Chapter 55

“Space-time Transformation complete. Entered Alien plane. Begin scanning mission. Warning: Alien plane mission begins. Main Quest: Delay the bursting of the chestbuster and bring the chestbuster back to reality. Optional quest: Acquire a med pod or a copy of random technology data from the Alien plane. Urgent Quest: Unknown. Allotted Quest Time: 36 hours. Remark: Dimensional travel mechanism cooldown duration, 36 hours. Failure Penalty: Host access reduced by one level.”

The transfer was instantaneous and when Zhang Heng realized where he was, he found himself in a place that no regular person would even dare to dream of finding themselves in.

The area he was in seemed to be the inside of some kind of spaceship. The black walls were completely made of steel and the structure of the hold looked gothic.

The entire area felt unbearably stifling. However, the stifling feeling would have probably been preferable when compared to the warm, wet, and black unknown materials found on the walls.

Zhang Heng’s expression immediately became glum. He then discovered that, somehow, he was completely tightly wrapped by all that warm, wet, and black material before he knew it with only his head exposed outside of it. There were several yellow creatures with eight legs and a long bony, sectioned tail, features which made them look like scorpions, crawling about not far away from him.

“Facehuggers!” Zhang Heng realized that something bad had happened and immediately looked down when he found a dead facehugger lying on the floor below him. Looking at that facehugger, he remembered the elaboration made by the Dimensional Star a few moments ago, which snuffed out whatever bit of hope he had in him immediately.

He realized that he was made a victim of the now-dead facehugger as soon as he came to the Alien plane.

However, it was fortunate that being implanted with a chestbuster didn’t mean that one would definitely die. The victim could live long enough they were able to extract the xenomorph chestbuster through surgery before it reached maturity inside.

His expression looked slightly brighter at that thought. He tried to move his body about for a bit. It was not that difficult for him to break free of that layer of xenomorph secretion, given that he was exceptionally strong and he had the power provided by his suit’s hydraulics.

However, he deliberately checked his surroundings again before attempting to break free. He then exerted force with his arms and broke free from the gel-like substance that was wrapped around him after confirming that there were no other threats around the area other than the facehuggers.

He stretched a little bit after breaking free and stomped that facehugger’s dead body below him in frustration, crushing it, before closing up the mask on his suit to protect his face.

He checked the time on the watch on his wrist. It was around 3 P.M. when he first came to the Alien plane and the time shown by his watch at the moment was 9 P.M, meaning that he had been put into a comatose state as soon as he arrived at the plane due after being implanted with a chestbuster by the facehugger. In the meantime, he had passed out for over six hours.

He cursed out loud and rushed to leave the xenomorph lair as soon as possible.

Walking in the xenomorph’s lair made him feel like he was walking in the innards of some living creature. His surroundings were very hot and humid, which was a stark contrast to the typical cold and arid environment in the hold of a spaceship.

Another facehugger suddenly leaped at him as soon as he walked past the other facehuggers crawling about, heading straight for his face. He simply drew his triangular bayonet with his right hand and slashed at the incoming facehugger with one blitzing move without even looking.

The facehugger was immediately bisected by the razor-sharp bayonet. Large amounts of faintly colored yellow blood sprayed from its body, causing the floor to sizzle as the blood hit the floor.

Zhang Heng frowned and took note of what he saw, knowing that he couldn’t afford to have any of that potent acidic blood landing on his body. And the security suit that he was currently wearing was not resistant to corrosive acid. Given the current situation, he was somewhat rendered at a loss of what to do next. According to what he had planned, the Dimensional Star should have put him on planet Earth in the Alien plane, instead of some ship that was completely sealed.

What he deemed was most important to get clear first and foremost was that if he was really in a spaceship. He wondered if the area that he found himself in was a base or some kind of special area if it wasn’t a part of a spaceship. If he was actually inside a spaceship then he would want to know where the ship was at the moment, if it was parked on the ground, or if it was floating somewhere in the dark, abyssal outer space.

Zhang Heng lowered his head as he pondered. However, he sensed a beat coming from deep within his being suddenly. As someone who had died countless times, his danger sense had almost become some kind of instinct. He rolled on the ground without second thoughts and a pitch-black sectioned tail punched through the metal flooring under him at the very instant he rolled, which caused an irritating screeching sound of metal twisting to be heard.

His heart continued to thump away and he gradually rose several meters away from where he once stood. A pitch-black being that was over two meters tall was seen crouching right where he was previously standing, baring its teeth and getting ready to pounce.

The black xenomorph had a triangular skull and a smooth forehead, its slender limbs were more powerful than they looked, and its body was covered in a very hard layer of exoskeleton consisted of silicate materials. It had a tail that swished about like a black whip. The creature was truly the stuff of nightmares.

“Pfftt…”

The xenomorph locked onto Zhang Heng and hissed in a bassy tone. Transparent saliva dripped from its metal-colored teeth and white mist puffed into the air as it breathed.

The palpitation that he felt deep down reached a critical point. Adrenaline was secreted and he breathed hard while trembling slightly. He swung his right arm hard and that bayonet in his hand was flung away in a blur, heading straight for the xenomorph’s head.

He turned his hand around and drew a Desert Eagle from his backpack while he threw the bayonet at the xenomorph. He cocked and fired at seemingly impossible speeds. A bullet shot out of the muzzle as his wrist flicked, heading straight for the xenomorph.

“Boom!”

The loud gunshot made him feel as if his ears were slightly ringing. He looked forward again as a reflex and found the handle of the bayonet that was stuck in the wall was tingling while the round he fired left a dent that was about as deep as half a finger length in the metal wall.

The xenomorph disappeared without a trace.

Zhang Heng’s pupils contracted and he backed away without thinking. However, he was still too late, as the tail that had enough power to crack rocks hit his chest hard and sent his entire being flying backward.

“Bang!”

He was sent crashing into a wall seven or eight meters away from where he was standing like a rucksack.

He gasped and felt as if his ribs were about to be shattered. A sharp, indescribable pain filled his entire chest and he noted that his breath smelled bloody.

Worse still, that was the result of having the protection provided by the security suit, as it was able to absorb over 80 percent of kinetic damage. If it hadn’t been for the suit protecting his body, that attack could have pulverized his chest immediately.

When people were subjected to such intense concussion and pain, they would spasm and be rendered immobile if the damage was not too bad. In severe cases, they would suffocate and pass out. However, none of that was a big deal to him. The training back in the virtual space hardened him so much that his pain tolerance was off the charts. The pain he suffered at the moment was far more than enough to affect his combat capacity. After crashing into the wall, he immediately lifted his pistol and fired at the xenomorph.

“Bang, bang, bang!”

The three shots sounded like a single shot and the xenomorph was caught off-guard due to having just landed. It was unable to evade and three bullet holes the size of fists landed on his head. Blowing it to pieces.

“Arrgghh!!” A pained shriek was heard from the creature, writhing about as it collapsed to the ground.

“So this is what the xenomorphs are truly capable of?” Zhang Heng pulled himself up looking pale. The true xenomorphs were undoubtedly more powerful than those he encountered back in the simulation in the virtual space. He was able to tell from the previous battle back that the xenomorph’s reflexes were every bit on par with his. Worse still, the xenomorph was two to three times stronger and faster than he was, which made its combat prowess several times that of what Corona analyzed those creatures to be.

Zhang Heng pressed against his chest as he left the room. Xenomorphs usually moved about in groups. If there were to be another one jumping out of nowhere right then, he might end up biting the dust.

The secretions he found around him thinned as he chose to run in the opposite direction. Before too long, there was no trace of the xenomorph secretions found on the walls. The grey-silver-colored metal walkways were seen and there were huge, closed metal doors found on either side of the walkway.

“That is to say that the passage behind me leads to the xenomorph’s lair?” Zhang Heng took a look at the dark, humid walkway behind him and committed the location to memory before leaving the area.