Ba Wang, that Russian mercenary, was one hell of a guy!
So what if I can't beat you?
I can still take you down with me!
But the real professionals' team had only three members: Zero, Ba Wang, and Chu Xuan!
Now, though, Zero had been ambushed through the wall by the second Xenomorph and killed with a headshot. Ba Wang had used the KS-23, a Russian-made shotgun he'd picked up, to blow three holes in the Xenomorph blocking the door. But then the enraged creature had run him through with its tail. The Russian giant had taken the Xenomorph down with him.
So now, only Chu Xuan remained in the room, a man of astonishing intellect, often revered as a modern-day Marquis of Wu. When the second Xenomorph darted into the room, Chu Xuan's eyes, usually clear as water and cold as ice, instantly turned blank and lifeless. His assault rifle still fired in three-round bursts, but the rhythm and the shots' points of impact became bizarre: toes, joints, eyes, gaping mouths...
Most shocking of all, at least sixty percent of these seemingly slow bullets hit their mark. His earlier shots had hit more often, but they had struck the Xenomorph's largest target: its torso. These shots, on the other hand, did far more damage, because the areas they struck either had weak armor or none at all. With barely a dozen bullets, one man had inflicted serious damage on the second Xenomorph!
If Zhang Jie, Zheng Zha, and Wang Zhen had been there, they would probably all have shouted, "What the hell? That makes no sense!"
That was right!
It really didn't make sense!
Zheng Zha had to face the imminent threat of being impaled by a Xenomorph before he could unlock the First-Order Gene Lock. Then, the combat and killing techniques accumulated deep in humanity's genes since prehistoric times—through battles against nature, countless ancient creatures and monsters, and even other humans—would flood his consciousness. Once these techniques, forged and refined over countless ages, became his instincts, those instincts could take control of his body and fight and kill. That was how Zheng Zha had pulled off his last-second reversal. One moment, the Xenomorph had backed him into a deadly corner. The next, he had unlocked the Gene Lock, and the combat techniques accumulated over countless ages had merged with him and become instinct. And in the moment that followed, as Zheng Zha watched, that instinct had taken elegant control of his body and effortlessly killed the Xenomorph on the spot!
According to Zhang Jie, Zheng Zha's method of unlocking the Gene Lock was the most common one. Infinite Space was never short of life-or-death situations. Faced with one, you had only two choices: unlock the Gene Lock, kill your enemy, and absorb the combat techniques of humanity's ancient ancestors, causing your strength to soar and letting you rise to the top in a single bound; or take the simpler path—fail to unlock the Gene Lock and get cut down by your enemy!
But Chu Xuan's situation was different. He was following a path reserved for geniuses: unlocking the Gene Lock of his own accord!
After Zero and Ba Wang had died, only one Xenomorph remained, but it had charged into the room and was now less than seven paces away. Even Chu Xuan, whose intelligence seemed to reach the heavens, stood at the edge of a bottomless cliff, with one foot already hanging over the abyss!
And so Chu Xuan, a peerless genius with an IQ of 220, unlocked the Gene Lock by himself. The combat techniques of humanity's ancestors surged out from deep within his genes like a tidal wave. Zheng Zha had chosen to hide in his consciousness, letting the mighty flood of combat techniques merge with him and become instinct, taking control of his body. Chu Xuan chose a different approach: he guided, divided, and stored them, sorting the vast ocean of combat techniques into categories and incorporating them into himself. Then he used his brain, as powerful as a supercomputer, to control them!
In just a few seconds and a few dozen bullets, the second Xenomorph had been more badly wounded than the first. Its severe injuries sent it into a frenzy, while Chu Xuan's body began to accumulate wounds of all sizes. Blood quickly soaked through his uniform. But the threat of death had not receded; it had drawn even closer. Chu Xuan continued to maintain his unlocked Gene Lock, frantically wringing every last bit of potential from his body. Just as he blinded one of the Xenomorph's eyes and shot through the base of its inner jaw, severing the long tongue that could pierce most materials, the creature entered a near-death state—and Chu Xuan's gun... ran out of bullets!
That was right!
Chu Xuan's gun was empty!
At the moment this small but critical flaw was exposed, one of Chu Xuan's arms was ripped off. The intense pain made him leave the Gene Lock state, and then agony surged out of every muscle, every bone, every organ, every cell in his body...
Even though he was a man without emotions or a sense of pain, his whole body still convulsed. It was as though every cell were twitching and spasming wildly. Having lost an arm, Chu Xuan collapsed to the ground like a limp bundle of cotton. He couldn't move at all—not even a finger, not even an eyelid.
Chu Xuan could only watch as the Xenomorph, nearly covered from head to toe in viscous, corrosive fluid, slowly dragged itself toward him. Its hatred for Chu Xuan was so great that it gave up tearing him apart with its claws or running him through. It didn't even want to impale him with its sharp tail. All it wanted was to start at his feet and slowly chew up and eat the two-legged creature who had wounded it so badly and nearly killed it, until it finally swallowed his head whole!
Though Chu Xuan's body was still convulsing, his mind remained clear. He could tell what the near-death Xenomorph, which he had reduced to a thread of life, wanted to do, but he was powerless to stop it. There was no sign that fate would be defied. Yet, at that moment, he felt an unusual calm.
As an artificially bred human, Chu Xuan possessed astonishing intelligence but no emotions. He was like a flesh-and-blood robot. He was the secret base's top researcher, but he was also one of its research subjects. With his extraordinary intellect, he knew what the others at the base said about him behind his back. He also knew how they saw him. So when he watched the dying Xenomorph slowly approach, intent on eating him alive, he accepted the cruel fate awaiting him with a calm heart.
Or perhaps, for Chu Xuan, his life had always been cruel. Now, that cruel fate was simply about to reach its end. His heart was perfectly calm; not even the discomfort of every organ, muscle, and bone in his body twitching could disturb that final serenity.
When the Xenomorph had leisurely eaten its way to Chu Xuan's waist, the entire room suddenly sprang to life. Metal strips flew through the air from every direction...
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