mother of all races

Naturally, this group of temporary exploration teams did not have any particularly deep teammate friendship.

But the loss of nearly one-third of the people at once made all the survivors feel extremely depressed.

The atmosphere inside the dark cave was silent and dignified.

Someone let out a sob through the communication system: "Poor Amber..."

No one agreed with him, and then he quickly quieted down.

In the next short period of time, everyone was trying to calm down their breathing and regain their energy.

During this process, the sound of the wind coming from the hole where several people drilled in became more and more sharp, and many broken stones were wrapped in the airflow and shot in from the hole. Several people had to move their positions because of this. To make matters worse, in a very short time, the previously faintly visible light has now completely disappeared.

Inside this cave, only the spotlights inside the helmets of the exploration team emit a hazy yellow light.

No one dared to imagine what the storm outside would be like today.

Lin Xi glanced at the panic-stricken crowd, and he sighed silently.

The only person who didn't show any uneasiness was probably Francis beside him.

Since the others entered the cave, Francis has been extremely silent.Lin Xi couldn't help but glance at him from time to time, the other's pale, dead-like face always gave Lin Xi a bad feeling.

However, in the face of Lin Xi's whispered inquiries, Francis's reply was always so slow and stiff.

But as long as Lin Xi looks away, the latter's extremely focused gaze will fall on him accurately.

Lin Xi became more and more uncertain about this man's attitude towards her.

He is simply a mysterious man...

Lin Xi couldn't help but think so.

His body was still very weak, and the sense of exhaustion brought about by the wild running before made him involuntarily relax and lean against the rock wall.

But soon, Lin Xi sat up straight, turned sideways and pressed his palms against the cold rock wall.

Immediately afterwards, his brows were tightly knit together.

You know, now they are staying safely in the underground cave, but through the thick and cold stone, Lin Xi can still faintly feel the slight tremors.

"What shall we do next?"

Lin Xi suddenly turned his head to look at Jerry, who suddenly asked.

"I do not know."

He got this answer.

Jerry raised the terminal in his hand.He stared at it for a while and then shook his head: "We have no way to communicate with the outside world, this storm has trapped us here. Everyone check the equipment and report to me. If conditions permit, we can only stay in this ghost place now Until the storm has passed."

He said.

"Are you sure?"

Lynch said.

He pointed to the rock wall beside him: "I think we should go further inside the cave, I don't think it's very secure here."

After a pause, Lin Xi added, "There aren't even bugs here."

"I thought the absence of bugs...maybe it's a good thing for us now?"

Someone muttered beside Lin Xi.

"But we clearly saw those bugs swarming here. This cave is their shelter. If it is really safe here, they should stay here. But now we don't even have a shadow of a bug here. can not see."

Lin Xi frowned and explained.

"Ha, our bug expert has spoken."

A man with a shaved mustache muttered beside him.

Lin Xi frowned and looked at him.

It turned out that the man was the man who kept provoking him in the patrol car before.

Lin Xi glanced at his badge, which said "Beerus Fanka".

Lin Xi frowned in disgust. Some people may be so lucky-they are annoying and reckless, but they are the ones who can survive.

"I just don't want more people to die inexplicably in this mission."

Lin Xi didn't explain much but left this sentence coldly.

"Shut up, Beerus, if it weren't for Dr. Lin Xi's fog lights, we would be here to mourn you by now."

Jerry said to Birus impatiently.

However, probably because of the excitement brought about by his escape from the dead, Beerus was more eager to provoke others than before.

He rolled his eyes at Jerry, not seeming to care about the captain.

However, Birus obviously didn't realize that Lin Xi and Jerry were not the only ones who showed obvious dislike for his words and deeds... and Francis as well.

The man who was more taciturn than ever had already raised his eyes and looked at him coldly when Beerus spoke the first sentence in a high-pitched voice.

And when Lin Xi told Birus to shut up, but the latter didn't care at all, Francis' eyes had turned into a kind of indifferent coldness.

Then there was a whistling caused by the storm over the rock crevice, and something... slowly wriggled out of the darkness.

"Oh, really, I think—"

Beerus subconsciously opened his mouth and wanted to continue to mock Lin Xi, but his voice suddenly turned into a scream.

In the darkness, Lin Xi could barely see something falling from the top of the cave.

It landed right on the back of the chattering Beerus.

Birus jumped up from the ground, and then he lay straight on the ground again. He kept rolling on the floor, and the scream quickly turned into a continuous scream.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhin

At this moment, everyone except Francis was stunned.

"Turn on the searchlights!"

Jerry yelled at the others.

It's just that under the circumstances of the accident, it took a long time for people to find the switch of the searchlight.

With the bright light coming on, the thing on Beerus' back also fell into people's eyes.

"My God, what the hell is this!"

Several survey team members were caught off guard by the hideous face of the thing, and the searchlights in their hands flashed randomly, and they subconsciously took a few steps back.

That's a bug.

But no one has ever seen such a bug.

It looked like a chopped-off earthworm—or rather, that creepy-looking lamprey sea creature.

But compared to similar creatures on the earth, its appearance is thousands of times uglier.

A thick green viscous liquid kept coming out from its fractured cross-section, and as soon as the liquid touched Beerus' skin, it began to bubble up fine bubbles, obviously they were highly corrosive.

On the other side of the worm-like creature, there are circles of fine silver needle-like thorns.

Now, those thorns are firmly stuck on Biluosi's back.

Lin Xi saw with her own eyes that its tip was opening outwards like a sea anemone, and a dark purple tongue-like thing directly pierced Beerus's exploration suit, and then got under the skin, and continued to linger inside his body. Stir.

A murmur of squeaking and wetness came out amid Birus' screams.

Blood mixed with minced flesh spurted from the monster's wound on Beerus' back.

"Come on, we have to hold him down!"

Lin Xi had no choice but to rush forward, and he hugged Beerus who was constantly rolling and convulsing because of the extreme pain.

"Take something and pull this thing out!"

he yelled at the others, who were petrified.

The worm-like and python-like monster was still jumping around on Beerus' body.

Several times, it almost jumped on Lin Xi.

"careful!"

"Dr. Lynch—attention!"

Someone screamed in fright.

"Fuck, pull this thing out—"

Lin Xi himself was disgusted by that monster, he roared again.

Jerry is already a senior member of the exploration team, and he has seen a lot of disgusting things on the planets he has been to before.

But even the most disgusting creature in the universe, the sticky, greedy and bloodthirsty Martian leech, is not as terrifying as the unknown creature in front of him.

"Mechanical pliers—give me the pliers—"

He shouted, following Lin Xi's pace, he also rushed towards Beerus.

Fortunately, during the panic-stricken escape, several people didn't even have time to drop the heavy equipment on their backs.

They found the mechanical pliers in the backpack and threw them to Jerry.

Jerry quickly fitted his arm with mechanical clamps, and he firmly pinched the mechanical clamps on the monster's head (if it was really a head), but he had already exerted his strength, so the The root monster is still greedily attached to Beerus' body.

Even the rescue of Birus by others only made Birus' screams louder than before.

During this process, the person who felt the pain of Birus most deeply was probably Lin Xi himself, after all, he had been firmly pressing on the man's leg.

If time could be turned back, Lin Xi can say with certainty that she would never do the same thing.

The reason is not only because of Beerus... but also because of that monster...

Lin Xi didn't expect that his actions would bring him into this situation. He had close contact with that monster.

In addition to the monster's "tail" sticking in his face and frantically swinging it back and forth, the monster's "head" was also trying hard to arch towards Lin Xi's side.

"Someone fucking drag it off Beerus!"

Lin Xi watched helplessly as the clothes on Birus' waist gradually bulged upwards, and then spread out with a sound of stinky mucus. The terrifying head of the monster sea anemone directly burrowed from Birus' body like that. out.

At that moment, everything seemed to be in slow motion.

Lin Xi looked at the thing in shock.

No eyes, no nose.

Only the "mouth" divided into countless petals and the slender spikes all over its body surface.

And it is like a threatened cobra on the earth, unfolding all the spikes on its body.

Then, it twisted continuously in an S shape in front of Lin Xi's nose.

Although that state lasted only for a short moment—but Lin Xi always felt that he might see the scene in front of him in nightmares for the rest of his life.

"Ahhh-"

Immediately afterwards, the monster suddenly revealed its terrifying mouthparts in front of Lin Xi.

"boom--"

It was a gunshot.

Already petrified, Lin Xi watched the monster's head turn into a mass of splashed flesh and blood in front of her eyes.

Then, he watched Francis come to his side, then raised his gun and shot Birus.

Lin Xi felt Birus' body soften in his arms, and then slowly slid down.

However, the sad corpse in front of him did not completely calm down because of death.

"Crack...crack..."

The monster attached to Beerus' body was still very active even after it lost its head and its prey died. Its tail was constantly oozing green mucus (maybe also blood) and slapped on the ground. , made a loud sound.And judging from its movements, it seemed that it was still trying to come towards Lin Xi unwillingly.

"Bang bang bang-"

Francis' pupils constricted, and he kept his previous posture for several consecutive gunshots. Under the action of the bullets, the monster's body turned into a splash of fleshy mud.

Some of the shattered human viscera that it had crushed and swallowed slipped out of the bluish gut.

Lin Xi looked at the scene in front of him in astonishment, and instinctively, he looked at Francis involuntarily.

The latter's lips were tight, his face was cold, and his pupils...under the illumination of the helmet lights, his pupils showed an almost inorganic, cold yellow.

——Maybe it was really his illusion, but Lin Xi still felt that Francis seemed to be in a mood close to rage now.

"Huh...huh...huh..."

At that moment, just after Francis fired his shot, calm was briefly restored inside the cave.In the deathly silence, only the heavy breathing of Lin Xi and Jerry echoed on the communication channel.

But Francis, who shot to end the horror scene, looked indifferently like an outsider.

He didn't pay much attention to Beerus, but stared at the mess on the ground, the monster that made people feel acid reflux for a while just looking at it.

Then, he slowly put the gun back to his waist, and then he stretched out his hand, wrapped around Lin Xi's arm forcefully, and helped him up from the ground.

For a long time Lin Xi's mind was blank, he let Francis focus on his body, he wanted to say "it's okay" to the worried man, but his lips and tongue seemed to be stuck In the mouth, not a word can come out.

As for Francis, he quickly withdrew his hand after helping Lin Xi up.

But seeing Lin Xi's dazed look, his eyes flickered for a moment, and he slowly put his hand back on Lin Xi's arm, looking as if he wanted to continue to support Lin Xi who was exhausted.

Even through the gloves of the survey suit, Lin Xi could feel the coldness of Francis' hand. Feeling the weak force of that man on her arm, Lin Xi pursed her lips, but did not ask him to let go.

"God..."

Until this time, no one murmured after Fransey.

"You killed, you killed Beerus?"

The man stammered and said to Francis, he looked at his former companion, and he still hasn't recovered from the chaotic and terrifying scene before.

"Do not……"

Jerry spoke instead of Francis.

At the same time that Francesy was indifferent for a year, but hesitated to help Lin Xi or withdraw his hand, Jerry also checked Beerus's body for the first time.

He used a probe stick to rummage through Birus' limp corpse, and his face gradually turned livid.

"Beerus should have died long ago."

he said to the others.

Then he used the mechanical pliers to pull the shattered monster out of Beerus' body.

He tentatively touched the monster with the mechanical pliers.

"Ah ah ah - it hurts - ah ah ah - it hurts -"

This is how the chilling thing happened.

The undead monster, which looked as if it was dead, opened its ring-shaped mouth and let out a scream exactly like Beerus'.

—Yes, just as Jerry found it.

In fact, Beerus was already dead.

Maybe it was when the monster smashed his internal organs with its tongue, maybe it was earlier.

But what is frightening is that the man with the moustache is not the only target of this monster for dinner. It put itself in Beerus's body, rolled over and imitated the man's voice, just Waiting for someone else to save him, and then...

Then it gets more fresh and well-meaning flesh and blood.

"Well……"

After thinking this through, Lin Xi let out a muffled snort.

He subconsciously wanted to cover his mouth to prevent himself from spitting it out.

No matter what this monster is, it is one of the most disgusting things Lin Xi has seen so far.

"What the hell is this?"

A survey team made a trembling sound.

"Who knows."

Jerry was silent for a long time before answering.

Then he turned to look at Lin Xi.

To be honest, he was a little strange. According to his speculation, when he was pressing Beerus' body at such a close range, the monster should have attacked Lin Xi directly.

And the monster could have done it - but it just stayed there, swaying from side to side, not so much as a prelude to an attack, but more like... more like some kind of attention grabber Methods?

Oh man, what the hell was he thinking?

Jerry suddenly returned to God, and then he smiled wryly because of the things he thought before.

He probably really went crazy to think that the monster's actions before dying were more like acting like a baby-maybe he was indeed affected by the rumors that were widely circulated on the Helios before.

And when Jerry looked at Lin Xi in confusion, Francis suddenly took a step forward and blocked Lin Xi.

He gave Jerry a cold look.

Jerry shuddered.

He quickly withdrew his gaze.

The man's expressionless face would probably give people a very uncomfortable feeling in normal times, but now—now he looks a little scary.

It's not very good to say Francis, but with the crisis of this exploration mission, Jerry always felt that this man who seemed to have no negative influence at all became more and more frightening...

"Thank you, Francis, for your timely fire."

Jerry collected himself, forced himself to calm down his chaotic thoughts, and then he said to Francis.

"You're welcome."

Francis paused slightly before he addressed Jerry.

……

The exploration team placed Beerus's body and the monster's body at both ends of the cave respectively.

There was no funeral, not even a moment of silence.

After such a terrifying episode, no one wanted to stay here even without Lin Xi's persuasion.

After all, if there is already such a monster falling from the sky without warning, then there is a high possibility that there will be a second one, and a third one-no one would think that after witnessing the horrific death of Beerus. To challenge this possibility.

Everyone unanimously agreed that they would go deeper into the rock crevices, and then find a safer place, at least a place without too many weird monsters, and rest for the night.

And out of a subtle tacit understanding, this time, Lin Xi and Francis walked in the front position of the team.

Judging from the feeling of the body, this rock peak seems to be winding down.As they advanced, the temperature became lower and lower, and the air became more and more cloudy.

But as they walked, gradually, traces of insects appeared on the rock wall—just like what Lin Xi said before.

Finally, after they struggled to climb through a winding passage, a wide spherical space below suddenly appeared in front of their eyes.However, almost at the same time they saw this place, Lin Xi's air circulation system started ticking the alarm again.Lin Xi silently turned off the alarm. He glanced at the personal terminal, and the button representing the air filter turned dazzling red. At the same time, the smell of the outside air that had not been completely cleaned gradually permeated Lin Xi In the mouth and nose.

Here's a...

The smell of bugs.

Lin Xi didn't know how to describe that smell, but as soon as he smelled that hardly pleasant smell, he knew that they might have arrived at the right destination.

He made a gesture, and the people behind him slowed down in unison.

Only Francis, as if he didn't notice Lin Xi's gesture at all, stepped forward first.

"Francis? Wait—"

Lin Xi shouted subconsciously.

Francis stopped immediately, he stood obediently not far from Lin Xi and then turned around.

"It's a bug."

he said softly.

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a rustling sound.

With him as the center of the circle, the ground that everyone thought was pure black moved... Lin Xi looked at the ground with a pale face. In his sight, the light gray rock surface was exposed little by little. Looking at it suddenly, it seems that a thick black-brown carpet is retreating by itself.

That is countless unknown tiny insects wriggling, and those hundreds of millions of small insects receded from the place where humans stepped on like a tide.

This scene is really not friendly to the fragile nerves of human beings.

The people behind Lin Xi gasped in unison after seeing the scene in front of them.

"We... we fell into the nest of bugs..."

Someone was muttering stiffly.

And before he had time to stop it, someone had just raised the searchlight and shone it above the spherical hole.

At this moment, in the darkness deep in the cave, countless small lights suddenly lit up.

It is the reflection of light by the eyes of countless insects.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of fluttering wings spread in the cave like a tide, and the black "mist" slowly diffused from the top of the cave.

But everyone knew that it wasn't a "black mist" at all, but... bugs.

No one can tell how many insects there are, just as no one can know how wide the cave is-and how many kinds of insects the black and brown they can see come from.

If that wasn't bad enough, the prospectors soon learned that things could always get worse.

For example, when they shot those searchlights at those bugs, they also successfully attracted those bugs to fly to them.

The scene in front of me was simply horrifying.

"Oops!"

"Oh no--"

The other members of the exploration team were seriously frightened, and they raised their weapons immediately.

Lin Xi only felt that her internal organs seemed to tighten in an instant——

"Turn off the lights, all lights off! Don't shoot! Don't turn on the lights!"

Lin Xi sternly stopped those people's actions.

He even stretched out his hand directly and knocked the searchlights of the people behind him out of their hands.

Perhaps it was because they suffered too much horror before this, but this time God finally loved them.

At least before those swarms reached them, everyone turned off the lights.

The sound of the wings vibrating did not disappear immediately with the light.Bugs were approaching them... and with no lights and no vision, it felt utterly terrifying.

Only Lin Xi opened his eyes wide in confusion in this darkness.

He's pretty sure he's seeing pitch blackness, he shouldn't see anything in theory - and he doesn't see anything.

But how does that explain his "feeling"?

That kind of feeling... as if you know all the bugs in this cave like the back of your hand...

Lin Xi closed her eyes.

But in his mind, the existence of those bugs was so vivid.

Even their vague and chaotic emotions became crystal clear.

"These bugs won't hurt us."

After a long time, Lin Xi said softly in a hoarse voice.

"But they don't look very friendly."

someone muttered.

He remembered the black "smoke" that flew toward them.

"That's because we're disturbing them, and there shouldn't be light in this kind of place."

Lin Xi whispered softly.

He seems to be explaining to the few prospecting team members who are still in shock, and it seems that he is simply talking to himself.

"Here, all the bugs will coexist peacefully, and there will never be any slaughter—only when there is light, they will be aroused by the biological instinct."

At this moment, Lin Xi's eyes showed a kind of hollow black in the darkness, and the pupils had dilated to the limit, so that only a thin circle of brown irises remained.

It's a pity that all the lights... including the yellow spotlight inside the helmet have been turned off.

In the absolute darkness, only someone can see Lin Xi's current appearance.

However, for Lin Xi's current appearance, there is only surging obsession and attachment in his heart.

"Lin Xi..."

He tapped his teeth and kept licking the name on the tip of his tongue.

The human body is heavy, clumsy, fragile, almost useless.

Only their soft skin and dexterous tongue make it feel very envious.

"Dr. Lin Xi, are we really going to stay here? Surrounded by so many bugs?"

Lin Xi was brought back to his senses by the flustered questioning of other members of the exploration team.

He froze for a moment, and then responded in a trance.

"Of course. I can assure you they won't hurt you—"

After saying this, even Lin Xi couldn't help being startled.

"After all, there are still a lot of strange rumors on the ship. It seems that many of them are emphasizing that I can manipulate bugs..."

"We're sorry, Dr. Lynch."

"Those are just rumors..."

Soon, Lin Xi's words were overwhelmed by the shameful apologies of others.

Although there are people like Beerus who are completely ungrateful, normal people still account for the majority in the exploration team.

They took everything that Lin Xi did in the storm before into their hearts.

"Okay... At this time, you have the right to treat those rumors as true. It's very safe here, and we really need to make time to rest."

"Yes, what we need most now is to rest. And to find a way to survive."

Jerry took his word for it.

Follow the records on the personal terminal.

In fact, the group of them has already exceeded the scheduled activity several times... Not to mention, the storm and the devastation of monsters along the way, everyone's spirit and body have reached their limits.

Under Jerry's arrangement, the surviving people found a small flat place in a corner of the cave and settled down step by step.

The spherical self-inflating tent is carefully fixed on the rock wall.

It's just that because of the loss of equipment, the survivors had to share the few remaining tents with their companions.

Intentionally or unintentionally, Lin Xi and Francis were assigned together.

Lin Xi: "..."

The sealing and filtration system that comes with the dome tent allowed Lin Xi to take off his already scarred exploration suit inside.

In Lin Xi's plan, he should settle himself down and find a way to repair the damn survey suit, and then he has to brace himself to face that man with a weird and unpredictable attitude that makes people completely puzzled.

But plans are always just plans.

Lin Xi didn't even have time to pull her feet out of the survey suit, and fell into a dark and deep sleep.

The moment Francis stepped into the tent, he saw Lin Xi's tired and pale sleeping face.

His eyes flickered instantly.

"Lin... Xi..."

Francis walked slowly towards Lin Xi.

After confirming his deep sleep, he almost couldn't wait to reach out and caress Lin Xi's cheek.

But right away he found that he was still wearing the extremely obstructive survey suit.

Fransey took off the old and ugly skin from her body without any hesitation.

It will be a long time later that he will realize how reckless what he did in the tent today - Lin Xi just fell into a deep sleep, not a coma.If there is a little accident, he may wake up at any time, and then he will see the strangeness of Francis.

What a terrifying face that was.

Lin Xi always involuntarily cares about how pale the face belonging to Francis is behind the mask when he is awake. His worry and concern are both right, because under the cover of the exploration suit, all he has is his face that looks pale. Belonging to human beings—it’s just that the face is now firmly stuck in the helmet of the exploration suit, and through the mimicry on the scales, it looks like a real human being.

And now, how frightening is the person snuggling beside Lin Xi—that monster?

In the huge compound eyes are countless small round eyeballs similar to human pupils, the huge triangular face is flat, and the surface is covered with a thin layer of flesh-colored human skin, through which you can even see to clear, vascular veins.

But this layer of skin is wrapped on the surface of the skull of a huge carnivorous insect.

It has a human nose—unfortunately no bridge or wings, just two flesh-colored hollows embedded in the center of the head.There are huge mouthparts below, and there are fine teeth all over the hideous and crooked mouthparts, some are like thin white bone needles, but more are sharp human canines.

As for its purple tongue...slender and soft, it can be said that it was the part he spent the most time in the process of pupation, and it was also the part he was most satisfied with.

After all, only with the help of such a dexterous tongue and newborn vocal cords, he was able to barely learn human words and sentences in the previous interaction.

Beneath this terrifying head was Francis' body.Well, again, his body has similar problems as his head.

It could even be said...his body seemed to have more problems than his head.Because from the appearance point of view, what he has is a complete, ferocious arthropod insect body, but it happens that the surface of such a body is covered with pale and smooth skin unique to humans.This strange combination made him look even more disgusting than a pure insect.

Not to mention, he also has such a pair of huge wings curled up on his bony back,

The brightly colored circular blobs flickered rapidly along the edges of the translucent wings.

Yes, it's an ugly...human-insect hybrid.

francis...

No, a more correct name should be "Number One", and she doesn't feel anything wrong with her current appearance.

He was immersed in joy, he stretched out his wings, and then gently covered Lin Xi's body.