Starting with the titmouse, seventy-two transformations

Chapter 53 Deduction: Life is like taking the stage, death is like the curtain falling (Part 1)

In the first year, you hatch from the egg sac and undergo your first molt.

It's dark before my eyes, everything is blurry, and I can't see the world clearly.

You tapped your claws, and the ground trembled slightly. For the first time, the earth beneath you took shape.

Your mother forcibly transferred you to its back to "nourish" you.

In the second year, you and your brothers and sisters were moved to a strange nest by a powerful creature, and you never saw your mother again.

You learned to weave nets, to hunt, and to patiently lie in wait.

The nest is cold, but you like it.

Because without a mother's constraints, you can do whatever you want.

In the third year, you explored the area within a hundred miles of the nest.

The silk you spin is incredibly strong; even tigers and wolves cannot break free from it.

Your menu now includes eagles, wolves, tigers, and bears.

You live a free and easy life.

……

In the seventh year, a restlessness arose within you, as if you had awakened a mission.

You inexplicably learned a new dance, and your temperament became irritable.

You drive away or even kill nearby male spiders, even your own brothers.

You desire the mother spider.

In the eighth year, you took a fancy to a beautiful female spider.

It has a shiny black body, long legs, strong pincers, and sharp teeth...

It's so beautiful.

After months of lying in wait, you finally captured a wild boar of a different species.

You were injured, but you were happy.

You led your prey to the beautiful female spider and performed a dance for her.

It eats the wild boar, and you take the opportunity to jump onto its back to mate.

The feeling of mating is great.

You feel like you've accomplished a great mission.

You're feeling smug.

You're trapped.

You sense something is wrong and try to break free, but it's too late.

The mother spider spun out silk threads to wrap you up.

Its sharp teeth pierced your head and injected venom.

You have become its prey.

You tap it hard with your chelicerae and ask it why it is doing that.

It gave you a cold glance, then sucked even more fiercely.

[You are dead. 92 Spirit Points will be refunded.]

……

"Why does this mother spider's behavior give me such a strong sense of déjà vu? Is it a warning sign of childbirth?"

Liu Sheng rubbed his nose, cleared his mind of distractions, and began to deduce the problem again.

This time, he mentally instructed himself not to mate and to stay away from the female spider.

……

[First year...]

...

In your twentieth year, you suppress your impulses and stay away from all mother spiders.

You want to live longer.

On this day, you successfully captured a rhinoceros.

You are about to eat when an iron ruler falls from the clouds and crushes you to death.

You vaguely hear a sentence...

What use are you if you don't mate?

……

Gan!
Mating means death, not mating also means death.

The life of a male spider is like a pre-written script, a predetermined resource.

Liu Sheng clenched his fists, staring at the ink-wash light and shadow hanging on the panel, still immersed in the resentment and anger of "Spider Life".

He paced back and forth in the room, muttering to himself, sometimes gritting his teeth, which frightened Fan Shaoming so much that his face turned pale.

After a moment, he calmed down and sat down by the window.

Since we'll die whether we mate or not, why not...

Escape the lair!

Just like when the Green-Scaled Serpent escaped from the snake pit.

"Invest 500 points of spiritual energy and keep deducing the Black Puppet Spider, skipping failure prompts, until the energy is used up or the deduction is successful."

……

[In the twenty-third year... you died.]

...

[In the eighteenth year... you died.]

...

...

An hour later.

After dying twenty-three times in a row, Liu Sheng was numb with exhaustion, but he finally found a glimmer of hope.

……

[First year...]

…[Year Twelfth…]

After years of growth, the spider silk you spun will eventually sever all traces of life.

Living creatures dwell within, yet appear dead, devoid of any breath.

You spin a cocoon, envelop yourself, and enter a state of suspended animation.

[In the thirteenth year, wrapped in your silken cocoon, you were blown several feet by the wind.]

...

In the twenty-third year, your silk cocoon was swallowed by a bird, which carried you for miles before excreting you in its droppings and falling into a stream.

You still haven't woken up.

...

In the twenty-seventh year, you floated on the water for several years wrapped in a silk cocoon, until you were finally swallowed by a red carp.

You still haven't woken up.

...

In the thirtieth year, the manager of the Liu family opera troupe bought a red carp at the market.

The cook was cleaning a fish when he found a silver cocoon inside its belly.

Although silk cocoons are soft, they are impervious to swords and spears, and impervious to water and fire, which is considered a wonder.

You have been collected by the head of the Liu family troupe.

The daily music and singing of the opera troupe, along with the lively atmosphere, gradually awaken you.

[The thirty-first year, the Lantern Festival temple fair.]

When Green Pearl first appeared on stage, she became an instant sensation, captivating the entire region. She performed for thirty-three consecutive shows, yet her performances remained highly sought after.

The troupe leader of the Liu family offered a generous reward, but Green Pearl refused the money, only asking for the silver silk cocoon to be cut out of the fish's belly.

That night, Green Pearl fell into a deep sleep, and you bit through the silk cocoon beside her pillow, seeing the light of day again.

This year marks twenty years since you sealed yourself in a silk cocoon and pretended to be dead.

You were extremely hungry. You glanced at Green Pearl by your pillow and finally quietly went out the door.

On this very night, the old courtesan died alone on her bed; you may enjoy her.

In the thirty-second year, you settled down in the Liu family troupe.

Here you can enjoy opera, musical instruments, and singing every day; it's very lively.

Occasionally, actors would die and become your meal.

With plenty to eat and drink, and even opera performances to enjoy, life is truly pleasant.

In the stillness of the night, you would spin silk and manipulate the remaining actors' skins, making them reenact their performances from their past lives.

You are very happy.

...

[In the thirty-eighth year, Green Pearl had been in the limelight for six years, and had long since seen countless mountains and rivers and experienced the ways of the world.]

The Liu family troupe was thriving, and its fame spread to Anxi Prefecture.

That year, the Liu Family Troupe was invited to perform "The Peach Banquet" at the Chang Le County Government Office to celebrate the birthday of the county magistrate's mother.

That night, Green Pearl was raped by the magistrate's son.

You can see it clearly: one is playing hard to get, and the other is pretending to be drunk; they're both putting on an act, but Green Pearl sings better.

Could this be the way humans mate?

interesting!

Unfortunately, Green Pearl sang terribly.

Together with the Liu family troupe, they were driven out of Changle County by the county magistrate.

She became less popular, and her status in the opera troupe plummeted.

Her belly grew bigger.

Her role was replaced by a little girl named Ziyu.

She became the "basic member" of the opera troupe, not only singing minor roles to make up the numbers, but also doing laundry and cooking.

She accidentally broke Ziyu's gold and kingfisher feather headdress and was kicked out of the opera troupe.

You saw it clearly; that thing was deliberately thrown to the ground by Ziyu, and many people witnessed it.

But they all said it was Green Pearl who fell.

In the dead of winter, heavy snow fell in Baihu Town.

Green Pearl was struggling to survive with her large pregnant belly; she was about to give birth and was also about to die.

You didn't help her.

Why should we help?
Those who ruin a performance should pay the price.

Just like a male spider finding a female spider to mate with, it gets eaten after it's done.

The snow stopped that night.

Green Pearl gave birth to a baby girl in the corner of a large house, her body covered in blood…

Very ugly.

The bleeding wouldn't stop and spread all over the ground.

White and red.

She's going to die, and the baby won't survive either.

She struggled to turn her head and look at you hanging from the eaves.

She said that she was born with heterochromia and could see through wood and stone, and that's how she discovered you inside the silk cocoon back then.

However, while heterochromia is desirable, it cannot see through a person's belly or understand their heart.

She tore off her thin garment, wrapped it around the little girl, and held her to her chest, pleading—

Whether they are servants or prostitutes, they only ask for a way to survive.

Then, he died.

They were barely clothed.

[Deduction paused due to insufficient Spirit Points. Should more Spirit Points be invested in the deduction?]

Thank you all for your help. Yesterday, I reached a peak of category 19, but unfortunately, it slipped afterward. You all did your best; my cultivation is insufficient. I will continue to work hard in the next chapter. Please be sure to read my updates every day for the next three days to help me advance in this round of PK. Thank you!
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(End of this chapter)