Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the mercenary with a government background didn't believe Bryce's speculation at all.
"That guy must have watched too many old movies. He thinks that any problems are related to space parasites."
Afterwards, Lin Xi heard Bryce mention Sorian's performance in that room behind his back in a sarcastic tone.
Of course, he didn't comment on it.
Lin Xi didn't know what went wrong, but it was obvious that Sorian believed that Lin Xi was related to the tragedy of the Ando couple.
During the short period of time that followed in that secret room, Lin Xi was a little dazed.
It’s like a dream—Lin Xi thought.
Someone was asking questions, and he was answering.
He clearly said a lot, at least, he was sure that he had said almost everything he should have said.
Including the strange behavior of the two people when he went to visit the Ando family, the dark cabin and the terrible smell, and the star butterfly egg case that Ando Shizuo had entrusted to him in violation of regulations...
But when he thought about it later, he found that he had no way of remembering what he had said.
Well, he had to admit, he didn't tell the arrogant guy "all" the truth.
That statue...
Fossil sculpture of Sunu.
Lin Xi didn't know how to explain it, but ever since he was scared by the sculpture in the warehouse, Lin Xi always felt that it was really weird.
It was so weird that he didn't even dare to touch on it too much.
The horrific death of Liz and her obsessive worship of the Star God sculpture when she last saw her appeared alternately in Lin Xi's mind, making Lin Xi feel nauseous and break out in cold sweats.
His instincts were telling him not to speak out about the sculpture.
He had a feeling that would only make the situation worse.
The headache is that Lin Xi has never been a perfect actor, especially in front of a mercenary who seems to suffer from paranoia.
But Bryce stood firmly on Lin Xi's side, and he was almost ready to roll up his sleeves and fight with Sorian.
Naturally, in that atmosphere of mutual distrust and suspicion, this secret investigation meeting ended in a bad mood, and like many other meetings after the failed jump, there was no progress.
"I know you're hiding something, man. I can feel it. Now you may be able to hide behind your brother's and his girlfriend's skirts like a little boy and pretend you know nothing, but I will catch you, and when we return to Earth, you will be court-martialed."
As the four people filed out of the room, Sorian suddenly quickened his pace and pressed against Lin Xi's back. He put his lips close to Lin Xi's ear and whispered in a vicious tone.
Lin Xi's body suddenly froze, and for a second he was completely unable to make any movement, because there was a strange meaning in Sorian's tone that he couldn't put his finger on.
However, Lin Xi did not need to fight back against Sorian himself, because before he could make any move, Bryce had already angrily stood between him and Sorian.
"Hey—you're fucking threatening my brother? Right under my nose?"
"Ah… "
Facing Bryce, Sorian took a step back. His facial muscles twitched, revealing a contemptuous sneer, then he raised his middle finger at Lin Xi and turned to walk to the other end of the corridor.
"This son of a bitch."
Bryce stared at his back and cursed coldly.
"… I don't understand why he always wants to make trouble for you."
He then spoke to Lin Xi.
What Lin Xi didn't expect was that Alyssa could actually answer this question.
"I think it has something to do with John."
she says.
"John? John Bronson?"
"What does it have to do with him?"
Lin Xi and Bryce were both shocked and asked at the same time.
What is the relationship between the old chef who was sent to the lower cabin (or more precisely, the private prison on the Apollo) by Taran for solitary confinement due to a mental breakdown shortly after the failed jump, and Sorian and Lin Xi
The same question echoed in Bryce and Lin Xi's minds.
"It's just gossip. I heard that John Bronson used to like to go to the residential areas of those young men, the exploration team, the mercenaries, the engineering department... Although the old man is a little crazy, he is very eloquent. Before he was put in solitary confinement, many people believed what he said."
Alyssa frowned and explained a few words, her face showing undisguised fatigue.
"I remember Lin Xi was also at that meeting... Because of what Bronson said, Sorian was even a little reluctant to send his men out to survey the environment—"
"Oh, I remember."
Lin Xi finally managed to recall the meeting where old John went crazy.
The old man firmly believed that the place they were on was the planet AS192 where 250,000 people were buried. He also shouted something... Oh, he thought Taran was the son of the devil and was going to sacrifice all the people on the ship to the devil...
"But what does that have to do with me?"
Lin Xi asked blankly.
"John Bronson suddenly 'figured it out' not long ago. He kept yelling in the detention room that you were the 'devil'."
Alyssa looked at Lin Xi sympathetically, and she lowered her voice and said.
"Soryan often went downstairs to visit John before this. He probably heard some nonsense there... You don't have to take it too seriously."
"Of course I don't mind."
Lin Xi said.
After all, Lin Xi has to face much more trouble than an old madman and his strange followers.
Of course, Lin Xi hoped to find some time to discuss some "things" with Bryce and Alyssa, but whether it was the insect attack, the opening of the covenant or the horrific death of the Ando couple, the Apollo was in complete chaos.
"... We can talk later," Bryce sent Lin Xi back to his living cabin (and pretended not to notice the red light on the emergency call on his wrist terminal). He stopped at the door and looked at Lin Xi, wanting to say something but finally patted his brother on the shoulder. "Before that, you need to rest well. If I have time, I want to give you a full body check-up. You always seem to be unconscious in front of me during this period of time."
He deliberately used a joking tone, but Lin Xi knew that Bryce was really worried.
He watched Bryce leave in a hurry, and stood there blankly for a long time before he forced himself to go back to his room.
It was already very late, at least according to the human biological clock.
But after Lin Xi returned to his room, he couldn't sleep at all. His mind was in a mess and his body felt unusually heavy.
However, after seeing the plant culture tank in the room which was used to temporarily house the star butterflies and the remaining unhatched insect eggs, Lin Xi forgot all about those things.
"Hey, are you guys okay?"
He immediately rushed to the culture tank and carefully observed the star butterflies and other insect eggs.
Thankfully, they remain active even in this chaotic environment—
Especially "No. 1", it has successfully perched on a branch of the Sonu balsam tree.
Its wings looked more stretched and more beautiful than when Lin Xi left.
Lin Xi stared at the colorful and beautiful patterns on the wings of "No. 1" in fascination, and his tense emotions slowly relaxed.
He had never seen such beautiful insect wings. It could be said that the wings of "No. 1" grew completely according to his aesthetic taste.
Even its curly, slender tentacles look particularly adorable.
Although it looks somewhat similar to the butterflies on Earth, Lin Xi can say without hesitation that "No. 1" is probably more beautiful than all the butterflies on Earth combined.
However, at this moment, the fragrant wood in the culture tank seemed a little small compared to its body size.
Lin Xi also noticed with his sharp eyes that there was a bit of translucent substance similar to honey in the upper half of the Sunu incense wood, where the three branches forked.
A faint fragrance emanated from the culture tank, and Lin Xi was sure that it was coming from the translucent secretion.
And "No. 1" stood quietly on the branch. Before Lin Xi approached, it had been flapping its beautiful, soft wings and dancing up and down in the culture tank.
Lin Xi squinted his eyes and looked for a long time before he realized that in the short time he was away, the entire culture tank was covered with almost completely transparent thin threads - the point where those threads converged was exactly on the secretion that exuded a pleasant fragrance.
Or to be more precise, the secretions are what form when the filaments condense together.
"What are you doing?"
Lin Xi asked with a little surprise, and couldn't help but put his hand on the air vent of the culture tank.
There were several thin threads floating on the edge of the tiny hole - they were so thin and soft that they could float up like smoke just by the slight flow of air caused by the change in air in the room.
Moreover, the surface of those filaments is sticky.
As soon as Lin Xi's fingers touched the filaments, they melted on his fingertips. What was surprising was that after they disappeared, the remaining fragrance of the filaments became stronger.
Lin Xi sniffed, and for some reason, he felt that the fragrance was vaguely familiar.
nest
A strange, invisible thought slowly seeped into Lin Xi's mind along with the fragrance.
Lin Xi came back to his senses from his brief trance, and then he suddenly reacted.
Those little filaments—those little secretions from the fragrant wood—are actually "Number One" building its nest.
It's still so young, but it's already started building a nest
Lin Xi couldn't help but think about it, and couldn't help but feel full of love for Xingdie.
“Sizzle—”
Lin Xi was a little dazed, and then he heard a faint insect chirping regularly coming out of the culture tank.
"ah
Lin Xi lowered his head and saw the scene of "Number One" trying hard to stick himself to the air vent.
If "No. 1" was a little smaller, it would have squeezed out of the hole by now. Unfortunately, its size only allowed it to barely poke its head out of the air hole.
Inside the culture tank, its wings were folded tightly together, and then the vocal organs under the wings began to rub against each other and make insect sounds.
Lin Xi was stunned.
He hesitated for a long time before cautiously reaching out his hand.
Sure enough, the buzzing sound of insects instantly became louder. Lin Xi really hoped that he was not being too sentimental...
But at this moment, that intuition was so strong that he couldn't ignore it at all: he felt that the call of "Number One" was full of attachment and joy.
Lin Xi never thought that he would be able to detect such obvious emotions in the actions of an insect.
He bit his lip and didn't notice that he was subconsciously holding his breath.
His finger moved closer to Number One.
It was an absolute violation to come into contact with an alien creature without any protective measures (even if the creature was hatched by him).
If Lin Xi's mentor knew what he was doing now, he would probably be furious and kick him out of the Earth-Moon United University.
but…
"Whatever—it's not the first time anyway."
Lin Xi muttered.
Yes, it was not the first time - as early as when he took the star butterfly eggs out of the life support device, he had come into close contact with this alien creature without any protection.
Thinking of this, Lin Xi felt relieved.
He moved his fingers directly to the point where the tentacles of "No. 1" could reach.
Sure enough, the tentacles of "No. 1" immediately came up. The transparent and delicate tentacles had a very distinct touch.
It was slightly cold, and felt surprisingly tough.
"Number One" wrapped Lin Xi's fingers with the tail end of its tentacle without hesitation.
The familiar scene made Lin Xi raise his eyebrows.
"You guys really like to pester people."
He said to "Number One" with a barely perceptible smile in his tone.
The wings of "No. 1" spread out, and the colors of the spots became more gorgeous, as if it could really understand Lin Xi's admiration.
However, seeing that "Number One" began to drill out of the culture tank more actively, Lin Xi calmed down after a brief moment of pity, opened the lid of the culture tank, then pinched the body of the star butterfly with his hands and carefully threw it back to the bottom of the culture tank.
"Number One" lay stupidly at the bottom of the culture tank. Some filaments used for nesting were stuck to its wings. It had to use its forelimbs to hook them for a long time before it could clean the filaments from its wings.
At this time, it began to show some signs of frustration.
When Lin Xi put his fingers on the vent again and tried to communicate with it again, it flapped its wings and flew to the corner farthest from Lin Xi.
Lin Xi lay beside the culture tank and observed it for a long time. He was almost shocked by the abundant and rich body language of such an insect.
"Phew, this is really troublesome..."
Seeing that "No. 1" had stayed in that corner for a long time without moving, Lin Xi breathed a sigh of relief and stood up from the culture tank.
It is a good thing that the star butterfly is so "lively", but looking at the culture tank that was originally suitable for plants, Lin Xi still felt distressed.
After all, when we think of the incubator, we inevitably think of Shizuo Ando—and the tough reality he is facing now.
die.
insect.
Sorian's inexplicable hostility.
And the most troublesome thing... a cultivation device suitable for star butterflies.
Maybe he should go visit Shizuo Ando.
Lin Xi found a way to use a metal net to block the air vents of the culture tank to prevent the star butterflies from escaping, and then began to deal with his own daily chores.
During this process, Lin Xi's thoughts always stayed on Shizuo Ando.
From the information revealed by Sorian before, Lin Xi knew that Ando Shizuo was in a state of madness. In order to prevent him from doing anything dangerous, he was injected with a sedative and directly detained in a confinement room.
Although according to Bryce, it might be difficult for Ando Shizuo to regain consciousness in a short period of time, but... maybe he should still give it a try? However, with Sorian's personality, it would be difficult for him to accept Lin Xi getting close to the confinement room.
Oh, by the way, there's also a John Bronson in the detention room.
To be honest, Lin Xi also wanted to find the old man himself and ask him in person how he got the title of "devil".
With a myriad of thoughts in his mind, Lin Xi unbuttoned his work clothes while thinking about those troublesome things.
However, the moment he took off all his clothes, he felt a gaze...
"Um?"
Lin Xi turned around suddenly and realized that the gaze was actually coming from "Number One".
The insect had relaxed its wings at some point and was now clinging tightly to the transparent inner wall of the culture tank, its red eyeballs fixed motionlessly in place.
From a human perspective, it really seemed like it was staring straight at Lin Xi.
Lin Xi looked back at "Number One" with amusement. He had not known before that the gaze of an insect could have such penetrating power.
"You're not angry anymore?"
He asked subconsciously, and to be honest he didn't really expect "Number One" to respond to him.
But something amazing happened.
"Number One" seemed to be reminded by Lin Xi of the minor conflict between them before.
Its tentacles swayed, and then it flapped its wings in great displeasure, and then turned around and went back behind the sunu incense wood.
"Wow."
Lin Xi let out a surprised mutter.
"You look... like you actually understand what I'm saying."
He said.
…
"Of course it understands what you say."
The next day, in the former laboratory of Shizuo Ando, the assistant who had dealt with Lin Xi before raised his voice and said to Lin Xi in disbelief.
His name was Ouni (forgive Lin Xi, it took him a while to remember the name of this young assistant). He looked very tired. On the label on his chest, the original word "Assistant" had been replaced by the title of "Animal Laboratory·Acting Director".
When Ernie had to sneak onto the Apollo in an attempt to salvage his GPA because of a botched final exam, he never thought that one day a student like him would have the opportunity to control an entire laboratory - and he is now sure of one thing, it will not be a pleasant feeling.
Lin Xi could also see that Ouni was tired. It was said that the insect attack yesterday had made the already abnormal animals in the laboratory even more restless, which must have made the youngest laboratory director in history very busy. If possible, Lin Xi did not want to cause trouble to this unlucky guy at this time - but reality did not give him much choice.
Xingdie's daily life and food were a big problem, so Lin Xi had to seek help from professionals.
When he accidentally told Ouni about the behavior of "No. 1" yesterday, Ouni directly pointed out that based on the intelligence of Sunu Star Butterfly, all the interactions between it and Lin Xi yesterday were done consciously by it.
"Dr. Lin Xi, have you forgotten? The insects on Sunu are similar to those on Earth only in appearance. Their IQ is frighteningly high. Some species of insects are almost as intelligent as five or six-year-old human children. Well..." Ouni paused, then looked at Lin Xi with confusion, "I thought everyone on the Apollo should know this. Didn't we see it when we were counting the goods on Sunu? How did the Sunu people tame those insects..."
Lin Xi's face felt slightly hot.
Well, of course he knew that the bugs on Sunu were different—there were many kinds of bugs on Sunu, and many of them were huge in size.
In the lives of the Sunu people, insects can be a means of transportation, a partner in production, food, or the raw materials for goods and medicines...
And many people even keep certain insects as pets.
"I'm sorry, I also know that the bugs on Sunu are different from those on Earth... But I was on the boat the whole time when we were docked in Sunu, so I didn't realize it yet."
Lin Xi said a little embarrassedly.
The author has something to say: I am suffocating...
I calculated a 9,000-word update, but when I posted it, I made a copy-paste error and ended up with 1,000 extra words of repetition…
Ahhhhhhhhhh suffocating...
I will add new content to the repeated chapter of 1,000 words later, please forgive me...
(Of course, the premise is that it has not yet been reviewed by the higher level reviewer! If it has been reviewed by the higher level reviewer, I will not be able to edit it...)
… I can finally update. I review each chapter after I post it. I waited until 7am and it was still locked. It pissed me off…
Thank you to the little angels who cast their votes for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angel who cast [mines]: (~-~) 1;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:
joanna 20 bottles; Tiantian 10 bottles; Xiazhi Sierba, Teriya, White Mosquito Repellent 5 bottles; Milu Buzhilu 2 bottles; Tiantian Ice Cream Cone 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!