"You...you think I was like this before..."
Xavier stared intently at Lin Xi.
The words Lin Xi had said to it earlier were enough to make its pair of scarlet compound eyes shine with ecstatic light.
But even after the initial euphoria, Xavier's tone didn't sound particularly confident.
From Lin Xi's perspective, the giant insect was almost ecstatic, but it tried its best to maintain a calm facade in front of Lin Xi—the word "fearful of loss" perfectly describes Xavier's current state.
"Are you serious? You really like my original form... I've heard that humans don't really like insects... at least that's what they say in TV dramas. Um, actually, I think humans are pretty good too. Lin Xi, you look like a human now, don't you?"
Xavier spoke somewhat incoherently, seemingly having a habit of babbling and stuttering when nervous.
Moreover, judging from its tone, it still seemed somewhat incredulous—partly because of its previous interactions with Lin Xi, which made it feel insecure, and partly because of the soap operas it watched in private.
In those TV dramas, humans are always particularly good at lying.
Of course, on the other hand, Xavier's concerns are not entirely unfounded—
Just as Xavier transformed into a mutant form, Lin Xi, who had reconstructed her body along with it, completely transformed into a human.
As she spoke, Lin Xi lowered her head and looked at her brand-new body.
The half-human, half-insect body is gone; Lin Xi now has smooth skin and normal limbs.
There was no trace of insect-like features on Lin Xi—he looked just like a perfectly normal human being.
However, compared to real humans, Lin Xi's skin was unusually pale, without any blemishes, and his body...
If any scientist were here at this moment and happened to have the equipment to examine Lin Xi's new body, he would be very surprised to find that Lin Xi's physical data was simply perfect—perfect as if it were a human model meticulously calculated by a large computer rather than a real individual.
Oh no...
In fact, even human computers would probably find it difficult to calculate Lin Xi's beautiful, balanced and harmonious body.
In a sense, even though Lin Xi still possesses a human body, certain characteristics of his have been perfectly assimilated with the Mother of the Alien Species. They are both perfectly balanced, both perfectly beautiful, and both perfectly flawless.
Only such mysterious, ancient, and chaotic creatures could transform into such a beautiful and magical shell.
Lin Xi slowly raised his arm, opened his palm, and observed it for a long while.
Immediately afterwards, a complex expression flashed in Lin Xi's eyes.
It's strange. Just a short while ago, he was a completely human being, but now, after finding himself back in human form... he felt a sense of estrangement.
This body is indeed beautiful, but if we have to say it completely matches his fetishes...
After carefully examining her body, Lin Xi slowly raised her head.
"I need to leave a strong mark on myself so that I won't get lost in the void... The human body is what I know best."
Lin Xi explained to Xavier earnestly.
As he spoke, he slowly got up from the ground. After a period of adjustment, he was finally able to perfectly control his new body.
"...I really didn't lie to you. Right now, I do think you're very cute."
Lin Xi said.
Seeing Xavier's gaze growing brighter as he looked at her, Lin Xi couldn't help but continue, "Actually, it's been like this from the very beginning... When you were still disguised as Star Butterfly, I thought you looked quite beautiful... You know, from that time on, I've always seen your true self."
Lin Xi said softly, then raised her hand and gently stroked Xavier's breastplate.
The incredibly thick, hard, and cold carapace, and the terrifying power contained beneath it, filled Lin Xi with admiration.
As Lin Xi spoke gently, Xavier's wings fluttered frantically behind him. Those two beautiful wings, as soft as silk and full of folds, were like clouds.
Yes, the beautiful wings that Xavier once cherished and was so proud of have finally returned to him.
(Okay, Lin Xide admits that he does have a little personal preference when it comes to Xavier's wings. Fortunately, aesthetically speaking, Xavier shares his fondness for such beautiful wings.)
Lin Xi had already shifted her gaze to Xavier the moment he flapped his wings.
He stared at Xavier's wings, which shimmered with gold and silver light, making them resemble a miniature universe, complementing the ever-changing, magnificent colors on Xavier's body.
No matter how long she looked at it, Lin Xi still thought it was very good.
Xavier also noticed Lin Xi's gaze. Almost subconsciously, it began to flutter its wings and move its body in an ambiguous way, making it look as if it were dancing in front of Lin Xi.
Because he was so overjoyed, Xavier didn't realize for a while that Lin Xi's earlier words contained an important piece of information—
Its tentacles suddenly stood upright on its head, their tips trembling slightly from excessive tension.
“Star Butterfly? You remember Star Butterfly—Lin Xi, you…you remember me…”
Xavier clearly remembered that before this, Lin Xi had lost most of his memories due to the reconstruction of his body, and he couldn't recall at all that Xavier had transformed into a star butterfly to accompany him through an extremely difficult period.
But now he's bringing up this past on his own initiative.
There is only one explanation.
“Yes, Xavier, I remember now.”
Lin Xi looked directly at Xavier and said softly.
Since regaining his memory, Lin Xi has been carefully sorting out his emotions, but when he mentioned the moment he finally regained his memory, his voice was still tinged with a slight sob.
He remembered everything, including how he had given up everything just to return to Xavier's side.
Similarly, he recalled that incredibly frustrating ending. He had tried so hard to get back, but ultimately, because of that damned Hal, he had to die not far from Xavier.
How heartbroken must have been when he never got to see his Xavier?
Even after all this time, Lin Xi still feels very sad.
"I didn't abandon you. I've always wanted to tell you this—I promised you I would come back to you."
After so long, Lin Xi was finally able to say these words to Xavier.
A silence then enveloped Lin Xi and Saville.
Xavier, who was usually quite talkative, fell silent at this moment.
In fact, Xavier already knew that Lin Xi hadn't abandoned him.
After all, Lin Xi had previously assured it that she had a premonition that she had not abandoned Xavier.
However, the "feeling" back then is completely different from the direct assurance Lin Xi is giving me now.
Xavier's tentacles twitched, and then it gently pressed the tips of its claws onto the back of Lin Xi's hand, forcing Lin Xi to keep his hand on his breastplate.
"Did you secretly make me a heart that only humans have?"
Xavier spoke to Lin Xi in a voice barely audible.
"I don't……"
"Then...why does my chest hurt so much? I was so happy, so incredibly happy, but..."
As he spoke, Xavier suddenly couldn't help but open his arms and hug Lin Xi tightly.
Its body was trembling slightly.
It's so amazing. I was so happy I could die, but at this moment, Xavier felt like crying.
A dull, persistent pain surged through its chest, as if it had been cut by a very sharp, honey-smeared blade.
For a fleeting moment, Xavier really wanted to hold Lin Xi tightly like he was now, and then bury his face in the crook of his neck and cry out loud.
The only regret is that it no longer has human tear glands, and it no longer wastes any energy to shed those useless liquids.
"I'm sorry, it's so late."
Xavier heard Lin Xi whisper in his ear.
"...Then...then please don't do this again in the future."
Xavier flapped its wings, and after a short while, it tentatively wrapped Lin Xi with its wings.
In that case, the whole world seemed to suddenly consist only of him and the other person.
Xavier could feel his non-existent heart pounding wildly in his chest.
“No, I won’t,” Lin Xi replied earnestly to Xavier. “I will always be with you from now on, and I will never leave you again.”
His tone was as soft as a melted chocolate liqueur.
Xavier suddenly felt dizzy.
Then, he heard Lin Xi chuckle softly on his chest.
Then, Lin Xi suddenly turned her head and gently kissed Xavier, who was completely frozen in place for a moment.
...
Let's politely skip over this intimate moment between Xavier and Lin Xi.
In short, after Lin Xi finally resolved her misunderstanding with Xavier, it took them quite a while to calm each other down.
After finally returning to normal, Lin Xi had some rare moments of time to observe the situation around her, apart from Xavier.
The cryogenic warehouse was now completely empty. The tumor-like lumps of flesh that had once brought Lin Xi immense terror and mental anguish, along with the filthy, twisted clones, had all been completely absorbed by Lin Xi as energy during his previous evolution and entered his body.
Now, this cold storage warehouse looks like a place that has been abandoned for a long time, with even the freezing liquid in the broken frozen petri dishes having long since evaporated.
The ground was covered with debris, with only a few traces of slime and blood that were barely noticeable without close inspection.
Those experimental subjects and clones, whose bodies were twisted, filthy, and in agony, were as if they had never actually existed in this place.
In fact, it wasn't just the laboratory that was so silent and empty; there was no life left within several kilometers surrounding this underground facility—they had all been absorbed by Lin Xi.
Apart from……
Lin Xi suddenly seemed to sense something. He abruptly raised his head and walked straight to the corner of the room.
By getting a little closer, Lin Xi could see the life forms within his perception range. Then he saw a mangled corpse that had already lost all signs of life.
Lin Xi involuntarily stopped in his tracks, looking sadly at the limp, white body.
Thin, pale, and deformed.
Yes, that's right. Before losing consciousness, Arthur had done everything he could to keep himself fixed to the base of the petri dish. He was terrified that after losing consciousness, he would instinctively come to Lin Xi's side and be devoured by her.
But he hadn't expected that the summoning power emanating from the Mother of the Alien Species during its mutation—and the instincts within it—would be so strong.
The abandoned pipes became increasingly constricted as Arthur struggled.
Arthur did not get to Lin Xi's side—it was only in a struggle that it was unaware of that it was being strangled bit by bit by those pipes.
And then it died a miserable death.
Some insects from outside carried away part of its body, making Arthur's corpse even more desolate.
Lin Xi couldn't help but reach out and press her chest.
Perhaps, within him lay fragments of Arthur, and in that chaos... he devoured Arthur's remains.
“Arthur…”
Lin Xi murmured.
“I clearly told him to run away quickly.”
“No member of the clan would willingly abandon their alien mother in a time of crisis.” Xavier’s red eyes remained fixed on Arthur’s tragically dead body, and he spoke in a muffled voice after a long pause.
Even Xavier himself didn't realize that he had implicitly acknowledged that this unqualified and extremely weak deformed creature was also one of Lin Xi's familiars.
"It's so stupid..."
Then Xavier said fiercely.
"Yes, she's a little silly too."
Lin Xi sighed.
He then knelt down beside Arthur's body, reached out, and hovered his fingers over Arthur's neck.
His fingernails suddenly became exceptionally sharp, and then Lin Xi used them to scratch the wrist of his other hand.
Those incredibly sharp fingernails left deep wounds on his fair skin, wounds so deep they exposed bone and should have drawn copious amounts of blood.
However... Lin Xi did not bleed.
Because at this moment, what was flowing through his body was not blood, but something else, something even stranger.
Some dark red, viscous liquid.
They surged and wriggled inside Lin Xi's gaping wound, like clumps of worms.
Only under Lin Xi's willpower did a trickle of viscous fluid reluctantly and slowly emerge from Lin Xi's wound.
The streak of red liquid landed directly on Arthur's skin, which had already lost all warmth and color. Then, it wriggled and burrowed into the deep wound on Arthur's neck.
Almost at the same time they entered Arthur's body, a thin film covered the incredibly gruesome wound on Arthur's body at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Beneath the membrane, its wounds began to heal rapidly. Simultaneously, all of Arthur's smaller injuries healed; fresh granulation tissue sprouted from the damaged limbs, and then that granulation tissue grew into complete flesh…
Before long, Arthur's bloodless body gradually became warm and soft, and the bluish color gradually faded from his corpse... Oh no, perhaps it's no longer appropriate to describe Arthur as a corpse.
The reason was simple: shortly after the blood entered its body, Arthur's body trembled slightly, and then, under its pale skin, all its bodily functions began to operate again.
"call……"
Under Lin Xi's calm gaze, Arthur suddenly let out a heavy, hoarse gasp.
Then, as if waking from a nightmare, it jumped up.
The few pipes that nearly killed it completely broke apart like rotten straw, section by section, and fell off its surface.
Arthur finally came back to life, though he still seemed somewhat delirious.
"Lin Xi, Lin Xi..."
It squeaked and cried out loudly.
However, as soon as it turned its head, it met Xavier's gaze, who was staring straight at it.
The next second, Arthur screamed and stumbled back several steps, its head slamming heavily against the metal base with a dull thud.
"puff……"
Lin Xi couldn't help but chuckle.
It was only at this moment that Arthur finally saw Lin Xi.
The shouts, which were originally filled with deep anxiety, suddenly turned into joyful cheers.
"Lin Xi!"
It shouted
"Is this guy only able to say 'Lin Xi'?"
Seeing Lin Xi's overjoyed smile at Arthur's resurrection, Xavier rubbed his forelimbs in dissatisfaction.
The beautiful colors on its wings turned into a disgraceful purple.
Xavier stared coldly at the resurrected Arthur and spoke coldly behind Lin Xi... his tone was far from the warm one he had been before.
After all... Arthur is alive now.
Judging from the current situation, Xavier seems to have completely forgotten that there was a time when he could only call out the name Lin Xi.
Of course, Lin Xi wouldn't be too harsh in reminding Xavier of this.
Arthur now carries Lin Xi's blood, which allows him to perceive the condition of his own clan more clearly.
Arthur's physical condition was far better than before; he had become much stronger—at least at this point, it was hard to describe him as weak.
"...Once everything is settled, you can undergo another transformation, and this time you will definitely have a perfect body."
Lin Xi solemnly assured Arthur.
Upon hearing that he might become a normal mutant, Arthur was so happy that he almost jumped into Lin Xi's arms. However, just as he was about to do so, Xavier suddenly took a step forward and blocked Lin Xi with his huge body.
Arthur shuddered and quickly took a few steps back, but the improvement was that this time he didn't hit his head.
Well, even though I've died once, some things haven't changed.
For example, Xavier in front of it was as terrifying and annoying as ever.
Seeing Xavier acting like a child, desperately releasing his pheromones to pressure Arthur, Lin Xi rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on.
"Alright, Xavier, you should know that Arthur is actually very well-behaved. He doesn't have any special feelings for me."
Lin Xi said.
"I'm very well-behaved!"
Arthur immediately began to mimic what the parrot said.
For some reason, upon hearing "very well-behaved," Xavier's aura became even colder and more icy, while Arthur was so frightened that he huddled up pitifully, secretly glancing at Lin Xi as if he were begging for help.
Just as Lin Xi couldn't help but smile at the noisy scene before him, he suddenly felt a slight stirring in his heart.
He suddenly turned his head and looked directly at a corner of the wall, where there was a very small black lens.
If Lin Xi's perception system hadn't become so advanced, he probably wouldn't have discovered that it was actually a secret surveillance system.
And now, this surveillance system has been turned on and activated without anyone noticing.
Someone is watching him now.
Everything was so secretive, yet everything was so obvious. Lin Xi could clearly feel that the inhuman part of his body was fully aware of everything around him.
This time, Lin Xi followed his instincts and winked at the surveillance camera that had already been activated.
He didn't know how he did it, but he was certain that in that instant... he threw something out—
"Sizzle..."
At the same moment, the camera suddenly burst into a dazzling spark, followed by a puff of blue smoke.
A tiny flame flickered past from a dark corner of the ceiling.
All the surveillance systems inside this underground facility were completely destroyed at the same time.
What's there?
Only then did Xavier and Arthur turn their heads in unison to look in the direction of the explosion.
"It's nothing, there's just a little mouse spying on us."
Lin Xi said it casually.
He shrugged at the two alien species in front of him.
"mouse?"
Arthur tilted his head, looking utterly bewildered.
"...It's just an example."
Lin Xi said with a wry smile.
Immediately afterwards, he pressed his temples, as if sensing something.
Not long after, he calmly lowered his hand and then looked gently at Arthur and Xavier.
"However, the other party also gave me a reminder. Now is not the time to talk. Perhaps we should leave here first... After all, some guests will be arriving soon."
As if God had heard Lin Xi's voice, not long after he finished speaking, some subtle sounds came from the end of the intricate corridor.
Xavier's eyes suddenly became exceptionally bright, its wings were tightly bound behind its back, and took on an unsettling scarlet color.
Xavier could never mistake that voice.
That's the kind of noise those damn mechanical warriors make.
Clearly, at the same time Lin Xi destroyed the surveillance system, someone activated the defense system inside the underground facility.
And for the Providence, which carries the entire Del Corporation, what defense system could be cheaper, more efficient, and more effective than the Ghost-type mechanical warriors produced by Del Corporation?
Now, they've arrived.
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