Fang Senyan gazed toward the Gold Mine with an air of injured innocence, his mournful, almost shrewish expression capable of shattering hearts: “Didn’t you say there was a very high probability of gaining the largest possible discount on Charm value in this world?” Gold Mine threw up his hands in exasperation, whining in his defense, “Master, that is precisely the purchase price for contractors with 50 Charm points under the 'Indifferent' reputation level! Do you know that others at the Indifferent reputation level can’t even see the purchase menu? They have to reach the 'Adored' reputation level themselves just to see the purchase list for that tier.” Fang Senyan immediately understood.

In this light, even though there was no trickery involved in the final purchase price, possessing Gold Mine still granted him a significant advantage—at the very least, he could know what items were available for purchase ahead of time. He was about to ask Gold Mine where he acquired that “Mr. Roman’s Note,” but quickly dismissed the thought, realizing that anything Gold Mine possessed was likely forged or counterfeit anyway, so why waste breath?

He hastily scanned the items on the list. Before he could even make out the details of some weapons or tools, an unpleasant alarm blared in his ears—a sound so sharp it seemed poised to pierce his eardrums. Gold Mine instantly executed a flawless "face-plant" maneuver, diving forward to hide beneath the writing desk in front of them.

Immediately, a prompt echoed in Fang Senyan’s mind: “You have been drawn into a Sector Event: Alien Zerg Assault. “You may choose to remain within the base and avoid participation in this event, or you may choose to join the combat to defend the base—though this course of action will place your life in grave danger.” Faced with such a situation, Fang Senyan naturally had no intention of retreating. He casually retrieved the life-restoring sandwich from the storage space linked to his mark and tossed it toward Gold Mine, who was currently peeking around suspiciously from his hiding spot, saying in a deep voice, “Stay here and don’t come out.

Be careful.” Gold Mine’s eyes immediately welled up, becoming glistening pools of water: “Master! I must compose a poem to praise this gesture. A sandwich imbued with magical energy like this is worth at least five Gold Coins!” Fang Senyan sighed powerlessly and shook his head, then strode toward the exit.

Just as he reached the doorway, he felt the ground vibrating faintly, and the base lights flickered ominously, dimming and brightening erratically. Soldiers rushed about in a state of intense tension, dust kicked up in great plumes, and the sky above seemed to have darkened. Seeing the scene, Fang Senyan decisively pulled out a vial of Flesh-Bear Gene Liquid, gulped it down, and boosted his Strength to 18 points first.

Suddenly, Fang Senyan heard a continuous series of shrieking whistles approaching. He turned to look and saw the six dedicated surface-to-air missile launchers positioned around the base rotating continuously, launching missiles in pairs of two. The missiles clearly possessed automatic tracking capabilities, their pale gray exhaust trails stretching long streaks across the sky.

In the distant heavens, tiny black specks appeared, rapidly flying over the base. Upon closer inspection, they resolved into strange, flying creatures covered in sharp, jagged exoskeletons! Unlike the Predator Spore Dragons encountered previously in space, these flying creatures were significantly larger.

They possessed bat-like, bony wings and vicious claws, transforming their high-speed dives toward infantry clusters into a form of outright slaughter. Furthermore, their sharp claws were clearly not just for landing. (This corresponds to the flying creature from the movie; in this event, it is set as a variant of the Zerg Mutalisk from StarCraft 1.) A torrent of surface-to-air missiles shot out, almost every shot connecting, vaporizing a mutated Mutalisk into a cloud of shattered, bloody mist.

However, this level of attack was far from saturating the threat. A great many mutated Mutalisks swept down over the base, their sharp wings unfolding to easily slice a soldier in half, even the armored UV units were not immune—Fang Senyan had already witnessed several such tragedies. Suddenly, one mutated Mutalisk locked onto Fang Senyan and dove straight down!

Its red eyes blazed with savage light, as if its only meaning in life was to die alongside its enemy. Fang Senyan’s Agility was not high to begin with, making it clearly impossible to dodge such a lightning-fast aerial attack, but he had no intention of dodging anyway. Detecting that he was targeted, he immediately drew the plain white-quality rifle from his mark’s storage space.

As soon as the creature entered range, he aggressively pulled the trigger, aiming directly at it! The rifle roared with thunderous boom-boom-boom sounds. Although its white quality meant it carried no extra special effects, all rifles possessed a constant inherent "Knockback" effect.

Before the creature could collide with Fang Senyan, the continuous barrage had taken its toll; the creature’s dive visibly stuttered several times, accompanied by muffled cries of pain. In the second or so before impact, Fang Senyan felt clear warning sensations in several parts of his body—his 23 Perception was proving immensely useful. He instantly twisted sideways.

Although he was still struck and sent tumbling by the mutated Mutalisk, his integrated combat armor was torn, and blood immediately streamed out, but it amounted to nothing more than superficial wounds. Fang Senyan immediately rolled to regain his balance and lunged toward the creature. It was just starting to beat its wings to ascend when Fang Senyan seized its short, thick neck.

The creature let out a piercing, shrill cry as it was dragged sideways and crashed onto the ground, its sharp, bony wings frantically flapping, churning up massive clouds of dust. Fang Senyan, however, showed no mercy. He raised his fist, the steel knuckle dusters flashing coldly, and relentlessly hammered down on its head.

Greenish ichor splattered everywhere, and various bone fragments flew off in all directions. The unlucky beast thrashed wildly, but was ultimately clubbed to death on the spot by sheer brute force. After eliminating that creature, Fang Senyan received the notification: “Base Reputation +10.” He heard the indescribable, rolling roar in the distance.

The waves of mutated Mutalisks continued their suicidal charge, and he knew this battle would not end quickly. He took out the packet of Black Voodoo poison he had quietly pilfered from Gold Mine and smeared it onto his weapon. Suddenly, a scream echoed from above.

A regular soldier had been tackled to the ground by a mutated Mutalisk at least two or three times the size of its brethren. This larger creature was covered in red markings, making it look incredibly menacing. Despite the soldier’s frantic efforts to roll away, the Mutalisk’s claws easily gripped his scapula, sinking deep, and it appeared intent on dragging him away alive.

The surrounding Mutalisks charged wildly, apparently trying to cover the large creature’s actions. The sound of their wings slicing the air converged, creating an acutely sharp hissing noise. Two surface-to-air missile launchers were engulfed in fierce flames from suicidal impact collisions, forcing several UV units to rush over for emergency repairs.

Simultaneously, the bunkers completed around the fortress perimeter began spitting out long tongues of fire. Numerous combat soldiers clad in NB combat armor poured out from the barracks area, their -14 "Penetrator" electromagnetic rifles unleashing devastating firepower against the aerial enemies. Despite heavy casualties, the mutated Mutalisks managed to disperse the fire long enough for the large Mutalisk to frantically beat its wings and rapidly drag its captive away.

By this time, the soldiers wishing to intervene found that the trapped soldier largely obstructed their line of sight, leaving them shouting in helpless anxiety, praying for a miracle. Just then, a figure suddenly sprang from the top of a nearby structure, slamming heavily onto the back of the large mutated Mutalisk! This massive creature possessed incredible brute strength; even under such duress, it struggled violently, attempting to drag both occupants away from the base.

But the figure that had leaped on it held on tenaciously, bracing itself on the creature’s back and unleashing a rapid volley of rifle fire at its head. While most of the steel shot and fragments were deflected by its incredibly hard carapace, some managed to penetrate the gaps between the plates. The creature roared in pain, shaking its head and beating its wings, spitting out dark green bile that rained down below.

The only person daring to take such a reckless action was, naturally, Fang Senyan. After emptying his rifle, he switched to his fists, the sharp steel spikes of his knuckle dusters clicking dully against the carapace. Drawing on the experience of killing the previous Mutalisk, Fang Senyan held no reservation regarding this larger foe.

With every swing, he targeted the wounds previously inflicted by the rifle, slamming down with immense force. His 18 Strength damage bonus was already considerable, and the large Mutalisk’s exterior was slowly turning a deathly black as the infection effects of the Black Voodoo took hold. Fang Senyan hammered down five or six times, then curled his elbow and struck down hard.

The large mutated Mutalisk let out a final, agonizing screech; it could no longer maintain balance in the air, crashing askew into the base's steel railing. The man, the beast, and the rifle went tumbling, and the railing, thick as a child’s arm, let out a grating sound before twisting, snapping off, and flying over ten meters away with a loud CRACK.