"Oh my God."
Lin Xi stood stiffly in front of the "Number One" pupa shell, staring at the red eye.
"You are alive."
He murmured involuntarily.
"...You are really alive."
Although he had long sensed that "Number One" was still pupating inside the pupa, it was only at this moment that Lin Xi was completely at ease.
Number One's eyes twitched slightly, as if in response to his words.
Lin Xi approached it again.
It's a wonderful feeling to look at "Number One" through such a thin film.
Although it was impossible to see the insect's current appearance clearly, the eyeball alone was enough to prove that "Number One" was definitely different from its previous appearance.
Lin Xi was extremely curious; he wanted to know what "Number One" looked like now more than ever.
After all, the pupation and transformation of "Number One" was so wondrous and unique that Dr. Ando's notes never recorded this stage of its development.
For the rest of the day, Lin Xi allowed himself to stay next to "Number One's" cocoon. There, he completed some tasks that would be considered dispensable now, and occasionally he would talk to "Number One".
Most of the time, Number One would respond positively to his words when he spoke (occasionally Lin Xi would even have the illusion that this alien insect in the process of metamorphosis could actually understand what he meant), but sometimes, the red eyes hidden behind the membrane would become somewhat dim and dull, and it would fall asleep in the pupa.
At these moments, Lin Xi would involuntarily stare into "Number One's" hazy red eyes and reveal a faint smile.
Although Lin Xi rationally knew that "Number One" was probably quite terrifying in the eyes of others: the various reactions of Oni and Bryce had already reminded him of this. But for him, the time spent with "Number One" was the most peaceful moment he had experienced since the failure of the Apollo jump—he had never felt such profound peace and relaxation even on Earth.
Or rather... ever since that gunshot caused Saville to leave him, Lin Xi has never been truly happy again.
It was probably because of the new transformation of "Number One" and its abundant vitality that Lin Xi felt at ease after a long time.
That night, after returning to his simple cabin, Lin Xi surprisingly took the initiative to find the projection recorder that he had kept sealed away for a long time deep in the storage shelf.
The cold metal felt heavy in Lin Xi's palm. He had been sitting by the bed for a long time, holding the recording device, but he never had the courage to open the small metal box.
Even so, everything about the projector and that man had already been vividly replaying in Lin Xi's mind.
Lin Xi looked down at the recorder in her hand, which already showed signs of oxidation, and felt a subtle sense of melancholy in her chest.
This was a gift that Saville bought with his first paycheck. He was dressed in his most formal clothes and solemnly and somewhat stiffly recorded those videos in front of the camera.
Lin Xi was wearing messy pajamas, curled up on the sofa, hugging a blanket and smiling as she looked at Saville.
Savile has never been the type of person who fits in front of the camera. Although the abuse and psychological trauma he suffered in his childhood are all in the past, he always appears unusually cold in front of people other than Lin Xi because of nervousness—Lin Xi always laughs and says it's Savile's face's fault. Savile, on the other hand, becomes flustered by Lin Xi's unreserved praise.
This is Seville, a man with a gentle soul that is the complete opposite of his cold and aloof appearance.
He was also the only man Lin Xi had ever truly loved in her life... and the man she still deeply loves to this day.
"Click—"
By accident, Lin Xi accidentally touched the power button on the recorder in his hand.
Amidst a faint crackling sound, Saville's figure slowly materialized in the empty air.
As long as you don't touch him, he looks just like a real person... and right now, he's right here, within Lin Xi's reach.
"Lin Xi..."
He smiled and spoke in Lin Xi's direction, even his loving eyes were so lifelike.
"Please, stop laughing, you're making me really nervous."
His slightly troubled voice, accompanied by his gentle laughter, echoed in Lin Xi's cabin.
Lin Xi's shoulders trembled slightly, and he instinctively reached for the button on the recorder, wanting to turn off the heartbreaking footage.
But no matter how many times he tried, his slightly trembling fingers could not press the button.
"...Ah...just consider it a test? I...I just thought maybe we could write down what happened between us...you might need it later?"
The recorder did not capture what Lin Xi said at the time.
All Lin Xi could hear was Savile's somewhat shy explanation.
What did he say back then?
“Please, Saville, you’re making me sound like some kind of nostalgic old man. Who would want to watch their own reflection for no reason? Maybe when we’re both fifty, I’ll be willing to do something so stupid, but I’m still very young. Please, leave me alone.”
I was so young back then...
Lin Xi seemed to hear the voice inside her body speaking softly.
He had the love of his life, a perfect family, a sweet romance that seemed to overflow with honey, and a seemingly bright and happy future. He took that precious happiness for granted and thought he would always possess that bright, warm, and intoxicating world, like fine wine.
His arrogance ultimately cost him dearly.
Now, he could only sit stiffly in the small, dilapidated cabin of the spaceship, watching his lover, who had left this world many years ago, smiling gently at him under the influence of the machines.
But he could do nothing, and there was nothing he could do.
"Ahem... Hey, Xiao Xi... Okay, I know I'm an old-fashioned person in your heart, but... that's who I am, isn't it?"
As Lin Xi's vision gradually became moist, Saville's soliloquy continued.
"Let me think about what I should record... Lin Xi, please, don't do this, you're distracting me... Ah, I remember now, what I wanted to say was..."
"I love you."
The man, who had been feeling awkward and shy, suddenly became serious.
It was just a test shot for the projection recorder, but he took it incredibly seriously, as if he were preparing to propose.
"I will always love you, forever—"
With a "snap," the projector's light suddenly went out.
"No--"
As Lin Xi watched Saville's voice disappear into the air, she subconsciously let out a low cry of pain.
Then, he was stunned for a while before he realized that the old machine in his hand had malfunctioned again.
The small metal cube was now stained with some liquid—tears that Lin Xi had unconsciously shed. Lin Xi took a deep breath, then hurriedly wiped the tears from the recorder with her sleeve.
However, during this process, some small metal parts fell to the ground from various parts of the metal instrument with a clattering sound.
Lin Xi was startled; her heart, which had been completely immersed in grief, instantly tightened.
He nervously picked up the parts from the ground and carefully examined the projection recorder again—
"Damn 'Number One'!"
Lin Xi cursed, his face instantly turning dark.
He soon discovered that the reason the parts were loose was because many more securing components had already disappeared from the main body of the machine long before that.
At that very moment, the metal parts that "Number One" had placed at the bottom of the nest several days earlier flashed into his mind. At the time, he had been very puzzled about what those metal parts were all about. He couldn't understand where that little bug had found them, and he couldn't figure out why they looked familiar.
And all the questions were answered in this very moment.
Those metal parts came from the projection recorder that he had placed deep inside the shelf.
Lin Xi: "..."
He suddenly realized that perhaps he had been too gentle with "Number One" before—his originally surging affection vanished in an instant.
But in a sense, perhaps it was precisely the mischief of "Number One" many days ago that saved Lin Xi that night. At least for once, he didn't have to spend night after night watching Savile's projection repeatedly, and then suffer so much that he couldn't fall asleep.
Because of the projector malfunction, Lin Xi was able to lie down on the bed and slowly close her eyes as she drifted off into thought.
Even so, Lin Xi still had a terrible night's sleep.
His dreams were fragmented, mostly about Savile and his past.
He not only dreamed of the time when Savile recorded those projected videos in front of him, but also of Savile's strange, inhuman, and ghostly behavior in the later stages of his life.
Bryce always thought that Lin Xi was asleep at that time. Saville's hesitation and Bryce's timely arrival prevented the tragedy. But Bryce would never know that at the moment Saville got him drunk and tried to kill him, Lin Xi inexplicably woke up.
He could vividly feel the surging, bone-chilling killing intent emanating from his lover's body. Lin Xi could have woken up; he could have easily stopped Saville from doing what he wanted to do. But… he was too exhausted. He even thought that if he could give Saville, who was driven mad by the delusions in his mind, a moment of peace, it wouldn't be so bad. So, from beginning to end, Lin Xi simply lay motionless on the bed with his eyes tightly closed, like a true drunkard who had completely lost consciousness.
But Saville ultimately didn't act, not because of hesitation, but because he couldn't bring himself to do it. Lin Xi knew this better than anyone else.
When he pretended to be drunk under Savile's gun, besides the murderous intent, Lin Xi also deeply felt Savile's love.
That love was always burning and intense; it never changed, whether Savile was sober or in his madness.
On that day... Lin Xi clearly felt Savile's gun pointed at him several times before he left...
Finally, only Savile's cold, dry fingers touched his skin.
Savile's tears fell on Lin Xi's cheeks, burning hot, and then seeped down his cheeks into Lin Xi's lips.
A lover's tears have the most bitter taste in the world.
Later, Lin Xi would always say to the people around her with a lazy smile.
He has never lied about this matter.
As for Savile, the last time Lin Xi remembered seeing him alive, he was lying beside Lin Xi, sobbing softly. Lin Xi knew very well that Savile couldn't control himself; the obsessive thoughts in his mind had plunged the man into purgatory. Savile kept stroking Lin Xi's cheeks and forehead, tracing Lin Xi's features with his fingers, and then repeatedly calling his name…
"Lin Xi..."
Even now, in her dreams, Lin Xi can still clearly hear that hoarse and deep call.
"Lin Xi...I...love...you..."
Lin Xi frowned, his consciousness slowly rising from the haze of sleep.
But Savile, who should have only appeared in his dreams, was still gently stroking his cheeks and ears.
Although the man wasn't pressing down on him, Lin Xi could still feel his unusually heavy and cold body pressed tightly against his back.
Is it a corpse... or a ghost from the past?
The body showed no heartbeat or breathing, and a very faint fishy smell emanated from it.
Its fingertips kept sliding across Lin Xi's body, and gradually, something damp stuck to Lin Xi's body, as if it wanted to wrap Lin Xi's whole body in its own.
Lin Xi opened her eyes in the darkness.
No, that wasn't a dream.
And the person...or rather...the "thing" standing behind him...was definitely not Saville.
Even human zombies or undead don't have such a terrifying appearance.
Lin Xi stared at a tongue-like thing that was hanging down from the thing behind.
The thing was wriggling nimbly in front of his nose.
Some rough, hair-like parts brushed against his back, and Lin Xi instantly got goosebumps.
monster……
He remained motionless in his original posture, and in the darkness, every inch of his skin became more sensitive than before.
He tried hard to visualize what the thing actually looked like in his mind.
It was a very large creature, covered in mucus, with sharp, pointed nails. Its humanoid exoskeleton was covered with a thin layer of skin, and in some places, it had sparse but coarse hair. Compared to its enormous size, it moved with incredible lightness and agility.
At least Lin Xiwan didn't realize when it had silently sneaked into her room.
Lin Xi clenched his back teeth tightly, because only in this way could he prevent himself from screaming out in extreme terror.
He held his breath, his heart pounding wildly, and he was even a little worried that the monster behind him would hear his thunderous heartbeat.
What the hell is this?!
Lin Xi pondered repeatedly amidst her fear.
Was it the giant insect that kept rustling and following us from inside that aircraft?
Or were they the monsters who silently infiltrated the heavily guarded solitary confinement cells and turned John Bronson into countless tiny pieces of flesh?
Or perhaps, they are some unknown demons that belong only to this special planet?
Due to extreme tension, Lin Xi's thoughts were extremely chaotic and completely illogical.
But at the same time, his hand was subtly reaching under the pillow—
His fingertips quickly found what he wanted: a pulse gun.
The cold, solid handle of the pulse gun allowed Lin Xi's nerves, which had been stretched to their limit, to relax slightly.
Thank you, Lina.
He said to himself in his heart.
Since returning from the cave where the aircraft was located, the unease that had plagued Lin Xi for so long, though not intensifying, hadn't disappeared either. He had many nightmares about it.
After learning about this, Lina told him about the method.
"Putting a pulse gun under your pillow can solve most nightmares."
She said to Lin Xi with a sly smile.
"As for why... well, that's what we girls do. Weapons make us feel safe."
Lin Xi didn't ask whether these so-called "women's little secrets" were really useful; he just obediently followed them.
Of course, it was impossible for crew members to possess high-energy lethal weapons like plasma guns in private on the Helios, but Lin Xi still managed to get himself an electronic pulse gun.
Although Lin Xi quickly discovered that the pulse gun wasn't much of a help in relieving his nightmares, he didn't intend to remove it from under his pillow. He had to thank Lina for her suggestion and his own decision; that night, the electronic pulse gun suddenly played a more important role than solving his nightmares.
As Lin Xi slowly tightened his grip on the gun, the "thing's" behavior gradually became more and more audacious.
Its sticky saliva kept dripping, and had even soaked most of Lin Xi's body.
Every now and then, the creature's sharp teeth grazed his skin, and Lin Xi's muscles tensed, bracing for the pain that might come at any moment.
Those few seconds felt like an eternity to Lin Xi.
The moment he gripped the pulse gun tightly, Lin Xi suddenly turned around and fired a shot at the "thing" behind him.
The pulse gun's bright beam briefly illuminated the dark cabin, allowing Lin Xi to finally see what the "thing" looked like.
Lin Xi swore he had never seen anything so terrifying. Even the enormous, bloated cockroaches and spiders in the aircraft looked delicate and pitiful in comparison to this thing.
It was a complete human-insect chimera.
He had a strange, blurry, and distorted human face, and his body was a corpse-like bluish-white, with thin skin covering his obviously insect-like body, even his sickle-sharp forelimbs.
The slender limbs support the deformed body; the limbs, which should belong to arthropods, have rounded joints that are very similar to those of humans.
Without hesitation, Lin Xi fired continuously at the human-insect hybrid.
The monster let out a long hiss, then suddenly retreated towards the corner. With lightning speed, it climbed onto the ceiling, its distorted face turning 180 degrees to stare directly at Lin Xi.
“l…”
Lin Xi watched as the monster's crooked lips parted and emitted a soft sound.
He didn't even wait for it to finish opening its mouth before firing at the open opening.
He shot very accurately this time.
With the sound of gunfire, the monster's face shattered and fell apart, splattering out a handful of thick, slimy liquid.
But Lin Xiwan didn't relax at all.
He didn't miss that moment—after the bizarre human face was blasted apart, a face that belonged entirely to an insect was revealed.
To be honest, Lin Xi even thought that the insect face with its ferocious mouthparts and compound eyes was much better than the human face; at least it looked simply terrifying rather than disgusting.
That human face was a mimicry of the insect, and beneath it lay its true form.
Lin Xi finally breathed a sigh of relief after realizing this. In any case, dealing with insects was easier than dealing with monsters.
His hands became more steady than before.
The next few shots all hit the insect's joints accurately.
"Bang……"
The insect's heavy body wobbled, and then it fell straight down from the ceiling.
A large amount of slime gushed from its body, making a mess of the room. However, the insect didn't die immediately as Lin Xi had hoped—its movements remained as agile as ever. To Lin Xi's disbelief, the insect suddenly flipped over and rushed towards the door. It paused eerily at the doorway for a moment, its repulsive head turning slightly.
Lin Xizhen hoped she was wrong, but at that moment the insect did indeed show amazing human-like behavior.
It seemed to give Lin Xi a deep look.
It wasn't until now that Lin Xi realized his hatch was wide open. The area that should have been the control panel was now just a large puddle of saliva, along with control buttons twisted into a mess by the saliva.
The insect plunged headlong into the darkness outside the corridor...
Lin Xi stood blankly in her destroyed living pod for a long time before slowly letting go of the pulse gun in her hand.
"Good heavens."
After confirming that she was out of danger, Lin Xi's legs went weak and she knelt on the ground.
The other people on the spaceship seemed to realize something was wrong only after more than a century.
The power line to the deck where Lin Xi was located was cut off, rendering all facilities ineffective.
However, Lin Xi was the only one who was attacked on the entire deck.
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