The Pursuit of the Laboratory

The factory had been overrun by aliens, their formidable and deadly jointed limbs visible everywhere—lining the roads, clinging to walls, hanging from eaves, and even perched upon the verdant trees within the factory grounds.

Their presence was inescapable, a shadow that haunted every corner.

The corpses multiplied by the hour, their skulls hollowed of brains, strewn across the premises, exuding a fetid stench of decay under the summer sun.

Eric did her utmost to evade their ceaseless search; lacking confidence in her ability to survive even a single encounter.

She operated alone. After extracting the laboratory's location from an NPC, she abandoned him without hesitation. Within this perilous scenario, she had no intention of traveling with strangers—one uncontrollable scream alone could condemn her to death. In comparison, the fleeting benefits of cooperation paled against the fatal risks of relying on unreliable partners.

The laboratory lay at the northeast edge of the factory, while the safe house where she had concealed herself upon entering the scenario was situated at the southwest, as was the dining hall. This meant she had to traverse the entire complex to reach her destination—a venture far too perilous. Eric resolved to take a circuitous route: first to the nearby employee dormitories, then winding past the secondary production workshop, through the subsidiary canteen and administrative building, finally arriving at the laboratory.

Gazing upon the employee dormitories not far ahead, she noted the exterior walls appeared secure, with no sign of alien activity. Yet she dared not approach. From the NPC she had questioned, the lab's containment breach had occurred deep in the night, when the dormitories had been packed with workers—prime prey for the merciless aliens.

A faint tang of blood seemed to hang in the air, drifting from the dormitory quarter.

Stealthily, Eric crept along the narrow path beside the dormitories, attuned to the myriad subtle sounds around her.

Tap, tap-tap—

Gooseflesh prickled across her skin.

That was the unmistakable sound of alien limbs scraping and scuttling as they moved. Frozen, she pressed herself close to the wall.

Her breath slowed to a whisper as she silently prayed the creatures were merely passing by, oblivious to her presence.

Alas, her plea was unanswered. The rhythmic tapping grew urgent; surely an alien was advancing rapidly in her direction.

Run!

Instinct propelled her forward in a burst of speed.

She fled like a gale, the shadows of trees along both sides blurring in her peripheral vision.

Tap-tap-tap! Tap-tap-tap-tap!

The relentless, drumlike cadence pursued her mercilessly; Eric dared not glance over her shoulder.

Run—pouring all her strength into her flight.

Her chest ablaze with exertion, the sound ominously closing in; sharp gusts of wind whipped behind her. Her heart seized; she veered sharply left.

Without looking back, Eric hurled herself through a nearby window.

A jointed limb jabbed through the glass, grazing her calf. Ignoring the sting, she landed and bolted for the door.

She was inside a ground-floor dormitory room. Two corpses lay sprawled at the threshold; she leapt over them and thundered down the long corridor.

Pat, pat, pat!

Her footsteps echoed wildly, mingling with the unsettling sounds of alien limbs clinging and crawling on the walls. Forced to improvise, Eric scattered gasoline behind her, flicked a lighter, and cast the flame backward.

Boom!

Flames erupted, illuminating the corridor behind her; waves of searing heat surged against her back.

The alien shrieked in agony as it crawled into the blaze, its progress momentarily stalled.

Those passing seconds afforded Eric a precious margin of escape. She reached the corridor's end and burst out onto the dormitory's open grounds—littered with bodies sprawled in chaotic disarray.

Leaping over the corpses, Eric dashed into an opposite dormitory room, then slipped out through a window.

"Hsst!" A muffled shout rang out nearby, jolting Eric.

An older player stumbled, eyes wide with fright, staring at Eric as she emerged from the window. Relief washed over him. Drawing a deep breath, he exclaimed, "You nearly scared me to death, sister."

"Move quickly—aliens are in pursuit," Eric replied tersely, locking onto the laboratory's direction and pressing onward. The elder's eyes bulged, cursing silently as he hurried to keep pace.

"How can she run so fast!" he marveled, watching Eric's silhouette spin like a blur. Youth truly was a gift—such vitality! Yet as he stole a glance behind, terror seized him.

There, an alien mantis, its carapace charred and twisted, wreathed in frantic, menacing thrashes, charged toward him—an apparition of pure dread.

What on earth had that female player done to incite such fury in the creature?

The enraged alien closed the gap relentlessly, nearly driving the elder to madness.

He pushed harder, aiming to keep up with Eric, but in a blink, she vanished from sight.

How could she possess such speed?

Desperate, the elder spotted a nearby factory transport tricycle, keys still in the ignition. Without hesitation, he clambered in and fired up the engine.

Immediately, regret flooded him—the engine's roar was deafening.

Facing no other choice, resolute, he slammed the accelerator to the floor.

Concealed within the corner flowerbed, Eric caught the roar of the approaching vehicle, her heart tinged with sympathy. She had seen the vehicle too but had dared not touch it. Though similar vehicles sat unused within the supermarket, Eric never contemplated driving; solitary movement was stealthier and more agile, allowing her to exploit the surrounding structures and trees for cover. Driving would generate too much noise and attract undue attention—should an alien catch her in such a glaringly conspicuous vessel, it would be her end.

The aliens moved swiftly.

Despite her empathy, Eric chose a path opposite to the male player's. Upon leaving the dormitories, she arrived at the production workshop and resolved to traverse it.

The workshop bore fewer corpses, enabling her to cling closely to machinery and minimize her presence.

Passing through the secondary workshop unscathed bolstered her confidence tremendously.

Just as she allowed herself a flicker of hope, the roar of the three-wheeled vehicle shattered the quiet. Hastily, she retracted her steps, intending to wait for it to pass. But to her horror, it barreled straight through the doorway!

With no time to flee, Eric squeezed into a crevice within a nearby machine, reducing herself to the indistinctness of a scrap of iron or a mere screw.

The vehicle thundered forward with a cacophony of clattering and crashing, masking the sounds of the pursuing aliens.

Holding her breath, Eric glimpsed through the gap a procession of aliens swarming like a plague of locusts, their innumerable jointed limbs writhing so densely she felt dizzy.

She dared not even breathe, relying solely on her peripheral vision, terrified that direct eye contact might draw their deadly attention.

The experience was excruciating; she fretted over the possibility of an alien suddenly turning its gaze toward the machine—could they perceive her? Being seen would spell doom.

Unease persisted until, by a stroke of fortune, the aliens followed the raucous vehicle away. Only then did Eric exhale slowly, her lungs aching painfully. Still wary, she remained hidden for an additional five minutes.

When the time elapsed, Eric emerged from her refuge; her muscles ached and stiffened. She loosened her limbs as she moved, and once the numbness subsided, she dashed forward.

Emerging from the workshop, she made for the adjunct canteen. From a window, she glimpsed what appeared to be living humans inside, prompting her to forgo entering. Skirting the canteen's wall, she soon spotted the administrative building.

On its fifth and sixth floors, people ran frantically as three aliens pursued them, their jointed limbs chipping away fragments of the wall. A bloodcurdling scream rose as the person on the fifth floor was captured.

Unable to witness more, Eric once again hugged the building's exterior, when suddenly a figure plummeted from above, crashing before her. She froze, instinctively looking upward to see grotesque limbs extending from a window, followed by the colossal, bizarrely shaped head of an alien.

A piercing shriek erupted. With thunderous clatters, the creature began its descent.

Seven floors lay between them, but in two seconds, it had closed the gap by two stories.

Without hesitation, Eric fled for her life once more.

Her luck had run out. The alien descended like lightning upon her, its jointed limbs stabbing forward. She was unable to evade; a limb pierced her abdomen with searing pain. She struggled to free herself, but the limb twisted and writhed relentlessly, ravaging her stomach.

Her internal organs were beyond doubt ruptured.

Unwilling to surrender to capture and consumption, Eric ignored the limb impaled in her abdomen and resolutely twisted her body around—

The alien loomed mere inches away; she glimpsed, within its agape maw, a long, sharp, hollow tube.

So that was the instrument it used to siphon brains.

In the dire struggle between life and death, Eric's mind flitted briefly over this revelation, though it did not hinder her actions.

She drew the pistol obtained from the sacrificial aircraft scenario—only two bullets remained inside. She had often brandished it but never pulled the trigger.

The safety had always been disengaged, and now was the moment to wield it.

Aim steady, Eric fired into the grotesquely gaping alien maw.

Bang!

The gun's recoil jolted her hand.

Inexperienced though she was, Eric had succeeded in placing a bullet directly within the alien's mouth—the proximity drastically easing her aim.

The alien trembled and froze; its supporting limbs collapsed weakly. Gripping the limb embedded in her abdomen, Eric yanked fiercely!

Blood spattered, dragging with it fragments of intestines and organs.

Pain spun the world around her; perhaps her ordeal in the Golden Tomb scenario had raised her threshold, for she did not faint, convincing herself she could endure.

This absurd world.

Eric forced a bitter smile, deploying a medkit to heal her wounds. She did not linger; the gunshot would surely draw other aliens.

A scream tore from the administrative building—someone else caught upstairs. Fearing the predators would soon descend, Eric hastened her departure.

At last, the laboratory's gates materialized before her eyes—curiously intact.

Had it not been the first place to fall?

Without further thought, Eric dashed forward. The sophisticated lock bore a scanner; instinctively, she placed the chip she had removed from her arm against it.

A soft beep sounded.

A green light glowed, and the doors swung open!

Eric pushed through, stepping into a brilliant circle projected onto the floor beyond.

With a click, the gate closed behind her.

Casting one last glance over her shoulder, Eric stepped into the light.

[Player Eric has completed the standard scenario: Alien Factory, earning 4 points.]