Chapter 165: Silk Trap (1)
As they talked, Neha realized she didn't see Blaze evolving herself. Nor did she see him killing others. Everything she knew came from others.
Whether he did or didn't do as Neha said couldn't be determined anymore. It was safe to say that she had killed Blaze in their time based on a misunderstanding and half-truths.
That being said, Neha couldn't forgive Blaze for what he had done. She was wrong for killing him, but he wasn't innocent either. He had killed thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of humans alone.
Zombie or not, there was no excuse for that. Not like Blaze was making one.
"All that said… I know what's coming isn't any good," Neha said, extending her hand towards Blaze. "I'll never stop trying to kill you, even in this life. But we can have a temporary truce, only until these aliens are defeated."
"Fine by me. I don't mind because I would do the same," Blaze replied, shaking her hand with a tendril to remind Neha who he was, despite how human he had seemed minutes ago.
But he hid something from her. He didn't intend to defeat the Collective. That was impossible even if they lived for another hundred thousand years. He merely wanted to escape their clutches.
As for the discussion they had before, he was sure he had become a super-evolver in Neha's past. He only wanted her to think otherwise.
Why was he so sure of it?
It was simple. He was ready to sacrifice it all, even kill Alaric, if he could get that super-evolver thing.
As much as I would have loved to research on it, I'm out of time. Perhaps I can ask my mysterious helper after dealing with the Observers.
"About the birds," Neha mumbled, interrupting his thoughts. "I have an idea where they could be, but there's one problem."
"Catching them?"
Neha nodded and snapped her fingers as she proceeded to tell what she remembered about the birds.
However, there wasn't much to tell.
Back in her past world, the birds were basically the apex predators. Their large size post-evolution made them immune to natural predators, other than other birds.
The only other predators she knew about were arachnids. They didn't actively hunt for birds, but once in a while, they'd catch one to lay their eggs.
They'd keep the birds alive in cocoons, and make several holes in them to lay eggs. When these eggs hatched, they'd eat their way out of the birds. And the circle repeated.
This process wasn't restricted to birds, but anything that got trapped in their web.
"What I'm trying to say is, if we find a spider, we can use its web to catch and trap birds for you to experiment on."
"I reckon you know where these spiders are?"
***
Some time later…
A group of zombie stalkers was rushing through the swamps. Their keen eyes stared at everything. Cyclops's vines were slithering next to them, while Fester and the ants moved underground.
Blaze and Neha stood near Cyclops, waiting for the news.
He had let Breaker, Marrow, Chimera, and Raven continue their hunt for birds in the spots Neha had marked.
"Telling you, I am. Know if an unknown creature in my swamp there was, I would," Cyclops urged.
The tree was annoyed because it was being deprived of the joy of cultivating fruits and vegetables. Sadly, none of it would be used for long, and Blaze didn't want to reveal that information. Just in case the tree decided to go berserk.
"That's what I said," Blaze said, shrugging. "But she's sure there are some here, so it's better to confirm."
Cyclops's branches shuddered. It was the tree's way of expressing its disapproval.
They waited for a while, but nothing happened. It was weird since the stalkers were sending signals back to let Blaze know they hadn't found anything.
Suddenly, those signals disappeared, but the zombies hadn't died either.
Something is off.
Just then, Fester spoke through the link.
"Skree! Skree!"
The stalkers disappeared?
"So, did you find them?" Neha asked, looking smug.
She couldn't see past Blaze's mask, but the way he had gone silent told her everything she needed to know.
Blaze ignored her and kept chatting with Fester.
Can you feel their presence?
"Skree!"
No? I see. Hold your position. We'll be there in a moment.
"Skr."
Blaze turned to Neha, wrapping a tendril around her waist. Then, without a word, he jumped onto Cyclops's branch before swinging deeper into the swamp.
With them gone, Cyclops turned his attention back to the farm.
"Safe, the swamp is, and safe the farm is too."
***
"So… is this safe according to that tree?" Neha said with a hint of sarcasm.
Blaze didn't pay attention to her words. He was more interested in the webbing all over the place.
"Spider silk," he mumbled, looking up.
Instead of being surprised by the spider's presence, he was regretting not finding this nest before. The spider's webbing would have been useful to him for many things.
He kept learning about strange things now that he didn't have the time to experiment with them.
"We got lucky you have those zombies explore this place first," Neha whispered, careful not to step on the web. "It's next to impossible to notice these webs in this darkness. Your spires inadvertently created the perfect lair for them."
"We all make mistakes," Blaze replied. "Just like the one who chose you to be a regressor."
"…"
Fester dug out of the ground upon sensing Blaze. It thought the spider silk was stopping its master from proceeding and bit into it. Sadly, the haste got it caught in the webbing.
"…"
"…that's some pet you got."
Met with a strange substance, Fester panicked, which got it trapped with even more webs.
"Stay still."
Blaze scolded Fester before squatting down. He knew the webbing would be difficult to break. That's why he wasn't stepping on it. Now that Fester had been caught, struggling would only bring the spider to them.
He then used his claws to tear the webs with much difficulty. Once freed, Fester immediately dug itself into the ground. The little guy was embarrassed after failing to help its master.
"Got any ideas?" Blaze asked Neha since she most likely knew about it.
"I'm glad you asked."