Chapter 30: Bad News and Worse News-Viajando em Paralelo: Começando pelo Retorno ao Espaço do Senhor Supremo(O espírito se espalha por todo o universo.)

After listening to Chu Xuan's analysis, Zero Point seemed unaffected, but Zhan Lan beside him was frozen in place. She then raised her hand to look at the penalty for failing the main mission displayed on her wristwatch, her delicate face gradually turning pale.

Up until now, Zhan Lan had only killed five aliens and mutants, earning just over 2,000 reward points. Adding the points she had previously saved, the total barely exceeded 3,000, far from enough to offset the 7,000-point deduction for failing the mission.

According to the rules set by the Main God, after the horror movie scenario ends, any team member with a negative score would be erased as punishment!

Thinking of this, she glanced anxiously at Wu Xian, her eyes filled with worry.

“Captain…”

“Don’t panic. I told you, the Main God never issues missions that guarantee death.”

Wu Xian patted her shoulder reassuringly, then turned his gaze back to Chu Xuan. “Since you’ve already figured this out, I imagine you have a way to solve the problem. Why not share it with us?”

“No rush. There are still some details I need to confirm. Let’s wait until everyone is together before I explain,” Chu Xuan replied calmly, his voice betraying no emotion. Yet, for some reason, Wu Xian had the strange feeling that Chu Xuan was holding something back.

Pursing his lips, Wu Xian decided not to press further. He instructed Friday to guide them to the main control room through their helmets, and then led the group forward at a brisk pace.

A few minutes later, they arrived at their destination. Li Xiao Yi, who was guarding the entrance, spotted them from afar and waved energetically, his mood evidently good, still basking in the thrill of racking up points.

Unfortunately, the good mood didn't last long. After Chu Xuan repeated his analysis in front of Zheng Zha and the others, the atmosphere in the main control room immediately dropped to freezing point.

“Damn it!” Zheng Zha suddenly shouted, pounding hard on the nearby metal wall, leaving a dent. His strikingly strange face was filled with frustration.

As for Li Xiao Yi and Mou Gang, their reactions were similar to Zhan Lan’s.

Given their current reward points, none of them could offset the penalty. If everything was truly as Chu Xuan said, then by the end of this horror movie scenario, everyone except Zheng Zha and Wu Xian would be erased by the Main God.

Even if luck favored them later and they managed to kill another batch of aliens, barely offsetting the negative points, 7,000 points would still be deducted first, making it hard to say how much they'd finally gain.

The three of them felt utterly deflated, like wilted eggplants, their earlier spirit and fighting will completely gone.

“Chu Xuan, stop beating around the bush. Tell us your plan. If you really have a solution, I promise everyone here will cooperate fully.”

Once again, Wu Xian stepped forward as the pillar of the group. He watched Chu Xuan, who was busy adjusting instruments on the workstation with his back to them, curious to see what breakthrough the world’s top strategist had devised.

“This spaceship’s technology is very advanced, but its control system is quite ordinary—no better than what we have on Earth. With the help of your AI, Miss Friday, I’ve now fully taken control of this ship.”

Chu Xuan glanced at the hundreds of screens on the monitor as he spoke. “I have one bad piece of news and two even worse ones. Which would you like to hear first?”

“Spit it out.”

Wu Xian rolled his eyes, uninterested in playing along.

“Then the bad news first.”

Chu Xuan pushed up his glasses. “Perhaps because of the Main God’s influence, the ship’s return system has been completely locked down. We can’t extend the time to return to Earth. Right now, we have only one hour and five minutes left to complete the main mission.”

“The second, worse news is that in the past fifteen minutes, the surveillance footage has shown no signs of alien activity whatsoever.”

“Meaning the Alien Queen might not have spawned any new aliens recently, or she’s ordered them to hide. Either way, it’s clear she’s aware of the Central Continent team’s strength. Realizing she can’t win, she’s chosen to turtle up and stay hidden.”

“Finally, with Friday’s help, I hacked through the ship’s firewall and found some hidden files that reveal the true reason why this movie’s plot has changed.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Chu Xuan’s fingers moved lightly, and several video clips and files appeared on the screen before them. Friday had even thoughtfully loaded a Chinese translation.

Everyone looked at the videos and files, but their expressions soon darkened. They didn’t even bother to acknowledge the notification sound for completing side missions.

It turned out that the reason this spaceship was so massive was that the plot had been altered from the very beginning.

In the original “Alien 1,” the Nostromo was just a cargo ship, tasked with returning to Earth fully loaded with iron ore. During the journey, it suddenly picked up a strange signal.

The ship’s AI, “Mother,” judged it to be a distress signal and ordered the ship to head to the source for rescue, which kicked off the subsequent events.

But in this version before them, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, which owned the Nostromo cargo ship, had discovered the aliens’ existence much earlier than in the movie.

To obtain live specimens of the extraterrestrial creatures, the company had dispatched numerous researchers to the signal’s origin. They took several alien eggs from there, incubated them onboard, and began preliminary experiments during the journey back to Earth.

Without a doubt, they had severely miscalculated.

From the eggs brought aboard, an Alien Queen was born, growing at an astonishing rate. It used over a hundred crew members as hosts to breed a large number of aliens.

Only the heroine Ripley, blessed with extraordinary luck, managed to escape alone—or perhaps with a cat—piloting the last intact escape pod.

“All bad news, indeed…” Wu Xian frowned. “According to your account, there could be over a hundred aliens on this ship now, especially the Alien Queen. If she’s hiding and continuously laying eggs, and we can’t find her, then completing the mission is impossible.”

Based on Friday’s data, the spaceship’s diameter was at least thirty kilometers, with a labyrinth of corridors. Even if they took a brutally direct route, finding the Alien Queen’s nest within an hour would be nearly impossible.

“That brings me to what I want to say next.”

Chu Xuan looked at Wu Xian. “Although I can’t control the return system or pinpoint the Alien Queen’s location in such a short time, I have found the ship’s self-destruct program.”

“Self-destruct?!”

Everyone was stunned. They looked at Chu Xuan as if he were insane—Wu Xian no exception.

What kind of mind comes up with blowing up the ship and taking the aliens down with it just because the mission can’t be completed?

A genius? More like a madman!

Wu Xian silently cursed. Then, suddenly realizing something, he cautiously asked, “Wait, are you trying to force the Alien Queen out by detonating the ship?”