Bai Jie didn't buy it. Zheng Yueling couldn't seriously be planning to put on an insect-fighting, Gu-raising show, could she?
Going by animal instincts, this clueless little gecko would never attack a spider larger than itself — a Sub-Laser Tarantula, no less.
Bai Jie's spider instincts, for their part, also had zero interest in prey with a body length of only 8cm.
But his body was still transmitting hunger signals — after all, his [Satiety] was only at 30%.
All Bai Jie could do was hope Zheng Yueling would toss in more mealworms later. He had no desire to attack.
Just as Bai Jie assumed he and the Two-Headed Gecko would coexist peacefully, each going their separate ways, a flash of pink-purple light flickered through Zheng Yueling's eyes.
"Go on, Second Doggo." Zheng Yueling prodded the Two-Headed Gecko with her tweezers and murmured.
As if it had suddenly been given a target, the Two-Headed Gecko began crawling rapidly toward Bai Jie.
The danmaku at this moment:
[Streamer's naming sense is still as casual as it is savage.]
[Second Doggo: You got no manners?]
[The battle for Five Poisons supremacy — can the spider shove the gecko out and claim a spot among the Five?]
[New viewer here. Honest question: why is the gecko one of the Five Poisons but the spider isn't?]
...
While the danmaku chatted away merrily, Bai Jie was shaken to his core. An overwhelming surge of predatory and violent emotion was flooding through him.
He stared at the approaching Two-Headed Gecko. His two fangs were already brewing venom. He wanted to kill his opponent at all costs, consequences be damned.
Bai Jie realized he might be under the influence of that witch's power.
The next second, an emotionless synthetic voice abruptly rang out:
[Unfathomable mental interference detected. Blocked.]
As the voice faded, Bai Jie's emotions returned to calm.
The system had such a miraculous function?
Though he still didn't quite understand what had happened, Bai Jie now had no choice but to prepare for battle.
The Two-Headed Gecko suddenly lunged straight at Bai Jie's face. Bai Jie reacted swiftly, his front legs whipping up to lock down the gecko's movements.
But this Two-Headed Gecko was surprisingly strong. Thrashing frantically, it was about to pry free of the front legs' restraint.
Without thinking, Bai Jie's remaining spider legs instinctively wrapped around the Two-Headed Gecko, securing it firmly and crushing any chance of escape.
A mere gecko — smaller than me, with less Vitality than me. If I can't handle you, what am I even doing here?
Bai Jie curled his lip inwardly, scornful.
The Two-Headed Gecko opened its mouths wide, as if groaning in agony.
Suddenly, a transparent fluid sprayed out from the gecko's lower abdomen. Luckily, Bai Jie was behind it, and only a few stray drops splattered onto his legs.
Information immediately poured into Bai Jie's awareness:
Due to Talent [Poison-Refining Gu], toxicity damage nullified.
Bai Jie seized the opportunity. His two fangs stabbed viciously into the Two-Headed Gecko's neck as he began pumping venom continuously.
After about a minute, the Two-Headed Gecko finally stopped struggling and slowly went still.
And in Bai Jie's field of view, the Two-Headed Gecko's [Status] shifted from "Weakened (Poisoned)" to "Deceased."
The Two-Headed Gecko, pronounced dead.
"Alright, as we can see, Nyx has lived up to expectations and claimed victory in her debut match."
"After all, this is also Nyx's first performance since molting and growing past 20+cm, so I deliberately picked an opponent who wasn't too strong this time."
"But I'm very much looking forward to her future showings. Next up, let's welcome our next group of contestants..."
"Ta-da~" As she spoke, Zheng Yueling swapped in a different set of terrariums before the livestream camera.
It was several centipedes and an enormous toad.
At this point, most of the danmaku was still discussing the recent fight:
[Without counting leg span, Nyx isn't actually that much bigger than Second Doggo. Winning wasn't easy.]
[Even though Two-Headed Geckos are rare, Nyx still had the racial advantage.]
[Speaking of which, can Nyx even eat a gecko that big?]
...
Retreating "backstage," the Amazonian Laser Tarantula was certainly not about to let its hard-won kill go to waste.
Driven by instinct, Bai Jie pinned the gecko with one set of limbs while rotating his body to spin a ground web with his spinnerets.
Once the ground web was finished, he fixed the gecko onto it.
After all that meticulous "plating," Bai Jie found himself stumped again — he had no idea where to start eating.
Right then, a system message appeared:
[Digestive fluid may be injected into the target. Once the target's internal organs have dissolved, proceed to suction consumption.]
[Because the target is a venomous organism, under the effect of Talent · Poison-Refining Gu, consumption will fortify your Vitality.]
Got it.
Why was the system suddenly so intelligent?
Never mind, inject the digestive fluid first.
The digestive fluid worked quickly. In just a few minutes, Bai Jie began the suction process.
What Bai Jie didn't realize was that the normal feeding method for tarantulas was to bite prey and inject venom to paralyze it, then inject digestive fluid to break down the prey's internal structures.
He, on the other hand, was injecting venom in lethal doses that directly killed his prey.
This demonstrated that Bai Jie's venom differed from that of ordinary tarantulas — it not only had paralytic properties but was also lethal.
After finishing his meal, Bai Jie felt a warmth and dampness spreading through his entire body, along with a powerful urge to sleep.
"Thanks to I'm Going Now I'm Coming for the gift~"
"Thanks to Butterfly Stroke in the Wrong Place for the big plane! Thank you, thank you."
"Thanks to Jie-ge No Don't for the 6-month fan subscription."
Bai Jie: "..."
He glanced at Zheng Yueling, who was still livestreaming, and couldn't shake a persistent feeling of insecurity.
So he tossed the shriveled husk of the Two-Headed Gecko into a corner, spun another layer of webbing between the arched deadwood and the soil, and crawled inside the deadwood to sleep — marginally more comfortable now.
When Bai Jie awoke again, Zheng Yueling's livestream voice was gone. Darkness surrounded him on all sides — it seemed the dead of night had arrived.
Bai Jie tried to crawl out from inside the deadwood but found himself bumping into walls.
Had he gotten bigger?
Bai Jie eagerly summoned the Status Panel.
[Name]: Bai Jie
[Title]: Night Goddess Nyx
[Species]: Amazonian Blue-Violet Laser Tarantula (Adult)
[Skills]: Urticating Hair Kick Lv.2, Spider Silk Lv.2, Bite Lv.2, Basic Toxicity Lv.2
[Talents]: Poison-Refining Gu, Spirit-Devouring Body
[Vitality]: 0.1
[Satiety]: 80%
[Body Length]: Leg Span 26cm
Night Goddess Nyx? What the heck was that?
He also recalled that "Nyx" was the name Zheng Yueling had given this body.
Could someone please explain this? System! System?
No response...
Forget it. Moving on.
Bai Jie was slightly startled to discover that all his skills had leveled up, and his Vitality had reached 0.1.
What gratified Bai Jie most, though, was the change in body length — it was the most tangible change.
As his body stretched larger, his sensory range expanded, and his field of view broadened.
Over the course of the tarantula's long evolution, its eyes had become fairly dull. It now relied on the fine hairs covering its body segments to sense external changes.
Which was also why he couldn't see the nicknames the danmaku viewers were calling him.
In the deep hours of the night, Bai Jie simply stared at the Status Panel, unmoving.
He couldn't sleep. Figures kept flashing through his mind — Chen Zhang, A Xiao, other classmates, and his parents, far away in another province.
Now that he thought about it, he'd probably become the fifth person to vanish from Xingchuan University.
Would the CID investigate and go through his phone, his computer, his hard drives? Though his phone might already have been destroyed by Zheng Yueling.
Hmm... it wasn't a question of whether they would — they definitely would!
They might even hand it over to his parents as his last effects...
No! Absolutely not! Bai Jie's emotions suddenly surged.
Sigh. This is exactly why developing and launching a program that can one-click format or purge critical files is so critically necessary.
After all — "Though my body be ground to dust, let my name remain unstained in this world!"
As things stood, his "biological death" was already a foregone conclusion.
But if he could evolve fast enough, there was a chance he could still prevent his "social death" from happening...
The first night after being reincarnated as a spider flew by amidst Bai Jie's wild ruminations and self-deprecating humor.
All in all, Bai Jie's mood had lightened. What he didn't yet know was that the next day would bring him an opponent that would make his hair stand on end.