Lin Xi woke up covered in a cold sweat.

He sat up and looked around at his surroundings.

The lights were off, except for a nightlight at the base of the wall, which was still on, making the room dim and blurry.

The scene before her eyes almost overlapped with Lin Xi's nightmare, causing Lin Xi to panic for a moment.

However, he soon discovered that this was simply because the lights were dimmed at night (at least according to the ship's internal schedule).

The sound of human breathing came from beside Lin Xi. He saw Bryce on an unfolded temporary nursing bed. The latter was fast asleep, and his face still looked terrible in the dim light of the night lamp. The exhaustion was fully revealed after he relaxed.

He wasn't surprised at all that he was back in the familiar medical room. Not far from Bryce was a treatment machine with people lying inside. Lin Xi glanced at it and saw that one of them was the mercenary named Sam.

Everything seemed so peaceful, but Lin Xi sat on the bed without making a sound.

The specific images from the nightmare were fading rapidly as he awoke, but the feeling of panic remained, and...

And there's something in this room.

Lin Xi thought irrationally.

The feeling was so strange and intense—something had followed him from the nightmare into reality.

It was lurking in a corner of the medical room, quietly, silently watching him.

Lin Xi slowly lay back down on the bed, closed his eyes, and pretended that he hadn't noticed anything.

But that gaze grew even stronger at that moment.

He didn't know what had happened, but he knew he couldn't act rashly now, otherwise...

otherwise……

Amidst that immense fear, Lin Xi unknowingly fell asleep once again.

When Lin Xi woke up again, both the nightmare and the feeling of being watched when he suddenly became awake had faded away.

He just felt an excruciating headache. And the two people lying in the treatment machine not far from him were an absolute nuisance to him.

Bryce wasn't in the medical room—Lin Xi could guess that her brother was probably dealing with this matter.

He left a message on Lin Xi's terminal, which contained his physiological records from the previous night. The few numbers highlighted in red proved the existence of that vague nightmare, but Lin Xi only glanced at it a few times before tossing the personal terminal aside.

Not long after, Elisa walked in from outside.

"how are you feeling?"

Elisa asked. She looked very tired. Even when she smiled, the corners of her mouth drooped down. Several fine lines had appeared on her once beautiful face, which showed that Elisa had been frowning all day.

"The data Bryce sent showed that my heartbeat was a bit off last night, but that's an old problem of mine."

Lin Xi shrugged and then said.

He didn't notice that when he mentioned the word "old problem," a fleeting look of worry crossed Elisa's eyes as she looked at him.

"Considering the problems these people on board are experiencing now, I think I should be classified as the very healthy type."

Lin Xi deliberately put on a relaxed tone and said to Elisa.

“That would be great. You know, Bryce and I were terrified when we first saw that scene.”

"You know...it was quite a frightening scene," Alyssa said softly. "So many people lying on the ground silently, we thought you were all—"

"You thought we were all dead?"

“Ah, that’s right.” Alyssa winked at Lin Xi. “You should really see Bryce’s face back then. I haven’t seen him so excited in a long time.”

"I do think he's always been easily agitated, please don't tell him, but I'm worried about his blood pressure a lot..."

Lin Xi muttered, as he had finally managed to relax Elisa's tense face.

However, after a few exchanges of this trivial conversation, Lin Xi couldn't help but frown.

He could certainly tell that Elisa was hesitant to speak.

"So...what happened?"

Lin Xi suddenly asked Elisa out of the blue.

He knew the other person would understand what he was asking.

"What are they planning to do?"

Elisa was clearly not expected that Lin Xi would ask this question directly. She was stunned for a moment, and then she sighed.

"The guys on the control team determined it was a brawl, and that the exploration team was entirely responsible."

Elisa said expressionlessly.

"Control team?"

Lin Xi frowned at the new word.

"Ah, it's just some boring organization like the emergency response committee."

Noticing Lin Xi's confusion, Elisa quickly explained.

"Of course, this group uses a more high-sounding name to describe this boring bureaucratic organization, but I don't think you care about that—it seems some people think I stole Taran's power and abused my authority on the Sun God, ultimately leading to the current chaos on board."

"Elisa said coldly."

Lin Xi looked at Elisa in disbelief, unable to understand why Elisa could remain so calm.

"...Is it because of me?" he asked, then quickly changed the question to a statement, "It's because of this incident."

Nothing could feel worse than this moment. Lin Xi felt as if her internal organs had turned into lead, sinking into her body, cold and heavy.

“Oh, of course not!” Elisa immediately shook her head. “...Actually, a large part of the reason is the ‘Covenant.’ Those men thought I was making a big deal out of fear of bugs, burning a lot of fuel by activating the protective shield, which made them very uneasy. They don’t know that if I hadn’t activated the ‘Covenant,’ things would have been even worse—but even if I said my little premonitions, no one would take them seriously.”

Elisa said coldly, "I'd love to get rid of this mess on my shoulders more than anyone else, but you know, those people have no idea how serious the situation is right now."

Perhaps because she was thinking about the series of accidents that had happened on the spaceship recently, Elisa's expression grew increasingly grim.

“Unless we can find our coordinates in a short time and then warp back to the normal flight path, the situation will only get more and more chaotic. We explained the potential problems with the food bags to those people several days ago. But they seem to think that Bryce and I are just exaggerating to consolidate our authority.”

Elisa uttered a bitter complaint.

"These idiots—"

Lin Xi couldn't help but say.

"That's right, our ship is full of lunatics and idiots. And those idiots think the exploration team was drunk when they attacked you. Yes, they can't escape that responsibility, but... you weren't seriously injured, while those scumbags on the exploration team are all unconscious from internal fighting. The worst ones have brain damage and won't wake up until we get back to Earth. And the culprit..."

At this point, Elisa turned her head to look to the side. From this angle, Elisa and Lin Xi could clearly see the man lying in the treatment machine next to them.

A hint of disgust and a subtle fear flashed across Elisa's face.

Of course, she concealed her emotions very well.

After the incident, Alyssa checked the records immediately (the exploration team seemed to have completely forgotten that there were continuous video recordings at the entrance of all the storage rooms), but after reading the records, what made Alyssa feel the most horrified was not the attack on Lin Xi, but... the fact that the man named Sam suddenly acted strangely and pointed his fist at his own compatriot.

Sam's madness and brutality at the time even made Elisa feel physically uncomfortable.

“This guy is still unconscious. The scan shows there seems to be a tumor in his brain, which is probably why he changed his personality and acted so crazy before. Well, now this tumor has become a perfect excuse for those people… Anyway, in some people's eyes, you are completely unharmed, while the exploration team suffered heavy losses. So now they have imposed a ban on the exploration team as punishment, um…” Lisa suddenly stopped talking, as if what she was about to say made her a little embarrassed.

"They now strictly forbid the exploration team from drinking alcohol on the spacecraft."

She finally forced herself to say it.

Although he didn't expect the others on the Sun God to make any fair decision regarding this blatant attack, Lin Xi still found it somewhat unbelievable after hearing about the so-called punitive ban.

“Wait… if I remember correctly, according to the ship’s rules, those guys shouldn’t be drinking in the first place—whether inside the ship or outside.”

Lin Xi said in astonishment.

Elisa gave Lin Xi a wry smile.

She shrugged and gave a knowing look.

“That’s right… that’s why Bryce isn’t in the medical room. You know him, if he could, he’d probably be by your bedside 24/7. Right now, he’s in the conference room arguing with those bastards.”

"With Solian?"

Lin Xi asked.

"Who else could it be?"

"Damn it..."

"You're not in any danger, and neither are those people. I think the higher-ups just want to gloss over this. Pretend everything's calm on the ship, that there's no problem. Even without a control team, isn't that what those guys always do?"

"Elisa said softly."

After exchanging some information, Elisa seemed to be in a very bad mood, as did Lin Xi.

Soon, both of them fell silent, and the atmosphere between them became exceptionally heavy. Not long after, Elisa's personal terminal rang. She glanced down at it, then raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, I think I have to go now. I'll come back to ask you about yesterday's attack when you're feeling better and feeling more energetic, like why that guy named Sam suddenly started fighting with his accomplices."

"I--"

Just as Lin Xi was about to speak, Elisa suddenly reached out and ruffled his hair.

Lin Xi froze instantly. Apart from his mother, no one had ever done this to him since he was an adult.

"Everything will be alright, right?"

He looked at Elisa in surprise, who gave him a gentle smile.

Although they both knew very well that this was just a hopeless wish, Lin Xi couldn't help but nod.

"Yes, Elisa, you definitely will."

He said.

Shortly after Elisa left, Lin Xi received a warning message on his personal terminal.

The source of the information was his greenhouse.

Lin Xi opened the message and immediately felt her heart almost stop beating.

Just now... "Number One" suddenly managed to break the seal on the large insect culture tank and escaped.

Lin Xi: "..."

He almost couldn't catch his breath—for a second he nearly pressed the alarm button.

After all, according to normal procedures, he would have to do this once a large alien creature escaped.

However, considering "Number One's" intelligence and its past temper, Lin Xi hesitated briefly before removing her finger.

However, he still left a brief message for Unnie.

Then he decisively jumped off the hospital bed, threw on his clothes, and headed straight outside.

As he passed the two treatment devices, he gave the two guys the middle finger.

A dozen minutes later, Lin Xi was already standing in her cabin.

He looked calmly at his room, his gaze icy.

Suddenly, his living quarters looked exactly the same as when he left. His personal belongings were still scattered haphazardly throughout the room.

His personal schedule flickered on the wall-mounted screen, and unread messages on his personal terminal were transferred to his memo pad in his room. A large amount of unfinished data work was piled up on his small writing desk, while the wardrobe had long been converted into a storage platform. Originally, two petri dishes were placed there, but since "Number One" got a new house, only the unhatched egg cases remained.

Lin Xi originally thought that after "Number One" successfully hatched, the remaining eggs in the egg case would also hatch quickly, but he later realized that he might have been too optimistic.

Even after "Number One" had grown into a giant insect nearly a meter long, the eggs remained curled up motionless within the thick sheath of their oothecae. Lin Xi tried making an incubator and putting the remaining eggs inside, but as time passed, the activity of the eggs continued to slowly decrease.

Regardless, Lin Xi still hoped to save their lives as much as possible, so he paid special attention to the incubator and the insect eggs.

It was precisely at this point that "Number One" slipped up.

As soon as Lin Xi saw the incubator, she knew that it had been disturbed by humans and insects.

He went over to inspect the incubator and found several deep scratches on the surface of the hard metal device.

Lin Xi's face grew even more gloomy as a result.

"Number One—"

He yelled at the cabin, which seemed to be empty of other people.

"You'd better get out here."

There was no sound except for the old air filter whirring behind the wall.

But Lin Xi had no doubt about her judgment.

Perhaps this is what is called intuition—he knew why "Number One" had gone to such lengths to escape from his own incubation tank.

That's why I came back here.

He returned to his cabin.

The only thing that surprised Lin Xi was that "Number One" actually tried to bite the egg case and the incubator.

“I know you’re here. I’m in a really bad mood today, so you’d better not make me go looking for you.”

Lin Xi took several deep breaths and said in a low, indifferent voice.

Perhaps because the icy tone in his voice was so intense, a rustling sound finally came from somewhere in the cabin after his warning.

The walls of Lin Xi's cabin moved—yes, it was his "walls" that moved.

The mottled stains on the metal wall and the constantly flashing electronic screen that Lin Xi had long been accustomed to gradually disappeared; the colors faded, and the metallic texture vanished...

Soon, what replaced the wall were the wings of "Number One," which were brilliantly colored and covered with spots of all sizes.

Finally, it was the insect's body that changed color, returning to its original color from the old silver-gray characteristic of the metal cabin. The two bulbs that Lin Xi had previously thought were nightlights were restored; they turned out to be "Number One's" eyes.

It was at this moment that Lin Xi realized with absolute clarity that "Number One" had indeed grown very large; its wingspan could even cover the entire wall of the cabin.

"..."

Lin Xi took a deep breath. He had to admit he hadn't expected this. He thought "Number One" would crawl out from some corner—like some particularly repulsive insect on Earth, whose body structure allows them to easily squeeze into crevices that humans would never even imagine.

The only thing Lin Xi was certain of was that "Number One" was definitely in his room. But he never expected that the enormous alien insect was right in front of him the entire time, spreading its huge wings, and its red eyes were constantly watching him. What was most unbelievable was that when Lin Xi entered the cabin, he clearly saw that wall, and he even glanced at the electronic screen.

He hadn't noticed anything unusual.

Lin Xi looked at the location of "Number One" and suddenly made a deeper discovery. When he threatened the cabin to force "Number One" to appear, the direction he was facing was the wall (although he clearly did not find anything at that time). It is very likely that "Number One" only mistakenly thought that Lin Xi had found it, and thus reluctantly gave up the disguise.

But what if... what if "Number One" held out a little longer? If it persisted in maintaining its mimicry, could Lin Xi really find it in the cabin?

For some reason, this doubt made Lin Xi feel a subtle... unease.

Many insects on Earth also exhibit similar mimicry. But no insect has ever been able to do it so perfectly.

"Number One" is a star butterfly.

In the culture of the Sunu people, star butterflies are sacred and inviolable relics. They are considered to be the projection of the star god on land, and their wisdom and red eyes are meant to listen to and understand His people on behalf of the star god.

Lin Xi suddenly remembered the things Dr. Ando had recorded in his notes. The longer he spent with "Number One," the clearer he realized that there was a reason why the Sunu people regarded this magical life form as a god.

Amidst a multitude of thoughts, Lin Xi was slightly dazed.

Perhaps it was Lin Xi's silence that made "Number One" feel uneasy.

"Number One" slowly climbed down the wall, his movements revealing a hint of reluctance.

Immediately afterwards, it timidly waved its tentacles at the human in front of it, and then tucked its wings in.

"Sizzle... sizzle..."

A soft, gentle, ingratiating sound came from beneath its wings.

Its forelimbs were curled up, tightly tucked in front of its chest, with only its four hind legs supporting its hard, massive body. It tried its best to appear obedient and docile.

Looking at its pitiful appearance, it's hard to imagine that this alien insect, which had damaged the sophisticated sealing of a large insect culture dish, sneaked back into the room, and even tried to break the egg case incubator, was trembling with fear at the sight of humans.

Lin Xi already had a splitting headache because of yesterday's events, and now, looking at "Number One," the headache only got worse.

"Don't make that face. We all know what you did—you shouldn't have sneaked out of the greenhouse. I really don't like it. You should know that it makes me very worried. By the way, the sealing equipment used in your culture tank is not only professional but also very expensive. I doubt that, given the current situation, Oni and the others will give me a new one."

Lin Xi sat wearily on the bed.

As he moved, "Number One" turned its head as well.

It took a few steps toward Lin Xi, but after noticing Lin Xi's stern gaze, it quickly stopped and lay down on the ground.

Its wings turned a dull gray color.

Then, Lin Xi pointed to the egg case incubator on the shelf.

"...Most importantly, I really want to know why you did that. Why did you destroy the incubator? Those...those are your brothers and sisters, assuming they all hatch successfully, of course. Of course, I know that insects like you don't like to associate closely with your own kind, but...who knows? If they do hatch, you might find one you like among them. And you probably won't be so lonely on the spaceship."

Lin Xi's voice softened a bit at this point.

He suddenly realized that if the Apollo really couldn't return to Earth, then the only survivor on the entire ship would probably be this little creature in front of him.

After all, given the current state of this planet, insects could probably thrive here.

"Sizzle... sizzle..."

Upon hearing Lin Xi mention the egg case, the previously listless Star Butterfly suddenly raised its antennae and let out a high-pitched cry.

Any normal person could sense the intense aversion that "Number One" had towards that egg case.

Seeing "Number One's" obvious reaction, Lin Xi could only rub his temples.

Bryce's physiological data showed that there was nothing wrong with his body, but since he woke up this morning, he found that his headache had become more and more serious.

"All right……"

He sighed.

“Let’s skip this for now, I’ll pretend I didn’t see your teeth marks—but you have to go back to the greenhouse now.”

Lin Xiqiang roused himself and said to "Number One".

Meanwhile, his heart was pounding with anxiety.

After all, today's "Number One" is no longer the little insect that can be put in a glass dish and taken to a greenhouse.

If it still refuses to return to its original culture tank, then... then he will likely have to sound the alarm and use emergency measures to forcibly send "Number One" back.

He was quite certain that if he actually did that, "Number One" would go completely insane.

This was something he absolutely did not want to see.

"Sizzle..."

Sure enough, "Number One" seemed quite unhappy.

Lin Xi's heart sank heavily.