Chapter 21: 20

“Hurry up, go find Nishijō and the others!” Zhu Xingtuan jumped to his feet as soon as he sensed trouble.

But when he turned back, he found Qi Ming leaning back in his chair, motionless.

“What are you waiting for?” Zhu Xingtuan was frantic.

“Waiting for them to come to me,” Qi Ming said calmly.

“What?”

Qi Ming asked: “Captain, do you know Journey to the West?”

Zhu Xingtuan had some familiarity with it, but didn’t understand why Qi Ming brought up this classic now.

Qi Ming continued:

“During the episode of ‘Three Strikes Against the White Bone Spirit,’ Tang Sanzang was deeply frustrated with Sun Wukong’s disobedience.”

“In his view, all three disciples were celestial beings sent to earth—fighting demons and eliminating evils was something Sun Wukong could do, but so could Zhu Bajie and Sha Seng.”

“The latter two were obedient, so he constantly tormented Sun Wukong and used the White Bone Spirit incident to drive him away.”

“The next demon easily overpowered the pilgrimage team without Sun Wukong, captured Tang Sanzang and made him suffer, forcing Zhu Bajie to go to Flower-Fruit Mountain for help.”

“After that, Tang Sanzang became much wiser and never dared to question Sun Wukong again—the pilgrimage’s efficiency improved greatly. Isn’t that exactly what you want, Captain: ‘harmony among us all’?”

Zhu Xingtuan stared wide-eyed: “You, you...”

Qi Ming spread his arms inside the prison: “Right now, I’m right here in this ‘Flower-Fruit Mountain,’ waiting quietly for my ‘fellow disciples’ to arrive.”

…………………………

Before the machinery room, Nishijō Nagi saw the smart lock stop working and decisively pulled out the Victory Hyper Gun to forcibly destroy the lock.

Dr. Yuushima, who had just been about to flee, froze as the door swung open—he had assumed the system shutdown would buy him enough time to escape.

Nishijō Nagi aimed her gun at the doctor and advanced step by step: “Dr. Yuushima, you did this, didn’t you! Why did you do it?!”

After seeing the situation before him, Dr. Yuushima no longer panicked: “Qi Ming isn’t here. With just you few...”

“Be careful!” Tongshan, a staff officer who had fought on the front lines, warned.

“Mountain Team, don’t kill him—just disable him,” Nishijō Nagi said grimly.

“Understood.” The sharpshooter from Mountain Team drew his gun and fired.

The next instant, a woman in black, wearing sunglasses, appeared abruptly before Dr. Yuushima and raised a gray energy barrier to block the shot.

This was the [Allies] of the Bila aliens on Earth.

“There’s another alien!” The group quickly pulled out their guns and aimed at the two.

“Aliens? We are the true Earthlings,” the woman in sunglasses said in a low voice.

“What?” Tongshan flinched, instantly thinking of [Ma Erte].

“Waaoh!” The woman in sunglasses didn’t waste words—she let out a piercing shriek. The terrifying sonic waves forced everyone present to cover their ears, but only Nishijō Nagi could grit her teeth and fire back.

Though she missed, the sunglasses woman was genuinely surprised.

“No need to tangle with them—we have more important things to do,” said Dr. Yuushima.

The sunglasses woman nodded and escorted Dr. Yuushima in retreat.

Tongshan: “Don’t let them escape!”

He led his team in pursuit, but the woman’s intermittent shrieks disrupted their advance, widening the gap until they were about to lose sight of them.

The next instant, a shocking change occurred.

“Shhh!” As Dr. Yuushima and the sunglasses woman passed through a corridor, a flash of snowy-white blade light appeared around the corner.

The sunglasses woman’s right arm was severed in one stroke; she screamed in agony, and her sunglasses flew off in the pain.

Under the dim emergency lighting, Nishijō Nagi and the others behind saw that her face had no eyes.

This horrifying sight froze them in place.

Tongshan, experienced and well-traveled: “Degenerated eyes... Could this be the legendary subterraneans?”

“It’s the Zuluk aliens—it came too!” Eimi cared more about the creature lurking around the corner who had attacked the sunglasses woman—it was the Zuluk alien who had escaped earlier.

This alien, who delighted in killing, had infiltrated the base during its paralysis and joined the chaos.

Seeing the sunglasses woman, it had struck out of impulse, slashing her and nearly knocking her unconscious.

But the Zuluk alien didn’t press the attack—it had spotted Eimi, the one who had shot it that day, and wanted revenge first.

“It came right to us!” Mountain aimed his gun at it.

In his view, this alien—easily driven off by just Qi Ming and Eimi—wasn’t dangerous.

But after firing two shots, the Zuluk alien suddenly swung its twin blades—cutting the Victory Hyper Gun’s bullets clean in half.

“What the hell?!” Mountain couldn’t believe it.

The next instant, the Zuluk alien moved so fast it left afterimages as it charged forward.

At such close range, firing was impossible—Nishijō Nagi could only grit her teeth and engage in hand-to-hand combat for two exchanges, barely avoiding being split in two.

Seeing the iron door slashed to ruin, Nishijō Nagi immediately shouted: “Fall back! Find Qi Ming—only he can handle this thing!”

After being personally humiliated, she now had a visceral understanding of Qi Ming’s power.

Kishida reluctantly said: “Can’t we manage without him?”

Though it wounded his pride, he felt the wild, oppressive aura radiating from the advancing Zuluk alien and stepped back involuntarily.

Eimi: “Team Kishida, Dr. Yuushima falsely accused Qi Ming just to exclude him—we can’t let the enemy succeed.”

Her words gave them a face-saving excuse; they retreated toward Qi Ming’s prison while using gunfire to hold off the Zuluk alien.

Dr. Yuushima, meanwhile, took advantage of the chaos to bring the severely wounded sunglasses woman to the command room, manually activating the base’s self-destruct system.

“Self-destruct sequence initiating—countdown: six hundred seconds.” The announcement made even Qi Ming sit up straight.

The sea base was going to self-destruct?

“Qi Ming, no more waiting!” Zhu Xingtuan growled.

“I know. Before my train home departs, I won’t let these aliens turn this ‘waiting room’ into chaos.” Qi Ming prepared to change his plan and enter the fray directly.

At that moment, Nishijō Nagi and the other four, fighting their way backward, reached the prison area.

“Qi Ming, the Zuluk alien is here—right behind us!” Eimi explained immediately, with no hesitation in seeking Qi Ming’s help.

“Quick, get him out—no, the prison door is a sliding track system, no lock, can’t open without mechanical control,” Kishida cried, drenched in sweat.

“No wonder it came to this—so he’s here too. Perfect. Let’s wipe them all out at once.”

Qi Ming reached out and easily bent two thick iron bars; with everyone’s stunned gazes fixed on him, he stepped calmly out of the cell.

Tongshan stared in disbelief: “Is our prison that poorly built?”

Zhu Xingtuan, stepping out behind him, said: “No—it’s just that Qi Ming has innate godlike strength.”

(End of Chapter)