Looking back, Lin Xi suspected that she and the rest of the exploration team might have been hypnotized by some mysterious force.

Yes, that's it—Jerry's voice was so calm and confident, as if they were walking on a scenic promenade with countless signs rather than in a dark, narrow, and sunless tunnel.

Strangely enough, everyone believed Jerry's words.

They believed that the road was so long because of the darkness, and they believed that they would soon reach the cave where they had first rolled down.

The entrance to the cave may be blocked by some pebbles and mud, but that doesn't matter. If the insects can find a way out, so can they.

But things gradually got worse; the atmosphere became increasingly humid, and the temperature grew colder.

Every few steps, Lin Xi needed to wipe the fog off her mask.

At first, some people questioned Jerry, and occasionally someone would say irrelevant things on public communication channels.

Now, both private and public channels are quiet—only the increasingly heavy breathing of people can be heard.

Lin Xi began to realize something was wrong when he saw something soft and squishy in a crevice in the rocks, resembling a large clump of sea anemones. At first, he thought it was lichen or moss unique to this planet, but he quickly discovered it was actually the tongue of some kind of giant worm. As Lin Xi and his companions passed by, the worms were startled. A brood of worms wriggled and burrowed into a deeper, narrower crevice, causing a small tremor that sent many rocks falling from above the passage.

Thank God, the tunnel didn't collapse, but Lin Xi was hit on the shoulder and forehead by a few stones.

A distinct sweet, fishy smell suddenly rose from his mask.

"Damn it..."

Lin Xi muttered something, realizing he was bleeding.

At that very moment, Lin Xi suddenly snapped out of her dazed state.

He stopped abruptly.

Walker, who had been following behind him, bumped into him, followed by Lena, Eugene, Schroederes...

"Hey, what's going on here!"

Walker was a big guy, and his impact almost knocked Lin Xi over, but Lin Xi managed to stay upright.

After a few seconds of pause, he heard Walker's familiar, rude shouts.

Lin Xizhen was unwilling to admit that hearing this guy's curses actually made him feel at ease.

“Something’s not right…” That’s what he said to Walker.

"Jerry! Where are you taking us?"

This is what he said to Jerry.

"..."

Jerry remained silent.

"Jerry! Stop!"

Lin Xi raised her voice and shouted.

"We'll be there soon."

It took Jerry quite a while to respond to him.

"Don't worry, we haven't gone the wrong way. We've been following the signs the whole time."

He said it word by word.

But Lin Xi's face was tense at this moment.

Even with Jerry's assurance, it wouldn't change anything. The reason is simple: if it were the responsible and good-natured man he knew, Jerry would have stopped no matter what.

But Jerry didn't do that. He swayed slightly, his movements were stiff, and he continued walking forward on his own.

What's going on?

Now that things have come to this point, the exploration team members who have come from other situations have also realized that something is wrong.

Lin Xi didn't have time to pay attention to them. He rushed forward and grabbed Jerry.

He forcibly turned Jerry around, forcing him to face the exploration team behind him.

"Jerry?"

"Wait—Jerry, what's wrong?"

Upon seeing Jerry, several people couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

The man who had been speaking to them in a calm and composed voice now looked like a patient suffering from some kind of acute illness.

Even through the mask, people could clearly see beads of sweat the size of soybeans seeping from his pores.

His facial muscles were crooked and severely asymmetrical. His right cheek looked as if an invisible hand was forcefully pushing it downwards, and he could only half-open his eyes. Meanwhile, his left cheek was pulled into a strange smile, and his eyes were trembling involuntarily with his pupils dilated.

Jerry's behavior made Lin Xi feel extremely uncomfortable; his heart suddenly felt cold and heavy.

On a whim, he suddenly grabbed Jerry's hand.

He looked at Jerry's personal terminal—which was just a bright red warning sign of a malfunction.

From beginning to end... they didn't follow the marked route at all, because the marker balls had long since become invalid!

"What on earth is going on, Jerry?!"

When the rest of the exploration team first saw Jerry's condition, they were already quite panicked. But when Lin Xi showed them the personal terminal on Jerry's wrist, they were completely thrown into chaos.

"No, no, no, this isn't true. Weren't we always walking outwards?"

"Something must be wrong, no, Jerry, what the hell are you doing—"

Just then, Jerry's eyes suddenly stopped moving.

Lin Xi met Jerry's gaze directly.

His movements suddenly stopped.

"Heh...heh heh..."

A rapid hiss came from Jerry's throat, and then the man, who was not young, suddenly broke free from Lin Xi's grasp.

Lin Xi immediately sensed something was wrong: "Grab him!"

He shouted.

Walker and Eugene reacted the fastest, rushing towards Jerry immediately.

"Oh, damn it—"

But immediately afterward, Lin Xi heard a cry of pain.

Walker flew out, followed by Eugene—at that moment, Jerry's strength was simply unbelievable; he actually flung both men away.

Immediately afterwards, he rushed towards the other end of the dark passageway.

“Jerry—”

Lin Xi yelled at him.

Jerry, who had already put some distance between them, seemed to turn around and look at him.

At such a distance, his exploration suit had long been swallowed by the thick darkness, with only a faint yellow light shining from inside his helmet.

His head seemed to float alone in mid-air, his crooked face resembling a mask with an evil smile.

Lin Xi felt that Jerry... or rather, the soul that now occupied Jerry's body, was sneering at him.

The next second, Jerry disappeared.

Damn it!

Before Lin Xi could speak, she heard a curse filled with anger.

"Wait, Walker—"

Lin Xi shouted.

But it was too late. The moment he opened his mouth, Walker, who had been left aside by Jerry, scrambled to his feet and rushed towards the direction where Jerry had disappeared.

Following behind him was Eugene.

"..."

Lin Xi stood there watching their backs.

He silently uttered a series of extremely vicious curses, then gritted his teeth and rushed over with them.

...

Meanwhile, on the Helios spacecraft, tens of kilometers away from them.

At the same time, some people were cursing God.

Still no news from them?!

Bryce slammed his fist heavily on the control panel.

The technician next to him flinched, almost screaming in fright.

"Oh, Bryce, calm down."

Elisa sighed and reached out to support her lover.

"If you smash the console, we won't be able to find the original part to replace it now."

The technician, regaining his senses, muttered angrily behind them.

"Hehehe, guys—"

Elisa had to raise her voice.

She covered Bryce's mouth before he could speak.

"Please, Bryce, just let Douglas do his job in peace. You're not the only one worried about them."

She stared at Bryce's face, her voice stern.

"But--"

Bryce spoke instinctively, but when he met Elisa's gaze, he slumped his shoulders in dejection.

His appearance certainly seemed pitiful to Elisa.

After all, Bryce hadn't eaten or slept since the news of the exploration team's disappearance.

After gritting his teeth and finishing his daily work, he would squat in the control room trying to get some extra information. However, even after the massive storm finally subsided after a day and a night of howling, the exploration team's wireless signal never came through.

Bryce was on the verge of a complete breakdown.

However, Elisa could not allow Bryce to continue like this.

"Listen to me, you need to eat something and then get some rest."

Elisa tried to remain calm and then spoke to Bryce.

She paused subtly for a moment, then continued, "The first search and rescue team is already out searching. To be honest, no news is good news, isn't it?"

However, as soon as she said those words, Elisa regretted it.

She must have been so overwhelmed by the damage to the Sun God in the storm that she would never have mentioned it to Bryce.

No news is good news—

The meaning hidden behind this sentence is far too sad.

In fact, the moment the news of the exploration team's disappearance in the storm came, everyone already knew the answer in their hearts: those people were doomed.

If the search and rescue team does send news, it's likely that they've found the bodies of the exploration team members.

Elisa simply couldn't bear to think about that scene.

She instinctively held her breath, wary of Bryce's next loss of control...

But Bryce did not do that.

He just stood there staring blankly at Elisa, and then nodded slowly.

"Yes, that's right. I... I really should go and rest..."

He whispered in a hoarse voice, then turned unsteadily and walked toward the outside of the control room.

Elisa watched his departing figure with sorrow.

Until the technician behind her cautiously spoke up: "Are you really not going to tell him? Those corpses..."

"No, Douglas, do me a favor and don't bring this up now."

Elisa lowered her head and said wearily.

She forced herself to stay in the control room a little longer, but in the end she couldn't relax and rushed out with Bryce.

Unsurprisingly, Alyssa found Bryce in the medical room, who had said he was going to rest.

When she entered the medical room, she saw Bryce huddled in a corner, sobbing silently.

“Oh…Bryce…”

Elisa walked over and hugged Bryce tightly.

"Everything will be alright, things haven't gotten too bad yet."

She kept wiping away Bryce's tears.

It was a long time before the convulsions of the man in her arms gradually subsided.

"I don't want this to happen, I just can't control it..."

Bryce rested his head on Elisa's shoulder and whispered in an unusually hoarse voice.

Elisa patted his back.

After a long silence, Bryce suddenly spoke out of the blue.

“I’ve already watched one of my brothers die... I really don’t want to see my remaining brothers die like that…”

“Brother? I’m sorry, Bryce, I had no idea…”

Elisa frowned in confusion.

younger brother?

She and Bryce had been lovers for a long time, but she had never heard that Bryce had a younger brother besides Lin Xi.

“Saville”.

Bryce murmured a name.

“Before Savile died, I personally promised him that I would take good care of Lin Xi.”

Author's Note: Today is another day that someone went offline for cosmetic surgery...