"I killed the Alien Queen. I got two C-rank side-mission rewards and 3,000 points."
The gold standard had arrived.
Uchiha Xiu's mood lifted even further. Maybe he could scrape together two B-rank side-mission rewards?
That would put his reward points well over ten thousand!
The payout was even greater than the combined rewards for completing every task in the official trial.
And a single B-rank exchange, Hashirama Cells, would be enough to make him take off. If he raised his ocular power to Three Tomoe and achieved a balance of yin and yang, wouldn't his strength become even more ridiculous?
Elite Jonin?
Weak Kage?
In any case, the more confidence he had before returning to the Naruto World to stir up trouble, the better.
A standard Jonin's strength wasn't enough to make him a player in Konoha, let alone allow him to profit among the great factions and their schemers!
A flare of fire, and a Phoenix Sage Fire shot out. The last Xenomorph Egg inside the Atmosphere Processor turned to charcoal in an instant.
The Queen had thought her tail-swinging maneuver was subtle enough to hide the hope of her species. In reality, the Sharingan had watched her every move.
"Next stop, the Engineer Derelict Ship."
"It should be close. I'll look around."
A figure vanished into the rainy night.
About five minutes later, Uchiha Xiu, focused solely on his mission, landed atop a massive boulder. Ahead of him, a peculiar spaceship loomed like a mountain range.
It gave off the coldness of machinery, yet it also bore unmistakable hints of biological forms, such as human reproductive organs.
The Alien Engineers' civilization had a strong penchant for such worship. They traveled between the stars not through mechanical technology, but through biotechnology.
A strange technological path.
But none of that mattered now.
The derelict ship before him had broken in half and lost all function. Uchiha Xiu only cared about how much he could squeeze out of it.
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!"
In the next instant, a blazing dragon-shaped flame surged from his mouth, tore through the curtain of rain, and roared into the ship.
The metal walls of the cabin glowed red. The rain evaporated in the intense heat, turning into a pungent white mist.
Inside, insect eggs crackled and burst one after another.
After three to five seconds, the scarlet flames turned pale, their temperature climbing another notch.
The torrent of fire surged straight into the heart of the ship—
A massive body, lying in the pilot's seat and embedded deep within ancient fossil, suddenly opened its eyes.
It was the Mutant that had absorbed the Engineer's flesh and slumbered for tens of thousands of years.
It hadn't expected an enemy to come. Its decayed limbs had barely begun to move when the Dragon Fire ruthlessly engulfed it.
"That's the thing about Fire Style. It isn't difficult to learn. As long as you have enough chakra, you can take a basic technique that even a Genin can use and make it look like an S-rank forbidden technique."
"And that's without adding Mount Myoboku's secret Toad Oil. Pair it with Wind Release, and it gets even more powerful."
Even now, Uchiha Xiu was still pouring out fire.
The Main God's notification had only listed a series of kill prompts for ancient Facehuggers with archaic genes.
Had the ancient Xenomorph that parasitized the Engineer already died? Unlikely. The thing was incredibly resilient, especially after all the modifications it had received.
On the ground,
the soil nearest the thermonuclear core had melted, taking on the molten, lava-like appearance of magma.
At last,
a notification rang in his ears:
[Killed Weakened Pale Xenomorph Variant*1. Obtained one B-rank side-mission reward and 3,500 reward points.]
He'd struck it rich!
To borrow Brother Jie's words from the Central Continent Team, from now on he could drink a bowl of soy milk and toss away another.
Meanwhile,
the trio, led by a Shadow Clone and radiating heat to lure Facehuggers and Xenomorphs into attacking, had also reached the final stretch of their mission.
"Ha... ha... ha..."
Behind a charred steel plate, Kobayashi Yoshito, the Ghost Swordsman-enhanced fighter, panted heavily.
He'd almost died just now.
Vaguely... somehow... he'd touched a certain shackle.
Move! Move!
Escape this Colosseum, this death!
That sort of idealistic power, almost useless in real life, had driven his body to burst forth with unimaginable speed, allowing him to dodge an attack from the Ancient Aberration.
Then the captain had easily finished the fight with a single Fireball Technique.
"I'm exhausted."
"Hiss, it feels like something's burning inside me. Am I going to die? The old folks at home said that when people are about to die, they can't help craving cold things."
"Was that moment worth burning myself up for?"
Kobayashi Yoshito's mind was a mess, and his vision blurred. He didn't connect it to the Gene Lock the captain had briefly mentioned.
"Slow Heal." Naicai hurried over, fighting through her headache to cast the technique at once.
In truth, Kitagawa had already killed more than a dozen Facehuggers along the way and claimed two ordinary male Xenomorphs. Her head throbbed as if pierced by needles, and she was at her limit.
But that was how healer players were. They'd rather sell themselves out than let the ranged damage dealer or jungler die in the game.
Besides, she hadn't completely run dry yet.
So, after casting her healing skill twice in a row, Naicai collapsed. She fell straight into Uchiha Xiu's arms.
The Shadow Clone used Body Flicker in time to catch her securely.
A faint warmth flowed through Kobayashi's limbs, counteracting the deadly threat brought on by a first-time awakening. His breathing grew steady—
The first time someone opened the Gene Lock, their body produced a powerful toxin. Unless they were exceptionally strong or had a large reserve of energy to buffer it, death was all too likely.
"Is it really that easy for first-generation Reincarnators to open the Gene Lock? I've built up a lot of experience in the Ninja World and completed plenty of missions. Once I entered the Infinite Multiverse and accepted that I was human, quickly opening the first stage was only natural. It's nothing strange."
"You..."
His gaze lingered for a moment on the former office worker.
Well, Captain Zheng Zha of the Central Continent Team, who might or might not have arrived yet, had been a white-collar worker himself.
Besides, most people who entered the Main God Space had a background of their own. That was why this place was also called the Big Shot Rehab Center—every last one of them was a potential powerhouse.
[Mission: Exterminate all Xenomorphs on Planet Huangquan, LV-426. Complete!] [Reward: Each member of the East Sea Team receives two C-rank side-mission rewards and 3,500 reward points.]
His train of thought came to an abrupt halt as the notification rang in his ears.
The outcome was settled.
"Then all that's left is one more person opening the Gene Lock, and the team battle mechanism will trigger."
Boom!
A cloud of white smoke burst open. Before vanishing, the Shadow Clone glanced at Kitagawa Nacai, curled up in a corner of the base and barely propping herself up with her full-sized scythe.
"If everything goes smoothly, will we run into another team in the third official trial? No, they'll arrange an extra dungeon for farming points. The East Sea Team will get another major boost, and the earliest team battle will be the fourth trial."
After absorbing the Shadow Clone's transmitted memories, Uchiha Xiu landed. This time, his vision didn't even blur.
"You... you're back?" Ripley, who had been keeping watch by the abandoned entrance to the base, came running over.
The marines, all still shaken, crowded around and stared at Uchiha Xiu as if he were an alien.
"Yeah. Everyone, let's get out of here as soon as possible."
"This planet isn't safe."
As long as Ripley and the little girl in her arms left Planet Huangquan and made it safely to the spaceship bound for Earth, the final payment would be secured.
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