Naturally, this group of temporarily formed exploration teams could not have any particularly deep team ties.
But the sudden loss of nearly one-third of the people still made all the survivors extremely depressed.
The atmosphere inside the dark cave was quiet and solemn.
Someone sobbed in the communication system: "Poor Amber..."
No one agreed with him, and he quickly fell silent.
For the next short period of time, everyone was trying to calm their breathing and gather their strength.
During this process, the sound of wind coming from the cave where the few people came in became sharper and sharper. Many pieces of gravel were wrapped in the air flow and shot out from the cave. Several people had to move their positions. What was worse was that in a very short time, the light that was faintly visible before had now completely disappeared.
Inside this cave, only the spotlights inside the exploration team's helmets emit a hazy yellow light.
No one dared to imagine what the storm outside would be like now.
Lin Xi glanced at the panic-stricken crowd and sighed silently.
The only person who didn't show any signs of uneasiness was probably Francis beside him.
Since the others entered the cave, Francis had been unusually silent. Lin Xi couldn't help but glance at him from time to time. His pale face, as if he were dead, always gave Lin Xi a bad feeling.
However, in response to Lin Xi's whispered questions, Francis' responses were always so slow and stiff.
But as long as Lin Xi looked away, the latter's extremely focused gaze would fall accurately on him.
Lin Xi became increasingly unsure of this man's attitude toward her.
He is such a mysterious man...
Lin Xi couldn't help but think so.
His body was still very weak, and the exhaustion from the previous wild run made him involuntarily relax his body and lean against the rock wall.
But soon, Lin Xi sat up straight, turned sideways, and stretched out his hand and pressed his palm on the cold rock wall.
Then, his brows were tightly knitted together.
You know, now they are staying safely in the underground cave, but through the thick and cold stones, Lin Xi can still vaguely feel the slight vibration.
"What should we do next?"
Lin Xi suddenly turned his head and looked at Jerry, and he suddenly asked.
"I have no idea."
He got this answer.
Jerry raised the terminal in his hand. He stared at it for a while and then shook his head: "We can't contact the outside world. This storm has trapped us here. Everyone check the equipment and report to me. If conditions permit, we can only stay in this hellhole until the storm passes."
He said.
"are you sure?"
Lin Xi said.
He pointed to the rock wall beside him and said, "I think we should go a little deeper into the cave. I don't think this place is very stable."
After a pause, Lin Xi added: "There are not even any bugs here."
"I thought the lack of bugs... might be a good thing for us now?"
Someone muttered beside Lin Xi.
"But we clearly saw those bugs swarming here. This cave is their shelter. If it is really safe here, they should stay here. But now we can't see even a shadow of a bug here."
Lin Xi explained with a frown.
"Ha, our bug expert has spoken."
A man with a shaved mustache began to grumble nearby.
Lin Xi frowned and looked at him.
He discovered that the man was the one who had been constantly provoking him in the patrol car.
Lin Xi took a look at his name tag, which read "Birus Vanka".
Lin Xi frowned in disgust. Some people might just be so lucky—they were annoying, reckless and stupid, but they were the ones who could survive.
"I just don't want more people to die inexplicably in this mission."
Lin Xi did not explain further but just said this coldly.
"Shut up, Beerus. If it weren't for Dr. Lin Xi's fog lights, we would be here mourning you now."
Jerry said to Beerus impatiently.
However, perhaps because of the mental excitement brought about by escaping death, Beerus is more keen on provoking others than before.
He rolled his eyes at Jerry, showing that he didn't care about the captain.
However, Beerus obviously didn't realize that it wasn't just Lin Xi and Jerry who showed obvious disgust for his words and actions... but also Francis.
The man, who was more taciturn than ever before, had already raised his eyes and looked at him coldly when Beerus opened his mouth with a shrill voice for the first sentence.
When Lin Xi personally told Beerus to shut up, but the latter didn't care at all, Francis' eyes had turned into a cold and indifferent look.
Then there was a roar from the storm across the crack in the rock, and something... slowly crawled out of the darkness.
"Oh, really? I think—"
Beerus subconsciously opened his mouth to continue mocking Lin Xi, but his voice suddenly turned into a scream.
In the darkness, Lin Xi could only barely see something suddenly falling from the top of the cave.
It landed right on the back of the chattering Beerus.
Beerus jumped up from the ground, and then he lay straight on the ground. He kept rolling on the floor, and the scream soon turned into a continuous scream.
"Ah ...
At this moment, everyone except Francis was stunned.
"Turn on the searchlight!"
Jerry yelled at the others.
However, due to the sudden change, people frantically struggled for a while before finding the switch of the searchlight.
As the bright light came on, the thing on Beerus' back also came into people's sight.
"Oh my god, what the hell is this!"
Several members of the exploration team were caught off guard and faced the ferocious face of the creature. The searchlights in their hands flashed suddenly, and they subconsciously took several steps back.
That's a bug.
But no one had ever seen such a bug.
It looked like a chopped-off earthworm—or one of those horrific-looking marine creatures called a lamprey.
But compared to similar creatures on Earth, it is a million times uglier.
A thick green viscous liquid kept oozing out from its broken cross-section. As soon as the liquid came into contact with Beerus' skin, it began to produce tiny bubbles. It was obvious that they were highly corrosive.
On the other side of the worm-like creature, there were circles of fine, silver needle-like thorns surrounding it.
Now, the thorns were firmly stuck in Bilos's back.
Lin Xi saw with his own eyes that its tip was opening outward like a sea anemone, and a dark purple tongue-like thing directly pierced through Beerus' exploration suit, then drilled under the skin, and continued to stir inside his body.
A series of wet, squeaking sounds were heard amidst Beerus' screams.
Blood mixed with minced meat gushed out from the wound the monster had inflicted on Beerus' back.
"Someone come, we have to hold him down!"
Lin Xi had no choice but to rush forward, and he hugged Beerus tightly as he kept rolling and convulsing in extreme pain.
"Quickly, take something and pull this thing out!"
He shouted to the others who were petrified.
The monster that looked like a worm and a python was still jumping on Beerus' body.
Several times, it almost jumped onto Lin Xi.
"careful!"
"Dr. Lin Xi—attention!"
Some people were so frightened that they screamed.
"Pull this fucking thing out of here—"
Lin Xi himself was also disgusted by that monster, and he roared again.
Jerry is already a veteran member of the exploration team. He has seen a lot of disgusting things on the planets he has visited before.
But even the slimy, greedy and bloodthirsty Martian leeches, which are recognized as the most disgusting creatures in the universe, are not as terrifying as the unidentified creatures in front of them.
"Mechanical pliers - give me the pliers -"
He shouted, following Lin Xi's steps and rushing towards Beerus.
Fortunately, in the extremely panic-stricken escape, several people did not even have time to drop the heavy equipment on their backs.
They found the mechanical pliers in the backpack and threw them to Jerry.
Jerry quickly installed a mechanical clamp on his arm and clamped it firmly on the monster's head (if that was really a head), but he had already used all his strength and the monster was still greedily attached to Beerus' body.
In fact, the others' rescue of Beerus only made Beerus scream a little louder than before.
During this process, the one who felt Beerus' pain most deeply was probably Lin Xi himself, after all, he had been holding the man's legs tightly.
If time could go back, Lin Xi can say with certainty that he would never do the same thing.
The reason is not just because of Beerus... It's also because of that monster...
Lin Xi had never anticipated that his actions would lead him into such a situation. He had almost a close contact with the monster.
In addition to the monster's "tail" that was constantly stabbing his face and swinging back and forth wildly, the monster's "head" was also actually trying hard to push towards Lin Xi.
"Somebody get that fucking thing off Beerus!"
Lin Xi watched as the clothes on Beerus' waist gradually bulged upwards, and then accompanied by a sound of fishy mucus spreading out, the monster's terrifying head like an anemone just emerged directly from Beerus' body.
At that moment, everything seemed to go into slow motion.
Lin Xi looked at the thing in shock.
No eyes, no nose.
It only has a "mouth" divided into countless petals and long and thin spikes all over its body.
And it is like a cobra on Earth that has been threatened, with all its spikes spread out in unison.
Then, it kept twisting in an S shape in front of Lin Xi's nose.
Although that state only lasted for a brief moment, Lin Xi always felt that he might see the scene before his eyes in nightmares for the rest of his life.
“Ahh—”
Immediately afterwards, the monster suddenly revealed its horrible mouthparts in front of Lin Xi.
"boom-"
There was a gunshot.
Lin Xi, who was already petrified with fear, watched the monster's head turn into a ball of splattered flesh and blood before his eyes.
Then, he watched Francis come to his side, then pointed his gun at Beerus and shot him.
Lin Xi felt Beerus' body suddenly soften in his arms, and then slowly slid down.
However, the pitiful corpse before him did not completely calm down because of death.
“Pah…Pah…”
The monster attached to Beerus was still very active even after losing its head and killing its prey. Its tail, which was constantly oozing green mucus (perhaps blood), kept slapping the ground, making loud noises. And from its movements, it seemed that it was still trying to move towards Lin Xi unwillingly.
“Bang, bang, bang—”
Francis' pupils constricted, and he maintained his previous posture and fired several consecutive gunshots. The monster's body turned into splattered meat paste under the effect of the bullets.
Some broken human viscera that had been crushed and swallowed by it slid out of its pale blue stomach.
Lin Xi looked at the scene in astonishment. Instinctively, he looked at Francis.
The latter's lips were tightly drawn, his face was cold, and his pupils... his pupils appeared an almost inorganic, cold yellow under the illumination of the helmet light.
—Maybe it was really his illusion, but Lin Xi still felt that Francis seemed to be in a state close to rage.
“Hu…Hu…Hu…”
At that moment, just after Francis fired the gun, the cave briefly returned to calm. In the dead silence, only the heavy breathing of Lin Xi and Jerry echoed in the communication channel.
Francis, who shot and ended this horrific scene, seemed indifferent and like an outsider.
He didn't pay much attention to Beerus, but stared at the mess on the ground for a long time, the monster that made people feel stomach reflux just by looking at it.
Then, he slowly put the gun back to his waist, and then he reached out and tightly embraced Lin Xi's arm, helping him up from the ground.
For a long time, Lin Xi's mind was blank. He let Francis' focused gaze roam over his body. He wanted to say "It's okay" to the worried man, but his lips and tongue seemed to be stuck in his mouth and he couldn't utter a word.
As for Francis, he quickly retracted his hand after helping Lin Xi up.
But seeing Lin Xi's dazed look, his eyes flickered, and he slowly put his hand back on Lin Xi's arm, as if he wanted to continue supporting the exhausted Lin Xi.
Even through the gloves of the exploration suit, Lin Xi could feel that Francis' hands were cold. Feeling the weak force of that person on his arm, Lin Xi pursed his lips and did not ask the other party to let go.
"Oh my god..."
It was not until this time that someone murmured after Francesi.
"You killed, you killed Beerus?"
The man stammered to Francis as he looked at his former companion, still unable to recover from the chaotic and terrifying scene.
"No… "
Jerry said on Francis' behalf.
While Francis was indifferent and was hesitant about whether to support Lin Xi or retract his hand, Jerry also checked Beerus' body as soon as possible.
He used a probing stick to search Beerus's limp body, his face gradually turning pale.
"Berus should have died a long time ago."
He said to the others.
He then used the mechanical clamp to pull the now shattered monster out of Beerus' body.
He tentatively touched the monster with his mechanical clamp.
“Ahhh—it hurts—Ahhh—it hurts—”
A chilling thing happened.
The monster that looked as if it was dead enough actually opened its ring-shaped mouth and let out the same scream as Beerus.
—Yes, just as Jerry found out.
Beerus was already dead.
Maybe he died when the monster crushed all his internal organs with its tongue, or maybe even earlier.
But the scary thing is that the monster's target for dinner is not just the man with the mustache. It has wrapped itself in Beerus' body, rolling around and imitating the man's voice, waiting for others to save it, and then...
Then it will get more fresh and kind flesh and blood.
"Well… "
After thinking this through, Lin Xi let out a muffled groan.
He subconsciously wanted to cover his mouth to prevent himself from vomiting.
No matter what this monster was, it was the most disgusting thing Lin Xi had ever seen.
"What the hell is this."
One of the exploration team members made a trembling sound.
"Who knows?"
Jerry was silent for a long time before answering.
Then he turned and looked at Lin Xi.
To be honest, he felt a little strange. According to his speculation, when pressing Beerus' body at such a close distance, the monster should have attacked Lin Xi directly.
And the monster could have done it - but it just stayed there, swaying left and right, more like a way to attract attention than a prelude to an attack
Oh my god, what on earth was he thinking
Jerry suddenly came back to his senses, and then he smiled bitterly because of what he had been thinking before.
He must have been really crazy to feel that the monster's actions before death were more like acting like a spoiled child - perhaps he was indeed influenced by the rumors that had been widely circulated on the Apollo.
Just as Jerry was looking at Lin Xi in confusion, Francis suddenly took a step forward and stood in front of Lin Xi.
He gave Jerry a cold look.
Jerry shuddered.
He quickly averted his gaze.
The expressionless look on the man's face would probably give people a feeling of being unapproachable under normal circumstances, but now - now he actually looks a little scary.
It's not nice to say this about Francis, but with the crisis of this exploration mission, Jerry always feels that this man who seems to have not been affected by any negative influence is becoming more and more frightening...
"Thank you, Francis, you fired just in time."
Jerry calmed himself down, forced himself to calm his chaotic thoughts, and then he said to Francis.
"You're welcome."
Francis paused delicately before he addressed Jerry.
…
The exploration team placed Beerus' body and the monster's body at the two ends of the cave.
There was no funeral, not even a moment of silence.
After experiencing such a horrific episode, no one wanted to stay here any longer, even without Lin Xi's persuasion.
After all, if one monster had dropped without warning, there was a good chance there would be a second, and a third—and no one would want to challenge that possibility after witnessing Beerus' horrific death.
Everyone agreed that they should go deeper into the crevice and find a safer place, or at least a place without too many strange monsters, to rest for the night.
Out of a subtle tacit understanding, this time, Lin Xi and Francis walked at the front of the team.
Judging from their physical sensations, the rock peak seemed to be winding down all the time. As they moved forward, the temperature became lower and lower, and the air became more and more turbid.
But as they walked, gradually, traces of insects appeared on the rock wall - just as Lin Xi had said before.
Finally, after they struggled to crawl through a winding passage, a wide spherical space suddenly appeared in front of them. However, almost at the same time they saw this place, Lin Xi's air circulation system began to beep again. Lin Xi silently pressed the alarm. He glanced at his personal terminal. The button representing the air filter turned a dazzling red. At the same time, the smell of the outside air that was not completely cleaned gradually seeped into Lin Xi's mouth and nose.
Here is a kind of…
The smell of bugs.
Lin Xi didn't know how to describe the smell, but as soon as he smelled that scent that could hardly be described as pleasant, he knew that they might have arrived at the right destination.
He made a gesture, and the people behind him slowed down their pace at the same time.
Only Francis seemed to have completely ignored Lin Xi's gesture and took the lead to step forward.
"Francis? Wait—"
Lin Xi shouted subconsciously.
Francis stopped immediately, stood obediently not far from Lin Xi and turned around.
"It's a bug."
He said softly.
As soon as he finished speaking, a rustling sound was heard.
With him as the center, the ground that everyone thought was pure black actually began to move... Lin Xi looked at the ground with a pale face. In his sight, the light gray rock surface was exposed bit by bit. At a sudden glance, it seemed as if a thick black-brown carpet was retreating on its own.
There were countless unknown tiny insects wriggling, and those billions of little bugs retreated from wherever humans stepped like a tide.
This scene is not friendly to the fragile nerves of human beings.
After seeing the scene before them, the people following Lin Xi all gasped in unison.
"We...we have fallen into a nest of bugs..."
Someone muttered stiffly.
Before he could stop it, someone had already raised a searchlight and shone it above the spherical hole.
At this moment, in the pitch-black darkness deep in the cave, countless tiny lights suddenly lit up.
That is the reflection of light from the eyes of countless insects.
Immediately afterwards, the sound of flapping wings spread in the cave like a tide, and black "mist" began to slowly diffuse from the top of the cave.
But everyone knew that it was not "black fog" at all but... bugs.
No one could tell how many bugs there were, just as no one knew how wide the cave was—and how many species of insects the black and brown they saw came from.
If that wasn't bad enough, the expedition soon learned that things could get even worse.
For example, when they shone the searchlights at the insects, they successfully attracted the insects to fly towards them.
The scene before my eyes was simply horrifying.
"Oops!"
"Oh no-"
The other members of the exploration team were seriously frightened and they immediately drew their weapons.
Lin Xi felt as if his internal organs had tightened in an instant.
"Turn off the lights, all the lights! Don't shoot! Don't turn on the lights!"
Lin Xi sternly stopped those people from doing this.
He even reached out and knocked the searchlights of the people behind him out of their hands.
Perhaps it was because what they had suffered before was so terrible that God finally showed favor to them this time.
At least everyone turned off the lights before the swarm of insects reached them.
The sound of wings fluttering did not disappear immediately with the light. The insects were approaching them... and in the absence of light and all vision, the feeling was extremely terrifying.
Only Lin Xi opened his eyes wide in confusion in the darkness.
He was sure that it was pitch black in front of his eyes, and theoretically he shouldn't be able to see anything - and in fact he didn't see anything.
But how does this explain the "feeling" he had
That feeling... as if I know all the bugs in this cave...
Lin Xi closed his eyes.
But in his mind, the existence of those insects was so vivid.
Even their vague and chaotic emotions became extremely clear.
"These bugs won't hurt us."
After a long time, Lin Xi spoke softly in a hoarse voice.
“But they don’t look very friendly.”
Someone muttered.
He still remembered the black "smoke" flying towards them.
"That's because we disturbed them. There shouldn't be any light in a place like this."
Lin Xi whispered softly.
He seemed to be explaining to the frightened exploration team members, or he seemed to be simply talking to himself.
"Here, all the bugs will live in peace, and there will be no killing - only in the presence of light will their biological instincts be aroused."
At this moment, Lin Xi's eyes appeared a hollow black in the darkness, and his pupils had expanded to the limit, so that only a thin circle of brown irises remained.
Unfortunately, all the lights... including the yellow spotlight inside the helmet have been turned off.
In the absolute darkness, only one person could see Lin Xi's current appearance.
However, for Lin Xi's current appearance, his heart was filled with only surging obsession and attachment.
"Lin Xi..."
He tapped his teeth and kept licking the name on the tip of his tongue.
The human body is heavy, clumsy, fragile, and almost useless.
The only thing it envied was their soft skin and dexterous tongues.
"Dr. Lin Xi, are we really going to stay here? Surrounded by so many bugs?"
Lin Xi was brought back to his senses by the somewhat panicked questions from other members of the exploration team.
He was stunned for a moment, then responded in a trance.
"Of course. I can assure you that they won't hurt you—"
After saying this, even Lin Xi himself was stunned.
"After all, there are a lot of strange rumors on the ship, and it seems that many of them emphasize that I can control insects..."
"We are so sorry, Dr. Lindsey."
"Those are just rumors..."
Soon, Lin Xi's words were drowned out by the ashamed apologies of others.
Although there are people like Beerus who have absolutely no sense of gratitude, normal people still make up the majority of the exploration team.
They kept in mind everything Lin Xi had done in the storm before.
"Okay... At this point, just assume that the rumors are true. It's safe here, and we really need some time to rest."
"That's right. What we need most now is rest. And a way to survive."
Jerry took over.
Follow the records on your personal terminal.
In fact, they had already exceeded the planned activity volume by several times... Not to mention, the storms and monsters along the way had already stretched everyone's spirit and body to their limits.
Under Jerry's arrangement, the survivors followed the procedure and found a small flat area in a corner of the cave to settle down.
The spherical self-inflating tent was carefully fixed on the rock wall.
However, due to the loss of equipment, the survivors had to share the few remaining tents with their companions.
Intentionally or unintentionally, Lin Xi and Francis were assigned together.
Lin Xi: “…”
The spherical tent's built-in sealing and filtration system allowed Lin Xi to take off his already damaged exploration suit inside.
According to Lin Xi's plan, he should settle himself and find a way to repair the damn exploration suit. Then he should be ready to face the man with a weird and unpredictable attitude that made people completely confused.
But plans are always just plans.
Lin Xi didn't even have time to pull his feet out of the exploration suit before he fell into a dark and deep sleep.
The moment Francis stepped into the tent, he saw Lin Xi's tired and pale sleeping face.
His eyes flickered instantly.
"Lin... Xi..."
Francis walked slowly towards Lin Xi.
After confirming that he was asleep, he almost couldn't wait to reach out and touch Lin Xi's cheek.
But he soon discovered that he was still wearing the extremely cumbersome exploration suit.
Without any hesitation, Frances took off the shabby and ugly outer shell from his body.
It would be a long time before he realized how reckless he was in the tent today—Lin Xi was just asleep, not unconscious. If there was a little accident, he could wake up at any time, and then he would see Francis was different.
What a horrible face that is.
When Lin Xi was awake, he would always involuntarily pay attention to how pale Francis' face was behind the mask. His worries and concerns were right, because under the cover of the exploration suit, only his face looked human - but that face was now firmly attached to the helmet of the exploration suit, and through the camouflage on the scales, it looked like a real human being.
And now, the person snuggling next to Lin Xi - that monster, how scary is he
In those huge compound eyes were countless tiny round eyeballs similar to human pupils. The huge triangular face was flat and covered with a thin layer of flesh-colored human skin. Through that layer of skin, you could even see the clear veins of the blood vessels.
But this layer of skin is wrapped around the skull of a large carnivorous insect.
It has a human nose, but unfortunately there is no nose bridge or nose wings, only two flesh-colored holes in the center of the head. Below is a huge mouth, which is covered with fine teeth in the hideous and crooked mouth. Some are like thin white bone needles, but most are sharp human canine teeth.
As for its tongue, it is purple... slender, and soft. This can be said to be the part that he spent the most time and effort on during the pupation process, and it is also the part that he is most satisfied with.
After all, it was only with the help of such a dexterous tongue and new vocal cords that he was able to barely learn human words and sentences in previous interactions.
Under this horrible head is Francis' body. Well, his body has similar problems as his head.
It can even be said that his body looks more problematic than his head. Because from the outside, he has a complete, hideous body of an arthropod insect, but the surface of such a body is covered with pale and smooth skin that is unique to humans. This strange combination makes him look even more disgusting than a pure insect.
Not to mention, he also has a pair of huge wings curled up on his bony back.
Those brightly colored round spots were flashing rapidly on the edges of the translucent wings.
Yes, it is an extremely ugly... hybrid of human and insect.
Francis…
No, a more correct name should be "Number One", who is completely unaware of the inappropriateness of his current appearance.
He was immersed in joy. He spread his wings and gently covered Lin Xi's body.
The author has something to say: I wrote this in a hurry! Wait for me to revise the following...