Mori quietly put the plastic bag back into her wallet, zipped it up, and tucked it into her pocket, pretending she hadn't seen anything. She squatted by the railway buffer to finish her half-eaten bento, but her chopsticks hovered mid-air for a long time, with no appetite.

How could anyone eat in this situation...

Mori looked complexly at the enticing dishes in the bento box, recalling the man's previous image in her mind; his words echoed in her ears. She couldn't believe it, that the teacher she had always respected could be involved with Moon Sugar. Clearly, he usually seemed like a humble man always keeping his head down.

She often saw the leadership scolding Hajime harshly, pointing fingers at him. Being bullied from above was bad enough, but the students openly mocked him too, and even his wife often showed him a cold face at the school gate, making it difficult for him.

Until today, she respected this teacher while also sympathizing with his plight, but the glaring colorful candies were so striking, striking enough to make the man's image in her heart collapse.

Underneath the guise of a nice guy lay the face of a demon.

What should she do?

Confront him directly and tear apart his disguise?

Or pretend that none of this happened, that she hadn't seen a thing, and return the wallet to Hajime tomorrow?

No, she couldn't turn a blind eye to this.

She had to find out whether he was a victim or the instigator, uncover all the reasons for his contact with Moon Sugar. Regardless of his motives, if he had harmed innocent people, he must pay for his actions. This was her resolve as a Dark Night Walker.

After a psychological struggle, Mori lost her appetite to continue eating. She stood up and dusted off her clothes, planning to discuss the matter with her companions. Before that, she would deliver the other bento to her aunt, unwilling to let Xiaoxu's intentions go to waste.

The sound of wheels on the cement ground no longer felt as light as before, now carrying a more somber tone. As she skated past the commercial street's square, the once bustling and lively area felt inexplicably deserted, advertisements played lonely on the big screens, and the sound of the tram crossing the inter-city lines faded away into the city's distance.

The pocket watch's hands ticked, the skateboard's wheels whirled, the girl's heart thumped, and the sky gradually darkened. Passersby hurried forward in silence, turning into rows of black shadows.

All along the way, people occasionally greeted Mori. This always enthusiastic and lively girl had left a deep impression on the residents of Dragonfly Town. Mori waved in response, taking leaps on her skateboard, soaring and landing steadily on the handrail of a slope, quickly sliding down.

Soon, she arrived in front of the chemical plant where her aunt worked. She called loudly a few times towards the security hut, but the bald uncle inside didn't respond, stirring a growing sense of unease within Mori. She skirted around the path by the green hedges and arrived on the other street near the lower walls of the chemical plant.

Mori tried to jump, with the building's shadow covering half of her face. With a strong push, she managed to grab the edge of the wall with both hands. Using her waist's strength, her canvas shoes finally touched the wall, and with a skilled flip, she entered the chemical plant.

Landing steadily, Mori walked towards the factory where her aunt worked, curiously observing her surroundings. She encountered no one, as if all the employees of the chemical plant had vanished into thin air. The wind howled through the gaps of the large chemical tanks, distinctly audible in the silent atmosphere.

"Did something happen?" Mori's unease intensified. Generally, the chemical plant would close around eight in the evening. Even after closing, a security team would patrol heavily to prevent high-value chemical materials from being stolen. This was the shift-changing time, how could not a single person be seen?

Finally, at a corner, Mori encountered a living person, but they weren't an employee of the chemical plant. Their black-bottomed white-crest uniform made her recognize these people's identity as executors of the Mountain Crow family. Why were they here?

Leaning against the wall, Mori's dark red eyes quietly observed several figures ahead. Among them, an energetic-looking girl approached three others, her clear voice catching Mori's ear.

"The cleaning squad of the Sword Contract Group has pretty much finished. We can go in to clean the scene now."

Hearing this, the three nodded and quickly moved, with Mori following behind. They passed through the corridor by the factory building, where many Mountain Crow family members were also heading towards. Mori even noticed some members from the association's eye department, and her unease finally took concrete form.

Only during incidents concerning tales of the supernatural would members of the eye surveillance department appear. It was only now that Mori suddenly remembered the discussion she overheard earlier in the classroom. This chemical plant had been sealed two hours ago, and she had just managed to avoid the sentries to enter.

Now she finally understood why everyone she encountered along the way seemed anxious and worried.

Once her unease took form, it transformed into a kind of fear. Xiaoxu's mother still worked inside the chemical plant, didn't she? Where was her aunt now? Was she in danger? At this time, her aunt should still be at work.

As Mori saw Mountain Crow family members entering the factory ahead one after another, it felt as if a string in her heart abruptly snapped, and boundless terror seized her heart. She couldn't care much else and quickly ran towards the factory building.

That was the factory building where her aunt worked; she had to confirm her aunt's current situation...

"Hey, over there, this place is sealed off already, how did you sneak in!?"

"Stop right now!"

The nearby Mountain Crow family members quickly noticed the crimson-haired girl sprinting. One among them, who was close, tried to stop her, but surprisingly, Mori's strength was astonishing. She broke free from his grasp, causing him to crash into the wall. Several others tried to rush forward together, but were easily thrown off by the girl.

"Look, at the features on that guy's face." Amid the chaos, someone shouted. "This guy, they're having a delirium episode!"

The crowd focused, finally realizing that at some point, spider totems had surfaced on Mori's body. Black markings, branching like a tree, seemed like numerous crawling black bugs, her eyes filled with shifting compound eyes. As she turned, the red light flashed extraordinarily, and white cold air spewed from her mouth, "Don't block me!"

"Wait, don't use weapons, she's not a mutated Spider Host, she's the Young Master!"

Someone among the crowd, sharp-eyed, recognized Mori in her current form and hurriedly shouted. Nearby Mountain Crow family members, who were armed and on guard, lowered their guns at once, allowing the girl to push through and break out of their encirclement, dashing into the factory building.

Upon seeing the scene before her, Mori nearly collapsed, completely lost in the devastation. Thick, sticky white webs were spread across the hallways, support columns, elevator shafts, and chemical tanks. The entire ceiling had collapsed, forming a gigantic spider web hanging down, while numerous figures, wrapped into cocoons by the webs, were suspended in the air. Tiny spiders crawled from those people's eye sockets, ear canals, and throats; from the darkness came continual sounds of crawling, flesh being chewed, and mutterings of spiders spinning their threads.

Sssss—

Stiffly, Mori turned her head.

Only to see a translucent egg sac bursting open on a load-bearing column; it was a man's highly swollen abdomen, from which a yellow liquid spurted, countless spiders emerging from the mountain-like raised abdomen, clinging to white webs.

The man, as an 'egg sac,' had long become one with the load-bearing wall, through violently proliferated blood vessels, tumors, and fat. It looked as if his body had melted into the wall, massive and bloated. After fulfilling his reproductive mission, he was finally released.

The entire factory had unmistakably become a gigantic spider nest.

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