It was not until the special forces captain's voice woke Chen Ci from his trance.

"Your Highness, how is the situation over there?"

Shafley: "Everything is normal. There is an aquarium-like structure underneath, which contains many primitive creatures."

"Team E, where are you?"

However, there was no answer from the other side.

"Team E, this is Group A, please answer if you hear me, please answer if you hear me."

The call fell on deaf ears and no response was received.

Is the line disconnected? If they were in danger, they would have informed us in the communication. There shouldn't be a situation where they didn't have time to say a word, right?

Fu Tianhe: "Maybe they can't get the signal there again."

They could only think so. After all, there were twelve people, and it was impossible for them to disappear quietly.

The situation suddenly became serious, bringing Chen Ci and Chen Nian back to reality.

Yes, they are still in danger and no one knows what will happen in the next second. There is no time to waste.

There are only a few minutes left before the time-space overlap ends, and they must hurry.

They quickly walked to the end of the corridor. Shafley used his ID card to open the door. Chen Nian stepped in. The moment he saw the scene inside the door, he was stunned.

There are two culture media placed five meters apart, and a control console set up in the front. Pipes extend from the ceiling to the top of the culture media, transporting nutrients and filtering metabolic waste.

Before he could see more details, the curve representing the energy intensity on the dial suddenly slid down, pulling them back to the real world.

Chen Nian rushed to the cultivation column on the left in a leap. The entire room lost its light source, and only the intertwined beams of searchlights carried by twenty people were shining, but they were far from bright enough.

Unlike the large culture room seen before, the culture columns here are still intact, but the surface is covered with dust and there is nothing inside.

Even the control panel is there.

Chen Nian's breathing became more and more rapid. He stuck close to the surface of the culture dish, turned around, and seemed to have entered the inside of the transparent container at this moment.

The other culture column on the opposite side can be clearly seen.

The baby that had once floated, curled up, eyes closed, has disappeared.

On his shoulder, there is a moon-shaped birthmark.

Chen Ci: "..."

He also walked forward and came to the cultivation base on the opposite side.

Chen Ci stopped, raised his eyes, and looked at his brother who was five meters away.

Chen Nian's pupils shrank.

It was as if in an instant, I was back in that dream.

The alien with golden eyes shuttled through the room, busy taking care of the baby sleeping in the vessel. The four arms extending from its shoulders stretched and retracted at will, completing many things at the same time.

It took good care of the two babies until... the golden lines were stained with a strange blue.

It is parasitized.

Previously, Chen Nian didn’t understand why the alien’s attitude had changed 180 degrees, but now, he knew everything.

From careful protection to ruthless eradication.

Chen Nian took a deep breath, raised his hands and grabbed the chest of his protective suit, as if if he didn't do this, the sadness in his heart would make him unable to breathe.

Even though the only memories left were those in their dreams, they actually developed feelings for the alien that had always taken care of them.

Would the original creatures do the same?

For those lower beings, that probably won't happen. They only have the instinct to survive, and even their intelligence is very low.

But what about super primitive creatures like Poseidon?

Along the way, he saw Maxine shed tears, and felt the pain and anger inside Midgard.

So... so strange.

Shafley also thought of the dream that Chen Nian had described to him in detail, and frowned.

But he felt an indescribable sense of wonder in his heart. The laboratory used to cultivate the brothers should be in a very secret place. They just walked through the corridor of the aquarium and entered here.

He walked to the door on the opposite side and raised his wrist to identify the ID card.

There was only a slight dripping sound, and the remaining electricity made it difficult to open the door.

Then Shafley saw the identical cultivation room.

Two cylindrical culture dishes no more than five meters apart, and a control console in the center front.

The laboratory where Chen Ci and Chen Nian worked at that time was not the only one.

He took a few steps forward, and the data on the energy detector suddenly fluctuated unsteadily. However, the waveform was completely different from the previous several spatial overlaps, and it seemed more like it was affected by some kind of disorder.

"We may be getting close to the source of energy." Shafley said. He turned on the communication channel and reported to the special forces captain on the other side: "The source of energy fluctuations may be hidden here. How are you doing?"

"We sent out detection robots and found many traces left by humans, and many of them are very fresh." The special forces captain's voice was not very clear, perhaps the energy fluctuations interfered with the signal channel.

Shafley thought for a moment and said, "Wait for us here for a while. Next time the space overlaps, we will join you and search for traces of survivors together."

"receive."

This is the most appropriate decision at the moment.

More than 120 people have been divided into three groups. Davis' team has lost contact and its whereabouts are unknown.

As they go deeper into the core area, they can no longer disperse, otherwise it will be difficult to reunite once signal interference occurs again.

Moreover, it is also important to retain that energy source and maintain regular spatial overlap, otherwise many roads that have been damaged in reality will not be able to pass smoothly.

Fu Tianhe came to Shafulai's side, and the two of them looked at the cultivation room in front of them, and no one spoke.

After a long while, Shafulai looked at Fu Tianhe and asked in a low voice that only the two of them could hear: "Are you worried?"

Fu Tianhe: "What are you worried about?"

Schaffrey: “A cliché.”

"Well, nothing to worry about, right?"

Fu Tianhe scratched his head: "Can he turn into an octopus monster in front of me? And even if he does, it doesn't matter, as long as the soul is still the familiar one, it seems quite fashionable to do something strange."

Shaflay couldn't help laughing.

Yeah, nothing to worry about.

The two brothers must be more troubled than them at the moment, so they should not show it and increase the psychological burden on the brothers.

"Let's go and meet him."

The systems in this area maintain a low energy consumption state and can support the most basic operations, including temperature control. Compared with the freezing weather outside with temperatures of more than ten degrees below zero, it is indeed much warmer.

Seven or eight doors were opened in succession, all of which had exactly the same room layout. It was unclear in which room the two brothers were raised.

Were these empty culture columns once filled with fetuses like these?

Where are they now?

This is a question that cannot be thought about too carefully, because no matter what the outcome is, it is so cruel.

Seeing that the energy was about to rise again, Fu Tianhe put his arm around Chen Ci's shoulders and said, "Let's go, let's go back and join the main force."

Chen Ci nodded silently.

He turned around and took one last look at the incubator. Ever since Chen Nian had that dream, he had been concerned about it and wondered if he could recall some related scenes.

But no.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember anything.

Chen Ci's earliest memory was when Shaflay secretly took him away from the White Tower when he was five years old. He remembered that the boy was looking around, looking around carefully, and avoiding everyone.

Oh, and in the end they were caught, and Shaflay cried out of grievance during the scolding, with snot and tears all over his face.

Now that I think about it, it might be because I was protected too well in the past, so I don’t have any memories deep enough to be remembered.

It would be great if I could remember a little bit like Chen Nian.

This was the first time that Chen Ci had fallen into such a situation where no matter how hard he tried, it was useless. From childhood to adulthood, he had always done everything very well.

Is the emotion lingering in your heart called frustration?

But it doesn't matter. My brother can do it, and what he can't do shouldn't be a reason for trouble.

There is no need to compare between them.

When space overlap occurred again, the team of 20 people stepped onto the elevator again. They went through multiple disinfection procedures, passed through the clean area, and entered the area above where the others were.

The main force is waiting.

The team members sat on the ground, taking the time to prepare themselves. Many of them leaned against the wall and took a nap to recuperate.

The special forces captain also showed rare signs of fatigue, but he still did not rest and stared closely at the images captured on the virtual screen.

"How's it going?" asked Shafla.

The captain did not answer directly. He pointed at the screen and asked Shaffley to look at it.

Due to poor lighting, the images taken by the detection robot are not very clear. However, it can be seen that the entire facility is circular like an ancient Roman gladiatorial arena, with layers of stairs leading up, connected by circular corridors, and several heavy doors embedded in the walls.

And in the center of the circle lies a huge lion's mane jellyfish.

The lion's mane jellyfish is one of the largest jellyfish in the world, with tentacles that can reach up to 35 meters in length.

However, as a primitive creature, it can be enlarged more than ten times its normal size.

The umbrella-shaped body alone is thirty meters long, stacked up like piles of cloth that have become peeling due to dehydration and drying.

The eight sets of tentacles below were even more terrifying, with approximately four hundred in number, reaching a terrifying length of one kilometer, like countless orange vines clinging to the walls and scattered throughout the circular corridor.

Rather than an experimental site, it is more like a tomb built specifically for the lion's mane jellyfish.

Each of its tentacles is covered with spikes and sacs filled with venom, which can inject toxins that paralyze the entire body of a creature and cause its death.

And under the jellyfish's umbrella, there are countless orange bubbles.

"Wow, are these jellyfish eggs?" Chen Nian couldn't help but move closer.

Although he had only studied systematically for a few months, he was a naturalist after all, and knew quite a few species.

During the breeding season, lion's mane jellyfish gather together and release a large number of sperm and eggs. Some sperm will swim into the jellyfish's body to develop, while more will grow in the sea water in the form of fertilized eggs.

"These things should be fertilized eggs that have been developing for a few days." Chen Nian pondered, "I don't know if they are still active. If they are like the blue insect nest we saw before, we will be in trouble."

The special forces captain said: "Originally there were more fertilized eggs, but many of them were moved away."

"Moved away?"

"Well, if the detection is correct, this should be a shelter with many humans living in the facility."

Shafley: "Let's rest for now. Once everyone has recovered and adjusted their condition, we can go over and investigate. There's no need to wait any longer."

"good."

The special forces captain stood up and organized everyone to set up a barrier. Behind them was the cleanup area. If anything came in, it had to pass through many gates. It could be said that it was very safe.

The other side is connected to a circular area where robots are conducting exploration, so there is no need to worry for the time being.

By activating the powerful energy barrier, you can block a lot of attacks and hide their figures and scent at the same time.

The four of them found an open space and sat down against the wall. The special forces members had a hard time, but they were never idle and were even responsible for a lot of special tasks.

Only when he finally relaxed did Chen Nian realize how tired he was.

"Maybe I can lose three or four pounds after I go back." He muttered softly, his head resting on Shaffley's shoulder, his eyelids drooping uncontrollably.

Chen Ci rested his head directly on Fu Tianhe's legs. On the way, he had been using his mental power to continuously break through the restrictions of the raw stone. After a long time, his forehead began to ache slightly.

The protective suit was well sealed and had a built-in temperature regulation system. When Chen Ci lay on it, he could neither feel Fu Tianhe's body temperature nor was it soft enough.

Now is not the time to be picky.

Chen Ci frowned slightly and closed his eyes. Sleepiness quickly came over him. In his drowsiness, he felt the mask being gently taken off and a pair of thin fingers smoothed his brows.

I slept soundly that night.

Chen Ci couldn't even open his eyelids. This was a normal situation in a dream. After all, the images were created in the subconscious mind and were definitely not as good as what one saw with one's own eyes in reality.

The surroundings were very blurry, but he could instinctively sense what they were.

He walked on the empty street. The walls were blue, the bottom was white, the sky was blue, the ground was white, the street lights were blue, the lights were white, the tires were blue, and the cars were white.

A deep, mottled, flowing blue that seemed to reflect the sunlight.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, he finally saw another figure walking towards him from the opposite side of the street.

Although the facial features were not very clear, Chen Ci knew that it was an identical face to his.

They walked towards each other, as if a mirror was inserted between them.

The two continued walking forward until they were facing each other, then turned around together and walked into the villa on the street side by side.

When you open the door, you see a bright living room.

Strange, why did he think it was his home? The only villa he had ever lived in was Shafley's on the top floor of Cinnabar, but the structure was obviously different from this one.

But before I could think too much, a gentle voice came: "You're back, sit down and get ready for dinner."

Chen Ci and Chen Nian pulled out the chairs from the dining table and sat down at the table side by side.

His younger brother seemed to be as confused as he was, and kept looking around, trying to find some unusual clues, including finding out who had just spoken.

They waited less than a minute before someone came over and placed two plates in front of them.

"Eat it."

The stench of decay hit me in the face.

Chen Ci squinted his eyes, trying to see what was on the plate, but all he could see was a shadow.

The man sat down opposite them and repeated in his usual gentle voice, "Eat."

"What is this?" Chen Ci heard Chen Nian ask beside him.

"Food."

"I mean, what kind of meat is this?"

silence.

There was an eerie silence.

The stench seemed to grow stronger, penetrating into my nostrils and pores, and even penetrating into my bones.

The person opposite sighed softly.

Chen Ci raised his head and saw a pair of faint golden eyes in a blurry shadow.

"Of course it's your mother."

Lizardlike creatures covered in eyes swam across the room. Bull sharks charged, their hydras waving like fine down. Lion's mane jellyfish's tentacles swayed like seaweed. The edges of orange umbrellas swayed like the hem of a skirt.

The blue water floats around, the sunlight shines from above, cooling the incoming water, and schools of fish swim between the fingertips.

A huge body came from below, wrapping around the entire house in circles, blocking every inch of gap.

A heavy, black shadow was cast over the three people.

Chen Ci finally saw the absolutely beautiful face of the woman opposite him, as well as the rotten flesh and rusted metal on his and Chen Nian's plates.

"Eat it."

“Huh——”

Chen Ci suddenly gasped for air and woke up from his dream, and immediately frowned at the stench.

For a moment, he thought he was still dreaming.

He immediately realized that his mask was not worn properly and he smelled the odor in the air.

Fu Tianhe was leaning against the wall, sleeping unconsciously, surrounded by special forces members who were resting.

Chen Ci took off his mask, rubbed his eyes vigorously, and sat up as quietly as possible.

He seldom dreams, let alone nightmares.

He raised his hand and looked at the time. It was only two hours, but it felt like a long time had passed.

Chen Nian, who was leaning on Shafley's shoulder, moved his legs slowly, and it was obvious that he had woken up.

He opened his eyes, with a lingering fear in them, and met Chen Ci's eyes.

It only took a moment for the two brothers to confirm from each other's eyes that they had experienced the same dream.

Chen Nian used his hands and feet to crawl to Chen Ci's side. There was no doubt that the food they got in their dream was the remains of some primitive creature.

The woman with golden eyes who handed them food was Moonlight.

The suggestion is so strong that there is no need to explain anything in detail.

That's really strange.

When he was a child, Chen Nian always thought that the people who appeared in his dreams were the ones who had the same dream as him.

Well, I guess every child would think so. It is not until he is eight or nine years old that he realizes that dreams are private products. The characters in his dreams are all from his own imagination. As for those people themselves, they may be meeting other people in their dreams.

Perhaps it was because he and Chen Ci had the same origin, the connection between the twins had become stronger and stronger since they entered the Moonlight, as if they had returned to the moment of their birth more than a decade ago.

They are one.

"Can't you dream of something useful?" Chen Nian complained in a low voice, "At least dream about the specific location of the survivors and how to obtain the antidote."

Who says it's not true? Chen Ci sighed silently.

Chen Ci: "Did you see the last thing clearly?"

"A sea snake-like monster?" Chen Nian frowned and thought for a while. "It's not very clear, but it feels like its body is covered with metal scales, and there is no way to judge how thick it is. It should be a sea king like Maxine Midgard."

"Jörmungandr is a legendary kraken, a huge snake. It is trapped in the endless sea that surrounds the human world. Because it is so huge, it can touch its own tail at the other end, encircling the entire world."

Chen Ci exhaled softly: "Haigui also mentioned this name."

Chen Nian pondered, "But no matter what, there can only be one biological mother, just like cloning technology, only the one who provides the egg cell is the real mother."

"No." Chen Ci shook his head. "To be precise, the one who provides genetic material is called the mother."

Chen Nian opened his mouth, but finally closed it without saying a word.

Genetic material...?

Chen Ci: "However, under normal circumstances, genes from different species are difficult to fuse, and it is almost impossible for the fused cells to complete normal activities, let alone develop into a complete individual."

Chen Ci has calmed down from his dream. He even wants to go back to sleep to see if he can dream of some other more useful information.

But it was too late, the special forces captain only had three hours to arrange it.

Fu Tianhe was sleeping soundly beside him, with his eyes tightly closed, and one could not even tell that there was a bright red artificial eye hidden under his right eyelid.

Chen Ci reached out and wiped the saliva from the corner of his lips.

It must be very tiring.

During the rest period, they experienced a total of seven space overlaps and have not found anyone else passing through.

Either this place has been closed off, or it has not yet been put into use.

Chen Ci and Chen Nian simply ate something, the two brothers lowered their voices and chatted casually for a while, and then it was time to end their break.

The team members woke up one after another. Shafley frowned for a few seconds and opened his tired eyes. It was obvious that he did not get enough sleep.

It would be nice to have some rest during the mission. When they have finished everything and returned to Cinnabar, they can sleep as long as they want.

After preparations were completed, the special forces lifted the protection of the energy barrier.

Enter the area with the Lion's Mane Jellyfish.

As soon as they walked out of the corridor, they saw three or four assembly robots gathered in a corner, blocking the detection equipment they had released and making it unable to move.

"Want to catch them?"

"Walk."

Several team members approached quickly and quietly, with the robot's camera aimed at the detector in the corner, and failed to notice the danger behind it.

He simply stretched out his hand and successfully caught it.

The robot then realized the danger and turned its head 180 degrees towards the team members. The indicator light on its head flashed a few times, and it stopped operating without even struggling.

"Hey!" The team members were a little surprised, you should at least resist!

It was so easy to catch it, but there was no sense of accomplishment at all.

"It should be that all functions are focused on exploration and collection, and everything else is completely abandoned. Even if it is destroyed in danger, the parts and energy can be recycled."

Fu Tianhe came over, squatted down, and tried to stay at the same level as the robot: "You can see, we are from outside, looking for survivors. If you are willing to communicate with us, please give us a signal."

Everyone held their breath and stared at the robot.

After a dozen seconds, the indicator light suddenly flashed twice.

The robot, which had been motionless and stopped, began to move forward.

Fu Tianhe stood up and made way for it.

As expected, I was just pretending to be dead.

The people followed the robot up the belt-shaped corridor, occasionally having to avoid the tentacles of lion's mane jellyfish that were attached to the ground and walls.

Although it looks like it has been dead for a long time, it is hard to say whether there is still venom stored in its venom sac. If the protective suit is punctured, it will be terrible if it is hit.

"Could it be a trap?" a team member asked quietly in the communication channel.

Captain: "We can't rule out this possibility. Stay alert."

The robot finally brought them to a door on the third floor.

Chen Nian went up to observe. Hmm, it is very thick. The sealing must be very good and can block all external interference.

Are the survivors in there? That would be great!

Suddenly, there was a sound of electric current, which startled Chen Nian. He quickly stepped back and stuck close to Shafulai.

"It's been 19 years, and this is the first time I've seen someone coming here. It's really rare." The voice was somewhat true because of the current. "Ah, I almost forgot what humans should look like."

The last sentence made everyone slightly stunned.

Shafley: "Hello, we are a special forces unit from Cinnabar. We are exploring Moonlight this time to find out the truth about the collapse. Are any of you survivors?"

"Survivors? I guess so." The other party chuckled, "But we don't need rescue anymore."

"What?"

"We are living well here. If there is nothing else urgent, please leave quickly and don't delay us from collecting supplies."