Chapter Thirteen: The Last Letter

Shen Lie never imagined that when he casually pushed open the door, he would find a person before him—and not just anyone, but a woman!

He let out a startled cry, instinctively shifting into a defensive stance, but soon realized something was wrong. Though the woman lay on the bed with her eyes open, all traces of life had long since vanished from her.

Feeling a little ashamed of his overreaction, Shen Lie chided himself. After all, he had survived several brushes with death in this otherworldly place, yet here he was, startled by a mere corpse. But then again, the monsters he’d encountered up till now were just that—monsters. This was a human, and the difference in impact was understandable.

This was the first human Shen Lie had seen in over three months. Though she was dead, the sight of her still stirred something in him. At this point, he’d rather keep company with a corpse than be constantly forced to tangle with the endless stream of monsters outside.

He crept toward the window, remaining vigilant. He recalled the post-apocalyptic novels he’d read, where the dead could rise as zombies. There was no telling if something similar might happen here.

His fears proved unwarranted. Using his black spear, he gently lifted the sheet draped over the woman, revealing her slender figure.

She wore a blue dress and appeared to be between thirty and forty, pale-skinned and strikingly beautiful. But none of that mattered now; no beauty could withstand the horror of two gaping wounds in her abdomen. Shen Lie’s only thought was to judge from the dried blood how long she’d been dead—and to consider whether the black cat’s mutation had anything to do with it.

He didn’t touch her body. Though she was not yet decomposed, he had no desire to disturb the dead. Instead, he circled the bed, inspected the room, and, finding nothing else of note, refrained from further investigation.

He surmised the large black cat had been her pet. Whatever the reason, this woman hadn’t managed to evacuate in time, and was discovered and killed by the spider monsters. What puzzled him was why they hadn’t devoured her. Perhaps the cat mutated at the moment of her death, or some other factor intervened. In any case, it was irrelevant to him.

If anything in the room stood out, it was the small black notebook on the nightstand. The woman’s posture suggested she had reached for it, or perhaps had just set it down.

He picked it up and discovered a slim ballpoint pen clipped inside, naturally opening the notebook to the marked page.

“To the person who finds this notebook!”—the first line caught Shen Lie’s attention. It appeared to be her final words, written in neat, elegant script, as if death had not yet overshadowed her as she wrote.

“Perhaps you are a passerby, or maybe, like me, a survivor from this small town. Of course, I hope even more that you are a soldier from the army come to rescue us.

“Whoever you are, I hope you can help me—help my child. She is only sixteen. I do not want her to starve, nor do I wish her to be devoured by those terrifying monsters, and above all, I cannot bear the thought of her being claimed by those demons. My daughter’s name is Li Xue. She is with the other survivors in the settlement across the bridge. I am willing to exchange all my savings for your help. There is a bank card in my bag with over a million in savings; the password is…”

After a while, Shen Lie slowly raised his head and shook it silently. According to the letter, the residents of this town had not all evacuated. Aside from a small number who left early, the vast majority remained. When the spider monsters appeared, the survivors were herded to the far end of the town, where the military had set up a temporary command post. There weren’t many soldiers, but even a few guns offered some measure of safety.

A river several meters wide cut through the middle of the town, dividing it in two. To reach the other side, one had to cross a stone bridge at the end of the street below.

But now that bridge had been destroyed—blown up by the survivors on the other side to prevent the spider monsters from crossing. The monsters were all trapped on this side, and with the bridge gone, the threat of an attack was eliminated. Crossing by water was no solution either; something had mutated the microorganisms in the river, turning it into a literal river of blood. Even the spider monsters would not survive if they ventured in.

Of course, the woman’s letter didn’t lay out all these details; in many places, her words were brief and cryptic. Shen Lie had to piece things together himself, and he knew he would have to verify whether his deductions were correct.

From her last words, several key points emerged. First, something had happened at the herbal medicine fields outside of town, rendering escape impossible. Second, for some unknown reason, the spider monsters only appeared on this side of the bridge, which Shen Lie suspected was due to the hidden dimensional rift. Third, food supplies on the far side were almost gone, hoarded by a group of “authorities,” leaving those at the bottom of the hierarchy to starve unless they traded their most precious possessions. The woman, unwilling to watch her daughter die of hunger, had risked sneaking back to this side to search for food—and had, against all odds, made it back.

Her letter made no mention of the large black cat. After reading, Shen Lie returned the notebook to its place and left the room. As for the bank card she mentioned, he didn’t even bother to look for it. In times like these, what use was a million—let alone ten million?

He didn’t linger any longer, but crossed to the other side of the corridor and climbed to the rooftop of the next building. He moved forward along the connected rooftops, keeping a careful watch for any movement.

There was no sign of the spider monsters or the black cat. Even after traversing the whole row of buildings, he saw no trace of them. After a moment’s hesitation, Shen Lie descended to the ground.

Rather than heading toward the ruined bridge, he made straight for the outskirts of town. The woman’s note insisted there was no way out, but he wasn’t convinced. Perhaps escape was impossible for ordinary people, but he no longer counted himself among them.

He advanced cautiously, constantly scanning his surroundings. Twisting and turning through the streets, he finally left the confines of the town—and was greeted by a boundless expanse of crimson.

All around the town lay medicinal fields, the herbs within growing at a crazed pace, each stalk thick and strong as though pumped with hormones, their blossoms enormous and constantly spewing red pollen. The air was filled with a scarlet haze, forming a wall that sealed the town off from the outside world.

The sight was so uncanny, Shen Lie’s urge to investigate vanished. Even the spider monsters refused to approach the crimson mist; he certainly lacked the strength to do so. He decided it was best to retreat and reconsider.

With no way forward, Shen Lie had no choice but to contemplate joining the other survivors across the bridge. After all, humans are social creatures. However dire their situation, it would surely be better than wandering alone on this side.

Having made up his mind, Shen Lie turned back and returned to town, quickly reaching the river that bisected its center.

Watching from a distance, he saw that the river matched the woman’s description: the entire flow was a deep red, its color not unlike the sea of flowers outside—only more intense. Perhaps the flowers were to blame.

The woman had managed to make it back from the far bank, so clearly the river was not an insurmountable barrier. Shen Lie walked along its edge, searching for a narrow spot to leap across.

At its widest, the river was little more than ten meters; at its narrowest, barely three. If not for the unsettling hue, crossing it would be easy.

He stopped at the narrowest point, but did not immediately move closer. Instead, he suddenly retreated several steps, ducking behind a nearby wall.

He had seen a spider.

This was a species he had never encountered before. Its carapace was not the familiar black-brown or dark red, but a pure, snowy white. It was also smaller than the usual spider monsters, so much so that he hadn’t noticed it lying by the shore.

The appearance of this white spider shattered Shen Lie’s assumptions. He’d thought all the spiders in this world were the same breed, differing only in strength, not species. He realized he had been too hasty; he must remain vigilant at all times.

The white spider seemed entirely absorbed by the blood river, paying no heed to Shen Lie’s sudden appearance. So he decided not to leave at once, curious to see what the spider would do and what abilities it might possess.

The white spider remained motionless for half an hour, so still Shen Lie almost thought it dead. Yet his instincts warned him otherwise, so he waited patiently, unhurried even as the sun began to set.

At last, the white spider stirred—a single, snow-white blossom had floated down from upstream, drifting atop the blood river.