170-172

Chapter 170: The Taste 

The more heartbroken Mork was, the happier Roy was laughing on the other side. 

Samantha had gone to the rare effort of cooking a table full of delicious food to treat Roy and Elrusa. Ashley and Mike had never received such treatment before. 

The only slight disappointment was that Elrusa looked at the table of delicacies without touching a single thing. 

Samantha found it a bit strange. 

"Mr. Black, why isn't she eating anything? Doesn't she like the taste?" 

Roy scratched his head, unsure how to explain the situation. 

"Uh, Elrusa has pica. She doesn't like the things normal people eat." 

Ashley looked Elrusa up and down with a face full of curiosity. 

"Is there really such a condition?" 

Ashley wasn't the best student, after all, she spent all day hanging out with bikers, so her grades weren't exactly stellar. 

However, Mike was a little academic ace. He raised his hand to answer his sister's question. 

"I know! I know! The teacher talked about pica. It's a special craving that gradually appears in babies and children during the feeding process. They uncontrollably chew and swallow foreign objects that are usually not meant to be eaten." 

"Wow, there really is such a thing? So, what does Ms. Elrusa like to eat?" 

This was even harder to talk about, so Roy had no choice but to change the subject. 

"By the way, Samantha, I noticed the town seems really desolate. What's the reason for that?" 

Hearing this, Samantha sighed. 

"Our town originally thrived because of the gold mine. When the gold mine was depleted more than a decade ago, it naturally became desolate." 

Roy recalled the plot of the movie "Eight Legged Freaks." In the movie, it seemed like a truck full of chemical materials overturned, leading to the birth of giant spiders. 

This world was a bit strange and might not necessarily follow the plot of the movie, so Roy still wanted to inquire further. 

After all, since he was already here, it would be a shame not to get involved. 

"Is that gold mine now abandoned?" 

"No, I heard it was leased to a tech company called Amalgamated Chemical. It's kind of making use of something that would otherwise be wasted." 

Wait, Amalgamated Chemical? 

A key detail! 

Amalgamated Chemical had a long company history, founded in 1930 and headquartered in Portland, Maine. During World War II, it became a supplier for the Department of Defense, and its relationship with the federal government became increasingly close ever since. 

This tech company possessed cutting-edge biological genetic engineering technology, which is why the FEA headquarters wanted to collaborate with Amalgamated Chemical when the Space Succubus was discovered earlier. 

In the darkness of night, a transport vehicle bearing the Amalgamated Chemical logo drove along the winding mountain road next to the mining town, escorted by several armored cars with the MMC (Black Mountain Military Company) logo. Their destination was the town's only gold mine. 

On the mine's side, from the outside it still looked like an abandoned mine, but the inside of the mine shaft had already undergone a huge transformation. 

A middle-aged woman in a white lab coat walked out of the mine shaft, followed by several fully armed mercenaries and staff members. The mercenaries' equipment also bore the MMC logo. 

A group of people waited at the entrance of the mine for a short while before the transport vehicle and armored cars drove in. 

The transport vehicle stopped in the open space of the mine, and then a group of mercenaries got out of the armored cars. The leading mercenary captain greeted the middle-aged woman. 

"Ms. Elsa Layton (from 'Splice'), why are you personally receiving the delivery?" 

However, Elsa's attitude was very cold. 

"You're late." 

"Sorry, there was a slight accident on the road, causing some delay." 

The mercenary captain quickly apologized. Elsa Layton and her husband, Clive Layton, on the other side, were both geniuses in genetic engineering, capable of independently managing a project at Amalgamated Chemical. 

A small mercenary captain couldn't afford to offend such important figures. 

Fortunately, Elsa didn't dwell on the lateness. She was more concerned about security. 

"Is the cargo secure?" 

The mercenary captain patted the side of the transport truck's container. 

"Absolutely secure!" 

Elsa nodded. 

"Then hurry up and unload it. We're at a critical stage of the experiment right now." 

With that, Elsa turned and went back into the mine. The rest of the work would naturally be handled by other staff members. She just wanted to confirm that the goods had arrived. 

Back in the lab, Elsa saw her husband, Clive, observing a large tarantula without moving. 

The tarantula's behavior was very strange, its movements distorted but not stiff, giving off an eerie feeling. 

"Has the delivery arrived?" 

"Yes, they're unloading now." 

Clive finally looked up and smiled. 

"Excellent, we'll start the experiment tonight!" 

Clive's words made Elsa pause. 

"Tonight? Isn't that too rushed?" 

"No! It has to be as soon as possible! The company is already a bit dissatisfied with my lack of results, and I need to show them something impressive enough to satisfy that old woman!" 

Clive's expression was somewhat resentful, clearly very unhappy with the "old woman" he mentioned. 

"Then I'll go prepare the lab." 

Elsa turned and left coldly. Judging by their way of talking, you wouldn't guess they were a married couple. 

"Elsa, wait! How's the acquisition of this mine going?" 

Elsa stopped and briefly explained. 

"To prevent the mine owner from becoming suspicious and refusing to sell, I specifically found someone else to acquire the mine through the town mayor. But the mine owner is still hesitating." 

Clive's expression turned grim. 

"What's going on? Hurry up and resolve this matter to avoid any unforeseen complications!" 

Elsa nodded expressionlessly. 

"I'll have someone urge the mayor tomorrow. That guy probably wants to squeeze out more money and is trying to lower the price." 

"Get the mine within three days. The company isn't short of that little bit of money!" 

"I understand." 

"Prepare the experiment." 

Elsa and Clive left the lab at the same time. 

After they left, the large tarantula in the transparent glass box quickly flipped over and stopped moving. Some strange red hyphae emerged from its abdomen. 

An hour later, the new lab was set up, and Clive and Elsa began their experiment. 

The subjects of their experiment were the eggs of a locally common tarantula and some kind of special hyphae never before discovered, found deep within the mine. 

Previously, Clive had tried to combine the two, but had always failed. 

The hyphae would quickly devour the internal organs of a creature, turning it into an empty shell. Only this type of tarantula could survive until after mating before dying. 

That's why Clive chose the tarantula as his experimental subject. 

In order to better combine the tarantula and the hyphae, Clive specifically requested a special cell from space (flesh and blood of a male succubus) from the company. 

This cell was extremely precious. Amalgamated Chemical had only recently obtained it. Clive being able to request it was due to his outstanding abilities, but he only received a small amount, so he had to use it with extreme caution. 

However, scientific experiments are always built upon countless failures. 

"Gene fusion experiment, attempt number 1, failed." 

"Gene fusion experiment, attempt number 2, failed." 

... 

"Gene combination experiment, attempt number 13, successful!" 

Clive and Elsa were undoubtedly very patient scientists. Continuous failures did not discourage them. They always firmly believed that their path was correct. 

Finally, in the 13th experiment, the tarantula eggs, the underground hyphae, and the space cell were perfectly combined. 

Although this number wasn't very auspicious in the West, Clive and Elsa, being materialists, didn't care about such things. 

Looking at the small spider that had been hatched in a special way inside the glass box, a smile finally appeared on Clive and Elsa's tired faces. 

"We succeeded!" 

This little spider was about the size of a marble, with red tentacle-like hyphae on its body. It moved freely and looked very normal, except for its head, which looked a bit strange, but the exhausted Clive and Elsa didn't notice. 

They had been working intensely for two hours, and their bodies were already somewhat overwhelmed. Seeing the experiment succeed, they decided to take a break. 

"Have the assistant get some mealworms for it to eat and carefully observe its condition." 

"Clive, should we give it a name?" 

Clive and Elsa went to the disinfection room and pondered for a moment while being rinsed with disinfectant. 

"As our first successful experimental prototype, it is indeed necessary to give it a name. What do you think would be a good name for it?" 

"Since it's a female spider, how about Rose?" 

"Sounds good." 

Soon, the assistant entered the sterile lab with some disinfected mealworms, as food for Rose, the newly born gene-fused spider. 

The assistant watched Rose eat for a while. After feeling that there were no problems, he turned his attention to Clive and Elsa's experimental records. 

These were experimental records written by two of the top genetic engineering scientists. As their assistant, he couldn't miss out on these records. 

The assistant, who was focused on reading the experimental records, didn't notice that after eating a few mealworms, the small spider's size rapidly increased, quickly growing from the size of a marble to the size of a billiard ball. 

But the little spider was still not satisfied. It bared its fangs and claws at the assistant, seemingly demanding more food. 

Unfortunately, the assistant completely missed the little spider's needs. The angry little spider directly sprayed a mouthful of venom onto the glass box, actually corroding a hole in the glass, and then crawled out through the hole. 

It wasn't until the gas produced by the corrosion triggered the lab's automatic alarm that the assistant realized Rose was missing from the glass box. Immediately afterward, he felt something bite his foot. 

There couldn't be any other living creatures in the sterile lab, and entering the sterile lab required wearing a full set of protective clothing, so it was obvious what had bitten him. 

The intense pain terrified the assistant. He wanted to escape the sterile lab and go outside for help, but because the corrosive gas had triggered the lab's automatic alarm, the lab door was locked, and the assistant couldn't get out at all. 

Only Clive and Elsa had the authority to open the sterile lab. 

"Help! Help me!" 

The assistant desperately pounded on the lab door. He could feel the spider Rose burrowing around inside his body, but he didn't feel much pain. Instead, he had a kind of lightheaded, euphoric feeling. 

This situation terrified the assistant even more. His professional knowledge told him that he might have been poisoned by some kind of neurotoxin, which meant that he would soon completely lose consciousness. 

This judgment was correct. In less than three minutes, the assistant had already fallen to the ground with a happy smile on his face, and saliva started to drool from the corners of his mouth. He was completely unable to move. 

Ten minutes later, when Clive and Elsa arrived with the mercenaries, they saw the assistant, who was now just a layer of skin. His internal organs and flesh had all been eaten away. 

"Rose did this?" 

Clive was both surprised and delighted. Losing an assistant meant nothing to him. What made him happy was that his scientific ideas of many years seemed to be on the verge of success. 

Elsa felt a bit of pity seeing the assistant's corpse, but she still calmly analyzed the situation. 

"This method of feeding doesn't seem like the way a tarantula feeds. Tarantulas usually choose to swallow their prey." 

Clive didn't pay attention to this detail. 

"Maybe it's because the prey was too big! You, immediately search the lab. You must find Rose!" 

The mercenaries obeyed and searched everywhere in the sterile lab. Finally, they found a hole about the size of a soccer ball in a corner. 

"Sir, the target may have escaped!" 

Clive's face immediately turned grim. 

"Damn it, this thing can actually corrode metal walls directly! And it grew so big in just a few minutes!" 

"Clive, we have a problem! If Rose enters the natural environment and starts to reproduce, it could cause a huge biological disaster." 

What Elsa said was exactly what Clive was most worried about right now. 

"Immediately report this to the company, then pack up the data and supplies and prepare to evacuate! Oh, right, copy the surveillance footage from the sterile lab and send it to the company. At least, our experiment this time was a success!" 

Amalgamated Chemical was rich and powerful. As long as the experiment was successful, even small mistakes could be covered up. 

Clive knew this very well, and with the success of the experiment, he had already begun planning the next step. 

What kind of results would be produced if the hyphae and the space cells could be combined with human genes? 

Clive was already looking forward to it! 

An hour later, the mine lab was sealed off, and everyone was gone. 

And the swampy area around the mine also began to change quietly. 

At this time, Roy, who had just returned to the hotel with Elrusa, knew nothing about all this. 

Roy originally wanted to call Gerald to ask him some things about Amalgamated Chemical. 

However, Roy heard a knock on the door. 

It was already midnight. Who would be knocking on the door at this time? 

"Ashley?" 

Standing outside the door was actually the youthful version of Black Widow. 

"Roy, did you guys only book one room?" 

Chapter 171: That's What You Call Being Prepared 

Even though Ashley had a rebellious streak and liked excitement, and seemed bold and unrestrained, she really wasn't the type to mess around with just anyone. 

In the movie, when the mayor's son Randy tried to take advantage of Ashley, she zapped him in the kidney with a taser, shocking him so badly he wet his pants. 

So, Ashley had no idea what the smell in the room was. 

Roy didn't know how to explain it for a moment, so he just forced a change of subject. 

"Maybe this room just hasn't been lived in for a while? Anyway, Ashley, what brings you here so late?" 

After spending time together at dinner, Roy had become quite familiar with the Parker family, and they were all on a first-name basis. 

Ashley didn't dwell too much on the smell, and just winked at Roy. 

"Roy, wanna go for a drive?" 

Roy's expression turned a bit strange. He hadn't expected Ashley to be so forward, coming on so directly. But then again, it did fit her bold personality. 

"Uh, does Samantha know about this?" 

Ashley frowned slightly. Teenagers in their rebellious phase really hate hearing their parents' names. 

"Don't even mention her! Or are you scared of the cops, Roy?" 

Ashley reached out and squeezed Roy's arm, feeling his strong muscles, which surprised her a little. 

[Discovered special character Ashley Parker. You can absorb the power of fate to obtain rewards!] 

"Roy, how are your arm muscles so developed?" 

"Because I'm a boxer." 

Roy shrugged nonchalantly. Hearing this, Ashley actually became even more interested. 

"Cool! A boxer! Really? I love watching boxing!" 

Okay, a girl who likes fast cars and boxing – she really is like a youthful version of Black Widow. 

"Well, if you get the chance, you can come watch one of my fights." 

Ashley was now finding herself liking Roy more and more. It was just a shame that this man was only passing through town. If only she could leave this small town with him. 

The rebellious teenager had even started fantasizing about what their future children would be named. 

"Roy, there's a street race tonight, and I'm a little scared to go alone. Could you come with me?" 

Ashley extended another invitation. 

Once a woman takes the initiative, she can find any excuse. 

Just like now, Roy could see right through Ashley's intentions, but it didn't seem like there was any harm in it. 

"Alright, I can't really sleep right now anyway, so I'll go with you. But you'll have to wait a bit. I need to get Elrohir to sleep first. Or, why don't you wait for me by my car?" 

Ashley nodded eagerly. She was also very interested in Roy's cool sports car. 

It took a little while, but Roy managed to soothe Elrohir's mood. His appetite was too big, and that little bit of baby milkshake wasn't enough at all. 

Roy had no choice but to take out some pre-prepared baby milkshake from his inventory for Elrohir to eat, promising to give him more fresh baby milkshake when he returned. Only then did Elrohir settle down. 

After Roy left, Elrohir suddenly got out of bed, walked to the window, and watched Roy drive away with Ashley. 

Then, Elrohir opened the window and jumped out, landing lightly on the ground, and headed towards the swamp. 

For some reason, Elrohir felt like something was calling him from the direction of the swamp. 

In the middle of the night, no one noticed a beautiful woman walking down the street. 

"Wow, this car is awesome!" 

Sitting in the yellow Chevrolet Camaro, Ashley was extremely excited. She already loved fast cars, and when Roy was in Los Angeles, he had also upgraded some parts for his beloved car at a shop called Los Santos Customs, making the Chevrolet Camaro even more powerful. 

Ashley had never ridden in such a powerful muscle car before, and she was so excited she felt like she could fly. 

Roy smiled, not paying too much attention to Ashley's reaction. 

"Ashley, where is this street race you mentioned?" 

Ashley bit her lip slightly. She actually didn't want to go to any street race anymore; she just wanted to go for a drive with Roy. 

Unfortunately, Ashley had just used that as an excuse, so she couldn't exactly say she was lying now. She had no choice but to point Roy in the right direction. 

"It's not far from the road where we met this evening." 

"Then hold on tight, I'm gonna speed up!" 

The strong g-force made Ashley's excited little face flush red, and she kept letting out little cries of excitement. 

Just at that moment, the car radio started playing some high-energy heavy metal music automatically, making Ashley even happier. 

Roy glanced at the car radio. He hadn't turned it on; the thing had just started playing on its own. 

Without thinking too much about it, Roy quickly drove to the location Ashley had mentioned for the street race. There were many naturally formed small sand dunes there, and some motorcycles were already having fun riding around. 

The cool and flashy appearance of the yellow Chevrolet Camaro, along with the powerful roar of its engine, instantly attracted everyone's attention. 

When the mayor's son Randy first saw the Chevrolet Camaro, he also showed an expression of envy. But when he saw his girlfriend Ashley getting out of the car, and acting intimately with Roy, his face immediately turned green. 

"Randy, why is your girlfriend in someone else's car?" 

His companion's question made Randy feel even more embarrassed. He pushed aside the people blocking his way and stormed up to Ashley, pointing at Roy. 

"Ashley, what are you doing in this pretty boy's car!" 

Roy looked at Randy in surprise. He was six-foot-three, and even though his muscles weren't visible through his clothes, he was still bigger than Randy, who was only about five-foot-ten. 

How could this guy have the nerve to call him a pretty boy? Just because he was good-looking? 

Ashley cautiously glanced at Roy, then put her hands on her hips and glared angrily at Randy. 

"It's none of your business! Didn't I already tell you on the phone that we're over?" 

Randy opened his mouth to speak. 

"I thought you were just saying that in anger! Wait, is it because of this guy?!" 

Randy finally realized the source of everything, and then pointed his finger at Roy's face. This action made Roy frown. Just as he was about to speak, Ashley quickly slapped Randy's hand away. 

"No matter who it is, it's none of your business anymore! Don't bother Roy and me on our date!" 

Randy was so ashamed and angry that he couldn't help but raise his hand to slap Ashley. 

Ashley closed her eyes in fear, but the feeling of pain didn't come in the next second. 

When she opened her eyes, she saw that Roy had grabbed Randy's hand. 

"Sir, since Ashley doesn't like you anymore, why are you still bothering her? It's really not a good look!" 

Roy gave a well-intentioned piece of advice, but his words only further infuriated Randy, after all, he was now Randy's love rival. 

Randy was at that age where he was easily impulsive, and immediately tried to break free from Roy's grip to retaliate. 

However, Roy's strength was not something a weakling like Randy could easily break free from. Randy cursed and yelled for several minutes, but his hand remained firmly in Roy's grasp. 

"Damn it, let me go!" 

This only made Randy look even more pathetic. 

Especially to Ashley, who didn't know Roy's strength and just thought Randy was too weak. A look of disdain began to appear in her eyes. 

"You actually wanted to hit me!" 

The hot-tempered Ashley didn't hesitate to return the slap. 

This made Randy's companions feel unhappy. 

As the mayor's son, Randy naturally had a lot of cronies and hangers-on around him, and a group of them rushed over. 

Among these people, there were quite a few thugs with switchblades and chains surrounding Roy and Ashley. 

At this moment, Ashley finally started to feel scared. She took out a taser from her pocket and threatened the approaching guys. 

"Don't come any closer! I have a taser!" 

Unfortunately, Ashley only had one taser, but there were seven or eight guys surrounding them, so it wasn't very intimidating. 

Roy frowned as he looked at the guys surrounding them. He actually didn't want to fight, because as a boxer, he would be suspended if he was caught fighting outside the ring. 

Moreover, Allen Berg had also said that boxers get paid to fight in the ring, but they have to pay if they fight outside the ring. 

Especially after Roy's reputation grew, it was likely that some people would deliberately try to provoke him into a fight. 

Roy strongly agreed with this. 

"What do you guys want?" 

Roy exuded a murderous aura, instantly intimidating some of the restless teenagers. 

"You, you let Randy go right now." 

"Okay! But you guys also need to back off, otherwise I'm going to have to do something." 

Saying that, Roy let go of Randy's hand. 

Randy immediately rubbed his hand and retreated to his friends' side. Roy letting him go so easily immediately made him think Roy was weak and easily bullied. So, disregarding the previous condition, he waved his hand. 

"Beat him up!" 

"What do you guys want to do! My mom's the sheriff!" 

Ashley finally thought of bringing up her mother's name. 

"Don't worry about her! My dad's the mayor! You guys just go ahead and fight, I'll take care of anything that happens!" 

Since the mayor's son had said so, these little hoodlums naturally had no more worries, and they all grinned maliciously as they walked towards Roy. 

Roy sighed. These guys really had no sense of self-preservation. 

"Why are you forcing me to do this?" 

As he spoke, Roy took out a Smith & Wesson M625 from his inventory and pointed it at Randy. 

"Do you have anything else to say?" 

Randy's face turned green, and he was almost scared to pee. 

"You, how do you have a gun!" 

"In a dangerous society like America, how can you dare to travel far without a gun? See, it's coming in handy now, isn't it?" 

At this time, one of the little thugs behind Randy was still egging him on. 

"Randy, don't be afraid! He only has a small revolver with six bullets in total, and there are eight of us!" 

Hearing this, Randy immediately wanted to curse. Were they trying to make him a target? 

"Who said that? Get out here!" 

At this moment, another boy pushed through the crowd, also holding a gun in his hand. 

"Kid, don't think you're the only one with a gun!" 

Ashley had originally thought everything was fine, but who knew there would be another twist. 

"Damn it! Terry, you secretly took the deputy sheriff's gun, aren't you afraid he'll beat you up?" 

It turned out that this boy was the deputy sheriff's son from earlier in the day. No wonder he was able to get a gun. 

With Terry's gun as backup, Randy felt like he was back in charge and started yelling again. 

"Pretty boy, put down the gun, or you'll regret it!" 

Then, Roy pulled out a Smith & Wesson M629, holding a revolver in each hand, pointing them at Randy and Terry respectively. 

"What did you just say?" 

The scene fell silent again. Everyone was surprised that Roy actually carried two revolvers. 

"Ha! That's what you call being prepared!" 

These teenagers usually just raced cars; they had never seen anything like this before. 

Especially Terry, after being pointed at with a gun, the hand holding his own gun was shaking a little. 

"You, you better not mess around!" 

"Enough nonsense, everyone put down your guns, and let's just pretend this never happened! I'm just passing through, and I'll be gone tomorrow!" 

But Terry didn't trust Roy. 

"No way! What if I put down my gun and you shoot me?" 

Roy rolled his eyes. Even if Terry didn't put down his gun, he could easily take him out. 

The problem was that it wasn't necessary at all. These teenagers, besides liking to race cars, hadn't done anything seriously bad. They were all neutral parties, and killing them would only lower his justice points. 

This was probably a Mexican standoff. Both sides were pointing guns at each other, neither trusting the other, and they could only continue the stalemate unless a third-party force intervened to change the situation. 

Just as Roy was feeling speechless, a third-party force really did appear. 

"There's something behind you!" 

But Terry still didn't believe it. 

"You can't fool me with that kind of talk!" 

Helpless, Roy could only flick his wrist and pull the trigger. 

A .45 Magnum bullet flew in an arc, hitting something behind Terry. 

And Terry, thinking Roy was going to kill him, also pulled the trigger at the same time. 

This was why Roy didn't like getting into close-quarters gunfights with people. Even if you kill the other person, there's still a high probability of an accidental discharge. 

At that point, you can't guarantee who the bullet will hit. 

It would be okay if it hit Roy; he was tough and could take it. But if it hit the woman next to him, that would be bad. 

Just like this time, Terry closed his eyes when he fired, and his gun was shaking, so the direction the bullet flew in was actually towards Ashley. 

Fortunately, Roy had entered bullet time in advance. In the slow-motion world, he grabbed Ashley and dodged the bullet, and also fired another shot to knock Terry's pistol away. 

As for why he didn't shoot Terry's gun away first, it was of course to be a hero and save the damsel in distress! 

Look now, the way Ashley was looking at Roy, her eyes were practically watering. 

"He-he killed someone!" 

Many of the teenagers didn't see what happened clearly and started yelling. Just then, Terry also fainted from fright, so the group started scattering and running away. 

In the end, they were just some small-time thugs. They were brave and fierce at normal times, but when something really happened, they would just go home and call for their moms. 

The teenagers' screams brought Ashley back to her senses. She looked at Roy in horror. 

"Roy, did you kill someone?" 

"No, I just shot the gun out of that guy's hand." 

Relieved, Ashley quickly checked on Terry and indeed didn't find any wounds on him. 

"Roy, then why did you shoot?" 

"You'll understand when you see this." 

Roy kicked something about the size of a basketball with eight curved legs. 

"This is... a spider? Oh my god, how can there be such a big spider!" 

Ashley Parker (Scarlett Johansson) 

Chapter 172 Roy: I have good news and bad news 

"I want to know too!" 

Roy's expression wasn't great. He originally wanted to call Gerald for help, since there were quite a few giant spiders in the movie "Eight Legged Freaks," and he didn't know how many he could kill alone. 

However, Roy didn't expect the giant spiders to appear so quickly. Although the spider in front of him was only the size of a basketball, it shouldn't be long before there would be spiders bigger than people. 

"Ashley, what's in that direction?" 

Roy pointed in the direction the spider came from. 

"You mean there? It looks like the swamp near the mine." 

So it really is related to Amalgamated Chemical Company? 

Roy decided not to think about it too much. He wasn't an official FEA agent, and investigations weren't his responsibility. He should just call Gerald. 

But there was no cell service in the wilderness, so he had to go back to town first. 

"Ashley, it looks like we won't be able to watch any drag races tonight." 

Ashley didn't seem unhappy at all. 

"It's okay! As long as I can be with you, I'm happy to do anything!" 

Wow, typical American girl. This young version of Black Widow is way too forward, right? 

I just did a basic move, and Ashley immediately went all-in. 

"Uh, let's take the spider corpse and this guy back to town first." 

Roy tossed the passed-out Terry into the back seat. Luckily, the guy just fainted and didn't wet his pants. 

Otherwise, Roy was going to put him in the trunk with the spider corpse. 

On the way back to town, Roy was intercepted by a police car. 

The drag racing kids from before must have run back to town and called the cops. 

"Get out of the car, now!" 

Deputy Sheriff Pete got out of the police car with a shotgun and pointed it at Roy. 

"Your son isn't dead! He's lying down in the back seat!" 

"Yeah, Uncle Pete, Terry really isn't dead!" 

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name 101kan.com] 

But Pete didn't listen. He thought Roy was just trying to get away with something. 

"Get out of the car right now, let me see your hands! If you make any other move, I'll shoot!" 

Roy rolled his eyes. 

How are this father and son both like this? Is this kind of personality even hereditary? 

"I told you, your son isn't dead! Just take a look!" 

"Last warning! Get out of the car now!" 

Helpless, Roy had no choice but to open the car door and get out. 

Just as Pete was about to search Roy, he suddenly turned around and punched Pete in the nose, then snatched the shotgun from his hands. 

"Ah!" 

Pete screamed and fell backward, his nose bleeding profusely. 

This was after Roy held back; otherwise, the punch could have caved in Pete's face. 

"I freaking told you your son wasn't dead! Can't you understand plain English?" 

"Y-you, you actually assaulted a police officer!" 

Pete held his nose and tried to draw his handgun, but then remembered his son Terry had stolen it. 

Roy stepped on Pete's stomach and showed him his FEA badge. 

"Sorry, I'm with the FEA. Your actions just now were also assaulting a federal agent." 

The sudden turn of events left Ashley stunned. 

First assaulting a police officer, then assaulting a federal agent—these were all things Ashley had never encountered before. 

At that moment, another police car drove over from a distance. This time, it was Samantha. 

"Roy, Pete, what are you doing!" 

Samantha immediately saw Roy standing on Pete. 

"Samantha, take this guy down! He killed my son!" 

Samantha looked at Roy doubtfully. She had indeed received a report about a shooting in the wilderness, but she didn't know Roy was the one who fired the shots. 

Based on the good impression from dinner, Samantha instinctively didn't want to believe Pete. 

"Roy, is this true?" 

"Samantha, it's all a misunderstanding." 

Ashley quickly got out of the car to help Roy explain. 

"Mom, Uncle Pete misunderstood Roy. Terry isn't dead, he just passed out." 

"Huh?" 

This made Samantha's head spin. 

Just at that moment, the passed-out Terry rubbed his eyes and woke up. 

"What's going on? Why is it so noisy?" 

The scene instantly fell silent. 

What followed was the deputy sheriff beating his son. They still hit their kids in rural America, and who could blame Pete since he was the police himself? 

Pete seemed to blame Terry for everything that had happened to him, and he was really laying into him. The three onlookers couldn't bear to watch. 

In the end, Pete sincerely apologized to Roy, and Roy forgave him. 

"Samantha, you got here just in time. Come take a look at this." 

Roy opened the trunk of the car and showed the female police chief the corpse of the giant spider. 

Although Roy was going to call Gerald, it would take some time for the FEA to arrive, so they needed the local police to help out until reinforcements arrived. 

"This is... a spider? How can a spider be this big?" 

Like mother, like daughter. Samantha's reaction was exactly the same as Ashley's. 

"I suspect something happened in the mine that caused these giant spiders to appear in the swamp. This is very dangerous, and you should probably warn the town residents to be prepared!" 

Ashley looked at Roy in surprise. 

"Roy, isn't this a bit of an exaggeration?" 

"Not at all. If there are hundreds or thousands of these spiders, they'll quickly eat all the animals in the swamp. After that, what will their target be?" 

Of course, the living people in the mining town! 

Samantha and Ashley both understood what Roy meant. 

"Then shouldn't we quickly notify the residents to evacuate?" 

"You can try, but I'm afraid it might be too late." 

Samantha frowned and nodded. 

"True, it's already late at night. Instead of trying to wake everyone up to evacuate, it might be better to gather everyone together to defend against the spiders and wait for rescue!" 

"Samantha, I can help with the rescue. I'm an FEA agent and can contact FEA support." 

"The Federal Emergency Agency?" 

Roy was a little surprised that Samantha knew about the FEA. 

After all, even the police in Los Angeles didn't know about this government agency, but Samantha, a police officer from a remote small town, actually knew about it. 

"You know about this agency?" 

Samantha nodded. 

"When I was still in the Marine Corps, I worked with the FEA once, so I know about it." 

Roy then realized that Samantha was a veteran. No wonder she was so tough in the movie. 

"Alright then, Samantha, you go into town and notify the residents. I'll call the FEA now." 

"It's settled then!" 

Samantha grabbed Ashley, wanting to take her away, but Ashley wanted to stay with Roy. 

Annoyed, Samantha twisted Ashley's ear. 

"Ashley! I haven't even mentioned you sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night! Come with me!" 

"Ah! Ouch! What do you think you're doing, you old woman!" 

Ashley tried to resist, but there was no way she could fight against her Marine Corps veteran mother, unless she went to the Red Room in Siberia for training. 

Roy shook his head, then took out his phone, found a spot with a signal, and dialed Gerald's number. 

"Mr. Black, weren't you heading back to Texas? Why are you calling me all of a sudden?" 

"Hehe! Mr. Olin, I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" 

Gerald on the other end of the phone was clearly a bit speechless, probably not expecting Roy to suddenly pull this kind of trick. 

"Mr. Black, what are you playing at?" 

"Just tell me which one you want to hear!" 

Helpless, Gerald just picked one. 

"The bad news then." 

"I found a giant carnivorous spider in a remote small town in Nevada. It's as big as a basketball!" 

Hearing this, Gerald was a bit puzzled. 

"What's so bad about that? Nevada isn't even my jurisdiction! Mr. Black, are you asking me to contact the FEA in Nevada?" 

"The good news is that this giant spider was probably created by the Amalgamated Chemical Company." 

Gerald fell silent instantly. 

After a while, Gerald's somewhat sinister laughter came from the phone receiver. 

"Hahaha! Mr. Black, I think both of those are good news! You wait there, I have a pretty good relationship with the FEA director in Las Vegas. I'll be there before dawn! You absolutely have to wait for me!" 

After saying that, Gerald hung up the phone impatiently. 

Because of the Cosmic Demon incident, Gerald had suffered quite a bit at the hands of Amalgamated Chemical Company. Although he had locked up Bartholomew for a week, Gerald would definitely not refuse an opportunity to mess with Amalgamated Chemical Company. 

Now that the rescue issue was resolved, Roy should go back and check on Elrêsa. 

But when he returned downstairs to the motel, Roy felt something was wrong. The window of the room he was staying in was open. 

Roy clearly remembered not opening the window! 

Could it be...? 

Roy quickly ran upstairs and opened the room. Sure enough, Elrêsa was gone. 

"Damn it, she must have jumped out of the second-floor window and left!" 

Roy's expression was grim. 

Fortunately, Roy had previously drawn a subjugation magic circle on Elrêsa to prevent her from getting lost and causing trouble. 

With this magic circle, Roy could sense Elrêsa's location at any time. 

He closed his eyes and sensed her location... That direction... could it be the swamp? 

At this time, Elrêsa had already walked deep into the swamp. It used to be full of animals, but now it was eerily silent, like a dead land. 

Elrêsa looked around at everything with curiosity. She had never seen a place like this since she started remembering things. 

The very curious Elrêsa, like a little girl, touched this and that, having long forgotten Roy's instructions. 

Soon, Elrêsa came to an area full of spiderwebs. There were many giant spiders here, as big as humans. 

But when these giant spiders saw Elrêsa, they didn't attack her. They just surrounded her and even led the way. 

Unfortunately, Elrêsa's current intelligence hadn't reached the point where she could understand the giant spiders' behavior. She thought they were playing with her. 

"Hehehe... Hahaha..." 

After playing around for a while, Elrêsa remembered why she came here. Some mysterious call had brought her here. 

So, Elrêsa followed the spiders into a spiderweb-covered lair. 

"Oh, my sister, it's so good to see you again!" 

A spider even bigger than a large truck crawled out of the lair. The most surprising thing was that this spider had a human face on its head. 

The face was exceptionally delicate, and it was impossible to tell if it was male or female. 

At the same time, the giant human-faced spider's voice was also androgynous, making it impossible to determine its gender. 

This was probably because the human-faced spider was a fusion of a female spider's and a male succubus's cells, and the male succubus's soul had just been resurrected in the human-faced spider. 

That's why it seemed neither masculine nor feminine. 

"Who are you? Why are you calling me sister?" 

The human-faced spider's face showed a lifelike frown. 

"My sister Elrêsa, have you forgotten the mission our mother gave us?" 

Elrêsa looked puzzled, put her finger in her mouth, and started thinking with her not-so-bright little brain. 

"My name is indeed Elrêsa, but I don't know you!" 

The human-faced spider fell silent for a while before continuing to speak. 

"No wonder I've been waiting for you to resurrect me, forcing me to revive in this spider body! Has someone erased your memory? Who did this!" 

The human-faced spider looked very angry, its voice becoming sharp and piercing, scaring the surrounding giant spiders into trembling. 

Only Elrêsa wasn't afraid at all. She probably didn't even have a concept of fear and just looked at the human-faced spider cursing with great curiosity. 

"Excuse me, is there something you need from me? If not, I'm going back to find Daddy!" 

Elrêsa had walked all this way and only saw a human-faced spider, so she was inevitably a bit disappointed. Now, she just wanted to go home and find Roy to have some baby milkshake. 

"Don't rush off, Elrêsa! Even though you've lost your memory, your body is still here! I can completely use your body to give birth to a new physical form! I don't want to stay in this disgusting spider body forever!" 

Elrêsa didn't understand the human-faced spider at all. These words were too complicated for someone with the intelligence of a five or six-year-old. 

However, Elrêsa could still somewhat sense the malice from the human-faced spider, so she turned around and ran. 

"Grab her! Don't let her get away!" 

The surrounding giant spiders immediately spat webs at Elrêsa, but Elrêsa was very agile, dodging the webs like she was dancing, with a series of silver bell-like laughter coming from her mouth. 

It was as if she was playing a game. 

However, after more and more giant spiders appeared, Elrêsa didn't dare to play anymore and sped up her run back. 

Giant spiders appeared from all directions in the swamp. These were the giant spiders that had gone out hunting before, and now they were controlled by the human-faced spider to come back and surround Elrêsa. 

Finally, Elrêsa was surrounded by giant spiders, and at this point, she finally started to feel a little uneasy. 

The human-faced spider slowly crawled over from a distance. After its body had grown to this size, part of its body had mutated into reproductive organs, causing its abdomen to become abnormally large, so its relatively slender spider legs were no longer enough to support its rapid movement. 

"Elrêsa, my sister, give birth to a new body for me! It will be quick, and there won't be any pain! Hehehe..." 

Just as the words fell, a gunshot pierced the night sky of the swamp. 

"Eight Legged Freaks" movie still (Mike on the left, Ashley on the right)