mother of all races

Alisa's reminder kept Lin Xi in a vigilant mood for the next few days. Considering her amazingly accurate intuition, Lin Xi did feel nervous.

However, this tense state is really difficult to continue. After all, in reality, the life of the Helios on this strange asteroid is not difficult.

Of course, there are still many things to worry about-one of the ion engines of the Helios has been seriously damaged, and the other one seems to be far from "intact", which means that the spacecraft is far from being able to fly again. There is still a long period of time; the cargo warehouse was damaged to varying degrees during the forced landing process. Among them, the warehouse that stored the food for the crew suffered the most. However, there is also an artificial protein machine on board. If it is not possible, you can rely on artificial protein blocks To survive (as long as you can ignore the terrible taste, that stuff is actually quite nutritious), Lin Xi doesn't have a great sense of crisis about it.

In short, all the situations are within the controllable range, and when the dangerous moment of life and death is over, people will always relax involuntarily.

And another thing that can be called good news is that the exploration teams that were sent out to explore the surrounding conditions have returned, and the data they brought are even more perfect than those unmanned robots.

If not everyone is hysterical, then those data can only show that this planet is simply a perfect paradise tailor-made for human beings.

Those suspicious brightly colored creatures that humans have seen through the viewfinder have been tested and proved to be nothing more than harmless and cute plant-like life forms, and the small things that live in the gaps are usually Weak and dull, completely indistinguishable from humans.

In addition, the water resources on this planet are very abundant, only some heavy metals need to be filtered out, and the water can even be used for direct drinking.

The gravity, the atmosphere, even the cool air temperature... everything is so pleasant.

If the planets and the universe were created by God, then that supreme being must be an uncreative being.This planet is like God took out the original earth, rubbed it casually, and threw it back into the galaxy to become another planet.

It is really too similar to the earth. If the Helios can return smoothly, just recording the coordinates of this planet is enough to make the crew on the ship rich.

Lin Xi was sure that the improvement of the atmosphere on the Helios had a very close relationship with this.

"Aside from those nasty bugs, this place is immaculate."

Lin Xi has heard his colleagues and the crew members on the Helios mutter this more than once.

Ah, maybe it is.

The expedition team didn't even find an animal bigger than a cat. With their spaceship as the center, the entire forest was as friendly as it was described in a children's fairy tale—the colors were rich and conspicuous, and the residents were friendly and friendly.

The creatures most found by humans are bugs—all kinds of bugs—more bugs than Sunu, who is known as the "Bug Star".

They have no intention of avoiding human activities at all, and often clumsily rush towards these wonderful two-legged beasts, and then flap their wings, trying to get in through the gaps in the interstellar exploration suits.

According to Ando, ​​those bugs like humans—like human body temperature, which happens to be the right temperature for them to reproduce and lay eggs.

Lin Xi did not stay by Ando's side to listen to his long talk about his new research on alien bugs during this period of time. Maybe it was because of his prejudice against bugs. egg case), Ando became much more talkative than before, and there was always a nervousness in his words and deeds that Lin Xi didn't like.

However, it's also possible that it's not the bugs.

Lin Xi heard that Ando's alien wife Liz had been diagnosed as pregnant, and Ando was very excited about it.

"...I really can't stand this kind of man who is a good father."

Lin Xi muttered to himself.

However, the boring and smooth Sunu flora and fauna conservation work with Ando is not too unbearable.Working in the cabin is at least much better than going out to explore the environment.

You know, the unlucky boys of the exploration team need to spend a lot of time every day cleaning up the bugs, mucus, and eggs of different colors and sizes that are attached to the outside of their protective clothing.

This makes them the most bug-hating group on the Helios.

But from the perspective of a researcher who doesn't have to go out... bugs aren't all that bad, after all, if a planet is comfortable enough for bugs to live on, it's going to make humans feel welcome too.

The above point also comes from An Teng Jingxiong, and Lin Xi does not have much objection to this.

Don't think too much—this is Lin Xi's life principle all along, and he intends to continue to implement it even after landing on a mysterious planet.

In this way, time passed in an orderly and busy manner.The expedition members would go out every few days to expand the circle of human exploration, while others on the ship were busy repairing ion engines and warehouses, and others were busy calculating orbits in a futile attempt to find out what they were in. place.

Maybe Alisa's intuition finally lost its effectiveness on the alien planet, and her restless foreboding didn't work at all-in fact, for now, the atmosphere on the ship is even more harmonious and relaxed than when it first made the forced landing.

So far, the only thing that pains Lin Xi the most is John's departure.

Oh yes, Crazy John Bronson is the ship's chef, and since he left a previous meeting with a nervous breakdown, the entire ship's catering has been a nightmare.Although those pre-packaged foods and frozen vegetables are really not delicious, they are much more delicious than those directly heated food bags.

"I clearly remember that this kind of food bag tasted pretty good before."

Lin Xi frowned and muttered.

"Hey, Lin!"

Someone is calling him.

Lin Xi turned his head and saw at the other end of the long and narrow corridor, several people in bright orange survey team uniforms were dragging a box towards him.

He was greeted by a young guy with freckles and rust-red hair who looked like a kid just out of college.

It took Lin Xi a moment to remember that the red-haired boy's name was Mark.

"Oh, hi, you guys have another mission?"

He nodded at Mark, and greeted without nourishment.

"That's right, our mission this time—"

Before Mark could finish speaking, a thin scream came from the box the men were transporting, and then the box shook on the ground.

Lin Xi's movements stopped, and a feeling similar to a tiny electric current slid across his neck, and he felt that the hair on the back of his neck seemed to stand on end.

"...Finally captured a living sample."

Lin Xi was in a daze for a while before realizing what Mark was talking about.

"Wait, is this a living sample?"

he asked.

Then his brow furrowed.

"You came back from the wild - you should go through the laboratory passage." Lin Xi said, "not the daily passage."

It was like responding to his dissatisfied words.

"Zizzi-Zizzi-"

The huge, frictional hiss in the sealed box got louder.

Mark's face tightened.

"There was a circuit failure in the laboratory passage, and Dr. Ando asked us to send the captured samples to his laboratory as soon as possible," he explained, perhaps because Lin Xi's face was not very good-looking, and Mark also Added: "Don't worry too much, there won't be any problems. We have studied samples of this type outside before, and they are safe."

"Ha, yes, they're all dull ones."

"Correct."

Mark's team members booed behind him, making a lot of noise, like a group of idiot college students who just ran out of a reception.

Immediately afterwards, perhaps to increase persuasiveness, someone patted the sealed box, and the originally milky white visible layer became transparent, allowing Lin Xi to see clearly what the living samples there looked like.

"Didn't you say there's nothing bigger than a cat around here?"

Lin Xi's eyes stopped on the biological surface in the transport sealed box.

Then he spoke with a hint of imperceptible disgust.

It was a gigantic bug that looked a bit like a cross between a beetle and a spider—except that on Earth, neither a beetle nor a spider was likely to grow to the size of a large dog.

"Oh, we're talking about animals—this thing's a bug."

One team member said nonchalantly.

Lin Xi's heart sank. Looking at the group of young people in front of him, he knew in his heart that the bad influence brought about by Talan's weirdness and inaction had gradually spread to the lower-level personnel in the Helios.At least when they were handing over materials on Sunu, this group of people would not dare to bring these alien creatures into the unsuspecting spaceship so blatantly.

"We've only been here a short time, and no one can say for sure what's safe."

Lin Xi had no clue on the surface, he calmly said to the prospecting team.

And just when he was planning to find a time to talk to Alisa in his heart, an accident happened.

The sizzling sound of the bug began to increase, as if it was being frightened by something.

Immediately afterwards, its carapace opened outwards, revealing the wings that were as thick as steel plates underneath.

When it fluttered its wings, the hard edges of the wings almost cut sparks with the plexiglass inside the airtight box.

The teeth-stinging rubbing sound is terribly loud, and the high frequency is like a needle piercing a person's eardrum.

At the same time, there was a particularly disturbing heavy impact sound.

The giant insect might be harmless (at least according to the crew), but its thick, heavy, metallic body feels dangerously dangerous once it starts rampaging through the airtight enclosure. .

"Crack-"

Lin Xi even heard the crisp sound of glass breaking. He looked at the airtight box in horror. Sure enough, several thin cracks had appeared there.

However, this kind of box specially used to store living aliens should not be so fragile in theory.

"Oh shit, what's going on here?"

"Turn on the paralysis device!"

"Who the hell still paralyzes this thing—where's the kill switch—"

"But Dr. Ando said..."

"Didididi—alarm—dididi—box damaged—dididi—alarm—"

"Oh goddamn goddamn—"

……

All of a sudden, the panicked screams of the exploration team and the piercing noise of the bugs, combined with the alarm sound of the sealed box, rippled through the entire passage.

Seeing that something was wrong, Lin Xi hurried forward to help.

But as soon as he got closer to the containment box, the gigantic worm acted even crazier.

It began to struggle crazily with a terrifying frequency, and in an instant, the inside of the originally transparent sealed box was covered with purple and green mucus.

"Go fuck-"

A team member let out a curse, and he directly pressed all the buttons used to control the sample, from paralysis to death.

Electric current, liquid nitrogen, and poisonous smell filled the entire box at the same time.

But the bug's movements became more and more violent.

boom--

Finally, with a dull, sickening sound, the bug exploded inside the box.

Lin Xi stood stiffly beside the sealed box, looking at the dead bug through the thick protective layer.

zizi——

sizzle--

The bug's wings fluttered over its debris, making a small noise.

……

Like some kind of incomprehensible message for humans.

vol2

Sunu Cultural Exchange Exhibition.

The weather was fine and the crowds were raging.

Lin Xi stood blankly among the blurred crowd, not knowing why she dreamed of this scene again.

However, compared with the previous dream, something seems to be different.

Maybe it's because the background crowd looks more eccentric?

Or maybe it was because the pavilion in front of him, which was originally decorated as a termite nest, now looked more like something else?

"Lin Xi, look--after the summer vacation is over, I will tell Teacher Anna about this--it's so interesting--"

He heard Bryce's voice, the crisp calling of a young boy.

Then he lowered his head and looked at the boy beside him.

The elder brother who was still a child had a blurry face that seemed to melt, the only thing that was clear was the pair of scarlet compound eyes. Whenever he started to speak, the pair of compound eyes would vibrate regularly.

Is this a nightmare?

Lin Xi asked herself in her dream.

He vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't remember what it was that made him so uneasy.

His mind seemed to be floating in a dark sea of ​​nothingness, with nowhere to focus.

Then Bryce started pulling him toward the pavilion.

Some memories began to float up from the dark sea of ​​memory. When awake, human beings will forcefully press these memories in the deepest part of memory, because human beings are such fragile things, things that are too terrifying, such as this incident The reality under the dream will completely break down those delicate nerves.

But in the dream, occasionally, those things will come out with the shock of emotions, just like now.

Lin Xi's body kept trembling because of the unreasonable fear.

no-no-i won't-i won't-

He murmured softly in his dream as he struggled to free himself from Bryce's fingers.

However, although Bryce in this dream was still a child and he was an adult, when he wanted to break free from Bryce's fingers, he had no strength at all.

Lin Xi felt more and more afraid.

"let me go……"

he cried tremblingly.

Then, suddenly for a moment, he realized something.

Oh no... that's not really Bryce at all.

He lowered his head and looked at the boy beside him.

Why is this being discovered now?Even he himself was confused.

After all, as a human, Bryce would not have such a pair of red compound eyes, and the fingers of young human children would not be tentacles covered with fine and hard scales.

"who are you?"

Lynch asked out of breath.

A few seconds later, the person who caught Lin Xi turned into the smiling Sunu guide in his memory.

The clear sky and the turbulent crowd instantly turned into a dark and damp interior of the cave.

Unknown chrysalis wriggled in densely packed nests.

Some things hidden in the darkness clustered together and stared at Lin Xi in the dark. Their small eyes reflected the faint light inside the cave, like small light bulbs shining one by one.

"Yes, that's right. What you are seeing now is the most precious and sacred star butterfly on our Sunu planet. It is also our totem and spiritual symbol. And this star butterfly was born in the long years. Rarely still alive individuals..."

The commentator kept muttering the original lines in Lin Xi's ear.

But while it was saying those words, its gradually deformed face was always aimed directly at Lin Xi.

And the slightly tingling restraint never left Lin Xi's wrist.

"...Wow, it's really rare, this little friend from Earth. Xingdie will only show her wings completely in front of someone she likes very much, hahaha, I never thought that it would show itself in front of people on Earth wing"

"call……"

Lin Xi's breathing became extremely heavy.

Something was approaching him.

In the whispers of the "narrator", the thing is getting closer.

It was right behind Lin Xi, but Lin Xi could only tremble and stand there stiffly.

The voice of the "narrator" gradually changed from unproficient English to the strange Sunu language.

But Lin Xi could clearly understand what the monster was repeating over and over again.

"...we love you, Your Majesty...don't resist...don't be afraid...we will be your descendants, your people, your subjects...too long...we've waited for you too long...your majesty... …we love you so much….

Accompanied by its whispers, something that was definitely not a star butterfly slowly emerged from the darkness.

Under the action of an inexplicable force, Lin Xi slowly turned her head.

Not Star Butterfly.

Because that thing doesn't have any ethereal and wonderful wings like clouds at all, and it doesn't have that well-structured hard arthropod insect body.

That's another creature.

A bug, or something that looks like it has a subtle resemblance to an insect.

There is no such thing in the poor words of the earth people.

Every piece of carapace and scale on its body is filled with a terrifying aura. Its body is so huge that its open limbs seem to be able to hold the entire planet under its belly. Lin Xi can hardly see its face clearly. The only way he can The only thing that can be seen clearly is a small eyeball in the red compound eyes.

And just as he was thinking this way, the body of that "thing" melted again, and when it reappeared in front of Lin Xi, it looked much smaller.

It's just that compared to before, when it opened its mouth, it could still easily swallow Lin Xi's whole body.

Lin Xi just stared at it blankly.

"His Majesty……"

It opened its mouth, revealing its thorny tongue.

"King... our king..."

it whispers.

"my king."

It seemed that they were just repeating something meaninglessly, but Lin Xi could feel that behind those repeated calls, there were deeper and more terrifying meanings hidden.

"my sweetheart……"

"Do not……"

Lin Xi's body trembled even more.

"Do not come near me--"

Lin Xi growled weakly.

However, "He" still approached, Lin Xi wanted to escape, but he had nowhere to escape.

Countless mucus adhered to the surface of his body, making him completely immobile like a prey captured by carnivorous insects.

A long hollow spike protruded from behind the monster's terrifying curled tongue, and directly pierced Lin Xi's body.

Then, something squeezed out from inside the spike.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah--"

"Do not--"

……

……

……

"Lin Xi - you better fucking wake me up -"

Someone was shaking him vigorously.

"Lin Xi—"

Consciousness returns slowly.

His body was unusually heavy, and something was binding him tightly.

"Lin Xi!"

"Do not……"

Lin Xi groaned in extreme pain, even though her brain was still in chaos, her body was instinctively struggling violently.

"Let me go let me go let me go—"

He started screaming.

Until he finally realized slowly that the voice calling him sounded very familiar.

Lin Xi finally opened his eyes.

Bryce's livid face appeared in his field of vision, and for a moment, he almost thought he was dreaming of being forcibly dragged from the sleeping cabin again.

"I really hope this isn't some kind of time travel back."

After breathing heavily for a long time, Lin Xi finally recovered her breathing frequency.

Then he murmured to Bryce.

Well, it's certainly not a replay of history, because this time Bryce's attitude is not as amiable as before.

If anything, Bryce looked like he was about to punch him.

"what happened?"

Lin Xi's eyes were a little dark, tinnitus accompanied by headaches came to him one after another.

Although the body is generally awake, the consciousness still seems to be floating in the clouds, and it is still the kind of clouds before the storm.

Of course, he was still confused, otherwise he wouldn't have asked this stupid question.

Bryce's fist became more and more eager to move after his inquiry.

"Your life-monitoring system is alarming."

A gentle voice sounded from behind Bryce and answered Lin Xi's question.

"Heartbeat, blood pressure, and breathing are all on red, so we have to take you from the cabin to the medical room."

The good-hearted man who spoke had a doll.

That's Shizuo Ando.

Under Ando's reminder, Lin Xi finally noticed his surroundings. This was not his cabin but Bryce's working place, the medical room on the Helios.

And he was lying in the treatment apparatus, with several medical probes hanging on his body, it was obvious that the treatment for him had just ended.

"Okay... what's going on..."

Lin Xi frowned and murmured in pain.

"You still have the face to ask what's wrong?"

Bryce was furious.

"Guess how many calming glue sticks I found in your room?! You should know this stuff is for emergency use only!"

"Uh……"

Lin Xi was instantly stuck.

Calming glue stick?

Oh yes.

During the day, he had a small accident in the passage.

A bug the size of a dog exploded into a puddle of ooze right under his nose. The scene was so mentally polluted that Lin Xi had to eat two more calming glue sticks before falling asleep. The "sizzling" auditory hallucination is no longer lingering in my ears.

"As for why this kind of thing can only be used in an emergency, it is because if it is taken in excess, it may cause sleep arrhythmia—guess why you are lying in the treatment device now?"

Bryce's voice grew louder as Lynch struggled to remember the scene before she passed out.

"Because my dear brother's heart stopped for 30 seconds just now! In other words, someone has been dead for 30 seconds just now! If I hadn't been on duty tonight and arrived in time, you would have died by this time—" Bryce choked.

Shizuo Ando looked at his watch and added softly from the side: "48 minutes."

"You've been dead for 48 minutes now!"

Bryce growled at Lynch.

"..."

Lin Xi really wanted to just lie back on the treatment device to avoid Bryce's raging anger.

"I just didn't expect this thing to have such serious sequelae..."

He defended weakly, but even he could hear how guilty he was.

The calming gel stick tastes like a light orange soda, which is cool, delicious, refreshing, and the accompanying pain relief effect is sometimes more useful than its sedative effect.

And in Lin Xi's memory, he may have taken a little bit more than the prescribed dose—but not enough to cause negative effects.