Lone Wolf

Chapter 3: Lone Wolf

Before his eyes lay an endless expanse of white.

Fang Xiu stood on a low slope covered in ice and snow. The cold wind bit like a knife, but the steady flow of chakra within his body countered the low temperature, making him the only anomaly at the whaling station.

At this very moment, members of the expert team from various fields were braving the wind and snow to collect samples in the surrounding area, while the engineering team guarded the entrance to the ice cave, preparing to utilize this mysterious passage.

As for the security team? They were paired up, standing guard at the watchtower of the abandoned whaling station and in every corner, wary of other factions making uninvited appearances—even if such a possibility existed only in theory.

But in reality...

Space, low Earth orbit.

Inside a cloaked spacecraft.

"This human... is very strange."

"He looks powerful. He doesn't need any tools; the energy within his body is enough to resist the harsh environment. I want to collect his skull."

In the floating 3D projection, a young man standing on high ground was displayed. The red light representing his heat signature was exaggerated, as if a small boiler were running inside him.

On either side of the screen stood three masked figures over two meters tall, clad in strange armor.

As if sensing something, Fang Xiu looked up at the sky.

"Yautja. With their long-range surveillance capabilities... they should have discovered me."

This was a very interesting race. They highly revered primitive hunting culture yet had developed a high-tech civilization, capable of piloting spaceships and constantly warring with various exotic creatures.

"Perhaps, if I have the chance in the future and my strength is greater, I can try to make deeper contact with the Yautja Civilization to trade for equipment I can use and to develop related worlds."

"For now... let's get through the trial first."

Collecting his thoughts, Fang Xiu followed the prompts in his memory fragments and quickly formed hand seals—

Ram.

Immediately, his conspicuous ninja attire vanished, replaced by a plain, polar-grade cold-weather suit.

In the Naruto world, ninjas would form hand seals before launching an attack to convert the chakra within their bodies into a technique to be released.

Furthermore, most hand seals required both hands, but there were exceptions. A very small number of gifted elite jonin, or even Kage-level powerhouses, could perform one-handed seals.

Senju Hashirama, who founded Konoha and used Sage Mode Wood Release to fight like a giant, often didn't even need to form seals; whatever he shouted would manifest.

As for the Transformation Technique Fang Xiu had just used, it was exactly as the name suggested: changing one's appearance to deceive others!

In various scenarios, such as combat, espionage, or luring an enemy, one could gain the maximum advantage by transforming into a third party.

Now, looking completely unremarkable, Fang Xiu had arrived at the entrance and finished regrouping with the plot characters.

"The steel cable anchor is set. Should we send the expert team's scientific instruments first, or let the security team scout ahead? I keep feeling like something bad is going to happen."

"Install the lights along the way. It's pitch black inside, like the maw of an abyss. How can it not be creepy?"

"So, get the generator running..."

Around the ice cave, the construction site was chaotic.

Amidst the noisy chatter, Fang Xiu walked to a corner and silently placed a hand on a man's shoulder: "Brother, can you tell me how to express the current time in Aztec on the Mayan calendar disk?"

Professor Sebastian, who had been lost in thought, jumped in fright. After steadying himself, he turned to look at Fang Xiu and sighed, "Buddy, are you a ghost? You don't make a sound when you walk."

"..." Silence was his only answer, along with a pair of Sharingan.

In each eye socket, three ink-colored tomoe spun.

The genjutsu inherent to his bloodline was activated.

There was no need to consume much chakra, as the target was merely an ordinary human. The next moment, the expert in ancient civilization history pulled out the pen and paper he carried and began to write.

Admittedly, after so much time, Fang Xiu's memory of the plot's finer details had become quite blurred, but he could still recall the key nodes.

The equipment room containing the plasma caster was located directly beneath the main sacrificial burial chamber; one could reach it simply by walking along the center line of the pyramid!

The main problem was how to obtain the equipment.

The symbols written on the paper were the key.

"Use Aztec to adjust the time on the Mayan calendar disk to the current date, October 10, 2004, and you will obtain..."

As he took the paper, Fang Xiu let out a long breath and withdrew the genjutsu, his pupils returning to normal.

In fact, for someone with the Uchiha bloodline, even if they weren't particularly skilled in genjutsu, controlling an ordinary creature with their eyes was as easy as flipping a hand.

After all, if one were to advance further to the Mangekyou Sharingan, even giant Tailed Beasts could be manipulated.

At this moment, watching Fang Xiu's back, Professor Sebastian's expression was vacant, still in a daze. Even when he was soon woken up by his companions, he would not remember what he had just done.

At the entrance.

Several engineers responsible for setting up the steel cables saw Fang Xiu walking over and were just about to greet him when they noticed a black shadow flash before their eyes.

When they looked again, Fang Xiu was nowhere to be found!

"Did... did he jump down?"

"No way... I remember that guy is a member of the security team."

Whoosh! Not intending to use the steel wire zipline, Fang Xiu, having successfully obtained the Ancient Language Key, slid directly into the depths of the ice cave.

Not long after.

A kunai plunged into the thirty-degree sloped ice surface, shedding most of his momentum, followed by a dull thud as Fang Xiu stood upright like a javelin, lifting his gaze to survey what lay ahead—

A pyramid came into view.

It was incredibly magnificent; the archway at the very front alone stood thirty meters high.

At the same time.

The reincarnators remaining on the surface arrived at the entrance, trembling; they had no choice but to come.

Because the latest update on their Main God Watch indicated that if they did not enter the ice cave within ten minutes, they would be erased!

"That veteran is too heartless. He's clearly so strong, yet he won't look after us newcomers."

"Yeah, without a powerhouse to protect us, relying only on pistols... let alone a Xenomorph, we can't even kill a Facehugger."

"What kind of bullsh*t Main God is this? Damn it! It gives us a new life, only to cruelly snatch it away later. Is it a psychopath?"

"I finally obtained a new life, I don't want to die, I don't want to die! That feeling is just too painful!"

"Xenomorphs burst out from the chest..."

"Right, hurry down! Hurry down! I know why that guy was in such a rush to leave; he wants to get the Yautja's weapons to increase his survival odds!!"

As the last group of humans entered the ice cave, three missile-like flight vehicles were ejected from the cloaked spaceship hovering in outer space.

They streaked toward the Antarctic trial grounds at extreme speed, moving so fast that they left no exhaust trails behind, highly concealed and utilizing technology beyond human imagination.

The hunt was about to begin!