After a long, long time...
When Arthur mentioned those days to other members of the family, he would always show a wry smile.
It is certain that those days were very important for Lin Xi and Xavier, but it was quite difficult for Arthur.
The new nest that Xavier promised to Lin Xi was built quickly—considering Xavier's current physical condition, this was a matter of course.
Xavier easily used his modified sharp forelimbs to dig out a new nest with a complex structure inside the original cave.
Not only that, it also re-fortified the entrance to the cave.
Even if another storm hits, the hole that has been reinforced with special secretions and gravel will not have any chance of collapse.
As for the goods left by humans, they were placed in another room. After sorting, their number was only one-third of the original. Not to mention Lin Xi, even Arthur felt very sorry.
Of course, compared to the original external cave, Xavier spent the most time on the new nest it dug.
It was a vast project that could be called a miracle (for this reason, Xavier even had to shed his blunted forelimb shells every three or four days). Under the complex structure, the nest was extremely spacious and extremely closed, with countless intricate details. The vents ensure humidity and ventilation, and also fix the temperature of the nest at an exceptionally warm value.
The climate of planet as192 that is particularly suitable for the growth of insects also did it a big favor, and it quickly built a perfect nursery.
Of course, the most comfortable area in this cave before an important procedure can also be called... the wedding room.
The significance of this stone chamber is so great that Xavier did not even let Arthur touch this area. Everything was dug by him himself.
Throughout the entire process of building the nest, Arthur vaguely felt that there was some kind of change that he couldn't understand between Xavier and Lin Xi...
The most obvious of which is that Arthur often finds himself being chased out of the cave by Xavier. It will be asked to collect materials from the surroundings, and will also be asked to collect human belongings from the ruins of the Helios... But to Arthur, these tasks seem to be purely to prevent it from staying in the cave.
Even Lin Xi, who had always doted on it, did not comfort it as before when faced with this situation...
Of course, Arthur didn't know that Lin Xi and Xavier's current behavior was purely for Arthur's safety.
At least in Lin Xi's memory, there was almost nothing more violent and dangerous than a male alien that was building a nest and courting a mate.
And the special union that he and Xavier were about to usher in would hardly allow the existence of another male alien species.
It's just that these things are still a bit too complicated for Arthur now.
For example, on the day the lair was built, Arthur had to face a particularly cruel order...
It was ordered to leave its new, beautiful, and warm nest and stay somewhere else for several days.
Of course, in Lin Xi's words, let it go somewhere else to relax.
"... You have worked hard during this period. You are free to hunt some fresh prey, and you can also explore other areas... After everything is completed, you can come back. At that time, you will be safer than now, and It won’t be so lonely.”
Lin Xi stroked its wings with a subtle expression, and the words she told it seemed to be in her ears...
But Arthur would not forget how behind Lin Xi, Xavier, who seemed more impatient than usual, looked at it.
Xavier is terrifying and seems more disgusted than ever with Arthur's presence.
But even so…
After Arthur flew around outside, he flew back involuntarily.
However, after it flew back, it discovered that the entrance to the cave had been completely sealed by special mucus and countless fine stones.
“…”
Arthur walked around the closed cave entrance several times before slowly finding a place to lie down.
It can vaguely feel the scent of Xavier and Lin Xi (both of their smells are now extremely strong, and there is also a vague sense of strange hormones). It is obvious that they were there after sealing the cave. head.
In fact, from time to time, Arthur could hear some sporadic sounds coming from inside.
Arthur listened quietly to the sound inside, and a strange feeling of anxiety seemed to affect it.
"Hiss... Lin Xi... Hiss, hiss... Xavier..."
It hissed to each other, but neither man within it paid any attention to it.
So it had no choice but to squat on the stone and read a notebook that it had brought out before.
Lin Xi said that if Arthur wants to return to Earth, he needs to learn human language like Xavier.
Arthur was also working hard at the thought of Lin Xi taking it back to Earth.
However, since the TV and movie player was smashed in the storm, the only thing it can use to learn human writing is the various materials and notes left by the crew of the Helios in the wreckage.
What it holds in its hands now is a record of Sunu culture from Professor Ando.
This book is quite esoteric and not really suitable for reading, but Arthur doesn't know this.
It opened the book, stretched out its insect limbs, clicked on the words on it, and read word by word.
Coincidentally, what it was looking at at this moment was the star butterfly and insect marriage scene recorded by the Sunu people.
…
... According to the records of the ancients, the mating of star butterflies has a complex and difficult-to-understand procedure.
Especially when both parties to the insect marriage are star butterflies, the entire process of the insect marriage will become more complicated...
Because of the gradual extinction of star butterflies in modern times, the most detailed records we can find so far come from 400 years ago. A Sunu priest who was extremely adventurous had a glimpse of the most sacred insect marriage at that time. He was subsequently executed, but before his death, he still left a detailed confession...
… The union of Star Butterfly and Star Butterfly is filled with a large number of dances and chants. The musical spectrum of each sound is difficult for humans to describe and hear, and can only be recorded through specific sacrificial artifacts. Sometimes this sound is not even made of air as a medium...
Instead, it is transmitted through the mats laid inside the wedding room, the secretions covering the surface of the female, and the large amounts of jewelry and metal collected by the male to please the female...
After completing the long and complex chant, the males will begin a series of dances, with their wrinkled wings fully extended and flashing with a variety of markings and colors.
At this stage, anyone who directly sees a star butterfly's wings is likely to be driven crazy by those shining markings. People on earth still have no scientific theory to explain the cause of this madness... Of course, considering that the most recent records are all from 400 years ago, and the subject of the narrative is a priest who is about to be executed, the scene it depicts is extremely Most likely it was just an illusion or conjecture that it spoke out of fear.
… After the dance and singing are completed, coral-like scent organs will slowly poke out from the roots of the male's wings, and the scent organs will secrete a large amount of fragrance that makes the female insects feel happy and dizzy.
Before that, the dance of male insects was most likely to emit the fragrance from the scent device through flapping its wings and affect the female insects. This smell is quite long-lasting. Until about a month, the female star butterfly will still maintain this strong smell. This mechanism can very well drive away any potential competitors... Immediately afterwards, the male will Slowly approach the female as she hovers and flies in front of her.
If the female does not express her refusal, the male will slowly land on the back of the female, and its wings will gradually fold in and completely wrap the female. At the same time, the male will extend its holding legs and slowly get stuck. Female wings. At this moment, even if the female suddenly changes her mind and wants to escape, it becomes extremely difficult...
Of course, it can be seen from our existing data that this double insurance may also be due to the special characteristics of star butterflies themselves. The process of insect marriage takes a long time, and the male insects will become particularly vicious and cruel. Similarly, the female will become extremely anxious after spending a lot of energy. If the male cannot control the female as much as possible, the latter is likely to escape directly from the male's control, and then due to strong hunger , directly swallowing the male worms into nutrients.
In the records of the Sunu people, similar things have happened countless times. This may be the reason why creatures like the star butterfly are finally on the verge of extinction.
But no matter what, there are still a small number of female and male insects that have mastered special skills for union.
When the emotions and preferences of both parties are well matched, the male will control his cruelty and the female will work hard to restrain her appetite.
After being completely controlled, the female will crawl down and her lower abdomen will expand, revealing the connector that was previously hidden deep in the body. The male will also bend his abdomen and connect to the female's body.
In the next ten days, they will repeat similar procedures until the female can clearly feel that there is a new life gestating in her belly...
It was not until this moment that the originally completely sealed insect marriage nest room was broken open from the inside.
And if the male in the insect marriage is lucky enough not to be swallowed or killed by the female, he will rearrange the nest used for the insect marriage and organize it into a new nursery.
In the next few days, a large number of eggs will be formed in the female body and will not be expelled from the mother's body. It will take about 10 days for them to develop further after leaving the mother's body.
During this process, the male will be very eager to prepare rich food for the female... After a successful insect marriage, the male and female will form a fairly stable pairing, and their population will become the entire The most powerful biological species in the region…
Arthur read the words with some difficulty. He struggled to identify the words in them, somewhat absent-mindedly.
From time to time, Arthur can hear some sounds that make him concerned... It seems to be coming from Lin Xi's crying, or... Xavier's groaning
And it sounds like Xavier is doing something bad to Lin Xi.
Those sounds and the faint vibrations transmitted through the rock wall made Arthur feel nervous.
Finally, after hearing Lin Xi's long cry again, Arthur jumped up and rushed directly to the door of the closed lair.
"Lin Xi? Lin Xi... hiss..."
As a result, just when it was trying to figure out what happened in the completely enclosed nest, Xavier made an extremely harsh expulsion sound.
Even across such a thick rock wall, those sounds still penetrated Arthur's heart like knives. It was so frightened that it trembled, uncontrollably spread its wings and retreated far away to the side.
After a long distance from the cave, Arthur stopped with lingering fear.
really weird… …
Arthur couldn't help but think that it always felt that the oppression brought by Xavier seemed to be stronger than before.
If in the past, its submission and concession to Xavier came more from the opponent's size and fear of large similar species, then this time this indescribable submission comes from the genes themselves.
Although Arthur still didn't understand what happened, at that moment, Arthur already had a strong intuition rooted in his blood: Xavier and it had become completely different individuals.
even…
Xavier has complete control over everything.
If Arthur had some uncontrollable thoughts before and would compete with Xavier for favor in front of Lin Xi intentionally or unintentionally, now such thoughts have been completely annihilated.
That is Xavier. Unless the insect mother gives direct instructions, then Xavier is someone who cannot be disobeyed at all. That is its leader...
Thinking of this, Arthur rubbed his forelimbs and took a few steps back.
Because it can feel that at this moment, Xavier only wants it to be as far away as possible.
Arthur shook his tentacles, drooped his wings, and then walked slowly away.
It returned unconsciously to the ruins of the Helios.
This is the place where it was born and the place it is most familiar with.
It's just that the Helios, which was completely exposed on the surface before, was blown by the storm at this time, and almost two-thirds of its volume was covered under thick sand and dust.
It is estimated that if there is another storm, it will be completely buried deep underground.
But even so, the ruins of the Helios are still Arthur's favorite place.
Everything there is familiar to Arthur, and it can still find many things about the earth from time to time...
And Arthur likes Earth.
Arthur slowly took a few steps forward. Just when it was about to enter the ruins as usual, its movements suddenly stopped.
“…”
Arthur opened his eyes and carefully observed the ruins of the Helios. Near the tail of the spacecraft, there were some twisted marks on the originally flat sand. It looked like countless octopuses were walking on it, and in the sun On the surface of the God, a dark hole had already appeared in the originally smooth metal, and the internal components and structure were completely exposed.
Although the Helios was just a spaceship, the hole on it was like a huge wound, which almost made Arthur feel heartbroken.
Arthur knew very well that just before it left here last time, this hideous hole had not yet appeared... Whether it was before or after the storm, Arthur was always full of emotions for the place where he was born, even under normal circumstances. When the entrance and exit have been buried, it will try its best to choose exhaust holes or windows as the passage into and out of the spacecraft, instead of simply and crudely tearing open the outer wall of the Helios like now.
Something appeared.
And Arthur can be sure that that thing is definitely not the creature on the AS192. That creature is not interested in a colorless metal object like the Helios.
Almost the moment he saw those strange marks, Arthur immediately set up his tentacles, and then suddenly turned his head.
Rooted in its body's internal premonition of danger, it planned to escape at the first opportunity.
But even so, its movements were still half a beat slow.
Just when Arthur was about to escape, several crooked shadows appeared around it.
Those things were just as disgusting and twisted as before. The semicircular black head and the slender metal tentacles below were shaking slightly, looking like jellyfish made of metal.
The red light spots were like eyes, flickering under the hard mask made of organic materials.
They seemed to be staring at Arthur in front of them.
Arthur shook the tentacles above his head. It couldn't organize its own language, but its boredom for the creatures in front of it was so strong. It was not once or twice that he had to deal with this special metal monster. Before this, Arthur was still quite afraid of these things, but that time at the No. 23 Biological Test Site made Arthur full of confidence in himself.
It stood up tall and raised its insect limbs towards the monsters.
The ferocious thorns stood up, and the white carapace, which had been transformed by Lin Xi's blood, shone with a fine layer of light like a fine pearl under the bright sunshine of the alien planet.
Then Arthur turned his head, and it screamed menacingly at the machinery that was gradually approaching it.
Well, just like before, these mechanical warriors didn't respond to its screams at all.
Arthur stretched out his mouthparts in dissatisfaction, followed Xavier's appearance in his memory, and spit out a mouthful of acid on the sand.
However, if Xavier or Lin Xi were here, they would never be as relaxed as Arthur is now. They should also be able to sense that something is not right about the current situation.
Arthur's movements were very light, and his perception of danger was so keen. He planned to leave as soon as he sensed something was wrong, but even so, these mechanical warriors still discovered it - this is absolutely impossible. What a coincidence, but these mechanical warriors have already been waiting here to ambush it.
This is a trap.
However, the mechanical warriors are completely command robots. They have no intelligent modules at all to allow them to lurk here quietly like they are now...
But now on this planet, there is only one person who can predict the arrival of alien species and ambush them - Hal.
The sunshine of as192 quietly shines on this colorful land, and the breeze blows slowly past Arthur, the mechanical warrior and this brand new land, raising a burst of colorful wind and sand.
Arthur quickly stopped his useless neighing. It stared at the mechanical warriors around it with vigilance. The mechanical warriors also completely stopped after surrounding it. If it weren't for the red searchlights under their masks that were still flashing, they would It looked like it was dead.
Arthur slowly tightened his wings, and for a moment, he just wanted to wave his claws at these mechanical warriors regardless of what he did before.
Then it will kill like a secret room in an underground facility, and then cut into these uncomfortable metal monsters...
But a strong intuition kept screaming in its body.
Arthur couldn't help but take a closer look at them.
Then, Arthur discovered the clue.
These surrounding mechanical warriors seemed different from the individuals it had come into contact with before. They were larger in size, darker in color, and had much more mechanical tentacles than before. At the connection point between the mechanical tentacles and the hemispherical head , and there are some extra things that stick out, like spider legs. Now those slender metal legs are swaying in the wind.
I don't know how long it took, but one of the tall metal monsters suddenly rushed towards it.
Arthur immediately approached him, but the moment he came into contact with the other party, he knew why he had such an ominous feeling before...
Although these mechanical warriors have similar appearances to the previous individuals, the materials they use are completely different. Arthur's forelimbs can easily cut the previous ghost model mechanical warriors in two. But at this moment, when its forelimbs landed on the helmets of these mechanical warriors, only a spark was cut out.
A deep scratch appeared on the surface of the helmets of those mechanical warriors, and the damage percentage flashed on the screen under the mask.
But just such an injury does not stop them from acting. At the moment when Arthur was fighting with one of the mechanical warriors, several other individuals also rushed forward, and their powerful metal tentacles wrapped around Arthur's body.
An ominous red glow appeared on the surface of the spider's legs below the head.
That's a portable, high-functioning laser cutter.
Arthur pulled apart a metal tentacle with force, and just as he was about to escape, he suddenly let out a long neighing sound.
It turned its head back 180 degrees, and then saw the wound on its back: a long, thin and ferocious black mark fell directly on its back, and one of its wings drooped down like that, hanging on Under its shoulder blades, the connection between its back crest and its wings was completely charred black.
These mechanical warriors just used cutters to cut off Arthur's wings from his body.
Arthur was stunned. Before he could react, more severe pain came over him.
It turned around and found that one of the mechanical warriors had tightly wrapped around its forelimbs and forced it to stretch its joints.
And those laser cutting machines with red light spots landed directly on its joints.
Arthur struggled wildly, but under the siege of countless mechanical warriors, its struggle gradually subsided.
After more than 10 minutes, the mechanical warriors slowly dispersed from the white alien species. Their body surfaces are more or less covered with traces of corrosion. Two of them have even lost the ability to move...
Their losses were quite heavy, but for such monsters, whether it was the death of their companions or their own injuries, it seemed that they did not need to care. They waited in place for a long time, and several of the mechanical warriors were more It slowly spread out and patrolled around for a while.
A series of previous tortures on Arthur, including cutting off his forelimbs and wings, were all intended to make Arthur scream for help.
Generally speaking, the scream of an injured individual will attract more alien species...
However, Hal, who remotely controlled these mechanical warriors, did not know that Xavier and Lin Xi were engaged in another particularly important activity at this time, and they did not notice Arthur's injury.
After waiting for a long time, the mechanical warriors found that there were no more individuals joining the alien species. Their red electronic eyes flashed under the helmets for a while, and then they bent their metal tentacles to hook the motionless Arthur, slowly Go in a certain direction.
Eventually their figures disappeared across the horizon. .
At the same time, in the cave on the cliff, Lin Xi suddenly opened his red eyes, sat up suddenly, and then stretched out his hand.
It pushed aside the mucus covering it with force, and then slipped out of Xavier's wings.
Xavier screamed urgently behind it, and impatiently stretched out its thick and ferocious clasping legs in an attempt to drag Lin Xi back.
"hiss-"
Lin Xi turned around and subconsciously roared at Xavier.
After a while, Lin Xi switched from golden to human language. It turned its head and looked in the direction of the ruins of the Helios from a distance through the thick rock wall.
"Arthur..."
It whispered.