The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Lunar Colony Renoran)

(Northern Region)

Qiana furrowed her brows as she walked around the spot where the corpses as well as Carter had been mere moments ago.

How could they have disappeared without her hearing or sensing anything?

Carter had just been injected with a serum that would knock him out and the corpses were…

Well dead.

There must have been a third party involved.

Qiana took off her glasses and rubbed them a few times with a piece of white cloth that was hidden in her pocket.

She rubbed her glasses over and over again until tiny scratches appeared in its outer surface.

It was a bad habit that she had picked up to deal with when she was feeling a bit stressed.

This was not good.

Now she had no idea what to do next.

If the only problem was some foreign noble bribing the workers to slow down their production levels, then she could deal with it.

Now with the assassination attempt thrown into the mix, it was suddenly a lot more dangerous to stay on this lunar colony.

She could not know when the next attempt on her life would take place nor who would be the ones to target her.

At least if there was some form of silver lining, her cultivation level was the highest on the lunar colony and she was confident in being able to escape if a fight did not go in her favour.

Qiana walked over to one of the hovercars that the security officers had abandoned and sat inside.

She took one final look at the rolling grains of sand where the corpses used to be and then powered on the vehicle.

The young heiress to House Abazin plugged in the coordinates to the base camp and then closed her eyes.

A few hours passed and eventually the vehicle shuddered to a sharp stop. Qiana opened her eyes and saw that it was now nighttime.

Most of the day had passed getting to and from the processing plant. Honestly, she didn't know why her father had not invested in a high-speed rail.

It would make transporting the materials from the mines to the processing plant much quicker and far more efficient.

A full moon hung lazily in the sky accompanied by numerous stars that blinked and winked out of existence.

The base camp was located in the middle of a valley with large sand dunes surrounding it that rose up to sixty feet in the air.

There were a few gaps in between the sand dune large enough for several people to walk side by side so Qiana stepped through one of the passageways.

She walked towards the base camp and saw the familiar sight of the tents neatly lined side by side.

Except there was something strange.

Usually there would be a low level of noise coming from the base camp since the workers would take the opportunity to relax after a day of work.

Drinks would be shared, and a few songs would be played. At the very least there would be people walking to and from the different tents.

But as Qiana walked forward, she could not shake off the feeling of uneasiness that was silently wrapping itself around her psyche.

There was a terrible stillness in the air.

No sounds could be heard coming from any of the tents… not even a whimper or a groan.

Qiana channeled the qi in her dantian to the meridians in her ear and enhanced her hearing several times over.

There was still nothing.

The only sound that she could hear was the sound of her own breathing. Qiana frowned slightly and began to open up the flaps to every tent that she passed.

Every single one was empty.

The curious thing was that the inside of the tents appeared to have been visited fairly recently by its occupants.

There were half eaten plates of food on the tables with steam that slowly rose up from the well-cooked meats.

Qiana placed a finger on one of the meats and then withdrew her hand. The meat was still warm which meant that it had been cooked just a few minutes ago.

Did everyone leave for some unknown reason?

Qiana could not shake off the nagging feeling in the back of her head that kept telling her that she needed to flee now.

The young noble girl powered on her communicator and sent out a message to every worker in the base camp using the group text function.

Qiana: [Was there a reason for an evacuation from the base camp?]

[ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!]

[NO SIGNAL DETECTED! NO SIGNAL DETECTED!]

Qiana looked at her wrist communicator in shock as she realised that she had been cut off from the virtual Net.

It would now be impossible to sent out any messages to anyone currently on the lunar colony or outside for help.

No… wait… what was that noise?

Qiana listened carefully and her heart began to race as she heard a heavy rustling noise coming from the far corner of the base camp.

That sound… it was a familiar one…

A braver… or rather stupider person would have left the tent in order to investigate the source of the sound, but Qiana remained in place.

She reached into her storage bag and pulled out a mask which she then used to cover her face.

It was a noise cancelling mask that would conceal her breathing.

Qiana carefully crept over to the corner of the tent where a long shadow was cast. She stepped into the shadow and felt a reassuring coldness sweep over her body.

The shadows were absorbed into her skin and dark markings soon appeared along her face and arms.

Stay perfectly still… stay perfectly still…

Qiana kept her eyes open, and her senses extended as the rustling noise got even closer with every passing minute.

Whoever… or whatever was outside the tents was looking for something…

She could hear the sound of heavy breathing and then a loud blood curling cry echoed through the desert.

The cry sent shivers down Qiana's spine as she tightly gripped the knife in her palm. That was not the cry of a human.

There was something monstrous and unnatural in that sound as if a beast had been roused from its slumber.

Qiana heard the rustling again and then… it stopped.

The camp returned to its quiet silence as if nothing had just happened. Qiana remained frozen in place for several minutes as she carefully listened for any more sounds.

Nothing.

Just as before… she found herself alone in the base camp.