Zero immediately crouched down without a sound after spotting the three corpses. He smeared a bit of blood with his hand, brought it close to his nose, and inhaled deeply. “They’ve been dead for about four to five hours.”

Chu Xuan also knelt beside the bodies. He traced the edges of the puncture wounds on the chests of two corpses with his finger, then did the same on the chest of the body that had a gaping hole in it. After a long moment, he stood up, his expression grave. “It really is a Queen. This is terrible. The mission is to kill all the Xenomorphs, right? If there’s truly a Queen on this merchant vessel… I think we might be doomed.”

Everyone else looked at him. Zhan Lan touched her forehead. “I recall the Queen being the mother alien that lays eggs, several times larger than a standard Xenomorph. Is that the one you mean?” Chu Xuan nodded. “Yes, that’s the one. It’s nearly ten times more dangerous than a regular Xenomorph; you can’t hurt it without heavy weaponry. And the worst part is, our group stands out far too much.”

Zheng Zha asked, puzzled, “Stand out too much? What do you mean?” “As food, think about it. For a creature that starts small, like a snake, to grow to over two meters tall in such a short period—do you honestly believe they just appear out of thin air? Impossible. It requires massive amounts of organic matter and energy. In other words, they must feed during that time. Actually, I was curious before: why didn’t they devour these three corpses? Or perhaps, they’ve already found sufficient bodies?” Chu Xuan murmured, half-crouching.

Chu Xuan stood up and continued, “In other words, we are very likely to become their food. If it were just the eight of us, it wouldn't matter so much; we’re all together, and we’d know the Xenomorphs’ status if we encountered them. But what about the other seven people? They are scattered across the ship now. To the Xenomorphs, they are the most delicious food. In fact, I suspect all the plot characters have become hosts for eggs. Seven plot characters, excluding that robot, means the worst-case scenario is one Queen and five Xenomorphs. That’s the situation we are most likely facing.”

Zhang Jie asked strangely, “Then why couldn’t there be several more Queens? Since we’re already in deep trouble, a few more just means death anyway.”

Chu Xuan shook his head. “Impossible. Xenomorphs actually have a social structure, much like an ant colony or a beehive. A single nest can only produce one Queen; otherwise, factional splits would lead to war, or the weaker group would abandon the colony. But this is a sealed merchant vessel, and with so few Xenomorphs here, a second Queen simply cannot emerge among them.”

“In fact, ever since watching the Alien movie, I’ve always believed that this fictional creature is the most perfectly evolved life form physically. They adapt their form and environmental resilience based on the host’s genetics, constantly modifying their genes to evolve. How similar that is to humans who have unlocked their Gene Lock.”

Gene Lock? Humans? Everyone turned toward the Colonel-ranked scientist who was now indulging in his own thoughts. Just then, shouts and cries for help suddenly echoed from deep within the corridor, growing more agonizingly painful. After more than ten seconds, these voices finally vanished without a trace.

Zero stared coldly down the corridor. “It was those three punks… they were attacked.”

Zheng Zha sighed. “We should go take a look. If we find any Xenomorphs, we can eliminate them at the same time… The Xenomorphs now should still be weak, right?” Chu Xuan nodded. “Yes, the Xenomorphs now are still in their larval stage. If you have enough firearms to deal with them, then they are indeed weak right now. Besides that Desert Eagle, did you guys not exchange for any other weapons?” Zheng Zha exchanged a wry smile with Zhang Jie and the third person. He said, “We aren’t like you. I’m just an ordinary office worker; Zhang Jie is a retired soldier; she’s a writer, and he’s a student. Can you really expect us to know a lot of knowledge or how to fight?” Chu Xuan smiled slightly and said, “Let’s go, we should check the situation out first… And what you said isn’t entirely accurate. Didn’t I just mention the Gene Lock? This is the world’s most cutting-edge technology, and our country happens to be at the forefront. I’d say even countries like the US or those in Europe might not know more than we do.”

“In the very distant past, humanity’s ancestors were apes—no, even before apes. When humanity’s ancestors were at that stage, there was an archaeological gap. Yes, there is absolutely no evidence showing why humanity suddenly evolved from apes to people. Don't believe the passages in textbooks about slow human evolution; that’s all lies. What about millions of years of evolution? I tell you, the most advanced genetics tell us this period lasted only a brief 120-plus years. Yes, not millions of years, not hundreds of thousands of years, not even a thousand years—just those short 120-plus years, and humanity completed all the necessary conditions to evolve from apes to early humans.”

“Humanity’s genes—from the most ancient single-celled organism’s genes, to multicellular, to fish, to amphibians—all the way to current human genes, everything is actually displayed in the genetic decryption code. Do you know what appeared on the human genetic code during those 120-plus years? I’ll tell you: a lock appeared.”

“Yes, a lock. All of humanity’s potential exploded for those 120-plus years, and then, for reasons unknown, it was sealed away. So, from early humans to modern humans thereafter, the degree of our evolution has been negligible. In fact, over the last tens of thousands of years, humanity has undergone no evolution at all. Perhaps you’ll argue that technological progress means humans are far more advanced than tens of thousands of years ago—but that is merely the accumulation of knowledge, completely unrelated to humanity’s inherent evolution. Humanity’s own evolution has gradually stagnated.”

Chu Xuan spoke as he ran, unconcerned by the astonished and bewildered looks on others’ faces. He continued at an even pace: “This space—I don’t mean the horror movie Alien—I mean this entire horror movie reincarnation space. I’ve actually seen it before, but I didn’t grasp its meaning then. At the ruins where the Peking Man skull was discovered, our country actually found an engraved stone slab. We translated most of the text, and the summary is this: ‘When human evolution comes to a complete halt, terror will once again unlock the human gene lock and propel human evolution forward again.’” The person who left the message was named ‘The First Batch of Humans to Unlock the Gene Lock.’ Perhaps this space has existed since ancient times.”

Zheng Zha’s heart suddenly stirred, and he asked, “Then what happens when the Gene Lock is unlocked? Do humans become supermen?” Chu Xuan smiled and said, “You must have heard this line of poetry, right? Li Bai’s ‘Heaven made me gifted, I must be of use.’ The definition of the Gene Lock is exactly this. According to what the genes display, there are no weaklings among humans; every person should possess their own ultimate aptitude, and this trait should be one of the highest talents. In fact, humans can indeed achieve this talent through training—like in sports, memory, or intellect. So, removing the Gene Lock means allowing humans to determine their aptitude based on the situation they are in. You can become a super genius when you need to think, a strongman when you need brute force, and when you need to fight… you become a super soldier who will live no matter what, even if everyone else dies.”

“Solving problems under any circumstances, possessing a will that absolutely refuses to give up—absolutely refusing to die under any conditions! This! This is the evolution after unlocking the Gene Lock!”