Chapter 538: Nano-Gun

Continuing downward, the winding, undulating cave floor had changed from soil to ore. The only thing that remained unchanged was the ferns; the deeper they went underground, the more lushly the ferns grew.

"Moving life signs detected. Suggest activating life detector." A cold, mechanical voice suddenly rang out, drawing Ye Nan's attention.

"What is this sound?"

"The life detector's sleep mode." The engineer glanced at Ye Nan and pressed a few times on his right arm. "Activate life detector, enable high-power mode."

"High-power mode activated. Scanning..."

The cold, mechanical voice spoke according to a predetermined trajectory. Soon, the data emerged: "Large number of moving life forms detected. Energy within the life forms is significantly intensifying."

"Energy significantly intensifying?" The engineer pondered for a moment and said, "It looks like the Hybrid Xenomorph has caught up with the Zerg troops and is currently engaged in battle with them."

Having said that, the engineer began to run at high speed, sprinting toward the front.

"This thing can actually scan the energy inside life forms." Ye Nan suddenly recalled the device Sister Tianwang had for scanning energy levels; the two had obvious similarities to a certain extent.

"It seems I must also carefully hide myself." A thought stirred in Ye Nan's heart, and he covered his entire body with his psychic power, concealing himself.

"Wait for me!" Ye Nan shouted and followed.

As they went deeper, the sounds of fighting drifted over, growing louder and louder. Finally, after they rounded a corner, they saw the battle.

Green and red blood flowed from the bodies of the bugs onto the ground, where it was absorbed by the ferns. Many severed limbs and remains were scattered everywhere, slowly being devoured by the ferns.

"Does this Hybrid Xenomorph not feel the danger the ferns pose to it?" Ye Nan frowned as he looked at the Hybrid Xenomorph standing aloofly on the corpses of the bugs. The Hybrid Xenomorph was a type of biological weapon without consciousness, completely dominated by its body's instincts. Yet, precisely because of this, its perception of danger was exceptionally strong. However, this Hybrid Xenomorph showed no reaction to the ferns, which was truly strange.

"These ferns are absorbing blood and flesh. Bugs are truly cruel; to obtain energy, they don't even spare the corpses of their own kind," the engineer said indignantly. These corpses were his spoils of war, invaluable for use as hosts for Xenomorphs, but now, all his spoils were being devoured by the ferns.

"Even if the corpses were left here, they would eventually be devoured by microorganisms. Rather than that, it's better to let their own kind devour them and convert them into energy to supply new Zerg. Although it seems cruel, if you strip away the cloak of morality, this approach is undoubtedly the most correct," Ye Nan said.

"That is why they are bugs, and we are higher beings." The engineer snorted coldly. Suddenly, his body felt unnatural, and a voice came from the Force protective suit on his body.

"High-speed moving object detected. Large energy reaction detected."

"These damn bugs actually dare to counterattack us." The engineer took a deep breath, looked at the small dots constantly leaping toward him, and sneered, "Hybrid Xenomorph, go, kill it."

Surprisingly, the Hybrid Xenomorph did not react to the engineer's command. It remained standing on the bug corpses, gazing aloofly ahead, not even interested in turning its head to look at them.

"This damn Xenomorph actually dares to disobey my orders." The engineer was furious; for some reason, he could not suppress the anger in his heart.

"If this continues, I will be discovered." Ye Nan secretly withdrew a wisp of his psychic power.

When he arrived here with the engineer, Ye Nan had begun to incite the rage in the engineer's heart. However, his original intention was only to make the engineer act without thinking. He hadn't expected that the engineer's constant setbacks along the way would add fuel to the rage he had already incited.

But if this continued, the rage might burn away his reason. That would be counterproductive, as a character changing too drastically would certainly arouse suspicion.

In reality, Zerg Overlord Ha Si also saw that Ye Nan's psychic power was invading the engineer, which was why he said those words. Unfortunately, his words were directly neutralized by Ye Nan.

After Ye Nan withdrew his psychic power, the engineer, though still angry, regained more of his reason. "Why would this Hybrid Xenomorph suddenly stop listening? Could something have gone wrong?"

Recalling the fierce look in the Hybrid Xenomorph's eyes back on the surface, the engineer's heart tightened.

"Could it really have gone wrong? The Hybrid Xenomorph has never had problems before. If I had known, I wouldn't have stimulated its genetic evolution. It's better to use fewer viruses that haven't undergone extensive testing in the future."

The engineer felt depressed. He raised the object that looked like a large syringe, aiming it at the Hybrid Xenomorph. A dark green ball of light appeared in the canister behind the syringe.

The Hybrid Xenomorph standing on the corpses seemed to realize the danger behind it. It turned its head, its eyes full of ferocity and cruelty.

"This damn Hybrid Xenomorph has really betrayed me." The engineer cursed inwardly. He aimed the weapon he had already raised at the Hybrid Xenomorph, his finger on the trigger, watching the Hybrid Xenomorph with full concentration.

Sss!

The Hybrid Xenomorph bared its snow-white teeth and roared at the engineer, appearing very afraid, yet it dared not charge forward. It could feel that the weapon in front of it posed a great threat.

"Come on up, watch me decompose you into particles with one shot," the engineer said viciously in his heart.

Because the engineer was nervous, he dared not strike first, and because the Hybrid Xenomorph feared the gun in the engineer's hand, it dared not charge. The two maintained a strange balance.

"Warning, moving life form is only 10 meters away from you... 5 meters... 2 meters, it has appeared."

Boom!

The engineer fired a shot at the Hybrid Xenomorph. A dark green ball of light flew out from the muzzle. At the same time, he adjusted the orientation of the large syringe at an extremely fast speed and fired another dark green ball of light at the front left of the Hybrid Xenomorph.

As the projectile approached, the Hybrid Xenomorph's pupils constricted, and its body moved instinctively. With a soft "puff" sound, the dark green ball of light struck the Hybrid Xenomorph's shoulder.

These dark green balls of light were like super-strong sulfuric acid, instantly corroding the Hybrid Xenomorph.

"No, it's not corrosion." Ye Nan's psychic power expanded, carefully observing the wounds of the hybrid Xenomorph. He discovered that there were many nanobiological organisms on the wounds. These nanobiological organisms were so tiny they were invisible to the naked eye, but their appetites were excellent; almost in an instant, they had gnawed the hybrid Xenomorph's shoulder clean. However, the existence of these nanobiological organisms was very short-lived; in less than a second, they became corpses, drifting in the air.

But because these nano-organisms were too tiny—only one-billionth of a meter—they could not be observed with the naked eye at all, and even slightly inferior microscopes could not detect them.

The Hybrid Xenomorph dodged the engineer's attack, but the dark red creature that appeared behind it was unlucky. The moment it touched the dark green ball of light, its head was gnawed away, leaving only a headless corpse lying there.

This was a bug similar to an insect, with a streamlined body structure, a hard exoskeleton, extremely developed hind legs, and joints covered in an extremely ingenious way. Even more exaggerated was that it had a pair of arthropods and a pair of insect wings growing on its shoulder blades.

If it still had a head, this bug would certainly be very strong; after all, the bugs selected by the Zerg commander to intercept the Hybrid Xenomorph would not be too weak.

But unfortunately, it died before it could achieve its goal.

The Hybrid Xenomorph clutched its shoulder, glared viciously at the engineer, and its body flashed rapidly, disappearing around the corner.

"Don't run!" The engineer rushed up, but by the time he reached the corner, the Hybrid Xenomorph had vanished without a trace.

"Damn Hybrid Xenomorph, running so fast."

Looking at the empty passage, a flash of annoyance crossed the engineer's heart. If you don't kill a snake, you will suffer from it later.

"The Hybrid Xenomorph has escaped." Ye Nan's mouth twitched a few times. Under his influence, it actually chose to escape instead of fighting to the death; this was completely beyond his expectations.

"This damn beast, it seems it has its own consciousness; otherwise, it wouldn't have betrayed me." Combining the Hybrid Xenomorph's act of escaping, the engineer reached a conclusion—a conclusion that "the Hybrid Xenomorph has developed intelligence."

From the moment a creature possesses intelligence, it will develop other thoughts. Some of these thoughts are about money, some about food and drink, but for most intelligent creatures, the strongest thought that arises is freedom.

Unrestrained freedom, especially after learning that one was previously controlled by others, makes the thought of freedom incredibly intense. Therefore, it was not surprising that the Hybrid Xenomorph betrayed the engineer.

Especially when the Hybrid Xenomorph chose to escape, it made the engineer even more firm in his guess.

Unconscious Hybrid Xenomorphs, like bugs, are fearless of death. Even after sensing the danger of the engineer, they would not choose to escape, but rather feel dread.

"What is the gun in your hand? Its power is great. These bugs have no chance of defense in front of this gun. Tell me the name; I plan to buy the relevant technology to arm the Human Federation," Ye Nan said, leaning over, his hand also secretly reaching for the gun.

"Its name is Nano-Gun. It is produced by our 'Heaven Star'. I can sell you the relevant technology at a low price." The engineer's hand shook, and he put the Nano-Gun into his subspace.

"My life detector has already scanned the location of the Zerg commander. Let's go." (To be continued.)