Taran drummed his fingers lightly on the tabletop.
He stared at the egg case on the table with a strange look. In a very short moment, Lin Xi felt as if he saw a mixture of awe and obsession on Taran's face, but when he looked closely, Taran Ida was still Taran Ida, a complete bastard. His face was pale and his expression was wooden, making it impossible to see what he was thinking.
"The egg case of the star butterfly?"
I don't know how much time passed before he spoke hoarsely.
"How can you be sure that this is the egg case of the star butterfly?"
Then he looked at Shizuo Ando.
"As you mentioned before, the star butterfly is sacred, rare, and has very few records. We can even say that we know nothing about it. Professor Ando, I respect your knowledge very much, and I can swear that this is true. However, if you insist that this is the egg case of the star butterfly, you should at least produce some evidence. Otherwise, considering your relationship with Dr. Lin Xi, it is hard for me to believe that the previous statement was not made up by you to help your colleague exonerate himself."
He spoke as if he was quite sure that it was not a star butterfly egg case.
Ando was stunned, and then a hint of anger appeared on his baby face. He seemed a little offended by Taran's sarcastic speculation.
"Yes, there is basically no record of this mysterious creature in the documents on Earth, but the reason why I put forward that immature speculation is because..." Ando's voice paused, he hesitated for a moment, and then continued, "In fact, it was my wife Liz who told me about the star butterfly egg case. When its photo was transmitted to my cabin, Liz saw its appearance and exclaimed. I couldn't help but ask further, and then I got the answer."
Ando said.
When Liz's name appeared, even Taran couldn't help but choke, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, as if he regretted that he couldn't find other words to continue to criticize.
Lin Xi and Alyssa looked at each other.
Well, since that guess came from Liz...
The true identity of the thing on the table had already been determined in the minds of both of them.
After all, Liz is not someone else.
Liz Chen is now the wife of Shizuo Ando, but she is not just the wife of an Earth researcher.
She is also a Sunu.
Of course, strictly speaking, she is not a pure-blooded Sunu (if that were the case, she would have died in the madness of the Sunu people long ago). She is just a hybrid of Sunu and Earth.
Liz Chen's mother is a senior government official stationed on Sunu, and her father was also a high-ranking person on Sunu, at least before those people were not so crazy. The identities of her parents allowed Liz to grow up normally on Sunu and live to this day - even the "material exchange" between Earthlings and Sunu people is inseparable from the help and operation of her parents on that crazy planet.
When the madness of the Sunu people became more and more serious, she took advantage of this scientific expedition to escape from Sunu on the Apollo, which was tacitly approved by the government.
Of course, no one knows whether her falling in love with and marrying the Earthling Ando Shizuo during the long voyage was also part of some ulterior plan.
Many people have this speculation, but Shizuo Ando doesn't seem to care. He is like the protagonist in a romance novel, deeply in love with his alien wife, and his whole soul is devoted to her.
But no matter what conspiracy theories or rumors there are, no one can deny that Liz Chen's knowledge of Sunu is probably more convincing than the entire crew of the Sun God combined. If she said it was the egg case of a star butterfly, then this thing is the egg case of a star butterfly.
"… If necessary, I can ask Liz to come to the captain's room. I think she can give us a more detailed explanation."
Shizuo Ando tightened his face and said.
The captain's room fell silent again.
Everyone was looking at Taran, waiting for his next response or challenge.
But at this moment, the star butterfly's egg sheath suddenly squirmed in the life-support capsule.
It is now just a huge translucent "pod". The squirming is by no means violent, but it is very obvious in this situation.
"Well… "
Lin Xi jumped back uncontrollably and shivered in fear.
He knew that his action was a bit timid. Normally, he would never show his worthless appearance in front of outsiders. But when the egg sheath moved, he felt something under his skin twitching. This kind of nerve twitching was not uncommon in space, but the timing of its occurrence was too coincidental. Lin Xi subconsciously connected the twitching with the movement of the egg sheath.
In his illusion, the egg sheath seemed to be wriggling inside his body.
Fortunately, he was not the one with the most exaggerated reaction among those present, so he didn't need to feel embarrassed about it.
"boom-"
Taran, who was closest to the star butterfly egg case, was the one who attracted everyone's attention.
He also looked a little frightened, as evidenced by the fact that he accidentally swept the water cup next to him to the ground.
This movement made Lin Xi look at him again, and then Lin Xi was a little surprised to find that Taran looked like he was really scared rather than "a little frightened" - the pale bastard's eyes were staring at the star butterfly egg case on the table with such force, as if the bulging eyeballs were about to fall out of the eye sockets.
Taran's eyes were trembling unnaturally, and Lin Xi even doubted whether he could still focus normally.
But just like usual, it only took a short time for Taran to return to his normal, annoying self.
"No—don't bother Lizzie."
Taran's throat rolled and he spoke hoarsely.
He ignored the water cup that had fallen to the ground, nor did he look at Ando, but stared straight at the egg case on the table.
"Since you all think this is an egg case of a star butterfly... In that case, Professor Ando, can you take good care of it?"
Taran suddenly asked.
Shizuo Ando was stunned for a moment, and then an expression of ecstasy appeared on his face.
"Captain, do you want me to keep this egg case and take care of it?"
The baby-faced man was so excited that his voice was shaking.
Taran, however, had an impatient look on his face, as if he was enduring something, and his breathing became heavier.
"Yes, of course. It's a living alien thing, and it's valuable. We can't just leave it in storage. And you're the only one on the ship who can take care of it—"
(What's more, the Sun is now stranded on a planet whose number and location are completely unknown. The other regular crew members have their own things to do. You bunch of idle scientific researchers should help me solve some problems-)
This is the subtext that Lin Xi added to Taran in his heart.
Of course, even though he was complaining in his heart, facing the overjoyed Ando Shizuo and the increasingly unstable Taran, he remained silent obediently.
"In fact, Dr. Lin Xi also..." However, after hearing Taran's words, Ando subconsciously interrupted and mentioned Lin Xi.
But after seeing Taran's instantly disgusted expression, he quickly changed the subject: "I will take good care of it, I can assure you, sir, I will take good care of it!"
After getting permission, he carefully held the egg case in his arms.
"Of course I fucking know... Damn it..."
Taran was still staring at the egg sac, and he seemed to want to say something else, but as soon as the egg sac was in Ando's arms, Taran suddenly bent down and let out a cry of pain mixed with curses.
"captain?"
"Sir?"
Ando and Alisa both asked in panic.
Whoosh… Whoosh…
A few heavy breaths.
After a long time, Taran rubbed his temple and stood up with difficulty. His eyes were redder than before, and those slender fingers looked so strong that they wanted to insert under the skin.
"It's just a headache."
Taran gasped.
"Now that everything has been resolved, you can all leave."
He said very impatiently.
Of course, the other three people present could see that Taran's condition did not seem to be caused by an ordinary headache. However, Lin Xi really didn't care about Taran's safety, and Ando Shizuo's attention was all on the star butterfly egg case in his arms. The only person who showed concern was Alyssa.
Besides, since Taran had spoken, they had to leave the captain's room quickly.
However, after Ando impatiently left with them outside the captain's room, Alyssa inexplicably talked to Lin Xi about Taran.
“… I thought you knew I didn’t like that guy.”
Lin Xi frowned and said, wondering why Alyssa would bring up this topic.
Alyssa pursed her lips.
She stopped and turned to face Lin Xi.
Her face still looked very bad, and Lin Xi could see that Alyssa herself was hesitating whether she should say the next words.
"I don't know... Lin Xi, I don't know what's going on. Sometimes I also think that maybe there is something wrong with me. After all, this ship and this damn accident have brought too much pressure... I..." Alyssa looked very uneasy, "but the feeling is too strong, I can't convince myself. Lin Xi, Taran is not right, it's really very wrong, but I can't tell others, I'm afraid of affecting other people's morale..."
"I believe no one on this ship likes Taran."
Lin Xi comforted her.
Alyssa shook her head vigorously.
"It has nothing to do with his popularity, but... I don't know how to say it... Something terrible happened to him, and it's still happening." Alyssa suddenly turned her head and looked at the captain's room that had disappeared at the end of the corridor. "You know? Just today, before you and Ando were called over, only Taran and I were in the captain's room, and he suddenly asked me, 'Did you hear that guy scream?'"
"ah?"
Lin Xi frowned even more tightly.
"It sounds really bad. Maybe the guy was also overwhelmed by the pressure? Everyone knows that Taran Ida had been suffering from mental problems before this. Everyone said that this voyage might be his last. According to his previous appearance, he would not be able to pass the next mental standard test. In short, it sounds to me that he just has space delusions."
Lin Xi pretended to be very relaxed and said to Alyssa.
But Alyssa's eyes widened and she looked very scared.
"No… "
Alyssa murmured.
"When he insisted that I listen, I thought... I seemed to... hear some voices."
At this point, Alyssa shuddered, her body softened, and she almost fell to the ground.
“Alyssa!”
Lin Xi quickly hugged her.
Then he found that Alyssa’s whole body was trembling slightly.
"What happened? What did you hear?"
Alyssa looked up at Lin Xi in a trance.
"You...you must be careful during this period, okay?" She said in a trembling voice, "I still can't tell what the hell it was. Maybe I was just scared by Taran's appearance, or maybe... maybe it was something else. I have a bad feeling, very bad."
Thinking of Alyssa’s intuition, Lin Xi’s eyes became more solemn.
"Whose premonition is it? Taran? Me? Or..."
"It's about Taran, and you."
Alyssa murmured weakly.
"And all of us."
She added.