Chapter 14: The Spider Girl
“Then who are you?”
“I’m certainly no good person,” the man’s expression instantly shifted to something dark and sinister, as if he came with his own horror soundtrack. “I’m going to take you away, dissect you, and sell you for a good price—hohoho.”
Chi Qian: “…”
“…Third Uncle, are you having fun?”
Chi Fengxiao froze. “How did you know?”
“First, you look a little like Big Uncle. Second, your personality isn’t like the way Grandpa described Second Uncle. And lastly… Big Uncle said you’re just a background actor.”
Chi Qian shook her head, surprised that her third uncle had it this rough.
Being an extra must be exhausting, right?
The award-winning Chi Film Emperor had been in the business for years, but this was the first time someone had ever looked at him with such sympathy.
Suddenly, his acting itch kicked in. “So what if I’m an extra? That’s because I don’t rely on the family—I’m fighting my way up on my own. Send me a hundred bucks now, and when I make it big one day, I’ll take you along for the good life.”
Chi Qian: “Uncle, even though you don’t have much ability right now and can’t earn much money, with your amazing talent for making empty promises, I’m sure you’ll be filthy rich someday.”
“…You’re really a tough one to deal with.” Chi Fengxiao scowled. “Hurry up and give me money, or we’re walking home tonight.”
He hadn’t brought any cash with him.
Chi Qian fished out one hundred and one yuan.
“What’s with this extra coin?”
“For your empty promises.”
“….”
Chi Fengxiao filled up the tank at a gas station and continued driving.
Chi Qian asked, “Third Uncle, where’s my second uncle?”
“He’s busy lately, doesn’t have time to look after you, so we made a little… adult arrangement,” Chi Fengxiao said lazily.
In truth, his original words had been: “I don’t have the time to raise some kid for the old man. I’m allergic to brats.”
It wasn’t until his second brother offered him Chi Fengxiao’s favorite sports car that he reluctantly agreed.
He hadn’t wanted to at first, but the payment was just too generous.
As for raising a kid? As long as she didn’t die, it counted as mission accomplished.
Chi Qian quickly realized this third uncle didn’t really want her here, and only picked her up because he was forced to.
But that was fine. She didn’t care much either.
After all, she hadn’t voluntarily swallowed that “empty promise” either.
Chi Fengxiao brought Chi Qian back to his temporary apartment, told her to amuse herself, then went into the bathroom.
Chi Qian took one look around and felt worried about her future life.
Clothes everywhere. Food lying around. Hygiene in utter chaos.
This uncle was clearly the type of person who’d step on a fallen broom instead of picking it up.
Could he really take care of her?
But that was fine—she was adaptable. She could sleep anywhere.
When Chi Fengxiao came out and didn’t see her, he glanced into the guest room.
There she was, lying peacefully on the bed, hands folded over her stomach, looking less like someone sleeping and more like… a corpse.
Chi Fengxiao snorted, “Big heart, this kid,” and went to the living room.
Not long after, his manager Zhao came in.
“You’ve been treating your insomnia by taking corpse roles for half a year now, wasting all that time. It’s time to get back to work,” manager Zhao nagged. “There aren’t any good scripts at the moment, so you have to take this variety show.”
Chi Fengxiao laughed in disbelief. “Escape, the Idol’s Way? A survival-parenting reality show? Do I look like someone who’s going to have kids?”
“Don’t you have a child at home who’s the right age? As long as they’re over four, it works.”
“I don’t have that kind of creature in my house. Unless the old man secretly had some illegitimate son or daughter.” Chi Fengxiao said it casually, completely forgetting someone else was indeed living there.
Manager Zhao scolded, “If Chairman Chi hears you, he’ll break your legs.”
“Look, you can just use my niece to fill in. It’s a good show—you’ll regret passing it up.”
Chi Fengxiao raised a brow. “Think you can fool the production team?”
“Relax. I’ve heard some of the other guests are doing the same thing. It should be fine.”
“Alright, your call.”
“The crew’s coming for a surprise shoot tomorrow morning. This place looks like a burglar’s den—I’ll send someone to clean up.”
“Yeah yeah, whatever. Now scram, you’re cutting into my game time.”
Once Manager Zhao left, Chi Fengxiao promptly ignored everything he’d said, gamed all night, and only collapsed into bed at dawn.
At 7:30 a.m., the ‘Escape, the Idol’s Way’ crew appeared at his door.
“Good morning, livestream audience!” the producer greeted the camera excitedly. “We’ve arrived at Movie Emperor Chi’s home for a surprise shoot!”
The livestream comments:
[Hurry up, hurry up! Catch him before he wakes up! Show us his bare face and his naked body!]
[Bet he already staged everything. The other three guests all had their homes spotless—boring.]
[Come on, broadcast something you’re not supposed to!]
[So evil. I love it.]
The crew hadn’t told him what time they’d arrive, banking on chaos and panic for “authentic reactions.”
Quietly, they sneaked into the apartment, pushed a door open—
And what did they see?
Chi Qian, who hadn’t slept well, was up early stretching. At that exact moment, she was bent backward in a deep bridge pose.
Her hair wasn’t tied up, so her long black hair spilled onto the floor, her upside-down face staring straight at the doorway—right at the frozen production team.
Crew: “?!”
Chi Qian: “?!”
Burglars!
She didn’t even have time to think, much less stand up.
Instead, still bent backward, she scuttled toward them on all fours like a terrifying, agile spider.
The production crew: “Aaaaahhhh!!!”
“Ghost!!!”
Their screams nearly pierced the sky. Everyone from the crew clutched their chests like their hearts had stopped, tossing aside expensive filming gear as they bolted for the door in terror.
One poor cameraman tripped and fell behind. When he turned his head, the spider-woman had already caught up to him!
He let out a blood-curdling “Ahhhh!” and scrambled desperately across the floor, his limbs slipping wildly. No matter how hard he flailed, he didn’t manage to move more than two centimeters.
Live broadcast chat:
[Holy crap! Something just popped right into my face?!]
[That wasn’t Film Emperor Chi, was it? It was a woman! And the way she ran was terrifying!]
[I swear I just saw a spider demon!]
[Help! My husband hasn’t already been eaten by her, right?!]
All the commotion woke up Chi Fengxiao. Even with a face still handsome enough to kill after a sleepless night, he walked out looking annoyed.
“What the hell—so noisy this early in the mor—”
He froze mid-sentence. Right there on the floor, he locked eyes with the “spider-woman.”
Only… her eyes were upside down.
“Holy shit!!” Chi Fengxiao yelped, springing straight onto the sofa, his handsome face stiff with fear. “What the hell is that?! Is this some prank from the production team?!”
The director, who’d run to the doorway, was on the verge of tears. “We were about to ask you! What is this?!”
Chi Fengxiao’s brain finally caught up, taking a closer look at the “spider-woman.” “Chi Qian?”
“It’s me.” Chi Qian opened her mouth. With her current pose, the sight was even scarier.
