The pain came and went quickly. It didn’t bring more injuries to Zheng aside from exhaustion. After the pain had passed away, Jie and Lan immediately laid him on the ground. They took out the bandage and spray and once again covered up the hole in his belly.
Zheng let them do the bandage without moving, while he tried to listen carefully. After they were done, he said to them, “I heard gunshots. Jie, did you hear it?”
Jie immediately listened carefully for a while, then nodded. “Yes, I heard some very faint gunshots… Does this mean they succeeded? They found guns at the arsenal?”
Zheng smiled bitterly. “They probably found the guns, but I think they’re fighting against those two Aliens. Otherwise the gunshots wouldn’t sound so intense. How many grenades do you still have? Give me all of them. Lan, give me the steel bars also.”
Jie put out his palms with a bitter smile. “None, I gave the grenades to them back then. These bastards…”
Though Lan took out two grenades from her pocket. She smiled. “Thankfully I kept an eye on this… What are you planning to do? These are the last two.”
Zheng also took out two grenades from his ring. He bit into the ring with his teeth then threw one of them far off with his left hand. The explosion sent Jie and Lan to the ground.
“I have the timer for the detonation delay now…”
Zheng kept staring at the site of explosion, then said to Jie without turning his head, “Hurry, tear some cloth off from your shirt and tie the grenades on the steel bars. Make sure they’re tight!”
Jie took off his shirt without a word. He tore it up and started tying the bombs. Lan sighed as she saw this. “You’re planning to risk your life again? Your injuries…”
Zheng turned around and smiled at her. “No problem. That explosion was loud. They probably all heard it. I don’t know about the other two but with Xuan’s wisdom, he will definitely keep the Aliens’ attention. I only have to sneak in from behind and attack them. And as long as I can pierce the steel bar into their body before the grenade detonates the explosion will deal major damage to them. So rest assured.”
Lan sighed and didn’t say anything more. As he was tying the grenades, Jie said, “I was mistaken about you. Zheng, you are talented in combat. Using the words of my instructor, you’re born to be a fighter. The more desperate the situation is, the more potential you unravel. Whether it’s the physical combat or planning.”
Zheng took the steel bars from Jie. He tried to aim it with his left hand, then smiled bitterly. “I’m no fighter. I just want to do everything to live. Anyone in my situation will probably come up with something. If even people like me are considered fighters then what are Xuan and them? Super fighters? Or super geniuses?”
“You can’t say that.” Jie laughed then handed him the last steel bar. “They were already doing these kinds of jobs in the real world. And they were also at the top of their field. What about you? You were only a normal white collar. Even though there’s luck in your enhancements, but you’ve kept putting your life on the line and stayed alive, while gradually adapting to these battles… This is your hidden talent. You’re a fighter that never gives up!”
“Fighter, huh?”
“I just want to stay alive…”
In order to recover as soon as possible, Jie continued carrying Zheng on his back while Lan carried the steel bars. As they were running, Lan muttered, “Why do we have to save them? Wouldn’t that put us in danger?”
Zheng was circulating his Qi. He exhaled and said, “We are actually in danger all along. If we can’t eliminate the Aliens, we will die sooner or later. So Xuan’s ability to analyze and plan, Zero and Kampa’s skills in using modernized weapons are important factors.”
Jie asked suddenly, “Then why did you split up with them? If we stayed together then we would have gotten weapons by now instead of having you do all the fighting. Also I don’t think Xuan would give us up.”
Zheng sighed. “Yes, if we stayed with them, we won’t be given up. And we will be safe before Zero and Kampa die… At least Jie and I will be safe. But! This is also one of the reasons.
“One reason is I can’t stand his methods. Using comrades like disposable pieces. The other reason is I won’t put my fate into the hands of another person. Perhaps we will be safe in the beginning, but what will happen after some time? I don’t want to think about how I will die, I will only think about how I can live! As comrades I will do my best to support and protect them. In return my comrades will not give me up when I need help. Xuan can’t accomplish this, so I chose to leave. This way I can stand on the same level as him.
“Yes, if he can discard his comrades, then we will be someone that can make use of his wisdom while not being his comrades… allies! We’re both independent, yet supporting each other. This is the only method to cooperate with him that I can think of.”
Lan thought for a moment and said, “Why can’t he give up on allies? What’s the difference?”
Zheng smiled. “The biggest difference is allies are independent. We will support each other but we can also fight independently. We won’t become a burden to the other party, and don’t have to be responsible for the other party’s mistakes. Comrades are formed by a group of people each with different talents. They have to protect each other. I can’t trust Xuan to protect his comrades. So in order to obtain their power, I can only choose to become their ally.”
“We can only get them to understand the importance of our group after leaving them. This way they will accept us as allies and not disposable pieces… That explosion before was to measure the detonation delay and also to let them know… their allies are here!”
Zheng didn’t have Jie carry him the last part of the way. It was not too far off so he wanted to use this opportunity to warm up and stretch his arms and legs. Though any movement of his right arm caused him severe pain. He had to tie his arm to his body. It was painful when he tied it, sweat streamed down like rain. Anyone could easily tell the pain he was experiencing. Lan’s heart clenched as she watched. She could only hold onto his left hand, and that’s when she noticed Zheng couldn’t even move his left hand a bit due to the pain.
Zheng was soaking wet from sweat after tying his right arm. He tried to move his body and forced a smile. “That’s good enough, my right arm won’t be troublesome now. Let’s go, we have to speed up.”
Lan was still holding onto his hand. She hesitated and said, “Can we… can we not go and go back to the control room? I know how to put down the walls. We can stay there until this spacecraft reaches Earth, then let the armies handle them. We don’t have to take this risk, especially since you…”
Zheng was surprised for a bit, then he pulled back his hand without her noticing and pointed to the ground. “Take a look at the ground, aren’t there a lot of holes from corrosion? Those are from the Aliens’ blood, they are an intelligent species. When they feel endangered they will injure themselves to break through the wall. That’s how these three Aliens escaped.”
“If we were to block them off and go back to Earth, they will certainly break through the wall again when they’re hungry. By that time there will be more Aliens. Remember those four people they brought beyond room 15? So we have to kill the Queen before there are four more Aliens. This is our only chance of survival. Otherwise, Xuan wouldn’t take the risk and go to the arsenal. Because he knows this is the only chance.”
Zheng laughed and stroke her hair. “Just follow behind us. Rest assured we won’t give up any comrades. We also won’t put our hope to fate. I will live no matter what!”
Due to Zheng’s determination, the other two had to follow him towards the arsenal. The gunshots were getting clearer and more intense. Zheng tensed his body. His running looked wobbling due to having one arm tied up. But even so, he adapted to this style of running after a while.
“Jie, take this longest steel bar. I don’t know if I can kill them instantly with the grenade and steel bar. If I can’t kill them, then stand behind my back and hold them away with the bar. I will block them, whether it’s their tongues or tails, I will block their attacks. But you will have to hold their body away, don’t let them get near. With my current condition, I can only throw the steel bars and block their attacks, I can’t get into close combat. Jie, no matter what happens, you can’t take a step backward.”
Then Zheng took the steel bars from Lan and handed the one without a grenade on it to Jie. They were now only one corner away from the arsenal. After this turn, they would either see two Aliens or pieces of human flesh.
‘The gunshots are intense. Xuan probably heard the explosion from before. In other words, they’ll kept the Aliens’ attention right now. Two stage three Aliens… The first throw has to hit no matter what! Otherwise we will be dead. Can’t die no matter what! I will live!’
Zheng took a deep breath, then sprinted forward. That speed left the two in shock. He didn’t slow down when he approached the corner and ran straight into the wall.
The air became thick and dense again. Zheng was getting used to this condition as his body reached its limit, but before unlocking the genetic constraint. He could push his physical abilities, vision, and reaction speed to the limit; but those combat instincts, and unlocking the constraint would only appear when he was on the brink of death. He still couldn’t control them.
Zheng made use of his speed and ran up the wall. The moment he stepped on the wall, he could see the back of an Alien on the door of the arsenal. The front half of its body was already inside the room. The other Alien was not in sight. In other words, the other one was probably already inside the room.
As he was still mid air, he pulled the ring of the grenade with his mouth. Then he threw the steel bar. He was not left handed after all though, so this throw wasn’t comparable to when he did it with his right hand, in both power and accuracy. He aimed at the Alien’s belly but it hit just below its waist. The Alien backed out from the arsenal, when it turned around and looked at Zheng, the grenade on its waist exploded!
That grenade was inserted into the Alien’s body. The explosion blew up its waist. Internal organs and yellow blood splashed everywhere. The hall was splashed with acid and the steel started to corrode. Then the hall was filled with white smoke. Zheng could see a faint shadow lying on the ground.
“Is it dead?”
Zheng rolled on the ground as he landed. He couldn’t pay attention to the pain from hitting his right arm. He focused his attention on the shadow on the ground. As he was ready to throw another bar, that shadow jumped from the ground and charged toward him. Its speed was too fast, he couldn’t throw another bar in time. An Alien with a hole on its waist ran out from the smoke then jumped at Zheng.
As he was going to stab the Alien’s head, a hand from behind pushed him away. Jie ran out from behind. He stabbed into the Alien’s mouth as it shot its tongue out. That tongue pierced Jie’s shoulder.
For a moment, blood splashed everywhere, painting Zheng’s world red.
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