NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42 - Spider Silk
Chapter 42: Spider Silk
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“It was this intelligent and brave adventurer who invited me here. At the same time, with his help, I obtained the fragment left behind by the God Clan and deciphered the secret inside. I obtained a coordinate point.” As he spoke, Xu Ni handed the fragment to Lin Shuang.
Lin Shuang immediately followed the previous steps to obtain the coordinate information hidden in the fragment. The moment he saw the coordinates, the City Lord’s expression immediately darkened. His deep-set eyes hid fear, and a surprised expression appeared on his weathered face.
“It seems that this matter is related to what happened back then.” The City Lord sighed and looked at Lin Shuang. “Young adventurer, thank you for finding Xu Ni for me. You’ve completed this mission.”
He had completed the S-rank mission, but his intuition told him that this was not the end to the hidden mission, but the beginning of it.
“System Notification: Congratulations, you have completed the mission: City Lord’s Request. You have received 200 experience points, 10 silver coins.”
The atmosphere became tense. The City Lord’s expression was ugly, as if he had thought of something.
Lin Shuang probed, “May I know what I can do for the City Lord?” Perhaps obtaining this fragment and bringing him here was not the core of the mission.
The two of them looked at each other and focused on Lin Shuang.
“I have something to ask of you, but please don’t let this matter spread.” A trace of vigilance appeared on the City Lord’s face. At this point, he might have to take a gamble. “I need you to personally explore these coordinates. You might encounter danger or even not be able to return. However, as long as you can successfully bring back the treasure box there, you will have completed the mission.” Leonard struggled with his thoughts and finally decided to give this mission to Lin Shuang.
Lin Shuang frowned slightly. Could it be that they already knew this place? Otherwise, they wouldn’t have said that there was a treasure box there. But why didn’t they take it personally? Just as he was puzzled, he saw the system notification.
“System Notification: Do you accept the mission: Hidden mission of Juxiang City’s City Lord—Mysterious Treasure Box. Mission Difficulty: SSS.”
It was actually SSS-grade! This meant that this mission was extraordinary and the rewards would be very generous.
[Accept]
Lin Shuang accepted this mission without hesitation.
“System Notification: You have accepted the mission: Hidden mission of Juxiang City’s City Lord—Mysterious Treasure Box. Mission content: Arrive at the coordinates specified by the fragment, defeat the Demonic Beast guarding the God Clan, obtain the Mysterious Treasure Box, and hand it to the City Lord.”
“Young man, this mission is no small matter. The challenge you’re about to face will be unprecedentedly difficult. I hope you can come back alive. I’ll wait for you here.” Leonard’s gaze became even deeper. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Xu Ni, who was silent, let out a long sigh and looked at Lin Shuang with worry and pity. “Smart adventurer, I hope you can return safely this time. If you can’t win with strength while facing enemies stronger than you, think of a way to outwit them. I believe that with your wisdom, you can definitely complete this mission.”
Lin Shuang decisively left the City Lord Manor after drinking another bowl of chicken soup. According to the coordinates of the fragment, he quickly locked onto the location of this mission. He would pass through the Valley of Gods and go to the Cloudy Abyss. His intuition told him that this hidden mission might be related to the God Clan. Perhaps he could stop the apocalypse five years later and nip this calamity in the bud.
After trekking through mountains and rivers, Lin Shuang finally arrived at the entrance of the Cloudy Abyss. The bottom was bottomless. A thick layer of clouds curled around it. On both sides of the cliff, he could vaguely see pine cypresses hanging upside down. A few goshawks soared above. He lifted a rock and threw it toward the canyon. There was no sign of it, no sound.
“Ah!” Lin Shuang shouted at the top of his lungs into the canyon abyss, but there was no reply.
It was hard to imagine how he would go down to the bottom of the abyss and obtain the treasure box. Suddenly, a faint fluorescent light flickered in the clouds not far away. It was dark red.
Lin Shuang leaned closer to take a look and realized that there was a flower on the wall. It was like a ball of fire that was faintly emitting a faint red light. Beside this flower were crystalline threads. Under the illumination of the red fluorescent light, Lin Shuang saw that there were many threads on the cliff wall.
He walked to the edge of the cliff and reached out to touch the soil below. It felt sticky, soft, and wet. Suddenly, he saw many threads on the cliff. He reached out and touched them. There was a sticky feeling, like spider silk. He tugged hard. The thread did not move at all. It was very tenacious.
Lin Shuang narrowed his eyes slightly. Then, he pinched a few threads together. As expected, he touched some mucus, but it was transparent. He kept pulling the threads together like yarn. He simply sat at the edge of the cliff and pulled the threads for a long time. The threads in front of him were coiled into a large roll, but there was still no end.
He stopped tugging and looked for the other source. The source of the thread was under his feet. After taking a few steps and not seeing the source, Lin Shuang suddenly had an idea. “Can I use the thread to go down?”
Lin Shuang suspected that there should be some kind of spider monster here. There were residual threads in the nearby cave. Perhaps the spider monster had already reached the bottom of the abyss, so it did not appear above. This was a natural rope that he could use, just like rock climbing.
With an idea, he decisively acted. As expected, other than getting covered in mucus by following the spider silk, it really worked. After climbing down for a full twenty minutes, he was only halfway to the abyss.
Green moss grew on the cliff, and he could occasionally see some strange flowers and plants. He put them all into his bag. Afraid that he would encounter poisonous substances, he wrapped these strange flowers with cloth. He even picked the flowers that had just emitted red light.
After sliding down for another half an hour, he saw that the bottom was actually flat ground. He could vaguely see a cave entrance below the other side. Lin Shuang jumped down not far from the bottom.
At the bottom of the abyss, he carefully explored his surroundings and realized that there was an entrance to a cave opposite. The other places were filled with smoke, as if they were flat ground.
Perhaps the treasure box he was looking for was in the cave. Lin Shuang picked up the torch he had stored previously and lit it before setting off for the cave. Not long after he entered, he saw the corpses of a few large spiders on the ground.
One of the spiders had died recently. There was still a remnant thread in its abdomen. Perhaps it had been killed by someone after entering the cave from above. All that was left of the other spiders was wreckage. They looked as if they had been dead for a while.