North America Gunman Detective

Chapter 1436 774: Roland 2

After getting up from the spider and wiping off the spider blood on his body, he discovered that this underground well had been modified. The upper part of the well wasn't wide, but the space below was quite large, forming an irregular slender conical shape.

Roland lit the small torch he carried, illuminating the area, and found many cocoons wrapped in spider silk around the bottom of the cave. Putting away his revolver, he drew out a dagger to cut open one for a look, but then gave up checking the rest. Everyone knew spiders' habits; clearly, these cocoons were its food storage.

With the torch, Roland could see the detailed situation at the bottom of the cave and discovered a hidden fissure in the corner of the wall. As he was about to approach, a large spider suddenly emerged from the crack, similar in size to the one he had killed before. However, only its head and front legs had made it through the fissure. 'Bang bang!' Roland's speed at drawing his gun was incredibly fast. Despite the suddenness of the attack, he drew his gun quickly and fired several shots at the spider. The spider, initially coming out of the fissure, immediately retreated after being hit and returned to the other side of the crack.

Roland kept his gun aimed at the fissure, waited a while without seeing it return, and looked up at the hole above where some light was seeping through. The height made it impossible for him to jump up. To leave, he'd have to carve out plenty of footholds on the cave wall.

After a moment of indecision, Roland adjusted the bullets in his revolver, took some food and drinks from his backpack to replenish himself, and prepared everything before heading toward the fissure again.

The spider could pass back and forth through the fissure, indicating that the world on the other side was at least better than his current predicament. After passing through the crack, Roland found himself in a rather small cave with many traces of spider silk around. There was a noticeable bright light visible from the cave entrance. The spider he had shot was no longer there, and some of the spider's blood was scattered on the ground, leading away from the cave.

Moving slowly towards the cave's exit, Roland noted that this wasn't a man-made cave. The entrance wasn't large. After checking outside, he crawled out.

Outside the cave was a forest. After looking around, Roland climbed a bit higher and looked into the distance. Not far away, there seemed to be a small village with some buildings. Other than that, there were no obvious structures, indicating that this was the nearest settlement.

Having determined the direction, Roland descended the small hill and headed towards the settlement. Having just arrived here, he had no idea about the environment of this world. After losing his horse and the reserves on it, Roland now urgently needed to restock his supplies; otherwise, the little food and drinks in his bag wouldn't last him more than a few days.

Previously, the trace of spider blood had entered the forest. It wasn't time for pursuit now; ensuring his own safety was the most important thing.

Navigating through the forest was troublesome. Roland couldn't be sure if the spider had other companions or if they were in the forest. Thus, his advance was slow, remaining on guard for attacks from any corner or overhead.

Finally, he emerged from the forest. The nearest house was one or two hundred meters away. After determining that there was no immediate threat in the surrounding grass and buildings ahead, Roland left the forest and approached the house.

Roland was familiar with the single-story wooden house style. As he approached, he did not enter the houses directly but circled around them a bit. The area seemed overly quiet. There were no vehicle noises, no human or animal sounds. But judging by the look of the village, it didn't seem dilapidated. Several houses even had United States flags fluttering, indicating that he had actually arrived on Earth; however, he wasn't sure if it was the Earth he had been on before.

Roland chose a newer-looking house and walked over. Even before entering the door, he could smell a slight stench of decaying blood—a scent that was certainly strange. Observing through the window, he kicked the door open and walked in. The inside of the house appeared messy, with a conspicuous pool of blood on the floor and drag marks that did not lead out. There were no bodies, which was quite strange.

After checking the room and ensuring there was no one inside, Roland went to the bathroom to check the water and electricity. He then took out his phone and charger to recharge the phone battery, and resumed to the living room to turn on the TV. Everything seemed the same as when he left, indicating this was Earth after all.

He took a shower in the bathroom, cleaning off the spider blood and dirt from his clothes, before taking up his phone, inserting the battery, and taking a look.

Jimmy's message had arrived. Roland directly dialed Jimmy's FBI cellphone to notify him but didn't ask him to come over. This place reeked of strange situations, so it was best to observe a bit longer first.

After resting in the room for a while, Roland changed clothes, prepared his gun, and left the house.

He walked around the village by moving along the neighboring houses, finding no people but a lot of bloodstains; still, there were no bodies to be found.

Many house lights remained on even in broad daylight, suggesting whatever happened here likely occurred at night and happened quickly, without alerting others. Evidently, there hadn't been any external police intervention, as only two houses showed guns—a handgun and a shotgun—dropped to the ground, indicating ineffective resistance.

While inspecting houses, Roland searched around and replenished a batch of .45acp bullets for himself. For a village in the United States, it was almost standard to have guns and ammunition at home, though many calibers didn't match.

During his inspection, he found many weathersome situations: some houses with broken windows, others with holes, and spider silk traces scattered throughout. The spider he'd encountered was clearly nearby, and from the look of these houses, it should have captured many people as its reserve food supply. Considering the timing of its actions and the people here, there was a good chance it wasn't just a single spider.

Roland found a relatively enclosed room, sealed the windows and door, and rested there. The people captured by the spider hadn't been gone for long, and the houses all contained fridges with food reserves. For Roland, such an environment was quite suitable, at least much better than camping in the wild.

Roland had previously spent over a decade with Jack clearing paranormal events on Earth. Although not his primary responsibility, nor covering every aspect, this was undeniably part of his personal interest. Essentially, Roland was a compassionate person, and despite the village's happenings having little to do with him, he still hoped to resolve them if possible.

Although he left two guns and the Black Rainbow with Jimmy, he wasn't clear on Jimmy's situation now. What happened here obviously couldn't be explained by a spider infestation alone; the two spiders he'd encountered were almost human-sized, at least comparable to human torsos. These creatures were certainly not naturally occurring and were likely related to the Dark Tower World, possibly even connected to other worlds.

The Dark Tower World similarly had Spider Monsters, even larger and more powerful. Roland had dealt with them before, and their biggest threat was to severely harm ordinary people around. They posed little threat to someone like Roland but were nearly impossible for regular people to escape from unless they had high-powered defensive weapons. However, not everyone in the Dark Tower World could access guns; it was hard for a common person to threaten a Spider Monster with just a knife.

The people of this small village had clearly been ambushed by Spider Monsters. Roland found many guns here; had they been armed to defend, they could have at least resisted and contacted the outside world for help.

Spider Monsters also possess a potential threat: their ability to reproduce. If left unchecked, it might not be long before they multiply significantly.