealing off his escape route. By the time he realized what was happening, the exit was completely barricaded with thick layers of webbing.
Chen Du clenched his jaw. So much for assuming these mutants were mindless beasts. Clearly, this thing possessed a level of intelligence far beyond what he'd anticipated.
Standing tall despite the odds, Chen Du drew his pistol and aimed carefully at the spider's glowing compound eyes. A single shot rang out, echoing through the cavern. The bullet struck true, shattering one of the spider's gem-like eyes and sending a spray of foul-smelling, tar-like ichor splattering across the rocks.
Now, it was personal.