Chapter 14-1
Zheng, team Pacific and the group led by HongLu were advancing with a destination in mind. On the other hand, Heng, Imhotep and XueLin were running around like a headless chicken. Not that they couldn’t think of a goal but the number of spider machines were too many to count, which left them with no time to think. The biggest goal that occupied their minds was to escape and everything else could be pushed to the side.
“Damn it! Why are there so many spider machines? Are we the only ones targeted by the aliens?”
Heng had goosebumps on his head as he stared at the swarm of spiders below. This group no longer had the luxury to fly inside a whirlwind. They tried to get as much rest as possible. Only when they were surrounded by machines did Imhotep transformed into wind and carried the other two away. With Imhotep’s help, the group managed to stay alive and the evasion allowed him to recover his strength.
Less and less spider machines appeared on their ways as they ran. They thought it was chance to stop for a break, but suddenly, they ran into an area where a swarm of machines were assembled. More and more continued to come out from a certain room. The sight piqued the group’s interest, thinking this area was the aliens’ arsenal.
Imhotep had recovered to full energy at this point and he wasn’t one to lack bravery. He swept into the room like the wind and witnessed a scene painted in red. Red plants covered the floor. Inside the plants were countless human bodies. It felt as though he walked into hell.
“Did the aliens bring their plants over because they can’t breathe the air on the Earth?”
Heng was confused and his face was pale. The sight under his feet was terrifying. He never imagined the aliens were conducting human experiments. Imhotep planned to bring the other two people away. However, more terrifying events had only started to unfold. The machines all halted. A door opened on top of the machines and the aliens walked out. They walked into the red plants in rows. The still plants suddenly enclosed the dozens of aliens inside. A moment later, the plants quickly withered into ashes, revealing the aliens that were consumed.
Those who watched Independence Day should know the actual aliens were small in size and normally stayed inside bio-suits for their activities. The bio-suits melted and began to wriggle as though they were granted life. They began to take on another form. The three people watching the scene were shocked. When the bio-suits stabilized into form, Heng couldn’t help but cried. “The heck? Teknoman?”
Imhotep and XueLin both asked. “Teknoman? What’s that?”
“An ancient anime I used to watch.” Heng muttered as he stared at the aliens below. “The anime also tells the war between aliens and humans. The aliens in it does not have the technological advantage as the aliens in Independence Day. However, they can transform into plants, which allows them to consume humans. After a period of time, the consumed human will turn into a humanoid weapon that no longer possess consciousness and controlled by the alien inside. The anime seems similar to the aliens here. They both form their organic suit with plants and human genes. I wonder if the aliens here are more powerful.”
The organic suits had taken form by this time. Their appearance deviated from the looks of aliens and moved toward humanoid form with human features on the heads. Though the outer layer was still hard and further darkened. They seemed like robots.
“They really take the form of Teknoman. Wonder how is their strength.” Heng muttered.
While Heng spoke, a crimson flame rose from the aliens. They did not express any pain from the flame. It seemed awfully similar to the way when Zheng used his Vampire ability. A dozen or so aliens leaped at the sand floating in the air, the highest one reached ten meters.
Imhotep did not fear the incoming attacks while he was in his sand form. He let the aliens close in on him but he groaned. “Hm? What is this?”
The sandstorm swept toward the exit and the aliens followed closely behind. Several of the aliens’ hands radiated with a silver light. They stretched the light into arrows and fired them at the sand. The arrows had terrible accuracy but one of them hit. Imhotep groaned again before he finally made it out of the room.
Even the slowest person would recognize Imhotep was injured by the attacks. It was surprising as energy attacks by themselves were supposedly ineffective against Imhotep who had a different life form, not even nuclear bombs would be able to kill him. Magical attacks were the only ones able to damage him.
Heng thought more than this. The attacks from the aliens seemed familiar to him. The flame didn’t have to be mentioned. The arrows seemed like a copy of when he used the silver bow. Were the aliens simulating the attacks of the players?
The sandstorm sped up after it left the room and flew over a thousand meters away in an instant. It dropped to the floor then Imhotep turned back to human form. He was kneeling on the ground, breathing heavily. There was a hole on his back that nearly pierced his body and it was smoking. On his shoulder was a patch of burned skin.
A few seconds later, his wounds began to recover. A dozen aliens rushed also rushed out from the room. The swarm of spider machines that were stopped outside the room also rushed toward the group. The Teknoman transformed aliens were extremely fast and could leap over ten meters with a step. It seemed like they were using the movement technique.
Heng looked at Imhotep then at the incoming aliens. His mind was calm. He readied his bow into position. His other hand held an energy stone then touched the string. At the next second, a volley of energy arrows fired.
(The energy arrows are too weak to penetrate the aliens’ barriers. I can only delay them as much as possible. It’s unbelievable that the aliens can transform into Teknoman. I saw a lot of those plants on the Earth. Are humans going to be exterminated?)
Heng placed no expectation on the energy arrows. To his surprise, the aliens leading the swarm were shredded into pieces like paper despite their speed. Heng was shocked and so were the aliens that just came out from the room. The aliens and machines stopped in place.
(They suddenly obtained the abilities and enhancements from the players but they either don’t have the power to support them, don’t know how to utilize them, or overestimated themselves. So, they took the energy arrows with their bodies… Now, what should I do next? Once they fully grasped their powers, and become able to damage Imhotep, we would be done.)
Yet, no matter how much Heng contemplated, the future did not look bright to him from just running around without a clear destination, which made him worried. With Imhotep injured, their chance of surviving dropped by a great margin. Suddenly, an image appeared in his mind. It showed the location of Zheng and the directions that would lead them to Zheng. In the images, Zheng was fighting with a crimson figure.