"Oh, damn it—"

Lin Xi frowned deeply.

He grabbed the jumpsuit and carefully examined the glove area, then he quickly discovered the problem.

That smelly, sealed-fitting bodysuit was supposed to completely isolate him from the outside world, but now, there was a noticeable tear at the fingertips and palms.

Well, damn Slavic light mech, damn old relic. Considering that the sealed suit that comes with the light mech is probably older than Lin Xi himself, it's not too surprising that a tear appears in the gloves, which are the part that moves the most.

In addition, Lin Xi had done a lot of heavy physical labor in that dark warehouse area all day. Perhaps it was while moving certain things that the aged gelatinous outer membrane ruptured. However, he had sweated a lot at the time and didn't notice anything wrong. And those strange liquids had clearly seeped into the interior through this crack.

At that moment, Lin Xi didn't even know who to curse.

"Good heavens, I assured Bryce that everything was fine..."

He whispered in anguish.

The immediate priority is to determine the composition of those liquids.

The liquid stuck to Lin Xi's hand was thinner than glue, but very viscous. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary translucent milky white liquid, but upon closer inspection, one could see a faint reflection on the surface of the liquid, similar to that of opal.

Judging solely from its texture, Lin Xi strongly suspected that the slime was the earth milk that earthlings had been dreaming of.

He could even provide the origin of these earth-stains, that strange fossil sculpture.

Lin Xi squeezed the thing quite a bit when she put it into the petri dish.

However, everyone knows that the Sunu aliens' Earth Milk smells like something out of hell. Its eerie, fishy stench can even cause those with low tolerance to faint. Only through an exceptionally complex refining and deodorizing process can this stuff become the priceless "elixir of immortality" acceptable to Earthlings. Even the transport ships used to carry the Earth Milk had to be specially customized; otherwise, the horrible smell would be enough to prompt the crew to file workers' compensation claims with the union…

However, the slime on Lin Xi's hands smelled quite the opposite of the rumored stench.

They actually smell quite nice... rich, sweet, alluring, with a scent similar to diluted masculine cologne.

Although the scent was quite faint, Lin Xi felt he would buy the same perfume if it were available.

Bryce's medical room does have a very high-end component analyzer, but Lin Xi didn't dare to provoke his overly worried brother at this moment.

Fortunately, Lin Xi, as the only botanist on the ship, had an analyzer in his room—primarily used to analyze fertilizer solutions used to fertilize plants. Functionally very basic, it was sufficient to determine the composition of these strange slimes.

Lin Xi scraped the sludge off her hands and stuffed it into the analyzer.

He originally intended to stay put in front of the analyzer and wait for the composition to come out, but he could only stand there for a short while before he could no longer stand there.

Perhaps it was his imagination, or perhaps he was allergic to that old, sealed suit that had been worn by countless people.

He felt his skin was very itchy, and it felt like there were invisible little bugs crawling on his back.

Lin Xi could only endure it for a short while before she couldn't take it anymore and rushed into the bathroom.

As the hot water pattered against his body under the wonderful artificial gravity, Lin Xi let out a long sigh of relief. Ever since Bryce forcibly dragged him out of the sleep pod, one messed-up thing after another had happened. Even though Lin Xi was never the delicate type, he couldn't help but feel physically and mentally exhausted.

However, with the impact of the water flow, the accumulated pressure seemed to be slowly washed away.

The scents that Lin Xi had previously found pleasant became much stronger in the completely enclosed space, and the subtle fragrances almost materialized and seeped into his hair and skin.

But the smell wasn't unpleasant; on the contrary, the pleasant aroma, combined with the hot water, made Lin Xi feel very comfortable.

Unaware of the unresolved issue, Lin Xi's consciousness became relaxed and scattered, her body felt heavy and limp, as if she were sinking.

This feeling is somewhat like being slightly tipsy, or like the hazy, half-awake state between dreams.

Lin Xi yawned. He felt so sleepy that he didn't even have the energy to pay attention to the faint gaze behind him.

However, he simply couldn't ignore that viscous gaze.

What a gaze that was!

Burning, scalding, focused, devoid of any reason, only intense desire.

That gaze felt as if it were an exceptionally sharp and thick weapon piercing through his flesh, bones, and internal organs—

Then came that strange rustling sound.

Is it a friction sound? Or is it some kind of high-frequency hissing?

Hiss...

Hiss... hiss...

...

"Who goes there?!"

Lin Xi suddenly came to his senses. He roared, abruptly pressed the button to stop the water flow, and then turned around, trapping himself in the corner of the bathroom.

In this position, he doesn't need to worry about what's behind him or to his sides; he only needs to be vigilant about what's in front of him.

In that brief moment, he almost lost consciousness.

But he couldn't ignore the terrifying feeling of being spied on.

Lin Xi glanced at his arm, which was covered in goosebumps.

However, no one was in his room.

There was no extra, strange noise.

Lin Xi listened intently to everything around her.

The analyzer was still working in his room, humming, and the spaceship's exhaust system was as noisy as ever, but Lin Xi had long been used to the almost white noise.

"Tick-tock...tick-tock..."

All that remained was the sound of water dripping from his body, which hadn't been wiped clean.

Of course, there was also his breathing, which had become somewhat heavy without him realizing it.

Lin Xi remained in that defensive posture for a while, but no matter how he sensed it, everything seemed perfectly normal.

Strictly speaking, the strangest person in the entire room at this moment was probably the suspicious Lin Xi himself.

Lin Xi didn't know how long it took her to calm down.

Perhaps it's stress or the aftereffects of a failed jump, and the changes in air pressure and gravity on a new planet can easily lead to subtle hallucinations and anxiety.

Lin Xi mentally listed all the possibilities and then found the reason why she was so restless at this moment.

He finished his shower hastily and then left the bathroom.

...The moment he returned to his room, an exceptionally pale man was standing in the corner, staring intently at him.

The man was so white he was almost transparent, except for his deep blue eyes, which resembled the sky at the moment night was about to fall. He was handsome to the point of being wicked, yet his expression was as gentle as a spring breeze that brushed against flower buds, leaving not a single dewdrop behind.

Lin Xi almost cried out. The moment he met the man's face, he was completely unable to move.

"Forest……"

The man smiled slightly and then spoke.

Lin Xi rushed over and quickly turned off the projector on the table. As the power switch on the small cube dimmed, the man vanished into thin air.

Yes, that man was just a projection.

The old projector should have stayed obediently deep inside the bookshelf, but probably because of the turbulence during the emergency landing, it fell off the bookshelf and was suddenly triggered and started up for some unknown reason.

Lin Xi stood at the spot where the man had disappeared, panting for a long time before calming down. Then, he slumped down and rubbed his temples.

His heart was still pounding uncontrollably. Seeing that person's face again under such unexpected circumstances, even if it was just a projection, made Lin Mao's emotions extremely agitated.

...

"Okay, Mom is right. From now on, I should pack all my luggage before I go into the sleep pod."

He said it somewhat hoarsely.

However, no one knows whether he was speaking to himself or to someone who had been gone from his side for a long time.

This little incident made Lin Xi's already bad mood even worse, but if you have to say it wasn't without its benefits, at least... the panic and feeling of being watched that had been bothering Lin Xi just now actually disappeared after the fright.

Lin Mao opened the first-aid kit, chewed on a sedative gel stick that he had previously hidden away, and only then did he truly return to normal.

If Bryce knew about this, he'd probably nag him endlessly, but who cares?

Not long after, the analyzer, which had been working diligently for quite some time, beeped to indicate that the program had ended.

Lin Xi grabbed a bath towel to dry her hair, then casually opened the electronic screen to check the results.

"Wow, it really is this stuff. The girls on Earth would be so jealous if they knew I used its undiluted liquid to wipe my hands..."

It could be said that this was not unexpected.

Judging from the composition, the sticky liquid that stuck to Lin Xi's hands was indeed Earth Milk.

Although he didn't know why the thing in Lin Xi's hand smelled so good (maybe it was just because it was fresh?), since he was certain that it wasn't some kind of slime secreted by a deadly alien creature, Lin Xi quickly put it out of his mind.

However, even Lin Xi himself didn't realize that before he forgot about the earth milk on his hand, he subconsciously put the hand that had been in contact with the earth milk under his nose and took a deep breath.

The taste of the ground milk is very mild.

Very light.

Under the cover of the shower gel, the scent should have been so faint that it would have been impossible for humans to detect it.

But Lin Xi thought the smell was indeed very pleasant.