Endless Throne - Chapter 9

[Blooming Wealth]: Congratulations to Old Wang on having a son

[Literary Mentor]: Look how happy Old Wang is, his clenched fists reveal his inner turmoil, his chattering teeth express the surging emotions of fatherhood, the throbbing veins on his forehead fully demonstrate a father’s loving heart…

[Watermelon Patch Sinner]: I remember spiders can produce several hundred eggs at once

[Sexy Spider Louis]: The higher the rank, the fewer eggs produced

[Abyss Monarch]: Slightly narrowing his eyes, with a lazy expression tinged with nonchalance, his thin lips parted: “Monster spider offspring eat their mother after birth.”

[Left and Right are Both Men]: Don’t you all care how he got pregnant?

“Has there been any unusual movement in your abdomen recently?” Lin Yebai asked.

“There is indeed something, I thought I just ate too much.” Coach Wang’s face alternated between pale and flushed.

“……” Lin Yebai fell silent, specifically checking his own pulse, finding his life force weak and beyond medical help. It seemed his medical skills weren’t the problem; other imperial physicians would say the same.

Coach Wang began rummaging through the medicine box, attempting to find abortion medication, but found nothing.

The production lines had completely collapsed, making medicines extremely precious.

The medicines left by Song Yao were mostly for disinfection, anti-inflammation, fever reduction, and bleeding control. The box also contained a simple water purification filter, gauze, scissors, needles, and thread.

Coach Wang rubbed his belly, his expression alternating between fierce and gentle, as if engaged in an intense internal struggle.

Lin Yebai examined Zhou Yuan’s wound again. The bitten area had turned purple-black and was rapidly spreading to surrounding areas.

Ordinary medicines were ineffective. Lin Yebai had no better solution and could only wait for him to either pull through or transform into an aberrant.

“Looks like we don’t need to go to Jiamao Square anymore. Let’s hurry back home before dark. The number of aberrants out hunting will increase exponentially after nightfall,” Coach Wang said, no longer fixating on the pregnancy pulse issue. Getting home was now the most important thing.

If they couldn’t make it back and died on the road, there would be nothing left to worry about.

Aberrants instinctively avoided strong light. The Tianxing Garden residential complex, where the electrical circuits hadn’t completely failed, was much safer than the areas outside.

Coach Wang looked at Zhou Yuan with considerable concern, hoping he could recover from his critical condition. Mr. Lin wasn’t in good shape either; his complexion was worse than yesterday. Thinking about this, Coach Wang sighed, desperately wanting a cigarette.

The truck’s tires had been bitten through, forcing them to change vehicles. Coach Wang found an SUV nearby, squeezed himself into the driver’s seat, discovered it was barely drivable with sufficient fuel, and began transferring supplies from the truck. Some less important items remained in the truck.

Coach Wang loaded Zhou Yuan’s favorite gaming equipment and drone into the car. Despite finding the young man annoying at times, Coach Wang still hoped he would survive.

“Mr. Lin, what would you like to eat tonight?”

“We have Old Pickle Sour Cabbage, Braised Beef, Mushroom Chicken Stew, Fresh Shrimp Fish Cake, Black Pepper Pork Chop, and various other flavored instant noodles. We can add fried eggs, sausages…” Coach Wang began listing menu items.

No matter the circumstances, talking about food always eased the atmosphere.

To drive, Coach Wang had to contort himself awkwardly, squeezed into the driver’s seat with headlights and taillights on to illuminate the pitch-black road ahead.

“Braised Beef.” Lin Yebai chose a flavor he hadn’t tried before.

“Mr. Lin, I can’t see clearly at night. Do you remember the way back to the residential complex?”

“Yes.” Lin Yebai tried to recall the road signs he’d seen to guide Coach Wang back along their original route.

Coach Wang’s driving skills were far superior to Zhou Yuan’s. He drove at a slightly slower pace, avoiding various obstacles according to Lin Yebai’s instructions.

There were enormous skeletal structures stretching dozens of meters, abandoned vehicles, and collapsed buildings. The entire city’s electrical system was in a semi-paralyzed state; street lights would never turn on automatically again.

An unprecedented sense of confusion and despair weighed on their hearts, yet Coach Wang couldn’t even cry, steadily driving toward home.

Getting home would be good. They would sleep well tonight and deal with unpleasant matters tomorrow.

The sky had completely darkened. Tonight’s moonlight was brighter than yesterday’s, with a heavy bloodred tinge. In places beyond the reach of the car’s headlights, crimson beast eyes occasionally flashed by, greedily eyeing the passing SUV before quickly shifting their attention elsewhere upon sensing the presence of powerful fellow aberrants.

The return journey was peaceful. The SUV parked beneath their building. The surroundings remained pitch-black, too dark to see one’s hand in front of one’s face, though most apartment windows had lights on.

Coach Wang exited first, stretching his eight legs that had been squashed flat, then began checking the spider silk he had set up in the stairwell that morning.

The silk was all intact, suggesting there had been no intruders.

The stairwell lights had long since broken. Coach Wang hoisted Zhou Yuan onto his back and signaled for Lin Yebai to follow.

Coach Wang placed Zhou Yuan in the living room, wrapping him in spider silk with only his neck and head exposed to prevent him from suddenly losing his mind and hurting others.

“Mr. Lin, please rest a bit and watch Zhou Yuan while I bring up our things.”

“I have many legs and can run fast. I’ll be done quickly.”

Coach Wang scurried up and down, bringing everything into Zhou Yuan’s room, then moved the SUV to a more concealed location to prevent the long-legged person from noticing anything unusual.

“Mr. Lin, I’ll go cook the instant noodles. Please wait a moment.”

Lin Yebai remembered the [Attribute Card] he had obtained from killing the mid-tier aberrant and chose to examine it.

A white card flipped over, displaying a proud human-shaped giant rat gazing skyward, followed by several lines of text:

[Name]: Wang Qiang

[Race]: Aberrant (Rodent)

[Talents]: Command Rat Swarm, Tough Skin, Plague

[Description]: After transformation, possessed rare king-level talent but played an excellent hand terribly.

[Message]: If given another chance, Wang Qiang would definitely not choose to sing that “Tianzhu Girl” song.

Prompt: [Attribute Cards] can be exchanged for attribute points in the Main God Space

The instant noodles were quickly ready. Coach Wang had added beef sauce, filling the air with a delicious aroma. As he carried the noodles, he casually remarked:

“I don’t know why, but I still feel like that dead rat is following us.”

“Is it this?” Lin Yebai produced the blood pearl obtained from the rat king.

All aberrants had such a pearl inside their skulls. The blood pearl from a mid-tier aberrant was larger and more purely colored.

“Yes.” Coach Wang glanced at it twice before carefully taking it, confirming it was indeed this pearl emanating the rat king’s aura.

“What does it feel like?” Lin Yebai had sensed it with his internal energy. The blood pearl was a product of blood essence condensed to the extreme, containing other powers that were cold and sinister.

“I want to taste it… but this pearl is quite useful. Keeping it will likely ensure a peaceful night.”

Keeping the largest pearl, Lin Yebai gave the two previously collected blood pearls to Coach Wang. The blood pearls from low-tier aberrants seemed to have a less intense aura and carrying them had no noticeable effect.

“Thank you, Mr. Lin. I won’t stand on ceremony. I have nothing to repay you with, so please let me handle these daily chores.”

Coach Wang was genuinely hungry. Though they had found supplies, they hadn’t brought back the rat king’s corpse. Otherwise, encased in a spider cocoon and converted to nutrients, it could have sustained him for some time.

To guard against any sudden changes in Zhou Yuan, Coach Wang huddled in a corner of the living room, covering himself with curtains. Like other aberrants, he had photophobia.

The rat king ventured out in the evening and wasn’t afraid of light, perhaps because higher ranks gradually overcame this characteristic.

Zhou Yuan lay on the living room floor. Listening closely, one could hear his bones rapidly growing inside his body, his blood surging turbulently, his heart beating at a high frequency. Blood seeping from his skin saturated Coach Wang’s spider silk, wrapping him completely and forming a blood shell.

He twisted inside the cocoon, his extraordinarily flexible limbs gradually becoming less and less human…

“Xiao Zhou, you absolutely mustn’t die. What will happen to those hundreds of gigabytes of manga in your computer?”

“I have quite a few 18+ games too, with beautiful artwork, excellent production, and superior voice acting…”

Coach Wang, awakened by Zhou Yuan’s movements, kept watch nearby, cheering him on:

“Those rats aren’t scary at all. If you just hold onto your beliefs, you can defeat anything!”

“If it’s Zhou Yuan, he can definitely do it!”

“I’ve always had good feelings about Zhou Yuan… That month when my gym was about to go bankrupt, you paid for a year’s membership and helped me through that most difficult time…”

Coach Wang fully expressed his feelings, one sentence after another. When he finished, Lin Yebai finally spoke:

“Zhou Yuan, I’ll teach you knife techniques.”

A pair of delicate, snow-white arms extended from the blood cocoon, and a hoarse voice asked with effort:

“Where’s my cleaver?”

“I brought it back. It’s in the kitchen.” Coach Wang sighed in relief, his face breaking into a smile.

“Great.” Zhou Yuan tore open the blood cocoon, barely poking out his head when Coach Wang let out a scream.

“Ahhhhh!”

His eight spider legs contracted as he suddenly sprang to the ceiling.

Zhou Yuan originally had short hair, but now sported a head of long green hair.

And it wasn’t just hair—the tips had all transformed into snake heads, flickering their tongues.

[Sending You Away Thousands of Miles]: He’s turned green and also become stronger

[Abyss Monarch]: A hint of surprise flashed through his deep eyes

[Count of Hell, Cesar]: Medusa?

[Truth Supreme]: The chosen one

[Great Mememancer]: He must have undergone a deep transformation without realizing it

[Watermelon Patch Sinner]: I think Xiao Zhou might have hated rats so much that he chose to evolve into their natural predator

[Braised Spare Ribs]: But… Medusa isn’t a natural predator of rats

Zhou Yuan had originally planned to mock the timid Coach Wang, but upon seeing countless slender snakes coiling around his own shoulders, he let out a scream as well:

“Ahhhhh!”

Lin Yebai’s worldview and eardrums once again suffered a massive impact.

Coach Wang descended from the ceiling, keeping his distance from Zhou Yuan, his lips curling into a smile:

“See, wearing a green hat caused problems.”

“Is this really about a green hat? You probably don’t…”

The small snakes crawled and played on his shoulders and back, occasionally flicking their tongues to lick him. Zhou Yuan’s body stiffened as he momentarily lost his soul.

“They won’t bite you. We’re the ones who should be afraid,” Coach Wang said irritably.

Zhou Yuan tried to stand up and discovered his legs were gone.

A snake tail two to three meters long had burst through the blood cocoon. Just looking at the jade-green tail tip, it seemed somewhat cute.

“Damn…”

Zhou Yuan’s tail tip trembled slightly, slipping on the ground, unable to walk upright.

Coach Wang watched Zhou Yuan’s predicament, the weight lifting from his heart, and suddenly burst out laughing:

“Hahaha-hic…!”

Soon he was clutching his stomach, his expression changing dramatically, appearing to be in extreme pain.

“What’s wrong?”

Seeing his forehead break out in sweat and his eight spider legs barely able to support him, Zhou Yuan became concerned.

“My stomach… hurts so bad…”

Coach Wang began to regret laughing so loudly.

“Did you disturb the fetus?” Lin Yebai bent down, intending to check Coach Wang’s pulse.

“Huh?” The small snakes on Zhou Yuan’s head instantly curved into question marks, their tiny eyes filled with enormous confusion.