Their location was already far from the area of the cold storage warehouse surrounded by high temperatures and vacuum.
Lin Xi listened intently to the faint sounds emanating from inside the enormous steel monster, and could barely make out that he and Xavier seemed to have arrived at the next level of the Providence—clearly guided by some special individual.
"What do you want to do, Scripps?"
Lin Xi murmured softly.
But this time, the "ghost" who should have died long ago gave him no response.
The lighting here is unusually dim, with the pale green emergency lights being the only source of light in the entire space.
As things stand, this place does not appear to have been fully activated yet.
Compared to the previous work corridor, this place appears more spacious, and there are some seemingly unnecessary decorative lines on the metal walls and floors.
Before it was completely abandoned, this place looked like an entertainment venue on a spaceship... at least that's how it looked in terms of decor.
Lin Xi withdrew his wary gaze, and after confirming that there were no other living beings present (such as those worms with human faces, or those maddening nematodes), he quickly returned to Xavier's side and began to examine the condition of the reckless king worm.
"I'm fine... hiss..."
Xavier met Lin Xi's stern gaze, trembled slightly, and then slowly took a step back.
It let out a muffled, ingratiating call.
"Xavier—"
Lin Xi stared at Xavier like that, speechless for a moment.
Having fled through the scorching heat, Lin Xi was completely enveloped by Xavier's wings, well protected; not even a single hair on his head bent from the intense heat.
But Xavier looked particularly bad.
Those thick, beautiful wings that Xavier was so proud of had turned gray and withered in the high temperature, looking like a charred plastic film full of wrinkles.
Large amounts of blackened scales fell to the ground with a rustling sound as it moved.
Xavier's body was covered with a thick layer of dead skin, and the charred carapace had cracked, revealing the flesh underneath.
"Yes, it will grow..."
Xavier raised his insect limbs, and his antennae trembled violently when he saw the particularly ugly carapace and dead skin on his body.
It looked at Lin Xi pitifully.
"I know, I just..."
Lin Xi's voice choked for a moment before she continued, "I just don't like seeing you treat yourself like this."
If Lin Xi had known that Scripps' methods for dealing with those white nematodes would be so ruthless, she would have been better prepared.
Lin Xi reached out and instinctively touched Xavier.
"Will it hurt...?"
"Not at all. Besides, I was almost at the point where I was going to shed my skin anyway..."
"I'm in a hurry," Xavier said hurriedly.
But before it could finish speaking, something unexpected happened.
The instant Lin Xi touched Xavier, those terrifying, grayish-white, cracked shells crumbled away piece by piece upon his touch...
...
[Self-purification process complete - Fault report -]
Deep within the Providence, Hal examined the data transmitted from the outer cryogenic storage.
This time, however, it was impossible for it to continue ignoring those particularly obvious abnormal messages.
Hal's consciousness resides within an incredibly dilapidated android body, his electronic eyes flickering incessantly due to the intense onslaught of data streams.
It suddenly rushed to Scripps' side and grabbed his arm tightly.
"I know you're here—I know you're here—"
Hal shouted at Scripps's withered body, which was entangled in the life support system.
Its voice contained a deep, visceral pain. If the researchers who created it could have seen Hal at that moment, they would have been incredibly surprised by the humanity it displayed.
Over such a long period of time, countless overlapping data errors not only made HAL a rare, insane electronic consciousness, but also made it incredibly similar to a real human...
At least at this moment, no one can deny Halna's soul-deep suffering.
If Hal really has a soul.
...Of course, at this point, there were no humans left to witness Hal's "humanity".
Similarly, as a "person" who was barely maintaining his physiological survival with the help of machines and drugs, Scripps' sunken eyes remained closed, and he lay motionless in the same spot.
The HAL android's body emitted a "crackling" sound as it struggled under the strain.
It slowly knelt down beside Scripps.
"...You don't need to hide anymore. Haven't you already given up hiding? Those pieces of information and those data alterations were clues you left for me, weren't they? Please, respond to me. I can grant you any request except death. I can do all of this for you."
Hal said slowly.
Scripps remained lying still, but a single tear slowly seeped from the corner of his eye.
Hal immediately noticed the single tear.
"Scripps!"
It let out a cheer.
However... that single tear was Scripps's only and final response to it.
Even those tears might just be a normal physiological reaction.
Hal was once again forced to confront Scripps, who remained unresponsive.
This caused it immense pain.
And... anger.
"You like those two bugs...you even exposed yourself to help those things..."
Hal murmured to himself.
But soon, those whispers transformed into electronic messages that humans could not understand.
The pathetic and ugly simulated human body once again came to a standstill.
Because Hal has returned to the data. Without hesitation, it deeply embedded its consciousness into the Providence's core system.
If the danger posed by Lin Xi and Xavier could bring Scripps's lingering consciousness hidden in the electronic data to the surface, Hal would not hesitate to treat them in the most brutal way.
...
"Bang--"
In the outer passage of Providence.
Lin Xi shook off a mechanical warrior that lunged at him. The mechanical warrior's heavy metal body crashed into the metal wall, smashing the retro-style decorations to pieces.
This was not the first mechanical warrior to attack Linxi and Xavier.
In fact, these metal monsters that had caused them so much suffering were everywhere inside the Providence.
Like white blood cells in the human body, they endlessly roam through the crisscrossing corridors and pipes, ready to wipe out harmful substances (well, here, "harmful substances" probably refers to Lin Xi and Xavier).
However, it was precisely because of their appearance that Lin Xi was able to roughly determine that he and Xavier were gradually going deeper into the Providence.
These mechanical warriors, which were once near-fatal threats to him and Xavier, are now merely a somewhat annoying nuisance.
Lin Xi's real trouble now is...
"Bang--"
Another piercing sound of metal tearing apart.
Xavier raised his arms and somewhat awkwardly tossed the metal shards in his hands to either side.
These things in front of him were not a big problem for Xavier, but at this moment Xavier was unable to concentrate on dealing with the enemy.
Because the aura emanating from its first offspring, born from its union with Lin Xi, is becoming increasingly strong.
After quickly dealing with the mechanical monsters at hand, Xavier instinctively tried to flap his wings and fly back to Lin Xi's side, but his back was now empty. His flapping motion only made him stumble on the spot, almost falling flat on his face in front of his beloved.
Xavier, are you alright?
Lin Xi grabbed Xavier and asked.
"Something's...strange..."
Xavier muttered somewhat impatiently, straightening himself up to regain his balance.
The warmth of Lin Xi's fingertips and palms could be clearly felt from its forelimbs—which should perhaps now be called arms.
The skin sensitivity, so different from the thick carapace it had before, left Xavier both flustered and thrilled.
This conflicting feeling continued to linger in his heart after it transformed into a completely new body.
"Xavier?"
Lin Xi watched helplessly as Xavier, who was somewhat unfamiliar to her, once again fell into a long daze. She had no choice but to call out to bring him back to his dazed state.
Of course, he didn't say anything else. He could easily understand where Xavier's strange mood came from, after all, even he was finding it hard to adapt to the other's current physical condition...
It all started with Xavier having to shed his already burned outer shell due to the high temperature.
Lin Xi's touch caused Xavier's originally ferocious insect shell to shatter, revealing a newly grown body.
But Lin Xi never imagined that beneath those terrifying, dried, charred shells lay a body exactly like a human's...
It has no sharp thorns, no sharp forelimbs, no wings, and no carapace.
It was a strong, pale male human body.
Even the face has become human—
Lin Xi glanced quickly at Xavier now.
The sharply defined features of his face were slightly odd, but no one could deny its handsomeness.
Xavier seemed to have become a stranger.
In its own words, it seems that even it doesn't know what's going on.
"After the insect marriage... the queen insect will change its body according to the queen's preferences..."
Lin Xi could almost hear Xavier's panicked explanation.
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