Chapter 35: Zhan Lan: I

“Die!!”

A flash of red light.

With the descent of the metal great axe, a blood-red aura slashed down—just one strike—and a massive gash, spewing acidic blood, appeared on the warrior xenomorph’s body.

The vibranium battle armor, bathed in acidic blood, emitted faint wisps of steam, yet remained unpenetrated and uncorroded.

Zheng Zha kicked hard, sending the severely wounded xenomorph flying, then followed up with another slash before it could react—again, the Main God’s reward prompt chimed in his ear.

The camera pulled back slightly, revealing five or six xenomorph corpses littering the ground near Zheng Zha—all slain by his alloy axe, enhanced with the Red Flame skill, through sheer brute force.

“Friday! How many are left? Has the Captain taken care of the Queen?!”

Zheng Zha took two shallow breaths, stepping out of the Second-Level Gene Lock state. He glanced at Li Xiaoyi and Lingdian nearby, who were fighting back-to-back against two xenomorphs, confirmed they held the upper hand, then asked his helmet’s computer terminal.

“Forty-eight left… Also, Wu Xian has eliminated the Queen, but another powerful xenomorph evolution has since appeared—he’s currently entangled with it and won’t be able to assist you for a while.”

The reply to Zheng Zha wasn’t Friday’s sweet, cool female voice, but a deeper, colder male voice.

Chu Xuan!

“Xenomorph evolution?! You mean the one from Alien 4?!”

Zheng Zha froze, then stared in disbelief: “Why is there an Alien 4 monster in Alien 1’s plot? Is the Main God really that desperate… Captain! How’s your situation? If you’re still alive, say something!”

“Get lost!”

Wu Xian’s reply crackled through the comms, laced with “politeness”—and beneath it, faint but unmistakable roars of fury mixed with agony.

“Zheng Zha, now isn’t the time to dwell on other things. Less than twenty minutes remain. You still need to find forty-eight—”

“Bang—”

At that moment, a gunshot echoed from afar—Lingdian’s sniper shot. Under Li Xiaoyi’s Demon Gunfighting cover, the Barrett once again achieved a double kill, reducing the remaining xenomorph count by two.

“...Forty-six xenomorphs remain, or else, according to your logic, Mu Gang, Zhan Lan, and the other newbies—including myself—will still be erased by the Main God’s negative points for mission failure.”

Upon hearing the final sentence, Zheng Zha’s expression turned grim.

He took a deep breath, gripped the alloy axe again, and spoke sternly to the two approaching him: “You’ve done well. But from now on, we must move even faster!”

“No matter what, I will return to the Main God Space—someone is waiting for me there. And so are you… I’ll bring everyone back alive!”

…

Meanwhile, inside the Nostromo’s main control room.

Mu Gang stood like a steel titan at the doorway, holding a compact machine cannon in his left hand and a 600-point high-frequency blade in his right, scanning the surroundings with vigilance, ready for battle at any moment.

Behind him were all the surviving newbies, including Li Shuaixi.

Each held a firearm issued by the Central State Team, yet their faces still bore deep unease and tension.

In the adjacent control room compartment, Chu Xuan stood before a workstation, watching over a hundred flickering surveillance screens, manipulating the isolation walls’ openings to help Zheng Zha and the others locate hidden xenomorphs more swiftly and eliminate them with maximum efficiency.

“Uhn!”

Suddenly, a muffled groan came from beside him—Zhan Lan had once again exited the Gene Lock state.

This was the third time. Zhan Lan trembled violently as she knelt on the floor, forcing herself to endure with a spirit power expanded more than double its normal capacity.

Shaking, she injected herself with a gene-recovery serum Wu Xian had left before departure. Combined with her own C-rank self-healing ability, the Gene Lock’s side effects soon receded again.

“Can you still hold on? I’ve recorded the positions you just mentioned. Even if you rest a little, it won’t matter.”

Chu Xuan asked. Though he claimed to be a genetically modified person lacking emotion, he was not devoid of emotional intelligence—he knew exactly how to feign high emotional intelligence and when to say what.

Zhan Lan shook her head, staring at the screen where the Central State Team members were sprinting in search of xenomorph trails. A stubborn expression surfaced on her pale face.

Everyone was pushing hard. She wouldn’t hold them back.

So what if overuse damages her genes? After all, the Main God would repair her upon return—what was there to fear?

Xenomorphs, huh? Playing hide-and-seek, huh? Old Lady’s fighting you to the death!!

Gnashing her teeth, Zhan Lan’s eyes glazed over—once again, she slipped into the Gene Lock state.

Her telepathic sense, overloaded, caused her spirit scan range to explode outward.

“Huh?!”

At that moment, Zhan Lan’s expression shifted—and one by one, the surveillance screens in the control room turned black.

Chu Xuan showed no surprise.

Xenomorphs were highly intelligent and sensitive creatures. Disabling surveillance equipment wasn’t new—they’d done it before. Otherwise, they’d have found the Queen’s hiding spot from the start…

Wait.

Beneath his glasses, Chu Xuan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Why now? Why precisely after Zhan Lan exited the Gene Lock? Could it be…

“Mu Gang!! Above you!!”

Zhan Lan’s scream confirmed Chu Xuan’s suspicion.

The next second, he slapped a button on the workstation, then spun and dragged Zhan Lan toward the corner of the control room.

Simultaneously, the alloy ceiling above the control room exploded open—and a torrent of yellow-green fluid rained down.

It was xenomorph acidic blood.

The Central State Team didn’t know: before dying, the Queen had emitted a pheromonal signal—its content unknown—but since then, every xenomorph aboard the spacecraft had descended into madness, determined to fight the Central State Team to the death at any cost.

Like now: this massive flood of acid blood came from a warrior xenomorph’s self-explosion—designed purely for surprise.

Now, as the ceiling collapsed, the acid blood poured down like a deluge. Mu Gang was naturally the biggest target—but his vibranium armor protected him best from its corrosive effects.

The same applied to Zhan Lan. But to shield Chu Xuan, she barely managed to raise a telekinetic barrier above them in the air.

Unfortunately, the four newbies inside the control room weren’t so lucky.

“Aaaaaah—!!!! x4”

Screams erupted in succession. Li Shuaixi, the middle-aged man, and the white-collar couple were all drenched in acid. Their flesh and skin were instantly corroded and burned away—unrecognizable.

At that moment, Li Shuaixi—the other protagonist of this alternate timeline—let out a desperate roar, raised his HK416 assault rifle, and sprayed bullets upward, clearly determined to take at least one xenomorph down with him.

But the next second, he felt a searing pain in his chest—the xenomorph’s tongue had pierced through his heart, ending his life.

Yet Li Shuaixi’s “sacrifice” wasn’t in vain. At the instant he was fatally struck, Mu Gang, guided by Friday’s alert, stepped forward.

He severed the xenomorph’s tongue with the high-frequency blade, then shoved the machine cannon into its mouth. Amid the roar of high-speed bullets, 500 reward points were instantly credited.

“Roar! Roar! Roar!!”

Two more xenomorphs leapt down from the melted ceiling.

Fifteen minutes and forty-eight seconds remained until countdown’s end.

Please follow for more! Please follow for more! Please follow for more!

If you’ve enjoyed this far, please finish reading the latest chapter’s end, then flip a few pages to reach the follow-up interface (not visible beyond 100th place, but still counts)—only then is your follow-up successful!

Please, this matters so much for a new novel!





(End of Chapter)