Priority target for elimination: Scripps Fanas (infection rate: 41%)
This was accompanied by a large number of abnormal data stream alerts.
Lin Xi heard "herself" speaking calmly to Scripps in the same gentle voice as always.
I'm sorry, Captain Scripps, your physiological indicators are abnormal—
Warning: Data stream error
...You have been designated as a priority target for elimination.
Warning: Severe data stream anomaly
Your permissions have been frozen.
Warning: Severe data stream anomaly
...
The flashing warnings and the mechanical electronic notifications flashed at the same time...
It was too late. At the same moment that Hal told Captain Scripps to freeze permissions amidst the alarm of the data stream, those cold and bizarre killing machines had already slowly extended their deadly metal tentacles, like ghosts, and pounced on those who had not even realized what was happening.
...
"No...no, you can't..."
Lin Xi let out a scream, his body suddenly went limp, and he fell straight down in front of him.
Of course, he couldn't actually fall. The moment he fell, Xavier's wings reached out and wrapped around him...
Lin Xi snapped out of his reverie and realized that he had spent so much time in his daydream, but in real life, it might not have even been a second.
Even the frail body hanging on his arm and the incredibly aged soul within it had not yet completely lost consciousness.
The terrifying man suddenly turned his head, his pupils now veiled in a thick white mist, staring directly at Lin Xi.
"...No one can escape it."
He murmured, and then Lin Xi felt a weight on his hand. The body belonging to Ando Shizuo had completely lost its life.
He died.
"What happened? Are you alright, Lin Xi...?"
"What exactly did that guy do to you?"
"Lin Xi—"
Everything happened so fast, faster than anyone could imagine.
As Ando Shizuo's body slammed to the ground, the others asked questions in alarm, especially Bryce. If it weren't for Elisa's efforts to calm him down, Lin Xi would have even suspected that he might have developed asthma due to rapid breathing.
But when facing his dearest brother, Lin Xi seemed somewhat ruthless at this moment—he didn't waste any time to comfort the panicked Bryce (and of course Sith and Elisa).
He suddenly stood up and emerged from beneath Xavier's nimble wings. Then he tossed Ando's body to the ground like trash.
Lin Xi turned around and looked at Bryce, Elisa, and Sith with a strange gaze.
The three humans all looked extremely pale.
In that brief moment, what flashed through his mind were the images he had just witnessed.
His lips trembled slightly. Compared to him now, even Ando, who had long since died, looked to be in good health.
"I made a mistake."
Lin Xi murmured.
"Those damn RoboCop don't just target aliens, they... attack all living creatures indiscriminately."
At this point, Lin Xi almost instinctively told a lie.
If the scenes that "Captain Scripps" sacrificed his own body to show him are real... then some of Lin Xi's previous guesses might also be true.
Even people who appear to have no abnormalities may be contaminated by the special genes of a different species.
However, those killing machines produced by the Del Corporation... they indiscriminately slaughter all contaminated human bodies.
Considering that Bryce and Elisa had previously ingested food bags, and that they must have received the necessary vaccines for contact with aliens in order to participate in this mission.
Lin Xi had no doubt that, under the judgment of those "ghost" robots, Elisa and Bryce would also become targets for elimination.
“We need to speed things up. You have to get out of here before those damn mechanical warriors get here.”
Lin Xi gave Xavier a wink, and the next moment, they sped up.
And so, amidst Sith's occasional, barely suppressed screams, Lin Xi and Xavier swiftly made their way down the dark and eerie passageway to the lower deck.
"boom--"
Shortly afterward, the group heard a tremendous roar.
The entire Apollo spacecraft shuddered violently with that roar.
At that moment, Lin Xi and Xavier were walking down an abandoned elevator shaft. The violent tremors almost caused Lin Xi to fall straight to the bottom of the shaft. However, at the critical moment, the seemingly cumbersome wings on Xavier's back played a crucial role. It managed to fly up shakily while dragging three humans along, and then used the cuddling feet that extended from the back of its wings to trap Lin Xi in its arms.
"Thanks--"
After Lin Xi came to his senses, he looked up at Xavier, who had a calm face and bright eyes, and then said.
"Lin Xi, be careful."
Xavier stammered.
In the pitch-black elevator shaft, the phosphorescence on its wings turned into a striking pink.
"Cough cough—" The person who interrupted Lin Xi and Xavier's eye contact was Bryce, who coughed forcefully.
...In order to hold Lin Xi, Xavier swapped the other three men to his strong hind legs, casually hooking them onto the sides of his back.
From this position, Bryce and Elisa could clearly see Xavier and Lin Xi embracing each other tightly.
Considering Xavier's now prominent half-human, half-insect characteristics, coupled with their current angle, the scene of Xavier embracing Lin Xi looked rather horrifying and... subtle.
“Bryce—”
Elisa nudged Bryce hard with her elbow.
However, at this moment, Lin Xi realized something because of Bryce's cough, and he suddenly broke free from Xavier's embrace.
"Let's keep going."
He said it dryly.
The situation is actually quite bad.
The tremor just now clearly came from the mechanical warriors—they had probably broken through the swarm and the Covenant shield and entered the spaceship.
They were already very close to them.
During this process, every now and then, extremely painful screams could be heard coming from outside the elevator shaft.
Even though you know that the hissing comes from a certain source, the extreme pain contained in that sound still makes your stomach churn.
At this time, Lin Xi would experience a sharp pain in her head.
He had some kind of spiritual connection with his family, but now that connection had become a huge burden.
The mental fluctuations emitted by those tragically deceased mutants would occasionally feed back into Lin Xi's mental world...
In this situation, Xavier's scent, its very existence, and even the pink phosphorescence emanating from its wings, became a powerful source of comfort.
Although it felt strange—Lin Xi had to admit it—he had actually developed a sense of mutual dependence with Xavier in such a critical situation.
Moreover, with Xavier responsible for carrying the three humans, they actually arrived at their destination quite smoothly.
The lifeboats of the Apollo were quietly moored in the warehouse.
It looks small and fragile.
"...Are we really going to rely on this thing to escape back to Earth?"
Bryce asked in alarm as soon as he saw the lifeboat.
"Before each departure, we carefully inspect every component of the spacecraft. Although the lifeboats weren't designed for long-distance flights, but..."
Even at this point, Elisa was still trying to calm Bryce down.
But after she opened the hatch of the lifeboat and glanced at the furnishings inside, she finally surrendered.
"...Can this thing really get us back?"
She stared at the extremely rudimentary equipment in the life pod and muttered to herself.
The space inside the escape capsule is very cramped, with most of the space occupied by two cryogenic hibernation chambers located at the rear of the capsule.
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