The spider lunged.
Its broken front leg slowed it by only a fraction, but that fraction was still not enough for anyone in the store to relax. The creature crossed the aisle in a blur of black limbs and white silk, crashing through a hanging snack rack as if it were made of paper.
"Move!" Lin Hao shouted.
The group broke apart instantly.
Not in panic—
Not this time.
In motion.
Chen Yu grabbed the nearest bag of supplies and stumbled backward toward the side aisle. Xu Ren, pale as death, dragged the water crate with both hands. Liu Ming snatched two sealed food sacks and kicked a metal basket toward the spider's path without losing speed.
Zhao Quan stayed at the front.
Of course he did.
That kind of man would rather die in front of others than retreat first.
His tray-blade flashed as he slashed again at the spider's injured leg joint. The strike landed, but the spider was already moving. A line of silk shot from its abdomen and wrapped around Zhao Quan's wrist.
The creature yanked.
Hard.
Zhao Quan was nearly pulled off his feet.
Lin Hao moved without thinking.
Blood Rush was still active for only a few more seconds, but it was enough.
He burst forward, seized Zhao Quan by the shoulder, and drove him sideways just as the spider's other foreleg stabbed into the floor where his chest had been.
Tile exploded.
Dust and fragments flew.
Chen Yu gasped, "If that hit a person—"
"It kills them," Liu Ming finished flatly.
No one argued.
The answer was obvious.
Xu Ren's hands shook so badly he almost dropped the water crate again.
Lin Hao saw it and snapped, "Don't freeze."
The boy flinched, swallowed hard, and kept moving.
Good.
Fear was acceptable.
Freezing was not.
The spider turned its cluster of eyes toward Lin Hao.
Then it shrieked.
A line of silk shot straight at his face.
He twisted at the last instant. The thread brushed past his cheek and struck the wall behind him, where it stuck instantly like white glue.
Sticky.
Fast-drying.
Strong enough to trap a human if it landed cleanly.
That made this worse.
Much worse.
"Out!" Lin Hao barked. "Back corridor!"
They fell back in a rough half-circle, keeping the spider in front of them as they retreated toward the smashed storage door. The shelves made every step dangerous. Twice Chen Yu almost slipped on spilled noodles and broken glass. Once Xu Ren tripped over a fallen basket and nearly lost the water crate entirely.
The spider chased without hesitation.
It no longer cared about the supplies.
Now it wanted the intruders.
It climbed the side of a shelf, ran along it for two impossible steps, then launched itself toward the ceiling beams and fired silk downward in a spray.
"Down!" Zhao Quan roared.
Lin Hao dropped first and rolled across the floor.
The silk slammed into the shelf behind him and tightened instantly, wrenching the entire structure sideways. It crashed down in a storm of cans, bottles, and metal.
The way out narrowed.
Liu Ming looked once and made the calculation immediately.
"We won't make it if it keeps controlling the ceiling!"
He was right.
This was not a beast you beat by running.
Not in a cramped store.
Not with injured balance, hanging shelves, and supplies slowing you down.
Lin Hao's mind sharpened further.
Strong Spirit was still active.
He forced himself to breathe once, slow and controlled, even as the spider landed again with a violent crack of legs against tile.
Think.
The silk came from the abdomen.
The leaps were launched after a weight shift.
The front-right leg was injured.
The shell was hard.
The joints were not.
Its control of the battlefield came from the threads, but the true source was the rear body.
Then he saw it—
a seam.
Not large.
But real.
The lower section of the abdomen, where the silk glands must be.
Softer.
Hidden most of the time.
Only exposed for a moment after it fired.
"Lure it to shoot!" Lin Hao shouted.
Zhao Quan frowned. "What?"
"The abdomen!" Lin Hao snapped. "After it fires—there's a weak point underneath!"
For half a heartbeat, Zhao Quan looked like he wanted to challenge him.
Then the spider moved again.
And instinct won over pride.
Xu Ren did something unexpected.
He lifted both hands, trembling, and snapped his fingers repeatedly. Three sparks flashed in rapid succession toward the spider's face. Weak. Small. But bright enough to annoy it.
The creature recoiled slightly.
Then it turned toward him.
Bad.
Very bad.
Xu Ren's eyes widened in terror. "Why is it looking at me?!"
"Because you're loud," Liu Ming said.
The spider launched silk.
Xu Ren barely threw himself behind the water crate in time. The silk wrapped around the crate instead, yanking it violently across the floor.
The motion pulled the boy with it, sending him crashing shoulder-first into a shelf.
He cried out.
The spider shifted.
Its abdomen dipped.
Lin Hao saw the opening.
"Now!"
Zhao Quan attacked from the front. His blade slammed into the damaged leg joint again, forcing the spider to twist.
Lin Hao used the last burst of Blood Rush.
The world kicked backward.
He crossed the distance in a heartbeat, slid beneath one of the spider's stabbing legs, and drove the edge of the fire extinguisher upward into the underside of its abdomen.
The impact landed.
Not deep.
But enough.
The spider screamed.
A thick burst of white silk exploded wildly from its rear, splattering across the wall, the shelves, and Zhao Quan's shoulder. The smell changed instantly—a sour, almost chemical stench.
It hurt.
The thing was hurt.
For the first time, they all felt it.
Chen Yu shouted, "It can bleed!"
Dark fluid spilled down the creature's underside.
Not red.
Black-green.
The spider leapt backward, slamming itself against the rear wall with enough force to crack plaster. Its legs twitched violently, not with weakness—but fury.
It had been wounded.
And now it wanted them dead.
Liu Ming's voice cut through the panic. "Service corridor! Now!"
This time, no one hesitated.
They ran for the back.
Through the shattered storage door.
Past broken shelves and torn cardboard.
Into a narrow service corridor that smelled like mold, dust, and old freezer air.
The walls were tighter here. The ceiling lower. Pipes ran above their heads. Their footsteps echoed hard against concrete.
"Faster," Zhao Quan snapped.
"I'm carrying your damned water!" Xu Ren shot back, half-panicked, half-offended.
Chen Yu grabbed a bag from the floor as she ran, refusing to leave even basic medicine behind.
Lin Hao was the last one through the doorway.
He turned once.
The spider was there.
Not slowed.
Not trapped.
It was dragging itself over the broken storage frame, silk clinging to its body like torn banners. Its injured leg clicked wrong against the metal, but its speed was still terrifying.
Then its eyes fixed on Lin Hao.
And in that instant, he understood something chilling.
It remembered him.
"Go!" he shouted, then slammed the service door with all his strength.
Zhao Quan and Liu Ming helped at once.
The metal door crashed shut.
A heartbeat later, something hit it from the other side.
Hard.
The whole corridor shook.
Xu Ren swore.
Chen Yu backed away, clutching the medicine bag to her chest.
Another impact.
The hinges screamed.
Silk began to seep through the edges of the frame like pale veins.
Liu Ming's face changed. "This won't hold."
Lin Hao looked down the corridor.
Narrow.
Long.
Only one direction.
No room to spread out.
No room to dodge.
If the spider broke through here, they would be forced into a direct kill zone.
Which meant—
they either found a way to turn the corridor into a trap…
or they died in it.
Another slam shook the door.
This time, the upper hinge bent.
And for the first time since entering the store, Zhao Quan spoke without arrogance.
"What's the plan?"
Lin Hao stared at the trembling door.
Then at the pipes overhead.
Then at the spilled cleaning chemicals stacked against the left wall.
And slowly—
an answer began to form.