Zheng Zha didn't ask Zhang Jie to carry him again. The distance wasn't that far, and he could use the chance to stretch his limbs a little. But his right arm was broken in several places, and even the slightest movement made it ache. Left with no choice, he tied the whole arm against his body with strips of cloth. The pain of doing so went without saying. Anyone could tell how much agony he was in just by looking at him, drenched in sweat. Watching from the side, Zhan Lan felt her heart clench. The young woman could only grip his left hand tightly. Only then did she realize that the pain had left him too weak even to move that hand.
By the time his right arm was secured, Zheng Zha was covered in cold sweat. He tried to move and managed a strained smile. "Not bad. Now my right arm won't get in the way. Let's go. We'll have to pick up the pace from here."
Zhan Lan still held his left hand. Hesitating, she said, "We... we don't have to go. Let's return to the control room, all right? I know how to close the bulkhead. We can stay there until the ship returns to Earth in this era and let the military deal with them. Okay? We don't have to take this risk. Especially when you're already..."
Zheng Zha paused. Without drawing attention to it, he pulled his left hand free, then pointed at the floor. "Look. See all those holes eaten into it? That's Alien blood. They're intelligent creatures. When they sense a threat, they'll injure themselves to break through the bulkhead. That's how all three of these Aliens escaped."
"If we try to seal the bulkhead and make it back to Earth, the Aliens will be so hungry that they'll injure themselves to break through again. There could even be more of them next time. Remember the four people who were taken into Room Fifteen? So, killing the Alien Queen before those four Aliens appear is our only chance of surviving. With Chu Xuan's intelligence, he wouldn't risk going to the armory otherwise. He knows this is our only chance, too."
Zheng Zha smiled and ruffled Zhan Lan's hair. "You can follow behind us. Don't worry. I'll never abandon my companions... and I won't entrust my hope of survival to fate, either. No matter what, I'm going to live!"
With Zheng Zha refusing to give in, the other two had no choice but to follow him toward the armory. The gunfire ahead grew clearer and more intense. Zheng Zha tensed up all over again. With his right arm bound against his body, he ran with an unsteady gait, but after a few dozen meters, he quickly adapted to running with one arm.
"Zhang Jie, take the longest Spiral Thorn. I don't know if the bomb on it can kill them instantly. If it can't, I'll need you behind me, bracing the Spiral Thorn with all your strength. I'll shield you from the front. Whether it's an Alien's tail or its tongue, I'll block them all with the Spiral Thorn. But after that, you'll have to use it to hold the Alien back. Don't let it get close... In my current condition, I can't fight an Alien at close range. I can only throw the Spiral Thorn or block an attack. Zhang Jie, no matter what, don't take even one step back!"
Zheng Zha gave Zhang Jie a few instructions, then took the Spiral Thorn with the bomb strapped to it from Zhan Lan. He handed Zhang Jie one without a bomb. The three of them were now just one corridor away from the armory. Once they turned the corner, they would see two Aliens... or a pile of human remains.
With gunfire this intense, Chu Xuan must have heard the explosion just now. In other words, the Aliens are completely focused on us. Two mature Aliens... The first strike has to hit, no matter what! Otherwise, we're dead... I absolutely cannot die! No matter what, I have to live!
Zheng Zha drew a deep breath, then pushed off and charged ahead. The speed made the other two freeze in surprise. But when he reached the corner, he didn't stop. Instead, he kept charging toward the wall, without slowing down in the slightest.
The air around him grew thick once more. Zheng Zha was becoming more and more accustomed to this extreme state before unlocking the Gene lock, where his stamina, vision, Nerve Reaction Speed, and every other attribute were pushed to their limits. But this was the furthest he could go. The state of unlocking the Gene lock—where he seemed to possess endless battle instincts and would survive at any cost—could only appear when he was on the brink of fear and death. He still couldn't control it at will.
Using his tremendous speed, Zheng Zha took several steps up the wall. In the blink of an eye, he turned, and there, by the entrance to the armory, he spotted the rear half of an Alien. Its front half had already slipped inside. He couldn't see the other Alien at all. In other words, it had most likely already made its way into the armory.
While still in midair, Zheng Zha bit open the bomb's clasp on the Spiral Thorn. Then he hurled it with all his might. But he wasn't left-handed, and the strength and accuracy of his left-handed throw couldn't match those of his right. He'd aimed for the Alien's belly, but the Spiral Thorn struck low, near its waist. The Alien immediately withdrew from the armory. As soon as it turned toward Zheng Zha, the bomb embedded in its waist exploded violently!
The Spiral Thorn bomb had been lodged inside the Alien's body. The blast nearly blew its entire waist apart, sending entrails and yellow blood spraying everywhere. The corridor hissed as though it had been doused with strong sulfuric acid, and the steel was rapidly corroded. White smoke billowed through the passage, obscuring everything. Even Zheng Zha could only make out the vague shape of a huge dark figure on the ground.
"Is it dead? Is it dead already?"
Zheng Zha rolled across the floor several times. He couldn't spare a thought for the pain of landing on his right arm; he focused entirely on the dark shape on the ground. Just as he was about to throw another Spiral Thorn bomb, the shadow sprang up. Then it charged at him. It moved so fast that he had no time to throw another Spiral Thorn. An Alien with a huge hole in its waist burst out of the white smoke and, before everyone's eyes, lunged furiously at Zheng Zha.
Zheng Zha was about to thrust his Spiral Thorn at the Alien's head when a hand shoved him aside from behind. Zhang Jie charged out from behind him. The instant the Alien's tongue shot out, Zhang Jie drove the Spiral Thorn into its mouth. At the same time, the Alien's horrifying, tooth-lined tongue pierced Zhang Jie's shoulder.
In an instant, blood sprayed everywhere, and Zheng Zha's vision turned red!
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