Apocalypse Summoner Chapter 16 - Spider Essence Core... Heading onwards to the 13th floor

This cold, white-haired individual, who seemed to have emerged from nowhere, appeared to have walked out from within a painting. Other than Li Jiayu, who else could he be?

Li Jiayu felt as though he had experienced a roller-coaster ride with countless contrasting turns, and an endless amount of ascents and descents during the last minute! As a person who had spent his previous life as a cold-hearted person, never would he have thought he would go through such fl.u.s.ter.

After returning to the youthful age of 19, Li Jiayu was no longer a Dark Summoner; nor did he possess the overwhelming strength that had allowed him to run rampant in his previous life. Not only that, even his personality seemed to have reverted back to the younger, sensitive and energetic self of the past.

“Hua Xiaolu!”

Upon retrieving Frost Moon, the first thing he did was rush toward Hua Xiaolu. He crouched down and held her in his embrace, instantaneously taking note of her paled and ashy complexion.

The wound inflicted by the barbed appendage of the Venomous Spider oozed with black pus. The toxins appeared to have already spread throughout her entire leg, causing it to darken into a coal-like color.

In this situation, Hua Xiaolu was already knocking on death’s door and would most likely be unable to persist through the following few seconds!

“Jiayu… Is that Jiayu?”

Hua Xiaolu’s parched lips parted slightly. Her exhausted and reluctant gaze lingered fixedly on Li Jiayu. This action alone appeared to have taken all of her strength.

“Y-You are probably annoyed, right…? I- I pestered you everyday… You know, I am a vain woman. I bothered you only because you are too adorable. I want to attain you. I want to turn you into the school’s flowerboy to make those women envy me… D-Don’t be sad… Dying in your embrace is much, much better compared to those who died between the insects’ mandibles…”

“Are you r.e.t.a.r.ded?! Why did you stay? Would you have died if you were a little less smitten? How much is vanity worth? Being handsome won’t provide food on the table, so what’s the use of being handsome?! f.u.c.k! Who cares if they die, I just don’t want you to die!”

Li Jiayu’s breathing turned rugged. His memories which had acc.u.mulated dust over the past years gradually began to resurface. These memories had almost been forgotten. It had only been a few months for Hua Xiaolu, however, it had been several decades for Li Jiayu!

He vividly recalled the outspoken girl named Hua Xiaolu. The girl who boldly announced her interest in Li Jiayu during the freshmen gathering and proclaimed that no one was allowed steal him from her, causing Li Jiayu to feel extremely embarra.s.sed.

He remembered the Hua Xiaolu who had: pestered him tirelessly for the entire day; occasionally sent him lunch in the cafeteria; also barged into the boy's dormitory to serenade her love for Li Jiayu with a guitar!

It could be said that Hua Xiaolu was a person who caused the biggest headache for Li Jiayu. However, despite her continual requests for him to be her s.e.xfriend, Li Jiayu treated her as an intimate confidante and was extremely unwilling to see her end up like this.

"DARK OCTOPUS! Why the f.u.c.k are you idling around for?! Go scavenge the spiders carca.s.ses and retrieve their insect core! You’re dead if there aren’t any!"

Li Jiayu hollered at Dark Octopus agitatedly. Dark Octopus was riddled in injuries, however, the moment it heard the orders, both of its eyes widened in fury as it muttered stuffily,

"This... I search... Blame me... No strength... Harmed beautiful female... Poisoning..."

As Dark Octopus muttered, its nine tentacles began to move as they pried apart the Venomous Spider's bodies, searching through the brain dredges.

The Venomous Spider's bodily fluid often contained strong-acting toxins, but as the saying goes: when things reach an extreme, they can only move in the opposite direction.

Not only did their brain matter not contain any sort of poison, they also contained heat-clearing and detoxifying properties that nourished one's body and also a medicine to stop the bleeding!

Venomous Spiders were regarded as First Tier Insects. So, naturally, their brains would not contain any insect cores. This, however, was not the consolidated fact for all of its kin. Those that neared their evolution would condense an Essence Core which aided resistance and provided relief against the spider's toxins.

All they needed was to acquire one inferior core and Hua Xiaolu would have a chance of retaining her life!

Dark Octopus moved efficiently and in a matter of three seconds, it had already drained the brain essence of the eight spiders! Even after this, it had not come across any cores! Dark Octopus became momentarily stunned from shock and, following this, felt dejected.

"Did... Not... Find..."

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d! How can this be? There must be one! Definitely!"

Inwardly-

Li Jiayu inwardly yelled out regretfully. ‘Am I, Li Jiayu, really destined to be a lone wolf? Will my friends fall one after another just like they did in the past? Will these tragedies continue to repeat themselves?’

‘If so, what was the point to my oath? To repent for my mistakes and to make up for my regrets?’

Li Jiayu had not felt anything after the deaths of the other male students. Rather than sadness, it was more of guilt as their relationships had been rather shallow.

Hua Xiaolu and Zhou Jiamin, however, had been on good terms with him and he sincerely wanted to change their destinies.

While Li Jiayu was in a state of fl.u.s.ter and exasperation, another Venomous Spider had miraculously found its way into the cla.s.sroom. This particular fellow seemed a little bit larger than the other Venomous Spiders they had encountered. Its hairs appeared thicker and its entire body seemed as though it was dyed entirely in black ink.

Li Jiayu's eyes immediately lit up. ‘That’s the one!’

This Venomous Spider appeared advanced in age. It was probably near its evolution. Its timely arrival was akin to the emergence of Lei Feng[1] who appears when one is treading in broken boots!

After he placed Hua Xiaolu gently on the ground, Li Jiayu's figure flickered and appeared before the Venomous Spider with Frost Moon, swinging it in a gorgeous arc!

The Venomous Spider was not to be underestimated as it nimbly leapt to the side!

However, its avoidance was useless as this was a golden opportunity for the remorseful Dark Octopus to make amends!

Dark Octopus brandished its nine tentacles, then lashed them toward the Venomous Spider which had failed to flee in time. The Venomous Spider was suppressed almost immediately, allowing a blade to be lodged in its skull!

"Quick! Search for its core!"

Even without Li Jiayu's constant reminders, Dark Octopus had already taken action!

It's tentacles contracted and scuttled deftly along the sword wound, then delved into the skull but it was in no hurry to absorb the brain dredges. Instead, a murky-looking crystal was soon pried out from the insides and handed to Li Jiayu!

Li Jiayu picked the core up carefully and treated it as though it was a priceless treasure. Yet, he quickly picked up Sun Weiwei's hammer and pounded at the core!

Peng!

Immediately, a crack ran along the sides of the crystal! A foul-smelling white liquid, reminiscent of mustard, oozed from the seams of the cracks.

Li Jiayu spread the unknown white liquid across Hua Xiaolu's wound. ‘Tssss’ sounds could be heard as the wound started emitting a faint, white smoke. Weakened and delirious, Hua Xiaolu’s pale face had inevitably distorted from the pain. Cold sweat blotted her forehead as she jolted awake!

"It's really effective. You were lucky that the barb that stabbed you contained an inferior poison and, also, the timely arrival of the insect core... If we had delayed for several more seconds, the poison would have invaded your heart and everything would have been too late!"

Li Jiayu heaved out a sigh of relief and his continuously fraying nerves finally loosened up. He took a gander at: Frost Moon; the dilapidated cla.s.sroom; the dismembered remains of the insects; the corpses of the few male students; and the girls that gathered around him.

Taking a deep breath, he then said, "Come on, let's leave the cla.s.sroom and head to the 13th floor... I know you are filled with uncertainty and doubts, but we shouldn’t linger here for too long. Let’s talk as we walk."

After he had said that, Li Jiayu was about to place Hua Xiaolu on his back but at this moment, a voice resounded from behind,

"Well, Jiayu, you were too busy saving Hua Xiaolu earlier. So, I didn't dare bother you... but you should also take care of the men, right? You can't value s.e.x more than friendship, right? My back also suffered a dire wound, it hurts more than being stabbed!"

The owner of the voice was Lin Zhibin! Lin Zhibin had been struck by the Scythe Beetle in the back and, although it wasn't life threatening, he was indeed bleeding quite a bit. Furthermore, if the bleeding wasn't stopped, he might experience complications afterwards...

However, this was the apocalypse where insects run rampant. Which place would have the supplies needed to stop his bleeding?

"En... Sorry, I almost forgot about your injury. There is still more than half of the spider's core remaining. However, it's only enough to temporarily seal your wound and stop the bleeding..."

Li Jiayu looked appreciatively at Lin Zhibin. He knew that Lin Zhibin only remained behind to care for Zhou Jiamin and that the four cla.s.smates who had died were his closest friends... The feelings between the five brothers ran pretty deep as they had stayed behind because of Lin Zhibin.

A small portion of the reason was also due to the enigma around Li Jiayu but unfortunately, that antic.i.p.ation had only brought them misfortune...

In fact, there was no need for them to stay behind. As long as a girl remained by Li Jiayu's side, Dark Octopus would most definitely exert 200% of his powers to protect her. During this battle, several students had literally been obliterated and other than acting as meat shields, they had played no roles whatsoever.

No matter what, Li Jiayu felt grateful towards the fallen cla.s.smates and thought inwardly, ‘Duwei, Liangbin, Jiang Haitao, Zhang Lianhua, I’ve remembered your names and if there is a chance, I'll look after your family and friends.’

While still deep in ponder, Li Jiayu went over to Lin Zhibin, ripped Lin Zhibin’s shirt apart and applied the essence core's extract onto his wound. It almost caused the 1.9m man to collapse with his eyes rolled upward due to the pain!

Spider Essence Cores were extremely valuable, so much so that it might not be cheaper than most 2nd Tier Insect Cores due to the odds of attaining one.

During the apocalyptic times, it had been possible to exchange 20 slaves for a single spider core. Even Li Jiayu doubted that he would attain such a treasured item for the second time, however, he didn’t regret using the remains on Lin Zhibin.