Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 51 The Wrong Room

A little earlier in time, it was when Zheng Zha's team received orders to go to the cold storage to rescue Ripley.

This group consists of four people, all veterans who survived the previous round. Three of them are fully armed with armor, while Li Xiaoyi is wearing only ordinary bulletproof vest; it's unclear what he exchanged for.

Li Xiaoyi's relationship with these characters from the original work was not as good as he had originally imagined... Although the other three would laugh and joke with him if he wanted to make some jokes, he couldn't say anything on other matters.

All of this was because of Mu Xiang, that other transmigrator with too many schemes, Li Xiaoyi always thought. He hated ambitious people, both before and after he entered the world… even if other people's ambitions weren't directed at him. In front of ambitious people, Li Xiaoyi always felt like he had become a completely mediocre person, so he hated ambition, and even more so, he hated success.

That's why he passively resisted many of Mu Xiang's suggestions and arrangements, and didn't want Mu Xiang to know his true nature. Unfortunately, he didn't expect the others to get so close to Mu Xiang. This shouldn't be the case—were Zheng Zha, Zhan Lan, and even Zhang Jie all fools who couldn't see that Mu Xiang was just trying to win them over, that they were just pawns for this transmigrator to survive?
Mu Xiang is a hypocrite!

Otherwise, why wouldn't Mu Xiang treat me the same way?
He's right to criticize. That's what Li Xiaoyi always thinks.

This was supposed to be a very difficult ordeal, especially with Chu Xuan involved. He'd read many fanfictions where the protagonists thought they were invincible because they had intelligence, only to be seen through and riddled with holes by Chu Xuan… Luckily, Chu Xuan and Mu Xiang's scheme achieved a balance, unlike in the original story. Otherwise, without Li Shuaixi, any bait plan would likely have resulted in Li Xiaoyi being pushed out.

So after Mu Xiang volunteered to join the mission, Li Xiaoyi waited until Zheng Zha was assigned to the group rescuing Ripley before requesting to join as well. Logically, this group should have been the safest; who knew what tricks Ash might have up her sleeve?

Although he had seen cat aliens in many novels, after Mu Xiang and Chu Xuan's investigation, there shouldn't be any on the spaceship... Besides, if there really were cat aliens, why didn't they encounter them in the original work? Li Xiaoyi felt that his idea was correct.

Li Xiaoyi didn't have an earpiece, but Zheng Zha and Zhan Lan had been in contact with Mu Xiang and Chu Xuan. He just needed to follow them; Zheng Zha would handle any problems... He could still get the rewards even if he survived, and he could eventually strengthen himself! Then he wouldn't need to be so wary of Mu Xiang.

The only problem now is how to safely coast through the final battle against the Queen...

Zheng Zha mentioned that it was in cold storage room number 38, but they didn't understand how they could deduce that Ripley was there... Moreover, they had never been to the area where number 38 was before, so they could only rely on Chu Xuan to point them in the right direction by watching the surveillance footage.

The journey was relatively quiet. With Li Xiaoyi present, the other three had little to say. Actually, Zheng Zha was still somewhat concerned about Mu Xiang's change in the horror film; Mu Xiang had always been a kind and wise man… He wanted to talk to Zhang Jie and Zhan Lan about it when he had time, even though they both seemed to approve of Mu Xiang's actions. Of course, if Mu Xiang was willing, Zheng Zha would also like to discuss these issues directly with him.

But right now, neither Li Xiaoyi nor Chu Xuan on the other end of the earpiece are considered family... so let's not talk about family matters outside for now.

In fact, if Mu Xiang knew their attitude, he would be very pleased. It's good that they listened to his advice...

As they approached a fork in the road, Chu Xuan said "Turn right" into his earpiece. There was only one room on the right, visible even across a corridor several dozen meters away.

Zheng Zha stepped forward and used his crimson flames to burn open the access control. After the lock malfunctioned, he pushed the door open and went inside. Once everyone was inside, Zheng Zha asked in confusion, "Is this a cold storage? The temperature readings are wrong."

After thinking for a moment, Zhan Lan said, "If it can achieve independent cooling like a refrigerator, it wouldn't be surprising if the room itself is at a normal temperature, right?"

Zheng Zha was about to say that there was no equipment like a freezer here when he suddenly felt uneasy.

"Wait... I feel like something's not right here." Zheng Zha frowned. Although no one could see his expression, the unease in his tone was palpable.

"Is this really room 38?" Zheng Zha felt very uncomfortable, a feeling even stranger than the previous alien encounter, as if something was watching them, and it was nearby. When he asked this question, everyone noticed that the communication device on the wall was numbered "40".

There's nothing more to say. The group left the room and returned to the corridor.

“We came here to room 40, not 38.” Zhang Jie clicked his tongue. “Did that bespectacled man give us the wrong directions?”

This seemed to drag Mu Xiang into the criticism as well, but before Zheng Zha could even make a joke, he heard something run across the ceiling. At the same time, his radar issued a warning.

"What is that?" Zheng Zha pulled out his M41A and fired at the ceiling. The three looked at him in surprise, taken aback by his out-of-control behavior. It wasn't until Zhang Jie and Zhan Lan's detectors gave feedback that they realized they had misjudged Zheng Zha... Zheng Zha fired because he had a stronger sense of danger and had been sensing it alone for so long, and also because he had indeed heard the direction of the sound.

In the flash of the caseless ammunition exploding, a shadow was illuminated in a dim corner of the ceiling. The other three tensed up; now was not the time to act rashly…

Amidst the explosion, the dark figure fell from the ceiling, but judging from its posture and movements, it was clear it was unharmed. It landed steadily and raised its head.

Zheng Zha heard himself gasp.

This was a quadruped, much thinner than the one he had killed before, and clearly no more than two meters tall when standing. But its tail was longer than those of the previous aliens, and the spear-shaped spikes at the end indicated that it was a more terrifying killing weapon.

The alien slowly walked towards them, its four legs in a straight line, silent and graceful, yet full of deadly sharpness.

Zhang Jie cursed, because another alien appeared behind them, trapping them in the middle of the corridor.

Zheng Zha's eyes became blank, whether triggered by the sense of crisis brought by the two aliens or by his own initiative... Before entering this state, he had thought that even if he won, it would be a kind of pain worse than death, but now he no longer cared.

Then Zheng Zha pounced forward. His seemingly cumbersome power armor blocked all the alien's escape routes during the attack... This was his combat instinct, and when he entered this state, it was a fight to the death!
Zhan Lan and Zhang Jie also took out their high-tech weapons. Although it would be difficult to kill the other one, they were confident they could hold it off and prevent Zheng Zha from being distracted. They wouldn't be seriously injured for the time being... after all, they had their armor on. Zhan Lan contacted Mu Xiang and told him about the situation... The roar of gunfire could be heard on the other end of the headset, clearly indicating that they had gotten down to business!

Suddenly, Li Xiaoyi's left sleeve ripped open, as if something inside had torn the fabric, revealing his red left hand and forearm bound in chains. At the same time, a greatsword appeared in his left hand, but was about to fall to the ground. Li Xiaoyi quickly grabbed the greatsword with his right hand and assumed a fighting stance.

This left hand is not yet able to bear weapons after the mutation. Only by strengthening it to a certain advanced job change of B grade can the left hand, which is now burdened with demons and gods, join the battle.

This is the D-rank Ghost Swordsman enhancement that Li Xiaoyi redeemed! After the enhancement, he gains the ability to see ghosts and obtains a signature weapon. In Ghost Swordsman mode, his left hand becomes a ghost hand, and his greatsword is summoned. Furthermore, this enhancement grants him a special attack against spirit creatures, making it Li Xiaoyi's most desired redemption. In addition, he also redeemed a talent skill using another D-rank side quest, which enhances his offensive and defensive capabilities.

Now that legendary cat alien has actually appeared, and it's much bigger than described in many fanfictions... Who said this thing is only half a meter or a meter long? Judging by its body length, it's clearly 1.7 or 1.8 meters long!
So he could no longer keep things to himself... He had to survive this unexpected situation!
Zheng Zha and the first cat-like alien had already clashed, both roaring incessantly. Meanwhile, the second alien, which had surrounded them, emitted low hissing sounds, its back hunched over, facing the three of them.

Zhang Jie's machine gun roared first, while Zhan Lan supplemented the firepower with the M41A pulse rifle she had practiced with for ten days, all while keeping an eye on Zheng Zha's situation.

This cat-like alien was not easy to deal with. Compared to ordinary aliens, it was much more agile. Just before being covered by the barrage of bullets, it darted to the other side, used the wall as cover, and pounced directly at Zhang Jie.

Before Zhang Jie could turn his machine gun around, the cat-like alien grabbed his head. The creature was about the same height as Zhang Jie when standing, but now it was clinging to him, which was rather strange. Unable to break through Zhang Jie's defenses for the time being, it was about to use its tail to stab him when Zhang Jie roared, and Zhan Lan blasted it away without hesitation.

The bullet struck its side directly, but the explosion of the caseless bullet severely injured it. It only had time to let out a miserable cry, whip its tail backward to knock Zhan Lan down, and then retreat to its original position.

Zhan Lan was protected by an exoskeleton, so the attack didn't injure her, but she was still taken aback by the sudden burst of power from the cat-like alien. Just then, Chu Xuan and Mu Xiang's commands rang in her ears, and Zhan Lan's expression changed as she heard the isolation wall about to fall. Zheng Zha had already entered the first stage of the gene lock, while Zhang Jie and Li Xiaoyi didn't have headsets; she was the only one who could hear the commands.

The cat-like alien was pacing in front of them, its waist oozing acidic blood, ready to launch another attack at any moment. The sound of several isolation walls behind it whirring made Zhang Jie and Li Xiaoyi pause in surprise.

In the brief moment the two were stunned, the cat-like alien turned and bit its own wound, tearing out a spray of acidic blood. Zhan Lan immediately understood what it was going to do and shouted for caution, but the cat-like alien was incredibly fast, leaping through the air and splattering acidic blood as it pounced.

Li Xiaoyi inwardly cried out in alarm. After all, the Ghost Swordsman was only a D-level enhanced class, and it was impossible for him to have the same physical ability to withstand acid as Zheng Zha in the original story. So he used his greatsword to block to the side and rushed towards the fork in the road a few steps away. Seeing that the two isolation walls on the side had closed, and the isolation walls in front of and behind him were about to fall, he decided to go all out and ran in the opposite direction.

Zhan Lan wasn't sure how much the acidic blood would corrode her armor, but the attack was indeed dangerous, so she focused her attention on the ring on her hand.

The Resist Fire Ring suddenly unfolded, its five-meter radius repulsion repelling both the cat-like alien and the acid-blooded creature. The acid-blooded creature landed, leaving gruesome marks, while the cat-like alien was thrown to a fork in the road. Before it could recover from its bewilderment at being inexplicably repelled, the isolation wall in the direction of room 40 fell down, keeping it outside.

"There's only one left now, let's help Zheng Zha!" Zhan Lan and Zhang Jie exchanged a glance through their masks and ran towards Zheng Zha's battlefield.

The endlessly prolific fanfic creator—the cat alien—has arrived! But why is there more than one? You can guess; consider it a little Easter egg. Finally, thank you all for your monthly tickets, recommendations, and reading support. I'd like to ask for more...

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(End of this chapter)