novelsite Chapter 34 Alien Squad
Chapter 34 Alien Squad
Qin Yuan sat in the driver's seat of the bumpy jeep, one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding a disposable lunchbox containing a hot stir-fried pork rice bowl that he had just taken out of his spatial storage. He ate a few bites, his gaze sweeping across the increasingly rugged and precipitous mountain scenery outside the window.
This is deep in the Qinling Mountains; the road ahead is blocked, and vehicles can no longer pass. Based on the time and route, Wuxie and Laoyang should have abandoned the vehicle and entered this remote, pristine forest.
He calmly finished the last bite of his meal, tossed the lunchbox into a plastic bag in the passenger seat, tied it up, and then drove on for a while until he found an extremely secluded ravine, hidden by dense bushes. With no one around, he conjured the entire jeep into thin air with a thought, storing it in his system space.
Stepping out of the car, Qin Yuan took a deep breath of the air, which was filled with the sweet scent of grass and the fragrance of earth. His eyes sharpened. He closed his eyes, tilted his head back slightly, and his nostrils flared gently. He detected extremely subtle scent molecules that were imperceptible to most people.
The faint scent of soapberry on Wu Xie, the slightly sweaty and faintly earthy body odor of Lao Yang, and the distinctive smell of mud and plant sap on the soles of their shoes... these scents acted as a compass, guiding them in the right direction.
Following the scent trail, Qin Yuan nimbly disappeared into the dense forest. His speed was neither too fast nor too slow, enough to keep up with the crowd without revealing himself too early.
After walking for about half an hour, as he passed through a woodland entangled with vines, a rustling sound suddenly came from the treetops ahead, accompanied by several sharp cries. Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen large, grayish-brown mountain monkeys leaped out from all directions, blocking his path.
These monkeys bared their teeth, revealing sharp canines, brandished their claws, and had fierce eyes. They were clearly the mountain kings of this area, targeting lone travelers and charging them tolls.
Qin Yuan stopped and looked at the group of petty thieves blocking his way. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself, "Tsk, are they just bullying me because I'm all alone? Qinling's hospitality is quite unique."
He looked around; the forest was deep and dense, and apart from the chirping of birds and the roars of beasts, there was not a single person in sight.
"Fine, since there's no audience, I won't pretend anymore."
With a thought, Qin Yuan no longer deliberately concealed his aura. A cold and violent aura originating from his bloodline, carrying the pressure of a top predator, spread out from him like an invisible tide.
It is a primal fear etched into the very foundation of life's genes, a fear of the insurmountable forces of natural enemies and those of inferior beings.
The once arrogant and noisy troop of monkeys suddenly fell silent, as if they had been choked.
Their eyes widened in terror, their fur stood on end, their limbs went limp, and they fell from the trees like dumplings being dropped into a pot. Once on the ground, they didn't dare to run away, but just curled up, trembling. Some even defecated and urinated, kneeling on the ground, not daring to lift their heads.
Looking at the group of terrified monkeys before him, Qin Yuan suddenly had a thought. He remembered that after completing the underwater tomb mission, in addition to the super-fast regeneration reward, the system had another reward that he had temporarily shelved, one that he felt was somewhat eerie and that he couldn't use for the time being.
[Queen's Authority]
This permission allows him to generate one "Xenomorphic Serum" daily through the system. Any organism injected with the serum will directly generate an Xenomorphic embryo within its body. Once the embryo matures, it will burst forth, and the resulting Xenomorphic offspring will be completely obedient to him, the "Queen."
He had previously felt that this ability was too bizarre and disruptive to the balance, and that parading around with an alien in the streets would be too shocking, so he hadn't used it. But now, deep in the desolate Qinling Mountains, facing a group of materials that had delivered themselves to his doorstep…
Qin Yuan's eyes flickered. He needed to catch up with Wu Xie and the others as soon as possible. He didn't know what dangers lay ahead. Having a "Alien Squad" that was completely obedient to him and fearless of death seemed like a good option. Anyway, these monkeys weren't protected animals, and they had even tried to rob him earlier.
"You guys are out of luck," Qin Yuan muttered to himself. He then took out all the alien serum he had accumulated over the past few days from his system space and checked it; it was barely enough.
He moved swiftly, ignoring the monkeys' desperate cries, and injected each monkey with a vial of serum. The serum seemed to have been systematically modified, taking effect extremely quickly after injection. Within minutes, the monkeys were curled up on the ground in agony, their bodies beginning to convulse unnaturally.
"Pfft! Pfft!"
A series of teeth-grinding tearing sounds rang out! One after another, slender, juvenile alien creatures burst out of the monkey's chest cavity! They emitted hoarse, chilling hisses, their bodies covered in viscous blood and tissue fluid.
Without hesitation, these newborn alien larvae turned around and used their sharp claws and mouthparts to quickly tear apart and devour the corpses of the monkeys that had once housed and nurtured them.
The process of devouring greatly accelerated their growth. Their size increased at a visible rate, and their shells became darker and harder. In just one or two hours, they grew from juveniles into mature beings covered with smooth black shells, with streamlined heads and sharp inner teeth, exuding a deadly threat. However, perhaps due to the host, these aliens were slightly smaller than those in the movie.
A group of a dozen or so small aliens, exuding a chilling killing intent, lay silently before Qin Yuan, their long tails swaying restlessly, their compound-eyed heads staring intently at their "Queen," awaiting orders.
Qin Yuan could clearly feel the mental connection with each of the aliens, sense their states, and even issue some simple commands. However, he immediately noticed a limitation.
Whether it's because monkeys are too weak as hosts or because the system itself imposes restrictions for balance reasons, these aliens have an extremely short lifespan of only about three days. After three days, they will die and decompose on their own.
"Only three days to live..." Qin Yuan stroked his chin, but then relaxed. "That's fine. This kind of pure killing weapon grows quickly. If it could exist forever, the world would truly be in chaos. Three days is enough to handle this trip to the Qinling Mountains."
Anyway, he can produce one vial of serum every day, and this stuff really isn't suitable for bringing into normal society. Let's just treat this makeshift alien squad as a one-time special weapon.
Having wasted this time, Qin Yuan dared not linger any longer. He immediately used the mental link to order the alien squad to disperse within a certain range around him, responsible for vigilance and reconnaissance. He himself then followed the scent again and accelerated forward.
Soon, he arrived at a cave entrance located in a crack in the mountainside, clearly man-made and subsequently collapsed. The smell became stronger here; Wuxie and Laoyang had obviously already gone inside.
Qin Yuan crouched down and crawled into the cave entrance. Inside was a vaulted stone chamber, the air damp and murky. Below the chamber was a pool of stagnant, greenish water that emitted a strong, fishy stench. Its depth was unknown, and rotten branches and leaves, along with some indescribable flocculent matter, floated on the surface.
Given the opportunity, Qin Yuan really didn't want to get involved in this mess. He glanced at the slippery but wide walls on both sides, and with a thought, his hands and feet conjured up tiny suction structures, allowing him to climb over the vertical walls with ease, like a gecko.
Upon reaching the other side, a pile of extinguished campfire ashes lay on the ground not far away. Qin Yuan walked over, reached out to feel the temperature of the embers, and then examined the state of the ashes.
"It's still a little warm, but it's mostly cooled down... They should have left a few hours ago, but they can't be too far away," Qin Yuan estimated in his mind. He wasn't in a hurry to catch up immediately; maintaining a certain distance and observing secretly might reveal more information.
He sent several aliens ahead to scout the way, while he followed at a leisurely pace. They hadn't gone far when they discovered a hidden door in the stone wall to one side, clearly recently opened. The passage behind the door was deep and dark, exuding a chilling aura.
Wu Xie and Lao Yang have already gone inside.
Qin Yuan's lips curled slightly. He signaled the alien team to remain vigilant, disperse, and lie in wait, while he himself blended into the shadows and silently stepped into the passage behind the hidden door.