Zheng Zha's storage ring was filled with ample food and fresh water—bread, cheese, lean meat, and a few snacks. The quantity and quality were quite abundant, and there was enough fresh water for everyone to drink for several days. However, to be safe, the group divided the food and water into seven portions, with each person receiving enough for about three days.
Chu Xuan placed Li Shuai Xi's portion of food and water on the table and said,"This is your share. As long as you prove yourself useful to this team and not a burden, then this food and water will be yours. After you've proven yourself, you will be a member of our team."
Li Shuai Xi silently lowered his head, took the food and water, and then quickly moved to the side to eat and drink by himself.
The others ignored him and began eating and drinking their own portions. The running and fear from most of the day had left everyone both hungry and thirsty. Now that they had food and water, and it was enough, they ate and drank greedily.
While Zhan Lan was eating, she had trouble using one of her hands, so Zheng Zha silently opened her food packaging and poured her a cup of water. Zhan Lan laughed happily at his actions, and as a result, she sat next to him while eating.
Suddenly, Chu Xuan spoke up,"By the way, now that we have time, can you tell us how you killed that alien? I've been curious about this for a while."
Although everyone was eating and drinking, discussing matters while eating had almost become a habit for them, as it does in Chinese culture. Zheng Zha took a sip of water and smiled bitterly."Don't make me sound too heroic. The situation back then was really a life-or-death moment. We almost died there. If it hadn't been for my luck in cutting off the alien's tongue first, we might have been the ones who died."
Chu Xuan thought for a moment and suddenly turned to Zero,"If you were using a Desert Eagle, how far could you hit the alien's tongue? I'm talking about the moving alien, which is incredibly fast."
Zero, without looking up, coldly responded,"Within 150 meters, the hit rate is 30%. Within 100 meters, it's 40%. Within 50 meters, it's 50%. That's the limit. Any closer, I can't improve the accuracy further."
Zheng Zha smiled bitterly. A 50% hit rate was just a 50-50 chance. The alien's tongue was hard enough to break through steel, and when it shot out, it was extremely powerful. In front of the alien, a human head was just a fragile watermelon. In other words, if Zero's shot missed, regardless of whether the bullet hit a person or not, the alien's tongue alone would be enough to kill anyone who got too close.
Zheng Zha continued bitterly,"It was just luck. I caught it off guard and cut its long tongue off. It was easy because its tongue had been embedded in Zhan Lan's shoulder. Otherwise, if we were facing it directly, the tongue's speed would be too fast for us to even react."
Chu Xuan nodded."The speed at which the alien's tongue shoots out is terrifying, almost as fast as a handgun bullet. You also have to take into account its size and weight. Regular steel plates wouldn't even be able to stop its power. Anyway... let's stick to the plan for now and isolate the aliens, then clear the passage to the armory. Maybe we can find suitable weapons there."
Zheng Zha sighed and asked,"So how do you plan to isolate the aliens? Are we going to use someone as bait?"
While eating, Chu Xuan pressed several buttons on the control panel. After a moment, a map of the entire ship's passageways appeared on the big screen, with important rooms and connections marked by numbers.
"We're at position 27. Based on my calculations and the direction the alien went with those four people earlier, the alien queen should be in the No. 1 or No. 2 warehouse. The monitoring system around there has failed, probably because it's been corroded by the alien's secretion. I remember in Alien 4, when the alien queen lays eggs, she secretes a substance similar to spider silk, which is acidic but not as strong as the alien's blood."
"So, the isolation walls, monitoring systems, and even the lighting around that area can't be used. The only usable isolation walls are in rooms after No. 16. I've marked that area in green on the map."
As Chu Xuan spoke, he continued pressing buttons on the control panel. Soon, a range of green and red areas began to appear on the map.
Everyone focused on the big screen. On the map, the green areas covered most of the ship, while the red areas only extended from rooms 1 to 15.
Chu Xuan sighed and said,"You might think that the alien's corrosive range only reaches room 15, and that the armory in room 17 is still far away, so you might feel relieved, right? But I have bad news. Rooms 16 and 17 are on either side of room 15. In other words, we can't lower the isolation wall between room 17 and room 15. The circuitry there has probably been corroded. If we want to get the weapons, the aliens in room 15 will be free to hunt us because we won't be able to isolate them."
"This is exactly why we need the bait plan. We need to lure all four aliens, except for the queen, into the passage behind room 17, then isolate them one by one. That way, we can find a safe path to the armory. As I said, I won't waste anyone's life. This plan is extremely dangerous, but it's key to whether we survive this horror film. There can't be any mistakes."
Zheng Zha looked at the map on the screen, the red and green areas merging. After a long pause, he sighed and asked,"What if only one or two aliens come? Isn't that too dangerous and would make the plan unworkable?"
Chu Xuan smiled and remained silent, but it was Zhan Lan, sitting next to Zheng Zha, who spoke up."Actually, there's a way to lure the aliens over. Remember how they were chasing us before? How did they know where we were? And how they chased us so desperately... It's the smell."
Zheng Zha suddenly understood."Right, the smell. The alien's blood has a strong odor. Once other aliens smell it, they'll rush over quickly. So, you mean to use that smell to attract the aliens?"
Chu Xuan nodded."We have six grenades here. If we bundle three together, the blast will be enough to injure a mature alien. As long as one alien gets injured and bleeds, the others will rush over. Once they step into the passage behind room 17, we can quickly isolate them. Li Shuai Xi can then use the explosion as cover to escape into the safe zone. That's the whole bait plan."
Though dangerous, it wasn't a guaranteed death sentence. Zheng Zha finally breathed a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Li Shuai Xi, who had been sitting silently in the distance with his head lowered, had a fierce, bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes. He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his skin, not even noticing the blood dripping onto the ground, bright and menacing.