Chapter 228 – Alien Invasion

“The universe is deep, vast, mysterious, and dangerous!”

“The boundless universe represents life, but it also represents death. A spaceship in the middle of the universe is definitely a refuge for life.”

“But… when the spaceship becomes a place of death, what are you going to do?”

“You cannot use Spirit Power for this Challenge!”

“You cannot use any items in this Challenge!”

“To compensate for the above, the reduction in physical strength will be reduced!”

That was the voice of the Handbook, the voice that was the nightmare of all owners. It was hard to forget it even after a Challenge had ended, and it always made one feel afraid.

Su Jin slowly opened his eyes. He had a look of dread on his face. Since this Challenge did not allow them to use their Spirit Power and items, it meant that even if the Challenge level wasn’t high, it was bad enough to kill a majority of owners.

He had run into a similar situation before, which was the Ghostly Games Challenge. But that Challenge was the supernatural type, while this one looked like the sci-fi type.

“A new type of Challenge?” murmured Su Jin to himself. After the major announcement, the types of Challenges had increased in variety, so it wasn’t surprising to find himself in a sci-fi one. But the limitations on the owners was certainly worrying.

They were now in a cockpit of sorts. There were a total of nine owners, five owners besides the four members of Team Boning Knife. The five of them had huddled together already, so they were likely to be another small team as well.

“Damn it,” thought Su Jin as the uneasiness in his heart grew. Their abilities were restricted, there were no newbies, and only owners with teams were involved. How hard was this Challenge exactly?

Su Jin ignored the rest and opened his Handbook immediately to read the details on this Challenge.

Challenge: Alien Invasion; Level: B

Main quest: Clear the spaceship of all aliens and ensure at least one human inside the spaceship survives

Optional quest: Try and keep every human in the spaceship alive

Reduction in physique: 10%

Su Jin’s expression fell. The main quest looked simple, but it was split into two parts. On one hand, you had to get rid of the source of danger on the spaceship, but on the other hand, you had to make sure that one of the humans stayed alive. The humans referred to were definitely not owners, but characters within the Challenge. This was the first time he had seen a two part main quest.

Just then, the team leader of the other small team came walking toward Su Jin. He scanned Su Jin’s team and said in an unfriendly voice, “This is a Level B Challenge. I don’t think any of you are newbies, right?”

Su Jin and his team shook their heads and the team leader sighed before continuing in that same tone, “That’s good. All of you shall listen to my instructions for everything, otherwise…”

“Otherwise what?” Situ Jin scoffed. He didn’t expect to be threatened by a fellow owner right at the beginning of a Challenge.

“Otherwise, I’ll kill you right now, so that you won’t cause my team any trouble.” The team leader purposely mentioned that the rest of the owners present were part of the same team, hoping to use this to scare Situ Jin.

Su Jin raised an eyebrow. He had heard from Wu Chen about how some owners would massacre other owners right from the start of the Challenge, which would reduce the chances of other owners affecting their own progress. But he had never actually run into such a situation before.

“You’d kill me right now? I don’t think you’re capable of doing that.” Situ Jin now sounded equally unfriendly. Several shadows behind him rapidly formed into human shapes. They were still within the safe time before the Challenge actually started, so their Spirit Powers had not been restricted yet.

“You’re a veteran?” The other team leader looked stunned for a moment and was now a lot more wary of Situ Jin. Owners would become much more powerful once they got their Spirit Power, so most owners would not want to offend a veteran if they could help it.

But the other team leader had already made those threats. If he couldn’t make Situ Jin listen to him, there was no way he was going to be able to make the rest listen to him. So, he clenched his teeth and said, “So what if you’re a veteran? I’m a veteran too. My team, Team Volcano Mountain, is a strong team standing at #20131 on the ranking. Killing a veteran like you wouldn’t be a problem.”

“#20131?” Su Jin looked surprised.

The other team leader had a smug face when he noticed Su Jin’s reaction and scoffed. “Humph! Are you scared now?”

But Su Jin’s surprise wasn’t because he thought that this team was strong. He was surprised that there were more than 20,000 teams in the Handbook universe and perhaps even more than this number. In other words, more than 20,000 people had understood the concept of multiple universes.

However, he shook his head again after reaching that conclusion. While the pioneer of the team had to understand that concept, not all small teams existed in this manner. One could inherit a small team too. Xiang Nan was an example of this. He inherited Team Wind and Rain because he was one of its members when the pioneer of the team died. Majority of the existing teams probably came about this way.

Situ Jin grinned and said, “You’re at 20,000 or so? Oh my, I’m so scared.”

The other team leader was shocked. It was clear that Situ Jin wasn’t frightened at all. Could this man really be someone unafraid to die?

Su Jin frowned and said, “Situ, that’s quite enough. The Challenge is more important.”

Situ Jin shrugged. This team’s ranking meant that their team leader was probably the only veteran in the team. If they ended up fighting, Situ Jin alone would be able to smite all of them.

The other team leader realized that Su Jin and Situ Jin knew each other. Which meant… they were also a team.

Su Jin went ahead to introduce his team, “The four of us are also one team. If you don’t want to work together for this Challenge, we can work separately. Of course, for as long as it doesn’t affect the completion of the Challenge. What say you?”

The other team leader hesitated for a while, but nodded in the end. It was true that he didn’t want to join hands with Su Jin’s team. While two teams working together usually made for a stronger team, the weaker team was usually on the losing end unless the two teams had enough trust between them, which was impossible.

Su Jin didn’t try persuading them to work with his team either. Such temporary alliances weren’t very reliable to begin with and they ran a high risk of someone betraying another in times of crisis, which could lead to fatal consequences. If both teams were unwilling to work together, then it was better to just go their separate ways and make their own decisions.

Once they had decided that they weren’t going to work together, they moved into two separate corners to discuss. Su Jin said to his team, “This Challenge is definitely very dangerous. I’m afraid that our team… might lose someone too.”

The other three did not react to these words. Ever since they became part of this universe, they knew they could die anytime during a Challenge. They didn’t need Su Jin to remind them of this fact.

“Jin, you don’t have to be so burdened by this. Nobody can guarantee that every member of their team will make it out alive. We have to be responsible for our own lives too,” said Kano Mai to console Su Jin. She realized that as they went through more and more Challenges, Su Jin was beginning to see this more and more as his responsibility.

Su Jin smiled sadly, then continued, “There isn’t much I can glean from the introduction, so I’ll just roughly go through my thoughts.

“This is a Challenge about aliens in a spaceship. I believe the first thing that comes to your mind is the movie, Alien, right?”

Everyone nodded and he went on, “So, my guess is that this Challenge will be similar, but the aliens… might be more powerful.”

“Would they? As far as I know, those aliens are very strong fighters and even their blood is corrosive. We can’t use our Spirit Powers and items now, so it’s already going to be hard enough to fight off monsters that are like those in the movie. If they’re more powerful than those…” said Situ Jin with a frown.

Su Jin shook his head and said, “But the reduction of our physical strength is very little. A reduction of 10% is as good as no reduction. If the aliens are only as strong as the ones in the movie, then someone with my physique would have been able to just smash right through them. Yet, this Challenge has been classified as a Level B Challenge.”

“Are you saying that… the Handbook has already taken your physical strength into account, so it would be hard or even fatal for yourself to take the aliens out? And that’s why the Challenge is at Level B?!” said Kano Mai.

Su Jin nodded slightly. Situ Jin and Wu Chen gasped. They knew full well how strong Su Jin’s body was. He was as strong as a demigod and had already surpassed the limits of a human! Even a missile wouldn’t be able to kill him anymore. For most of the Challenges, as long as they didn’t run into any supernatural creatures, Su Jin was able to fight them head on with just his body. So, if the aliens on this spaceship was a threat to Su Jin, then killing them would be as easy as killing ants to the aliens.

“Damn it,” cursed Wu Chen.

Su Jin quickly assured him, “You don’t have to be too fearful. My guess is that these aliens are strong in one particular aspect, so maybe they are very strong in attacking, so they can break through my defense. Or they’re very strong in defense, so they can hold up against my attacks.”

“I hope it’s some turtle with an iron shell!” said Wu Chen as he laughed and shook his head. If the aliens were strong in defense, then they might be able to run from the aliens. But if the aliens turned out to be killing machines, then they were doomed.

“Also, because we’ve been told to protect the people on the spaceship, I’m pretty sure the humans mentioned here aren’t owners. My guess is that we’ve been allocated identities so that we are legally allowed on the spaceship. So, once the Challenge officially begins, I hope all of you can get along well with whoever you meet, so that if anything dangerous happens, we won’t have anybody obstructing us unnecessarily,” said Su Jin gravely.

The other three nodded, so he went on, “Try not to separate from one another. Even if it goes against the instructions of the crew, we have to avoid being separated from one another. This is of utmost priority. Also, we must look for viable weapons immediately after the Challenge starts because we can’t use any of our own items. Otherwise, we’d be on the losing end if we get attacked.”

After he had given out all these instructions, the cabin where they were was suddenly opened. A black man stood on the other end of the cabin and said to them, “Alright, hyperspace complete. Everyone, please go ahead with your own work and start working on any repairs necessary.”