Once they left the town, left the highway, left all signs of human activity behind—first thing Bella felt was heat. Then endless yellow sand. Desolation.
If a few face-painted Native warriors suddenly leapt out of the dunes, she wouldn't even be surprised. That's how empty it was.
Natasha let out two wild, unhinged screams into the desert. Very much feral-kid energy.
"You should try yelling too! Great for stress relief!"
Bella rolled her eyes. "What stress would someone as beautiful as me have? If anyone's stressed, it's you less-beautiful people—"
"When you're old, you'll have stress."
"Impossible. Good mindset, won't age for a hundred years!"
After their daily dose of friendly bickering, they blasted past a few boys on motorcycles—at a speed that looked like they were rushing toward a multi-car pileup.
The boys seemed to be shouting something like "Come hang out with us." The girls ignored them completely. Natasha kept accelerating like a maniac. Bella was calculating which reflexive movement she should use to save herself when they inevitably flipped.
The bike never flipped.
When they reached the gas station by the roadside, they finally pulled over.
Because Bella truly couldn't take it anymore—her high heels were filled with sand. Toes full of sand. Everywhere was sand.
Natasha...
Watching Bella lean against the station wall with one hand while pitifully dumping sand out of her shoes with the other, the little beauty clutched her stomach.
"Hahahahaha! I'm dying!"
"You definitely did this on purpose. You're jealous of me!"
"Yes, yes, super jealous, I admit it—oh hohohoho—"
Natasha knew she was pulling too much aggro. To keep their friendship from capsizing, she quickly added something nice:
"Just rinse off when we get back. But honestly... your feet are actually really pretty..."
Bella nodded in satisfaction. "At least you have some taste. But your tone still wasn't sincere enough. Improve next time..."
"Run! Run!! RUN!!!—"
The boys on motorcycles came speeding past, screaming in panic.
Natasha assumed it was a prank. Didn't move. Bella ignored it too—still dumping sand.
Two seconds later, they both realized how wrong they were.
More than a dozen spiders the size of baby calves appeared at the edge of their vision. Fast. Jumping ability absurd. The boys went down one by one—wrapped in white cocoons by sprayed silk, dragged screaming into the distance.
Bella instantly assessed the situation. Grabbed Natasha, who was about to bolt.
"Don't run yet—we're saving them!"
Natasha stared. Bella, in her current outfit, did not look like someone capable of fighting giant spiders.
"Trust me!"
"...Alright. What do I do?"
"Get your bike ready. We charge in and save them." Pause. "Wait! First hold my shoes. Christian Louboutin heels. Eleven hundred dollars! Don't lose them!"
She stuffed her high heels into Natasha's hands and started searching for a weapon.
Natasha stood frozen, holding the heels. She still had to drive—where was she supposed to put these?
But the little beauty was quick. She ripped off her shoelaces, tied them around the heels, hung them from the handlebars. Whether they'd fly off later... problem for future Natasha.
Right now, spiders were rushing toward them.
"Hurry!"
"Coming! Watch and admire!"
Bella found a half-meter steel rod inside the gas station. Tested the balance—would work as a makeshift rapier.
Natasha started the engine. Bella jogged twice and leapt onto the back seat, landing light as a cat.
She stood on the back seat with both feet. Adjusting posture and balance as the bike lurched forward.
No matter how imaginative Saint Laurent's designers were, none of them had ever created an outfit for fighting on a speeding motorcycle. Skirt too narrow. Movement too restricted. But despite the ridiculous difficulty, she still managed a flourish with the rod.
"I'm ready."
"Whoa! That's awesome! You can do that?!"
Natasha was genuinely stunned. Standing on a moving motorcycle required insane balance. Maybe after serious training, she might eventually manage it—but definitely not right now.
"I'll control the speed. If you can't keep up, we run!"
She pushed her riding skills to the limit, constantly glancing back.
Bella slowly adapted to the vibration. Settled into a stance.
"Go!"
"Hold on!"
Natasha loved thrills and adventure. She knew every boy in town—she wanted to save them.
"Keep it steady! Not too fast! Watch my distance from the spiders—don't let me face two at once!"
Bella kept giving instructions until Natasha snapped, "Stop nagging! I'm not stupid!"
Turned out Natasha really wasn't stupid.
In fact, her combat intuition and situational awareness were shockingly strong.
First moments of cooperation were clumsy. But once Bella executed a lunging thrust and skewered a spider straight through the head, Natasha instantly calibrated her attack range and rhythm.
Perfect.
Only word Bella could think of.
Natasha handled all movement and positioning. Bella only had to stay on the bike and strike at the right moment.
The motorcycle circled the spider swarm, kicking up waves of sand. Natasha's control was steady and precise. She never let Bella face more than one spider at a time.
Bella's task was simple: use her superior physical strength and solid swordsmanship to drive the steel rod through a spider's head.
In the cramped space of the back seat, she performed like an artist—straight thrusts, transition thrusts, lunges. Step forward, step back. Attack, evade, adjust. Within two minutes, five spiders dead.
The remaining ones realized these two "prey" were dangerous. Started charging together.
If only she had the Pirates of the Caribbean theme playing right now! Bella whipped the rod around, imagining herself on a ship's deck locked in mortal combat.
Weaklings. Not a single worthy opponent.
Their jumping ability was impressive, but strength and dynamic vision were mediocre at best.
Bella sensed no magical energy. These spiders seemed like natural creatures... which reminded her of the waste barrel they'd seen earlier.
Samantha had called it "waste." But was it really?
Bella wasn't a biologist. Couldn't figure it out.
So she decided to blame Natasha.
Clearly, this was all caused by Natasha's cursed trouble-magnet aura.