Spider Monster

A police car with blue and white markings roared down the wide road, sounding its siren all the way.

The other vehicles made way when they saw the patrol car coming, stopping at the side of the road.

The drivers craned their necks to watch the patrol car drive away, some taking out their phones to take pictures of the back of the car to post on social media, while others called their friends and relatives in concern. Still others began reading the hot news reports from the city.

Those who lived near where the patrol car was headed still remained oblivious, continuing on with their peaceful daily lives.

"Viewers, it sounds like there's a siren up ahead! Let's go take a look," said Zhou Hai.

Zhou Hai was a big and burly man with a booming voice.

He held up his phone, turning the camera slowly around to give a view of his surroundings, before fixing it on the road up ahead for a few seconds to make sure the livestream viewers could see. Then he turned it back to point at himself.

He was standing among rows of residential towers, with people coming and going about their business. There were also cars parked by the roadsides that took up much of the already narrow passageways.

As Zhou Hai interacted with his livestream viewers, he couldn't help wondering to himself.

He hoped it wasn't too powerful a monster, otherwise even an E-class superhuman like himself could be in mortal danger just from being at the scene.

The viewers thought differently though. They watched superhuman livestreams to see monster battles - the more chaotic the better.

Comments flew quickly across the livestream:

[Wow, it can't be a Dimensional Intrusion if the patrol team was dispatched. Must be Class C or higher monster!]

[Not necessarily, patrol gets sent out for anything that appears in the city.]

[The probability is tiny though. For a low-class monster to sneak into the city without getting detected by the patrol squads, at least Class C.]

[Haven't you guys read the news reports about the monster pet scandal in the next city recently?]

[I just read up on the news. *sucks teeth*...what were those people thinking?]

[We'll know once the streamer gets there. I bet it's Class C.]

Zhou Hai carefully squeezed through crowds of seniors waiting outside the supermarket for discounted groceries before picking up his pace.

He read the viewers comments guessing the monster levels and joined in hyping things up, casually changing the stream title to something more clickbaity at the same time.

"Once we get past this crowd, I'll use my powers to get to the scene quickly. Take your guesses now on what level you think the monster is. If lots of you guess right, I'll do a 188 RMB giveaway later," said Zhou Hai.

Zhou Hai's superpower was superspeed. While not as flashy as superpowers focused on attacking, it was a perfect match for his job as a streamer.

He could easily carry his camera right up close to film monster battles, and also retreat quickly if needed.

With the streamer's encouragement, the commenters grew even more unhinged.

[I bet Class E. If I win I'll do my homework.]

[You just don't wanna do your homework, don't you?]

[I bet it's Hand Class S! If I win I'll go see King Yama! (doge)]

Class S...betting on something impossible just to say you'd go see King Yama if you won? Zhou Hai had to laugh. Most of his viewers were locals. If a real Class S showed up it'd send them all to see King Yama together.

Comments filled up the screen and viewer numbers kept climbing. Soon the stream was trending hard.

Seeing the hype building, Zhou Hai stopped wasting time and activated his powers, dashing off towards where the patrol car was headed.

Before long, he arrived at his destination. As usual, he panned his phone camera around to show the surroundings.

Similar to where he'd come from, it was just after work hours so rows of lifeless looking office workers were trickling out from the residential blocks. They massaged their shoulders and shuffled around with dead fish eyes.

Some were carrying bags of meat and vegetables, having just returned from shopping at the noisy wet market nearby.

A day's work had numbed their senses. Seeing the police car parked outside their compound, it took a while for them to react.

By instinct they halted in their tracks first. Then realizing something was up, they hurriedly called home.

Zhou Hai recorded all this with his phone camera, before showing his superpower license to the officers guarding the area to get in.

The livestream commenters were more lively than Zhou Hai. While he was traveling they started madly spamming comments.

[Oh no, could there be monster hoarders even in our city?]

[How dare you accuse? Monsters eat humans, it's common sense! Of course residential areas would be monster buffets!]

[Why are you comparing yourselves to food?!]

[I'm actually laughing like a mouse here!]

Upon entering the residential area, Zhou Hai became extremely alert despite only being one level below the suspected Class C monster.

Superhumans and monsters have power levels from SABCDE. Every two levels is considered a separate tier, with DE as low tier, going up accordingly, mid tier, then high tier.

An untrained non-combat E-class would be no different from a normal human. But an E-class monster could easily overpower an E-class superhuman in sheer physical ability alone.

Not to mention they were only guessing Class C. No telling if it might be an even higher class monster.

"Show some support with free gifts for your streamer who's risking his life to show you all this! Just what level is this monster? Big bro Zhou will take you to go find out!"

They called him "Lao Zhou" which sounded like the word for waves, but the commenters insisted on intentionally calling him the homophone "Lao Lang" or big bro wolf instead. After a long time Zhou Hai just gave in.

Hey, it helped earn money...

Zhou Hai cautiously ventured deeper into the residential area. The camera slowly panned forwards as the viewers finally stopped their merrymaking for now.

The narrow, dim corridors between blocks were oppressive. Zhou Hai's footsteps echoed sharply against the concrete ground.

[Oh no, I'm feeling a bit nervous now!]

[Nervous already? I'm not a scaredy cat, I've seen A-class before through the screen!]

[You mean you've only seen an A-class monster through the screen right?]

[Hahaha, no need to point that out!]

Beyond what his phone camera could show, Zhou Hai turned his attention to the congregation of uniformed people up ahead. This was the protective barrier of the city - the Patrol Team.

Zhou Hai quickened his steps to get closer to them, while still remembering to hype things up.

"Hey look, there's the Patrol Team up ahead. Means the monster must be near them. Uhh...just wanna make clear your big bro here isn't getting closer for the hunky uncles' fanservice or to leech off their sense of security! Definitely not."

[We understand, we understand!]

[So shy!]

[What shy, he's just being truthful!]

[Who cares about the uncles, gimme cute girls!]

Seeing the comments, Zhou Hai searched for a bit before pointing his camera at one of the female Patrol Team members.

Among them, a young woman with her hair tied in a ponytail exuded a clear, stern aura. She directed the scene energetically, currently holding a radio and saying something inaudible from too far away.

Her pretty features didn't detract whatsoever from her impressive height and commanding presence. No one on scene doubted her competency.

Sensing someone approaching to film her, her sharp gaze swept over. After confirming the person wasn't a threat she continued directing the scene.

[Daaamn, sis I'm available!]

[Sis can consider me, bro here is also available!]

[Good lord, I tripped on my pants right after entering stream!]

[Stop looking at the babe, streamer look above!]

Seeing this comment, Zhou Hai hurriedly tilted his head up while adjusting his camera.

A giant spider was crouched in the shadows above. Six single eyes stared quietly at the people below. Most unnerving were the two biggest eyes, which were closed, looking extremely similar to human eyes instead of a normal spider's.

Its eight legs were also drastically different from regular spiders, shaped almost exactly like human arms and hands instead.