Chapter 12
Xenomorphs
A layer of flames ignited effortlessly on the surface of the lake water. In just a few seconds, the blazing fire surged, licking at the iron railings surrounding the artificial lake. The high temperature melted the railings into molten iron that flowed into the lake, emitting sizzling sounds.
The three of them took a step back and swiftly activated their wristbands. Metal mechas enveloped their bodies. The rampant flames rose high on the lake surface, rolling with the waves. Behind the fire, two shadows gradually appeared: one with a pair of wolf ears standing upright, shoulders covered in ferocious spiked armor, and a giant wolf head with an open mouth on its chest; beside it was a monster with a pair of large bull horns on its head. These two xenomorphs were a size larger than Bilal from last time.
“It’s our mechas… haven’t seen them in a long time.”
The monster with wolf ears emitted a rumbling voice. The bull-horned monster beside Him had already shouldered a giant axe, eyes wide with anger as He stared directly at them: “Major General, why don’t you let me handle this and snatch those mechas back first!”
“Hmph, big talk. You better not run away later!”
Yan Hengze pointed at Him, his arm blade poised to strike.
“…”
“Hey, big dummy, why did you stop talking? Scared?”
Xiang Zhengming stared vigilantly at the monster standing in the flames in the center. Although he was quite curious about the wolf-ear-like things on His head, in this life-or-death moment, he had to be fully alert.
Their communications beeped simultaneously, and Zhong Yi’s voice came through clearly: “Have xenomorphs appeared over there? The energy fluctuations are intense.”
“Yes, not just one. Two have appeared in total. One has bull horns, and the other has things like ears on its head.”
Li Nanyi’s gun was already loaded. He slowly shifted his angle of view, trying to eliminate any blind spots in his vision.
The wind blew through the trees. The tense air of confrontation was filled with the smell of sparks. Both sides were in a standoff, but strangely, the two monsters opposite them didn’t make a move.
The bull-horned xenomorph seemed to be lower in rank than the wolf-eared xenomorph, so He kept looking at the wolf-eared xenomorph’s attitude. However, the wolf-eared xenomorph just stood there, observing them with a scrutinizing gaze, not moving a muscle, nor showing any inclination to act.
Truly strange. Although Yan Hengze felt it was odd, he didn’t dare relax his vigilance and could only maintain the standoff posture.
No one dared to act rashly.
The center of the empty park was silent, only Zhong Yi’s voice continued to come from the communicator: “Pay attention to collecting data. If you can’t beat them, think of a way to stall. The Special Task Force is already on their way. The energy fluctuations generated are too huge. The ones opposite you should be high-level xenomorphs. The computer has issued a level one alert. Be extremely careful!”
Li Nanyi keenly noticed that the xenomorph seemed to be able to hear the conversation in the communicator. He actually tilted His head and revealed a mocking smile at them, as if looking at ants who overestimated their own strength.
“You guy! Watch me beat you flat!”
“Don’t be impulsive!”
Xiang Zhengming didn’t hesitate to punch that face. The two xenomorphs dodged immediately as he rushed up. Tai’a‘s formidable power smashed a floor tile with one punch, kicking up countless dust particles.
Yan Hengze helplessly retracted the hand he had reached out to stop him. The stalemate was broken. The next second, Xiang Zhengming’s gaze sharpened. The wolf-eared xenomorph reached out and twisted the mecha, actually throwing Tai’a several meters away with his bare hands. It took some effort for Xiang Zhengming to stumble and stand firm.
A barrage swept across, marking out an area. The two xenomorphs looked at each other and released a large amount of flames simultaneously. The entire park was swept by fire. Grass, trees, and dead branches were ignited instantly, crackling as they burned in a continuous sheet, illuminating the glass of the surrounding buildings.
“Not good, this is trouble!”
Yan Hengze gritted his teeth and looked around. Suddenly, another xenomorph appeared in the flames. The water in the artificial lake sloshed again, and surprisingly, that xenomorph was standing on the water surface.
When Li Nanyi’s gaze swept over that xenomorph, a string in his heart was plucked. He paused in his movements, a familiar feeling rising spontaneously.
Dragon horns on the head, two huge fangs on both sides of the cheeks—this xenomorph looked exactly like a giant dragon from Western mythology. In just an instant, he thought of the crimson, hair-raising vertical pupils on the giant tree in his dream.
His crimson vertical pupils met Li Nanyi’s eyes through Chixiao. A chill climbed up his spine, and Li Nanyi shivered involuntarily.
That xenomorph waved His claws, and with a sweep of the long tail covered in inverted scales behind Him, the water in the artificial lake suddenly swelled and rose high. Then, the water poured fiercely onto the roaring flames.
All three were stunned. Xiang Zhengming frowned and spoke directly: “I say, is that guy stupid? Pouring water on his own people’s fire?”
Yan Hengze looked over with an expression hard to describe in a few words. Is the IQ of these alien monsters all at this level?
Why pour water?
It wasn’t until steam rose that Li Nanyi instantly understood their actions. They weren’t stupid at all; this was a smokescreen!
“They’re going to run.”
He looked straight at the dragon-shaped xenomorph in the white mist with certainty. A faint, cold fragrance drifted in the air, appearing and disappearing.
“Let’s go.”
The rumbling voice spoke a language they couldn’t understand.
Sure enough, the three xenomorphs used the rising steam to disappear from the Street Park. When the mist dispersed, apart from a complete mess and the sparks that had not yet been extinguished, nothing could be seen in the Street Park.
Xiang Zhengming ran a few steps in that direction anxiously. Looking back and seeing that neither Li Nanyi nor Yan Hengze had moved, he became even more anxious: “Why aren’t you chasing? What do we do if they get away?”
“Don’t chase. It’s actually a good thing they ran.”
“What?”
Xiang Zhengming couldn’t understand what Li Nanyi was saying at all.
“Calling you stupid, and you don’t believe it. The strength of these three xenomorphs far exceeds our imagination. We have no chance of winning against them right now. Of course it’s a good thing for us that they ran away.”
Li Nanyi deactivated his mecha and agreed: “Their escape means what they were looking for isn’t here. Moreover, currently, they don’t want to engage in a direct conflict with us. Let’s go back and bring the data to Zhong Yi first.”
“Oh, alright then.”
The sirens of fire trucks rushed toward them from the distance. There was already black smoke in the air, somewhat choking. Li Nanyi fanned away the drifting black smoke and stepped out.
…
Zhong Yi imported the data collected by the mechas about these three xenomorphs into the supercomputer. Dozens of huge data cables lit up with rhythmic blue light. The numbers on the screen jumped rapidly, and the progress bar filled slowly.
In a very short time, massive data calculations yielded the final conclusion. It matched the three xenomorphs with monsters from Norse mythology respectively, and deduced their domain abilities based on reasoning.
[Wolf-eared Xenomorph — Giant Wolf Fenrir
Ability: Manipulating fire
Race Level: Leader]
[Bull-horned Xenomorph — Minotaur
Ability: Giant axe that splits everything
Race Level: Warrior]
[Dragon-shaped Xenomorph — Giant Dragon Nidhogg
Ability: Manipulating water, Unknown
Race Level: Leader*]
A special mark appeared under the name of the dragon-shaped xenomorph. Li Nanyi looked at it for a while, then turned his head to ask: “Zhong Yi, what does this mark mean?”
“Oh, the supercomputer thinks this guy still has hidden abilities that haven’t been shown, and He might be the highest-level xenomorph we’ve seen so far. If that wolf-type is a sub-leader, then He should be the leader of the entire tribe.”
Xiang Zhengming: “So complex. Exactly how many leaders do they have?”
Yan Hengze: “It was indeed Him giving orders at the time. Maybe His level really is higher than the wolf-type xenomorph.”
“Then,” Li Nanyi hesitated for a moment, “do xenomorphs have different scents on them?”
Zhong Yi shook her head in confusion: “Scent? No, did you discover something?”
Li Nanyi pursed his lips: “Then it must have been my illusion. Never mind.”
He vaguely remembered smelling that scent somewhere—a cold, sharp fragrance.
…
[Xiaoyi, do you have time to come out and hang around together tonight?]
[: -D]
Li Nanyi hooked the corner of his mouth and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Training had just ended. Xiang Zhengming was clamoring to go have a big meal to reward himself, while Yan Hengze scoffed with disdain beside him; the two started another round of verbal war in the background.
However, the employee dormitory had a curfew. If he went back too late, he would have to sleep on the street.
[How late is tonight? If it’s too late, I might not be able to make it.]
As soon as the message was sent, a cute bear emoji covering its face with both hands popped up from the other side, followed by another message:
[How about coming out after dinner?]
[Okay.]
He touched the avatar with gold-rimmed glasses on the screen. The phone screen turned off, reflecting the slight upward curve of his mouth.
Perhaps due to compatible personalities in some sense, the time he spent communicating with Lu Xiuan after exchanging contacts was longer than he had imagined. From big things like the dinner date today to small things like encountering a cute orange cat on the road, they would chat for a sentence or two every day.
Maybe he had encountered too many weirdos after entering society, so God couldn’t stand it anymore and finally let him meet a like-minded, normal friend.
Lu Xiuan rubbed the space between his eyebrows. Two people were sitting on the office sofa. Lakumu seemed particularly curious about the Rubik’s Cube on his desk and kept playing with it in his hand.
“Do you guys have nothing else to do? Running to my place all day long.”
“What is there to be afraid of? Isn’t this our territory?” Ximo wasn’t panicked at all.
Lu Xiuan sneered. Indeed, there was no need to fear. Chen Yide, the CEO of SkyNet, was a lunatic fanatic about aliens. Back then, he only induced him slightly, and that guy unhesitatingly chose to cooperate with them, even opening a laboratory underground in the company and investing heavily in the research and development of Yelaire biological genetic engineering.
“You were too reckless this time. We haven’t fully recovered yet. Rashly confronting those humans is of no benefit to us.”
“You’ve become soft after staying in human society for too long, Lu Xiuan. Why not just snatch the mechas back directly?”
Lakumu looked at him. The Rubik’s Cube melted into plastic liquid in his hand, pouring onto the desktop and solidifying.
“Snatch them back? Easier said than done. You can go try it yourself.”
Lu Xiuan raised his hand to check the time, picked up the jacket draped over the back of the chair, and walked out. Lakumu stood up: “Where are you going?”
Lu Xiuan opened the door without even turning his face: “Maintaining necessary interpersonal relationships. Eden is in the laboratory downstairs. If you really don’t understand, you can go ask it.”
“I advise you, it’s best to learn how to disguise yourselves. Don’t always be so unscrupulous.”
“Hmph.”
Lakumu crossed his arms, dismissive.
Recommended Reads
