After walking a short distance, the wide and deep road began to extend underground.
It's more like a mine than a cave.
After burying its main body underground, the Providence built an amazing underground city around the space where it was hiding.
The path to the outside world was a complex network of pipes and elevators. However, the original lighting and wiring had long since deteriorated after years of neglect, leaving only endless darkness and desolation enveloping the place.
The only thing that could break the silence was something that would occasionally appear around him and Xavier...
Those things had become completely integrated with the environment over a long period of time. If Lin Xi hadn't now transformed into a mutant, he probably wouldn't have noticed their presence immediately.
Even with his ability to see in the dark, Lin Xi struggled to find suitable words in the human lexicon to describe those things. They were enormous, yet moved with the stillness of ghosts.
They should all contain some components belonging to other species in their bodies.
However, unlike the mutated insects that Lin Xi knew, these alien species living in the tunnels had all transformed into beings similar to mollusks.
However, compared to the mollusks that Lin Xi knew, they looked... rather disgusting and ugly.
Lin Xi could even say that... compared to these things, even slugs and leeches magnified thousands of times could be considered beautiful. After all, slugs and leeches, at least, wouldn't have a flat and empty human face covering their soft, smelly, and wet bodies.
—That's right, it's a human face.
However, this face is flat.
It's like someone peeled someone else's face off their bones and then flatly pasted it onto the back of a slug that's been magnified countless times.
Lin Xi even began to dislike his current exceptional eyesight, as he could vaguely see the former appearances of those alien beings on their faces.
However, these faces nowadays only look like humans—just like the mimicry or patterns that some animals on Earth have evolved to survive.
The essence of humanity has long since vanished from within their deformed bodies.
These soft-bodied mutants were identical to the individuals outside the crater, all transformed from the original human crew members of the Providence (Lin Xi strongly suspected that this transformation might have occurred under abnormal conditions, because he also sensed the distorted aura of artificiality in these soft-bodied mutants).
Lin Xi didn't know how long they had been here, but one thing was certain: these creatures had completely adapted to the environment.
They have relatively large bodies and extremely stealthy ways of moving.
Sometimes they even seem quite clumsy. However, this clumsiness is merely a facade... these things are quite dangerous.
Although... this danger only applies to humans or other creatures.
For Lin Xi, they only made him feel somewhat annoyed and wistful.
Lin Xi frequently noticed them. They were roaming around her.
But they never attacked—after sensing Lin Xi's presence. These soft-bodied aliens would always drag their soft, damp bodies and quickly retreat into the various crevices within the passage.
However, having lived in an extremely dark and silent environment for too long, these alien species have suffered severe intellectual degeneration; they are not even as intelligent as the extremely simple white insects outside the pit.
Their incredibly sluggish and chaotic emotions swirled continuously in the completely enclosed space of the underground passage, and after resonating, were transmitted to Lin Xi's mind.
Lin Xi could sense the intense hunger and extreme fear these alien species felt towards him, but because their structure was too simple, they didn't even know how to avoid danger or seek advantage.
They immediately flee upon sensing fear, but then, driven by their hunger and greedy nature, they chase after them.
The deeper they went underground, the more the alien species that appeared around Lin Xi degenerated.
If those worm-like aliens near the edge of the gate could sense the dangerous aura emanating from Lin Xi to some extent, they could instinctively avoid him if they got too close.
The worm-like alien species that live deep underground have completely lost the ability to judge their surrounding environment.
They exist without awareness, and then die without awareness, as simple as single-celled organisms—
With a soft thud at her feet, Lin Xi swayed slightly in the darkness.
He nimbly flew into the air, dodging a strange worm that suddenly emerged from a crack in the ground.
The worm's aura was so faint that it was almost indistinguishable from other species. If it weren't for the distinctive human face pattern on its back, Lin Xi would have almost thought it was some special native species from AS192.
After its attack failed, the worm's body slumped softly to the ground, its back displaying an expression that resembled a scream due to the twitching of its muscles.
Xavier, who was standing to the side, rushed forward a few steps the moment the worm seemed to be sucking Lin Xi away. However, after seeing what the worm looked like, he quickly retracted his limbs and shook his wings, sprinkling the poison powder on his wings onto the worm's skin.
In this way, at least it can avoid direct contact with such things.
The swollen, damp, and viscous body of the alien creature immediately began to foam profusely upon contact with the poison powder. Then, in an instant, its body suddenly flipped over and slowly curled into a small ball—
Some mucus seeped from its body, and that's how it died...
"...It's so ugly."
Xavier muttered to himself unconsciously.
The mucus on the surface of the dead worms was absorbed by the sand in the tunnel in a very short time.
Its dry, barren skin allows you to clearly see its structure.
Well, to be honest, this thing doesn't really have any structure. It has no eyes, no nose... no extra organs, only a mouth for eating and an excretory opening for excretion.
"Don't look at this kind of thing."
Lin Xi stood in front of Xavier.
His expression was also rather unpleasant.
After a while, more worms emerged from the gaps in the passage and began to devour the bodies of the dead worms without a care in the world.
Similarly... their backs are all inlaid with hollow human faces.
For a fleeting moment, Lin Xi even felt that the human face on the back of one of the worms looked rather familiar...
That guy was quite famous in history books; he was a renowned scientist, inventor, and explorer. At the height of his success, he abandoned all the wealth he had accumulated within the solar system and embarked on a journey to a new world, only to perish in the darkness of space along with his legendary vessel…
Such a story is so dramatic that it has spawned a large number of works based on him.
But who could have imagined that such a person would end up like this...
A worm?
Lin Xi even refused to call this thing a mutant.
He felt an unusual tightness in his chest, and even a feeling of wanting to vomit.
The appearance of the alien species is greatly influenced by the mental state of the alien mother. These alien species are obviously not Lin Xi's relatives. They belong to the previous generation of insect mothers. But... what happened to the previous generation of alien mothers that would allow her descendants to become like this?
At this moment, Lin Xi couldn't help but think of the mutated crew members on the Sun God.
He would never forget the miserable and horribly deformed appearance of those people at the end; at one time, he thought that was probably the worst possible ending for a human being.
But now, he's a little unsure—
Lin Xi shuddered, unable to imagine the consequences for his descendants if he truly succumbed to his instincts and the void. If that were the case, he would probably prefer death. He would rather perish with his entire race than watch his companions be transformed into such a pathetic state.
At that very moment, the image of the man who kept appearing in Lin Xi's dreams suddenly surfaced in his mind.
The man made desperate pleas to Lin Xi again and again, begging Lin Xi to end his life. Lin Xi had been puzzled by this strange request before, but now he had a vague sense of understanding.
"Mother of the Different Species"
Lin Xi murmured.
So that man's true identity is actually...
Lin Xi already had a general idea of the man's identity, but the fate behind that answer was so tragic that Lin Xi didn't even want to think about it in detail.
"Sizzle... sizzle..."
Just as Lin Xi was lost in thought, the worm-like alien that had died earlier had been completely devoured, leaving only some dried mucus marks to prove its existence.
The wet chewing sounds of its kind brought Lin Xi back to her senses.
Lin Xi took a deep breath, a profound sadness appearing in her calm eyes.
He lowered his eyes and released his spiritual energy...
The next second, the bodies of those soft-bodied aliens convulsed, collapsed, and then instantly stiffened, just like their previous companion.
Within seconds, these chaotic and filthy creatures lost their vitality.
Lin Xi stepped over the worm's corpse and continued walking forward.
Suddenly, Xavier reached out and firmly grasped Lin Xi's cold hand.
"Don't be sad."
Xavier said softly to Lin Xi.
Lin Xi was slightly taken aback and turned to look at Xavier.
"I'm not sad, I'm just..."
I just feel a little short of breath.
But just as Lin Xi was about to say that, he suddenly realized that the heavy feeling that had been lingering in his heart was the emotion called sadness.
However, as the mother of the alien species, her transcendent mental state made it difficult for Lin Xi to even perceive her own emotions...
However, solely through their spiritual connection, Xavier keenly sensed a trace of human pain within Lin Xi's heart.
Despite being just a mutant, and despite retaining its most primitive and ferocious appearance, at this moment, it seemed more human than Lin Xi.
Thinking of this, Lin Xi suddenly stepped forward and gave Xavier a tight hug.
I'm a little sad.
Lin Xi buried her head in Xavier's chest and then said in a muffled voice.
"...Thank you for comforting me."
Lin Xi could feel Xavier stretch out his wings and gently wrap them around him.
Xavier didn't say anything more, but his gentleness was conveyed to Lin Xi's heart through the spiritual connection.
When Lin Xi finally stepped out of Xavier's arms, he was much better than before.
At least he could face these inferior alien species that appeared in the passage with equanimity.
Besides the white, worm-like aliens, some of the former crew members have been transformed into pale, slender lizards.
Like those tragic creatures before them, these alien species retain some human characteristics in their bodies to varying degrees...
For example, their skin still looks human, or their skulls vaguely resemble those of primates rather than reptiles...
Lin Xi had no doubt that if these creatures continued to evolve freely for several hundred years, they might become completely alien beings.
Who would have thought that their ancestors were actually transformed from Earthlings with advanced civilizations?
A long sigh...
Lin Xi withdrew his thoughts and stopped paying attention to these cowardly, inferior, and unnaturally formed alien species.
Perhaps, after he has explored the Providence, he will be able to figure out what exactly happened to these creatures.
He may not be able to bring them back to the normal world, but at least he can give them a peaceful death.
With this thought in mind, Lin Xi quickened her pace.
As he moved forward, the surroundings of the passage gradually changed; the closer he got to the entrance, the simpler it became, while the closer he got to the end, the more complete it became.
Lin Xi saw the ruins of the massive project; many facilities had been laid down but were abandoned in the early stages.
For example, Lin Xi saw pipes resembling large-scale urban underground drainage systems on both sides of the passage more than once. Lin Xi glanced inside but had no idea where these pipes would eventually lead.
However, he was quite certain that in that seemingly empty darkness, a large number of non-human creatures were actually living there and using it as their final nest.
Similarly, the further in you go, the higher the temperature gets. It's probably because of the presence of groundwater, making the area exceptionally humid and stuffy.
As Lin Xi moved forward, she subtly reached out and pressed her abdomen.
A subtle, unspeakable swelling bothered Lin Xi slightly; it was the worm eggs inside his body growing and developing.
Lin Xi looked down at his stomach. The bulge in his abdomen seemed unavoidable. The spacesuit that was usually loose on him was now a little tight.
Lin Xi couldn't help but frown. He knew very well that this phenomenon might be related to his mental state...
The Providence made him somewhat nervous, as the Mother of the Fellowships throughout history had always taken measures to protect herself by producing large numbers of Families when faced with difficulties.
Actually, if it weren't for Arthur, Lin Xi should have done the same.
Now, Lin Xi's actions have given his children a wrong impression; they believe their mother is in danger and urgently needs their birth...
Thinking of this, Lin Xi felt a strange sense of pity.
Inside his body... lies the life he conceived, his kin.
The relationship between them is closer and more inseparable than that between human parents and children. The natural mental control that the alien species has over its own kind binds Lin Xi tightly to these numerous lives.
From now on, Lin Xi will never feel lonely or isolated, nor will he ever worry about betrayal.
These children belong to him. And they will forever exist with him... and perish together.
However, just as Lin Xi was in a daze because of the life inside her, Arthur's pain once again reached his heart.
"Damn it..."
Lin Xi let out a curse.
"What's wrong?""
"They are hurting Arthur..."
Lin Xi raised her head and faced Xavier, whose face looked somewhat frightened.
He said through gritted teeth, a hint of dark red flashing in his eyes.
He unconsciously touched his arm, where a slight pain seemed to linger.
The excruciating pain in his back, the agonizing pain from the wounds on his severed limbs, the feeling of suffocation, the burning sensation, the unbearable fear of being corroded... countless dark emotions emanated from Arthur.
What on earth did those guys do to Arthur?!
The thought of his beloved family suffering torment in places he knew nothing about filled Lin Xi with a bloodthirsty frenzy.
In her anxiety, Lin Xi grabbed Xavier and sprinted at top speed toward the end of the corridor.
Before long, the world suddenly opened up before Lin Xi.
"here……"
Lin Xi walked to the end of the passage and stared at the scene before her.
He had to admit he was astonished by what he had seen.
Before him lay an unimaginably vast space, so expansive that it could contain a small city.
This is not an exaggeration, but a fact that can be seen with the naked eye—right at the bottom of this enormous cave, the Providence lies quietly.
With Lin Xi's current field of vision, he could hardly even see the entire Providence...
The Providence is mostly sunk deep into the ground, with only a small portion visible above the surface.
To house this spaceship, it seems that people at the time hollowed out a giant volcano and then built a breathtaking and massive project based on the volcano's structure.
For a moment, Lin Xi was almost speechless. After such a long time, the spaceship still looked so breathtaking.
Looking at the Providence in its current state, Lin Xi finally understood why people said its disappearance would cause the complete disintegration of what was once the most powerful nation on Earth. Earth's civilization, which once had the opportunity to explore other star systems, remained confined to its solar system for 300 years, only able to reach a few fixed planets with the technology provided by the Anya. It was precisely because of its demise that Earth's once-developing civilization had declined to its current state.
Lin Xi stared intently at the spaceship, holding her breath...
The spaceship appeared to be nothing but deathly stillness.
However, in the part that was buried deep underground, there seemed to be some faint, subtle movements coming out.
Some thin, spider-web-like cables connect the mountain walls to the spaceships underground.
Looking around, Lin Xi noticed several cave entrances similar to their current location scattered throughout the spacious cave.
Clearly, there was more than one entrance/exit connecting the Providence to the outside world.
Those high-altitude suspension cables are actually not that thin; they only appear so fragile because of the great distance.
Not far from Lin Xi, there was a similar suspension cable. The cable, as thick as a person's waist, looked incredibly sturdy, and hanging on the cable was a rusted high-altitude cable car.
Although she didn't need the sling, Lin Xi couldn't help but walk over and inspect it.
The moment the door opened, several flattened alien creatures darted out through the crack and disappeared into the darkness with a whoosh.
On the dusty, even grayed-out glass, there were still some faint bloody handprints, though now they looked completely black.
The cable car floor was rusted and hollow, and a sticky teddy bear lay in the gap of the metal frame with its wrinkled body.
What happened to the child who tried to escape the Providence while clinging to this bear? Did he turn into that insect?
Lin Xi's eyes darkened slightly, and then she quickly closed the cable car door.
"Be careful...don't come any closer..."
But at that moment, an exceptionally faint whisper emerged from the darkness.
Lin Xi's breathing paused for a moment. He suddenly turned around, his eyes wide, staring straight in the direction from which the sound came.
He almost thought it was his imagination, but then the same whisper came again.
"Be careful...don't come any closer...there's a monster..."
Although the pronunciation and enunciation are very strange, the content of the warning can still be clearly identified if you listen carefully.
"Lin Xi".
The moment Xavier heard that voice, he immediately moved closer to Lin Xi.
It raised its forelimbs and stared warily into the darkness.
The inverted thorns on its body are proof enough that it is in a state of full alert.
This is certainly not something to be alarmed about... In such an environment, suddenly hearing human voices is even more unsettling than hearing the roars of monsters.
"That guy is down there."
Lin Xi took a deep breath and calmed herself down.
Then he patted Xavier on the shoulder.
After a few seconds of pause, Lin Xi suddenly spoke again.
"Maybe it was that guy's doing."
This is, after all, Hal's old stronghold...
He sounded as if he was trying to explain the call.
But only Lin Xi knew that at this moment, this explanation was less for Xavier and more for himself.
Even though he appeared outwardly very calm.
Moreover, he knew that hearing such shouts in such a place was most likely a trap.
but……
However, upon hearing the voice of another human on this planet, a voice that had been absent for so long, Lin Xi's heart began to pound uncontrollably.
"Let's go down and take a look."
Lin Xi said, and then he suddenly spread his wings and flew directly down to the Providence at the bottom of the cave.
He landed on the outer layer of Providence with ease and at an extremely fast speed.
Then, Lin Xi instantly locked onto the target of the sound.
To his surprise, he didn't see the heavily armed mechanical warriors, nor the rotting, repulsive face of the android Hal. On the contrary, he saw a beautiful, young face.
His pale face and gray eyes stared blankly at Lin Xi, who was walking towards him from the darkness.
The person looked like an exceptionally young girl, with most of her body hidden behind mottled, gray metal parts, only her fair face showing.
"Don't come any closer, there's a monster."
As Lin Xi got closer, she noticed that the girl's voice seemed to carry a faint hint of a sob.
"Who are you……"
Lin Xi could no longer control her emotions and couldn't help but ask directly.
However, the moment he made a sound, the white face suddenly shrank back, followed by the rustling sound of footsteps on the metal plate as he fled quickly.
Lin Xi and Xavier exchanged a glance, then followed closely behind the man.
They then discovered that the girl was incredibly familiar with everything about the spaceship.
She nimbly slipped and weaved through all sorts of incredibly narrow gaps. Lin Xi and Xavier were undeniably fast, but several times they almost caught the girl, only to be separated by spaceship parts, listening with frustration to the girl's delicate footsteps rushing between metal...
After navigating countless complex pipes and some sealing layers that were clearly damaged by external forces, resulting in voids...
Lin Xi suddenly fell from a ventilation duct and ended up standing in a dark but exceptionally spacious metal corridor.
He then realized that he had entered the interior of the Providence directly through a ventilation vent.
Even though the area he was in was clearly the outermost layer of the Providence, it was enough.
He looked around at his surroundings with a bit of disbelief.
His vigilance was already at its highest level.
"That person..."
Lin Xi stared hesitantly at the other end of the corridor.
The traces left by the other party were so obvious that he could easily catch that guy if he wanted to.
But is everything really going so smoothly?
Lin Xi heard a warning from a little girl—on the Providence, which, theoretically, no longer had any human life.
He then followed the man closely and found the path to the Providence.
This is just too much of a coincidence...
Lin Xi stood quietly for a while, lost in thought.
He silently concealed all his aura, becoming exceptionally harmless and pure.
Xavier turned his head to look at Lin Xi with a somewhat infatuated expression.
In his perception, Lin Xi had completely shed the cold and strange aura that belonged to the Mother of the Alien Species.
Instead, he felt an overwhelming sense of longing and love for the warm and pure human presence.
After suppressing his unique characteristics, Lin Xi truly looked like an ordinary human being.
For a fleeting moment, Xavier's mind was filled with a host of inappropriate thoughts.
Lin Xi tugged hard at its tentacles, then gave it a warning glance.
"Feel sorry--"
Xavier's apology reached Lin Xi through their spiritual connection; however, judging from its wings, which had completely turned deep pink, Xavier's apology was not really sincere.
On the contrary, the more sternly Lin Xi looked at Xavier, the more difficult it became for Xavier to speak of the things that were swirling in his mind.
In the end, Lin Xi could only keep a straight face and forcefully ignore Xavier.
"..."
Suddenly, something moved in the darkness.
Lin Xi immediately looked into the darkness, then took several steps forward, deliberately leaving behind human footprints.
Sure enough, not long after he made the noise, he heard the young girl's voice again.
"There's a monster here, don't come near, there's a monster here... don't come near..."
The girl whispered incessantly in the dark corridor in an unusually hollow voice.
Lin Xi was frowning and staring blankly in the direction of the girl.
Xavier, somewhat agitated, shook his tail, then impatiently charged forward. Before Lin Xi could stop him, he used his insect limbs to tightly grab the pale human face.
The next second, Xavier dragged the girl out of the corner of the corridor.
However, upon seeing the girl's full appearance, Lin Xi felt that using the word "girl" to describe her seemed somewhat inappropriate...
That guy isn't human at all.
The face that made Lin Xi feel dazed and shaken was actually just a predatory mimicry located at the tip of its tail.
Its overall appearance is somewhat similar to the worm-like alien species that Xavier and Lin Xi find particularly repulsive, except that the surface of those worm-like alien species is covered with a completely flat human face.
However, a three-dimensional, complete human head suddenly sprouted from the back of this alien species.
That person had facial features, hair, and could even make sounds that sounded exactly like human warnings through vocal organs hidden under the tongue.
Moreover, this guy is already very old.
The body surface, covered in a thick layer of mucus, was full of wrinkles.
Unlike the worm-like aliens outside, besides the disgusting girl's head, there was a line of exceptionally clear small words on its back.
[Program Providence Experiment, a10713]
Just like the small white insects Lin Xi saw in the deep pit, this guy was probably an experimental product created by that group of scientists back then.
In that sense, his survival mechanism becomes understandable.
That human head is its predatory organ, just like the anglerfish in the deep sea... The anglerfish lights up its bioluminescent organ on its head to attract small fish like moths to a flame.
This elderly mutant, using the human head residing on its tail, lured humans who were trying to rescue their companions closer to it, and then...
Then it's time for them to hunt.
These worms, with their degenerated intelligence, simply cannot understand what the sounds they make mean.
They were simply mimicking the sound, and what could be more attention-grabbing than the monstrous warning of a young girl in agony and panic amidst the ruins? One wrong move, and anyone trying to rescue the girl would be devoured without a trace.
However, as time went by, the monster's hunting techniques became increasingly outdated, since only humans would respond to such a call and rescue the little girl.
But now, all of humanity is long dead.
It may have fallen into hibernation due to extreme hunger, only waking up when it sensed Lin Xi's arrival. The prolonged hunger and cold had completely robbed it of its reason, even emitting hunting calls towards Lin Xi, before finally fleeing in panic after realizing something was wrong with her…
However, it soon revealed its whereabouts again because of Lin Xi's human-like qualities.
This is also an exceptionally tragic man-made monster.
Lin Xi stared at the girl's head at the monster's tail for a while. He didn't want to think about whether that beautiful and innocent child's face was the original appearance of the old monster in front of him.
With a sigh from Lin Xi, his spiritual energy radiated outwards, piercing the soul of the alien creature like a dagger… The monster convulsed suddenly and then collapsed to the ground.
After 300 years of torment, it was finally freed.
However, the monster's death did not mean the end of everything. Lin Xi then unconsciously walked back to the spot where he had been hiding.
After pushing open the door, Lin Xi's eyes flickered.
He saw a cold storage warehouse that was as spacious as a stadium.
Countless frozen coffins made of metal and organic materials stood neatly and densely on the smooth ground.
Inside each of the frozen coffins lies a person who has long since died.
Some of those people still retained their human forms, but many more had transformed into terrifying monsters. Some of the cryogenic coffins had also been broken open from the inside out, likely because the humans inside, after transforming into mutants, had greatly increased their physical strength, directly breaking through the cryogenic chambers that imprisoned them.
Lin Xi couldn't help but turn around and look outside the door. That worm-like alien creature probably appeared in the ruins of the spaceship under such circumstances.
Lin Xi walked expressionlessly into the pile of corpses.
The scene before him felt familiar.
Yes, there was a similar scene inside the aircraft he had previously explored.
The same mutated humans were killed, and the same silent cryogenic chambers were also present. However, compared to the scenes inside the spacecraft, the scale of the mass slaughter he saw inside the Providence was far greater than the small-scale skirmishes inside the spacecraft.
Even after so many years, Lin Xi's mind could still faintly perceive the spiritual imprints left here by those dying aliens—extreme pain, chaos, darkness…
It was like a nightmare from which I would never wake up.
Finally, Lin Xi found the lair of the girl-headed monster in the control room at the very end of the cold storage warehouse.
Like all soft monsters, the nest was very rudimentary, consisting of nothing more than a large puddle of slime plastered on the walls.
Through the translucent mucus, one could vaguely see that this place had once been where a little girl had stayed.
Lin Xi saw pink plush toys decorated with ribbons, as well as some neatly packed suitcases, each with brightly colored cartoon illustrations, though most of those images had faded.
Lin Xi didn't know how many times he had sighed. He turned around and looked at the other side of the room.
The walls were piled high with control instruments facing each other, and there were large observation windows facing the cold storage warehouses—the person sitting here must have been a mid-level manager on the Providence at the time.
In the very center of the control room was a desk, on which lay a stack of documents marked as "timeout processing"...
A man lay quietly slumped over the desk, his head and neck bowed, motionless.
He has been lying here for 300 years.
Lin Xi walked to the desk and, unsurprised, discovered a large hole near the man's temple. Beside the man's feet lay a gun with the safety cocked.
Black blood stained the snow-white desk, and after many years, the blood had completely seeped into the surface.
Xavier looked at the man's corpse with curiosity, and reached out to gently touch the skeletal remains.
"Bang--"
The next second, the man's skeleton, along with the chair, crashed to the ground, turning into small pieces of white fragments.
Xavier froze in place.
"I didn't mean to."
It turned its head to the side and stammered as it spoke to Lin Xi.
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