Ice beam!
Bai Ye sprinted down the corridor, pursued by a large white bird resembling a seagull. The bird opened its beak, unleashing a silver-white beam towards Bai Ye.
Instantly...
Crack, crack, crack!
The sound of freezing echoed as frost rapidly formed in the beam's path, encasing everything in ice.
At this moment...
Bai Ye abruptly stopped and lunged back at the white bird.
"You beast tamers..." Bai Ye drew his Zanpakuto and slashed forward with force, "What are you meddling in!"
*Puff!*
A flash of blade energy!
Seizing the moment after the opponent's attack, Bai Ye launched a sudden assault. With a swift hand and a falling blade, a splash of blood erupted as the white bird plummeted to the ground.
Bai Ye let out a long sigh and sheathed his Zanpakuto.
Xenomorphs and Predators were troublesome enough; now these beast tamers were joining the fray, which was rather vexing.
With this thought, Bai Ye continued forward, soon reaching the door at the end of the corridor. He punched through the electronic lock, and the white sliding door automatically opened.
The scene within the room unfolded before Bai Ye, causing him to freeze for a moment, and then...
Bai Ye silently gripped the hilt of his Zanpakuto and stepped inside.
As Bai Ye advanced, his soles dragged across streaks of blood, for the room was filled with blood and corpses!
The corpses shared a similar demise. Most had been stabbed through the chest with sharp objects. Some bodies were incomplete, bearing clear signs of gnawing.
Without a doubt, these were likely the Xenomorphs' doing.
However, scanning his surroundings, Bai Ye found no signs of Xenomorph activity. It seemed they had left after the slaughter.
With this in mind, Bai Ye moved towards the other end of the room.
The door was blocked by a corpse, which sat slumped against it.
Without hesitation, Bai Ye lifted his foot to kick the body aside. Just then, a bulge appeared on the corpse's chest, swelling visibly like a balloon.
This sudden development startled Bai Ye, his foot suspended in mid-air.
Then...
*Pfft!*
The corpse's chest burst open, spewing forth a deluge of blood mixed with foul-smelling, greenish-yellow fluid.
A Xenomorph, about the size of an arm, shot out from the corpse's chest and lunged towards Bai Ye.
Bai Ye reacted with lightning speed, leaping aside. The small Xenomorph narrowly missed his chest and slammed headfirst into the wall.
Upon landing, the juvenile Xenomorph shook its head, seemingly dazed from the impact. Then...
*Puff!*
A playing card flew through the air, shattering the small Xenomorph's carapace and embedding itself in its back.
"Aow, aow, aow..."
The small Xenomorph shrieked in pain, writhing uncontrollably. Then...
*Puff, puff, puff!*
The sound of projectiles cutting through the air continued as more and more playing cards rained down from behind, piercing the juvenile Xenomorph's body in a dense cluster.
Once the small Xenomorph could no longer stand, struggling on the ground, Bai Ye stepped forward, raised his Zanpakuto, and brought it down with force.
*Puff!*
The small Xenomorph was decapitated, its head severed by Bai Ye's blade.
Even without its head, the juvenile Xenomorph twitched for a while longer before finally ceasing all movement and falling lifeless.
While Xenomorphs possess formidable vitality, this juvenile specimen was clearly newly hatched, its life force, however strong, had its limits.
However, the appearance of this juvenile Xenomorph made Bai Ye feel that the situation was escalating.
Because, the Xenomorphs had begun to lay eggs!
This meant a rapid increase in their numbers!
Indeed, as Bai Ye pondered this, he pushed open the door and entered the corridor, only to see seven or eight corpses lying scattered on the ground. Each of their heads was covered by a spider-like creature with a long tail that pierced directly into the corpse's mouth.
Bai Ye crouched down and pulled one of the creatures off. It was already dead.
"Facehugger!" Bai Ye murmured, "The Xenomorphs have indeed begun mass breeding."
Facehuggers are the larval stage used by Xenomorphs for reproduction.
In reality, Xenomorph eggs do not contain Xenomorphs themselves but rather facehuggers. Xenomorphs do not hatch directly from eggs; instead, facehuggers hatch first, seek out other life forms, and implant themselves. After a certain period, the facehugger dies, and the juvenile Xenomorph emerges within the host, draining its life force. Once it obtains sufficient nutrition, it bursts forth from the host's chest.
The "Predalien" in "Forbidden Zone Mission Three" was a result of a Predator being implanted by a facehugger, giving rise to the Predalien.
Therefore, Bai Ye had anticipated that the Xenomorphs might nest and lay eggs within the research base, but even with the foresight, the reality still gave him a headache.
A single Xenomorph versus a horde of Xenomorphs was not the same concept.
Furthermore, this was precisely why the forbidden zone mission was to escape the research base. If it were merely a few Predators or a few Xenomorphs, it wouldn't have necessitated such a large number of people fleeing.
Thus, the current problem was that the Xenomorphs would use the people entering this place to lay eggs and hatch new Xenomorphs. As the number of Xenomorphs grew and the human population dwindled, not fleeing would be a death sentence.
Bai Ye mused as he walked down the corridor. The sliding door ahead opened again, and at that moment...
A dark silhouette suddenly appeared before Bai Ye.
What's going on?
Before Bai Ye could react, he was violently slammed by the dark silhouette, sending him tumbling back into the corridor.
This unprovoked assault left Bai Ye bewildered. Lying on the ground and clutching his nose, he recognized the dark silhouette and instantly jumped in fright.
Because a massive, bloody maw was lunging towards him, ready to bite.
The creature that had collided with him was none other than a Xenomorph!
"Your grandma's!"
Bai Ye quickly thrust his Zanpakuto into the Xenomorph's mouth, jamming it against the upper jaw to prevent it from biting him. The Xenomorph struggled violently, shaking its head and trying to clamp down on Bai Ye.
After a few seconds of this stalemate, a shadow suddenly rushed out from the room again, leaping high.
Bai Ye looked up and saw that it was a Predator, immediately understanding that the Predator and the Xenomorph must have been fighting in the room, and he had just stumbled into the crossfire.
But what was the meaning of this leaping stab with a dagger?
He was still pinned beneath the Xenomorph...
Hold on a second!
...