Farming points

"Get away! Get the fuck away from me!!"

"Rat-tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat!"

Inside the Hibernation Zone, Wang Yuanyang screamed wildly, spraying bullets from his assault rifle at the Species lunging toward him.

Half his foot had been gnawed off, leaving him to hobble along as fast as he could.

Looking at his mutilated foot, he felt hatred rise to its absolute limit.

Pain! Resentment! Hatred!

The alarm on Ye Lin's side still hadn't sounded as planned. Terrified that he would be abandoned, he had been forced to crawl out of the ventilation duct.

But the Species drawn toward him were like flies scenting rot, giving him no chance to escape.

If Huang Liang hadn't shoved the glowing ring into his hands, he would already have been dead!

But the ring wouldn't last much longer either. Without a power supply, its fluorescent glow was like a campfire in a forest that might go out at any moment.

Overwhelmed by terror and resentment, Wang Yuanyang furiously cursed Ye Lin for putting him in this situation.

"Ye Lin! I'll fucking kill you!! I swear I'll kill you!"

He hadn't done anything wrong. He had just gotten a little impatient.

Yet that bastard had actually tried to get him killed! Worse still, Zhao Cheng was scared too, and Huang Liang, who was always spouting justice, had really stopped looking after him!

"Click, click."

The empty magazine suddenly clicked.

Wang Yuanyang's curses cut off like a drake with its neck caught, and terror flooded his heart.

He looked at the rifle in his hands, now out of ammunition, and his face abruptly went white.

He had been so terrified that he had forgotten to conserve his bullets. Looking at the roaring Species around him, ready to charge at any moment, he felt nothing but despair!

He only had one grenade left. Even if it killed a few Species, it wouldn't help!

On top of that, the floor suddenly began to shake. Wang Yuanyang turned in horror and saw a six-meter-tall figure striding toward him from the passage on the other side, looking like a corpse rotted through from soaking.

"God"! It was God!

"No! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!!"

"Huang Liang! Huang Liang! Get the fuck over here and save me! Save me!"

His nerves shattered, Wang Yuanyang dragged his ruined leg along as fast as he could, using his rifle like a shovel to feebly smack at the charging Species.

He shouted into his wristwatch over and over. Now, all he could do was pray for a miracle, for someone to save his life.

One second, perhaps two.

The nearest Species stretched its mouth open to the limit, about to swallow him whole.

Wang Yuanyang closed his eyes, unwilling to accept his fate. Yet in his despair, a miracle seemed to have truly arrived.

"Rat-tat! Rat-tat-tat!"

A burst of precise gunfire rang out, every shot hitting a head, and a figure appeared in the distance.

It was Huang Liang, sprinting toward him in a spacesuit.

"Duck! Protect yourself!"

He moved as if nothing stood in his way. Driven by fear embedded in their genes, the surrounding Species shrieked and retreated.

With nothing blocking his full-speed sprint, Huang Liang reached him in just a few breaths.

But although the Species dared not attack Huang Liang, Wang Yuanyang had no such "protection."

Amid shrill screams, the Species closing in from the other side continued leaping toward Wang Yuanyang, who had fallen to the floor.

His ammunition ran out. Seeing the nearest Species leap over Wang Yuanyang's head again, Huang Liang threw himself over him without hesitation, shielding him with his own body.

"Put it on! Hurry!"

There was no time to take the spacesuit off his back. In his desperation, Huang Liang put his own helmet on Wang Yuanyang's head first.

He whipped out his dagger with a reverse grip, instantly puncturing the eye of an attacking Species.

Perhaps the fear built into their genes was simply too strong. Although neither man was fully suited up, the Species no longer dared to attack.

Soon, once both men had put on their spacesuits, the Species leaped away shrieking, as though they had encountered their natural enemy.

Gasping for breath, Wang Yuanyang laughed and cried. After nearly being eaten alive, he had never felt so grateful to be alive.

"Thank you...! Thank you!!"

"Huang Liang, if it weren't for you, I really... that animal really would've gotten me killed!"

Completely forgetting that he had been resenting Huang Liang moments earlier, Wang Yuanyang pulled his spacesuit tighter around him and felt utterly safe.

That little bastard was hateful, but his judgment had actually been right.

"Huang Liang, we...!"

Before he could say anything more, Huang Liang abruptly grabbed him and signaled for him to stay quiet.

Directly ahead of them, God, who resembled a bloated, waterlogged corpse, was staring fixedly at them.

His enormous eyes, filmed with white, remained motionless, as though he were trying to identify who they were.

Too afraid to breathe, Wang Yuanyang trembled all over as he faced God at such close range.

Fortunately, the spacesuits worked even better than they had imagined. Seeing that God wasn't attacking them, Huang Liang drew a deep breath, took Wang Yuanyang's hand, and prepared to leave.

"Let's get out first! They could open the airlock at any moment!"

Startled, Wang Yuanyang hurried after Huang Liang.

As he ran past God, he didn't dare meet his gaze. Yet for some reason, he felt that the moment he passed, the giant corpse gave him an eerie glance with those clouded eyes.

"We can start farming points. They're coming."

The alarm sounded at the same time. Once Ye Lin confirmed that Huang Liang had fired his gun, He Zheng licked his dry lips behind the door, his eyes brimming with excitement.

The group stood in two rows with weapons in hand, as though welcoming guests.

"Open the door and beat the dogs!"

He Zheng shouted. The next second, Zhang Tie, who was in charge of the door, took a deep breath and pulled it open.

Outside, the Species drawn by the earlier grenade explosion had already packed the passage.

The Species, which should have come shrieking and lunging at them, instantly fell silent when the door opened.

As though confronted by their natural enemy, they turned to flee.

Seeing that the Species really were afraid of them, and that even the potbellied Buddha at the very back wasn't attacking, He Zheng was overjoyed. He drove his three-edged military spike hard into the nearest Species' eye.

Ding. Examinee He Zheng, ID D63311, has completed a kill. Awarded 0.5 points!

Hearing the system notification, He Zheng was so excited he almost jumped.

He had never imagined that he would get to farm points someday! Although his reward had been reduced because he had participated in so many rounds, even the smallest gain still counted! With so many Species here, he could hardly imagine how much he could exchange for when he returned!

Excited as he was, however, He Zheng stepped aside after killing two and gestured for Ye Lin to hurry and kill a few as well.

He needed points, but without Ye Lin, he would already have died. He still knew what mattered more.

Yet to his surprise, Ye Lin shook his head, apparently not intending to attack.

"Ye Lin?"

He Zheng froze. Beside him, Zhang Tie, who had just killed a Species, hurriedly stopped as well, mistakenly thinking they had done something wrong.

Seeing that none of them dared to continue killing, Ye Lin explained quietly:

"There are only a dozen or so here. Killing them all wouldn't earn much."

"Once we destroy the airlock later, as long as this place is destroyed, I'll get at least a hundred points."

"And maybe even God will give a points reward."

At his words, everyone understood. Envious though they were, they also felt grateful.

However few the points were, they were still points. He Zheng in particular had seen far too many people fight to the death over a tiny reward.

"Hu Jia! Kill a couple yourself! It's a waste for me to kill them. When we get back, you can exchange things for me!"

In an excellent mood, He Zheng slung an arm around Hu Jia, signaling for him to farm a few points too instead of hiding at the very back.

But just as he handed over the blade, Hu Jia seemed to think of something and looked at Ye Lin in horror.

"Ye Lin... Ye Lin!"

"You want to completely destroy the airlock!? You want to 'blow up' this place!?"

"You can't! Venus's atmospheric pressure is ninety-three times Earth's! If the base's structure is damaged, we'll all die!"

Unlike He Zheng and the others, who hadn't understood what Ye Lin meant, Hu Jia was a science student. He knew all too well what would happen if the airlock was completely destroyed!

Opening the airlock briefly would only drain some of the oxygen from the base and suck the Species out along with it.

But if they destroyed the airlock, once all the air was sucked out, the pressure difference between the inside and outside would crush the entire base into an iron ball! They would die along with it!