Forward, to the Nest! (3)

The five continued onward. Gradually, they could no longer make out any trace of the passageway. The floor was almost completely covered in that phlegm-like secretion, while large holes had frequently been corroded into the walls. On the way from Passageway No. 3 to Warehouse No. 2, the densely packed holes had turned this place into something like a spiderweb maze.

As Zheng Zha walked, he suddenly said, "No good. I'm completely lost. The moment we turned that corner just now, I lost all sense of direction."

Zhang Jie laughed beside him. "Exactly. This place looks completely identical everywhere. No matter which way you go, it's all this disgusting stuff. Trying to find your bearings here is just..."

"I can." Chu Xuan said calmly, "If all that is needed is to reconstruct the map I've seen in my mind, leave it to me. Continuing along this route will indeed take us to Warehouse No. 2, but I'm wondering whether it's appropriate to just walk straight in like this..."

Zheng Zha cut him off directly. "Appropriate! There are five of us here, and every one of us is the last of our fighting strength. Don't try to use words to persuade the majority into agreeing with you, then bully the minority into being forced to act as bait. Do you know what it's called when the majority uses legally sanctioned 'fairness' to oppress the minority? That's called fascism! Damn it, if you go be the bait, I'll agree immediately. Don't fucking treat other people's lives like a game!"

Chu Xuan replied flatly, "I can be the bait, but can you guarantee that you'll kill the Alien Queen the moment it shows itself? Since you refuse to let someone scout ahead, then come up with another plan. I'm all ears."

Seeing the atmosphere between the two gradually turn cold, Zhan Lan suddenly stepped between them with a smile. "Don't take it so seriously. Actually, I don't think having someone scout ahead would necessarily be useful. Aliens aren't mindless creatures; they're very good at ambushes. If only one or two people are walking together, they'll definitely attack the person closest to them first. But if one person walks in front while four people with guns follow behind, the Aliens won't stupidly come crawling out in that situation. They'll definitely ambush the four people in the back first. Do you think my reasoning is right?"

Chu Xuan bit his finger and said, "That's right. Your reasoning is correct... Has fear and tension made my thoughts start to become disordered? From now on... I won't offer any more opinions. I'll continue leading the way. That's that." With that, he headed off in a certain direction.

Zheng Zha watched Chu Xuan's retreating back, then said to Zero Point, "Zero Point, whenever I encountered Aliens before, I sensed danger. I remember you and Overlord seemed to have this ability to foresee danger too, right? Later, whoever senses danger first should immediately shoot in that direction. All right?"

Zero Point said quietly, "I can sense danger right now... It feels like something has been staring at us all along. It's cold, as though it sees us as food. This feeling is absolutely awful. Do you know why Chu Xuan is so agitated? He probably sensed this danger too. Honestly, I'm so irritated right now that I want to grab a gun and spray bullets everywhere. This feeling is truly awful."

Zheng Zha looked at Chu Xuan in surprise again. The man's expression remained calm and tranquil, but upon closer inspection, agitation and fear could be seen in his eyes. Such emotions really should not have appeared on an intellectual like Chu Xuan.

As they spoke, the five had already exited the passageway. Before them lay a broad expanse of open ground, still covered in a thick layer of white, mucus-like secretion. Besides that, dozens of large crates were arranged in rows throughout the space. This should have been Warehouse No. 2.

Zheng Zha was still carefully considering Zero Point's words when a strange palpitation suddenly made him look up. Four unconscious people were hanging upside down from the ceiling. They were two middle-aged men, along with a male and female white-collar worker. Other than their heads, their entire bodies were wrapped in white secretion, leaving them suspended upside down from the ceiling.

Chu Xuan looked up with Zheng Zha, then immediately said without hesitation, "Zero Point! Shoot them all down! It doesn't matter if you kill them!"

The moment he finished speaking, he said to Zheng Zha, "What is our mission for returning alive to the Main God's space? Kill all the Aliens! There must already be Aliens inside them. We have to kill them before the Alien Queen appears! Otherwise, even if we kill the Alien Queen, we'll still die. It's because of the Alien Queen's corrosive blood. It could very well corrode through the merchant ship, so after killing the Alien Queen, we must leave the ship in the shortest possible time. But what if the Aliens inside them suddenly hatch? Are we supposed to chase down those four little Aliens afterward?"

Watching Zero Point raise his gun and fire, Zheng Zha nodded silently. "You did the right thing. I have nothing to say... We're all just struggling to survive. I only reserve my mercy for the companions beside me. Don't think I'm that blindly sentimental..."

Chu Xuan smiled faintly and carefully examined the four people above. Zero Point had already shot down two of them, and the remaining two were about to be brought down as well. At that moment, Chu Xuan suddenly seemed to remember something. His expression changed drastically as he shouted, "W-wait, Zero Point, everyone, get away from here! It's a trap!"

The instant his words fell, everyone felt the ground beneath their feet sink, as though the entire floor had suddenly collapsed downward.

Chu Xuan immediately shouted, "Nobody move! Listen to me carefully! Warehouse No. 1 is beneath Warehouse No. 2. The four people hanging here are very likely a trap laid by the Alien Queen. It wanted us to stand here without moving! Zero Point, hurry and kill them! The Alien Queen must be beneath our feet. The steel here has already been corroded through by it. Everyone..."

Just as Zero Point riddled the remaining two with bullets, the steel plate beneath everyone's feet let out a violent scraping sound. Before anyone could react, the entire floor suddenly dropped, and everyone involuntarily fell into the darkness below!

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, the thick secretion saved them at that moment. Falling from a height of more than ten meters, they were all unharmed thanks to that dense secretion. Zero Point and Zheng Zha in particular sprang upright with a forceful twist of their waists.

The moment Zheng Zha sat up, he raised his gun and fired wildly toward the ceiling. He had already sensed danger approaching, and the source of that danger was directly above his head! Since this Horror Movie began, he had experienced several premonitions of danger, but none had ever been as intense as this one. The danger felt like a blade slicing straight toward his face!

Sure enough, an enormous black shadow came crashing down from the ceiling. With a thunderous boom, it landed before the five of them. Zheng Zha looked carefully and saw that it was clearly an Alien so huge it was absurd!

It was fully three times the size of an ordinary Alien, with a body seven or eight meters tall and a length of more than ten meters including its tail. A monster like this was the most terrifying Grim Reaper from a nightmare! Zheng Zha had not even seen its movement clearly when its tail viciously lashed across his stomach. A tremendous pain struck him, and before everyone's eyes, he was sent flying more than ten meters away, his fate unknown...