Chapter 198: The Little Spider of Paradise

Yu Zhizhi didn’t know where she found the courage, but she followed the purple-robed old man all the way into the lighthouse.

From the outside, the lighthouse was very tall, and every floor had countless rooms.

It seemed like people lived in every room.

Or maybe the lights were just on.

After entering the lighthouse, she only encountered a few Beastmen. When they saw Yu Zhizhi, their gazes paused for a moment.

Perhaps it was because they saw an unfamiliar face.

But none of them spoke to her. Every Beastman had an air of indifference.

The old man hurried to his room.

It was on a very high floor. Yu Zhizhi used her spiritual power, but she was still panting by the time she got there. She saw a tightly shut iron door with a window to its side, facing the outside of the tower—it was very dangerous.

After a moment’s hesitation, Yu Zhizhi transformed into her Beast Form. With a single leap, she jumped onto the windowsill, quietly flattened her rabbit ears, and peeked inside the room.

It looked like a laboratory. Rows of cabinets were filled with glass bottles, each containing a different colored liquid: green, purple, red, blue, and yellow. Submerged inside were all sorts of "specimens."

For example, a small caterpillar, a small dragonfly, and a...

Little Spider.

The purple-robed old man was humming a tune, his white beard trembling slightly. He sat down at a long table piled with countless jars and bottles.

He put on a pair of white surgical gloves and used tweezers to pick out the small creature he had just captured from a glass bottle.

The little dark-green Spider struggled for its life, but it was far too weak. The old man held it down, and with a yank of his pliers, he ripped off its hind leg. The Little Spider suddenly let out a cry of pain.

Yu Zhizhi watched in a daze.

She didn’t know what the purple-robed old man was doing. She could only watch as he tore off every one of the Little Spider’s legs. Judging by its size, she could tell it was a Beast Clan cub.

It might have even just hatched...

The purple-robed old man worked for half the night. Finally, he tossed the Little Spider, which had fainted from the pain, back into the glass bottle. Content, he left the laboratory and went to his bedroom to sleep.

After he left, Yu Zhizhi waited a while longer to make sure the old man wouldn’t suddenly return. She then squeezed her way through the window bars. Her snow-white fur was stained by the dust on the windowsill, leaving a dirty smudge.

The little rabbit hopped onto a side cabinet, then onto a chair.

She lifted her little paws and touched the edge of the table.

With a push of her hind legs, she leaped onto the lab table.

She saw the glass bottle filled with blue liquid. A tinge of red swirled within it—the blood from the Little Spider.

Yu Zhizhi moved closer. Her rabbit nose gently touched the glass. Up close, she could see the Little Spider’s injuries more clearly.

All of its spider legs had been reattached with fine, white, crookedly stitched thread.

The Little Spider was on the verge of death.

When it saw the suddenly appearing white beast, its eyes widened in terror.

To a spider cub not even half the size of a palm, a full-grown rabbit was a ferocious predator that could kill it with a single swipe of its paw.

Yu Zhizhi lifted her rabbit paw.

The Little Spider, submerged in the viscous fluid, suddenly lifted one of its legs and let out a hiss from its throat.

"HISS—HISS—"

It was warning its enemy.

Just like when the purple-robed old man had been practicing Dark Magic on it, it kept making hissing sounds.

Her little white rabbit paw tapped the bottle. Yu Zhizhi looked up at the ebony lid. She tried to bite it open but found it was incredibly sturdy.

After a moment of thought, she changed back into her human form.

The Little Spider watched as the white beast suddenly transformed into a young woman. She sat on the chair and tried to pull the lid off with both hands.

Unfortunately, a spell had been placed on it, and Yu Zhizhi couldn’t do anything to open it.

A noise came from the stairs outside.

Yu Zhizhi quickly turned back into a little rabbit and scrambled out the window.

After only two hours of sleep, the purple-robed old man returned to his laboratory.

He was holding an Ancient Book. As he opened it, a foul aura drifted out. Hiding nearby, Yu Zhizhi felt a numbness spread through her chest.

The sensation was a bit like when Tang Luo Ke had dealt with that mutated species.

’Is this...’

’Corruption?’

Just like before, the old man used the Little Spider to practice Dark Magic. It was a forbidden spell on the Beast World Planet, one related to bodily reconstruction.

The novice level involved outer limbs; at the advanced level, one could experiment on various internal organs.

Unfortunately, the old man had no talent.

He was stuck at the novice level.

He just kept torturing the spider cub in new and different ways.

Yu Zhizhi’s heart ached.

That day, after the old man left, she squeezed through the window once again.

She decided to help the Little Spider escape!

Yu Zhizhi first transformed into her human form and pushed the glass bottle through a gap in the window bars. Then she changed back into a rabbit and squeezed through herself.

After landing safely, the young woman clutched the bottle to her chest and quickly fled.

Yu Zhizhi wandered around the lighthouse for a long time before she found an empty room. She decided to use it as a hiding place.

Soaked in the blue slime, the sleeping Little Spider slowly began to wake.

When it saw the young woman, it wasn’t as scared as before.

Yu Zhizhi had stolen the old man’s Magic Book.

Following the annotations inside, she attempted to use the Decryption Technique.

It was surprisingly successful.

The lid of the bottle finally came off.

Yu Zhizhi laid the bottle on its side and said to the Little Spider inside, "You can come out now. I promise I won’t hurt you."

The little dark-green Spider lifted a leg, hesitated for a long time, then slowly crawled out of the glass bottle. It glanced up at the young woman before it, then quickly looked away.

Only after it was free of the blue slime did Yu Zhizhi realize it had a pair of exceptionally beautiful, mismatched eyes.

One was the green of jade, the other the black of the abyss.

’...The Lord of Paradise?’

Although she had her suspicions before, it wasn’t until she saw the color of its eyes clearly that Yu Zhizhi finally confirmed its identity.

’She thought of the cold, powerful leader in the Holy Temple who ruled over all of Paradise—that he was once a small, pitiful Little Spider from Paradise, tortured and abused by a Dark Mage.’

The Little Spider hid behind the glass bottle, all eight of its little legs trembling. A layer of black fuzz covered its body, and it looked as if it wanted to turn invisible, to hide as far away as possible.

Yu Zhizhi placed the food she had found on the table.

She said softly, "Go on, eat."

It was a small jar of dried shrimp that Yu Zhizhi had bought from a Lighthouse Dragonfly Clan Beastman.

The Little Spider smelled the fragrant aroma of the food.

It slowly lifted a tiny leg, speared a small shrimp, and quickly dragged it back.

The Little Spider ate quickly, constantly keeping an eye on the young woman’s movements. If she showed the slightest sign of moving, it would immediately hide.

Yu Zhizhi watched it quietly, her eyes filled with pity.

The Little Spider quickly finished the shrimp and licked its forelegs. Seeing that the young woman was looking through the Magic Book, it didn’t disturb her. Instead, it moved one small step at a time across the table until it was in front of her. It quietly tucked in its eight legs, raised the front of its body, tilted up its rear, and stared at her with intense focus.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.