Chapter 4-2
Team China was free to leave the area with the appearance of the sky fortress. Strangely though, the newbies still hadn’t woken up. This deviated from the usual course of events.
Zheng frowned as he looked at the people lying on the ground then at the castle in the sky. He muttered. “Anyway, let us assume the other team is with the aliens. The movie world has begun so we need to plan our next move clearly. The watch says we can’t leave Washington until an hour before the attack. Does that mean we are in Washington right now?”
The scenery surrounding the team was chaotic. Pedestrians froze in place as they stared at the huge flying object descending toward them. The young men near the basketball hoop looked up to the sky while the ball rolled down a drain. Drivers came out from their taxis and then the cars behind crashed into the empty taxis. Yet, not one person moved their eyes away from the sky to look at what’s happening on the ground.
“It’s shocking. Even I am feeling the same astonishment, not to mention these people. This thing is enormous. It almost shrouded the whole city underneath. That’s alien technology…” Heng muttered as he looked up.
Everyone nodded in agreement. The two people who were shocked the most were Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun. They had just left the forties of last century where civilian use airplanes hadn’t even come into being. One of them was actually a living fossil from thousands of years ago. The other was a girl with memory from thousands of years ago. The two had barely gotten used to living in The Mummy’s world and this shocking scene felt like a world in fantasies to them.
Zheng noticed the two people’s unease. He patted Imhotep on the shoulder and said with a laughter. “Don’t worry. You will get used to it once you experience more. This world is similar to our real world, except for the alien sky fortress above us. Just ask if you have any questions. This is a team battle. Maybe you will get enough points and rewards in this battle to exchange for what you want. So… stay alive.”
The bald man smiled. He grabbed Anck-Su-Namun’s hand tenderly and said. “I am unkillable… I only worry about her. She’s not like me nor you guys. She’s just a normal person. I wish your plan can accommodate her safety if possible.”
Zheng nodded. He didn’t tell Imhotep what would have happened in The Mummy Returns between the two of them. He could tell that Imhotep truly loved Anck-Su-Namun even though they had been apart for thousands of years. This love never changed. Anck-Su-Namun on the other hand remained a mystery to Zheng. She got together with Imhotep due to multiple reasons. He was handsome and young. She was jealous of the Pharaoh’s daughter. And maybe she wanted to get revenge on the Pharaoh. She didn’t choose Imhotep for pure love, which led to her betrayal when he most needed her in The Mummy Returns.
(Everything has changed. They are not the same people that are in The Mummy. In the movie, Imhotep forced Anck-Su-Namun’s soul into this body. The two minds inside the body collided with each other. Furthermore, they hadn’t been together too long so she might have felt lost near the end of the movie. However, the two people here have lived together for so many years now. Even if she was vicious in nature, being together with someone that loved her should have sparked the fire of love. Hope I am not harming him.)
Zheng wouldn’t say the team’s strength took a leap with Imhotep joining team China, but an unkillable priest, especially when he had a hold of the Book of the Dead, was immensely useful in numerous situations. In the least, he was more capable at utilizing the Book of the Dead than anyone else.
Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun aside, everyone in team China was recalling the movie.
This was a sci-fi movie about alien invasion of the Earth. The alien civilization was more technologically advanced. Their mothership was nearly the size of a piece of land and traveled several light years of distance in the universe to arrive at this planet. Their lower tier vessels were also the size of cities. The aliens crushed mankind in terms of technology, even over mankind’s nuclear bombs.
In the end of the movie, humans accidentally discovered computer viruses could infect and disturb the vessels’ defense system which led to the victory of this war. Without this discovery, mankind would only end in annihilation.
Aliens transmitted information through man made satellites. The information contained a countdown, which when reached zero would signal the City Destroyers to open fire at the city. Washington was demolished by the volley in the movie. Team China was in this city that was going to be demolished.
“Okay. Talk after we get on the car. Zero and WangXia, find a bus or large vehicle that can fit the nineteen of us. We will try and find a way to head to the border of the city since God forbids us from leaving the city within this time. I remember the movie shows a traffic jam as civilians all rush to leave when the fortress descends. We need to get to the border ahead of time so we can leave quickly when the time comes. Xuan, analyze our situation.” Zheng said to Xuan since most of the team were still staring at the sky.
Xuan was looking through his storage bag instead. Zheng wondered what was inside that had him looking so engrossed. Xuan replied. “Uh, assume the other team is with the aliens and arrived earlier than us, we are at a disadvantaged position.”
ChengXiao said. “Huh. We all know. Come on, Xuan. One shot their whole team with your superior intelligence.”
“Impossible.” Xuan said. “We are at an absolute disadvantaged position in this world with regard to influence. In fact, we could be wiped here if we are not careful.”
“That’s impossible!” Everyone else cried.
Xuan sneered. “Impossible? Just like the position we held in The Mummy, when the strengths between two forces are on completely different levels. Technologies during World War II couldn’t rival the Sky Stick and Magic Cannon. Similarly, we can’t rival the alien vessels with superior barriers, can fly, and can go into space. Keep in mind this is a barrier than can defend against nuclear strikes. Even if we shoot down this sky fortress with the Magic Cannon, what should we do about the mothership? We have no way of damaging it. You might think we can send a spaceship carrying nuclear bombs into space and attack the mothership like the movie did, which could be possible on a non-team battle mission. However, do you think the other team doesn’t know the plot? Our spaceship would get struck down on its way.”
The team fell silent. Zheng sighed. “Anyway, let’s leave Washington first. This team battle comes at an odd time. We don’t even have a leader now. We don’t know who’s the Guide in these two newbies. And we also have to capture the other team’s psyche force user to wake our teammates. Ayye. Let’s get on the car. It’s too complicated.”
“It’s reasonable that we are put in a team battle without a leader. With the final battle coming near, God needs all the teams to crash with each other and accelerate this process… As for a car to leave Washington?” Xuan shook his head. “What if the plot is altered and the volley of fire becomes more powerful than the movie depicted? What if we are stuck on the road? The chance of us escaping from the attack’s area of effect with the hour of time given is only thirty to forty percent. Furthermore, once we left Washington, we would be in an unsavalgeable position. We have to keep running and hiding for the remaining three days. Don’t even think about capturing the other team’s psyche force user or wiping their team at that point.”
Seeing no one understood the implications, Xuan sighed. “Do you really fail to understand? How are we going to get the alien spaceship that the United States has if we left Washington? The target of our bonus mission is the alien mothership. Then what is the other team’s bonus? I speculate it has to do with Area 52 that’s shown in the movie. So, whether we want to escape the attack or strike back, we must follow the main characters closely. Otherwise, we would be under constant attack by alien vessels led by the other team since we couldn’t leave the atmosphere. The possibility of this happening isn’t zero.
“We have to enter the White House and leave Washington on plane before the attack comes like the plot then head to Area 52. Our battlefield will likely be in outer space, inside the mothership!”