Earlier, when Li Shuaixi had lowered his head and walked forward, he had already gotten several meters ahead of the others. Then, after tossing the first bomb, he had run several more meters. By then, he was more than ten meters away from them. All they could do was watch helplessly as he pulled the pin. Even Zero Point, who had the Desert Eagle in hand, couldn't react. He had been knocked to the ground by the shock wave from the previous bomb.
"You're all going to die! I—"
Li Shuaixi pulled the pin and laughed maniacally. He was about to throw the bomb at the group when it suddenly exploded in his hand. From the moment he pulled the pin to the bomb's detonation, barely a second had passed. He hadn't even had time to throw it before the enormous fireball and shock wave swept toward the others.
"No!"
Zheng Zha's eyes nearly split with rage. He stared wide-eyed at the approaching fireball and shock wave, stunned. Fortunately, Zhan Lan, who was beside him, suddenly tackled him to the ground. The man was forced down onto the floor, where he could only watch as the fire passed just above his nose. For a moment, he could even smell the stench of burning human flesh in the flames.
No! How could life be so fragile? Why was life so fragile?
Zheng Zha sprang to his feet and charged madly into the cloud of white smoke. As soon as he passed through its outer edge, he saw Li Shuaixi lying face-down on the ground, blasted beyond recognition. The young man's body was charred black. His hands and chest were completely gone. Aside from the scattered pieces of flesh, all that remained on the ground was the black blood that had poured from his chest. So the blood inside a person's heart wasn't always red. When a bomb blew it apart, it... could turn completely black.
"Why? Why did that bomb explode as soon as he pulled the pin?"
Zheng Zha emerged from the smoke and walked silently up to Chu Xuan.
Chu Xuan had been the closest to the blast. Blood kept spilling from his nose and mouth. He wiped the blood from his nose and said, "That's right. I asked Overlord to make the bombs. One was set to explode after a few seconds; the other would explode as soon as its pin was pulled. When I handed him the two bombs, I put the one with the delayed explosion on the outside, so he could only choose to use the first one..."
Zheng Zha slammed a fist into his face. Before Chu Xuan could finish speaking, the blow sent him flying. But Zero Point immediately aimed the Desert Eagle at Zheng Zha, while Overlord stepped between him and Chu Xuan.
Chu Xuan slowly sat up from the ground. He spat out a tooth and spoke in the same calm tone. "This is the real bait plan. Did you honestly think a little blood from a small wound could attract the Aliens? Impossible. Their sense of smell is keen, but during the Alien Queen's incubation period, they guard the area around the nest. You saw them heading toward it on the monitor. So we needed a large amount of blood and the smell of flesh, along with the Alien blood on your skin, to lure them over. If my guess is right, the Aliens are heading this way now. If you want to die, just stay outside the isolation wall." With that, he stood and walked silently into the control room.
Zheng Zha grew even angrier. But with Zero Point's Desert Eagle trained on him, all he could do was shout furiously, "So what he said was right? You'd decided to abandon him and kill him from the very beginning! Why are you two helping him? If we're partners with people like you, we won't even know when you decide to abandon us! What kind of partnership is that?"
Chu Xuan turned around and said coldly, "I hadn't planned to abandon him at the start. My original plan was for each of us to give up some blood, and then he would only have to work with you... Forget it. I don't need to explain this to you. Just remember one thing: everything I do is to make sure our team survives this Horror Movie. I haven't done anything wrong!"
Zheng Zha's voice turned colder still. He said fiercely, "Abandoning a teammate, letting him get blown to pieces, then using his flesh and blood to attract the Aliens—that's not wrong? Then what do you think is right? Is that what you two think as well? Is life really so worthless?"
Without looking back, Chu Xuan kept walking and said, "I gave him one last chance. If he hadn't used the second bomb to attack us, and had followed my plan to attract the Aliens, then once he wounded one, the others might have been drawn over too. He could also have taken shelter in the safe space between the two corridors. Too bad. Ordinary people's minds... are full of resentment. How petty."
Zero Point remained silent. He kept his gun trained on Zheng Zha as he backed away. After going more than ten meters, he turned and left. Only Overlord stayed behind, speaking earnestly. "Our code as mercenaries values teamwork. In battle, you trust your comrades enough to turn your back to them. That's the most basic kind of faith and the most fundamental rule. But for that to work, the other person has to be someone you recognize as a partner, not a useless burden. I think Zero Point feels the same way. We're different from people who've lived ordinary lives. We're better suited to surviving in this world of Horror Movies. To me, these Horror Movies are just one mercenary job after another. Chu Xuan did the right thing. He chose the method that would let most of us survive and complete the mission. Li Shuaixi never made me feel I could turn my back on him. And when faced with the final test, he chose to destroy himself..."
Zheng Zha stood there in a daze. The isolation wall slowly descended, and only then did Zhang Jie and Zhan Lan pull him inside. He finally looked up at the two of them and asked, "Does it really have to be this cruel? Do we have to abandon others just to survive? Or does one little grudge mean dragging everyone down to die with you...? Then what are we? The next pawns they'll use and abandon?"
Zhang Jie said angrily, "I don't give a damn what they're planning. I don't feel safe around those three at all. I thought Chu Xuan was smart enough to come up with a good way to save us. Now it looks like smart people are all damn scheming. No way—I feel even less safe with them! Zheng Zha, I'll go get the Desert Eagle back in a bit. Even if I can't get it back, once they've sealed the Aliens off, the three of us will act on our own. We can't let them sell us out without even knowing it."
Zhan Lan sighed. "But... should the three of us really go off on our own? We might as well stick together and get through this Horror Movie, then keep our distance from them in the next one."
Zheng Zha looked at Zhan Lan in silence, then said fiercely, "No. The three of us will act on our own in a bit! I don't want to see them again... If you can't trust your teammates first, what reason do they have to trust you? I'll never abandon any of the teammates by my side. If I can save a teammate's life, then when I'm in danger, they'll save mine too! So I'll never stand with those people again!"
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