That was a rather dull... story.
About Savile, about Lin Xi.
“You know my family. Our parents are really kind people. I have Lin Xi and Savile, and we were all adopted. Of course, we have many other non-blood-related brothers and sisters. Family members like ours are always changing. But the three of us are the only ones. We have always known that this is our home.”
Bryce's voice still carried the hoarseness of crying.
“Saville was the last one to arrive. He was timid and covered in bruises when he first came… They say that Savile was abused by his previous family, which I think is why Lin Xi became so close to him.”
Bryce paused for a moment.
"...it was even a little too close."
Elisa's eyes widened in surprise.
"Wait, you mean..."
Bryce seemed somewhat dazed, as if he were completely immersed in his memories. When he mentioned Lin Xi and Saville, a somewhat helpless smile appeared on his lips.
"Yes, that's right, they fell in love. We don't know exactly when that feeling started, but by the time we found out, they were already inseparable. When we first found out, our family was in complete chaos, you know, given their relationship... but in the end, we accepted it. Anyone who's seen them together couldn't bring themselves to stop them."
“They seemed very happy when they were together,” Bryce murmured, repeating.
Elisa stared at Bryce, concerned about what was to come, but hesitant to speak.
She had never seen Bryce make such an expression before.
Fortunately, Bryce continued speaking naturally without her having to say anything more.
“We were all so naive back then. We thought our lives would continue in that uneventful way. But then, Savile died.”
Bryce looked up at Elisa; his eyes were red and swollen, and his eyes were bloodshot.
"That's my fault."
He said in a low voice.
"What happened?" Elisa finally couldn't help but ask.
"..."
Bryce was silent for a while, then spoke in a low voice, "Saviel has some... psychological trauma. Well, that's what people say. He went crazy. At first, he just became delirious, saying he kept having nightmares. We didn't pay much attention at the time, thinking he was just under too much stress, after all, he was busy with work and planning his wedding with Lin Xi... But his condition deteriorated very quickly, so quickly that we didn't even have time to react. Savil started becoming paranoid, and his mind was filled with thoughts of human extinction and the end of the world. We saw a psychiatrist and gave him all sorts of damn tests, but they all showed that he was just a little overly anxious. Lin Xi stayed by his side the whole time, hoping Savil would get better, but in the end—"
Another long silence followed.
"But as a result, Saville almost killed him."
"What?"
Elisa couldn't help but let out a bewildered gasp.
“Saville got his hands on a gun, hid it under his pillow, and then he got Lin Xi drunk. He planned to kill Lin Xi while he was passed out—because he thought that would save the world. Of course, at the last moment, he hesitated. I noticed something was wrong and rushed into the room to stop him. Saville was taken away by the police, and then…then he committed suicide in the police station.”
"Oh my god..."
Bryce's body trembled slightly.
“I went to the hospital to see him one last time. In his final moments, Saville finally regained consciousness. Elisa, you know, he just lay there on the hospital bed, staring straight at me. He was dying, but he kept saying sorry… He asked me to protect Lin Xi, and I said I would, and then he… he closed his eyes.”
Bryce rubbed his eyes.
He appeared to be in such pain that it seemed he might faint at any moment.
“I promised him, I promised Saviel I would protect Lin Xi, but look at him now, right under my nose that damned Taran sent him to his death outside the cabin. I watched him climb into the patrol car, I watched him leave the Sun God, and now…”
By the end, Bryce's voice was almost bloodshot, hoarse and desperate.
“You want me to rest? I can’t, Elisa. Every time I close my eyes… I see Saviel. He’s still there, looking at me, and then he apologizes and tells me to protect Linxi…”
Bryce eventually fell asleep after being soothed by Elisa—though Elisa believed that what really worked was probably the sleeping pills she had secretly put in the water, rather than her empty words of comfort.
After settling Bryce in, Elisa sat by the bed for a while, holding her forehead.
She felt sorry for Bryce and Lynch.
Because Bryce was her lover, and Lin Xi was a very good friend.
But at this moment, another emotion was surging within Elisa: guilt.
She felt guilty that she couldn't express her feelings as deeply as Bryce did in mourning Lin Xi, because she had so many other things to do.
Ever since that storm began, Elisa's intuition had become clear: the annihilation of the exploration team was likely just the beginning of another wave of tragedies.
This story begins with the time when the Helios spacecraft crash-landed on this planet. This spaceship, which has been in service since the Age of Exploration, landed at a fortunate time. During this period, the natural environment of this mysterious planet, whose coordinates are impossible to pinpoint, appeared near perfect. But now, it is slowly peeling away its veil of perfection, revealing its cruel true nature.
The position of the stars has changed—
This is what the technician told her.
According to the ship's computers and the analysis of the exhausted, bespectacled technicians, the violent storm that claimed more than a dozen lives would only become more frequent in the coming period.
On the day they crash-landed, people discovered that the planet had two moons.
Given the scarcity of resources, and the fact that the planet's surface was covered by a layer of ghostly dust that shielded most exploration instruments, the crew of the Helios did not expend extra resources on excessive calculations regarding the two satellites. Now, they are paying the price for their shortsightedness.
In just a few days, the two satellites moved to a very unfortunate position, now on the same side of the planet, causing changes in the magnetic field and gravity. Tidal forces on Earth might only cause ocean tides and volcanic activity in some remote areas, but here they bring about a colossal storm completely beyond human control.
Thanks to the "covenant," the Apollo barely survived the storm the previous day, but the fuel would eventually run out.
If they still cannot find their way home, then it won't be long before everyone on the spaceship dies on this unknown planet.
The thought of this gave Elisa a splitting headache... She couldn't find a solution, nor did she know how to escape her current predicament. The shadow of death loomed over everyone on the spaceship, not to mention that the people on board were gradually mutating under the influence of the food bags.
...
What should we do?
Dozens of kilometers underground, someone asked in fear over a communication channel.
Lin Xi turned around and glanced at him. The person who had spoken was pale and looked extremely frightened.
"I have no idea."
Lin Xi answered calmly.
Just recently, they lost track of Jerry.
Lin Xi originally only planned to drag the hot-blooded Walker and Eugene out of the pitch-black tunnel, and then figure out a way to leave the cave together.
But they hadn't gone far when they discovered that the tunnel had forked. The narrow passage suddenly turned into a wide platform, surrounded by many crooked and twisted cracks and tunnels, each leading in a completely different direction (if they wanted, they could even jump down from the two-person-wide hole in the ground). Some of the forked holes were so narrow that only a cat could barely pass through, while others were wide enough for several people to walk side by side. But no matter which passage it was, the other end was as dark as if it led to hell.
Lin Xi had no choice but to stop at those forks in the road with the remaining people.
Nobody knows where Jerry, Walker, and Eugene went.
But they didn't have time to linger in this godforsaken place... Similarly, they couldn't possibly explore one tunnel after another.
If they take the wrong path, they will most likely die here—after all, their oxygen, food, and water are limited (and their supplies are running low). If they are unlucky, they may end up in a dead end, run out of all their survival supplies, and suffocate to death in the deep, dark alien underground. This is probably the worst possible way to die that everyone can imagine.
“Are we really going to chase after those two? Jerry must have gone mad… Walker and Eugene might not even catch him; they might have just randomly picked a side road and started chasing after him.”
Another person muttered in panic behind Lin Xi's back.
"Actually, we—"
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but after actually opening it, he suddenly closed his mouth again.
No one could say those words aloud, but the thought lingered clearly in everyone's mind.
The wisest course of action would be to abandon the three who have vanished into the darkness. They should return to their original path as quickly as possible, try to find the lost marker balls, and finally grope their way back to the surface.
The distance from the cave entrance to their campsite for the night was not far, and if God still favored them this time, they still had a chance to find their way back to the surface.
However, if that were the case, Jerry, Eugene, and Walker would undoubtedly all die here—
The remaining people stood there, looking at each other, none of them having the heart, or rather, the courage, to say those words directly.
Lin Xi closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Everyone, please report your oxygen and battery reserves," he said.
Upon hearing that the survivors had a worryingly low supply of oxygen batteries, Lin Xi quickly made a rough estimate in his mind.
“We’ll walk along this road—” he said, pointing casually to a tunnel, “and we’ll keep going for thirty minutes, but I still can’t see the three of them. So we’ll just turn back.”
He paused and then said, "...My brother is still waiting for me on the ship, I have to go back."
No one objected to his suggestion, and Lin Xi could even sense that everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
They continued along the tunnel, which was spacious, but the rocks on all sides were rough, and everyone had to be careful not to let them cut their exploration suits.
Lin Xi had assumed that he would lead the exploration team on a 30-minute journey and return empty-handed, while Jerry and the others would be trapped in the dark tunnel and wait to die.
However, the tunnel soon came to an end.
When they arrived at the huge cavern connected to the other side of the tunnel and saw what was inside, everyone involuntarily widened their eyes, so shocked that they were almost speechless.
It wasn't until much later that someone managed to regain the ability to speak.
"Oh my God," someone muttered involuntarily over the comms channel, "Is this a dream?"
"What...is this...?"
...
It took Lin Xi a long time to come to her senses.
He bit his tongue hard until a sharp pain shot through him, and only then could he barely be sure that what he was seeing was real and not a hallucination.
It was an aircraft.
That's right, inside this huge cave that looks like it was carved out by man, there is actually an aircraft.
Under poor lighting conditions, it is difficult to see its appearance clearly by relying solely on the light from a searchlight, and naturally, it is also difficult to accurately judge its size.
The only thing that's certain is that it's no small thing; in fact, it's a colossal creature.
Its surface is smooth and bright, the silvery-white alloy gleaming under the searchlight, completely free of any atmospheric or interstellar dust or micro-meteorite friction marks—in fact, it's as if it was transported directly to this planet by some mysterious force right out of the factory, to this dark, sunless underground cavern…
It had been waiting here for countless days, just for Lin Xi and the others to arrive.
This inexplicable thought sent a chill down Lin Xi's spine.
This brand-new aircraft is indeed exciting, but given the current situation, its presence here is rather creepy.
Even at this moment, Lin Xi still felt a sense of disbelief and unreality, as if the thing in front of him was just a mirage, something they had imagined in their desperate situation.
With this in mind, Lin Xi cautiously continued forward for a while, and soon made a new discovery: the aircraft was indeed very new, but at the same time, about two-thirds of its body was covered by a kind of fine, dark sand. The sand looked very thick, as if it had accumulated there for a long time. Moreover, this fine sand did not seem to be in such a cave.
On the tail fin of the aircraft protruding from the sand, some writing was faintly visible. Lin Xi squinted and tried to decipher it for a while, but the searchlight was far too dim for such a behemoth. He could only barely make out that it might be in English...
Well, that makes it even more creepy.
Lin Xi said to herself in her heart.
Just as he cautiously approached the spaceship with some skepticism, three orange shadows appeared in the halo of the searchlight, about two or three hundred meters away from the aircraft.
Hey, Jerry!
Lin Xi's nerves immediately tensed up.
He quickened his pace and led the remaining men in a mad dash toward the three men.
Yes, it's them.
Jerry, Walker, and Eugene.
They were all lying face down in the cold, dry sand, looking almost like corpses at first glance.
“Jerry… wake up… damn it, Walker? Walker, are you even conscious? Eugene…”
Lin Xi quickly went to the three people to check on them. The rest of the exploration team quickly turned them over and checked their life support devices. Thank goodness, they were all still alive, but for some reason, they had all lost consciousness.
Of these, Jerry's condition was probably the worst; even while unconscious, his facial spasms and asymmetry remained severe, and he was also experiencing nosebleeds.
A tremor emanated from beneath the thick exploration suit; it was Jerry's body convulsing.
The old man looked like he was about to die at any moment, but Lin Xi was completely helpless in the face of this situation.
“Try the stun pulse gun,” said Lina, the youngest female survivor of the exploration team, standing next to Lin Xi.
"What?"
Lin Xi turned around and looked at her.
"It's just a guess..." Facing Lin Xi's questioning gaze, Lina seemed a little uncomfortable, but her tone was firm. "My grandmother had a similar experience before. It was a problem with the built-in intracranial brain function assist device. The advertisers and hospital staff said that this thing wouldn't have any problems, but occasionally it would have its old tricks—using pulses to shut them down directly might save Jerry's life!"
Lin Xi hesitated for only a second before taking Lina's suggestion. He pulled out the pulse gun—which was originally meant for their self-defense—and turned it to the minimum setting. Then he pressed the muzzle against Jerry's body and pulled the trigger.
"Beep—"
With the faint sound of the pulse gun, Jerry's body twitched wildly a few times, like a fish just pulled ashore, but then he went limp.
At that moment, Lin Xi's heart almost stopped.
However, he soon discovered that Jerry still had a pulse, and that Jerry's previous symptoms of facial distortion and bleeding from the mouth and nose had lessened considerably.
"This fucking works?"
A young man, whose name was written on a nameplate on his chest: Schroederes, leaned closer to look at Jerry and then said incredulously.
Lena, who had offered the suggestion earlier, seemed relieved. She shrugged at the young man: "At least Jerry was luckier than my grandma. The lowest setting on the electronic pulse gun won't kill anyone, while my grandma fell into the bathtub with the hairdryer after this unreliable component malfunctioned... She had put rose essential oil and petals in the bathtub, planning a romantic evening. Who would have known that there would be a high-powered communication station near the Lunar Royal Hotel—those communication frequencies interfered with the auxiliary components and almost killed her."
Lina seemed a bit talkative, probably because she was too nervous.
Lin Xi listened absentmindedly to her conversation with Schroederes, while he was still observing Jerry's condition.
After confirming that they probably wouldn't wake up anytime soon, he had them lie back down in their original positions. However, considering Jerry's strange behavior earlier, Lin Xi cautiously wrapped his hands with duct tape.
After dealing with Jerry, he stood up and realized that everyone else's eyes were on his back. He turned around and saw their uneasy looks.
"Dr. Lin Xi, do you think... we should go and investigate this thing?"
Lina asked Lin Xi a little nervously.
Lin Xi remained silent for a while before nodding.
“Of course,” he said.
Lin Xi rechecked everyone's oxygen levels and then set a timer for everyone.
It has to be said that the experience of collecting moss in certain special caves on Earth was surprisingly useful in this situation.
“One hour... This is our limit. We have to get out within an hour and get Jerry and the others out of here and back to the surface.”
Otherwise, apart from me, you would probably all suffocate from running out of oxygen and eventually die in this eerie and unpredictable place.
Lin Xi swallowed those words.
Leaving one person to watch over Jerry and the others outside the cabin, Lin Xi took out all the weapons and put them in standby mode. Then he led Lina and Schroederes toward the aircraft.
They found the entrance without much effort, which further confirmed their guess—no matter why the spacecraft appeared here, it was undoubtedly a product of Earth, and even the location and opening method of the emergency exit were no different from the Sun God that Lin Xi and others were familiar with.
If there is any difference, it is probably that this aircraft is far more advanced than the Apollo in terms of construction and materials.
"Snap—"
With a light cloud of dust, the emergency exit was opened.
Lin Xi jumped down first.
After surveying the surroundings with a searchlight, he made a gesture to the people behind him.
"At least for now, things seem peaceful."
He said it somewhat unprofessionally.
"I hope so too..."
The others jumped down, and some muttered nervously.
"It feels like visiting a ghost ship sunk at the bottom of the sea; you never know what will appear next—"
The moment the person spoke, there was an extremely faint crackling sound.
The interior of the spaceship, which was originally pitch black, was suddenly illuminated by a soft light.
"Who goes there—"
Lin Xi felt like his scalp was about to explode. He suddenly raised his gun and roared.
"..."
But what awaited him was only the faint buzzing of the exhaust system, electrical system, and other life support devices slowly resuming operation behind the metal walls of the spaceship built during the Great Exploration Era.
"Oh My God……"
A soft murmur came from the communication channel.
Just two short words, but everyone could feel the extremely complex emotions contained within them.
—This aircraft is still in operation.
It is intact.
At least, that's how it seems for now—it can even sense the presence of humans like an advanced spaceship and then awaken the various facilities that were originally dormant.
It's worth noting that even this function of the Apollo spacecraft had long been discontinued due to years of disrepair.
But here, deep in the dark depths of an alien planet, the spacecraft is still functioning perfectly.
"You, you think... there might be a star map inside this spaceship..."
After a moment, Lina lowered her voice and spoke cautiously.
Lin Xi glanced at her, then remained silent.
Author's Note: "Number One": Um... Director... why don't I still have any scenes... is it because the makeup is too ugly? (Wringing hands like a fly.jpg)
Lin Xi: ...
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