Perhaps there's something wrong with those calming gel sticks.
Lin Xi couldn't help but think.
This useful thing is actually a medical supply. Everyone on the ship has their own fixed quota. Obviously, Lin Xi's quota was used up a long time ago (Bryce was naturally quite angry about this).
The calming gel sticks Bryce found in his room were prizes he'd won playing cards with the rest of the ship. It took the unfortunate lads a long time to realize that while a botany teaching assistant at the Earth-Moon Union University might seem like easy prey, his enthusiasm for participating in these low-ranking ship crew members' card games suggested he had some connections…
Lin Xi secretly planned to find those people later to ask about the source of the calming glue sticks, but the most urgent task was to get through the current difficulty.
“I’m so sorry, Bryce. I really didn’t expect things to go so wrong. I think it’s because I’ve been under too much pressure lately, which is why I made this mistake by accident… I promise I will never make this mistake again.”
Lin Xi looked up at Bryce and then spoke softly.
He is a very handsome man, and no one can deny that.
When he puts on this kind of weak and harmless expression, it's like a mischievous cat staring intently at someone with wide eyes. Even though you know he's just pretending to be pitiful, very few people can bring themselves to be cruel to him.
Unfortunately, Bryce seemed genuinely enraged this time, and his usual tricks failed him.
"Don't try to pull that on me. Do you think I don't know what you're thinking? You've promised me so many times, but when have you ever actually been honest? This time, we only managed to save you because we spotted the alarm in time. But what about next time? We're not in the Anko Channel anymore, and we're not on Earth. How long are you going to keep this up...?"
Oh no!
Lin Xi slumped her shoulders, lowered her head, and then whispered a painful note in her heart.
Bryce's roar was certainly terrifying, but nothing was more terrifying than his nagging.
And now, it's clear that the demonic switch within Bryce has been activated.
"Perhaps, I am the one who should apologize."
Just as Lin Xi was despairingly preparing to face Bryce's long and tedious nagging, a voice suddenly rang out and interrupted Bryce's rant.
"Professor Ando?"
Bryce stopped speaking in surprise and looked at the person who had spoken.
With an apologetic smile, Ando Shizuo nodded to Bryce and said, "I've asked Dr. Lin Xi to help me complete many experiments lately, many of which were outside his scope of work... The exploration team has found so many things on this planet recently, and the ship's laboratory is indeed a bit overwhelmed." Ando Shizuo sighed, "...I'm really sorry, I was completely immersed in the new discoveries and didn't realize that Dr. Lin Xi had been working overtime for quite some time."
At this point, Ando looked at Lin Xi.
"I think this is probably why Dr. Lin Xi accumulated so much pressure, which led to this unexpected incident today."
Although she didn't understand why Shizuo Ando would suddenly help her out of the predicament, Lin Xi still responded to him with immense gratitude.
"I will find better ways to cope with stress in the future, I promise!"
Only God knows that Lin Xi only needed to take care of those Sunu plants occasionally during this period—and this job was so leisurely that he had plenty of time to sneak off to other places to play cards and have fun.
"This, like this..."
Regardless of the actual situation, Ando Shizuo's words immediately made Bryce lose his stance on continuing to nag Lin Xi.
The medical officer, who was occasionally a little too maternal, coughed a few times.
"...But overuse of calming gel sticks is still a very bad habit."
Bryce's voice softened, and he glared at Lin Xi but didn't say anything more.
The medical room fell silent, and the atmosphere became slightly tense.
Lin Xi desperately sent laser beams toward Ando Shizuo, but the latter didn't seem to have recovered from the embarrassment of lying. His eyes darted around, and his face was a little red.
"drop--"
Just then, a crisp beeping sound from another treatment chamber eased the sudden awkwardness in the medical room.
The yellow outer cover of the treatment chamber gradually turned transparent and then slowly rose, and a young woman slowly sat up from the machine.
Ah, I see.
The moment Lin Xi saw that woman, she came to her senses and wondered why Ando Shizuo had been lingering in the medical room.
Because Liz is here too.
"Honey, how are you feeling now? Are you feeling better?"
As soon as Liz appeared, Shizuo Ando completely ignored the other two people in the room.
He rushed straight to the treatment device, ignoring everyone else, and hugged the woman who still looked somewhat weak.
“I feel much better…” Liz and Ando exchanged a kiss before she looked at Bryce. “Thank you for your treatment, Dr. Bryce.”
The woman's natural tone of voice carried a subtle, peculiar quality.
That was a fairly typical Sunu accent.
Considering that she is of mixed Sunu and human descent, it is normal for her to have this accent, so neither Bryce nor Shizuo Ando paid any attention to it.
Only Lin Xi—when he heard that Sunu accent, felt as if he had been thrown into ice water out of nowhere.
An inexplicable fear instantly spread through his heart, and even his body trembled slightly.
Lin Xi frowned.
He gritted his teeth and forced down the strange feeling of fear—he thought he was just scared of Liz in her current state.
Yes, Liz does look a little scary now.
Lin Xi never imagined that pregnancy would be such a terrifying thing for a Sunu mixed-race woman.
In his memory, Liz might not have been a particularly beautiful woman (after all, all the characteristics of the Sunu people—pale skin, sunken eye sockets, and overly long limbs—didn't quite fit Lin Xi's aesthetic standards), but she certainly wasn't in this terrifying state—her body seemed to be almost completely absorbed by the enormous, swollen mass of flesh in her abdomen; her pale skin was nearly translucent, wrinkled and clinging to the slender Sunu skeleton; her hair was almost gone, sparse and hanging greasy on her scalp in clumps. And her eyes were completely sunken into their sockets, pupils dilated, with no whites, making them look like the eyes of some deep-sea fish, dark and lifeless.
In stark contrast to her lifeless body was her abdomen, which was swollen to an alarming size. Lin Xi didn't even dare to look at it for long; he had a feeling that even the pressure of his gaze could cause Liz's abdomen to explode.
Even though they already knew Liz was pregnant, her condition seemed really...
"It's what I should do. Your physical condition is different from others, so this pregnancy may be a little difficult."
While Lin Xi was paralyzed with fear and her limbs went weak, Bryce displayed everything a qualified medical officer should.
He showed no sign of anything amiss; on the contrary, he appeared professional, restrained, gentle, and concerned.
While comforting Liz, he was still intently watching the messages coming from the treatment device.
“…Your child is healthy, madam, but you yourself need more nutritional support and additional medical care,” Bryce said.
Lin Xi felt that what he said was far too euphemistic.
Liz's child has practically drained that woman dry—anyone could see that without any instruments.
However, Liz herself seemed completely unconcerned.
Liz stroked her enormous belly, revealing a blissful smile that sent chills down Lin Xi's spine.
“This is the best news ever. As long as he’s healthy, I have no other wish…” At this point, Liz suddenly turned her dark eyes to Bryce. “But, Doctor, I’m still worried. It’s so noisy on the spaceship. Sometimes I can feel that my baby is about to be kept awake by the noise. I’m worried that the noise might harm him…”
Lin Xi keenly noticed that Bryce frowned almost imperceptibly as Liz muttered.
He had a vague feeling that Liz seemed to be behaving a little strangely.
But he didn't think too much about it.
He discovered that he was also involved in the matter the following day.
He was still confined to his room at the time and was ordered by Bryce to take a day to rest.
Shizuo Ando knocked on the door, and after receiving permission, he quietly entered.
"Dr. Lin Xi, do you have a moment? I think I have something I'd like to discuss with you."
Ando said.
He seemed a little uneasy.
Lin Xi raised an eyebrow.
"What is it?"
"It's about... that Star Butterfly egg case. Dr. Lin Xi, could you take care of that egg case for me for a while?"
"The egg case of the Star Butterfly? I'm supposed to take care of it? What happened?"
Lin Xi knew about Ando's fascination with the Star Butterfly Egg Sheath, and he never expected that in such a short time, Ando Shizuo would actually plan to transfer that egg sheath to someone else.
Ando rubbed his temples, his face looking quite pale.
“Some minor issues… Liz… has become very sensitive to everything around her since she became pregnant.”
As he spoke, Ando became quite dejected.
"She always complains about how noisy it is around, especially that egg case; she can't stand the noise from the life support device on the egg case..."
"That thing makes noise?"
Lin Xi asked blankly.
If he guessed correctly, those life support devices were as quiet as stones, except for the occasional faint electrical hum.
In any case, the noise they made could not be considered noisy.
“It’s not because of those machines. Liz… her ears are different from ours on Earth; she can hear more and louder things than we can,” Ando tried to explain.
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