The five of them walked down the 15th passage, and sure enough, some secretion-like substances appeared on both sides of the corridor. The steel underneath these secretions had been corroded away, but fortunately, their acidity seemed to weaken with time.
Chu Xuan carefully touched the secretion on the corner of the wall with his finger, then stood up and said,"The acidity has been oxidized quite a bit. It's now probably only at a weak acid level, so that makes things much easier. When we fight later, even if this secretion covers our bodies, it won't be fatal."
Zheng Zha stepped on the secretion and frowned, saying,"But it's too slippery. If we have to fight the Queen later and the ground is covered in this stuff, I'm afraid we'll have trouble keeping our footing while running."
Chu Xuan thought for a moment and said,"No, if the battlefield is full of this substance, it might actually work in our favor. That way, we won't have to worry about the Queen's blood corroding the ship's hull. It's a beneficial condition in a way. I'd rather deal with some obstacles in movement than risk the ship's outer shell being damaged."
Zheng Zha chuckled bitterly and looked at Chu Xuan."To be honest, what do you think the chances are of us surviving this horror show?"
Chu Xuan glanced at him and replied indifferently,"I said it before, 30%. That's assuming your throws always hit. If the first throw misses, two or three people will die within thirty seconds. During that time, you'll have a chance for a second throw. If that one misses, we'll all die. This is our last chance. If we don't make it, we'll all die in three days. Honestly, this is the smallest chance I've ever seen in my decisions. Just thinking about it makes me feel down."
Zheng Zha fell silent for a moment, then patted Chu Xuan's shoulder."I don't know how to comfort you, and with your intellect, you probably don't need any comfort, but… we can survive this. We'll all survive, no matter what. I absolutely refuse to die here!"
"Though you say that, our chances of survival are only 30%…" Chu Xuan replied coldly, without even looking at Zheng Zha. At that moment, a voice came from the front of the passage, from Zero Point:"We've got something!"
The two of them exchanged glances, and Zheng Zha told Zhang Jie and the others behind him,"Stay close, don't fall behind or do anything else. Let's go!" He then quickly ran toward Zero Point.
Zero Point was standing ahead, waiting for them, and pointed toward the passage ahead, saying,"We can't go any further. It's all covered in that secretion."
Zheng Zha looked up and indeed saw a thick layer of secretion covering the passage behind Zero Point. It looked like some kind of biological membrane, almost as if it were alive.
He carefully used a spiral stake to pry open the layer of secretion. From the feel, it wasn't hard; in fact, he could easily pierce through it, and the thickness of the substance was only a few centimeters.
Zheng Zha lifted the secretion, but the space behind it shocked him. The entire passage seemed to be covered with the same substance—on the ground, walls, and even the ceiling. If the previous space had still belonged to the ship's corridor, then from here on, it was truly an alien nest. It felt as though they were walking on living flesh, with everything around them seeming like the body of a living creature. Just thinking about it was enough to send a chill down one's spine.
Chu Xuan suddenly said,"Zero Point, the lighting here is dim, and you have the best eyesight. Can you see if there are any alien eggs over there? The oval-shaped biological organs?"
Zero Point narrowed his eyes and stared, but after a while, he shook his head and said,"Can't see. The light's too dim, and the walls are covered in this disgusting stuff."
Chu Xuan nodded and then turned to Zheng Zha, saying,"Alien eggs won't attack unless they're within 20 meters, so we can approach them safely. Based on the distance we've covered, we're at the 3rd passage now. Further ahead is the 2nd and 1st cargo holds, and the Queen should be in there!"
Zheng Zha nodded. He turned to the others behind him and said,"You all stay here. I'll go check if those are alien eggs. Zero Point, if anything shows up around me, please take care of it. I trust your sniping abilities."
Zero Point silently nodded. Zheng Zha smiled and began walking deeper into the nest. The moment his foot touched the ground, he felt a soft, almost gelatinous sensation, as though stepping into the walls of a living creature's intestines. The feeling of pushing through flesh made his scalp crawl, but he suppressed the discomfort and cautiously moved forward. Because the lighting was so dim, he could only see a few meters ahead, so he walked carefully for several seconds until he was about 10 meters away from the eggs. There, he finally saw dozens of oval-shaped organs.
"That's it! They're alien eggs!" he shouted loudly without turning around.
Suddenly, he saw the alien eggs slowly opening. In alien horror movies, this signified that the eggs were about to release alien larvae. With dozens of eggs here, if all of them hatched, the larvae might hide in the secretion and attack them. Once they parasitized a human, that person would become a new alien within minutes to hours.
Without hesitation, Zheng Zha raised his semi-automatic rifle and shot at the alien eggs. The eggs shattered with a series of gunshots. The outer shells of the eggs weren't very tough, but even so, a few larvae were released. They leaped out at incredible speed, bouncing a few times on the secretion before closing in on Zheng Zha.
At that moment, several gunshots rang out behind him, and the larvae in midair were destroyed. Zheng Zha turned his head and saw Zero Point holding a submachine gun aimed at him. The barrel was still smoking lightly.
Zheng Zha smiled at Zero Point, who, despite his usual icy demeanor, gave a subtle nod. Meanwhile, Chu Xuan remained calm and ran over. He crouched down to examine the shattered alien eggs, and after a moment, stood up and said,"After the Queen lays eggs, it enters a weakened state. These egg shells are very soft, unlike what I remember. I think the Queen must have just laid these eggs."
Zheng Zha took a deep breath."Since we've come this far, we have no choice but to fight and kill that big guy. Let's go! Let's kill that last alien and make it out of here alive and back to the 'Master' space!"