After Lu Luo returned from the alien corpse, Gu Fangyi's small team had some disagreements on how to deal with Lu Luo next.
"He's coming. What should we do? Should we greet him now?" Wang Zheng asked.
"We're all classmates, and there was nothing unreasonable just now. Why bother greeting him now and make ourselves look weak?"
Liu Ting disagreed. If Lu Luo wasn't an ordinary person either, then she would be the only ordinary person left in the team.
Zhou Kai, in any case, didn't want to have any interaction with Lu Luo. It would be best if he didn't have to deal with him.
Gu Fangyi and Chu Qi both remained silent. Gu Fangyi was responsible for vigilance, while Chu Qi was using a railing to sharpen a javelin. She was doing it by hand, rubbing it up and down to make the railing pointed.
Lu Luo also witnessed her making the weapon, but he wasn't entirely clear on the specific principle. Perhaps it was some kind of innate ability.
He watched Chu Qi's movements, her fingers moving up and down, capable of sharpening an iron rod into a needle. This ability always sent a chill down one's spine.
"Here, this is for you." Chu Qi tossed a finished javelin to Lu Luo.
"Thanks. How was your discussion? Should we continue waiting here?"
Lu Luo didn't have any good ideas at the moment, and Chu Qi's identity was currently very suspicious. Asking her might yield some useful information.
"Let's hold this position first. The Wasteland Security Bureau's support should arrive soon. We must trust the Alliance."
[A confident tone. Unless she knew something, few people would speak with such certainty in this situation.]
Lu Luo nodded. He still knew the core values of Wastelandism. He said with a devout expression:
"Yes, I believe in the Alliance."
"Stop chatting. Get ready. Something's coming."
Gu Fangyi's sudden remark made the others tense up. After killing the four alien creatures on this floor, they hadn't been attacked again, and this floor had been safe all along.
But now there was a sudden outsider. Could it be an alien creature?
Everyone had already gripped the weapons Chu Qi had given them earlier, Lu Luo included.
Precisely because he had encountered alien creatures, he was well aware of their power and danger.
Although his current strength had improved significantly, it was still best to be cautious when facing alien creatures.
"Is anyone here? We are Wasteland Hunter Team 33. If there are any survivors, please respond."
The voice appeared behind the flowing gray curtain at the stairwell. A dark shadow flashed past. Because of the obstruction of the gray curtain, Lu Luo and the others didn't see it clearly.
[Be careful. According to the Observer's accurate judgment, the other party should not be human.]
Lu Luo frowned slightly. Not human? An alien creature that could speak human language?
...Not everyone was as calm as Lu Luo. Upon hearing the voice, Liu Ting, the only ordinary person, immediately stood up in surprise.
Seeing her reaction, Chu Qi and Gu Fangyi quickly spoke to stop her, and Lu Luo also frowned.
"Wait!"
But their attempts to stop her were too late, and Liu Ting didn't want to stay there any longer. The hunters' voices were like a lifeline, and she was eager to grasp it.
"Here, there are people here, we're still alive!"
"Slap!" Gu Fangyi, who was at the forefront, directly pulled Liu Ting back and then slapped her. He lowered his voice and said coldly:
"It's okay to be weak. Even in this terrible situation, I will do my best to get you out. But people who are weak and stupid can't survive."
[The young man is right. Don't be afraid of god-like opponents, only pig-like teammates. If there's more than one pig-like teammate, it's even more terrifying.]
Lu Luo didn't keep his gaze on Liu Ting and Gu Fangyi, but rather subtly watched Chu Qi.
All three of them—he, Chu Qi, and Gu Fangyi—had sensed something was off about the previous voice.
And Chu Qi had just stopped Liu Ting along with Gu Fangyi. Gu Fangyi had an eagle eye and was very strong, so it was normal for him to notice something amiss.
But how did Chu Qi know? Her awakened sequence should be some kind of hand ability. Did she have a second sequence?
Or rather, was her strength not inferior to Gu Fangyi's at all, perhaps even stronger than Gu Fangyi's?
"Did this Chu Qi stop Liu Ting because Liu Ting disrupted her plan? They're all young people around 20, why are so many of them hiding so much?"
[It doesn't matter. Under the powerful S-rank Observer's eyes, all hidden schemers have nowhere to hide.]
...Liu Ting didn't quite understand why Gu Fangyi would treat her like that. Shouldn't they respond to the hunters' call? Should they continue to wait here? She felt that staying here was just waiting to die.
Thinking of this, Liu Ting, whose mood had been tense and whose emotions were even more unstable than Zhou Kai's, erupted.
"Gu Fangyi, why did you hit me? Who do you think you are? Just because you killed a few alien creatures, you think you're something?
I'm leaving now, don't stop me. You guys can keep guarding this place, a bunch of idiots."
Liu Ting finished speaking and ran towards the stairwell, shouting as she ran.
"Wait, I'm here!"
But what appeared next from the gray curtain at the stairwell was not some wasteland hunter, but a giant, thick black arm.
A half-eaten alien corpse was hanging from this arm. It looked like some kind of mutated bird, but its body had been completely torn apart, which was very unsettling.
The figure of the black arm's owner gradually passed through the gray curtain and appeared before Liu Ting.
Everyone looked at this figure. It was a monster that was hard to describe, chewing on the remaining corpse of a bird-like alien creature.
This monster had half a human face and a crocodile-like head, one leopard leg, one deer leg, and a thick tail. It was completely a patchwork monster, and the half-human face was what spoke.
Its upper body muscles were very strong, but each muscle had obvious seams, as if the chunks of flesh were forcibly glued together. Black, ink-like viscous fluid flowed over its body, looking very disgusting.
Liu Ting was already terrified. She wanted to run, but fear had stiffened her legs, making her unable to move.
The monster looked at Liu Ting in front of it, swallowed the alien corpse in one gulp, and still not satisfied, opened its huge mouth, and with a "crunch," instantly bit Liu Ting in half.
At that distance, no one had time to save her. Liu Ting, by acting so recklessly, had brought about her own demise.
[A Tier 2 alien, and a very powerful deformed variant. Observe your teammates' performance. If they are all weaklings, I suggest escaping, because this deformed variant's defense is too strong, and your damage seems insufficient.
But if your teammates have a certain level of combat power, you could try it. After all, a Tier 2 deformed variant is quite appealing.]