The Lieutenant was a bit awkward, but thankfully, everyone was too busy to mind him.
Perhaps because Yu Lian's steady, almost habitual actions earlier had reassured everyone, the soldiers remained relatively calm.
Many had already begun checking their weapons.
Ina had long since chambered a round and raised her rifle, looking at Yu Lian, awaiting his command.
"No prolonged fighting," Yu Lian said.
"Help me up, we're retreating into the cave! Sergeant Youyou, you lead the way."
The big black man, who had just put on his power armor, held his gun with an air of 'I'll go through hell and high water if I have to' and went forward.
"I'll cover the rear," Ina said, adjusting her gun, her face serious.
"No need."
"Then I'll..." Sergeant Baka, the Bearman, began, his voice heavy.
"I said no need, why are you all so tragic! Did I say anyone had to sacrifice themselves?" Yu Lian exploded in anger.
Everyone fell silent and hurried on their way.
The Lieutenant, who had been quite the swordsman an hour ago, shook his head and carefully followed the crowd.
This cave was indeed quite deep; the further in they went, the harder and more winding the path became, but it was still passable.
Just as they finally saw light, the Xenomorphs' hisses echoed from behind them.
To be honest, the Bug Swarm's biological structure is indeed closer to insects, and such creatures do not make sounds when hunting.
However, perhaps it was the malicious whim of the Queen, whom Yu Lian had beaten many times in his previous life, who thought that so many swarming Xenomorphs roaring a few times would be very intimidating, so she forcibly endowed her Xenomorphs and their offspring with this attribute—which is understandable.
You see, when zombies besiege a city, don't they also constantly howl "awoo-awoo"? Even though their vocal cords are clearly rotten.
Ina and Sergeant Baka, who were at the end of the line, one holding a gun and the other an axe, looked back at the carried Yu Lian.
"Hurry up! I'm telling you, if you dare to act like a hero, I'll dismantle this thing!" Yu Lian brandished the "cluster" concussion bomb in his hand.
The two reluctantly followed.
Although they felt that Warrant Officer, this student, was a bit impulsive, they were actually a little moved in their hearts.
Everyone Present should have felt the same way; didn't the plain-looking, plain-figured, and plain-tempered nurse even pull out a tissue to wipe Yu Lian's sweat?
He was truly starting to hurt again now.
Before, he felt like his lower body was numb and every bone in his body ached, but now he felt like a steel bar had been inserted into his waist, and it was one that had just been pulled from a furnace.
Dragging him, who was already a cripple, they finally saw the cave entrance.
At this moment, the roar of the Clawed Xenomorphs sounded as if it was right next to their ears, making everyone's legs feel a bit weak.
Hmm, roaring is still useful, even in the space age.
The more classic something is, the less it goes out of style.
Ina had already started shooting.
However, she hadn't lost her mind, nor had she stopped to cover the rear; instead, she shot as she moved.
"Shoot between their mandibles! That's their head's central nervous system!" Yu Lian reminded loudly.
Ina didn't doubt him and fired two more three-shot bursts, then indeed watched with satisfaction as two giant Xenomorphs, squeezed at the very front, fell, blocking everyone's path.
Then, Sergeant Baka pulled her and quickened his pace.
They finally saw the exit, or rather, it was simply an opening slanted into the rock face.
"This is the exit you mentioned?" The Sergeant wanted to curse.
It wasn't because they couldn't climb, but because the unlucky fellow with a broken spine, being dragged out at an angle like that, would probably have his life tormented out of him.
Yu Lian truly felt like he was about to die; if earlier it was just a "feeling" that all his bones were broken, now they probably truly were, and none of his internal organs weren't churning, yet he only felt black, yellow, red, purple, and green all rushing into his nasal cavity, almost making him vomit everything out in one go.
Miss Belinda frantically wiped her tears, and although this was a natural physiological reaction, Yu Lian still felt utterly humiliated.
Fortunately, everyone had climbed out of the cave.
Ina behind them had also emerged halfway, and Sergeant Baka, the Bearman at the end of the line, was pushing him out.
He was the only one in the squad who could push a person wearing over a hundred pounds of power armor out.
Ina swiftly stepped out of the cave and reached out to grasp the Bearman's hand.
Yu Lian, meanwhile, held up his "cluster" bomb, intently watching the actions of the two at the cave entrance.
Clawed Xenomorphs are proper assault units; while they appear large and difficult to pass through narrow caves, they have unlocked the digging skill and can tunnel through the ground much faster than groundhogs.
Yu Lian knew clearly that the rock cave wouldn't hold them back for long; once they were out of the cave and in the open, his group of crippled soldiers wouldn't last one or two rounds.
They had to be sent off in one wave while they were crowded here!
Fortunately, as they were biological weapons, and the leader was a low-intelligence, single-minded entity, it was difficult for them to grasp the concept of traps.
In a few more years, these guys wouldn't be so easy to trick.
At least in my era, they were never easy to trick.
Yu Lian saw Ina directly pull the two-meter-tall Bearman giant out of the rock cave.
He had also climbed to the cave entrance by then, holding a pistol in one hand and the bomb in the other.
Inside the rock cave entrance, several Clawed Xenomorphs, with bared fangs and claws, stretched out their two giant pincers and eight sharp claws, squeezing their way through.
Behind them, more Xenomorphs were roaring wildly, and a serpentine figure could vaguely be seen moving swiftly through the gaps between the Xenomorphs, like a shuttle.
Yu Lian no longer hesitated, activated the bomb, and threw it into the Bug Swarm.
The flashing light of the battery caused the Bug Swarm to stiffen for a moment—yes, although they were biological, they also required energy.
Genes, more diverse genes were their evolutionary elements; energy, more energy was their source of action.
A different kind of cry came from within the Bug Swarm, seemingly scolding its own kind, but it was already too late.
Yu Lian shot the cluster bomb's manual activation device and then rolled out, covering his head.
This action was truly agonizing for a half-crippled person with a broken spine; it felt as if the red-hot steel rod in his waist had snapped.
A muffled "rumble" echoed from the cave entrance. If a high-pressure cooker lid being blown off was a hundred times louder, that would probably be the sound right now.
Everyone felt like they were at the epicenter of an earthquake, struggling to maintain Balance, while Yu Lian, who was closest, no longer needed to exert himself against his weak, crippled body; the rolling ground moved on its own anyway.
Just as those red, black, green, and purple hues once again surged into his nasal cavity, threatening to erupt, and just as he suspected he would surely be shaken to death, a giant steel hand grabbed him, pulled him directly to his feet, and leaned him against its body.
That was Ina.
The external power skeleton's stabilization device allowed Sergeant Ina to immediately rebalance her center of gravity. Her iron-clad body now served as a chair.
"You're overexerting yourself, Lieutenant!"
"I can't help it. Besides you, I really don't trust anyone else's marksmanship." Throwing a bomb into the Bug Swarm and then following up with a shot was incredibly difficult. And there was a reason why the security team's grunts were at the bottom of the pecking order.
"Then I could also..."
"And then we'd both go flying... ah, no, we'd both get buried?"
Ina gritted her teeth and said nothing, thinking that she must find a way to repay this life-saving kindness.
However, Yu Lian felt a bit awkward. Although she was wearing a cold, iron-clad suit, he was indeed leaning against a young woman.
"Would you like to relax a bit?" Ina asked.
...Girl, do you know how easily that statement can be misinterpreted? Yu Lian clicked his tongue, but Sergeant Ina had already opened the storage compartment on the outer thigh armor of her exoskeleton, revealing a rack for energy bars, cigarette packs, cigar tubes, and a flask, gesturing for Yu Lian to take what he wanted.
I didn't expect you, a seemingly proper girl, to be so unconventional!
"I don't have anything more exciting, and I'm not into that," the girl added.
"Who would want that? And judging by your tone, it sounds like that 'more exciting' thing is quite common, isn't it?"
Sergeant Ina realized her slip of the tongue and turned her head away, catching Yu Lian staring intently at the silver metal tube on the rack from the corner of her eye. Her cheek twitched involuntarily—she had gone through a lot of trouble to get that thing and hadn't even had a chance to enjoy it yet. But if her savior wanted it, she couldn't very well refuse!
"Green Court Bay torpedoes! They've been out of production for 30 years!"
"Out of production? Weren't they rated as the best of the All-Galaxy's Top Ten Famous Cigars last year?"
"No, I take that back."
Yu Lian tremblingly held the metal tube, which resembled a small torpedo, filled with a myriad of emotions. At last, his sudden jump fifty years into the Past wasn't entirely bad. It was well known that ever since the Green Court Bay tobacco plantation on Bountiful Star was obliterated by orbital bombardment, this universe-renowned cigar had become an unattainable collector's item.
The bigwigs of the Commonwealth believed that luxury goods like high-end cigars could create more value and enhance their prestige in front of All-Galaxy civilizations, so they shut down Earthlings' metallurgy, chemical, energy enterprises, and Arsenals. But facts proved that a mere intimidation bombardment by a small destroyer completely destroyed a luxury brand renowned throughout the universe for over a hundred years.
How ironic.
Yu Lian pulled the cigar from the "torpedo tube," intending to savor it. He looked up to ask Ina for a light, but his eyes immediately widened, not because he was captivated by her dust-covered yet still beautiful face, but because he saw a dark shadow leap up from behind her.
It was the Thorn Serpent King, which should have been dead in the explosion!
It was indeed severely wounded, with half its body mangled, its carapace peeled open, constantly oozing a brownish-yellow fluid. However, membranes had unfolded on both sides of its abdomen, emitting a cold, faint blue light.
It was about to evolve; it already possessed the ability of a primary quasi-energy shield! This was why it managed to escape the explosion alive.
Even with severe injuries, the Thorn Serpent King's movements did not slow down, moving so fast that a normal person's vision couldn't keep up. This elite Xenomorph soldier, besides serving as a wartime squad leader, often acted as an assassin.
However, Yu Lian was able to clearly capture all of its movements, as if watching a slow-motion video. He could even clearly see every natural pattern formed by the carapace on its serpent head, every blade-like tooth in its gaping maw, and the six Xenomorph blades that sprang from its coiled abdomen.
But seeing clearly didn't mean he could do anything. Yu Lian felt as if his entire vascular and nervous systems were filled with liquid lead; he couldn't even make the slightest movement.
However, the Thorn Serpent King had already raised its Xenomorph blade towards Ina's unguarded back of the head, yet even then, Sergeant Ina had only just shown a surprised expression, completely unresponsive.
Would Ina Nishika, the "Blazing-Eyed Witch," die here? The greatest sniper in Milky Way Civilization history, whose prey ranged from Imperial Lords and Alliance Consortium heads to Titan beasts—would this legend perish before even leaving her Novice Village?
What about the Earthlings youths of later generations who embarked on the path of resistance because of your existence? What about your hundred-plus short videos teaching people how to make a light spear cannon and militia training using crude methods?
So, is it because of my existence as a reincarnator? The Butterfly Effect?
In an instant, the red, green, black, purple, and yellow once again surged into Yu Lian's throat, and this time, they didn't hold back.
However, what erupted was not something difficult to describe, but a shockwave of rippling air, which slid Past Sergeant Ina's shoulder and directly struck the Thorn Serpent King's face.
"So, I'm a Sensitive too, damn it!"
