It was the first time Zhang Jie had seen Zheng Zha throw a steel rod. He stood there, stunned for a long moment, then began slapping Zheng Zha on the shoulder. Laughing, he said, "You little rascal! When did you get this strong? Were you hiding it from me all this time when we sparred?"
Zheng Zha rubbed his shoulder with a wry smile and drew out a Spiral Thorn. "No, I only discovered this power recently. And I can't sustain it for long. Every throw uses up some Internal Force. With my current reserves and recovery rate, I can throw five rods at most, then I need to rest for about five minutes."
"Five?" Zhang Jie scratched his head. "That'll do. I refuse to believe those Aliens' shells are tougher than this thick steel plate. Too bad you only just discovered this power and haven't had any practice, so your aim's probably off. Otherwise, maybe you wouldn't have to worry about the Aliens at all."
Zheng Zha smiled wryly again. The Aliens' strength was nowhere near as simple as Zhang Jie made it sound. Aside from their immense strength and eerie speed, the most terrifying thing about them was their ability to lurk in the dark and kill with a single strike. He had encountered them twice aboard the merchant ship, and each time someone had died because they were ambushed. They might have been able to kill even without sneaking up on them, but no matter what, Aliens lurking in the dark were the most terrifying threat.
"The really frightening thing about Aliens is their ambushes. Last time, Zhan Lan and I..." Zheng Zha trailed off when he noticed Zhan Lan staring blankly into space. Curious, he quickly asked, "Zhan Lan, is something on your mind?"
Zhan Lan said bitterly, "I'm wondering why Chu Xuan took them away with him. Given his intelligence, he should have been wary of the danger beyond Room 15. Why would he willingly risk it? Could staying here with us be even more dangerous?"
Zheng Zha's heart stirred. He and Zhan Lan blurted out almost simultaneously, "The Aliens' blood!"
Zhang Jie looked at them in confusion. "What do you mean, the Aliens' blood? I don't understand."
Zheng Zha wore a bitter expression as well. "The Aliens that were sealed away. I've seen the horror movie Alien 4. The Alien being monitored in isolation escaped by injuring itself and spilling its highly corrosive blood. If we just seal the Aliens away, they might not hurt themselves right away. But if we head toward Room 15, they might injure themselves to protect their nest and escape. Then the ones facing those three Aliens wouldn't be Chu Xuan and the others—it'd be us, right behind them! What a ruthless bastard. Had he been plotting against us ever since he started manipulating Li Shuaixi?"
Zhan Lan shook her head. "No one can plan that far ahead. He doesn't know our personalities well enough to have been plotting against us from the start. He probably only came up with this on the spur of the moment. Since we'd already decided to split off and form our own group, he simply took the opportunity to use us as his shield."
By then, Zheng Zha had calmed down. He began searching the large screen for something. A moment later, he said coldly, "If he wants to play dirty, so will I. He needs to understand that we're not pawns in his hands. He can't just manipulate us as he pleases. We'll see who ends up dead!"
Room 22, shower room.
Zheng Zha and the other two reached it as quickly as they could. He pulled them inside, then had Zhan Lan lock the door. After that, he darted into one of the shower stalls and called out, "Hurry and wash off the smell of sweat and anything else on you. Then smear the food I gave you all over your bodies. Make sure you're covered from head to toe, understand?"
Without a word, Zhan Lan rushed into a shower stall. Zhang Jie stood there helplessly, clutching a package of cheese, but he still began washing himself as Zheng Zha had instructed. After a while, he suddenly heard Zhan Lan call out, "Z-Zheng Zha, I can't move my arm properly, and I can't get the blood off. C-could you come help me?"
Zhang Jie immediately stopped what he was doing. With unbelievable speed, he pressed his ear to the wall and put on the sly, squinty-eyed expression of a lecher as he listened closely. But before he could hear anything from Zheng Zha or Zhan Lan, a metallic scraping sound came from the corridor outside. It was painfully sharp, like someone dragging a steel brush across the floor.
All three of them froze. Not one dared move a muscle. Zheng Zha had just stepped into Zhan Lan's shower stall, and now he could only stare awkwardly at her bare upper body. He himself had stripped off all his clothes.
The sound stopped right outside the shower room. The three of them felt as though their hearts had stopped beating. The only sound in the entire room was the rush of running water. None of them dared even breathe; they stood rigid, holding their breath.
They had no idea how long that unseen pressure lingered outside the door. It might have been a dozen seconds, or it might have been several minutes. By the time the scraping sound gradually faded into the distance, the three of them were nearly suffocating. As soon as they relaxed, they began gulping down air as if they had never breathed so freely in their lives.
After that, none of them spoke. Zhang Jie stopped trying to eavesdrop and picked up the cheese, rubbing it over his body. The other two scrubbed themselves stiffly, then smeared some liquid food over their skin. The whole thing had taken less than a minute, showing just how limitless human potential could be.
Just then, that same shrill, metallic scraping sound came from the shower room entrance again. Everyone pricked up their ears and held their breath. After their first experience, they weren't as tense this time. Just as before, the sound stopped outside the door—but this time it stayed only briefly, then raced away toward the other end of the corridor.
Zheng Zha's heart stirred. He suddenly ran out of the shower stall and picked up several Spiral Thorn steel rods from the floor. Zhang Jie and Zhan Lan poked their heads out of their stalls to watch him, both looking baffled.
"Both times, the Aliens reacted the same way. Let's hope it's the same this time..."
Zheng Zha spoke softly to them. The faint scraping sound gradually drew closer from the other end of the corridor. The tension began to creep into all three of their breathing, especially Zhang Jie and Zhan Lan, who had no idea what Zheng Zha was planning. Zhan Lan might have guessed, but not knowing for sure only made them both more nervous and afraid.
The sound drew closer and closer to the shower room. The three of them were so tense they could almost hear their own heartbeats. Zheng Zha's fingers had gone pale where they gripped the Spiral Thorn steel rod. His immense strength had even dented it slightly.
Just as before, the sound stopped outside the shower room. Zheng Zha could even faintly hear a low scraping noise coming from the main door.
Without another moment's hesitation, Zheng Zha poured both his Internal Force and his own strength into the Spiral Thorn steel rods. He hurled three in quick succession. With three sharp whistles, the rods pierced through the steel door and shot outside. A wild, bestial roar came from beyond it...
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