Around the corner of the passageway, three massive, pitch-black Xenomorphs were savagely tearing apart Li Xiaoyi. The youth wasn't dead yet; his body thrashed and convulsed ceaselessly. The aliens' strength was horrifyingly immense; a single gentle tear from a razor-toothed tongue ripped his body open like mere paper. Zheng Zha could only witness the boy's final look of despair before one of the aliens' tongues pulverized the young man's head into dust.

Another Xenomorph turned its massive head towards Zheng Zha. Its tongue slowly extended from its maw, clear saliva dripping constantly onto the floor. The creature then shrieked at Zheng Zha—a deafening sound that jolted him back to awareness. He cast one last glance at Li Xiaoyi, no, at the shredded remains of Li Xiaoyi, then bolted back down the passageway without looking back.

"Run! Damn it! Three of them!" Zheng Zha roared as he fled. Zero Point and Overlord reacted fastest, simultaneously hurling their grenades before spinning around and sprinting deeper into the corridor, closely followed by Zhang Jie, Chu Xuan, and Li Shuaixi.

Because of her position further back, Zhan Lan was closest to Zheng Zha. Her burst speed was abysmal, putting her dangerously close to the blast radius. As Zheng Zha passed her, he could only grab and hoist her up. Then, the wave of the explosion hit from behind, knocking them both to the ground.

Zheng Zha's nervous system reacted with astonishing speed; in the split second he fell, he desperately twisted his body to press his back flat against the floor. Zhan Lan tumbled forward, landing squarely on his chest. The woman with the ample chest stared at him in shock, and in that moment, she actually reached up, touched his forehead, and giggled, "You really are a good man."

Zheng Zha froze for an instant, then shouted, "What nonsense are you spouting! Move it, run!" With that, he tried to push Zhan Lan off and stand up.

Zhan Lan, however, tightly gripped his collar. "My enhanced physical attributes are few; apart from endurance, my running speed is terrible. You’ll have to carry me if we’re to move together."

As she spoke, the five ahead—Zhang Jie and the others—had already vanished. Zheng Zha had no more time for argument. The shockwave behind them would only delay the Xenomorphs momentarily. If they didn't move faster, both of them would simply die here. Gritting his teeth, he charged forward while carrying Zhan Lan. The small woman nestled her face into his chest obediently.

Zheng Zha’s physical conditioning was formidable; carrying someone felt like almost nothing. After sprinting through several corridors, he suddenly realized he was lost. In his panic, he had only known to run straight ahead, but running this far, he hadn't spotted Zhang Jie or the others. In other words, they were now separated from the main group.

Zheng Zha gnashed his teeth and kept running down the passage. After covering another hundred meters or so, he spotted a massive steel door set into the side of the corridor and burst through it, Zhan Lan still in his arms.

All doors on the transport ship were fitted with automatic sensors that opened upon detecting biological life. Thus, the pair easily entered the room. The moment they were inside, Zhan Lan leaped out of Zheng Zha's arms. She pressed herself against the steel door, fiddling with a series of buttons. After a few clicks, the massive door finally sealed shut, a red light illuminating on its surface.

Zhan Lan let out a breath, patting her chest. "That scared the life out of me. My limbs went weak from the terror. It was disgusting and terrifying—far worse than the Xenomorphs in the movies."

Zheng Zha had been watching her every move. The little woman's chest was firm and full. While running, he hadn't noticed, but now, recalling the way she landed on him, his own chest seemed to retain the memory of that soft pressure. Especially watching her now as she patted her chest, the ample curves were bobbing ceaselessly, causing him to quickly avert his gaze.

Zhan Lan seemed to sense something; a faint, unnatural flush rose to her cheeks. She lowered her hand and chuckled, "I told you that automatic sensor function could be disabled, right? Otherwise, anyone could just walk into your bedroom. Where’s the privacy in that?" Zheng Zha coughed to settle his nerves. The image of the young man Li Xiaoyi flashed in his mind. Though unremarkable and seemingly rather timid, the boy was genuinely kind; he would smile with delight over the slightest breakthrough in training. Zheng Zha remembered the boy saying his biggest dream was to gain superhuman strength through enhancement so he could go back to school and teach his bullies a lesson. But now, he was gone... "Damn it! I promised I wouldn't leave any comrade behind! But I ran away too, paralyzed by fear!" The more Zheng Zha thought, the more rage and grief consumed him. He violently slammed a fist into the wall beside him. With a resounding bang, a steel bar as thick as his arm buckled inward. Instantly, both he and Zhan Lan stared wide-eyed at each other.

Zhan Lan quickly hurried over. The room wasn't large; besides a metal bunk bed, there was some simple furniture and a wall-mounted television. Zheng Zha’s punch had dented the steel support beam of the bed frame.

"Wow, when did you get this strong?" Zhan Lan traced the outline of his fist imprint on the steel bar. She then grabbed his hand, examining his fist, which hadn't even broken the skin. She exclaimed in astonishment, "No way? Is your fist made of iron? Such immense power!"

Zheng Zha was equally bewildered. He tried again, slamming his fist into another support beam on the bed. This time, he put his full strength into it, and the bar snapped completely, flipping the bed onto the floor. Even Zheng Zha looked down at his own fist in utter disbelief.

"Impossible. I've never beaten Zhang Jie in a fight unless I used my Internal Energy. If I had this much power, I would have knocked him down with a single punch ages ago."

Zheng Zha stared at the broken steel bar incredulously. Zhan Lan touched her forehead, then suddenly said, "Maybe it's because you held back? Not intentionally holding back, but because you’ve just acquired such massive power, you subconsciously ease up around those close to you. And it’s not just the strength; your skin didn't even crack. Heavens, your skin seems tougher than steel."

Zheng Zha clenched his fist, a thought sparking in his mind. "What do you think the destructive force would be if I unleashed my full strength, combined with a sudden burst of Internal Energy, into a steel bar I threw?" Zhan Lan glanced at the broken bar nearby and smiled. "Then why not test it with the nearest one? If you do well... Hehe, when we get back, I won't tell Little Sister Li'er that you were peeping at my chest."

Zheng Zha dared not retort. He knew Zhan Lan's expression and gaze all too well. After ten years spent navigating the chaotic mortal world, he had seen a few good girls give him that exact look... He knew that silence and action were likely the best course right now.

He quietly turned around and seized the steel bar he had snapped. Indeed, his strength had reached this level. He hadn't had a chance to test this power in the Main God's space before. He managed to tear the bar completely free with just his hands. The grating, screeching sound was piercing, but to Zheng Zha and Zhan Lan, it offered a strange sense of security.

Zheng Zha weighed the detached steel bar in his hand, then took a deep breath, channeling his Internal Energy throughout his body with sheer focus. He let out a mighty roar and hurled the bar into the distance. With a cracking sound, the bar embedded itself deep into the steel wall; the several-dozen-centimeter piece was left with only a few centimeters protruding outward, the rest consumed by the metal wall. The force of this throw was astonishingly huge.

Zheng Zha and Zhan Lan both froze, staring at each other for a long moment before their gazes simultaneously drifted toward the steel support beams of the bunk bed behind them...

"Since we forgot to exchange for heavy weaponry, let's use this most primitive thing to smash them!" Zheng Zha muttered as he wrestled another bar free. Beside him, Zhan Lan was already shaking with laughter. As the little woman laughed, her chest swayed with every tremor, causing Zheng Zha to sneak glances from the corners of his eyes repeatedly. And this woman seemed aware of his roving gaze; she merely blushed slightly, but actually puffed her chest out a little, making the fullness there even more prominent.

Perhaps this was the only small pleasure available right now, Zheng Zha thought while stealing glances. But recalling the three massive, terrifying nightmare creatures, a feeling bordering on despair rose in his heart, along with a stubborn refusal to surrender.

Survive. No matter how hopeless, under any circumstances... I will definitely survive!

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