Chapter 53: A Young Man’s First Boss Battle

The sound of gunfire rattled through the air—rat-tat-tat!—followed by thunderous explosions and heavy thuds. Beneath the glass pyramid, chaos reigned as detonations echoed endlessly. Zhou Shu and Carter fought tirelessly against the relentless wave of alien grunts pouring in from outside.

The Alpha, nearly obliterated earlier by several of Zhou Shu’s mini-missiles, had since recovered and now hid behind slabs of cement, calling for reinforcements. Zhou Shu could only catch glimpses of its shadow within the cracks. Not only could he see it, but he also spotted the great fissure behind it, glowing with a vivid blue light—the unmistakable location of Omega’s “brain.”

If only he could break through…

“Zhou, left!” Carter’s shout snapped his attention to a group of grunts approaching from the left; Zhou immediately raised his rifle and dispatched them with quick bursts from his left arm.

“Carter, this can’t go on. We have to push forward—the brain is right ahead, in that crack in the ground!” Though the two were nearly shoulder to shoulder, Zhou had to yell. His helmet, shattered by a previous impact, had become a hazard, its broken display obscuring his vision, so he’d tossed it aside.

True heroes fight bareheaded!

Even though this was a straightforward rookie mission and he was still in basic training, the number of alien grunts he’d taken down today made the title of “big shot” entirely deserved.

Yet, compared to his own performance, Carter’s was truly surprising. Zhou had initially thought Carter needed his protection, but Carter proved far more adept at piloting the powered exoskeleton. Of course, it made sense—Carter wasn’t just a user; he could repair, build, and had studied the armor in depth. If the battlefield demanded Valkyrie-like maneuvers, slicing monsters with helicopter blades, Carter would be outmatched. But as a stationary firepower platform, this scientist was in his element.

Perfect: Zhou could act as the firefighter, clearing stragglers around Carter.

Yet simply holding position, even while mowing down countless grunts, did nothing to advance their mission. Worse, the enemy numbers would swell, their ammo would dwindle, and danger would escalate until they were finally overwhelmed.

So when Carter heard Zhou’s proposal, he agreed at once: “Alright, Zhou, cover my sides. I’ll try to move faster.”

“No problem—go!” At Zhou’s command, Carter began advancing steadily while firing, though constant enemy pressure forced him to progress slowly for the sake of accuracy.

But progress mattered; at last, they were pushing forward.

Seeing this, the Alpha became frantic. It howled incessantly, summoning more grunts, but their main forces were busy laying traps at the German dam, aiming to neutralize another “leech” using the same method. Most troops had been diverted there.

To avoid drawing human attention, they kept only a handful of grunts nearby, with the bulk stationed on the perimeter—reinforcements would take time to arrive.

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With no other option, the Alpha had to face them itself. This time, it would be careful—so long as it avoided the humans’ powerful heat weapons, it could survive.

It had learned bombardment tactics from humans and understood well the lethality of their arms.

The moment it charged out, the young human’s face twisted into a strange smile.

“Slow-motion field, activate!”

Thump—

Zhou felt as though the world had been struck. A ripple, subtly distorting space, spread from his body, slowing everything it touched.

He wasted no time; his body, with all attributes above one, powered the exoskeleton through impossible maneuvers. Both arms extended, rifles switched to burst mode—a single shot for each grunt’s core.

He charged toward the Alpha in great strides, calling for backup platforms and opening fire.

In mere seconds, the area was cleared; several 20mm sniper rounds smashed into the Alpha, cracking open its chest and exposing the blue core within.

Zhou grinned and fired another sniper round. The Alpha exploded instantly, black-blue blood spraying everywhere.

“Zhou, blow up the brain!” Carter shouted, abandoning all pretense. He wanted nothing more than to end this, to save humanity.

“On it!” Zhou replied, sprinting to the fissure. Blue light poured from within, but the cement fragments were interlocked, preventing any bomb from reaching the “brain.”

He’d have to go down himself—he even had to shed the armor to jump in.

Glancing at Carter, who was now under less pressure thanks to his massacre, Zhou made the decision.

“Carter, hang in there!”

“Don’t worry!” Carter bellowed back.

Zhou nodded, opened his armor, grabbed a bomb, took a deep breath, and leaped into the water.

Splash—

Truth be told, Zhou couldn’t swim, but the cement blocks underwater were so jumbled that swimming was impossible anyway. He only needed to keep propelling himself forward by pushing off the blocks.

He’d barely squeezed past two slabs when the blue glow ahead intensified and a shadow suddenly lunged at him!

“Damn these sneaky bastards!”

Thud—

Bubbles burst from Zhou’s mouth as he was slammed against a cement slab, the air forced from his lungs.

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“Shit!”

The shadow charged again—it was another Alpha, blades fully extended.

Zhou’s scalp prickled; a hit like that would mean instant death.

At that moment, his right side tingled—the “alert”!

His mind raced; he quickly scanned his surroundings, then kicked off from the cement with his right leg, shifting left.

Thud—

The blade-covered Alpha grazed past him, smashing into the slab.

“Hah!”

As the monster crashed, Zhou swiftly rolled over another slab and dove deeper.

The Alpha’s massive size meant it could only pursue by breaking the cement apart. Using the slabs as barriers, Zhou pushed downward quickly.

He had to hurry; his breath was nearly gone, most of his air expelled in the earlier collision.

Another alert triggered; he tilted left just in time as a chunk of cement, trailing bubbles, shot past his head.

The alert ability was a lifesaver.

Soon, he reached the end of the cement slabs, entering a vast underwater space. At last, he saw the “brain.”

It was just as he’d seen in films—a glowing sphere spinning ceaselessly. Without hesitation, he pulled the pin and tossed the bomb down.

His lungs were at their limit. He turned to swim back, but the Alpha barreled toward him, slamming him downward.

“Fuck!!”

Boom—

Omega’s black blood enveloped him; his vision faded to black.

Then came the Hunter’s message.

[You’ve won!]
[Novice mission cleared!]
[Calculating completion rewards…]