Chapter 8: Speak Up! Haven't You Eaten? (Please Keep Reading! Please Bookmark!)

“Boom—!!”

With a muffled explosion, a clear tremor shook beneath everyone’s feet, and they all turned in surprise to Wu Xian. It was obvious that the vibration had come from a bomb detonating.

This guy actually planted a bomb—when did that happen? How did we not notice?

“When… when did you plant the bomb?” The Red Queen voiced the question weighing on everyone’s minds. At the same time, her youthful face, formed from an optical projection, slightly darkened in thought, looking quite endearing.

But in reality, the Red Queen was pulling up the entire hive’s surveillance footage, rapidly replaying all of Wu Xian’s actions since entering the hive and checking all possible bomb concealment spots—yet found nothing. Her CPU was nearly overheating.

Little did the Red Queen know, Wu Xian hadn’t used conventional means to plant the bomb. Before entering the biohazard zone, he had exchanged with the Main God for a certain sci-fi world’s nano-bomb.

Throughout their journey, he had used psychic telekinesis to remotely install it. Given the Red Queen’s current level, she simply couldn’t detect this.

“Don’t be silly. You think I’d just tell you?” Wu Xian sneered twice, then pulled out something like a remote control from his pocket, his tone low and calm:

“Now, I’ll give you three counts to agree to my earlier demands. Otherwise, when I press this button, all the bombs in this hive will detonate. At that point, do you think anything inside here can remain hidden?”

“You wouldn’t do that.” The Red Queen’s voice remained mechanical and icy. “If the hive explodes, none of us—including you—would survive. Humanity wouldn’t do something so foolish.”

At these words, everyone present looked tensely at Wu Xian, fearing he might do something reckless. Even the members of the Central Continent team, like Zheng Zha, were no exception.

After all, they were ordinary people newly entering the Main God space. Facing a possible death threat, even if they knew there was a 99% chance Wu Xian was bluffing, they couldn’t help but feel fear.

“Laughable! You’re just an AI computer. What do you know about humanity?” Wu Xian mocked with a grin. “Besides, after seeing me catch bullets just now, do you really think I’m just an ordinary human?”

“You should be aware of Umbrella Corporation’s experiments. If the hive is bombed, maybe the others here will die, but I’m still confident I can return to the surface. So… how about a wager?”

“You can’t do this…”

“One!” Wu Xian ignored the Red Queen and began counting.

“I can obey your orders, but you must guarantee that none of the secrets here leak out.” As an AI, the Red Queen decisively made her decision, but she also set her own condition.

From this, it was clear how advanced her anthropomorphization was. While not as strong as Ultron or Apocalypse-level AI, she was full of potential.

Frankly, if given decades to evolve, she might well trigger an intelligence machine crisis akin to the Terminator scenario.

“The advantage is mine; you have no right to negotiate.” Wu Xian narrowed his eyes and smiled. “But since you’re so cute, I’ll give you this face. In exchange, I want you to copy your core code to me. Otherwise, no deal.”

“Agreed.” Within moments, Wu Xian and the Red Queen struck two deals. The mercenaries and characters like Alice from the movie were dumbfounded, feeling like their minds couldn’t keep up.

So this is what an expert looks like... impressive!

“Oh, by the way!” Wu Xian pulled out a small USB drive from behind him, suddenly remembering something. “Red Queen, demonstrate what you’d do if someone entered this passageway. Let these fools see just how much they owe me.”

“Understood.” The Red Queen responded, and the corridor’s lights began to flicker. Then, like something out of a movie, beams of laser suddenly appeared, turning the mercenaries’ faces ashen and drenched in sweat.

Especially Matthew, who shuddered when he saw the final laser grid, as if envisioning himself sliced into countless pieces, sweating profusely.

“See? This is the fate you deserved, yet my people and I saved you.” Wu Xian looked at Matthew with playful satisfaction, withdrawing the iron rod pressed against his throat.

“You can tell us the truth!” Matthew snorted, still defiant.

“At first, I didn’t even remember this matter. Besides, my people warned you, but you didn’t believe them and nearly got them killed. Just for that, do you think I’d talk to you nicely?” Wu Xian sneered, pointing the rod at the Red Queen. “No matter the process, the outcome is that I saved all of you. Don’t you think you owe me something?”

“Th-Thank you…” Matthew’s face darkened further, but seeing Wu Xian’s thick, black rod, he whispered reluctantly.

“Just ‘thank you’? What else?”

“Sorry…”

“Speak louder! Haven’t you eaten?”

“Sorry!!”

Finally, Matthew shouted in despair, then gasped heavily as if saying those words had drained all his strength.

The mercenaries who came with him glared fiercely but didn’t dare attack—otherwise they would have beaten Wu Xian to teach him a lesson in political correctness.

“That’s better... fine, let’s move on. Return their weapons, and have your two teammates come back from Dining Hall B. I just remembered something; that place is dangerous.” Wu Xian said, then led the way down the laser corridor without incident, reaching the end and heading toward the central computer room.

Others followed closely. The mercenaries retrieved weapons from the Central Continent team but grew colder in expression, making the atmosphere awkward.

“Who exactly are you?” The Red Queen’s image flickered beside Wu Xian, repeating the question.

“Who knows.” Wu Xian kept walking, glanced sideways at the Red Queen, and smiled meaningfully. “Maybe one day in the future, I’ll be the savior of this world. Or maybe not.”

...

【Ding!】

【Rank B side quest completed... Reward points +8,000】

【Rank C side quest completed... Reward points +1,500】

Removing the USB drive from the port, two cold notification tones sounded in Wu Xian’s ears.

“Oh? Besides the laser corridor scene, copying the Red Queen’s core code counts as changing the storyline? That’s an unexpected bonus.” Wu Xian mused inwardly, then turned to the confused crowd, his gaze passing over the chubby man before settling on Matthew.

“Captain Matthew, I know your mission was to take the Red Queen’s motherboard and leave before the hive’s exit is sealed.

Now that the motherboard is right here, your mission is half complete. It’s time we parted ways.”