When Disaster Strikes, Everyone Fends for Themselves

Zhan Lan watched Zheng Zha twitch in agony, and her heart ached. Enduring the pain in her shoulder where a chunk of flesh had been torn away, she walked over to him with a pale face and used a hemostatic spray to stop the bleeding.

"We need to get out of here, now!" Chu Xuan came over, still wearing that same expressionless poker face. His words were just as unpleasant to hear. "We have to leave! If there's more than one Xenomorph, then these alien creatures, with habits like ants or bees, must have some way to communicate. The death of one could draw even more here!"

Though Chu Xuan always wore that indifferent, emotionless face and spoke like a robot, one had to admit that the truth could be hard to hear. His words might have been unpleasant, but they were useful. So when he said that more Xenomorphs might come, everyone panicked a little. After all, just that one Xenomorph had already beaten them to a pulp. Zheng Zha, their strongest fighter, had nearly been killed. If he hadn't suddenly powered up at the last moment, who knew what would have happened?

After witnessing firsthand the Xenomorph's fighting ability and Zheng Zha's, the three experts dropped their arrogant act. All three were intelligent enough to understand that their professional skills required weapons, equipment, and detailed information to be of any use. With not even a pistol between them, fighting a Xenomorph barehanded was basically serving themselves up as a snack! In truth, the three of them were also utterly baffled by Zheng Zha and the others. Nobody had thought to bring spare weapons or equipment. Zheng Zha had taken a Cold Steel Machete to fight a Xenomorph, while the others—Zhan Lan, for instance—had brought nothing but a bottle of hemostatic spray?

Forget bringing a little .38 revolver or a Swiss Army knife. They could've at least worn a bulletproof vest! How on earth had they survived the previous world?

The three of them had hit the nail on the head!

The previous Resident Evil world had been the first scenario after the Zhongzhou Team was wiped out. Not only had the mission difficulty been reduced to the absolute minimum, but Zhang Jie, that crafty old fox, had also skipped every side quest. Only Zheng Zha had earned his first big windfall thanks to his protagonist's luck. Zhan Lan and Li Xiaoyi had spent the entire time as spectators, taking part in no battles and earning no extra rewards. They'd received only the basic salary of 1,000 reward points. If Li Xiaoyi hadn't been possessed and reborn by Wang Zhen, the king of cheats, he definitely wouldn't have survived the Alien I scenario!

As a woman rated as a rare psychic-type talent, Zhan Lan had no side quests or reward points to strengthen her specialty. She had also never been through the baptism of battle or a test of life and death. On top of that, Zhang Jie was a crafty old fox, and the information he gave them about Infinite Space was riddled with ambiguity. As a result, Zhan Lan had wasted an entire scenario—and one that the Main God had specifically provided for talented newcomers to earn points and strengthen themselves!

Sometimes, once you missed your chance, you missed it for good!

Because Zhan Lan had missed the best time to strengthen herself, she was always a level behind the others. This wasn't just true of her psychic abilities; it was true of her mindset, too!

With Zhan Lan supporting him, Zheng Zha got to his feet, legs trembling and face ashen. But they ran into a problem deciding where to go. The more people there were, the harder it was to agree. Zheng Zha's condition was so poor that he couldn't move quickly, let alone run. So Zhan Lan wanted to take him to hide in an empty room nearby, while Chu Xuan and the other two wanted to find the weapons locker aboard the spaceship. As professionals without so much as a weapon in their hands, they naturally didn't want to keep fighting Xenomorphs unarmed. Whether they could win was one thing; having a weapon to fight with was another.

Put bluntly, even if they couldn't bear the thought of being bitten to death by a Xenomorph and decided to shoot themselves, they'd need a gun first!

In the end, neither side could convince the other, so they each gave a little. Zhang Jie would take Zhan Lan and Zheng Zha to find an empty room nearby and hide, while Chu Xuan and the other two would follow his exceptional memory and IQ of 220 to find the weapons locker. Once the two groups split up, Zhang Jie quickly found an empty room with Zhan Lan and Zheng Zha, and the three of them hid inside. Chu Xuan took Zero and Ba Wang down another corridor, heading for the weapons locker he remembered.

"I think the three of them are using us as bait!" Zhan Lan said through gritted teeth, her face grim.

"They're high-and-mighty professionals, while we're just a bunch of nouveau riche who hit the jackpot after stepping in dog shit. Of course they look down on us! But hey, it's still up in the air who ends up as bait," Zhang Jie said meaningfully.

"Your brother Zhang may be a coward with lousy skills who hasn't earned many reward points, but I've been through several scenarios. I've still got a few old treasures tucked away!" As he spoke, Zhang Jie took out a neatly folded, cloth-like silver-white object.

"Know what this is?" Zhang Jie said with a smile. "It's called a Space Blanket. It reflects the body's heat back, so wrapping yourself in it helps you stay warm!"

"Reflects body heat? If we wrap ourselves in one, can we avoid being tracked by a Xenomorph's infrared vision?" Zhan Lan was quick-witted whenever Zheng Zha wasn't involved. Zhang Jie had barely dropped a hint before she figured out what he was planning.

"Here, one for each of you!" Zhang Jie casually handed one to Zhan Lan and Zheng Zha, then took out another for himself. He shook it open and wrapped himself up tightly.

Zhan Lan and Zheng Zha followed his example, wrapping themselves up so tightly that not even a crack was left uncovered. They'd just experienced firsthand how terrifying the Xenomorph was. In Zheng Zha's current pathetic state, unless he summoned a VIP to fight in his place again, he'd be killed in a bite or two. But if he summoned a VIP, he might not even last long enough for the hired fighter to kill the Xenomorph. Zheng Zha could easily collapse and die first!

"Chu Xuan, will the Xenomorph really go after Zheng Zha and the other two? There are three of us, too," Ba Wang asked, puzzled.

"When lions, tigers, wolves, or leopards hunt, what do they go after first?" Chu Xuan asked without turning around.

"The old, the young, and the injured!" Ba Wang, a mercenary who had spent years on missions in Africa, answered without hesitation.

"So Zheng Zha and the other two are the obvious targets. Zheng Zha is badly wounded and can't move quickly, so he can only hide nearby. That puts them closer to the Xenomorph! According to the movies, these alien creatures have infrared vision, so the metal walls of a room are useless against them," Chu Xuan continued. "Actually, I'm just taking a gamble. I can't be sure how the Xenomorph will hunt us. It might follow its predatory instincts and go after Zheng Zha and the others first, or it might ignore them and come straight for us. In short, I can't predict its movements with absolute certainty. There's only one thing I know for sure: if we stay together, we'll all die when the Xenomorph attacks!"

"So when disaster strikes, everyone fends for themselves. We'll each take our chances!"