Mother of Insects

Chapter 8

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John Bronson's "forced departure" (this word is a bit of an understatement, but who cares) was like an invisible signal that this emergency meeting, which had not made much progress, had finally come to an end.

The crew were not in good condition, and John's shouting was just some crazy talk, but it still affected everyone present.

disturbed.

Hesitation.

Panic.

Confused.

Lin Xi could almost see those words directly on the faces of those who left the meeting room silently. Among these people, Alyssa's complexion was particularly bad. Her beautiful face was now covered with greasy cold sweat, her lips were pale and very dry, and her hair was messy, like a mess of straw.

"Hey, Alyssa, are you okay?"

Lin Xi had never seen Alyssa in such a miserable state, which made him feel a little worried.

Hearing his whispered question, Alyssa trembled suddenly, and then turned her head to look at him.

Lin Xi felt that his question just now seemed to have scared Alyssa, which made him feel very surprised.

Alyssa is not a delicate woman. It can even be said that her willpower and adaptability are much stronger than many people - she is the kind of person who is truly suitable to be the captain of a spaceship.

A failed warp is a terrible accident, but it shouldn't have caused Alyssa to become like this.

"I...I...I guess I'm just a little too tired."

Alyssa looked straight at Lin Xi. Her eyes were distracted for a moment, then quickly returned to normal.

She came back to her senses and answered Lin Xi in a dry voice.

"You know, it's a bad situation. In every way."

she says.

"You don't look very good right now... I think you really need a professional doctor and a considerate lover to stay with you."

Lin Xi tried to look relaxed, and he spoke softly to Alyssa: "However, luckily, if I remember correctly, there happened to be a man named Bryce on the ship who meets this requirement. I'll take you to him, and I think he would be happy to see you."

Alyssa's eyes trembled slightly. After Bryce was mentioned, her face, which was as gray and hard as concrete, finally relaxed a little.

But at this moment, Taran's ghostly voice sounded behind him.

"Dr. Lin Xi. Allow me to remind you that there is still a mission briefing between you and me that has not been completed yet."

Lin Xi turned his back to Taran and rolled his eyes.

For God's sake—

He mouthed silently to Alyssa.

Why would Taran still think of him at this time

Lin Xi originally thought that he could take advantage of the situation by simply submitting a written briefing and then slip away using the excuse of being busy.

"I'll go check on Bryce, don't worry about me." Alyssa looked at Lin Xi being stopped by Taran, she seemed to cheer up a little, forced an ugly smile and said to him, "... By the way, I wish you good luck."

With that, she glanced quickly at Taran and left the meeting room.

The metal hatch creaked shut in front of Lin Xi.

At this moment, Lin Xi and Taran were the only two people left in the huge conference room - this fact alone was tragic enough.

Lin Xi thought of Alyssa's tired and sympathetic eyes before she left, took a deep breath, then turned around and faced the captain with a gloomy face.

"I have sent all mission logs to your personal terminal, sir."

Lin Xi said immediately.

Whatever his personal feelings toward Taran might be, at least on the surface he was trying to be compliant and friendly.

After experiencing such a meeting and John Bronson's sudden madness, one could tell with one's toes that Taran must be in a very bad mood, and Lin Xi did not intend to cause himself too much trouble.

Taran sneered.

"Oh, you mean the mission report? Oh, sorry, I thought it was a middle school essay that someone sent to me by mistake... Did you write papers like this when you were in Union University?"

There was no disguising the contempt in Taran's tone.

(Oh, hold it in.)

Lin Xi looked at Taran and said to himself in his heart.

(You've known for a while that this guy is a complete jerk.)

The little angel named "reason" in his heart tried hard to convince himself.

"Well, in fact, my papers have been published in quite a few famous journals. Perhaps those professional and top editors have different opinions on my writing."

Lin Xi took a step forward so that he could confront Taran directly.

But he soon moved his eyes away from Taran's face. Perhaps because of his strong disgust for Taran, he always felt that Taran's face seemed to have changed subtly. The deep sunken eye sockets, the overly thin cheeks, the lavender blood vessels under the pale skin, and the pair of nervous, always slightly trembling eyes - Taran was ugly enough, but Lin Xi felt that before he entered the sleeping cabin, this man didn't look so disgusting.

Lin Xi couldn't even face him calmly, even though she kept reminding herself in her heart not to cause trouble.

After hearing Lin Xi's response, Taran's facial muscles twitched again. He seemed to want to say something else, but Lin Xi interrupted him first.

"Oh, by the way, I actually have one thing to remind you, my respected Captain. Strictly speaking, I am just an 'auxiliary staff' assigned to do some simple professional work, not your crew member. In the agreement I signed before boarding the ship, my scope of work does not include this kind of exploration work and the maintenance work inside the spacecraft. If you are really dissatisfied with my previous mission, I have a better suggestion - send more professional people to take a look."

Lin Xi smiled and said everything in one breath.

(Whoops, plan failed.)

The voice in his heart whistled.

He really didn't want to cause trouble for himself, but... You see, things are so strange, sometimes it's hard to control your emotions just by looking at Taran's neurotic face.

What's more, Lin Xi swore that there was no falsehood or exaggeration in what he said.

Although he had to pretend as he spoke that he was completely unaware of the convention: on a spaceship, the captain had the right to command and control everyone on board, whether he was a crew member or not.

"… "

Hearing Lin Xi's impolite words, Taran's expression quickly twisted.

He took a deep breath and seemed about to say something.

Lin Xi secretly clenched his fists and prepared himself. He was sure that what Taran was going to say next would not be nice, and he might really fight with the bastard in front of him.

but…

The changes that happened to Taran the next moment made Lin Xi feel a little at a loss.

Just after taking a deep breath, Taran's body suddenly shook violently.

Lin Xi had been on guard against Taran, so he noticed very clearly the obvious changes on that guy's face: the man's nostrils shrank, his lips trembled unnaturally, and the pair of tiny eyes embedded in the deep eye sockets suddenly widened, so large that it seemed as if his eyeballs could roll directly out of their sockets, but his pupils shrank very small.

“Huh—”

A strange mumbled sound rolled out of Taran's throat.

But it was just a simple syllable. The next second, Taran's throat choked and he stood straight in place as if he had been struck by lightning. He didn't make any sound for a long time.

Lin Xi looked at him in surprise, and accidentally made eye contact with Taran again.

He swore that he had never seen Taran look like this before. There was an extremely strange emotion in the way the latter looked at him.

It was as if he was no longer himself, but suddenly turned into a panda or an elephant or something...

Lin Xi felt that Taran might as well follow the familiar routine. His current appearance made Lin Xi feel creepy.

A chill slid down his neck.

"Is there anything you...can do for me, Captain Taran?"

Lin Xi and Taran stared at each other for a few seconds.

Those were literally the longest seconds of his life.

In the end, Lin Xi was the first to give in, his attitude softened, and then he asked tentatively.

The old air unit in the conference room was still running, creaking and gasping for air, and then the noise mixed with Taran's gradually heavier breathing.

Lin Xi himself admired his own overly strong willpower - if it weren't for this willpower, he would probably have run away.

The way Taran looks now, and his gaze...

Lin Xi couldn't find any words to describe his weirdness. That sticky and hot gaze was more terrifying than any horror movie.

"Get out of here—get—"

Just when Lin Xi thought that Taran would faint in front of him due to an epileptic seizure or something, Taran suddenly spoke again.

He staggered back several steps and then yelled at Lin Xi.

He was still as rude and uncouth as usual, but Lin Xi would not miss the distress and fear in his voice.

… In the end what happened

Lin Xi recalled the previous conversation between him and Taran.

He had no idea why Taran had suddenly become so strange.

However, even though he was confused and bewildered, since Taran asked him to leave so directly, Lin Xi still walked out of the meeting room quickly as he wished.

However, just as the metal door of the conference room closed behind him, he clearly heard a loud noise coming from behind the door.

It was obvious that Taran seemed to have dropped something on the hatch - Lin Xi guessed that it should be the chair he had in his hand.

And he was sure that the person Taran really wanted to hit was him.

"Well… "

Lin Xi's confusion grew more and more intense than ever before, almost arousing his curiosity about the scumbag Taran Ida.

But thank God, my disgust for that guy eventually outweighed my curiosity.

"Who knows if that guy is also insane?"

Lin Xi muttered.

On the way to find Bryce and Alyssa, Lin Xi looked at the scene outside the viewfinder window.

The view outside the window was filled with those strange creatures with bright colors that seemed fake (if this really was the planet AS192 as stated at the meeting, then those things could more or less be called plants). They were clustered tightly around the Apollo, swaying slowly in the hazy mist like living things.

I don’t know why, but just looking at the scene outside the window, Lin Xi felt uncomfortable all over.

This is a maddening planet.

This thought popped into his mind for no reason and wouldn't go away.

As he gazed at the plants' soft, anemone-like branches, it was the faces of the crew members that kept coming to his mind.

Bryce, John, Alyssa... even Taran.

They are all completely different from before.

Although he could explain their abnormality by the stress brought on by the failed jump, deep down Lin Xike couldn't deceive himself.

Even if one is slow, one should be able to sense the vague, dark and ominous aura spreading in this spaceship. When Lin Xi thought of this, he shuddered involuntarily, as if a hairy spider had crawled over his feet.

Of course, if Lin Xi could see the scene behind that metal hatch, he would probably feel more than just a chill.

Taran was alone in the meeting room, a closed cabin that had become empty due to the departure of others.

The air purification system was still running frantically, buzzing and mixed with the faint sound of metal breaking.

However, that captivating aura not only did not fade away with Lin Xi's departure, but became increasingly stronger.

At least that's how it was for Taran.

After completely locking the memory room, he no longer had to worry about how he appeared in front of others.

He fell to the ground, his body curled up tightly and twitching constantly.

His heart was pounding, pain was building in his chest, and an intense itch was spreading beneath his skin.

Taran dug his nails into his skin, scratching until his nails were filled with his own blood and skin fragments.

It was hellish pain, but even at this moment, Taran still couldn't help himself and kept breathing in like a drowning man craving for the last breath of air.

He drank in the smell greedily.

The faint smell emanating from Lin Xi.

"Ho-ho-ho-ho-"

Taran's throat began to gurgle again, and his chin was wet and he knew he was drooling.

But he couldn't care less.

He fainted.