Team China had decided on the next step of the plan. They were going to find the functional spaceship then drive it into the alien mothership. There was one problem though. The aliens wouldn’t leave the mothership unprotected if they were forward thinking enough to destroy Area 51. They were equally likely to destroy any spaceships approaching the mothership in space.
The solution wasn’t difficult to come up with. Xuan wrote a second program in his laptop that intercepted satellite signals. In the movie, David discovered the aliens transmitted information through the human built satellites in encrypted signals. Xuan intercepted the alien transmissions without anyone knowing and told the team they could disguise themselves into the mothership, except that he was uncertain of the success probability.
“I have some ideas.” HongLu said. “Going by what we have been thinking, what do we think the aliens are?”
The team looked at him confused, unable to understand what he was getting at. XueLin’s eyes glimmered on the other hand.
“If this is a game, we are the players and every other living being is an NPC. They act following the rules of their program. Our actions trigger these rules and they react in response. Which means the aliens should be bosses or mobs that are inflexible. They attack once we step into their aggro zone or take other actions. They should be unable to modify this fact and act without a trigger.”
HongLu spread his hands. “Unfortunately, the aliens aren’t NPCs. They have self-consciousness. They adapt to the environment. Judging by the fact that they destroyed Area 51 and cornering mankind into extinction, they cannot be NPCs.”
Zheng frowned. He unlocked the genetic constraint and emulated HongLu but he was unable to completely replicate HongLu’s thinking and arrive at the things HongLu tried to expressed.
“It means the chance of the aliens striking down a spaceship approaching the mothership is low, despite us not having the key item for this quest, like the simulated signals. They do not follow a set of rules like a program.” HongLu said.
Heng suddenly asked. “That’s impossible. Are we just going to bring a nuclear bomb into the mothership like the movie did? The barrier probably doesn’t extend to the interior of the mothership, which means the nuclear bomb can easily destroy them. It would be stupid of them to allow this to happen.”
HongLu pinched his hair and laughed. “It isn’t so simple as the movie portrayed. Alien technology in this world is much more advanced than those shown in the movie going by what we have seen. I don’t think they are unable to detect nuclear bombs. Even if they failed to detect the bombs, you have to blast their energy reserve to destroy the mothership with a low yield bomb. The mothership has the size of a continent after all. Another question is if they are self-aware, do you think they will be interested in our existence?”
The team looked at each other. Heng asked. “What’s so curious about humans? Haven’t they captured a good quantity for their experiments already?”
“Not the humans.” HongLu shook his head. “Us.”
“Us? Why?” Heng asked.
YanWei chuckled coldly at Heng. “Are you scared of dying to the aliens? You’re scared so you keep asking and then you will run away from everyone and tremble in a corner.”
Heng was surprised to hear her voice then brought on a wry smile. He stopped listening to what HongLu was saying then walked away. YanWei remained on her seat with a mocking expression.
Those in the know sighed and those uninformed assumed YanWei was being a terrible person.
HongLu didn’t bother with the affair between Heng and YanWei. He continued. “I have been thinking how did the aliens go about destroying Area 51. It was located on a blind spot to the aliens. They shouldn’t even know of its existence until the spaceship emerges. Even if they find out Area 51’s location, it’s just another military facility. The only possibility is someone gave away its location and the fact that it contained a spaceship, which led to the aliens destroying the facility and sending an assault after Air Force One. By this analysis, the only ones who have such information and know of our existence are the other team. Either the aliens peaked into their minds or they told the aliens, it still proved the aliens have their own thoughts and are not NPCs. At this point, if they know of our existence, will they be curious about us?”
HongLu spread his hands and continued. “What are we to this world? What are the players to the living beings in the movie worlds? Are we considered people inside the box or outside the box? Or neither? Will the aliens be curious about outside their box? I think they will. We are, unfortunately, beings from outside the box.”
Zheng exhaled. “I understand. The aliens will want to capture us to conduct experiments and unlikely to kill us in outer space. They also don’t have an accurate understanding of our powers.”
HongLu nodded. “Correct. They underestimate us and they are going to attack anyone inside the spaceship as soon as it arrives at the mothership. So, we have to strategize the split of groups.”
The team had to split up in order to assault using the spaceship because it wasn’t as spacious as a passenger airplane that could fit in dozens of people. Furthermore, if the spaceship successfully entered the mothership, that group would be thrown in a battle almost instantly like HongLu said. They wouldn’t have the energy to protect the powerless. Splitting up was the way to protect the majority.
“I have to go no matter how dangerous it will be.” Zheng contemplated for a moment then said. “My strength is important but losing me will not make the team collapse. Things are just going to be more difficult. I have to go. I hope you can come with me, Imhotep. Explosions shouldn’t be effective against you so if the spaceship were to get struck down, you can survive in space for two days then return to God’s dimension. That’s two people. We need two more.”
“Me and her.” Xuan broke his silence. He pointed at XueLin who was sitting next to him.
Zheng gave him a look of surprise and didn’t know how to respond. HongLu clapped his hands and said. “That’s four. The spaceship should have space for one more. Heng, you go with them.”
(Something’s off… Xuan and HongLu are hiding something from me. Why does he have to bring XueLin along? Because she can use the computer? Xuan alone is enough for that. Why is he bringing an extra person? Are they going to split up inside the mothership? He shouldn’t choose a newbie either way.)
Zheng felt things were turning more and more mysterious. It wasn’t so out of the ordinary if Xuan were the only one scheming, even though he the obnoxious habit of throwing Zheng into to unfavorable situations. Zheng trusted HongLu more but the key to this was HongLu and Xuan were scheming together. This was so strange that there must be more than what was shown on the surface to the plan!
“Fine. I am not going to think about it. It’s the five of us then. Imhotep, Xuan, Heng, XueLin and me. The rest of you stay in this facility. Be aware of what’s happening around you. If the aliens send in their ground forces or air forces, you have to evacuate, ok?” Zheng gave deep looks to Xuan and HongLu then said to the team.
Xuan returned to his usual self and went back to the laptop. HongLu on the other hand looked guilty as he lowered his head and twirled his hair. He had a bitter smile on his face.
The American military found the black pilot who survived after Zheng requested the president to look for him. The military ran at full efficiency in the search since this concerned the war against the aliens. They also captured a living alien. However, the alien died during transportation to the facility.
Team China followed the instructions provided by the pilot and located the cliff on the map. The military immediately offered them helicopters. An hour later, Zheng and his group arrived at the cliff.
“Are you scheming behind me, HongLu?” Zheng couldn’t hold himself from asking while they were still flying toward their destination.
HongLu was shocked for a second. He giggled to cover up his expression. However, Zheng stared at him without budging. The boy kept his lips shut no matter how hard Zheng was staring, which made Zheng feel helpless.
“Listen.” Zheng said in a low volume. “Why did you learn the most undesirable trait from Xuan? Do you know at the end of every world, I almost couldn’t contain myself from beating the crap out of him? You are young but I treat you as a comrade who can fight with us side by side. What is it that you can’t tell me? It’s fine. We can discuss it together. Just tell me, what are you hiding? Why did Xuan want the girl to come with us?”
HongLu parted his lips but he didn’t say anything in the end. He sat there for a while before saying. “Believe in me… you believe in Xuan every time. Believe in me once in a while too. Don’t worry. It will be dangerous but I am confident nothing major will deviate from the plan. Plus, I am also following the road Xuan paved. This is the only plan I can come up with. Believe in me!”
Zheng didn’t know what to say. He was still worried but since HongLu had made it clear, he wouldn’t be a comrade if he still refused give HongLu trust. So, Zheng chose to believe in HongLu. At least the boy had never been obnoxious like Xuan was.
(Still… I have a hunch I am not going to end up well in this plan.)
The helicopter finally arrived at the cliff before long. The team found the spaceship on a conspicuous location. As the team exited the helicopter, way up in the sky, the three people in team Pacific woke up.
“Team China has arrived. Look at the people getting on the spaceship. It’s time to showcase your powers, leader.” Julian twitched his lips. His psyche force extended downward and covered everyone from team China in the scan. Lionheart and the middle age man stood up. In their minds, the battle had come right in front of them!