Chapter 51: Savior or Archfiend?

Chapter 51: Savior or Archfiend?

The sudden appearance of the Zerg caught humanity off guard, treating them as a formidable enemy. Various precautions were taken, and news about the Zerg was rampant in civilian life. Initially, people dared not approach the Zerg too closely.

However, once it was discovered that the Zerg seemed to completely ignore them, some daring reporters, relying on their quick feet, actually took cameras and headed to the front lines to film the Zerg!

When Alex saw the news on his phone, he was astonished.

These reporters were truly reckless!

He had ordered the Zerg not to attack humans, but there had to be a limit to their recklessness.

Despite their risky behavior, the reporters' firsthand footage caused a global sensation. Through their cameras, they detailed a battle between the Zerg and the mimic alien creatures.

Predictably, the alien creatures were utterly crushed by the wave of dragon-dogs. From beginning to end, the Zerg completely dominated the mimics.

Whether the reporters intended to showcase the Zerg's might or highlight their threat, the video depicted the Zerg as incredibly fierce. Those mimic alien creatures, feared by humanity, were shown as helpless as chickens before the Zerg—an accurate portrayal of reality.

Following the video's release, public opinion split into two camps, just as Alex expected. One side saw the Zerg as humanity's saviors, arriving to eliminate the mimic aliens.

Their non-aggression towards humans suggested that, despite their terrifying appearance, the Zerg were allies. The other side, however, believed the Zerg were as dangerous as the mimics.

They speculated that the Zerg ignored humans only because they deemed them too weak to matter, focusing instead on the mimic aliens.

Once the mimics were gone, humanity might face extinction at the hands of the Zerg.

Both sides had valid arguments, leading to frequent debates. Alex, with time on his hands, browsed these debates and found the split to be roughly 40/60, with a slight majority seeing the Zerg as a threat.

Regardless of their stance, both camps agreed on one thing: these creatures were not of Earth. Their organized actions suggested a civilization comparable to humanity's—an assessment that wasn't entirely wrong.

What Alex didn't expect was the sudden "ding" of a system notification while he was watching the debates. To his surprise, a system prompt appeared before him.

[Activate Faction Quest: Black and White]

[Justice and evil are never black and white choices. As a dimension mage, you must understand the immense power you possess. Every action you take will have far-reaching impacts—choose what you believe is the right response. The outcome of the quest will determine the next faction summoned.]

"What the hell!"

Seeing this quest prompt, Alex almost dropped his phone. What did this mean? His actions would determine the faction he could summon? Did this mean if he acted like a saintly Mary Sue in this world, his next summon would surely be an angel?

He really wanted an angel right now!

For a moment, Alex considered rushing out to act. Fortunately, a shred of reason held him back. He furrowed his brow, beginning to think carefully.

So far, he hadn't done anything wrong. The quest was limited to this world, and he hadn't harmed human interests here.

Although Tom Cruise had died, it was strictly a consequence of his own bad habits, not Alex's fault.

Aside from that, Alex had maintained a distance from humanity in this world. As for those few thugs he killed… well, that shouldn't count, right? After all, that was before the quest was issued. You can't judge the past by the present's standards.

Though somewhat uneasy, Alex decided it shouldn't impact the bigger picture. After all, he was defending himself. At most, it could be considered excessive self-defense. Even monks who abstain from violence practice exorcism…

Alex didn't know if explaining this to his Dimensional Codex would help, but considering the stakes of his next summon being an angel or a demon, he decided to be cautious.

Though he currently had no dimensional points, they could be accumulated. Opportunities for faction-limited summons, however, were rare. If his next summon turned out to be a demon, Alex would be devastated.

This mission, while important, was temporarily put on the back burner by Alex. As long as humans didn't come looking for trouble, Alex planned to take the core of the alien boss and then immediately withdraw with the Zerg. There shouldn't be any issues with this plan.

However, the war against the alien creatures required Alex's careful consideration.

After several battles, Alex finally understood why the aliens in "Edge of Tomorrow" were called "Mimics." It turned out they could change their form and mimic their enemies! In subsequent battles, Alex even saw Mimics in the forms of Zerglings and Mutalisks! This almost made Alex laugh out loud.

He couldn't understand how the Mimics' minds worked. While the Zerg were powerful, they relied on swarm tactics. Mimicking Protoss might have been worrying, but mimicking the Zerg was suicidal. Zerg could counter each other to some extent, but a Zerg versus Zerg scenario was just a numbers game.

Unfortunately, the Mimics were just that—mimics. They only copied the surface, not the Zerg's exponential growth.

Consequently, they were repeatedly defeated and forced to retreat. The Mimics likely didn't understand why they were losing. Honestly, Alex found it hard to believe that humanity had been beaten by such foolish alien creatures.

Despite seeming to make great progress, the Zerg's advance was slower than Alex anticipated. The reason was that, although the alien creatures' combat effectiveness was negligible against the Zerg swarm, their save-and-load ability was a significant concern. Through investigation and combat, Alex finally figured out the aliens' strategy.

The aliens had three types: the ordinary soldiers, the unique Mimics (like the one Tom Cruise "gloriously" took down), and the core boss. If the core boss was the main server, the unique Mimics were like client devices, connected to the main server and to the other soldiers.

These clients activated the save-and-load mechanism, allowing the core boss to perceive external events and initiate the save-and-load ability. The core boss itself seemed to be the energy source for this ability, with certain limitations, unable to manipulate time freely.

Although Alex enjoyed the fights, they were incredibly tedious. He had to ensure each "client" was dealt with to prevent the core from reloading the timeline. This made capturing these aliens a significant challenge.

It was like trying to capture Zhao Yun in the Three Kingdoms era; soldiers knew they needed to capture him alive, but Zhao Yun didn't. Fortunately, the Zerg had the numbers and were fearless, allowing them to achieve their objective at any cost.

Most of Alex's efforts went into this task, which was quite thrilling. Several times, he thought he was about to be reset, but managed to pull through in the end.

Now, the Zerg had advanced to Paris, and Alex was ready. He knew the alien boss core was submerged in a pool beneath the Louvre. All he needed to do was capture Paris and retrieve the core, and his main quest for this world would be complete.

But before that, Alex received some news from Mirren.

A group of humans had entered Zerg territory… and they seemed to want to communicate with the Zerg?

(End of Chapter)

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