The weird bug flinched at the name.
"Da da-"
It couldn't help but take two steps forward, and its middle foot landed on the ground with a sound similar to that of metal hitting each other.
Although they knew they needed to control their emotions, when they saw the insect's actions, Alyssa and Bryce couldn't help but raise their guns behind Lin Xi and point them at it.
The giant insect called "No. 1" stopped instantly.
It hid its face behind its wings and stared at Lin Xi blankly.
Lin Xi did not let the two humans behind him put down their guns... Although "Number One" had anticipated this, the strange feeling of emptiness as if his heart was about to be torn apart spread again.
Of course, Lin Xi did not raise the gun in his hand to point at it again. This is a good start, "Number One" thought vaguely. It even felt a little happy. After all, when it accidentally fell out of the mimicry, it was already prepared to face the intense pain that flashed when the pulse gun bombarded its body.
But after seeing it, Lin Xi did not do so.
He became much gentler than before.
"Number One" stood motionless in the distance and thought.
But…
Number One had no idea what was wrong with his body.
Strange emotions kept surging inside my body.
Savile
It heard Lin Xi call him that.
Is this its new name? Number One couldn't help wondering.
It still remembered that when its will was about to die, Lin Xi had made a promise to it outside its cocoon shell.
He will give it a new name.
However, as time went by, its ego and mind grew rapidly. It soon discovered that Lin Xi was not calling it, but another individual.
The surging tenderness flashing in Lin Xi's eyes was something that "Number One" had never seen before... However, those tenderness and love suddenly disappeared from Lin Xi's eyes after it accidentally revealed its true face, and were replaced by the vigilance and fear that "Number One" was already familiar with.
It slowly took a few steps back.
This is not unbearable - after all, they have been doing this for billions of years.
The instinct of living things will drive them to constantly modify and evolve their appearance and even their souls in order to cater to the preferences of "Him". Being mistaken for the individual called "Savior" is not a big deal.
However, the moment Lin Xi called out the name "Number One" to it, it felt as if it was being swallowed up by an indescribable feeling of emptiness.
Then, it suddenly shrank its body and quickly ran away along the edge of the wall. The newly transformed human eyes had a fragile and strange feeling. It was obviously not shot and did not feel any pain, but the eye sockets were inexplicably hot, and there was a hot liquid gushing out without any effect.
"Number one?!"
Lin Xi couldn't help but yelled again, but "No. 1" didn't stop but ran faster. He almost chased "No. 1" into the depths of the corridor.
"Lin Xi!"
Bliss called to him from behind. In just a split second, Number One had disappeared without a trace.
Lin Xi stood there, staring at the direction where "Number One" disappeared. It took him a while to retract his gaze and look at Bryce.
His brother now looked as if he were about to faint.
"Number One? Number One! If I remember correctly, isn't that the bug you raised?"
Bryce stared at Lin Xi, his face full of desire—desire for Lin Xi to give a negative answer.
“…What will Star Butterfly look like when she grows up?”
Before Lin Xi could speak, Bryce grabbed his hair and asked again.
"You spend every day with this kind of thing?"
Lin Xi: “The last time I saw it, it didn’t look like this.”
He said so. But just after he finished speaking, some images suddenly emerged in his mind: the half-human, half-insect monster that attacked him late at night; the obviously mutated and deformed insect pupae in the greenhouse; the amazing mimicry ability of "No. 1"...
Lin Xi's eyes dimmed.
Alyssa poked Bryce with her elbow: "Calm down, Bryce, that thing... that thing looks intelligent. Maybe it's just like Lin Xi said, it has no ill intentions towards us..."
As Alyssa spoke, she looked at the two motionless bodies, and her voice gradually became a little shaky.
"That thing—what the hell is that thing?"
Bryce still looked incredibly nervous.
His questioning also made Lin Xi feel extremely pressured.
Fortunately, the rustling sound coming from behind them quickly rescued Lin Xi from his current situation.
They suddenly looked behind them. When "No. 1" was hiding nearby, these severely alienated crew members were in a completely still state, and they were all staying as far away from where "No. 1" appeared as possible.
But now, with the departure of "No. 1", they are gradually becoming active again.
"Ho ho...ho..."
The vague mumbling sound rolled out from their throats, and their extremely empty eyes all pointed straight in the direction of Lin Xi.
Compared to their counterparts who still maintained their human form, those half-human, half-insect creatures with obvious insect characteristics seemed to be more fanatical about this group of people.
They tentatively crawled slowly towards Lin Xi.
But perhaps because they were concerned about the aura of "No. 1" that remained here before, the closer they got to Lin Xi and the others, the more frightened and anxious they seemed.
"Gentlemen," Alyssa pointed the gun at the monsters. She pulled the trigger, and the pulse bullet drew a long scorch mark on the monsters' bodies. "I think we can discuss the true biological properties of the star butterfly later, but now, we really have to leave here."
Of course, the other two men present could not deny this wonderful proposal in front of this group of monsters who were ready to make a move.
Lin Xi took one last glance at them, then turned around and walked suddenly in the opposite direction.
"Will they follow?"
Bryce observed them solemnly, his hands tightly gripping the gun in his hands.
"From the current situation, no, I think they are afraid of 'Number One'."
Lin Xi said as he walked.
Of course, he would not tell the two people around him that in addition to the fear of "No. 1", there were other reasons why those alienated crew members were so well-behaved.
He told them to stay there—
The thought seemed to come naturally.
Something was forming inside his skull and then... "radiating" out.
He could vaguely feel some kind of mysterious invisible fluctuations appearing, and he and the bodies of those "things" formed a mysterious connection that could not be described in words...
Of course, as he gradually distanced himself from those monsters, that strange sense of connection was rapidly weakening.
It soon weakened to the point where it seemed as if everything before was just Lin Xi's illusion.
Lin Xi walked while trying to sort out his thoughts, but his brain seemed to be blocked by something. It was now a mess, and the only thing that was clear was the feeling of fear.
The fear is growing.
He had a strong premonition that he was gradually becoming abnormal.
After all, if they were normal people, they would not be able to hear the high-frequency screams coming from the monsters' mouths, and it would be even more impossible for them to make a group of wet, deformed monsters stay away from them obediently with mental power alone.
Lin Xi could feel his heart beating in his chest. The rumors that he had scoffed at before kept revolving around in his mind. He was full of doubts. He had never wanted to find the so-called ghost captain of the Providence and ask him questions as much as he did at this moment.
So is he really some kind of monster? Is he the one who brought this disaster aboard
"Lin Xi?"
Alyssa noticed his abnormality and couldn’t help but call him worriedly.
"What's wrong?"
She asked.
Lin Xi then looked at her suddenly.
"Nothing... Nothing..."
He stammered.
After a while, he suddenly asked, "Alyssa, you said you overheard a lot of things in Taran's warehouse. Did he ever mention how much of the food bag he had to drink before he would start to mutate?"
He paused, then said with difficulty: "Actually, I have drunk that stuff before."
"Well... I guess... he didn't mention..."
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Bryce answered Lin Xi instead of Alyssa, “I have done experiments with the artificial cells on the ship. Generally, only large doses will cause that kind of mutation.”
At this point, Bryce's face was very gloomy; "It was for this reason that Alyssa and I did not raise our vigilance. We both thought it might just be a chronic, mild transformation."
In fact, when it comes to this, Bryce is also puzzled.
It has been confirmed that the main ingredient that causes people to mutate comes from Sunu's earth milk.
However, Bryce knew very well that long before Sunu's earth milk entered the Earth as a precious imported product, scientists on Earth had studied it countless times and conducted countless experiments. They allowed it to be taken by humans only after they were completely sure that the earth milk was only a very effective anti-aging agent.
However, after arriving on this planet, the components of the earth milk that were supposed to help the crew of the Apollo had the opposite effect.
Bryce had no idea how this had happened.
If he had known earlier...
"There is nothing more useless than regret."
Alyssa noticed Bryce's emotions and she comforted him.
Bryce managed a smile.
He looked at Lin Xi: “Alyssa and I are the same as you. We also drank that stuff before we found something wrong, but I have checked our physical conditions a long time ago. At least so far, there is nothing unusual in us. I think there should be many people on the ship who are like us. They only took a small amount of earth milk, but because the amount of earth milk they took was very small, it did not trigger the mutation effect.”
The author has something to say: In fact, the predecessors before "No. 1" would not be stupid enough to think as much as it does.
All he needs to do is transform himself and please his wife by having more children. He doesn't need love at all.
The misery of “Number One” lies in his unrealistic desire for love.
P.S., in the setting... there is more than one king worm... If the first worm that hatches is not smart enough and does not evolve in time to meet the aesthetics of the worm mother, it is likely to be eaten directly, and the remaining ordinary alien species will transform into a new king worm...
In fact, if you put it this way, "Number One" is already very happy.
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