[The next day.]
Not long after Kaelen swiped his badge at the library entrance, Head Archivist Silas called all the ground-floor staff into the breakroom for an emergency meeting.
The reason for the grim assembly was, naturally, the unlucky man from yesterday.
And that's when Kaelen finally learned the terrifying fate of the victim.
The good news was: the man was technically still alive.
The bad news was: he had been declared completely brain-dead. A total vegetable.
The hospital's toxicology report indicated severe, catastrophic poisoning. The leading Aether-surgeons determined that the victim had likely been bitten by a highly mutated, venomous Rift Insect.
The neurotoxin was so incredibly potent that if the man hadn't possessed a baseline Level 2 Mortal Tier cultivation to passively resist it, his heart would have liquefied on the spot, sending him straight to the afterlife.
And based on the timeline and security logs, it was undeniably clear: the victim was bitten by this highly lethal insect while peacefully reading inside the library.
Hearing this news, the color drained from every employee's face. The room fell dead silent.
There's a highly lethal, mutated Rift Insect hiding in the library?!
If one of us accidentally pissed it off while shelving books, wouldn't we end up as a drooling vegetable just like that unlucky corporate drone?
At this horrifying thought, even Kaelen's expression soured completely.
Why did I like working in the archives? It was strictly because it was supposed to be safe, stable, and completely stress-free.
But now I'm being told that casually scanning barcodes comes with a very real risk of sudden, agonizing brain death!
This is basically a breach of my non-existent contract!
In this dystopian nightmare world, is it seriously this hard to find a quiet corner to just lie flat and slack off in peace?!
A moment later, Head Archivist Silas concluded the meeting by slamming a clipboard on the table, assigning everyone a mandatory task to address the crisis.
A full, top-to-bottom deep clean!
The venomous threat had to be eradicated immediately!
Evidently, rumors of the poisoning had leaked, bringing a massive wave of negative PR to the Astral Library. The corporate higher-ups had handed down a strict, zero-tolerance mandate: this problem had to be solved today, or heads would roll. A PR disaster like this was absolutely not allowed to happen again!
"Hey Kaelen, do me a favor. Look closely. Is the spot right between my eyebrows turning black with bad luck?"
After the meeting dispersed, Xander nudged Kaelen, looking utterly defeated.
"?"
Kaelen looked at Xander, confused.
Xander sighed pitifully. "I got beaten with the Aether-belt again last night."
The tragic incident had happened directly in Xander's Sector 2, so as the administrator on duty, the blame naturally trickled down to him.
Although the library management had officially buried the police report, someone still had to be the corporate scapegoat.
Speaking of which, Kaelen had to admit that Chairman Vance was indeed a master of corporate string-pulling. If a patron had been rendered brain-dead in Kaelen's Sector 1, Kaelen—with his total lack of background and money—would have been fired, sued, and likely thrown into a penal colony by now. Someone always had to take the fall.
But Xander was able to return to work, completely safe and sound, without a single demerit on his official record. It was painfully obvious his father had been aggressively throwing money around behind the scenes.
However, Xander hadn't gotten off completely scot-free at home. Seeing his look of utter despair, it was clear he had once again tasted the agonizing "comfort" of his father's disciplinary belt yesterday evening.
"Look on the bright side, man. You should be down on your knees thanking the stars you weren't the one who got bitten," Kaelen couldn't help but console him.
"Er..."
Xander paused for a moment, genuinely thinking about it, then nodded vigorously.
"You know what, Kaelen? You're absolutely right. Thank the gods I wasn't the target."
Thinking of the unlucky man lying braindead on life support, a violent chill ran down Xander's spine.
"If I got turned into a vegetable, wouldn't all those beautiful, hardworking young ladies at The Platinum Mirage lose a massive source of their income?" Xander said with utmost seriousness. "They already have it so rough in this economy. I have to preserve my useful body so I can continue to properly support them."
Kaelen: "..."
Well, aren't you just a selfless saint.
I swear to god, I am going to curse you until your kidneys actually implode!
Kaelen turned on his heel and walked away, absolutely refusing to engage with this degenerate any further.
"Hey! Kaelen, wait up! Where are you going?"
Kaelen gritted his teeth, grabbing a bio-hazard mask from the supply closet. "Where else? The deep clean!"
Xander was afraid of getting beaten, but Kaelen cherished his actual life even more. During this mandatory deep clean, he had to hunt down and completely obliterate this "venomous insect" hiding in his sanctuary.
Although he possessed the absurd physical stats of a Half-Step Awakened, and perhaps a bug bite wouldn't pose a fatal threat to his 'Absolute Immortal Body', he wasn't about to test it. It was always better to be safe than sorry.
Armed with heavy-duty chemical spray, Kaelen was prepared to do everything in his power to eradicate this unknown threat.
A few minutes later, Kaelen and Xander collected industrial-grade insecticide, acidic ant-killer, and UV scanners from Head Archivist Silas and marched to their respective sectors.
This deep clean was a targeted assassination mission for a lethal pest, so it naturally wasn't going to be as simple as dusting shelves. The sole objective was to slaughter bugs!
For the sake of preserving his own life, even the usually lazy and unreliable Xander was dead serious this time. Holding a massive canister of military-grade insecticide, he diligently fumigated every square inch of Sector 2. He practically bathed the area in chemicals, determined not to let a single microbe escape.
As for Kaelen, he went so far as to physically pull out every single ancient manual, spraying neuro-toxin spray into the dark, dusty blind spots behind the heavy steel bookshelves.
"Phew!"
"I'm dead! My arms are falling off!"
Hours later, after they had finally finished, Xander collapsed dramatically into a reading chair. He let out a long sigh of relief, pulled two cigarettes from his pocket, and handed one to Kaelen.
Kaelen took the cigarette, and the two of them slumped in the back aisle, puffing away in exhaustion.
During his meticulous rampage, Kaelen had been incredibly thorough, ultimately achieving a nine-kill streak on various silverfish and common spiders.
However, what deeply puzzled Kaelen was that despite literally tearing the place apart, neither he nor Xander had found any uniquely venomous or mutated spiders.
Recalling the raspy warning the unlucky man had choked out before slipping into a coma, Kaelen's brow furrowed tightly.
Did I mishear him?
What kind of spider could possibly be hiding here that can survive military bug spray?
[DING! EMPEROR-TIER ENTITY DETECTED. HOST, PLEASE EVACUATE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY!]
[WARNING! CRITICAL WARNING!]
[HOST, PLEASE FLEE FOR YOUR LIFE IMMEDIATELY!]
Just as Kaelen was lost in thought, the System's blaring, apocalyptic notification tone suddenly detonated in his mind like a flashbang.
Kaelen's hand jerked, nearly dropping his cigarette. After his brain processed the words, his expression immediately twisted into an ugly scowl.
Here we go again!
This damn piece-of-trash System is glitching out again!
Can't you at least give me a visual warning before screaming in my ears?! Sooner or later, you're actually going to give me a heart attack.
Xander looked at Kaelen's twitching face in confusion. "Dude, what's wrong with you?"
Kaelen shook his head to dismiss it, but then his sharp gaze suddenly locked onto the shadows near the ceiling directly behind Xander's head.
A tiny, dark purple figure was quickly, silently skittering across the vaulted ceiling.
A spider!
A purple spider!
[ALERT! ALERT!]
[EMPEROR-TIER RIFT BEAST: THE VIOLET SOUL DEMON SPIDER HAS BEEN DETECTED APPROACHING! HOST, PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY, OR YOU WILL FACE ABSOLUTE CERTAIN DEATH!]
[HOST, EVACUATE!]
[EVACUATE THIS SECTOR IMMEDIATELY!]
The exact moment Kaelen's eyes locked onto the purple spider, the System's voice shrieked out again.
And its tone was incredibly urgent, sounding unusually panicked, desperate, and filled with a digital terror. It was reacting as if Kaelen's soul was about to be ripped from his body if he didn't run that very second.
Violet Soul Demon Spider?
An Emperor-Tier?!
Listening to the System's somewhat familiar, dramatic introduction, Kaelen instantly recalled the pathetic "King-Tier Undying Cockroach" from last month.
Kaelen didn't believe the AI for a single second.
This tiny, thumbnail-sized spider is an Emperor-Tier doomsday beast?
Are you actually kidding me right now?
The little purple arachnid currently crawling on the ceiling did look a bit different from common house spiders, sure.
But to claim it was a city-destroying, Ascendant-killing Emperor-Tier beast?
Kaelen wouldn't believe it even if someone held a gun to his head. An Emperor-Tier was an existence that even flying human Grandmasters wouldn't dare to provoke without an army backing them up.
And you're seriously telling me it's just quietly hiding in this dusty little library?
That's the most ridiculous fantasy I've ever heard.
Clearly, the System was severely broken.
Suddenly, a sleek, translucent blue holographic screen materialized directly in front of Kaelen's eyes.
========================
RACE: Violet Soul Demon Spider (Harbors the dormant bloodline of an Ancient Abyssal Weaver)
THREAT LEVEL: Emperor-Tier
TALENT: Necrotic Soul Venom, Violet Dominion Aura
TRAIT: Highly Sentient. Deeply obsessed with observing and studying human Combat Arts.
His gaze swept over the glowing text hovering before him, and Kaelen completely froze. The cigarette finally slipped from his fingers, hitting the floor.
This little bug... really is an Emperor-Tier?!