"That's actually quite easy to explain. In the original plotline, aliens communicate entirely through psychic energy, right? This is a double-edged sword. Perhaps their psychic power is immensely potent against ordinary people, but conversely, for psychics who specialize in using mental force as a weapon, these aliens are more fragile than regular humans and more susceptible to being controlled or attacked by psychic means.
I imagine that 'Closed-Eye Man' used some kind of psychic skill to make those aliens blind to the spacecraft, as if they couldn't see it."
A young girl’s voice suddenly rang out from inside the spacecraft. Zhao Yingkong sat up from the ground with a smile. The girl glanced at the people lying around her and her smile instantly bloomed brilliantly, though her eyes remained perpetually cold. Laughing, she spoke, "Clever calculations.
Xiao Honglü, how did you know he would only hypnotize us? Why wouldn't he break all our arms and legs too?" With that, she casually slapped downwards.
It happened to land on Xiao Honglü’s forehead.
Xiao Honglü sat up, looked around, then gently pinched his own hair. "It wasn't a complete certainty, of course.
I had about seventy percent confidence. After all, this is the alien headquarters. No matter how powerful and astonishing his psychic skills might be, it’s better to be safe than sorry. If he had broken all our limbs, and then left us on this ship, what if those aliens inadvertently saw through his psychic camouflage? First, we would certainly be dead. Second, those three wouldn't get even a single reward point. Do you understand? They are already running a deficit of over a dozen points, amounting to tens of thousands in negative reward points. If we were killed by the aliens, they would inevitably face erasure as well.
Even if they escaped once using a plot item, this horror movie world, which should have yielded them massive reward points, would have been wasted. Therefore, just to be safe, he would never break our limbs."
Zhao Yingkong nodded as she listened. She giggled and continued slapping the foreheads of those around her. Those struck immediately sat up from the ground. At that moment, Cheng Xiao also sat up, immediately touching his own feet as he asked, "That doesn't add up either.
Didn't he still hypnotize us? If the aliens discovered this spacecraft, wouldn't we die just the same?" Xiao Honglü chuckled, "That man is a psychic controller.
He is only a psychic controller. If he hypnotized us, he could also wake us up. But if he broke our limbs, he isn't a god. How could he heal our injuries from such a distance? If I guessed correctly, the entrance to this spacecraft is certainly booby-trapped with something by him. Once an alien enters the ship, whatever he left behind will either attack the alien, or our hypnosis will immediately be lifted. In any case, he wouldn't let us die at the hands of the aliens... However, once we leave this spacecraft, he will probably know immediately."
As Xiao Honglü was speaking, Zhao Yingkong had already revived everyone. She clapped her hands obediently and said with a smile, "Then I'll go back to sleep... Xiao Honglü, my maximum waking time each day is about five minutes. If you plan something, please factor this time in, okay? I really don't want to die in your scheme because my power was overestimated..." With that, she smiled, closed her eyes, and slowly slumped back onto the floor.
Zhao Yingkong’s collapse lasted only a very short time before the little girl immediately sprang up from the ground again. However, the smile was gone from her face; she simply stared coldly around. When she saw Cheng Xiao, she suddenly asked, "Cheng Xiao, when you fought that blond man earlier, did you also feel like you couldn't hit him... Or rather than not hitting him, was it a distortion of spatial awareness? A punch that should have landed ended up falling just a bit short?"
(The difference between the two personalities is truly vast...) Cheng Xiao mused inwardly, touching his broken leg bone with a wry smile. "Yeah, I felt that too. I was certain I could hit him, but the result was that I didn't even touch him. And when I clearly could have dodged his attack, I ended up being easily kicked by him. I think there was a spatial disorientation. That 'Closed-Eye Man' must have been messing with things."
Hearing this, Zhao Yingkong said no more, but like the others, she silently looked toward Xiao Honglü.
Xiao Honglü saw everyone looking at him, so he clapped his hands, stood up, and announced, "Then let's start our operation. First, we need to figure out how to obtain the technology I mentioned from the aliens... After that, we stick to the original plan: everyone scatter as far as possible and prioritize staying alive, until Chu Xuan fires the Magic Cannon... Let's go!" With that, the young man took the lead in walking out of the spacecraft.
When the West Sea Team and the Central Continent Detachment arrived at the alien headquarters, Zheng Zha's actions were, of course, undeniable. Relying on his superior skill and boldness, he was basically a high-speed mobile war machine, smashing through everything without regard for the so-called alien high-tech. After all, within the alien headquarters, the aliens dared not use high-powered weaponry, and ordinary technological weapons could do nothing to him. This made him even more reckless. Chaos reigned in his wake.
Compared to Zheng Zha’s straightforward approach, Imhotep’s group on the other side was extremely unlucky. As soon as they left the platform, they were pursued relentlessly by countless spider-like robots. Although Imhotep followed Zheng Zha’s example and jumped off the platform, his speed after transforming into wind simply couldn't match Zheng Zha’s 'Shave.' He was constantly harried by those fly-like, annoying aliens and couldn't shake them off. Moreover, the environment here was completely unsuitable for Imhotep’s combat style; his ideal setting was the desert, where he could utilize mummy corpses or sandstorms. Here, there was nothing of the sort.
Most critically, while the spider robot energy beams might not be too damaging to Zheng Zha, whose Dragon Crystal Necklace was constantly replenished by his inner energy, these beams were terrifying for Zhang Heng and the others. A maximum of three to five hits would drain the necklace's energy, resulting in an immediate penetration—almost certain death.
"...Although there’s no reason for it, I feel like we've been manipulated by Chu Xuan again... No, it must be that Chu Xuan, Xiao Honglü, and Zheng Zha all plotted against us simultaneously... Damn it! I thought we were coming here to fight the aliens to the death, and I was constantly thinking of her beforehand... Who knew we’d end up acting like turtles here, constantly running away!" Zhang Heng grumbled loudly. Although he was protected from the energy beams while enveloped in the sandstorm, floating continuously for twenty minutes made both him and Yang Xuelin feel so nauseous they were about to vomit.
And it wasn't just them; even Imhotep let out occasional cold snorts. It seemed long periods of sand-flight were also a challenge for him.
"...Zhang Heng, I can't hold on much longer. I need at least thirty minutes of rest before I can transform into sand again... At this moment, the yellow sand hurricane was slowly descending toward the ground.
Zhang Heng stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly shouted, "No! Don't go down! Isn't landing here courting death? Forget being killed by the energy beams—if those robots surround us, they could stomp us into hamburger meat just by stepping on us! Don't land!" The girl named Yang Xuelin seemed utterly terrified, staring blankly at Zhang Heng with a pale face. As Zhang Heng’s shout echoed, the yellow sand hurricane drifted upward by ten meters before swiftly falling back toward the ground.
This time, Yang Xuelin finally cried out loudly. Conversely, Zhang Heng, who had been shouting moments before, suddenly calmed down. The instant the sand hurricane touched the ground, he already held several enchanted arrows in his hand.
When Imhotep was leading them in escape earlier, Zhang Heng had been constantly choosing narrow alleys, but the spaces within this alien fortress were truly vast. No matter which alley he chose, the spaces were enormous, with ceilings often hundreds of meters high. Wherever he flew, spider robots would inevitably block the path and give chase soon after. Thus, when the yellow sand hurricane landed and reverted to its normal shape, at least five or six spider robots were already waiting there. However, their reaction speed was clearly a beat too slow.
While the barrels of all the spider robots were still angling downwards, three arrows had already shot out from within the yellow sand hurricane.
It happened so fast that the three arrows collided in mid-air, leaving only one visible to the naked eye. With a crisp snap, the single remaining arrow struck the surface of the nearest spider robot.
An energy shield suddenly flashed over the surface of the spider robot. The three Triple-Burst Arrows struck this shield. With a loud bang, the arrow hit the energy shield, then visibly began to squeeze through the energy barrier. In an instant, the spider robot exploded violently. The intense shockwave even flipped over an adjacent robot, causing the cannons targeting the trio to shift their focus slightly away.
Zhang Heng had been waiting precisely for this moment.
He roared, "Imhotep! Protect her! And corrode a spot in the nearby wall! Be careful! She absolutely cannot die!" With that, Zhang Heng's eyes instantly went blank, and he leaped sideways with his bow drawn.
Imhotep reacted quickly. Although he couldn't transform into a large-scale sandstorm anymore, he could still manage ordinary floating and rapid movement. He instantly formed a small whirlwind around Yang Xuelin and drifted more than ten meters away just as Zhang Heng jumped off. Simultaneously, the spot where they had been standing erupted into a sea of fire.
Zhang Heng had already jumped more than ten meters away, the scorching airflow chasing his back. But Zhang Heng didn't turn around. After all, no matter how fast he was, he couldn't outrun bullets. While the energy beams weren't light-speed, their velocity was still something Zhang Heng couldn't dodge, so he had no time to stop or turn. While still mid-air, he flipped over, his feet pointing up and his head down. As soon as he landed, Zhang Heng slammed the ground and bounced up again. While airborne, he twisted his body and loosed an arrow—another three arrows directly at a spider robot nearby. With a tremendous crash, another robot attacking the trio was destroyed.
In just over a minute, Zhang Heng had cleared out all the spider robots present. However, his condition was clearly not good. Having unlocked the second stage of the Gene Lock, the internal elven energy was more than half-depleted. In order to end the fight in such a short time, this engagement consumed more than three times the energy of a normal high-intensity battle. If the same number of spider robots appeared again, he definitely wouldn't be able to finish the fight this quickly.
Taking advantage of Zhang Heng’s fight, Imhotep also exerted his magic to the fullest. Though it looked disgusting—countless scarabs continuously emerging from beneath his feet—these dense scarabs managed to gnaw a substantial hole in the deck plating. While it was only a little over a meter wide, it was enough for one person to slip through.
"How is it?" Zhang Heng gasped, "What about the depth? The depth is the crucial part! Otherwise, if those spider robots blast us while we're in the hole, we'll be done for!"
"Shh," Imhotep hissed softly. "I've corroded dozens of meters deep, and it seems hollow beneath this metal plating—perhaps another dimension. Who knows? It should take only a few more seconds to eat through."
"No way? That fast?" Zhang Heng asked, slightly amazed.
Imhotep had internal suffering. While the scarabs were incredibly potent, they could only be replenished by returning to the Mummy world, specifically beneath the City of the Dead. These were items he was using up one by one. To corrode such a large area of metal so quickly was entirely the result of the scarabs constantly self-destructing. The sight made Imhotep frown tightly in distress.
Regardless of Imhotep's heartache, the efficiency of the scarabs in digging was astonishing. After only a few more seconds, the metal layer, hundreds of meters thick, was finally breached. Zhang Heng and Imhotep exchanged a look. Without hesitation, Imhotep transformed into a whirlwind, swept up the two of them, and plunged into the resulting hole.
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