Regarding the little girl's concern, Xiao Feng provided a solution, saying, "That's easy to fix. At worst, I'll make an iron corset just for you. It certainly won't hurt you."

He then beckoned Zhao Guo'an to come over.

"What?" Zhao Guo'an looked wary.

"Kneel down, oh no, squat down."

"What do you mean?"

Xiao Feng pointed at the vines and explained, "I need to step on you to climb up and cut down the vines."

"I knew it, whenever you call me, it's never for anything good," Zhao Guo'an said irritably. "Why don't I step on you to go up instead."

"Because you have a fear of heights," Xiao Feng replied justifiably.

"..." Zhao Guo'an was speechless, once again realizing the downside of his fear of heights.

With no choice, he reluctantly squatted down, allowing Xiao Feng to step on his shoulders, climb to a height of over three meters, and start cutting the vines.

In fact, the little girl might not need such a long vine, but Xiao Feng thought it was better to cut it long and trim later if needed, as having extra was not a bad thing.

"Are you done yet?" Zhao Guo'an gritted his teeth and asked.

"Almost, just hold on for about an hour," Xiao Feng replied.

"An hour?" Zhao Guo'an said angrily, "Are you taking me for a fool…"

Before he finished speaking, he felt the weight on his shoulders lighten.

"Bang!"

Xiao Feng landed steadily on the ground, with a section of vine with fresh flowers beneath his feet.

At this moment, Lin Jiaxuan looked at Xiao Feng and said, "I remember there's a way to weave a chair with it. With the leftover material, you could make a chair and sit on it to sunbathe."

Xiao Feng chuckled lightly, "Sure, but a chair might not be enough. I might as well make a mat for you to lie on and sleep in the summer."

The crowd was speechless; the escalating war of words between the two showed no signs of abating.

After packing the vine into the backpack, everyone turned to leave.

But as soon as they turned around, they were all stunned, their expressions showing disbelief.

Because right above the arched doorway, a gigantic spider was crouching there, so still that if not looked at carefully, or without their previous encounters with Darcy and Hu Zhenqing, one might mistake it for some decorative relief.

"Phew..."

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Feng calmed himself, realizing that they had made the classic mistake of being blind to the obvious.

Indeed, upon entering, he checked the top, but forgot that behind them was a blind spot, leading to their current predicament.

"It seems to be asleep?"

Ninth Master asked uncertainly, looking at the motionless giant spider.

Clearly, Ninth Master was projecting his own habits onto the giant spider.

People tend to get sleepy after eating; could it be that spiders are the same?

"While it's not moving, let's withdraw first," Xiao Feng said in a low voice.

If their opponent were human, they could try probing attacks, but with such a massive spider, who knows what unknown methods it might have.

According to Darcy and Hu Zhenqing, this spider was impervious to bullets and even submachine guns couldn't pierce its defense, not to mention they only had cold weapons on hand.

As they slowly approached the arched doorway, Xiao Feng and the others kept an eye on the spider above.

Noticing that besides its massive size, each leg and its belly was covered with a layer of yellow bristles, which looked very hard, somewhat resembling those on a wild boar.

"Don't you think this spider seems a bit different from what Hu Zhenqing described?" Sun Shijie suddenly spoke.

Xiao Feng paused, recalled for a moment, and understood the discrepancy Sun Shijie was talking about.

According to Hu Zhenqing's earlier description, the spider was over a meter tall and about three meters long.

But the spider crouching over the doorway was still large, yet only half a meter tall and about one and a half meters long, a complete reduction by half.

In reality, when people are extremely panicked, they tend to exaggerate what they see.

The exaggeration here isn't meant as deliberate exaggeration but is a normal physiological reaction as memory gets distorted under the influence of fear and other psychological factors.

But the key issue is, even with such deviations, how could it be so much off?

"Be cautious, if I'm not mistaken, there should be more than one spider here," Xiao Feng said solemnly.

Just after he finished speaking, a loud noise erupted.

"Crack!"

The sound was loud, like a thunderbolt suddenly striking in clear weather, startling everyone.

The faces of Xiao Feng and the others turned serious.

As the noise occurred, the ground beneath them trembled slightly and briefly, as if someone was hammering it with a sledgehammer at a close distance.

"Whoosh!"

The sound of something slicing through the air was heard.

The spider that had been crouching above the doorway suddenly dropped down, suspending itself in mid-air, looking like it was performing a levitation act.

However, the small cobweb above the doorway and an almost transparent spider thread hanging in the air were enough to reveal the flaw.

From a performance perspective, it was full of loopholes, but if someone mistook the scene for a performance, they weren't just being too relaxed; they'd have to be out of their mind.

"What now?" Ninth Master panicked; it was his first time witnessing such a scene.

The spider hovered mid-air, slowly spinning, blocking the way out.

Unless they crawled underneath or dealt with the spider, getting out was wishful thinking.

"Head inside!"

Xiao Feng steeled himself, leading the group deeper into the place, akin to knowingly entering a tiger's lair.

The thunderous sound earlier had indeed come from deeper within, which everyone was aware of, but they really had no choice at this point.

Exit? Not possible, and going deeper carried unknown risks.

With danger at their front and back, they couldn't just sit and await doom.

Yet, after only a few steps, Xiao Feng and the group's movements halted again.

About fifty meters ahead stood an even larger spider, quietly confronting them there.

Under its foot, a leg was wedged into a crack in the stone ground, with faint signs of cracking around it.

This indicated that the crack wasn't naturally there, most likely caused by the spider's strength.

"This is probably the spider Hu Zhenqing and the others encountered," Lin Zhiyan said, her expression grim.

Both sides entered a standoff, with neither making the first move.

After a while, the giant spider finally couldn't hold its patience and began to turn around.

"Spread out!" Xiao Feng shouted quietly.

Although unclear about the spider's intentions, it certainly wouldn't turn around and spare them. Besides, Hu Zhenqing mentioned that this large spider could spit webs to trap people.

Given all the factors, the conclusion was: they couldn't stay bunched together. If things went south, they'd all be doomed.

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