Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 47 The First Showdown

Chu Xuan was checking the logs on the computer in the control room when he heard Mu Xiang's words. He looked up at him and then adjusted his glasses.

This man must have noticed the problem too; the sounds of those three grenade explosions were clearly off. If Mu Xiang hadn't spoken to him, he might have kept quiet about it. But now that Mu Xiang had come to him, he wouldn't pretend to be oblivious.

“You’re testing us,” Chu Xuan said, his glasses reflecting the lights of the control room. “This isn’t the same as the complete trust we talked about at the beginning.”

Mu Xiang sneered, put his hand on the table, and looked at Chu Xuan not far away, as if he had heard something funny—no, it was indeed funny that Chu Xuan was talking about trust with others.

“You need to understand, it’s you who said complete trust, not us.” Mu Xiang crushed a lemon candy. “You said you would let you verify it and then place complete trust in us—I never said that.”

He continued, "And then? Is this your 'complete trust'? Throwing a grenade at your teammates behind you when you have the means to handle the situation, and then running away?"

Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses: "So that's what you think."

Mu Xiang glanced at Zero and Overlord, then punched the table so hard it shattered: "I hope you understand the situation! We're not begging you to team up, we're only bringing you along because you're useful! I'll only tolerate people who abandon their teammates once... If it happens again, I won't be lenient. Even if you manage to survive, I'll break all your limbs!"

In the silence of everyone, Mu Xiang added, "I only consider the safety of myself and my partners. Anyone who threatens that will pay the price!"

Zheng Zha wanted to say something, but Zhan Lan and Zhang Jie stopped him.

The fig leaves on both sides have been torn off. The veterans are unwilling to give their trust, but they have not betrayed them. However, these three newcomers did so. Although Mu Xiang tricked them, the result proved that his reservations were wise.

Chu Xuan nodded: "Is this what it feels like to be threatened? I accept your statement for now. If you don't mind, we can come and see the surveillance footage and discuss our future plans."

Mu Xiang popped another lemon candy into his mouth and walked over to Chu Xuan to discuss the intelligence gathered from the surveillance footage. The two of them, seemingly unconcerned, left Zheng Zha and the others speechless, while Lingdian and Bawang also found the scene uninteresting.

Only Zhang Jie observed the two people who kept pushing up their glasses and staring at each other with blank expressions, thinking to himself that this was getting interesting.

To be fair, the Alien storyline was essentially a poorly planned scheme; it didn't require a grand framework, and could have been easily won with just tactics and combat power. However, the ending of the Alien storyline in the original comics was extremely tragic, which forced Mu Xiang to consider why.

Rather than simply stating that "the author didn't have a clear idea of ​​Chu Xuan's character design from the beginning, resulting in Chu Xuan's extremely clumsy strategic thinking in the first scene," Mu Xiang prefers to consider it from a real-world perspective. Well, now all of this is indeed the real world to him.

Chu Xuan was certainly not a fool... In fact, the difference in intelligence between Chu Xuan and Mu Xiang was the same as the difference in intelligence between Mu Xiang and the average person. Given the same information, there was no reason why Chu Xuan couldn't think of something that Mu Xiang could think of.

After Mu Xiang gave him a hint about the side quest at the beginning, Chu Xuan immediately thought of the same thing: the anomaly in the current horror movie was inseparable from some overlooked information.

There must be a hidden agenda behind this drastically changed Alien encounter, but in the original story, Chu Xuan lacked sufficient knowledge of these matters and failed to deduce the possible side plots, thus missing out on more rewards. Consequently, the Central Continent team was forced to fight the Alien Queen...

This leads to the second question: why did Chu Xuan offer a series of flawed plans, ultimately resulting in such a disastrous outcome? Mu Xiang believes this is inseparable from Chu Xuan's scheming. Chu Xuan's appearance in the original novel is quite fascinating if one is interested in interpreting it. Chu Xuan first demonstrated his intelligence, then adopted the demeanor of a newcomer, and finally revealed his true identity. The result was that he gained acceptance from the Central Continent Team while also temporarily securing Zero Point and Overlord's allegiance. Thus, he seized control of the entire Central Continent Team, making him appear like a seasoned veteran. At least Mu Xiang himself couldn't have acted so arrogantly in the very first horror movie, forcing anyone to die and making them worry about him at will.

Mu Xiang didn't think Chu Xuan's motives were as superficial as seizing power; he attributed it to a wise man's obsession with "controlling the situation." Given Chu Xuan's cunning, he wouldn't entrust his life to a group of newly acquainted people (although he didn't really want to live), and he wouldn't have any moral self-discipline of "do not do to others what you would not have them do to you"... so the best way was to ensure his own survival.

Weakening senior figures is a good way to consolidate one's dominance. The more dominant one is, the safer one's position becomes.

Mu Xiang even suspected that Chu Xuan had already unlocked his genetic potential—a theory also found in many fan fictions. The extent to which Chu Xuan unlocked his genetic potential in "Ju-on" was clearly greater than that of Zheng Zha in "Alien."

Even the horror movie *Alien* probably didn't force Chu Xuan to reveal his true colors. The death of the Overlord and the brutality of the final battle were both accidents, but not Chu Xuan's. Because he only needed to survive; he had no obligation to consider others… and this was something he had always kept under control.

These speculations are why Mu Xiang is so wary of Chu Xuan… He also needs to maintain control of the situation. To him, even the final Alien Queen is no threat unless it's a one-on-one fight. His biggest opponent in this horror movie is Chu Xuan, this seemingly inconsiderate strategist.

It seems Mu Xiang's efforts were successful; this is a classic case of strategizing against the unsuspecting. After he and Zheng Zha killed the three aliens, the threat from the aliens was greatly reduced... Chu Xuan also failed to use his advantage of arriving at the control room first and gaining access to the door to establish dominance—because there were no more aliens to provide external support. Mu Xiang understood Chu Xuan's thoughts, and moreover, if he lacked strategy, he could compensate with brute force. Therefore, Mu Xiang still held the advantage for the Central Continent Team.

"It's later than I expected; they've only just been discovered by the aliens," Chu Xuan said, looking at the three people being escorted on the monitor screen.

The three were a young white-collar worker and a middle-aged businessman; the other one was nowhere to be seen. Mu Xiang glanced at the alien escorting them and knew where the other one had gone… he had been turned into material and was being carried away by it. Judging from the three's pale faces, they were clearly terrified by the scene. They no longer had the courage to resist—of course, even if they did, it probably wouldn't have mattered—and could only be forced to leave by the last remaining alien.

Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses: "That's not surprising, because after our delay, only this end is left, so of course the efficiency will be low."

Chu Xuan glanced at him and said, "So that's what you really think..." He didn't hold back his words, and everyone heard them.

[Trying to trick me into revealing information?]

“I told you I only care about my and my partners’ safety. You should thank them for letting you get a piece of my plan.” Mu Xiang looked back with a cold smile. “After all, you’re not good at planning, are you?”

Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses: "You seem to know me very well."

“I’ve already explained the reason.” Mu Xiang shrugged. “So, do you have any clues now? Judging from the route the aliens were being transported to and the current control room’s authority over the equipment in each area, it’s not hard to guess where the Alien Queen is.”

“It’s obviously in warehouses one and two.” After glancing at the two overlapping red areas marked on the map, Mu Xiang and Chu Xuan simultaneously pushed up their glasses and looked at each other.

In Chapter Six, I explained Chu Xuan's peculiar behavior in *Alien* from the perspective of a realistic worldview... Of course, I'm not trying to defend anyone by saying they didn't write well from the beginning; I'm just giving Mu Xiang a reason for the plot. Thank you for the monthly tickets, recommendations, and continued reading. I'd like to ask for your support again. That's all.

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(End of this chapter)