Chapter 20: The Creature of the Cave

The movement of the creature across the web was so swift and sudden that it startled Zhou Xu, causing his heart to lurch sharply.

What appeared before his eyes was a colossal spider, roughly the size of an off-road vehicle, its body a deep purplish-red.

Its eight enormous legs were covered with chilling, bristly hairs.

At the front of its massive body, a protruding head bore eight glossy black eyes clustered together—just looking at them was enough to unsettle anyone with arachnophobia.

Beneath the eyes, a menacing set of mandibles opened and closed rhythmically, sending shivers down Zhou Xu’s spine.

To Zhou Xu, a modern man, this was undoubtedly a monster.

An overwhelming wave of terror erupted within him like a volcanic eruption, making him tremble uncontrollably.

“Damn! Run, run fast!”

Without hesitation, Zhou Xu took the lead and bolted away. Though Da Shan and the others didn’t understand what was happening, they immediately followed, not daring to pause for a moment.

Zhou Xu had no idea how long he ran until his head spun, his vision darkened, and he staggered, reaching out to steady himself against a black tree. He sank down against its trunk.

“Damn, low blood sugar again...”

After a while, he recovered and looked up at Da Shan and the others surrounding him, who were all watching him anxiously.

“I’m fine,” Zhou Xu said.

Hearing this, Da Shan and the others visibly relaxed but couldn’t help asking, “Chief, what exactly did you see in there?”

The question brought that terrifying image back to Zhou Xu’s mind, and his emotions had not yet settled.

Taking a deep breath and calming himself, Zhou Xu recounted what he had seen inside the enormous crevice cave to Da Shan and the others.

After hearing it, their faces mirrored his own, unable to hide the fear.

Clearly, Zhou Xu wasn’t the only one frightened by such a gigantic monster.

He never expected that deep within the black forest, such a behemoth dwelled.

“Damn it, does the primordial world really have monsters like this?”

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Zhou Xu quickly realized he was mistaken.

After all, this world still had those old gods and summoning rituals—it was far from normal.

Following this line of thought, to be alarmed just because of one giant spider was his own fault.

“Which way did we come from?”

“This way.”

Following Da Shan’s direction, Zhou Xu activated his “Eye of Insight” once more to scan ahead.

If that giant spider had pursued them, its enormous size would have been impossible to miss with his “Eye of Insight.”

Confirming that the creature had not followed, Zhou Xu breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Thinking carefully, it was only Zhou Xu who had detected the spider with his “Eye of Insight”—the spider might not even have noticed his presence.

He had been so frightened by this utterly unnatural monster that he temporarily lost his ability to think clearly.

Now, with a bit of composure, his thoughts began to clear...

“If this giant spider’s habits are similar to those I know, it likely hunts by ambush rather than active pursuit.”

“In other words, as long as I don’t venture deep into this black forest, it probably won’t bother me.”

He certainly had no desire to live next door to such a terrifying creature.

His first calm thought was to find a way to kill the spider.

For instance, standing outside the crevice cave and tossing in torches to burn it alive!

But this idea was quickly discarded.

Not only was there a lack of flammable materials inside the cave, but even if he threw in a fire pit, it might not ignite.

Even if it did catch fire, the spider wouldn’t be foolish enough to stay put; instinct would drive it to flee.

So burning it alive was unrealistic.

Given this, Zhou Xu saw only two options before him.

One was to prepare immediately and lead the entire tribe to migrate away from here.

The other was also to prepare swiftly, but to devise a plan to kill the giant spider.

In the short term, migration seemed safer, as it would effectively avoid the spider’s threat.

However, their tribe currently faced unresolved issues with food and fresh water.

Besides this black forest, they knew almost nothing about other areas.

In other words, they had no idea where to go.

Migrating under such uncertain conditions risked running out of food and water along the way, potentially leading to death mid-journey.

Alternatively, if they stayed, they’d face the spider’s threat but enjoy relatively stable access to fresh water and food resources, allowing them to survive.

Zhou Xu was not opposed to running away—after all, the Thirty-Six Stratagems say that fleeing is the best tactic.

But he couldn’t keep running forever...

With this in mind, Zhou Xu steeled himself.

“Damn it—let’s kill it!”

As he spoke, he stood up.

“Da Shan, mark the surrounding trees like this.”

He picked up a stone and carved a cross onto a tree behind him.

“Starting today, assign someone every day to watch this cave. If the giant spider moves, they must report to me immediately!”

“Also, send someone to notify Fei Que and the others. Even though they’re on the periphery, they should stay alert. I need to return to the tribe first.”

After making arrangements, Zhou Xu hurried back to the tribe.

Facing a spider monster of that size in direct combat was daunting; the only viable strategy was to outwit it.

During the journey, he had already formed a rough plan in his mind.

Now he just needed more time to refine and clarify it.

Meanwhile, Zhou Xu kept himself busy by inspecting the sun-dried clay pots.

He was determined to kill the giant spider, but what if he failed?

One must always prepare a fallback plan, not follow a single path blindly.

These clay pots were crucial—they could store fresh water effectively.

If they had to flee, the water stored in these pots would allow them to travel farther, greatly increasing their chances of finding a new, habitable place.