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At this moment, Peter Quill truly couldn't find a more fitting adjective than 'monster'.
That eerie figure's slender body was like a twisted humanoid forcibly elongated by some mysterious power, its limbs disproportionately long, and its face devoid of features, only countless wriggling tiny tentacles.
At this moment, one of the tentacles on its right arm had already pierced the body of a space pirate and began to wantonly suck the blood from within.
Even though the space pirate continuously shot at it with the Energy Shooter in his hand, creating several holes in its body, this monster showed no intention of retreating or stopping its attack.
It was as if the recent attacks caused it no substantial harm whatsoever, and this scene terrified everyone else.
"It can phase through walls, yet it can be hit by bullets… What the hell is this thing?"
Peter Quill instinctively pulled out his blast pistol and fired at the monster's head.
It wasn't that Peter Quill was righteous or meddlesome; it was simply that the monster, unfortunately, was blocking his escape route from the cargo hold.
If he didn't shoot it down, he wouldn't be able to escape!
Pfft—
The monster's head exploded like a smashed watermelon, and a large amount of viscous, corrosive flesh and blood splattered out, landing on Jack and the others who were nearby.
Hiss—
The space suits on several space pirates immediately hissed with a burning sound, and wisps of green smoke rose, clearly indicating severe corrosion.
However, Peter Quill no longer cared about their lives at this moment.
Because just as he attacked, the entire cargo hold—no, to be precise, the entire cargo ship—seemed to tremble as the monster fell.
More twisted monsters continuously emerged from the surrounding bulkheads and from beneath the deck.
It was as if they were directly pulled from some special space connected to the ship's cabin.
Peter Quill dared not linger, carrying the box and tactical flashlight in one hand, and gripping the blast pistol in the other, he rushed out of the cargo hold in a few quick strides.
However, the corridor outside the cargo hold was also a terrifying, hellish sight.
Those fleshy, overgrown organizations were rapidly growing and spreading from the far end of the corridor towards the cargo hold.
"Help, Jack, don't leave us behind…"
At this moment, a stumbling figure suddenly darted out from the opening of the cargo hold door, it was none other than Jack, who had regained consciousness from the pain.
He suddenly lifted his foot and directly kicked the space pirate who was following him back into the cargo hold.
The pirate's figure was immediately engulfed by the surging monsters.
Shouts and wails filled the entire cargo hold and corridor until, a few seconds later, everything ceased abruptly.
Bang, bang, bang—
Jack followed closely behind Peter Quill, constantly fleeing forward, occasionally using the Energy Shooter in his hand to attack the relentless fleshy organizations, tentacles, and countless monsters pursuing them.
The dark corridor flickered between light and shadow in the muzzle flashes.
Although Peter Quill and Jack had eliminated countless monsters, the remaining ones seemed to be drawn by something, still relentlessly pursuing the two of them.
"Damn it, the way we came is blocked!"
Peter Quill suddenly stopped, the passage they had used to enter the ship, which led to the outside, was now completely sealed by twisted fleshy organizations.
They continued to grow relentlessly along the four walls of the passage, spreading in all directions.
And in the vast darkness beyond the reach of the tactical flashlight, a sticky, wriggling sound, which could be transmitted directly into their brains without sound or vibration, caused Peter Quill to feel a rare prickling sensation on his scalp.
It was as if the entire cargo ship had been activated into an unspeakable 'living thing' during the recent battle!
"Let's split up and run. Maybe we can distract these monsters and win a chance to survive."
Peter Quill shined his tactical flashlight on the two corridors on either side that had not yet been engulfed by monsters and fleshy organizations, then shoved the box containing the annullas battery into Jack's bloodshot eyes, saying righteously:
"Buddy, there are nine annullas batteries in here. If I don't make it out alive this time, remember to bury an annullas battery at my grave… I'm counting on you!"
With that, he gave Jack no time to react and plunged into the corridor on the left.
"Hahaha, I'm rich now! All these annullas batteries are mine!"
Jack's bloodshot eyes were filled with greed. He clutched the box tightly with both hands and turned to rush into the other corridor.
However, what he didn't know was that the box Peter Quill had just given him was empty; the annullas batteries inside had already been secretly hidden on his person.
So… in the end, he was destined to be happy for nothing.
After running for an unknown amount of time in the corridor, Jack, whose strength was almost depleted, fortunately found an unlocked cabin.
He then curled up in the corner, clutching the box tightly, breathing heavily, as the eerie sounds from outside the cabin gradually approached.
That low whisper that had previously caused him unbearable pain sounded again, followed by his consciousness blurring, and various distorted hallucinations appearing before his eyes…
"Ah…"
Peter Quill, who had only run a few steps, suddenly heard a piercing scream from behind him, followed by a chilling sound of flesh tearing.
And when he turned to look behind him, he found that for some reason, Jack was still in his original spot, his body now torn to pieces by countless tentacles.
As for the empty box he had been clutching tightly, it also rolled to the ground.
Why didn't he run?
He actually stayed put and waited for death?
Truly… courageous!
However, facing such a sight, Peter Quill's eyes showed no pity whatsoever.
As space pirates, as members of the notorious The Marauders, these 'scum' had already anticipated their eventual demise from the moment they first went out on a raiding mission.
Peter Quill then focused all his attention on how to escape the ship's cabin.
To return to the helipad on the deck as quickly as possible, Peter Quill chose the left corridor, following the 'shortcut' calculated in his mind.
Although he wasn't very familiar with the internal structure of this giant cargo ship, as a famous space pirate, he had seen too many similar cargo ships during his thefts and raids.
As long as the general direction wasn't wrong, he would definitely find the fastest way back to the deck.
Peter Quill charged forward, occasionally turning to fire a few shots with his blast pistol, then using the flashes of light from the explosions to assess the situation of the 'pursuers' behind him.
Soon, at a fork in the road, Peter Quill noticed that there were no fleshy organizations or monsters in the northeast passage, so he immediately turned into that passage without a second thought.
Sizzle—
Peter Quill suddenly slowed his pace, reaching out to constantly switch the communication frequency on his nano-universe helmet. He seemed to have accidentally picked up a strange signal just now; the fleeting sound within it was like a painful groan, and also like some mysterious chanting.
"Hmm?"
After some adjustments, Peter Quill finally successfully locked onto the faint signal source.
If the nano-universe helmet's built-in signal source detection function wasn't mistaken, then the fleeting signal from before was coming from a cabin about a hundred meters ahead in the very corridor he was in.
Peter Quill rushed to the location of the signal source without stopping, shining his tactical flashlight on the cabin door, "This is…"
On the heavy metal door to the left, there were uneven battle marks and long, narrow claw marks left by sharp claws, as well as dark red bloodstains that had long since dried.
Clearly, this area had previously experienced one or more extremely fierce battles.
Peter Quill intuitively judged that the intermittent mysterious signal was very likely coming from inside this large door.
What could it be?
Logically speaking, given the strange and dangerous situation on this cargo ship, there shouldn't be any survivors, right?
However, before Peter Quill could think further, a tidal wave of monsters surged out from both sides of the corridor again. "Damn it, it looks like I'll have to try my luck this time!"
Without time to think, Peter Quill used his exquisite lock-picking skills to open the cabin door in front of him in just a few seconds.
Then, with a forceful push, accompanied by a sharp metallic screech, this heavy door, which had been sealed for an unknown period, slowly cracked open inward, revealing a dark space as dense as ink behind it.
Bang, bang, bang—
Peter Quill pulled the trigger, blowing the heads off the two monsters that had lunged closest, then squeezed sideways through the door, pushing hard against the door with his upper body from behind.
The heavy door closed again as the internal gears meshed.
"Whew—"
Peter Quill had originally expected the monsters to continue attacking the door, or even to 'pass through' the surrounding walls directly.
But what was puzzling was that after the door closed, the outside World seemed to instantly fall silent.
Peter Quill waited for several minutes, gun raised, but still nothing happened.
Clearly, in this situation, either there was something in this cabin that the monsters feared, or the monsters had deliberately driven him here.
But no matter what the final outcome, one thing was already certain: this cabin was definitely strange!
Peter Quill dared not relax his guard, quickly using his tactical flashlight to explore the surrounding environment.
The beam of the tactical flashlight cut a silver line through the darkness, which was so thick it was almost impenetrable.
But whether due to the influence of some power or too much dust in the space, the distance and range the beam could illuminate were clearly much smaller than they had been in the corridor just now.
And this dark space before him was much larger than Peter Quill had anticipated.
Judging from the broken tables and chairs scattered around, this place must have been the crew's dining hall, but now it was a complete mess—the broken tables and chairs looked as if they had been torn apart by some inhuman, immense force, with the metal parts completely twisted and bent, strewn across the floor, and one side of the wall was covered in scorch marks left by energy weapons.
Even though Peter Quill was careful enough, his shoes still made a grating, squeaking sound as he stepped on the floor covered with broken glass.
"Damn it?!"
Peter Quill suddenly cursed under his breath, his tactical flashlight beam resting on a skeleton leaning against the wall.
And that corpse was indeed wearing a Nova Corps combat suit.
The surface of the combat suit appeared to have been corroded by some substance, presenting an uneven texture, but the conspicuous circular energy ring on the right side of the chest plate was still clearly visible.
This was clearly another Millenian Warrior!
Peter Quill cautiously crouched down. After a careful inspection, he found that the skeleton's right hand was still tightly clutching a blast pistol, its white knuckles almost embedded in the grip.
The primary cause of this Millenian Warrior's death was severe head trauma.
A huge dent had been smashed into his incredibly hard golden helmet.
What kind of person… no, what kind of monster could smash a Millenian Warrior's helmet into such a state?
Clearly, the type of monster that had been pursuing Peter Quill in the corridor earlier was definitely not capable of this!
Could there be other, more powerful monsters on this cargo ship?
Peter Quill knew this wasn't the time to ponder such things, because as he moved his tactical flashlight, he discovered more skeletons around him.
Most of them were crewmen in employee uniforms… some lay under overturned dining tables, some were curled up next to chairs, and a few were entangled in strange postures, as if they were still fighting to the death in their last moments!
"I need to get out of this cursed place quickly!"
Peter Quill considered himself to have seen plenty of major events since childhood in The Marauders, but the scene before him still made his heart pound.
He immediately began to search for other exits, and after walking slowly for a distance, he finally saw a door at the back of the dining hall.
However, as he got closer, he saw several deep claw marks on the metal door frame, illuminated by his tactical flashlight.
They looked like they were left by the long-bodied monsters that had been chasing him in the corridor earlier.
However, Peter Quill couldn't afford to think too much about that now.
If he could find a passage to the outer deck from here, he would be able to escape to safety and leave this cursed place.
Creak—
But the moment he pushed open the heavy door at the back of the dining hall, three ghostly blue circular lights, arranged in an inverted triangle, suddenly lit up in the darkness behind the door.
Before Peter Quill could react, the three ghostly blue light clusters had already rushed before him with incredible speed, and before Peter Quill could raise his arm, which was clutching the blast pistol, an armored hand had accurately and swiftly gripped his throat.