Using "human" to describe that thing is a bit inaccurate; to be precise, it was just some kind of humanoid object.
Lin Xi blinked, his vision growing increasingly blurry.
The newcomer seemed to realize his visual deficiency, and let out a sneer. Then, a lamp above Lin Xi's head flickered twice and lit up.
With the help of the dim light, Lin Xi was finally able to see the guy's face clearly.
If he were still that naive and innocent university teaching assistant on Earth, living a happy life without realizing it, he would probably scream wildly the moment he saw the other person.
It clearly possesses a human form, yet it is shrouded in a rotten, ugly, and eerie aura.
Lin Xi stared blankly for a moment before finally realizing that he was now gazing at an ancient android shell. However, 300 years had long since altered this expensive antique beyond recognition. It appeared to be modeled after an adult European male, but its simulated skin was now broken, revealing a complex and exceptionally ugly network of tubes beneath. It was clear that it had attempted to repair itself, but the results were far more horrifying than ordinary damage.
Lin Xi knew that by the end of the Great Exploration Era, androids had long been banned from all production and sale as ethically prohibited items.
Even in Lin Xi's time, there were still many people who were quite fascinated by these human creations. After all, in the materials that Lin Xi had seen, each of these androids looked exceptionally perfect. They were the product of supercomputers superimposing, calculating, and refining the aesthetics of countless people.
They are the embodiment of beauty created by humankind itself.
But the body that now appeared in front of Lin Xi looked like a nightmare, or rather, it was a nightmare in itself.
When Lin looked at it, the monster, constructed from metal, silicone, and synthetic materials, smiled at him.
“You know, Dr. Lin Xi, I originally wanted to make this matter simpler… but look at all this. It’s truly tragic, isn’t it? If you had just ended it all sooner, many of these problems could have been resolved much earlier.”
“Scripps…”
Lin Xi stared at that ugly and strange face for a while, and then accurately stated the other person's identity.
However, after a brief pause, Lin Xi shook his head, panting, and slowly took a step back, supporting himself against the wall.
"No, it's not..."
Lin Xi repeated.
“I’ve made a mistake, I’ve made a mistake… You’ve been lying all along, you’re not Captain Scripps at all…”
Lin Xi's breathing became increasingly rapid.
“You’re lying. You’ve been lying from the very beginning. This is the real you. There was never… there was never a ghost of Captain Scripps, was there… God, why was I so stupid? You’re not a ghost, and there never has been. You’re not even human. You’re just… an android…”
Lin Xi whispered as he watched the android approach him step by step.
He staggered, trying to dodge the other person, but his body wouldn't obey him.
With massive blood loss and severe abdominal injury, his vision grew increasingly dark and his mind became increasingly muddled.
The lifelike figure winked at him.
"How should I put it? Actually, this matter is a bit complicated." Its tone was unusually human, but the more human it appeared, the more it highlighted its strange characteristics as an artificial object.
It is even more terrifying and evil than those monsters that transform into giant insects.
"Actually, I wasn't lying... Scripps is me, and I am Scripps. Of course, I also have another name. You can call me Hal if you like."
Hal spoke gently to Lin Xi.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot."
The next second, it suddenly clapped its hands and made an exaggerated expression that looked like an apology.
“I forgot, you’re about to die, so I don’t think you’ll have much of a chance to call me Hal.”
"No……"
Lin Xi strained his eyes to stare at Hal. He already sensed the cruelty Hal was about to commit.
He hated exposing his vulnerability to such an ugly man-made creature, but he couldn't help but let out a low murmur filled with fear.
“I promised Xavier, I will…”
“I know you will go to him.”
Hal said to Lin Xi.
If you disregard its severely decayed, artificial skin and terrifying appearance, the way it tilts its head actually evokes a sense of sympathy.
"As is customary, someone as kind as me should be the one to help you, but, sigh..." Hal sighed, as if it truly possessed the emotion of regret, "Dr. Lin Xi, I made the same mistake before. I severely injured you, you remember, right? But not long after, you came back to life, full of energy. This is a huge hidden danger for me... I'm sorry, although I also think the bond between you and that Queen Insect is indeed very touching, but..."
As they were talking, Hal had already reached Lin Xi and stretched out its hand to forcefully grab Lin Xi's neck.
Lin Xi felt as if a corpse that had just crawled out of its grave had touched her.
"Hehe..."
He struggled desperately, but soon realized that his struggles were utterly futile against Hal, who possessed a body of steel.
While still being held in a pinched position, Lin Xi could clearly see the other party's pair of electronic eyes that were constantly flashing fluorescent green light, as well as a small electronic laser mark branded on its chest.
A line of text can be faintly seen on it.
Scripps... Cyber... External casing...
The words were very blurry due to the skin damage and required careful reading.
But at this moment, Lin Xi was no longer able to observe carefully.
“Poor Dr. Lin Xi… I should thank Xavier; it’s incredibly fortunate that it kept you here. I truly regret that I can’t convey this sincere sentiment to you. You know, if it weren’t for this bond between you and it that kept you here…”
Hal suddenly leaned forward and then embraced Lin Xi tightly, seemingly intimately.
"How should I kill you then?"
Hal whispered sweetly.
Lin Xi let out a muffled groan in its arms.
When Hal released him, Lin Xi suddenly collapsed to the ground—just now, Hal had cleanly and swiftly snapped his cervical spine.
Immediately afterwards, Hal leaned down slightly.
Lin Xi sensed that Hal had placed something in the wound on his abdomen.
The mutant's overwhelming vitality had become a curse at this moment—Lin Xi did not lose consciousness despite the hellish pain; he could even feel Hal's cold fingers squeezing inside his internal organs.
The object placed inside his body was heavy, hard, and filled with electronic components.
Linxi was unable to move and could only stare intently at Hal with wide eyes.
"This is because of a cluster pulse bomb."
Noticing Lin Xi's gaze, Hal turned its head and then explained kindly.
"This is an old thing left over from back then... This bomb can guarantee that every cell in your body will be reduced to ashes. It's very useful, very efficient, and very reassuring. You know, only in this way can I not worry about your resurrection again."
Hal said.
“Xavier…”
Lin Xi's eyes had become as lifeless as stone. His lips moved, emitting a broken, breathy sound. Only he knew that in the final moments of his life, he was calling out that name.
sorry……
He said it silently.
"Oh, how pitiful, I can't bear to watch anymore."
Hal frowned, leaned over, and closed Lin Xi's eyes.
"Because I also have people I want to protect."
Hal muttered something under his breath.
Then, he activated the pulse bomb.
The red light that signaled the imminent explosion of the bomb began to flash regularly.
Hal set a countdown timer and then quickly walked towards the other end of the spaceship.
After Bryce and Elisa left, there were no survivors on the entire Helios. This meant that the hull it was currently using was extremely important. And Hal did not intend to lose the few remaining hulls in this explosion.
A few dozen seconds later, Hal suddenly stopped in the pitch-black spaceship corridor. It looked around, then quickly opened a hatch and slipped inside.
It found the farthest corner of the room, then curled up its body into a defensive posture.
Several mechanical warriors crept out from the darkness and silently surrounded it.
Just as the last mechanical warrior was in position.
Boom—
A loud explosion suddenly rang out.
The hatch metal panels, along with various parts and equipment, were reduced to countless metal fragments that flew everywhere in the shock of the explosion.
The earth shook violently, smoke filled the air, and the world seemed to be shattered and stirred up in that instant, before being slowly reassembled by a single hand after a long time.
After the explosion, the compartment where Hal had been was a complete mess.
The two mechanical warriors that had been blocking Hal's way had been reduced to a pile of scrap metal. But Hal didn't seem to care much. He slowly stood up from the pile of scrap metal and then pushed the wreckage of the now-useless mechanical warriors aside.
"Bang--"
The twisted metal pieces collapsed to the ground with a thud, while Hal strode lightly to the hatch and kicked open the already deformed door.
An unusually bright light instantly filled its viewfinder.
The alien planet's ever-changing, dazzlingly vibrant colors and its twisted trees were right in front of it.
There was still some smoke and dust from the explosion in the air, and small explosions and fires were happening frequently. Just now, the entire Helios had been split in two by the explosion.
Wow.
Hal shrugged, mimicking a human.
"The power is terrifying. However, for the newly born Mother of the Alien, perhaps such a powerful bomb is exactly what she needs."
Hal muttered to himself, though his almost gentle tone made it seem as if he were speaking to someone who didn't exist.
At that moment, it suddenly raised its head and looked up at the sky as if deep in thought.
It was still daytime on this planet, and a bright ray of light suddenly streaked across the vibrant sky, dazzling like a shooting star.
If Lin Xi were still alive, seeing such light would surely bring him comfort. It meant that the lifeboat carrying Elisa and Bryce had successfully escaped AS192's atmosphere and entered space.
Of course, a long and arduous journey awaited them, but in any case, his brother and friends had already embarked on their journey home.
Hal stared at the sky for a long time, his eyes gleaming.
Finally, it looked away.
It moved swiftly away from the now-ruined Helios, heading towards the other side of the mist. Amidst the sparse clanging of metal, countless jellyfish-like mechanical warriors slowly emerged from the ruins of the Helios, following closely behind Hal like children led by a piper... and then, they disappeared with the terrifying artificial monster on the other side of the horizon.
However, neither Hal nor the mechanical warrior realized that right at the edge of the shockwave from the Sun God's explosion, a mangled, alien monster lay silently on the ground, gazing motionless at the sky.
It looked as if it were dead, after all, only a small part of its body was intact, and all its physiological signs had reached the minimum.
But even under such circumstances, it is still alive.
even……
It also possesses intelligence.
That's Xavier.
The impact of the explosion threw its body off the spaceship, landing it in the alien bushes.
As Hal gazed at the sky, it too remained tilted upwards, staring blankly at the dazzling streak of light in the sky.
Although it understood nothing, combined with the series of events that had occurred before, Xavier clearly realized one thing.
The lifeboat took off.
The lifeboat has already left this planet.
At the same time, the connection between his body and Lin Xi had been completely severed.
"We agreed that you would come back."
Xavier gazed at the sky for a long, long time, until daylight faded and darkness gradually descended, before it moved its already damaged mouthparts and spoke softly.
It waited in the same place for another day.
As night fell on the second day, it gently twitched its fingertips.
"fraud."
It said.
"Lin Xi is a liar."
A tear slowly rolled down Xavier's cheek.
It struggled and wiped it away with its forelimbs.
That was the last time it shed a mimicking... human tear.
...
...
...
And not far from Xavier, in the dark, quiet, and cold underground.
The section of the Helios hull that was deeply embedded in the sand after its forced landing was a major maintenance problem while the crew was still alive.
But now, this part of the ship has actually escaped the impact of the explosion for this very reason.
However, the long period of burial had made the place dark and damp, and the impact of the forced landing had deformed all the corridors and pipes due to the pressure.
All that remains here now are some maze-like, narrow, and twisted crevices.
Almost no creature wanted to linger here, but at that moment, a white figure appeared... Its body was slender and deformed, and it was as white as a ghost.
And now it is speeding along in a gap that used to be a corridor.
A mangled corpse was firmly carried on its back, blood dripping from it. However, as the white figure moved forward, the bleeding from the corpse behind it gradually slowed down...
Gradually, a thick film covered those horrific wounds.
The white shadow quickly reached the end of the spaceship, where there was a cave that was clearly man-made.
In order to successfully infiltrate the underground cave, Bai Ying changed the position of the "corpse" on her back and hugged it to her chest.
However, during this process, it couldn't help but stare blankly at the "corpse's" blood-stained face for a long time, its compound eyes overflowing with a longing and love that could almost be materialized.
It reached out and carefully stroked the "corpse's" face, then quickly withdrew its hand as if it had been burned.
After a long while, it slowly reached out again and placed its hand on the "corpse's" face.
Two thin antennae grew from its head and began to wiggle rapidly at that moment.
Suddenly, it seemed to sense something and abruptly raised its head to look upwards.
The next second, it clung tightly to the "corpse" and darted straight into the deep, dark cave...
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