mother of all races

It is very painful to be forcibly awakened from a deep sleep.

Lynch managed to open his eyes under Jerry's jostling, he was dead tired and his mind was racing.

Even though Jerry's bearded face dangled in front of him, his lips parted and closed and he yelled something loudly, but in that short dozen minutes, what appeared in Lin Xi's mind was still Those scenes in the dream—the translucent fetal sac slowly congealed in the endless darkness and the densely packed insect eggs inside; strange monsters multiplying and spreading on one planet after another; huge insects landed in front of him; Countless humanoid or non-human creatures turned into translucent thick paste little by little, and then were sucked by monstrous deformed insects, and the last picture left in his mind was the most terrifying.

He dreamed of an incomparably terrifying huge insect, the part that should have been a hard carapace was covered by pale human skin, and the insect was poking his shoulder with its forelimbs, flashing huge and terrifying compound eyes , asked pitifully, "Am I... ugly?".

"Dr. Lin Xi—Dr. Lin Xi—you wake up! Something happened last night!"

It was as if the broken TV had finally returned to normal, and his mind was slowly becoming clear.

Finally, Lin Xi vaguely realized what Jerry was talking about.

"what happened?"

He rubbed his painfully swollen temples and muttered repeatedly.

"Something happened..."

"When was the last time you saw Francis? What was it like?"

Jerry asked urgently.

Lin Xi looked at him blankly, and he rubbed his forehead and replied in a daze:

"The last time I saw him? Of course it was last night... I was too tired to notice his movements. I fell asleep before I could finish taking off the survey suit. What happened to him?"

"he died."

Jerry said to Lin Xi simply and clearly.

Through the helmet of the exploration suit, his expression was sad and comical behind the mask.

"Francis... what? Francis is dead?!"

"Yes, Francis is dead, and so is Stephen."

Lin Xi finally woke up completely.

He looked around in disbelief, as if Francis could be seen here again in the next second.

The tent was as dimly lit as it was before he fell asleep, and everything was in its original position, just as Lin Xi saw before he fell asleep due to overtiredness, there was no trace of another person's use in the entire tent .

"Oh, my God, what's going on here?" Lin Xi hurriedly put on the exploration suit, and hurriedly followed Jerry out of the spherical tent.

According to the time recorded on the personal terminal, the outside world should have already dawned at this time, but the temporary camp located deep in the cave is still as dark and cold and quiet as eternal night.Only in the open space between the spherical tents and the tents, the cold light lamps placed by humans emit faint blue light.The rest of the exploration team had already woken up. They were lingering uneasy somewhere not far from the spherical tent. The scene was a bit noisy. Even if they couldn't see their expressions clearly, they could feel the atmosphere of restlessness and panic shrouding the surrounding area. On this group of people.And when they saw Lin Xi walking towards them right behind Jerry, everyone's whispering stopped for a moment.Some people hesitated to speak, while others stared at Lin Xi vigilantly. The atmosphere suddenly became solemn, but at this moment Lin Xi didn't pay much attention to these things.

He had seen those people when he was close to them——by the light of the cold light, the orange color of the exploration suit appeared from the gaps in the crowd, Lin Xi walked over without hesitation, and then he walked over in the crowd The two bodies were seen in the middle.

"May God bless them and rest in peace."

Lin Xi heard Jerry whisper behind him.Although he had just seen the scene before, Jerry still looked a little pale when he came to the two corpses again.

What a horrible death that was.

Francis didn't even have the shape of his skull, and Stephen seemed to be thrown into a large meat grinder and whipped briefly before being dragged out.Lin Xi first checked Stephen's body. From the chest down, all the internal organs and muscles seemed to have been opened from the inside to the inside.The blood soaked the rock under the corpse, and it had turned into a thick black at this time.

Scattered fragments of corpses were scattered all over the ground, the black ones were viscera, red muscles, and the pink ones were blood-soaked bone fragments and teeth.

But compared with Francis, Stephen's corpse didn't seem to be that bad.

Lin Xi took a deep breath to calm himself down, but he forgot that the parts used to filter the air in his exploration suit were on the verge of being scrapped, and he faintly smelled a disgusting stench, which made his body suddenly Tremble.

Lin Xi's face was gloomy. He had to force himself to calm down and face the corpse.But that feeling was really terrible. The person who was silently staring at Lin Xi with scorching eyes yesterday had turned into a rotting mass of rotten flesh whose shape was hard to recognize.

No, maybe rotten flesh isn't quite the right word to describe its corpse either.

To be correct, Francis' body was close to half melting.

Lin Xi used a metal stick to gently poke the part of his body that was exposed outside the severely damaged exploration suit, and then found that Francis' muscles and bones were in a strange state—they were soft It was sticky, almost like a few pieces of dark red jelly that had failed to be made, barely maintaining its shape with the outermost layer of skin.

Lin Xi only touched the corpse a little, and black and red blood mixed with this "meat sauce" gurgled out from the wound.

A few very small alien insects were greedily lying on Francis' blood and sucking non-stop, but after sensing Lin Xi's approach, they turned around very quickly and swished into his body. Into a crevice of rock somewhere in the dark.

It wasn't until this time that Lin Xi finally realized what was wrong in his heart since he woke up until now.

are bugs.

He suddenly raised his head and looked at the cave wall.

The rocks that should have been densely packed with terrifying insects are now bare, and the rough rocks containing a little quartz reflect fine reflections under the illumination of the searchlights, and sporadic sporadic light can be heard occasionally in places where the lights cannot shine. The sound of several small insects climbing and moving.

"Those bugs—"

"When we woke up, those bugs were gone." Jerry said softly beside Lin Xi, "The storm outside should have stopped, I think."

After mentioning the bug, some hesitant voices came from the communication channel.

"...poor Francis...poor Stephen...the bugs attacked them, didn't they?"

Among the survivors, a young girl murmured cautiously.

"Is there anything other than bugs? Is this something humans can do?" A voice spoke before Lin Xi could answer.

Lin Xi turned her head and looked at that person.

"Walker, you better fucking shut up."

Jerry spoke before Lin Xi: "We don't have anything now—"

"Is there no warning monitor?"

Lin Xi couldn't help asking.

"Our equipment is lost." Someone answered him weakly, "But in order to avoid accidents, we set up monitoring outside the tent yesterday, but there was no sign of those monitoring facilities being triggered from the beginning to the end..."

"That kind of monster-like bug only needs to wriggle its body into the tent, and then drag the human beings out of it to feast on it. It won't touch the security facilities at all."

Walker interjected, and then he made a vulgar gesture to Lynch.

"Walker!"

Jerry sounded another warning.

However, perhaps it was the deaths of his companions one after another that made Walker's mental state worse, or since the exploration mission began, Jerry's respect for Lin Xi was regarded as partiality, and Walker became more and more dissatisfied.

Walker ignored Jerry.

He continued to question Lin Xi aggressively.

"Dr. Lin Xi, it was your idea to set up camp in this damn place. Didn't you say that these bugs hiding from the storm in the cave would not attack humans? But now, look at the ghostly appearance of Francis and Stephen, Hell, they'd probably rather die in that storm—"

"Do not……"

Lin Xi interrupted him.

"Not bugs."

He shook his head.

"If it was bugs, they would never let me take off my survey suit and drag Francis away. At least before I accidentally fell asleep, Francis had not had time to untie his equipment."

Lin Xi said this, and looked back at Francis' body with a frown.

The dead man was indeed still wearing a survey suit—but the helmet had been cracked long ago, turning into several pieces and falling not far from the corpse.

"But……"

Walker twitched the corners of his lips, and the "but" didn't follow up after a while.

At this time, Lin Xi pointed to the smeared blood on Stephen's mouth and nose. Under the illumination of the searchlight, the dried blood stained purple-black.

"As for Stephen, maybe he left the tent on his own initiative...maybe."

As Lin Xi spoke, he used a metal stick to push away the blood clots on Steve's face. His movements were very gentle, but even so, as the blood clots were peeled off, a large piece of loose flesh also fell off. .A huge gray and purple-red hollow suddenly appeared in the middle of Stephen's face.

"His entire respiratory system is corroded. Only breathing heavily—"

Jerry stepped forward, looked at the location Lin Xi pointed to, and then he murmured.

"Whatever happened, when he left the tent, he was alive."

That's why the toxic atmosphere in the cave corroded Stephen's respiratory system so badly.

"He has the same problem with his physical body."

Lin Xi pointed to Stephen's eyes that were also corroded.

"Wait, you're saying Stephen left the tent consciously? He was still breathing and his eyes were open at the time—he did it on his own initiative?"

Someone couldn't help asking, the voice was full of confusion.

The rest of the people also suppressed the discomfort and came over. They were somewhat dubious, but after observing Stephen's horrific corpse, they had to agree with Jerry and Lin Xi's analysis.

But if it wasn't those horrible bugs that killed Francis and Stephen, what would it be?Thinking of this, the surviving members of the exploration team all shivered and shuddered.

The deaths of those two men are a terrible mystery.

Maybe they will get a satisfactory answer if they continue to explore, but even an idiot can predict that just exploring this matter itself is enough to make the already panic-stricken exploration team even more uneasy.

"Whatever is killing them, we need to get out of here as soon as possible."

Jerry stood up from the body, his voice suddenly stern.

"We are running out of supplies, especially oxygen and fresh water. I feel sorry for Stephen and Francis, but the priority is to keep us alive - and we have to contact the Helios as soon as possible. I think the people on the ship Must be insane. As for other things... we can wait until we are out of danger ourselves."

Jerry deliberately played down the deaths of Francis and Stephen.

Under Jerry's order, the remaining exploration team began to pack up supplies and prepare to leave here in shock.

No one wanted to stay here any longer... In the extremely dark environment, maybe the monster that had swallowed the lives of two people was still parked in a corner, quietly spying on them?

Almost everyone has the same fear at the back of their mind.

Of course, Lin Xi was no exception, but when he packed things for the dead Francis, he still felt a little difficult to breathe.And this difficulty in breathing, Lin Xi is sure that it is not because of the fault of the damn breathing filter system.

His chest was unnaturally heavy, and he began to echo clues from last night.

He was in a deep sleep... oh, of course...

In the process, Francis seems to have tried to wake him up?

Is that a dream, or something that actually existed?

If that's true...whether...Francis was asking him for help...

"Hey, Dr. Lynch."

Jerry suddenly walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder

"Don't think too much." He looked at Lin Xi, his eyes were a little unclear, "...I don't think Francis would like to see you so sad."

Lin Xi choked up suddenly.He knew right away what Jerry meant.

"No, you all misunderstood, I'm just... a little sorry. You know, Francis is a good man."

Jerry smiled.

"...No matter who they are, they will die for you after all."

His voice suddenly became a little hoarse, and then he said.

"what?"

Lin Xi suddenly opened his eyes wide, and he looked at Jerry in disbelief.

But Jerry didn't show any abnormality.

"Francis is a good man." He repeated his previous sentence completely, as if he hadn't noticed that he had said such a strange and ominous sentence to Lin Xi just a few seconds ago.

Lin Xi looked at Jerry, whose face gradually became a little confused, in surprise, and the latter never showed any unusual appearance after that sentence.

Soon, someone called Jerry away from Lin Xi.

Lin Xi turned around and continued to organize the exploration equipment, but her heartbeat never calmed down.

Occasionally, for a few moments, Lin Xi even felt that maybe it was his own problem, that he had auditory hallucinations under pressure.Or, it was just Jerry joking—

Lin Xi's mind became messy, and his oxygen circulation system was still alarming in his ears from time to time, which made him feel more and more upset.

Before leaving, he found Jerry and asked if anyone had brought extra oxygen cycle kits, and he got what he needed.

It's just that, in a sense, the oxygen cycle component is a relic of Francis...

"He's got his survey suit intact, so we took out everything that worked. I don't think you'd mind that, would you?"

The prospecting team member who handed the components to Lin Xi said softly.

"No, of course I don't mind, thank you."

After a slight start, Lin Xi took off the damaged component and replaced it with the one left by Francis.

It's just that after replacing the components, Lin Xi stared at the value on the personal terminal for a while.

If she hadn't repeatedly confirmed that the components were installed correctly, Lin Xi would have thought that there was something wrong with her terminal——

After starting the exploration from the patrol point, and after going through such a hard climb to avoid danger and a series of subsequent big and small troubles, Lin Xi's oxygen reserves have been removed by half.Lin Xi was sure that the oxygen consumption of the survivors in the exploration team should be similar to her own. However, in the group left by Francis... all the oxygen reserves were full.

Lin Xi's frown became tighter and tighter. Seeing that Jerry had already started to form a team, he still involuntarily left the team and came to the side of the two abandoned corpses—he squatted down beside Francis' corpse, and then Press on the device button on the other party's neck.

Lin Xi soon discovered that the oxygen gate on Francis' exploration suit...had not been opened.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Lin Xi murmured to herself.

Lin Xi couldn't believe what he had discovered, and all this seemed to have become more confusing, and he couldn't understand why.

How on earth did Francis do it?

I followed them here without breathing oxygen at all, and inexplicably fell down with another man in the cave and turned into a sad corpse.

"Dr. Lynch, we have to go—"

Jerry shouted behind Lynch.

Lin Xi took a deep breath, he let go of Francis and quickly followed the others.

"I'm sorry. I..." Lin Xi said to Jerry. He was about to tell him what he had discovered before, but the moment he spoke, he thought of Jerry's inexplicable love for him. The words he said.

"I just wanted to say goodbye to him one last time."

Lin Xi changed his words nonchalantly.

Then he turned around and followed the others step by step towards the outside of the cave.

The first part of the road they walked fairly smoothly.

The only problem that may cause trouble is that the road under your feet is a bit too slippery.

In yesterday's spectacular insect swarm, it seemed that some insects liked to secrete mucus, which made the unlucky members of the exploration team suffer a lot.

But then, trouble gradually appeared...the number of bugs staying in the cave is really not small.

This kind of pale, eyeless insect should be the aborigine here. Yesterday, the exploration team never saw them, but now, after leaving the special period, their existence is really not worthy of human beings friendly.

Several people were almost bitten, and small holes appeared in the exploration suits, which were finally covered with adhesive tape.

But in the face of the troubles that followed, whether it was the wet and slippery stone road, or the white blind worms that fell from the rock wall or the ceiling from time to time, it was nothing.

Because their next trouble is—

get lost.

No one knows how this happened.

When they entered this intricate cave, they dropped the marker ball.This kind of marking ball will continuously send electronic waves in place, and the electronic terminal of the exploration team leader will record these waves, and finally convert it into a detailed circuit map and send it to the exploration team leader, who is now in the hands of Jerry.

Under the tense situation yesterday, they probably walked less than five kilometers into the cave and arrived at the campsite.

But now, after a long night's rest, they walked exhausted for a long time...

The entrance to the cave that was supposed to appear never appeared from beginning to end.

And the road under the feet of the exploration team became more and more dangerous. This gloomy and winding passage seemed to be endless. In the end, even the little white bugs gradually disappeared.

In the end, the gap that was originally enough for two people to pass through gradually became very narrow, and in some places it was even so narrow that it was impossible for one person to pass through.

Also, it's very, very dark here.

This kind of blackness seems to be powerful, and the searchlights worn by the exploration team seem to be being swallowed by the gaps in the narrow passage, and are gradually dimming.

And before the fact of being lost was confirmed, Lin Xi had already started to feel that something was wrong.

"Jerry, are you sure this is the right way?"

The more Lin Xi walked, the more strange he became, and he couldn't help asking Jerry.

"That's right, according to the marker ball we're almost there—"

Jerry said to his companion who was already a little uneasy on the communication channel.

"But did we really walk so long yesterday?"

Someone asked in confusion.

"Yesterday we had the help of adrenaline, so we felt that this road was gone quickly. But now there are no bugs walking with us. In the dark and quiet situation, people's judgment of time and space will appear. Mistakes—and restlessness makes them worse. Promise me you won't make them?" There was a strange calm in Jerry's voice.