The Spider Queen

Chapter 158: Another Batch

(Planet Calypso)

(Outer District- The Slums)

“Another batch goes into that wretched place,” an old woman spat on the ground as she fearfully eyed the wooden house.

Young, beautiful, and attractive girls who were relatively high quality for those found in the market.

The elderly woman was clearly a long-time resident of the slums as her wrinkled skin and emotionless eyes told the story of a lady who had suffered greatly.

Over half a dozen slave girls had entered its dark interior and after a series of screams…. no sounds could be heard.

As for the fate of those girls…. the old lady was unwilling to put herself in danger to find out.

“Auntie we need to stay away from there,” a young child ran up to his older relative and hurriedly guided her away.

Everyone in the slums knew that a hulking seven-foot-tall hybrid man now lived in what was considered as the best house in the area.

But it should be noted that this so called ‘high class’ house was nothing more than a sturdy two-bedroom building made of wood and other simple materials. 

The hybrid’s large size, hideous appearance and alien-like appendages were enough to scare off most common criminals.

As for the braver ones who attempted to rob the house…. their mutilated corpses were flung onto the streets.

Law and order was just a fantasy in the outer district as the Blackguards were mainly there to protect the businesses rather than citizens.

And even they had no interest in involving themselves with a madman for the sake of some thieves.

The monster had a companion, but the boy seemed to be suffering from a rare disease that caused terrible boils and warts to grow on his face.

He was warm and easy going so some of the locals had already became good friends with him. It helped that he would often sponsor a round of drinks for free.

No one knew what pirate crew both men belonged to or if there was even a faction behind them.

Most of the pirates in the slums were lone wolves and preferred to act as sell swords rather than joining a crew.

It was a great risk to join a pirate organization as the number one priority of most members was to look after themselves.

Pirates notoriously had a reputation of immediately fleeing the battlefield once a fight had turned too disadvantages.

And when it came to running, one would not have to be the fastest man in the crew…

He just needed to be faster than the slowest member.

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Cleo and Sophie had fallen into a regular routine as they gradually integrated into the underground community.

New batches of slaves were sent over every week and by now Sophie’s reputation as a sick monster was all but confirmed.

Rumors had spread that she was a cannibal that consumed and stripped flesh down to the bone which was why none of the slave corpses had been thrown out of the wooden house.

Sophie needed to maintain an air of mystery, so she spent most of the day inside the house while Cleo was the one to do most of the reconnaissance.

It would not be a lie to say that a small part of her was very worried every time her girlfriend went outside by herself, but Sophie could always feel the connection between them.

The mark imprinted on Cleo’s chest had recently started to glow with a pinkish hue and Sophie discovered that she could get a sense of the location of her partner.

Several months had passed by without any sight of her aunt in the amulet space so Sophie did not know who to turn to for information.

“I still can’t get over your appearance,” Cleo laughed softly as she gently stroked Sophie’s hair.

“Do you think I like seeing gross pus boils on my girlfriend?” Sophie rolled her eyes and firmly spanked Cleo’s ass.

The princess shot her an amorous look and the air between the two girls begun to heat up, but their hideous disguises soon quenched the rising passion.

Sophie coughed awkwardly and tried to change the topic to something else,

“So, did you find any leads?” she asked.

“Yeah…. I heard a rumor that Long John has been looking for a man called Luke,” Cleo straightened up and handed Sophie a piece of paper.

“A bounty hunter at the brothel down the road was boasting about how he would capture Luke and take the treasure for himself.”

“Apparently, some other groups caught wind of these rumors and now there is a two million Enas bounty on his head.”

Sophie opened the folded paper and saw the sketched profile of a teenager probably a few years younger than herself.

Luke was not a handsome boy by any stretch of the imagination as he had thick greasy hair that hung down his shoulders with piercing grey eyes.

His clothes were in tatters and would not look out of place on a beggar. 

“We just need to join the hunting parties and we should eventually find John. From what I heard…. it seems that only qi body and spirit cultivators are joining in the search,” Cleo continued.

“Do you want to fish in troubled waters and try to snag the treasure for ourselves?” she asked curiously.

“No. There is no need to take any additional risks,” came the firm reply from Sophie. 

If there truly was a treasure….

Would the big organizations on planet Calypso simply allow a group of low-level criminals to claim it as their own?

Undoubtedly there would be other forces hidden in the dark.

Sophie always kept the safety of herself and Cleo as the number one priority during the mission. 

There were no penalties for failing to catch a bounty target but even if they did not manage to capture Long John, they had still freed over fifty slaves so far.

Most of the slaves were human but there were a few noteworthy exceptions….