Chapter 20: Third Update, Seeking Support, "Alien: Covenant"
Between dream and waking, Ren Arakawa thought of many things.
Upgrading from a vocational degree to a bachelor's, looking for work.
Unemployed, taking out a small loan to learn programming.
Looking for a job, then unemployed again.
Back and forth for many years, approaching thirty, with nothing to show for it.
He still remembered the system pop-up he saw while writing a novel late at night to improve his life.
[Do you want to truly live? Do you want to understand the meaning of life?]
"Warning, warning!"
"Warning, warning!"
The piercing sound gave Ren Arakawa a splitting headache.
The moment he woke up, he brought his hands together, ready to deal with any sudden situation!
"All crew members, proceed immediately to the outer hold upon hearing the alarm. I repeat, all crew members, proceed immediately to the outer hold upon hearing the alarm!"
The anxious urging left Ren Arakawa a bit puzzled. He gently pushed open the pod door in front of him, tensed his body, and sat up.
After sitting up, Ren Arakawa looked around and found the interior of the cabin he was in was far more complex and chaotic than he had imagined.
The cabin was filled with people who had just woken from hibernation. Their expressions were bewildered, and their eyes revealed fear and unease about the unknown environment.
To Ren Arakawa, these people were mostly strangers. They wore uniform white outfits, clearly other crew members on the spaceship.
On the cabin walls, rows of transparent nutrient fluid pods were neatly arranged, with human figures soaking inside.
These figures had incomplete limbs, their ability to move clearly stripped from them by someone. Their presence made the atmosphere of the entire cabin even more grim and terrifying.
The figures in the nutrient fluid floated silently, as if they were forgotten test subjects. Their eyes were empty and lifeless, seemingly having lost all perception of the outside world.
Ren Arakawa felt a chill run down his spine. He realized these might be the "human swines" created by those three bastards from the Breeding Squad!
He never expected that in the story setting of "Alien: Covenant," these human swines would become beings like this.
Logical, yet tragic.
He stood up, cautiously avoiding the crew members who were waking up. Some of them had already begun to realize their situation, their faces showing shock and unease.
The sound of the emergency alarm echoed in the cabin. The red lights reflected an eerie glow off the nutrient pods, making the whole scene seem even more urgent.
"Not in the same cabin?" Ren Arakawa scanned his surroundings but didn't see the three bastards, and he couldn't help but sigh in relief.
Facing three veterans from the Breeding Squad who had already experienced at least four horror movies, his chances of winning were likely zero.
He had originally planned to use the Body Replacement Technique to escape right after waking up, but now he didn't need to run.
No matter how big the spaceship was, it only had the space of a few dozen small rooms.
Besides, he didn't have to worry about the three from the Breeding Squad attacking him.
Lifting his wrist, Ren Arakawa saw the information displayed on his Reincarnation Watch.
Time: 2104
Location: Covenant
[You are one of the 35 crew members of the Covenant. Your mission is to take 6,000 colonists to a habitable planet for colonization.]
[The life of each crew member is worth 100 reward points. The bonus reward for clearing the mission is based on the number of surviving crew members. The death of a crew member will result in a deduction from existing reward points. If you have insufficient points upon returning to the plaza, you will be obliterated.]
Must do:
[Enter the Engineer planet.]
[Witness the birth of the first Xenomorph.]
[Protect the female lead, Daniels.]
The original fifteen crew members from the movie had now become thirty-five.
This also meant that the difficulty of this horror movie had reached an astonishing twenty-person team mission!
And also with the identity of crew members, the three from the Breeding Squad were coldly watching the remaining newcomers wake up in another cabin.
Da Qiang spat. "Damn it! We have to clear a horror movie with this bunch of trash this time? Is there any way to kill them first?"
"Brother Qiang, calm down." Er Niu also gritted his teeth. "We're all crew members. We can't attack these newcomers in front of the female lead. The mission is so complicated, and thirty-five people means thirty-five hundred points! My Werewolf Bloodline can be used to exchange for another skill!"
"All you f*cking think about is money! Why don't you think about how high the difficulty of a twenty-person mission is? Goddammit!"
Da Qiang punched the seat. "How did repairing that bitch's curse cost me seven hundred points? A broken arm or leg only costs ten points!"
"Brother Qiang, it's thirty-five hundred points! Plus those three missions, maybe we can even kill two Xenomorphs. We're definitely going to make a huge profit when we get back from this horror movie!"
Er Niu licked his lips. "If each of these twenty meat shields can bring back three thousand reward points, then how much will each of us get? Hahahaha!"
The cold and venomous scorpion, Meng Rui, who hadn't spoken for a long time, finally made a move.
Her stinger scratched a deep white mark on the glass of the transparent protective pod, and she cursed impatiently, "Pig brain!"
"What? Cursing at me again?" Er Niu looked a bit unconvinced, but didn't dare say much.
"A twenty-person team mission, how high do you think the difficulty is?" Meng Rui scraped at the glass as if venting, the piercing sound making one extremely uncomfortable.
She looked up, her gaze sweeping over a sturdy, tattooed man who had just woken up beside her. A murderous glint flashed in her eyes. "We have to find a way to leave these people on the Engineer planet, otherwise they'll definitely become vessels for the Main God to incubate Xenomorphs!"
"Not bad!" Da Qiang praised. "As expected of our team's strategist. You think fast!"
His gaze swept over Meng Rui's black stockings with an extremely lecherous look before he quickly looked away. "Then on the Engineer planet, we'll take care of these newcomers!"
Er Niu was a bit puzzled. "Why do we have to take care of them? This is all 'money'!"
Meng Rui was furious. "I said you have a pig's brain, and you really have one!" She twirled a blade between her fingertips. "High returns come with high risks. Do you think letting so many people survive to the end is an easy thing? We were almost wiped out in 'The Grudge' last time! Only four 'human swines' were left! There are too many team members! We can't farm them anymore!"
Er Niu continued to ask, "Then what reason should we use?"
"Damn it! Who cares about a reason!" Da Qiang stood up angrily. "I'll aim my Desert Eagle at them and see who dares to get on the ship!"
The voice was so loud it woke up the other newcomers who hadn't yet come to.
The two rooms for the reincarnators were next to each other. After a short while, the newcomers had gathered together.
"One, two, three..."
The tedious task of counting people was given to Er Niu.
Because of the mission's rules, Er Niu couldn't just attack the newcomers directly, so he could only suppress his temper and maintain order.
"Ten, eleven..."
When Er Niu counted the last person, he looked at the man smiling at him and was stunned for a moment.
But he didn't react much and turned back after finishing the count.
"Thirteen people." Er Niu finished the headcount and reported to Meng Rui.
Meng Rui was busy talking with the female lead, Daniels, and hadn't paid any attention to the team's situation at all. She waved her hand dismissively, indicating she understood.
Today is my birthday, o(≧▽≦)o. A third update seeking support. It's the end of the month, so if you have any spare monthly tickets, please give this little cutie one.
(end of chapter)