Chapter 131: Alien

Over the course of five days, only four people successfully obtained mutant genes.

Aside from Zhang Wei, the other three acquired a Level 3 mutant ability from Shadowcat, a Level 2 ability to hypnotize others through speech, and a Level 2 ability to manipulate hair with significantly increased tensile strength. All three were citizens of the Rabbit Kingdom, contributing a total of 900,000 game coins to Qiao Mian’s earnings.

One young man from Northern Europe experienced a massive burst of luck, earning the chance to purchase Storm’s X-Gene.

A Level 5 mutant ability!

When he first saw it, he was so excited he nearly fainted. However, upon seeing the price, he almost suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.

One hundred billion!

His family was indeed wealthy; to secure this opportunity, he had already spent over a billion in Rabbit Kingdom currency and had negotiated a ten-billion spending limit with his bank. But who could have known his luck would trigger such an exorbitantly expensive prize? He had assumed Storm’s X-Gene would be Level 3. After all, he had entered on the first afternoon, before specific news about the X-Mansion had spread.

With only minutes left on the clock, how could he possibly scrape together that much money? In a state of emotional turmoil, he hurriedly called his family, begging them to pool the funds. He tried to seek help within the reading room, but no one paid him any mind. By the time the money was ready, he had already been kicked out of the reading room for exceeding his time limit. As he left the X-Mansion, he felt his entire life had turned gray.

That same day, the elders of his family held a meeting and decided to spare no expense to help him secure this opportunity, hoping to see a superhuman emerge from their lineage. Consequently, they mortgaged all their assets and spent a fortune to get him another entry pass.

Just as he was excitedly convinced that his luck had turned and his future was limitless, he returned to the book the next day, only to find he could no longer replicate the feeling from before. Under the weight of repeated blows, his mental state completely collapsed; he lost control of his bowels right there in the X-Mansion reading room, shouting and screaming until he was permanently banned from the park for public urination.

Qiao Mian was also feeling depressed. The probability was far lower than he had imagined. To finally have a chance at a big score, only for the person to be a broke loser—he sighed. No wonder Wang Lang acted like he was facing his own grandfather every time they met. After freeloading for so long, it would be strange if he weren’t close.

In truth, Qiao Mian didn’t mind. Letting the state freeload was better than being fleeced by capitalists. However, he had a premonition that this freeloading relationship wouldn’t last long. Given the nature of the game, such a massive bug would surely be patched eventually. Or perhaps, all of this was simply a tactic set by the game to boost popularity in the early stages. He was just a player who was bad at the game but obsessed with it; he couldn’t fathom the twisted logic of the developers.

Sitting in his office, Qiao Mian contentedly ate the lunch custom-ordered by the Rabbit Kingdom government.

The spicy chicken was numbing, hot, and crispy. The shredded potato with vinegar was crisp and refreshing. The scrambled eggs with yellow chives were also quite delicious. He enjoyed these home-cooked meals. After finishing, Qiao Mian gathered the trash, planning to toss it on his way downstairs. He opened the refrigerator, took out a kiwi-flavored Anmuxi yogurt to drink, and after a moment of consideration, decided to take a nap. His "old father" had tarnished his reputation too much. It was mentally exhausting.

...

Waking from his nap, Qiao Mian washed up briefly and leapt onto the rooftop. After performing a set of clumsy, flailing "turtle punches," he laid down flat, gazing at the sky. The dome was azure and cloudless. The sunlight felt warm on his body.

"If I weren't in the park, I'd probably be dried into a human jerky under this heat," Qiao Mian thought to himself.

With his parents back home, he could finally play games to his heart's content. He had stayed up for several days, grinding until he reached the King rank. Now, he didn't dare play again, fearing he would lose and drop a rank. It was the perfect time to consider some serious matters.

He was actually quite hesitant. After the recent period of accumulation, he had saved a significant amount of money, enough to initiate a new plane. However, thinking of all the great items in *X-Men* that he hadn't managed to get his hands on, he felt truly unwilling to give up. The cheap ones weren't worth it, and he couldn't afford the expensive ones. Possessing such a powerful platform but lacking the funds, he felt exhausted.

After long deliberation, he decided to purchase the Plane Incubator first.

"These tourists are just too disappointing. I’ve already told them the methods, yet they still can’t get their hands on so many powerful mutant X-Genes!"

"The only one who hit the jackpot was a penniless wretch who couldn't even scrape together a hundred billion."

"Maybe the new plane will have something that can make money immediately."

"If the new plane is just as lackluster, then I'll wait for a while and save up to buy the Phoenix Force first."

...

After a moment of contemplation, Qiao Mian chose to purchase the Plane Item Incubator and spent 10 million game coins to catalyze it to maturity. An instant later, a colorful egg appeared before him, rapidly hatching into a cloud of mist. A cold, metallic sheen flickered within the haze.

Three seconds later, two characters fully solidified from the mist: *Alien*.

Upon seeing it clearly, Qiao Mian subconsciously frowned.

The cultivation plane he had been longing for had fallen through again. However, he quickly cheered himself up. He had watched the *Alien* film series long ago and had a deep impression of those little creatures that liked to face-hug and chest-burst. The key was... this was a sci-fi plane, and there should be plenty of spaceships.

Previously, he had only obtained a ship from the *Transformers* plane, but that was custom-built for the Transformers—it was massive and exorbitantly expensive. Presumably, the ships in the *Alien* plane, designed for humans, would be more cost-effective. Once he obtained the Phoenix Force, he could take a ship and head into space for a spin. Furthermore, once he had accumulated enough ships, he could host a spaceship exhibition in the park; surely many people would be interested. It would definitely whet their appetites.

After a brief consideration, Qiao Mian submerged his consciousness into the new plane. Half a minute later, he withdrew his consciousness. Recalling the series of information he had received, Qiao Mian’s expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

"These things, the way they eat people is truly disgusting," he thought, frowning.

Exploring with his consciousness was very different from the feeling of watching a movie. The difference between the two was like comparing a 3D film to a PowerPoint presentation. It took a while for Qiao Mian to suppress the nauseating feeling in his heart. However, shortly after, thinking of the various styles of ships within, his interest was piqued once again.

He spent 100 game coins to purchase a "Plane Item Detector" and quickly activated it. A stream of bullet comments instantly filled his vision.

[Detected key item: Interstellar Transport Ship (Grade A).]
[Detected key item: Interstellar Rescue Ship (Grade A).]
[Detected key item: Alien Biological Ship (Grade S).]
[Detected key item: Alien Queen.]
[Detected key item: Alien Egg.]
...
[Detected new module: Alien Ship.]
...

From that pile of notifications, Qiao Mian quickly captured some key information. He let out a soft breath and began to examine them carefully.