Chapter 16: Spider Brain Core · Rushing to the Thirteenth Floor
This suddenly appeared person with white hair and white eyebrows, cold and picturesque – who else could it be but Li Jiayu?
During the minute or so of summoning Hyorinmaru, Li Jiayu's heart felt like a rollercoaster, up and down, rising and falling drastically. He originally thought his reborn self would still be cold as ice like his previous life, facing everything unflappably.
Returning to the age of nineteen, he was no longer the Dark Grand Summoner, lacking the power to look down upon heroes. Even his temperament seemed to be regressing back to his youth – sensitive, yet full of vitality.
"Hua Xiaolu!"
The first thing Li Jiayu did after retrieving Hyorinmaru was rush to Hua Xiaolu's side. He half-knelt on the ground, holding her in one arm. He saw her face was already ashen gray. The wound on her left leg, pierced by the Venomous Spider's barb, oozed black pus and blood. The poison spread, turning her originally fair thigh bluish-black!
Her life was already hanging by a thread; she probably couldn't last many more seconds!
"Jiayu... is that Jiayu?"
Hua Xiaolu's pale lips parted slightly. Exhausted yet stubborn, she forced her eyes open, looking at Li Jiayu with longing, as if using all her strength:
"You, you must have a headache, right? Me... pestering you all day... Did you know, I'm very vain. The reason I pestered you was because you're too lovable. I wanted to win you over, then turn you into the campus heartthrob, making those other women die of envy... Don't be sad. For me, dying by your side is much luckier than those who died in the insects' mouths..."
"Are you out of your mind?! Why did you stay behind? Would it kill you to be less infatuated? How much is vanity worth? Being handsome or not can't be eaten! What damn use is a campus heartthrob? Besides, I'm not even handsome! Damn it, anyone can die but not you!"
Li Jiayu breathed heavily, those memories buried for years surfacing bit by bit. Memories almost forgotten. For Hua Xiaolu, only a few months might have passed, but for Li Jiayu, it felt like a lifetime ago!
He still remembered this girl named Hua Xiaolu, bold in her ways. At the freshman welcome party, she had publicly declared Li Jiayu was her type, and no one could compete with her, making Li Jiayu extremely embarrassed.
He still remembered Hua Xiaolu pestering him tirelessly all day, occasionally popping up in the canteen to give him personally made bentos, even boldly going to the male dormitory to play guitar and confess her love to Li Jiayu!
It could be said Hua Xiaolu was the person who gave Li Jiayu the biggest headache. Although Hua Xiaolu wanted him as a sex partner, Li Jiayu treated her as an extremely good friend of the opposite sex and absolutely didn't want to see her die like this.
"Dark Octopus! What are you standing there stunned for, you idiot! Hurry up and search! See if those eight Venomous Spiders have brain cores! If not, you're dead!"
Li Jiayu, his heart surging, yelled at the Dark Octopus. The Dark Octopus was already covered in wounds, but upon hearing the command, its eyes immediately widened furiously, and it mumbled:
"Right... searching now... it's all my fault... failed to protect the flower... let the pretty female... get poisoned..."
As it spoke, the Dark Octopus's remaining nine tentacles moved together, probing into the brain matter of the dismembered Venomous Spiders.
The body fluids of Venomous Spiders usually carried potent toxins, but as the saying goes, extremes breed opposites. The brain matter of Venomous Spiders not only contained no toxins but was actually a good medicine for clearing heat, detoxifying, nourishing the body, promoting tissue regeneration, and stopping bleeding!
Venomous Spiders were considered mid-Tier 1 insects, so naturally, they wouldn't have Insect Crystals in their brains. However, some older ones, about to evolve to high-Tier 1, would condense scattered brain cores in their heads. These brain cores could effectively resist and alleviate the Venomous Spider's toxins!
If he could find one, Hua Xiaolu might survive!
The Dark Octopus was extremely efficient. In less than three seconds, it had already sucked dry the brain matter of all eight Venomous Spiders but found no crystalline objects. It paused, dejected:
"Didn't... didn't find any..."
"Damn it! How could you not find any? There must be one! There must be!"
Li Jiayu roared regretfully. Could it be... tragedy was still bound to repeat itself?
Was he, Li Jiayu, truly cursed, destined to watch his good friends die tragically before his eyes one by one, just like in his previous life?
Then what meaning was there in the vow to make up for all regrets after rebirth?
The deaths of the other boys didn't hit Li Jiayu as hard. Although he felt responsible, he wasn't heartbroken; after all, his relationship with the male classmates wasn't deep. But his relationship with Hua Xiaolu, Han Xiaoqi, and Zhou Jiamin was extremely good. He truly didn't want to see them die a second time.
Just as Li Jiayu was speaking in exasperation, miraculously, another Venomous Spider leaped in through the window. This one looked a size larger than the ordinary ones, its poisonous hairs denser, its body as black as ink.
Li Jiayu's eyes lit up! That's the one!
This Venomous Spider clearly looked older, the kind close to evolution. Truly, finding something after searching high and low – you're a living selfless insect, delivering yourself to my doorstep!
Gently laying Hua Xiaolu down, Li Jiayu flickered, appearing before the Venomous Spider. He swept his blade magnificently. The Venomous Spider, truly deserving of being an aged insect nearing high-Tier 1, actually dodged nimbly.
However, dodging was useless. The guilt-ridden Dark Octopus wouldn't miss this chance to redeem itself!
Its nine tentacles whipped out together, densely entangling the Venomous Spider. The spider couldn't even run and was immediately bound. The next moment, a longsword pierced its forehead!
"Quick! Search for its brain core!"
The Dark Octopus didn't need Li Jiayu's reminder. Its tentacles contracted, deftly drilling into the Venomous Spider's skull through the opening made by the longsword. It didn't rush to suck the brain matter dry but immediately pulled out a cloudy crystal and handed it to Li Jiayu.
Holding the brain core, Li Jiayu felt as if he had found a treasure. He quickly picked up Sun Weiwei's hammer and smashed it onto the brain core. A crack immediately appeared, and thick white liquid oozed out, the smell pungent, somewhat like mustard.
Li Jiayu applied the white liquid to Hua Xiaolu's wound. With a hiss, like striking a match, white smoke rose from the wound. Hua Xiaolu, whose breathing was already faint and consciousness fading, twisted her face, breaking out in cold sweat, jolted awake by the pain.
"It really works! Luckily, you were only hit by the barb, the venom amount was minimal, and the brain core came just in time. If it had been even a few seconds later, the poison would have reached your heart, and then everything would have been too late!"
Li Jiayu breathed a sigh of relief. The extremely tense nerves could finally relax slightly. He looked at Hyorinmaru in his hand, at the devastated classroom, at the grotesquely dead insect carcasses, at the mutilated remains of several male classmates, and at the few girls gathered around him. He took a deep breath and said:
"Let's go. Leave this classroom. We'll go to the thirteenth floor too... I know you're full of questions, but this isn't the place to linger. We'll talk as we walk!"
Saying this, Li Jiayu was about to carry Hua Xiaolu on his back, but just then, a voice interjected:
"Uh, Jiayu, you were busy saving Hua Xiaolu just now, I didn't want to disturb you... But, you should take care of your male compatriot too, right? Don't be too biased towards beauties over friends. My back was also torn open with a deep wound; it hurts much more than being cut by a knife!"
The speaker was Lin Zhibin. This guy had gotten a gash on his back from the Scythe Beetle earlier. Although not fatal, he had bled a lot. If the bleeding wasn't stopped promptly, it could be dangerous.
But with the apocalypse here and insects running rampant, where were the conditions to stop his bleeding?
"Uh... sorry, I almost forgot about your injury. There's still more than half of this spider brain core left, enough to stop your bleeding and temporarily seal the wound."
Li Jiayu glanced gratefully at Lin Zhibin. He knew clearly that Lin Zhibin had stayed behind to protect Zhou Jiamin. And the four deceased students were Lin Zhibin's roommates; their brotherly bond ran extremely deep. Seeing Lin Zhibin stay, the four also stayed behind. Of course, a small part of the reason was their anticipation regarding the mysterious Li Jiayu, but unfortunately, that anticipation didn't bring them good luck...
In fact, these boys didn't need to stay at all. Just one girl staying by Li Jiayu's side would have been enough; the Dark Octopus would erupt with 200% combat power to protect her. And in the previous battle, the boys were almost all instantly killed, serving practically no purpose other than being meat shields.
However, Li Jiayu was still very grateful to those deceased classmates, silently reciting in his heart – Du Wei, Liang Bin, Jiang Haitao, Zhang Pengyu, I remember your names. If I have the chance, I will definitely look after your friends and family.
As he thought, Li Jiayu had already walked behind Lin Zhibin, deftly tore open his shirt, and poured the remaining large half of the brain core onto the long wound on Lin Zhibin's back. The immense pain made this sturdy man, standing a full 1.9 meters tall, roll his eyes back, almost fainting from the agony.
Spider brain cores were very precious, yes. Their value was perhaps no less than Tier 2 Insect Crystals because the drop rate for spider brain cores was too low. During the apocalypse, one could even be exchanged for twenty slaves. Li Jiayu didn't know if he would have the good fortune to get such a good item like a spider brain core again, but he didn't regret using it on Lin Zhibin one bit.