This time, Mu Xing was even more careful.
Although he didn't know what had attacked him before, from the lethality, the opponent had the ability to kill with one blow.
He carefully passed through the passage, then crouched in front of the door to observe outside.
Previously, his vision had been completely drawn to the magnificent and shocking cosmic scene outside the corridor's floor-to-ceiling porthole, and he hadn't noticed his surroundings at all.
Coming back to his senses, he noticed that outside the door was an empty room about thirty meters long and twenty meters wide.
It looked like it should be a changing room for new members entering the ship.
All the lights in the changing room were off, with only the exit's crimson safety light rotating and flashing.
He could vaguely make out metal lockers and resting benches, about a person's height.
Besides the door at his feet, there was only one other passage: an alloy door thirty meters away.
The whooshing sound of the exhaust fan in the passage behind him affected his perception and judgment.
The changing room was extremely dim, with very low visibility, especially in the nooks and crannies where things might be hidden; he couldn't see anything at all.
Gurgle...
Just then,
he heard a strange sound.
The sound came from a corner of the changing room.
His gaze immediately shifted, and he saw something moving in the dim corner.
The thing was not humanoid, twisting and writhing in a strange posture as it stood up.
Mu Xing saw two antenna-like things rising from that dark shadow.
Thump, thump, thump...
Irregular, stumbling footsteps sounded.
Mu Xing realized the danger and dared not stay, so he started running towards the end of the changing room corridor.
He didn't know if the footsteps stimulated the thing in the darkness.
The thing rapidly accelerated, pouncing towards him.
When Mu Xing was three meters close to the door, the red light turned green.
But the light was on, yet the door didn't open.
Mu Xing turned his head sharply and saw a terrifying face with half of it missing.
Pfft...
He only felt a pain in his chest, and finally saw clearly what those "antennas" were.
Two strangely bony arms had Alienated, standing high, with terrifying bone spikes, a meter long and like blades, growing from their palms.
And on the monster's torn belly, crimson intestines had Alienated into palm-like tentacles.
The bone spikes of the Alienated arm pierced his chest.
Immediately after, the monster roared, its arms furiously alternating left and right, continuously piercing his chest.
This thing possessed immense strength, far beyond what an ordinary person could contend with.
Pfft...
A sharp bone spike pierced Mu Xing's eye socket and exited from the back of his head.
In Mu Xing's final consciousness, the heavy alloy door behind him finally opened with a hiss.
...
"Hoo..."
In the darkness,
his trembling body suddenly sat up, hands clutching his chest, breathing heavily.
One hand pressed against his left eye, as if the persistent throbbing pain was still stimulating his brain and nerves.
The whooshing sound of the fan continued.
The crimson light kept rotating.
He was back again, no, he should say he died again.
Two consecutive deaths, and it wasn't a dream; the pain brought by death severely impacted Mu Xing's Spirit and body.
At this moment, he was curled up in the passage, trembling with fear.
No, I can't leave here; going out means death.
He finally realized that he was just an ordinary person, facing death again and again, and the bone-deep fear and pain made him not want to experience it a third time.
"Welcome, CEC Equipment Maintenance Engineer Mu Xing, ID 4425, to the Ishimura Planet Cracker..."
The illusory virtual projection reappeared.
The moment the projection disappeared, the green light on the door at the end of the corridor lit up.
"No, it can't open."
Mu Xing lunged forward, trying to stop the door from closing.
But this door had no handle and no Control interface; it was completely operated by the system automatically.
It opened automatically when his identity was confirmed, completely independent of Mu Xing's will.
Hiss...
The door opened again.
Mu Xing didn't rush out again, but instead retreated step by step.
He no longer found the magnificent scenery outside the corridor porthole charming.
The monster in the changing room outside the door could pounce on him at any moment.
The end of the passage behind him was the ship's hatch, but at this moment, it seemed welded shut, unmovable.
He tried to find a way to open the hatch behind him.
Thump, thump, thump...
Heavy footsteps sounded.
The sound first traveled through the changing room outside the door, and soon, the dark shadow noticed Mu Xing in front of the passage hatch.
The thing was like a hyena that smelled blood, accelerating rapidly.
Its speed was so fast that Mu Xing crossed nearly twenty meters of the passage in just a blink of an eye.
Sharp bone spikes swiftly lunged towards him.
This time, Mu Xing was prepared, quickly bending down to dodge the attack.
However, before he could be happy, he felt a sharp pain in his arm.
Amidst splashing blood, his right arm was directly severed by the sharp bone spike.
Immediately after,
the monster twisted in a completely illogical manner, from bottom to top, piercing Mu Xing's throat, the bone spike entering through the throat and penetrating through the top of his skull.
Killed in one blow.
...
Waking up for the fourth time,
Mu Xing sat in the passage, somewhat dejected.
He seemed to realize that even staying in the passage, he would be discovered by that monster.
That monster's strength, speed, and reaction time far surpassed those of ordinary humans.
Want to escape? Simply impossible.
Fight back? He was empty-handed, how could he fight back?
"Welcome, CEC Equipment Maintenance Engineer Mu Xing, ID 4425, to the Ishimura Planet Cracker..."
The annoying virtual projection reappeared.
Mu Xing was enraged and lunged forward, attempting to extinguish the projection.
However, a projection was just a projection; he lunged at nothing and fell heavily onto the alloy floor.
The moment the projection disappeared, the green light on the door lit up.
"Damn it, don't open!"
He roared at the door, finally breaking down emotionally.
He wasn't some superman, nor did he possess the calm rationality of a movie protagonist who could maintain his composure after experiencing death again and again.
He was just an ordinary person, a corporate drone.
Working nine to five every day, he would slack off, gossip, and his happiest moments were after work, finding his small, snail-like dwelling in a corner of that steel jungle.
Turning on his computer, drinking a cold happy drink, and playing his favorite game for two hours.
That was all, that was all he wanted.
But now he had to face unknown dangers and experience death again and again.
Why was all this happening? Who could tell him?
"Don't open the door!"
He roared.
However, the door still opened mercilessly, showing him no pity.
"Come on, monster, if you dare, come and kill me!"
The dark shadow darted into the passage.
Pfft...
Bone pierced flesh, perforating his abdomen.
The traumatic pain from the last death hadn't completely dissipated, and new pain had already arrived.
However, at this point, he was somewhat numb.
He was angry, he was consumed by rage.
Extreme fear transformed into extreme fury.
He hugged the monster's neck and bit down hard, tearing off a chunk.
Blood simultaneously gushed from his abdominal cavity and the monster's neck.
When he tried to bite a second time, the monster's two bone spikes simultaneously pierced his shoulder blades.
Poof...
The immense force directly tore him in half.
In Mu Xing's final, frenzied gaze,
he saw the wound on the monster's neck, where he had bitten it, writhing and rapidly healing.
