Just thinking about what he had felt on the belly deck of "Number One" made Lin Xi shudder involuntarily.
"May I see your wound?"
Seeing that "Number One" was still standing hesitantly not far away, Lin Xi took a breath and then spoke again.
Upon hearing this, "Number One" blinked.
"Lin Xi".
It muttered to itself.
The voice sounded almost like someone was encouraging themselves.
Then, it awkwardly moved its huge, ferocious insect body back towards Lin Xi... but at first, it was still a little nervous and kept a tiny distance from Lin Xi.
Moreover, it cautiously turned to face Lin Xi from the side, so that if it were attacked again, at least the original wound would not be pierced again.
However, Number One's vigilance only lasted for a very short few seconds.
After all, once you get close, Lin Xi's aura becomes increasingly intense.
The tentacles of "Number One" unconsciously swayed gently behind his head, trying to capture Lin Xi's scent in the air as much as possible.
The scent that gave it life and soul was so warm and captivating that "Number One" couldn't control its behavior.
It quickly abandoned its guarded distance from Lin Xi, and without a care, snuggled up to Lin Xi and sat close to him.
Lin Xi swallowed a mouthful of dry saliva.
Although his body was already familiar with the existence of "Number One," his human soul still couldn't help but tremble when it felt "Number One's" bizarre body, completely different from humans, tightly covering him.
But he soon realized that while he was feeling somewhat panicked, the monster beside him seemed even more uneasy than he was.
The things he had done to "Number One" while he was semi-conscious replayed in Lin Xi's mind once again, and the fear in Lin Xi's heart was gradually replaced by a strange pity.
Regardless of its appearance, "Number One" is gentle and obedient in spirit.
As he thought this, he gently touched "Number One's" chest.
It must be said that "Number One" has a very strong self-healing ability. In just a short while, the wound that Lin Xi had bitten had stopped bleeding.
Previously, the inside of the wound could be vaguely seen through the mucus, but now the mucus has gradually solidified and turned into an opaque grayish-white color.
Will it hurt?
Lin Xi asked dryly.
He had to force himself to stop thinking about the disgusting organs in his mouth in order to barely speak normally.
"Number One" trembled slightly the moment it touched him, its eyes brightened, and it could barely maintain its mimicry—dark red compound eyes flashed out from behind the membrane, and then retreated.
Upon hearing Lin Xi's reply (which it certainly didn't miss the hint of pity in Lin Xi's tone), it hissed happily.
Lin Xi was slightly taken aback by the pure joy in the chirping of the insects.
Upon realizing this, "Number One" immediately switched to human language.
"pain."
It murmured softly.
It reached out and placed its hand on the back of Lin Xi's hand, making him press hard on the wound.
Lin Xi instinctively wanted to pull her hand away, but "Number One" pressed down very hard.
"If you touch me again... a lot... hiss... then... it won't hurt anymore..."
It spoke haltingly, using the sounds of insects and human language.
When it gets serious, it looks almost exactly like Savile.
The strange emotion in Lin Xi's heart began to swell once again.
It's hard to say whether it was pity or helplessness. In any case, although this "Number One" looked terrifying and fierce, he left a mark of a bewildered and pitiful little thing in Lin Xi's heart.
“If I ever make a move against you again—” Lin Xi looked at “Number One”’s face, and then once again felt a little dazed because of the face that looked so much like Savile, “You should remember to dodge.”
Even Lin Xi himself didn't realize that after seeing that face, his tone softened even more.
However, what Lin Xi was unaware of was extremely sensitive to "Number One".
This is the face Lin Xi likes.
"Number One" thought contentedly under the mimicry.
It perfectly replayed every detail of the figure it had seen while hiding on the wall in its mind...
The next time it sheds its skin, it will look even more similar.
As it thought this, an unparalleled happiness and love welled up in its heart.
...
At the same time—
Abandoned AI server room on deck C
"...In any case, we are not completely without hope now. As long as we can unlock the star map and locate the coordinates, we can go back."
Although Taran's access issues dampened the spirits of the three in the server room for a while, Sith quickly rallied.
He looked at Elisa with a hint of regret.
"It's such a pity, if you were still the vice-captain, Elisa..."
“Even if I still have access, I don’t think Taran would allow me to access it,” Elisa said with a wry smile. “After all, his biggest wish is to stay in this damn place and become a monster.”
At the mention of Taran, both Elisa and Sith's faces scrunched up.
“Besides, we have other problems to solve besides the star map,” Elisa composed herself and spoke again, “As far as I know, the Helios is almost out of fuel, so even if we get the star map, getting back will be difficult—”
"That's not a problem."
Sith interrupted Elisa. Despite being so thin he looked like a starving corpse, his eyes lit up with a strange, sharp light when he mentioned returning to Earth.
Elisa and Bryce watched as he suddenly jumped up from the ground and rushed into the thick shadows on the other side of the server room. A moment later, Sith quickly returned to their side, holding an old-fashioned electronic paper, which he laid flat on the ground.
“This is the question I’ve been thinking about all this time while we’ve been stuck here, Elisa. You should understand, right? Yes, the Helios is running low on fuel, but we don’t need that much. We only need a small amount to keep this going—”
Sith pointed to the electronic paper and then gestured wildly as he spoke.
Elisa and Bryce exchanged a glance, then both looked in the direction Sith was pointing: the electronic paper contained diagrams of the internal structure and equipment of the Helios after all its modifications, and the part Sith was emphasizing was located at the very bottom of the spaceship.
There were some very small escape ships vaguely drawn there.
Elisa frowned. "Wait, these escape ships are only built for short-term escape. Their fuel tanks are too small. They will probably run out of fuel before they even reach the warp gate and then just float in space. Although there are no crazy monsters in space, running out of fuel and becoming a dried-up corpse in space is not a good option either."
“Moreover, have we all forgotten something? The warp gate has disappeared. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have ended up here inexplicably and been stranded for so many days—” Bryce said with a solemn expression, looking at the equipment diagrams with a hint of despair.
"Hehehe..."
Sith grinned at them, revealing a strange smile.
“These aren’t problems, guys, these really aren’t problems…” He waved his arms excitedly, his voice rising, “The warp gate is still there, it’s always been there. It’s just that Taran changed the parameters we used to calculate its location, so we haven’t found it. But Taran has no idea that the AI on the Apollo was still working; he forgot to change the parameters here, and the original AI on the Apollo still has some data left over from not being completely cleaned up. Yes, I’ve calculated it many times—the warp gate is right there! As for the fuel tanks, that’s simple too. The spacecraft Lin Xi found in that crater can help us. In the Great Exploration Era, they desperately need to mass-produce spacecraft, so all the spacecraft are basically produced quickly based on modular design! I checked the fuel tank numbering used by the Providence spacecraft…”
"It just so happens to be a perfect match for our escape ship?"
"Elisa asked in a murmur."
Although she had tried to suppress her emotions, Bryce could easily hear her excitement.
Well, even he himself is the same.
If everything goes as smoothly as Sith said.
They could indeed reassemble the escape ship and the aircraft's fuel tanks, and then escape directly using star maps and coordinates drawn three hundred years ago.
Bryce reached out and firmly pressed Elisa's hand down.
“We can leave here, yes, we can. I’ve been here these days calculating these numbers, and I’m pretty sure it can work.”
Sith said to Elisa and Bryce, half-crying and half-laughing.
“There are enough lifeboats for us to escape, Bryce, Elisa, I…”
In the end, Sith even started counting the number of people on his fingers.
His voice paused for a moment at this point.
"I wanted to ask this before, but... I don't know if it's presumptuous of me..."
Sith asked his old friend with some hesitation.
"Lin Xi, he...he..."
"He is still alive."
Bryce said it with absolute certainty.
Elisa then nodded: "He has some other things to take care of, so we're separating from him for now."
For some secret reason, neither Bryce nor Elisa mentioned to Sith the strange things about Lin Xi, or his possible terrifying identity.
Upon hearing that Lin Xi was still alive, Sith couldn't help but smile.
"That's wonderful, wonderful... As long as everyone is alive, there is still hope."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
