Even though I knew clearly that the weird laughter was due to Liz's natural Sunu accent,
But Lin Xi still couldn't help feeling terrified - the swollen and deformed Sunu mixed-race woman on the ceiling looked like a terrifying ghost that only appeared in horror novels when she smiled.
At that moment, he thought that Taran... Taran might have been killed by the Andos in secret.
This idea may be ridiculous, but Lin Xi just can't control his chaotic thoughts.
"I went to test Captain Taran..."
Fortunately, Shizuo Ando quickly explained and dispelled the terrible speculation in Lin Xi's mind.
"His headache is very severe. This is an old problem of his. He has been relying on medication to maintain it. However, now that the Apollo has encountered an accident, his reserve medicine has long been used up, so he is almost tortured to death by that kind of headache. For a long time... I mean, at least until Dr. Bryce finds a way to prepare alternative medicine, he probably has no time to think about the sealed Star God sculpture in the warehouse."
He paused, turned his head and looked at Lin Xi.
Perhaps because Lin Xi's expression was too obvious, he seemed to have guessed what the former was thinking, and added: "The medicine Captain Taran took was a specialty of Sunu. Before that, he came to Liz to see if she had any stock. We gave him all we could, but it seems that he ran out of that herb very quickly..."
"Even so..."
Lin Xi wanted to say something else, but he soon noticed that Dr. Ando gave him a look behind Liz's back.
He frowned, then followed Ando's hint, and after some perfunctory words that he himself couldn't even remember what he said, he pretended to be calm and left the cramped, dark and smelly cabin.
As soon as he walked out of the cabin, Lin Xi couldn't help but take a deep breath. He had never felt that the air inside the Sun, which was always a little turbid, was so fresh and charming.
Soon, Ando followed him out after turning off all the lights in the room.
Under the bright light in the corridor, Ando looked even more haggard and thinner than the last moment, as if this man would turn into dust right before his eyes with a gust of wind.
He opened his eyes wide and stared at Lin Xi blankly. The look in his eyes made Lin Xi's scalp tingle.
"I know what you are going to say, Dr. Lin Xi, and I know what I did was not right." He spoke before Lin Xi could say anything, "But, I have no other choice... Dr. Lin Xi, you are a good person, and you saw what happened to Liz with your own eyes. Without the statue, she might not have survived even a day. She would die, and the children would die too."
"I don't think a sculpture can have such magical effects. Yes, I admit that the sculpture looks a bit magical, although I prefer to describe it as weird. But based on the scene I just saw, I think what Liz needs is Bryce's healing device rather than a sculpture, especially a sculpture that is taken without permission. Professor Ando, you should remember that once all the Sunu materials are moved onto the Apollo, they become the assets of the United Government. And your behavior-"
"You do not understand… "
Dr. Ando stared at Lin Xi in a daze, his lips trembling, and his voice sounded so miserable and desperate.
"I don't understand? No, I think you are the one who doesn't understand reality. I think you should go talk to Alyssa. Taran may be a jerk, but Alyssa is different. She will help you."
"You don't understand... Dr. Lin Xi, I also hope you will never understand..."
Ando kept repeating this sentence.
He seemed more desperate with every word.
Desperate, or panic-stricken.
Ando gave Lin Xi the feeling that he had completely lost his way.
"That's not an ordinary statue. It's a statue of Star God. It's different for the Sunu people... Please, Dr. Lin Xi, don't tell anyone, don't take this statue away... You see, I could have refused you entry to the cabin. I could have kept everything secret. But Liz made the decision. She knows that you are a truly good person, someone recognized by Star God, so we have nothing to hide from you. Believe me, once Liz and the children are safe, I will send the statue back quickly, and no one will know about it."
It was a long, rambling plea filled with despair and pain.
Thinking back on it, Lin Xi felt that he must have been infected by Ando Shizuo's madness, or perhaps, he simply wanted to escape from such a strange Ando so much that he had no time to care about too much.
Otherwise, he would not have nodded for some unknown reason and agreed to Ando Shizuo's request - he would pretend that he knew nothing and allow the Andos to keep the Sunu fossil sculpture in their cabin for the time being until Liz gave birth to her own child.
This is a stupid decision.
But Lin Xi had no way to refuse Ando Shizuo, he had never been good at dealing with people like that.
Add to that Liz's situation, God, think of the woman stuck to the ceiling by her own slime.
Who on earth could shake his head at the pleas of such a pitiful couple
Lin Xi tried desperately to convince himself in his heart.
"Octuplets... I will have eight lively and lovely children... You will like them, Dr. Lin Xi."
Full of thoughts and absent-mindedly walking on the way to the medical room, Lin Xi suddenly remembered the words that the ecstatic Ando Shizuo muttered in his ear when they left.
For no reason, Lin Xi shuddered.
Maybe he was wrong.
Lin Xi thought with self-doubt.
Maybe he shouldn't have kept the matter of the Star God sculpture a secret from them as Ando had requested.
As Alyssa usually said—he had a bad feeling.
"Huh..."
Lin Xi let out a long sigh.
Fear, shock, pity, sympathy, disgust, regret...
Until now, his heart is still filled with complicated emotions.
So Lin Xi decided to talk to Bryce.
Although Lin Xi has always been afraid of the man's nagging, when encountering such a thing, Lin Xi knows that Bryce is the man who can make the right choice.
Just when Lin Xi felt a little relieved, he suddenly stopped.
"… "
Lin Xi turned his head and stared behind him with wide eyes.
Something was staring at him—intensely, intently, feverishly.
That look seemed to cut his body open and suck out his entire being, including his internal organs and soul.
However, in reality, the corridor behind Lin Xi was empty, with no one in it. Only the various pipelines of the spacecraft were buried behind the metal walls, making a soft humming sound that was almost inaudible when they were in operation.
"who?"
Lin Xi spoke.
He really hoped his voice didn't sound so shaky.
"I see you."
After a pause of a few seconds, he said.
But in fact he saw nothing.
Several minutes passed (though it could have been only seconds), and there was still no movement in the corridor behind him.
However, the air filter seemed to have encountered some minor problems, and the fan got stuck in the duct, making a small banging sound.
Lin Xi was so frightened that he trembled slightly.
Then when he came to his senses, he found that everything was back to normal.
It was still the same empty corridor and the same humming machinery, but the chilling feeling of being spied on had vanished.
Lin Xi was panting, looking at everything around him with a dull look.
He felt confused and tired, as if he had just woken from a dark nightmare.
Only the cold sweat on his palms and his still-beating heart reminded him that he had indeed been frightened by some invisible horror.
Of course, it is more likely that he might have had a panic attack.
It's easy for people to get some strange diseases during space travel, just like Taran. Even a bastard like that would have no time to find fault because of the severe headache.
But then again, Lin Xi now has even more reason to go to the medical room to talk to Bryce.
Lin Xi gathered his thoughts nervously and quickened his pace towards the medical room.
Of course he had no idea that at the same moment, on the other side of the spacecraft, in the cabin of the Ando couple whom he had just left, a conversation was unfolding around him.
"I like him."
The person who spoke was Liz. After Lin Xi left, she no longer needed to hide herself. Because of this, her voice sounded even stranger - like the crackling sound made by some insect rubbing its wings together.
Shizuo Ando curled himself up in a corner away from Liz. He wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his head deeply in his arms.
He shuddered heavily after hearing Liz's whisper.
“Dr. Lin Xi is a good man.”
Ando said stiffly.
"Yes, he is indeed a good man... He has a very pleasant smell on him, he must be favored by the Star God... That smell makes me feel very comfortable and satisfied..."
"I don't smell anything. Liz, he really is a nice guy."
Ando opened his eyes wide in pain in the darkness and kept whispering.
But coming from the other side was a wet, sticky friction sound, and Ando knew it was Liz moving.
Liz seemed to be laughing, but at the same time, she seemed to be crying.
"I know, dear, I know everything... But I'm really hungry... The children are hungry too... There is no nutrition in this fossil, it's just a dead shell... Woo woo woo... The children are almost going crazy with hunger..."
Then came the sound of chewing.
Click, click, click.
Dr. Ando did not move. He did not dare to imagine the scene that was so close to him.
Although he knew very well in his heart that what Liz was chewing at this moment was nothing else but the fossil sculpture of the Sunu people.
"I need to eat something nutritious, you know... to hatch our babies... Honey... I can smell it... that man is different, he smells... really delicious..."
Amid the maddening chewing sound, Liz's whisper was clearly heard by Shizuo Ando.
…
In Lin Xi's room, the egg sheath that was floating leisurely in the nutrient solution suddenly twitched violently.
All the tentacles suddenly contracted, and then violently lashed towards the inner wall of the device.
The insect egg that was hastily named "No. 1" slowly stretched its body - it was almost about to burst through the eggshell that wrapped it, but it remained frozen there.
The pair of bright red, needle-tip-sized eyes, wrapped in a translucent film, flashed rapidly.
“Sizzle…”
The extremely subtle sound spread out like ripples, centered on the tiny, inconspicuous egg sheath.