Chapter 62: Xenomorph

The changing room fell silent. Su Jie paused, then asked weakly, "Which Chu Xuan?"

"Lin Yi, Chu, Che gan, Xuan."

The glasses-wearing young man in a plain shirt and suit stated calmly, "The sole surviving first-generation genetic modified subject of Long Yin Base, rank of Senior Colonel, birthday November 21, favorite food is brightly colored fruit, such as tomatoes and apples."

Oh, so it's Senior Colonel Chu. My apologies, my apologies—bullshit! Do you think I'm young and haven't seen Infinite Terror?

Su Jie's expression twisted, wanting to retort, but he held his tongue, mindful of his Special Affairs Bureau agent status.

Soon after the Killing Field game began, the state apparatus noticed its existence and immediately mobilized all resources to study and investigate it.

After preliminary understanding, they immediately drew elite personnel from military, police, and state security systems to first establish the Special Affairs Bureau's organizational framework in the four major first-tier cities, then gradually expand it to second- and third-tier cities.

The Special Affairs Bureau's responsibilities are vast, including but not limited to: protecting the public's life safety, maintaining social order, exploring Killing Fields, locating, recruiting, monitoring, and protecting civilian transcenders, capturing superpowered criminals, and conducting external counterintelligence.

And if one carefully reviewed newspapers and news reports from that time, subtle details could be found—numerous retired professors and academicians were rehired, experts and scholars from every field frequently traveled to the capital for consultations and symposiums, only to vanish from the news for long stretches afterward.

This team of experts would disassemble the technology/magic/fantasy artifacts brought back by Special Affairs Bureau agents from Killing Fields, attempting to analyze their principles.

For example, the plasma confinement technology in lightsabers, the tantalum alloy and miniature nuclear battery technology in Terminator robots, the superconducting material technology in hover vehicles.

Even if they couldn't fully master or mass-produce them in the short term, they still greatly benefited scientific theory and technological breakthroughs.

Whoever controls the Killing Field controls the future. This isn't just about social order and national interest—it determines the survival of a people and the rise or fall of a civilization.

Realizing this, the state increased its support for the Special Affairs Bureau. Due to certain elements of the Killing Field game resembling real-world artistic works with astonishing similarity, the think tank created a series of online courses to rapidly educate Special Affairs Bureau agents on movies, TV dramas, novels, video games, and anime.

It's said that across the ocean in the United States, a special office was established, inviting world-famous directors, screenwriters, novelists, and manga artists to give lectures, personally analyzing the works they created and explaining their creative processes for players' reference.

For example, the spaceship blueprints from Star Wars, the treasure maps from Pirates of the Caribbean, the hidden artifacts from Harry Potter.

Under this backdrop, many players had broad knowledge—even if they hadn't seen famous artistic works, they knew the general plot.

"The objective of this mission is 'proceed to the bunker's main control room and open the main gate.' Given the two-hour time limit, the target location won't be too far—or if it is, there's a fast transport available."

Li Cheng, cosplaying as Senior Colonel Chu Xuan, played with a red apple. "And from the bloodstains on the floor and the damage to the metal cabinets, the mission's difficulty lies in the hidden dangers within the bunker."

The motorcyclist muttered, "You don't need analysis to see that?"

Unexpectedly, Li Cheng looked startled and turned to Su Jie. "Xiao Honglü, did you hear a sound? It sounds like someone's speaking."

??? Wait, you just talked to me a moment ago—now you're pretending I don't exist? Is it because I didn't show my face and don't look like a character from Infinite Terror that you're selectively ignoring me?

If it weren't for fearing you're a lunatic from the Laughing Troupe, I'd show you what real mob justice looks like!

The motorcyclist felt his head throbbing; beside him, Su Jie twitched his lip, forcing himself to ignore the "Xiao Honglü" role Li Cheng had assigned him—also a character from Infinite Terror.

"Uh, well—"

Su Jie cleared his throat and pulled a scroll from his backpack slot. "This is an internal Special Affairs Bureau item."

【Item Name: Oath of Faithfulness】

【Type: Scroll】

【Quality: Fine】

【Effect: Keep Your Promise. Two or more players, under absolute voluntary consent, sign an agreement on a specific matter. The system acts as notary, binding both parties to abide by its terms. Any subjective or objective breach triggers cognitive impairment. If the oath initiator breaks it, they suffer greater harm. Once one party breaks the oath, the other's binding is automatically lifted.】

【Consumption: None】

【Cooldown: The Party B's copy vanishes after signing; the Party A's original reappears. Only one unsigned oath may exist at a time. A player may sign multiple oaths.】

【Usage Condition: Both players must possess the same level of intelligence at the species level】

【Note: Due to the declining soul-contract market, the Lord of Hell ordered his demon minions to improve customer service—dressing them in maid outfits, bunny girl costumes, shrine maiden robes, and sending them to the human world to solicit business. After monthly performance reviews, 1% of demons are laid off, euphemistically called 'supplying society with outstanding talent.'】

The oath's content had already been drafted by the Special Affairs Bureau's think tank—hundreds of characters detailing that players must not subjectively attack each other with malice. If attacking a teammate is necessary to save their life or one's own in an emergency, specific conditions must be met. The effect lasts until mission completion.

Since Su Jie was the oath initiator, his binding was stronger. After reading the oath, the motorcyclist paused, then agreed to Su Jie's proposal, marking a check on the parchment—signing the contract.

Li Cheng signed as well.

Seeing this, the motorcyclist relaxed slightly and grunted, "This is just a routine mission—I won't show my player ID. Call me Rider."

"Understood." Su Jie nodded, scanning the surroundings. "Generally, buildings constructed by constructs within a Killing Field do not include daily necessities for humans—but here, clear signs of habitation exist."

This means the entire bunker was pulled into the Killing Field from another world through a rift."

It is well known that rifts open randomly—sometimes dumping Killing Field test subjects into the real world, sometimes dragging unlucky living humans into the Killing Field.

In rare cases, the Killing Field draws in objects, buildings, even living beings from beyond Earth.

Not long ago, a Special Affairs Bureau agent captured in a Killing Field a humanoid octopus creature wearing clothes. By extracting its brain memories, the Bureau learned it came from another planet, also dragged into the Killing Field by misfortune.

That planet, too, was ruled by a single intelligent species, possessing civilization, nations, ethnicities, and social divisions. Its technology slightly surpassed Earth's. And four and a half years ago, by Earth's calendar, they too experienced the so-called Chosen Ones.

After acquiring this information, the Special Affairs Bureau immediately contacted other factions to discuss how to respond to these extraterrestrial civilizations.

Thud!

The sound interrupted Su Jie's thoughts. Li Cheng had somehow left the group and followed the bloodstains to a tilted locker.

He sidestepped and yanked open the door—out slid a... fully armed security guard?

A twenty-something European male, pale and unconscious, muscular, wearing a black bulletproof vest and helmet, a pistol at his waist, gripping a pump-action shotgun, with a massive wound beneath his ribs wrapped in layer upon layer of blood-soaked bandages.

Clearly, he had hidden himself inside the locker to evade something.

"This man is still alive!"

Su Jie rushed forward, knelt on one knee, and placed his palm on the guard's wound.

As his palm emitted a faint glow, the guard's pale face gradually regained color. He jolted awake, screaming in terror, "They're coming! They're coming!"

"Calm down! Who are 'they'? Where is this?"

"They went rogue—the amusement park exhibits killed everyone." The man had clearly endured a horrific event, his eyes trembling uncontrollably, speech disjointed. "Wahhh, I want to go home..."

Tap, tap, tap.

Footsteps drew nearer, then burst open the changing room door—a familiar creature appeared in the players' view.

Slender humanoid form, banana-shaped smooth head, dripping sharp teeth, body covered in black metallic carapace, a long tail extending from the spine, hind legs bent backward.

It was none other than the legendary classic sci-fi monster—the Xenomorph.

"Weedle, use Paralysis Powder!"

The driver shouted a command, and the strange creature spun its body, spraying a large swath of crystalline powder toward the alien.

The alien, as if knowing the powder was harmful, dropped to all fours like a cat and darted out through the areas the powder hadn't reached, leaping back and forth between the wardrobes before lunging at the driver. In midair it bared its ferocious maw and shot out that signature tongue—or rather, secondary jaw.

(There is a 700-character explanation in the middle, added later, not counted toward VIP word count)

(End of chapter)