The mask-like giant face was the size of a washbasin, hidden deep in the dark corner of the cave. His body was unseen, and the flashlight's beam could barely illuminate his features—that grotesque, cold expression, identical to the human-faced stone sarcophagi in the Western Zhou Ghost Tombs.

The only difference was that this face was not carved stone, nor was it a rock painting in the tomb passage. Under the beam of my and Fatty's flashlights, it suddenly shifted: the corners of the mouth curved upwards into a faint smile, and both eyes simultaneously closed, forming perfect semi-circles. In my entire life, I had never witnessed such an indescribably eerie smile.

Upon seeing the monstrous face, Fatty and I involuntarily took two steps back. But immediately, we thought of Da Jinya—where had he gone? Had this thing with the ghastly face captured him? Or was he already dead? Although Da Jinya was a complete profiteer, he wasn't inherently evil, and moreover, we had a history with him. We couldn't just abandon him to save ourselves.

Regardless, Da Jinya’s disappearance was surely connected to this suddenly appearing grimace. Perhaps the missing large goose in the nether hall was also this creature's doing.

My thoughts mirrored Fatty's. We simultaneously drew our gear. I held the flashlight in one hand and a knife in the other, and lunged a few steps toward the hideous face, only to hear a few strange cries rising from beneath our feet.

The pitch-black cave resembled the mouth of a wine bottle; the cross-section of the tomb tunnel was at the neck. The sound and that deathly pale "face" were both deep within the cavern. I used my "Wolf's Eye" to trace the source of the sound. The bizarre cries were coming from Da Jinya, lying sprawled on the ground, entangled by several strands of glittering white silk binding his limbs, with another strand tightly wrapped around his throat, constricting his neck. It wasn't enough to suffocate him, but it prevented him from speaking.

Da Jinya was petrified, his face ashen. Seeing Fatty and me approach, he desperately opened his mouth to shout for help, but the wrapping around his neck was so tight that only "ee-ee-ah-ah" sounds escaped his throat. Mixed with his panic, the noise barely sounded human, which explained how strange it had sounded earlier.

I had no time to ponder how Da Jinya had ended up like this. Fatty and I hurried closer, intending to rescue the critically endangered Da Jinya. Unexpectedly, there was a rustling sound from above, and Da Jinya suddenly lifted into the air as if someone had grabbed him.

I quickly raised my "Wolf's Eye" and shone it toward the cave ceiling. The flashlight beam landed squarely on that bizarre-looking human face, which was now suspended overhead, looking down at us with a cold sneer. The grotesque face twitched slightly, and with every minuscule movement, Da Jinya was pulled higher off the ground.

I was immensely surprised. What the hell was this thing? The ghastly face hung high up in the cavern. This section of the cave opened up wider the deeper it went. Though not far from the intersection with the main tunnel, the ceiling here was incredibly high, shrouded in absolute blackness where visibility was poor. I gestured to Fatty. Without hesitation, Fatty put away his entrenching shovel and used his combat knife to sever the sticky threads binding Da Jinya. Released from the bindings, Da Jinya dropped to the ground. I rushed to help him up and asked, "Master Jin, how are you? Can you walk?"

Da Jinya's neck was so tightly bound his eyes were almost rolling back. He managed a weak shake of his head. This shock had rendered him completely speechless; his limbs felt weak and unresponsive.

Fatty stared up at the face above and cursed, "**, so many sticky threads, is this some kind of spider spirit?" Saying this, he paid no mind to what the monstrous face was, raised his entrenching shovel like a javelin, took aim, and swung it with all his might toward the target.

The sharp tip of the entrenching shovel plunged directly into the monstrous face hanging above. Suddenly, beneath the bizarre giant face, two horizontal rows of red lights flickered on—one row larger above, one smaller below, four lights in each row, resembling eight blood-red eyes.

A huge, black mass crashed down from the ceiling. Seeing the danger, I quickly dragged Da Jinya aside. A pitch-black form landed exactly where we had been standing moments before. This time, I was less than half a meter away. A sweep of the Wolf's Eye revealed its true form clearly.

It was a gigantic, human-faced spider. Its entire body was jet black, and the white markings on its back naturally formed the clear outline of a human face—every feature was present, nothing missing. This facial marking was the size of a washbasin, while the spider itself was several times larger. Its eight monstrous legs were covered in coarse hair.

I had encountered such large spiders in the Kunlun Mountains. Those with such distinct human-face markings on their backs were extremely rare. Back when I was serving, while working on construction in a deep Kunlun gorge, a comrade from a sister unit disappeared mysteriously. Later, deep within the gorge, we unearthed a massive spider nest. The soldiers had never seen such enormous spiders. Fortunately, the troops were well-trained and remained composed under pressure, eliminating the three large spiders in the nest using rifles and crowbars. Deep inside the nest, we finally found the body of the missing soldier, mummified in silk, his body completely desiccated like dried bark.

I recalled experts accompanying our construction unit mentioning the horrifying results of spiders eating humans. This giant, black, human-faced spider belonged to a rare subspecies, nicknamed the "Black Silk Weaver." Although it could spin silk like ordinary spiders, it couldn't weave webs. The silk spun by the "Black Silk Weaver" was highly adhesive but lacked sufficient toughness and fire resistance. Regular spider silk is fire-resistant, highly elastic, and shear-resistant, with four times the strength of steel wire. However, the "Black Silk Weaver" lacked these qualities. It never spun webs, relying instead on the sheer quantity of its silk and the high toxicity of its venom.

It possessed a venom sac beneath its mandibles, storing a large amount of toxin. Once prey was captured with its silk, it would immediately inject the venom. The most terrifying aspect was that after being poisoned, the victim's muscles would merely stiffen, rendering them immobile, but their consciousness—including the sensation of pain—remained perfectly intact.

Even more dreadful was that simultaneously with injecting the paralyzing agent, the spider would inject a digestive fluid, causing the prey to be dissolved alive for consumption. Back then, hearing this description sent chills down my spine, along with my comrades in the unit. This method of death was too horrific.

Memories flashed through my mind like lightning. At that moment, I was barely half a meter from the gigantic "Human-Faced Black Silk Weaver." At such close range, every strand of black hair was clearly visible in the Wolf's Eye beam. An involuntary tingling crept up my scalp. Before the newly fallen "Black Silk Weaver" could react, I immediately plunged the combat knife in my hand toward it.

The knife went straight in, meeting resistance like tough leather. The combat knife was too short to truly injure the "Human-Faced Black Silk Weaver," but it startled the creature, causing it to recoil and lunge toward me. I knew the eight strange legs of the "Black Silk Weaver" functioned as vibration sensors. My combat knife wasn't long enough to inflict serious damage, so I slashed sideways, managing to sever one of the creature's forelimbs. The combat knife was extremely sharp; it could slice through a rope as thick as two fingers in just a few cuts.

The legs of the "Black Silk Weaver" were its most sensitive appendages; capturing prey relied entirely on sensing movement through its feet. Although the knife had severed the limb of the human-faced spider, the pain caused it to jerk backward.

The entrenching shovel stuck in its back fell to the ground. Fatty reached down to pick it up and shouted in alarm, "Old Hu, damn it, we really fell into the Spider Cave!" Shouting, he began wildly hacking at the giant spider's body with the entrenching shovel.

In pain, the "Black Silk Weaver" rapidly retreated toward the depths of the cave. Fatty, caught up in his frenzy, wanted to pursue, but I yelled, "Don't chase it! Quick, grab Da Jinya, let's get out of here."

Hearing me, Fatty backed away. He reached out to help the paralyzed Da Jinya, but his foot suddenly sank into something soft. Fatty looked down: "Hey, isn't this the goose we lost? It looks like the spider spirit sucked it dry."

I helped Da Jinya stand up and told Fatty, "Forget the goose's fate, help me carry this man. Thank goodness we aren't far from the main tunnel. This cave system is unfathomably deep. I thought it was a karst cave, but now it looks like it might be a massive spider lair. We need to head back now. If we fall into those labyrinthine tunnels below, getting out will be impossible..."

Before I finished speaking, I felt a sudden tightening around my leg, followed by an instant loss of balance as I was pulled down. Fatty and Da Jinya fell simultaneously.

Then, all three of us were dragged by an immense force, clearly intending to pull us deeper into the cave. I tried to scramble up from the ground, but the constant dragging prevented me. After several failed attempts, I realized my leg was wrapped in a spider silk strand as thick as an adult's arm. The "Black Silk Weaver" Fatty chased off definitely didn't possess silk this thick. Could there be an even larger one in the cave? One capable of dragging three men—good heavens, how massive would it have to be?

The thought spurred me to struggle even harder, trying to break the silk binding my leg. I drew the combat knife from my waist, intending to slash the silk, but when I looked up, the cave ceiling suddenly dropped low, and I slammed my head into a hanging rock, nearly breaking my nose. Blood streamed down my face, and the pain forced sharp intakes of breath, but the more anxious I became, the more helpless I felt.

The three of us were dragged a long way through the winding tunnels. The backs of our clothes were shredded, leaving streaks of blood on our bodies. I was horrified, fearing we were being dragged back to the lair to be paralyzed by venom, stored for three to five days, and then slowly consumed. The thought of such a fate sent waves of icy dread shooting up my spine.

Fatty, being heavier, was initially panicked by being dragged such a distance. Then he calmed down. He grabbed a nearby stone pillar, temporarily anchoring himself, and sat up. He drew his entrenching shovel and, with three or four chops, severed the silk binding his leg. Ignoring his own pain, he rushed to my side, grabbed my arm, and slashed the silk around my leg as well. I swore aloud, sat up, wiped the blood from my face with my sleeve, and used the combat knife to cut away the sticky silk binding my leg. Fatty then tried to go back for Da Jinya, only to see him already dragged over twenty meters away, waving his arms and shouting in struggle.

Fatty and I were left with only the single "Wolf's Eye" flashlight Fatty held; all other illumination equipment was gone. We saw Da Jinya being pulled farther and farther away; if we didn't hurry, it would be too late.

Fatty and I didn't have time to weigh the pros and cons. Gritting our teeth, we ignored the pain in our bodies and sprinted after him. The beam of Fatty's flashlight shook violently as we ran. Just as we reached Da Jinya's side, the "Wolf's Eye" in Fatty's hand flickered twice, then went dead—the battery was gone.