Chapter 108: No Match

“Boom—”

A deafening explosion shattered the silence as the Trial Pyramid beneath the Antarctic ice collapsed into ruins. The thick ice above it gave way rapidly, swallowing most of the abandoned whaling station and leaving behind a massive crater.

In those final moments, Zhou Shu and the others clung to the “sliding carriage” and surged upward. They pushed it to maximum power, dragging all four of them swiftly upward; the engine started smoking almost immediately after ascent. With a thunderous blast behind them, they dashed outward, eventually reaching the outer edge of the pit, narrowly avoiding being crushed inside.

The old man certainly couldn’t have escaped that fast, so Zhou Shu carried him on his shoulders the entire way.

Thus, Zhou Shu led the retreat.

As for the Predator—where was it?

Naturally, Zhou Shu had impaled it with a spear.

Zhou Shu realized that in close combat, ordinary Predators and Xenomorphs were no match for him. Just like the theme of this virtual battlefield, their greatest asset was their “invisibility” ability.

True, their strength and speed far exceeded that of an average human, but Zhou Shu was currently in a state even stronger than them, perhaps stronger than any human.

Their proud stealth, ambush, and invisibility skills were utterly useless against Zhou Shu; to him, they were glaring, obvious targets. That was why he could kill a Xenomorph hiding in the shadows with a single spear, and why he could rush up to an invisible Predator and kill it with a spear thrust.

Zhou Shu estimated the typical Xenomorph’s stealth sensitivity to be around 1.8, with strength and endurance near 1.5. Its constitution was harder to gauge but likely absurdly high; otherwise, it wouldn’t be able to withstand ordinary ammunition or produce acidic blood.

The Predators, at least the rookie ones coming for the trial, had attributes exceeding those of average humans but certainly lower than the Xenomorphs. They relied entirely on their advanced equipment to fight the Xenomorphs—and even then, they could be killed.

He guessed rookie Predators likely had average attributes just over 1.0.

Having watched the Predator films, Zhou Shu knew that, according to the lore, these creatures had been killed by humans on multiple occasions. Although those humans were exceptional warriors, it still meant that rookie Predators, while strong, had limits compared to humans.

These two species were simply no match for Zhou Shu in his current state. Even his lowest endurance attribute rivaled the Xenomorph’s strongest traits, while his other stats soared to 2.0—far surpassing both.

When the dust settled, Alisa and Sebastian, gasping for breath, turned to survey the scene. Zhou Shu calmly set the old man down from his shoulders and frowned as he looked at the pit.

The shattered, collapsed ice concealed everything—including all traces of pheromones.

The Predator had detected the Predator pheromones left behind by the three rookie Predators when they entered the pyramid. There were also faint traces of Xenomorph pheromones, also from entry time.

Human pheromones were present too, but no sign of Xenomorph pheromones—much less the strange pheromones of a hybrid super Xenomorph.

This indicated the strange Queen hadn’t emerged; she was probably trapped beneath the pit. Yet Zhou Shu felt that creature was not dead.

After all, in the movies, under similar circumstances, such a creature wouldn’t be dead. Now fused with the Xenomorph, it surely wouldn’t die from collapsing or slashing blows. It should be even stronger.

“Crack!”

Suddenly, the ice surface trembled, and the fragmented ice at the pit’s edge was pushed upward by something.

A fissure opened, and the system immediately detected a strong, bizarre pheromone.

The Strange Queen!

At that moment, Kate came running over, shouting as she ran, “What’s going on? You guys—”

Before she reached them, Zhou Shu called to his three companions, “Fall back! Fall back! Take Mr. Wieland away from here!”

Then, he shouted to Kate, “Don’t come here. Lead them back!”

“Crack!”

“Crack!”

“Crash—boom!”

As they spoke, the chunks of ice in front of them were suddenly pushed aside. The Strange Queen, stained with a great deal of blood, burst out amid countless shards of ice.

Its corrosive blood hissed on the ice, steam rising in thick clouds that enveloped it, making it look like a demon crawling out of hell.

“Roar—”

Among the four on-site, it locked eyes directly on Zhou Shu.

Sure enough, this creature had fused with the Xenomorphs that had come before—it made no sense for it to target anyone else.

“Biu~”

Without hesitation, Zhou Shu fired a plasma orb. The distance was far closer than when they were beneath the ice, yet the Queen dodged skillfully. The plasma only grazed the edge of its “crown.”

Good grief—such size with that level of agility!

Its sensitivity attribute must be at least 3… no, at least 4!

“Roar—”

“Thud thud thud…”

The Strange Queen charged straight at Zhou Shu.

There was no time to think. Knowing it had come for him, Zhou Shu left the group and ran to the side.

The Predator had already informed him that this was not the final act. After defeating this Strange Queen, there would be a “natural” follow-up plot that would thrust him into society, among crowds.

If that was true, he had to think carefully—such as preserving these people’s lives so that once immersed in the human world, he could leverage their power.

Especially old man Wieland—as the billionaire owner of Wieland Corporation, his influence in society was immense.

So for their sake, Zhou Shu had to keep them alive.

Zhou Shu sprinted to the side; Wieland and the others naturally followed.

“This isn’t good, Mr. Zhou…” Sebastian exclaimed, “Mr. Zhou is drawing the monster away for us!”

“We have ion cannons too. Should we support him?” Alisa looked back, concerned.

Wieland, gasping for breath as they helped him forward, said, “We’d better not interfere. You all know Mr. Zhou’s abilities… that kind of battle isn’t something we can meddle in.”

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