Two Choices (I)

Zheng Zha and Zhan Lan lay on the floor together, still locked tightly in each other's arms. Overwhelming tension and fear had left them unable to recover for a long while. Only when the sound of many footsteps came from the other end of the corridor did they barely manage to pull apart a little.

Of course, Zheng Zha did not think lying spread-eagled on the ground looked cool. He was simply too weak to move his limbs. In truth, ever since charging in, he had been consumed by fear, terrified that the agony that had nearly killed him before would strike again. Fortunately, this time he merely seemed to have overexerted himself and had not opened any Gene lock. It seemed a Gene lock could not simply be opened whenever one wished.

Zhang Jie and the other four soon ran over from the far end of the corridor. Aside from Zhang Jie and Li Shuaixi, Chu Xuan, Overlord, and Zero Point all wore grave expressions. They had all seen Zheng Zha's speed when he fled earlier, especially the instant rebound after he borrowed force from the wall while facing the Alien. Without that rebound, the two of them could never have made it inside the isolation barrier. None of them could perform movements or reach speeds like that. Those were no longer the speed and reflexes a human should possess.

Chu Xuan crouched beside Zheng Zha and asked carefully, "How is it? Are you injured anywhere? How long will it take for you to recover your previous combat strength?"

Lying on the ground, Zheng Zha replied weakly, "I think I'm just exhausted. I'm not really hurt anywhere. If I get enough rest... I should recover my previous combat strength in about half an hour."

Chu Xuan looked overjoyed. For someone as calm as him, such an expression was exceedingly rare, unless he had truly encountered an enormous surprise capable of changing the entire situation. He stood and said, "It's a pity we did not get any food or fresh water, otherwise my plan could have been carried out. We'll need to think of another way now, but it doesn't matter much. The initiative is balanced again. We are no longer prey with no ability to resist. No matter what, we can put up a fight."

Afterward, Zhang Jie carried Zheng Zha on his back. Zhan Lan had not actually expended much strength just now; she had simply been terrified out of her wits. After resting for a while, she stood and followed the others.

"This is the control room for the entire space merchant ship. It may look complicated, but the operating system is very similar to that of a rocket launch base. It is actually quite easy to master."

The seven of them sat in Room 27, the control room of the entire merchant ship. Chu Xuan calmly explained the functions of the control consoles and buttons to the others. In truth, he only gave a rough explanation. Other than him, no one present understood much of what they heard. Still, following instructions to perform some simple operations should not be a problem.

Such a complicated operating system is probably only easy for someone like you, isn't it? Zheng Zha thought. But he would never say that aloud. In fact, he had been feeling fortunate all along that one of the newcomers this time was an extraordinary genius like Chu Xuan. Compared to the others, someone like him was actually the most important to the whole team.

As Zhang Jie lowered him from his back, Zheng Zha suddenly said, "Actually, I got a lot of food and water from that room. If we ration it, it should last us quite a few days."

Chu Xuan and the others showed strange expressions. Only Zhang Jie said excitedly, "The Storage Ring! You put all that food and water in the Storage Ring, right?"

Zheng Zha smiled and nodded. Chu Xuan immediately asked what a Storage Ring was. When he heard Zhang Jie explain that it was a cultivation artifact, one exchanged from the "Main God" at an enormous cost, the man instantly became wildly excited. He grabbed Zheng Zha's hand and carefully examined the ring, muttering as he did, "Is this really a cultivation artifact? Is it really a cultivation artifact? God, I had long guessed from all sorts of documents and records that things like this really existed in the past. Hahaha, so they all came from this space! God! If we could unlock the secrets of this kind of technology, who knows how far humanity could evolve?"

Ignoring the strange looks everyone gave him, Chu Xuan said fervently, "Do you know? Quite a few artifacts have been excavated both at home and abroad that modern technology cannot explain. They no longer possess any energy, and cannot be activated even with electricity or other energy sources. Based on analyses of the materials used to make them, there was once an extraordinarily advanced civilization in ancient times. But the era of this civilization is incredibly strange, because these artifacts were made over a span ranging from tens of thousands of years ago to just over a thousand years ago. The most recent artifact was made around a thousand years ago. Such an advanced civilization hid within our society, and we never noticed it at all. Is that possible?"

"That is why we researchers became divided. One group believes these were made by aliens hidden within Earth's civilization. I rather dislike that kind of analysis. Whenever something cannot be explained, they blame it all on unknown aliens, then spout whatever nonsense they please without restraint. It is an extremely irritating research attitude... Another group believes these were made by the immortals of legend, or the divine races from Western myths. Although that sounds just as fantastical, at least those people searched for clues throughout ancient ruins. And as their research continued, they did indeed find some supporting evidence."

Chu Xuan stood and looked at everyone. "Do you know what this means? It means humanity's path of progress will no longer be limited to technology. Although this unknown technology could also be considered a branch of natural science, it has already gone beyond the scope of external science. This is the most advanced internal science!"

Zero Point suddenly said coldly, "External science, internal science—do either of those have anything to do with our current situation? I would rather have the food and water in that ring."

Chu Xuan said helplessly in a low voice, "Forget it. Even if I explained more, you would not understand. In short, if we can uncover the secrets of cultivation, it will be humanity's greatest path of advancement since the Gene lock!"

Zheng Zha, Zhang Jie, and the others exchanged bitter smiles. Chu Xuan might usually appear extremely calm and intelligent, but at heart he was still a researcher. Once he encountered a field that interested him, he became more fanatical than anyone else. For example, he was still holding Zheng Zha's hand and refused to let go.

Zheng Zha said helplessly, "Since we have enough food and water, what is your next plan? If you want to research that cultivation stuff, you'll need enough Reward Points to exchange for it, right? That is the ultimate exchange, requiring tens of thousands of Reward Points. We have to survive first if we want to earn them."

Chu Xuan finally calmed down slowly. With immense reluctance, he released Zheng Zha's wrist. The movement and expression made Zheng Zha and everyone around him feel their scalps crawl. He found a chair and sat down. "Since food and fresh water are sufficient, there are two plans we can carry out. First, we monitor the corridors, record the Aliens' locations, then lower the corridor isolation barriers whenever they split up. That way, we can isolate the Aliens separately in several passageways. We can also find a safe route to Room 17, the armory. With all the Aliens sealed off by us, such a route would be safe. Once we have the weapons, we can rely on Zheng Zha's close-combat ability to eliminate the Aliens one by one. This is the only method of fighting I can think of."

Zheng Zha's heart skipped a beat. He truly did not want to face those terrifying monsters in close combat again. He hurriedly asked, "What about the other one? Weren't there two plans?"

Chu Xuan sighed. "The other plan... The other room behind the isolation barrier is a hibernation chamber, a freezing chamber where one can enter a state similar to hibernation. People consume very little while sleeping inside. After we eat and drink our fill, we can enter hibernation, while the control room computer follows the pre-programmed return route... We return together with the Aliens."

Zhang Jie asked strangely, "Return? Return where?"

"Earth! Take the Aliens to Earth in this spacetime! Let that Earth's government use its military to fight the Aliens! Then we can survive safely... Of course, another possibility exists: the humans of that spacetime are exterminated by the Aliens, and we face tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even countless endless Aliens—living a few more years before dying..."