mud falling painting beam empty

Chapter 1091 Alien Awakener

"The mandatory script "Alien" is about to start"

"Fuck, I'm an insider"

Zhao Wuji was awakened by the biting cold. He opened his eyes and found that the glass cover of the cryochamber was slowly rising. White cold mist was spreading. He took a deep breath, as if a drowning person had surfaced. The retina flickered with the display: Life signs were stable, thawing procedure completed, crew number: T-116, identity: Level maintenance technician.

"Is this... the beginning of Alien?"

He looked down at his hands. His knuckles were rough, and there were several fresh welding scars on his palms. The word "Zhao" was embroidered on the left chest of his work clothes. A mechanical female voice sounded in his ears:

[System Activation——The Survival Guide for Passersby Starts]

[Current script: "Alien Ship"]

[Identity: Member of the Nostromo cargo ship maintenance team (Long-lived passerby)]

[Main Quest: Survive until the end of the story/earn 100000 gold coins cumulatively]

[Warning: Interference with the main storyline will trigger a correction mechanism]

A line of red numbers appeared in the corner of the field of vision: [Survival rate: 12%].

Zhao Wuji staggered out of the cryostat, while the other crew members were still asleep. He walked quickly to the main console and called up the crew list - Captain Dallas, Executive Officer Kane, Navigator Lambert, Science Officer Ash... and "Ripley" played by Sigourney Weaver.

"Sure enough..." According to the plot, the spacecraft is about to receive a "distress signal" from the planet LV-426, and then all the crew members will step into hell.

[System prompt: Do not remind anyone about the truth about LV-426, otherwise the survival rate will drop to 3%]

He gritted his teeth and turned off the screen.

The crew members gradually woke up. Zhao Wuji lowered his head, pretending to repair the circuit of the freezer, but his ears were perked up.

"Company protocol clearly states that any potential extraterrestrial life forms must be investigated as a priority." Ripley's voice was calm and firm.

"We are just a mining ship, not a scientific research team." Dallas waved his hand impatiently.

Zhao Wuji raised his eyes quietly and met Ripley's gaze. She frowned slightly, as if puzzled by the extra attention of this strange Asian technician.

[System warning: Passerby A should avoid looking at the protagonist]

He immediately lowered his head and pretended to tighten a loose screw.

Back in the maintenance room, Zhao Wuji searched for his tool kit. Suddenly, a new message popped up on the system:

[Newbie Reward: Portable Plasma Welder (Upgradeable)]

He reached into his work clothes pocket and his fingertips touched a piece of cold metal - a miniature welding machine, half the size of a standard model, but with unusually strong power readings.

"This thing can save lives later..." He remembered that the aliens were afraid of fire, so he carefully hid it. At this moment, the alarm of the entire spacecraft sounded.

"Attention all crew members, we have received a distress signal from an unknown source." Dallas' voice came from the radio.

Zhao Wuji's heart skipped a beat.

[The plot officially starts, and the survival rate is being calculated in real time...]

He took a deep breath, gripped the welder, and walked towards the assembly point.

The signal of LV-426 flowed through the spacecraft like a ghostly elegy.

Zhao Wuji huddled in the shadow of the ventilation duct, his ears pressed against the cold wall. The arguments in the control room came through the layers of steel plates, becoming blurred and fragmented, like the whispers of a sunken ship in the deep sea.

*"Article 739 of the Company Agreement...Potential life forms must be investigated as a priority..."* Ripley's voice was like a scalpel, accurately cutting through the captain's hesitation. "We are not a research ship, Ripley."* Dallas retorted tiredly, "And the signal source is too weak, it may just be a machine malfunction."

Zhao Wuji's breath condensed into white frost on his mask. He knew that every word of conversation at this moment was the sound of the gears of fate biting together.

[System prompt: Side quest triggered - collect 3 repair tools before the alien breaks its chest (0/3)]

He looked down at the tool bag on his waist, which contained only a standard wrench and some insulating tape - in front of the alien, these were no different from toys.

At the end of the maintenance passage is the core module of the life support system.

Zhao Wuji crawled among the intricate pipes like a cautious gecko. The blue-green emergency light cast his shadow on the bulkhead, twisting it into the shape of some multi-limbed creature.

He suddenly stopped - the oxygen regulating valve in front was oozing yellowish slime.

The mucus slowly moved like a living thing, etching fine honeycomb patterns on the metal surface. Zhao Wuji's finger hovered over the detector, and the system suddenly popped up a warning:

[Contact will cause limb corrosion + increased plot interference]

He suddenly retracted his hand and took out the sample collector (the medical equipment he took yesterday) from another pocket. The moment the glass tube touched the mucus, the wall of the tube immediately showed a strange pearly luster.

"This isn't something a spaceship should have."

Parker, a black engineer, was the only person on the ship who was friendly to Zhao Wuji.

"Hey, oriental boy!" Parker threw a bag of instant coffee. "I heard you fixed the ion filter in area B? Good job."

Zhao Wuji took the coffee, and the heat spread a false warmth in his palm. He knew that Parker would die in the first wave of the alien attack - his chest would be melted by the acid blood, and he would scream and turn into a skeleton.

"Thank you." He finally uttered only these two words, his voice as dry as a rusty bearing.

Parker grinned. “You should talk more, man. People who are silent in space…” He pointed to his temple, “are prone to go crazy.”

[System prompt: Tool acquisition - Parker's universal magnetic pliers (removable metal panel)]

Zhao Wuji stared at the tools on the other person's waist and suddenly said, "If...if you find something strange, don't touch it with your hands."

Parker raised an eyebrow. "Like?"

"Like moving slime." As soon as he said this, the lights above his head suddenly flashed violently, and the captain's command came over the radio:

"Everyone, please be advised! We are about to land on LV-426!"

When the landing capsule separated from the mother ship, Zhao Wuji saw the planet through the porthole - the gray-yellow surface was like rotten orange peel, and the storm had torn wounds on the craters.

Ripley was checking the scanner, her blond hair like a cold flame under the emergency light, and Zhao Wuji noticed that her fingers were trembling slightly.

"She felt it, too?"

Everyone was wearing bulky protective clothing, and the masks made their breathing heavy and blurry. Zhao Wuji took the opportunity to steal the laser rangefinder that Kane had left on his seat.

[Tool 2 acquisition: Military-grade laser rangefinder (can temporarily blind the target)]

As the landing module plunged into the atmosphere, he vaguely saw the mucus sample shrink in the tube, like a hatching insect egg.

The surface of LV-426 is quieter than expected.

As the expedition team moved toward the source of the signal, Zhao Wuji deliberately fell behind. His boots sank into the black gravel, and every step felt like stepping on the scales of some giant creature. In the distance, the alien building crouched on the horizon, its entrance like an open throat.

"It doesn't sound like a distress signal..." Lambert whispered, "It sounds like a warning."

Zhao Wuji touched the welding machine in his pocket. System update:

[Survival rate fluctuation: 37%↑ (due to acquisition of key tools)]

When Kane was the first to step into the shadow of the temple, Zhao Wuji heard a sound—not from the headphones, but a wet pulsating sound vibrating directly inside the skull, like the heartbeats of thousands of embryos at the same time.