We need Taran.
Alyssa stood in front of a metal door with the crowd, and for some reason this sentence suddenly resurfaced in her mind.
This is what Third Officer Lavovich said to her in an emergency meeting a few hours ago.
The scene at that time can be described as chaotic. Well, it seems that their meeting has become chaotic since a long time ago.
Ingesting a large amount of food bags has made many people hyperactive and low in IQ, while the remaining people, some who have not yet had time to go completely crazy, have already anticipated that the people on this ship are about to be in disaster and have become taciturn and sad. World-weary.
Alyssa didn't expect these bastards to help the current situation at all. She had been trying her best to maintain the normal operation of the Helios. However, when the murderer named Sam escaped from the medical room and killed more than ten innocent crew members, people piled all the mistakes on her, and then they were like three-year-olds asking for candy. Small children usually shout to the sky that they need Taran.
"I hope you don't think too much, Alyssa... You have done a good enough job. But it is obvious that there is a problem on our ship now, and we need to stabilize this chaotic situation."
That's what those people said at the time. They told Ellie that it wasn't directed at her, but even a fool could tell that they were full of condemnation and complaints about her.
Oh, in that case... Then come to Taran.
Alyssa was thinking wildly while staring silently at the mottled metal door in front of her. The nameplate on the metal door read "Captain of the Helios, Taran Ida". They had pressed the visitor button before, but Taran ignored them.
If it weren't for Taran's personal terminal still receiving information and processing work as usual, some people might think that Taran had already died in his dark captain's room.
"Captain Tallan—we all know this is not the right time, but this is an emergency and we need you now."
A well-built man appeared, and Alyssa glanced at him. It was Robert, the director of the energy team. Of course, now he was the main person in charge of the emergency team, and he had always disliked her. Alyssa Always knew this.
Is that why this guy keeps barking in front of Taran's hatch like a puppy begging for food? Alyssa thought a little harshly, she knew she shouldn't be so negative, but she was tired and anxious now, and sweat was pouring out of every pore.
The filter components of the ventilation system had been scrapped a few days ago (they had been overloaded for a long time before being scrapped), so the interior of the Helios was now smelly and stuffy, and Alyssa felt very uncomfortable. She hadn't had a break in a long time, and now this happened again.
To make matters worse, her "little premonitions" started screaming in the back of her brain again.
Alyssa has almost become accustomed to this kind of uneasy and frightening premonition these days, but there has never been a time when her ominous premonition has become so intense and sharp.
For several moments, Alyssa even wanted to run away—far away from this damn metal hatch.
But her feet seemed to be against her will, staying nailed in place and motionless.
"Captain Tallan, please come out, the situation is really critical—"
Robert was barking at the top of his lungs again.
Alyssa suddenly pressed her temples with her hands, and she staggered.
She heard a small noise.
It's rustling, like something is moving quickly...
Gradually move from the ceiling to the walls.
There was a pause, and then there was that thin sound again.
Alyssa's breathing gradually became rapid, and her head suddenly hurt terribly, but it was not a real headache, but a kind of excessive mental oppression.
Her premonition…
Alyssa shivered extremely uncomfortable.
She tried her best to calm herself down, but big drops of cold sweat kept coming out, and it soon soaked through her clothes.
rustle-
Swish swish swish—
The sound gradually came closer to the door.
Alyssa turned her head slowly, she observed her surroundings, and wondered why no one reacted to this weird sound.
The sound was so disgusting and disturbing.
Alyssa couldn't even find the words to describe it, well, if I had to use an analogy... it was like countless fingers, gently scratching the hard matte metal surface with their nails, and then moving up and down.
That voice is getting closer...
Getting closer…
Robert and the others were still clueless, looking at Taran's cabin door in panic.
If Taran is really seriously ill and cannot get up at all, then Alyssa will still be the person with the highest authority on the ship, but now almost everyone has noticed the rift between the top management.
The group headed by Robert did not want to see Alyssa still retain the rights in her hands.
"Captain Tallan—"
Robert was still calling.
This time, he finally got a subtle response.
"Tsk-"
The metal door that had not been opened for a long time was opened, and it made a sharp friction sound because it had not been opened for a long time.
But the metal door didn't slide open completely, instead revealing a narrow gap.
Taran's pale face slowly poked out from behind the metal door, and the room behind him was dark.
If Lin Xi were here, he would definitely feel that the scene in front of him was so familiar - the former Dr. Ando also appeared in front of him in the same way.
But strictly speaking, Talan's current appearance is probably even worse than what Lin Xi saw when Shizuo Iteng was.
"For God's sake, Captain Tallan, you—"
Even Robert, who was most positive about Taran's reappearance, was startled after seeing Taran, and even his words became stammering and incoherent.
Can't blame him, Taran looked really bad after all.
His hair had almost completely fallen out, leaving only a few scattered strands clinging to his scalp. And his skin was as white as a dead person, showing a lifeless gray color, swollen, and so smooth that it had no wrinkles or any elasticity. What was even more disgusting was that on the surface of his skin, there was a layer similar to grease. The stuff covered his skull and cheeks greasyly. His eye sockets seemed to have turned into two dark holes, and his eyeballs became small and black without any luster. Even his lips turned blue, his chin stretched forward sickly, and his gums looked like But there are already signs of shrinking.
That strong premonition that could even bring about a severe headache appeared again.
Alyssa almost screamed the moment she saw Taran.
"I have already said that I need to rest. I have read all the questions you sent me - a mercenary who has suffered a nervous breakdown due to stress is actually worthy of you coming to me with such a big fanfare. You will only make people Everyone is panicking, which only makes the situation worse. Stop the alarm and let other mercenaries search the whole ship for the man. He will appear soon, unless he is really brave enough to escape from the ship."
Taran looked at the crowd outside, and then said in a hoarse voice.
His voice was cold.
The people Sam killed after escaping from the infirmary didn't seem to cause any emotional turmoil in Taran.
Alyssa noticed that all his teeth had indeed fallen out.
"You, you're right."
After Robert hesitated for a moment, he nodded and responded. After he said this, many people responded hypocritically behind him.
Surrounded by this group of people, only Alyssa, who was pale and dripping with cold sweat, seemed out of place.
There must be something wrong with Taran!
Alyssa's body spasmed slightly due to excessive tightness, and she had to do her best to control herself so as not to scream.
This consumed so much of her energy that it took her half a beat to feel the sight.
—The sight from Taran.
Alyssa suddenly raised her head and met his dark eyes.
Are those really human eyes
This thought flashed through Alyssa's mind, and her whole body felt chilly.
However, Taran stared at Alyssa and said hoarsely: "Compared with the problem of the mercenary named Sam, I am actually more worried about the rumors on the ship. I really can't believe this kind of antagonism among the crew. Rumors actually spread..."
…
Taran only said a few words to the other crew members at the door of his cabin, and then slowly retracted his pale body into his dark room like a snail wriggling its eye stalks.
But his orders (of course, in Taran's own words, they were just small suggestions) were carried out without hesitation.
After the ship-wide martial law alert was terminated, not long after, people found the bloody clothes and shoes belonging to Sam in a remote corridor, and he never appeared again.
In the next few days, the mercenaries swept the entire ship with astonishing efficiency.
Their attitude towards doing things was much more serious than before, probably because this time the person who did such horrific deeds was their companions.
But no matter how they searched, they could never find Sam himself - there was some fresh blood at the pipe mouth of the water system, but that was all.
Some people have speculated that Sam may have escaped outside the spacecraft along with the waterway system.
Well, this is the most feasible possibility, but equally, if this is the case, the whole thing will instantly become more complicated and confusing.
After all, after the mercenaries discovered the blood stains, they quickly counted the remaining extravehicular activity suits on the ship. They found that not a single activity suit was missing. Similarly, the number of oxygen devices used for extravehicular exploration also fully met the records. number.
This meant that Sam did not take any equipment for extravehicular activities, and he left the Helios naked and with a lot of blood loss.
This was the behavior of a lunatic, but... maybe that's why he did it.
He was originally a madman, and madmen would do such crazy things.
Lin Xi should have been very concerned about Sam's whereabouts. After all, Sam had been knocked unconscious by him before.
It's a pity that Lin Xi is too worried now, and Sam's subsequent movements have become a trivial matter to him.
As for why I’m so worried—
"Talan assigned me to the exploration team. Now I have to go on an exploration mission? Is he crazy?"
Lin Xi still remembers her extreme surprise when she heard this order.
“Now the entire crew on the ship will begin taking turns doing outdoor exploration.”
Alyssa said bitterly opposite him.
"According to Taran, this method can reduce the burden on the exploration team... lest there is another crazy crew member slashing and killing on the ship."
"What the fuck is this bullshit."
Lin Xi cursed.
Seeing his appearance, Alyssa sighed, and she secretly decided to hide the words that Taran said lightly in front of everyone.
Participating in the exploration mission also helps to resolve the exploration team members’ misunderstandings about Lin Xi—
This kind of nonsense can only be told by Taran. Regardless of whether he is still a human or not, the cunning and insidiousness in his heart has always been preserved.
Alyssa was not sure whether the exploration mission would really put the message against Lin Xi to rest, but she was certain that once Lin Xi got outside the spacecraft, he would be in an unprecedented dangerous situation.
"I'm sorry. I protested, but..."
Alyssa felt extremely depressed every time she thought of this incident.
"Oh, don't say you're sorry, Alyssa, I know what you did for me."
Lin Xi faced Alyssa's guilty face, he leaned over distressedly and gave her a hug.
"I believe that even if you refute him this time, that guy will definitely find a way to cause me more trouble."
He said, then carefully observed Alyssa's reaction.
He could tell that her physical and mental state had deteriorated dramatically since that day she came into contact with Taran. Lin Xi suspected that Alyssa had noticed something she didn't know, but no matter how Lin Xi asked, Alyssa never revealed too much.
"I will try to have some trustworthy people with your team - that way, at least when those crazy people try to do something to you, you will have helpers and witnesses around you."
Alyssa couldn't help but said.
"I'm afraid this is the only thing I can do for you."
she says.
"You've done enough for me, Alyssa, and I really appreciate you."
Lin Xiqiang forced a smile and said to her.
After sending Alyssa away, Lin Xi rubbed his temples and checked the team list. From the perspective of the exploration mission itself, this is indeed not a difficult task, but those exploration team members who inexplicably treat him with great malice will indeed be a nuisance.
Lin Xi sat at the table for a while. He couldn't think of any way to solve the current predicament, so he simply got up, put on his clothes and walked towards his greenhouse.
The metal door slowly slid open, and after the lighting facilities in the greenhouse were turned on, "No. 1" appeared in Lin Xi's field of vision.
It's just that Star Butterfly, who used to be as happy as a puppy at his arrival, is now hanging motionless on the branch -
Because today's "No. 1" is just a cocoon between the branches.
This was the second thing that made Lin Xi anxious. Yes, "No. 1" was actually chrysalis.
That's the day Sam escapes from the healer and kills someone, setting off a ship-wide alarm.
When Ming Ming brought Ernie to observe "No. 1" in the morning, the happy alien insect looked normal.
However, when Lin Xi finally waited until the alarm was lifted and returned to the greenhouse, what he saw was the huge cocoon in front of him.
A thick layer of pale golden cocoon shell completely wrapped "No. 1" from beginning to end.
The color was exactly the same as the filament used by Number One to make its nest. As an alien bug, the cocoon of "No. 1" doesn't look much different from its earth counterpart, except that its size will be larger. Some red and black spots are unevenly distributed on the surface of the cocoon. In the first few hours, those spots, like the wings of "No. 1", will respond very weakly to external stimuli. But soon they solidified on the surface of the rough cocoon shell.
You know, this process of Star Butterfly did not appear in Dr. Ando's notes. Lin Xi was stunned, and he quickly called Ernie. Thank God, the man who was always extremely afraid of bugs was quite calm when he saw the cocoon, of course, provided that you ignore the cold sweat and shivering all over his body (it is said that he had nightmares for several days after returning).
If Ernie could tell the truth after conducting that series of examinations, Lin Xi would probably have more sincere sympathy for him... But the reality is that even if Ernie bites the bullet and checks one side after another, he There is still no way to tell Lingxi anything useful.
"I don't know what's going on. Its cocoon is incredibly thick and blocks all detection beams. Maybe we can know what happened to it after it completes its pupation."
Facing Lin Xi's worried eyes, Ernie always said similar things.
In comparison, when he talked about his nightmare, he had more details.
You must not want to know what I dreamed about yesterday... I dreamed that there was a human corpse in this cocoon. Oh my God, it was really scary. This must be because the cocoon of that thing was so huge. I felt like it It's completely inconsistent with the size of the bug... Oh, by the way, the corpse in my dream has become soft inside, like that, a thick mass of meat paste, and your bug is just like that. Lie there and suck those nutrients...
Lin Xi couldn't help but frown when she thought of the nightmare that Ernie vividly described yesterday.
Even though she knew that it was just a picture imagined by this serious horror enthusiast after reading too many boring stories, Lin Xi felt inexplicably that she could see that terrifying and evil scene following Ernie's narration.
He felt incredibly sick, but also couldn't hide his worry.
After all, in the first day or two, Lin Xi could still feel some faint movements from the cocoon. Sometimes it was a slight hum, and sometimes it was a violent vibration, but soon, those movements They all disappeared.
The cocoon became quiet, as if it were a dead thing.
Star butterflies are not creatures with extremely strong vitality. On the contrary, they will inexplicably begin to lose their activity during many processes, such as the egg sheath placed in the incubator in Lin Xi's room now.
Obviously "No. 1" hatched successfully under even worse circumstances, but its brothers and sisters seemed to be about to sleep to death. They remained silent for so many days and gradually began to lose their vitality.
What if... what if "No. 1" is like this too
Just thinking of this, Lin Xi felt that her chest was tight, as if she was a little out of breath.
It happened that at this time, that guy Taran actually asked him to conduct exploration activities outside the cabin. In this case, how could he find time to take care of "No. 1"
When she thought of this, Lin Xi's hatred for Taran deepened instantly.
"Come out quickly, 'Number One'."
Lin Xi himself didn't know that this was the first time today that he sat in front of this cocoon and talked to "No. 1". He stretched out his hand and gently pressed on the cocoon shell of "No. 1".
After a while, Lin Xi frowned thoughtfully.
Ernie's previously joking words to him began to echo in his mind at inappropriate times.
"You don't have to worry too much, since you can have 'No. 1', then there will be 'No. 2', 'No. 3'... One of them will always survive...
"Maybe I should give you a more formal name when you get out?"
Lin Xi couldn't help but whisper to "No. 1" who was still pupating.
"After all, if you can pupate smoothly, you should be a more mature insect?"
Speaking of this, Lin Xi couldn't help but smile.
"Of course, the premise is that you can come out smoothly..."
he added.
The golden star butterfly cocoon remained motionless and unresponsive under Lin Xi's caress.
However, Lin Xi would never know that at the moment he finished speaking, in the dark and chaotic liquid filled with thick protein slurry, two eyeballs that had gradually lost their luster suddenly flickered. .
It was very faint at first, but gradually, the two red glimmers became stable.
The light green nerve network gradually spreads along the spine, and then gradually begins to gather and form bones, muscles, internal organs, skin... and wings and tentacles.
In a place where no one can see, a strange and terrifying creature reunites bit by bit.
Lin Xi... name... my... name...
He hummed happily within his cocoon.
The author has something to say: Next I will put a chapter on manual anti-theft~
It should be replaced after high-level review, which should be during the day tomorrow...
If you are interested, you can click on it to read about anti-theft. Hahaha, this is a random article I wrote before. Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or gave me the nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angel who threw [Bazooka]: 1 wooden moon;
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Thanks to the little angels who threw [Land Mines]: A Zhuang 5; Cao Xiyun 4; Song Yi 2; Qing Mu Er, ao3 waiting for the green onion fish to enter strongly, rin, Xiao Xiami, Burn it small universe! , Asheng’s 1 child;
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59 bottles of Boiled Pork Willpower; 50 bottles of Bamboo Bamboo; 30 bottles of Luoluoluo; 22 bottles of Sawada Tsunayoshi’s Husband; 20 bottles of Chongzhishi; 10 bottles of Qingmu Er, Yue, Ao Jue, Layers, and Willow Flower Ling; A 8 bottles of makeup; 5 bottles of Two Stars, Dream of Ten Thousand Buddhas Pavilion, and Rin; 2 bottles of Wednesday glasses; 1 bottle of Meatballs, Candy in the Pocket, Xitaheer, and Hanyue;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!