mother of all races

"Are you kidding? You went to Sunu, but stayed on the ship?"

O'Neill looked at Lin Xi in surprise, and Lin Xi could tell from his eyes that he really thought this matter was incredible.

"Well... Sometimes you just don't want to be exposed to completely unfamiliar environments, don't you?"

Lin Xi pretended to be nonchalant and said.

Although in his heart, he was not as calm as he showed.

He is not familiar with the newly appointed laboratory director in front of him, and naturally it is impossible to tell him all the things on Sunu planet in detail-for example, his medical officer brother is terrified of alien creatures. Some are extremely conservative.

Lin Xi had to admit that the most important reason why he stayed on the spaceship all the time was Bryce.

Almost every cell in Bryce's body was clamoring for resistance to the Sunu.Lin Xi knew very well that Bryce didn't want him to "get along" with those aliens.

Sometimes, Lin Xi was even skeptical. In Bryce's mind, those Sunu people were not alien allies who had established diplomatic relations with the Earth people for many years, but would snatch Lin Xi home at any time, and then serve as Sacrifice cut into pieces and eaten clean by jungle cannibals.

Of course, Lin Xi always felt that Bryce was making a big deal out of a molehill on this issue.However, on an alien planet so far away from the earth, he and Bryce can be said to be dependent on each other.And he really didn't want to add to Bryce's mental load—Bryce's paranoia and self-loathing had been severe enough since Lynch had been chosen for this mission.

Moreover, Lin Xi herself has never been an avid fan of Sunu culture.

Finding ways to have fun while aboard the Helios isn't all that hard.

So while other people were busy handing over those gray supplies, or wandering around the only remaining place of order on Sunu, Lin Xi had been obediently staying on the Helios according to Bryce's instructions.

Lin Xi didn't have any complaints about his previous decision, but when "No. [-]" was hatched and born in his hands, Lin Xi regretted his lack of understanding of Sunu culture.

"Okay, I admit that I'm a bit stereotyped... That thing looks like bugs, who would have imagined that they would have such a high IQ and perception?"

In front of O'Neill, Lin Xi could only mock herself with a little embarrassment.

"Well, it doesn't matter, anyway, even we have a very shallow understanding of Xingdie... Even I, I have stayed in this damn laboratory for so long, and I only learned about it from Dr. Ando. There are really insects that can have IQ and perception close to human children, maybe because of this, this kind of insects are considered by those Sunu people to be sacred objects of their own nation..."

O'Neill said to Lin Xi.

It's just that after these words were spoken, he couldn't help but froze.

The mention of Dr. Ando made the scene suddenly quiet.

The horrific things that the gentle man in people's minds did to his wife...and those half-human, half-worm monsters that he killed with his own hands...

What happened in the cabin of the Ando couple has spread rapidly to every corner of the Helios in such a short period of time,

Ernie's eyes darkened, and he looked a little sad.

"I really hope that such a tragedy did not happen to Dr. Ando. If he is still here, he should be able to help you more."

The young boy, with his tired face and dark circles under his eyes, said somberly.

Next to O'Neill, Lin Xi also felt very uncomfortable after hearing Professor Ando's name... He suspected that this was the mental sequelae caused by Sorian's extra vigilant and stabbing attitude before. .

"Well, of course... I really hope he recovers from that terrible mental state soon. No matter what happens, those experts can always make things better when they return to Earth. Besides, Humans have always had their own way of dealing with tragedy."

While comforting O'Neill, Lin Xi smiled wryly in her heart.

Since when did he become this kind of boring adult who can say empty words?

Lin Xi knows very well that some pain may be healed by time, but other wounds, some wounds that you will never forget, they have always been there, they will always be there, they will rot, but they will never heal ...

At this moment, a particularly pale face quickly passed Lin Xi's mind, which made him feel a little pain in his heart.

Lin Xi's complexion became a little ugly, but it was O'Neill. Before the accident, he was just a young male student. After hearing Lin Xi's meaningless comfort, he actually looked a little bit more excited.

"Thank you for your comfort, Dr. Lin Xi, I also hope that the teacher can return to my laboratory as soon as possible, otherwise, I may have been driven crazy by the troubles that happened here before returning to Earth. You don't even know, Ever since we landed here, these organisms have become exceptionally abnormal." Speaking of this, O'Neill suddenly clapped his palms, he obviously just remembered the purpose of Lin Xi's visit—

"Ah, I'm sorry... I accidentally started to go off topic. The cultivation tank you want can be used to breed star butterflies, I can go and have a look for you. As for the feed for feeding star butterflies..."

O'Neill stared at his personal terminal in embarrassment, and after thinking for a long time, he slowly spoke again. He seemed very uncertain: "I don't know what this precious creature should eat, but in theory, since Dr. Ando used a conventional nutrient solution as its pre-culture medium, so the star butterfly should also be raised with a general-purpose insect culture solution and high-protein feed—"

Immediately afterwards, there was another long period of silence. O'Neill kept flipping through the various records and previous memos in the laboratory during this period. He seemed to be in a hurry, which made Lin Xi who was on the side slightly worried.

"Well... As I said just now, there are always many situations in the laboratory during this period of time. We have damaged nearly three large culture tanks, but you are a lucky person, Dr. Lin Xi, I just I found that in the spare warehouse on the b-3 floor, we seem to have a breeding tank for large insects. I will find a way to talk to Taran... No, no, I think I can go to the vice-captain Alisa Get a clearance to go down and get that thing out for you."

"sounds good."

Lynch said.

Although he could also hear that the special egg case hatching device he needed was probably in vain.

"By the way, let me take a look at the feed next, ah, here... we just got some raw materials yesterday, maybe I can directly prepare some feed for Sunu insects... it will take a little time, But I think you shouldn't mind."

"of course not."

"If the time is moved forward two days, we still have prepared finished feed in our laboratory, but... huh, you know, these days, the little Sunu monsters in the laboratory eat a lot I really don't know why these little things have such a good appetite..." Ernie muttered trivially, "Please follow me, Dr. Lynch."

While speaking, Ernie led him to the other side of the corridor.

They passed through some locked doors, and many spherical micro-farms for spaceships, and finally arrived at the biological dormancy area.

The experimental raw material preparation room is at the top of this vast dormant area.

As they walked along rows of cylindrical petri dishes, the air smelled of weird chemicals and the lighting was dim and blue, making the area look like a Underwater in general.

Lin Xi's feet stepped on the metal grid ground, making a slight rustling sound.

He subconsciously observed those petri dishes—biological individuals with completely different shapes and sizes were arranged according to certain rules, some of which Lin Xi more or less knew what they were, and more of them were types that he didn't know at all.

The Sunu organisms preserved here have basically been injected with drugs and put into a state of cryogenic sleep. They float motionless in a specific petri dish, looking as if they have long been dead and soaked in formalin. biological specimens.

This association made Lin Xi a little uncomfortable, because these cylindrical petri dishes are not fundamentally different from the frozen sleep chambers used by human crew members to make transitions to a certain extent.

Did they look so lifeless when they used the sleeping pod?

Lin Xi was in a trance for a moment, but O'Neill's voice quickly brought him back to his senses.

"Dr. Lin Xi?"

"Ah, sorry, I was fascinated by accident—what's wrong?"

O'Neill shrugged: "It's nothing, the things here are really fascinating. I can guarantee that even the highest-level Sunu exhibition on earth will not have so many kinds of Sunu creatures. Many of them are Sunu's most beautiful creatures. Precious specialties, but now, they belong to us." He pursed his lips and smiled, and said, then he motioned Lin Xi to stand aside. "You can wait here for a while. Only people from the laboratory can enter the ingredient room. I will configure the star butterfly feed you need... I hope there will be no problems with the things I make."

Ernie laughed.

It was only then that Lin Xi realized that the two of them were now in front of a metal door with security facilities.

O'Neill's figure quickly disappeared behind the door, and Lin Xi stayed near the preparation room just as he ordered, and he looked at the strange-looking Sunu creatures next to him with interest.Inevitably, however, he compared them to Number One in the back of his mind.

Undoubtedly, even the most wonderful of these Sunu creatures (a male iridescent glass beetle, a giant Sunu beetle over a meter in size, is almost a plus version of a beetle on Earth, but it But it has a magnificent and brilliant shell that earth beetles can never have. Its shell is a precious jewelry material that is more precious than diamonds on the earth), and it also looks disheartened in comparison with "No. [-]", with no chance of winning .

Lin Xi glanced back at the metal door of the preparation room, there was no movement there, Ernie obviously needed some time.

Then he turned his head and came to the petri dish of the frozen glass beetle. He looked at the beetle through the thick plexiglass.

really weird.

Lin Xi muttered in his heart.

He originally thought that he would hate insects. After all, not long before this, he was frightened by the fossil statue. He always thought that he had a relatively serious insect phobia.

And in my memory, the period when I was plagued by bugs obviously didn't last long...

But now, Lin Xi's symptoms have been significantly alleviated. For example, at this moment, he is staring at the glass beetle in the petri dish. Not only does he not feel any fear, on the contrary, he has a deep feeling for this huge little creature. , there was a feeling of pity so strong that he couldn't understand it himself.

In Lin Xi's opinion, this glass beetle is not very good-looking, after all, its figure is so bloated and clumsy, and the colors on its carapace are so rich, so rich that it can even be called It's vulgar.

While staring at it, Lin Xi immediately noticed the wounds on the glass beetle.

Of course, it wasn't an obvious wound, especially on the glass beetle's brilliantly colored carapace, the wound became more and more blurred and slight.

And Lin Xi also knew that this kind of beetle, which became famous because of the color of its carapace, was naturally sensitive and very difficult to catch.

When catching an iridescent glass beetle, wounds on its carapace are unavoidable—

Lin Xi's reason knew that this was not a big deal.

These frozen bugs.

These are not serious wounds at all.

but……

Lin Xi took a deep breath, hoping to slow down her heartbeat that was accelerating little by little.He didn't know what was wrong with him. When he stared at the wound on the beetle, an unprecedented pity and anger hit him at the same time.

He feels depressed, sad, and the stronger emotion is pain.

He didn't like the wounds on the beetles at all.

Why did these humans treat the beetle so roughly?Just to plunder it from its original homeland and send it to the other end of the distant universe...

Lin Xi's eyes were wide open, and his breathing became rapid. Then he raised his head and glanced at the other petri dishes.

More wounds, more fearful and defensive postures, have been frozen for a long time in the nutrient solution prepared by humans... and in the artificially created low temperature.

A strange impulse emerged from the depths of Lin Xi's body. For a moment, he even wished to smash all these vessels directly.

This kind of violence caused by the bugs was too intense - so intense that Lin Xi even realized that something was wrong. He shuddered, and then suddenly came back to his senses.

Then the strange impulse and pity disappeared instantly like a dream, and Lin Xi still stood firmly beside the petri dish without moving her footsteps

"boom--"

Immediately afterwards, Lin Xi heard the sound of a collision.

right next to him.

He turned his head in surprise, and then his eyes widened in surprise.

"God, what the hell is this..."

Lin Xi murmured.

He found that the iridescent glass beetle in the petri dish, which was silent like a specimen before, had opened its eyes.And the pair of inorganic orange-yellow pupils are now staring at him without blinking.

The glass beetle's brightly colored and thick and hard carapace opened, and the wings emerging from under the carapace allowed it to constantly change its posture in the freezing liquid at such a low temperature.

"boom--"

The frightening crash sounded again.

The head of the glass beetle moved to the front of Lin Xi, and it began to hit the petri dish with the strongest head on its body.

Now Lin Xi is really convinced of what O'Neill said before: the bugs on Sunu Star do have extraordinary IQs.Even this glass beetle knows some basic tricks. For example, under Lin Xi's watchful eye, it hits the same part of the petri dish one after another, like hitting a sealed glass with a broken window hammer Windows are generally calm and precise.

A tiny crack appeared on the inner wall of the petri dish, and soon, the crack began to expand.

Lin Xi was stunned.

Some transparent liquid began to seep out along the cracks hit by the rainbow glass beetle. They emitted a cold air, and the smell was very unpleasant.

The instrument at the bottom of the petri dish turned a blinding red, and it screamed frantically at the first impact.The sound of the siren echoed throughout the biological dormancy area, more and more like the scream of a banshee.

WARNING - The inside of the petri dish is damaged, degree of damage: 21%

WARNING - The inside of the petri dish is damaged, degree of damage: 65%

WARNING - The inside of the petri dish is damaged, degree of damage: 87%

……

The dull electronic voice kept repeating similar words.

Lin Xi watched helplessly as the numbers that simultaneously appeared on the screen continued to rise.

But these alarms seemed so illusory, and that dreamlike feeling enveloped him once again.

The surrounding scenery seemed to be blurred like a water-soaked watercolor painting. The only thing that was sharp and clear was the glass beetle that kept hitting the petri dish.

Being able to cause so much damage to a petri dish in such a short period of time, it itself is not intact.In fact, it was already bleeding, although the blood was not red.The blood of this beetle is a beautiful golden color. (Lin Xi knows that this golden liquid-dyed silk once made a splash in the haute couture show a few years ago.)

And the iridescent glass beetle seemed to be watching him.

A strong attachment and joy shot out from the eyes of the beetle, and it even looked at Lin Xi with admiration... like a newborn cub looking at its mother.

Lin Xi stared blankly at its struggle, its impact, and its nostalgia.Oddly enough, Lin Xi stretched out his hand slowly. There was only a petri dish wall between him and this poor little thing, and now, a gap had appeared between this wall——

"Dr. Lynch—be careful!"

Someone pushed Lin Xi away from the petri dish.

Lin Xi shook her body and almost knelt down on the ground.

The originally blurry and ethereal world suddenly returned to its original state, Lin Xi suddenly woke up, and then saw bright red eyes.

It wasn't until this moment that he was shocked to discover that it wasn't just the petri dish that had the glass beetle in front of him that had set off the red alert.

With the petri dish where the glass beetle was located as the center, within a range of 20 meters around, all the bugs in the petri dish that should have been sleeping woke up.These worms who inexplicably woke up from the frozen sleep are all working hard to destroy those hard petri dishes in their own ways.Their twisted and struggling appearances are extremely evil and chaotic. With the warning sounds and red lights, the scene is like the opening scene of some kind of horror movie.

Thankfully, not all bugs, at least in this small area, have hard shells like the glass beetle.So, in such a short time, only the first beetle that woke up managed to break through the crack.

At this moment, O'Neill was sticking his whole body on the instrument panel under those petri dishes, adjusting the temperature and the concentration of the drug.

"Dr. Lin Xi?! I will send the parameters to your personal terminal, and you follow the steps below to restart the dormancy process for these damned monsters!"

O'Neill turned around and shouted at Lin Xi.

Lin Xi was stunned for a moment, then he jumped up, and he began to deal with the suddenly rioting insects according to O'Neill's instructions.

He was somewhat amazed at how horrific the spectacle of these bugs rioting was, but under his control, the process of them falling back into dormancy was also very fast.

Maybe it was only a few minutes, or maybe it was even shorter, Lin Xi saw the bugs quiet down again - there were so many times that Lin Xi didn't even have time to enter the parameters Ernie sent him on the screen, and the bugs just Suanan stopped all movements, and the supporting detection equipment would tell Lin Xi that the bugs that were extremely active before had fallen into a deep sleep.

It was as if such a horrible riot never happened at all.

If she hadn't witnessed those insects struggling with their teeth and claws, Lin Xi would have thought that she had space hysteria.

However, no matter what the reason for this strange phenomenon was, Lin Xi still felt a little relieved.

——Even he himself didn't realize that in the depths of his consciousness, he didn't like to put those bugs back to sleep in such a rough state.

Although the supporting instruments on the Helios will not kill them, changing the parameters so suddenly and then forcing the bugs back to sleep will still damage the bodies of these alien creatures to some extent.

Now, it would be the best choice for them to end the riot spontaneously and return to dormancy.

When the last worm curled up its claws and floated quietly in the freezing liquid, Lin Xi wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood up.

He glanced at the time, and was surprised to find that it hadn't been long since Ernie asked him to wait and then entered the preparation room alone, until the riot broke out.

"Ah... I really hope God can forgive me..." O'Neill kept complaining, rubbing his temples and slowly turning around to look at Lin Xi: "Scared?"

"What just happened?"

Lynch asked.

He bit his tongue vigorously in secret, hoping that he wouldn't be too dazed in front of Ernie.

O'Neill shrugged his shoulders: "As I have always said before, these little monsters have always been abnormal, and there will often be violent biological fluctuations, and then everything is what you just saw, hibernation failure, instrument alarms .”

"Does this happen often?"

Lin hoped to spray the original glass beetle with a special gel on the outside of the cracked Petri dish and the mechanical arm, and the beetle itself fell back into a deep sleep in a weird posture.

"A little suggestion, you'd better not stare at that guy all the time."

O'Neill walked over, intentionally or unintentionally, blocking the way between the petri dish and Lin Xi.

"The pattern on the back of this beetle has a strong hypnotic effect. It relies on this to confuse the prey and prey on it. I should have reminded you of this before, I'm sorry..."

"Is that so?"

Lin Xi breathed a sigh of relief, he was secretly worried about why he always felt dizzy.

"As for the question you just asked, huh... I really don't want to say that, but the reality is like this, this kind of thing happens often, at least this time today they quickly quieted down, the previous few times were disasters. "

If the same scene happened in a laboratory on Earth, everyone from the students to the tutors would probably be trembling and terrified until they couldn't sleep at night, but here, O'Neill has become accustomed to it.

"You look very nervous, doctor... well, I really envy you, at least the plants on the alien planet will not suddenly riot..."

Ernie made a sound of envy.

As soon as the crisis was lifted, he immediately recovered from this terrible accident—now Lin Xi could understand why the people above made such a young student the temporary head of the laboratory.

Compared with professional skills, this kind of super strong psychological quality may be more suitable for the spaceship laboratory stranded on a different star.

"This is the feed for your star butterfly. I'll send someone to the cultivation tank to your laboratory later..."

For example, now, O'Neill can already arrange the next thing calmly.

Lin Xi left the biological dormancy area with the insect feed prepared by O'Neill (he inexplicably felt an emotion similar to reluctance when he left, but this emotion was so weak that Lin Xi didn't pay much attention to it, he still Thought I was just under the hallucinogenic effect of that iridescent glass beetle).

After negotiating everything, Lin Xi was sent to the door of the office by Ernie.

Just as she was about to leave, Lin Xi suddenly turned around and looked at the young man who had grown up a lot overnight.

He frowned, hesitated for a while, and finally said: "Although Alisa has not issued a formal order, and Dr. Ando is in that state... I still want to confirm again, you are sure you don't want to Do you want to continue the follow-up training of Star Butterfly?"

In the previous conversation, Lin Xi had confessed to Ernie and other people in the laboratory about Dr. Ando's illegal operations.

It was the egg case of the star butterfly that was privately transferred to him... and the fact that the star butterfly had successfully hatched.

Of course, since Lin Xi wants to ask them for suitable cultivation tanks and feed, it is absolutely impossible to hide this kind of thing.

Lin Xi even tossed and turned all night because of this incident. He knew very well that he actually didn't want to return Xingdie back. A wonderful connection has been made.He longed to keep that little life by his side.It's just that Lin Xi also knows that such a precious and precious creature should be raised by more professional people both emotionally and rationally.

However, after coming to the animal laboratory today, the attitude of these not very professional professionals towards Xingdie was completely beyond Lin Xi's expectations.

They earnestly begged Lin Xi to continue to take care of that star butterfly according to the previous agreement with Professor Ando.

"You obviously experienced that terrible scene just now."

O'Neill made a gesture of surrender towards Lin Xi.

"We have a lot of problems here, and almost everyone is an idiot—yes, I was an idiot before. But now I'm actually the person in charge of the laboratory, can you understand this? This is a nightmare at all." Ou Ni pointed to his badge and made a broken expression, "Believe me, doctor, except for Professor Ando, ​​everyone's knowledge of star butterflies is very shallow. Whether it is you or us to raise them, it is actually Same——Anyway, at least you are our teaching assistant, and you also hatched the egg case of the star butterfly yourself. In this way, you have more experience than us, so let the star butterfly stay with you There, please."

After finishing the long series of words in a pitiful tone, O'Neill accidentally brought out the truth in his heart.

"Besides, none of us want to raise such a disgusting thing..."

Lin Xi didn't hear O'Neill's last vague murmur, and his attention was completely focused on the fact that he could be upright, and logically continue to keep "Number One" and the remaining eggs.

He is very happy.

And this kind of happiness even exceeded his expectations.

It was at this time that Lin Xi felt so clearly that maybe he really fell in love with that little thing called "No. [-]".

"Ah, that's right!"

Just when Lin Xi was about to leave, O'Neill suddenly let out a low cry.

"I almost forgot—please wait a moment, I have something for you—"

He patted his forehead and said in a hurry, then rushed back to his desk, then crawled under the desk for a while, and then returned to Lin Xi with his face covered in dust.

"I found this in a drawer of Professor Ando when I received his desk."

O'Neill put something dusty in Lin Xi's hand.

It took Lin Xi a while to realize that it was a notebook.

On the title page of the notebook, the name of An Teng Jingxiong is written.

O'Neill rubbed his hair, and explained to Lin Xi: "Professor Ando told me when he threw the mess of the laboratory over in a hurry before, there are some materials in the drawer, which can be used in case of trouble. We went to look through it, but we didn't pay much attention to it at that time, after all, there is nothing more drowsy than research materials..."

The young man's eyes flickered under Lin Xi's gaze, but he quickly calmed down.

"But you also know what happened later... When I was looking for information, I found this at the bottom of the drawer. I think it should be some records, not very official, but most of them are related to Sunu It may be related to the matter of Xingdie. It may be something that Mrs. Ando wrote down when she told the professor. I didn’t check it too carefully, but I think there should be a lot of things related to Xingdie. I think this will help you ?”

"Thank you, this notebook is really helpful..."

If it is enough to say that being able to keep "No. [-]" by my side is enough, then this notebook that records things about Star Butterfly is an extra surprise.

Lin Xi thanked very gratefully, and then hurriedly returned to her cabin with the notebook.

He needs to study the information about Xingdie carefully...

However, before that, he checked the status of "No. [-]".

"How was your day today?"

He knocked on the glass and said to Number One.

Ever since he learned from O'Neill that Xingdie's IQ was very high, he didn't feel that his greeting was a bit stupid at all.

An inexplicable confidence convinced Lin Xi that "No. [-]" could understand him.

Sure enough, after his knock, "Number One" slowly emerged from behind the Sunuxiang wood, and it turned its head sideways, staring at Lin Xi silently (so it knows that the slender branch In fact, there is no way to hide its body and big wings at all? Lin Xi couldn't help thinking).

It raised its head, its tentacles trembled rapidly on top of its head, and it looked very happy to see Lin Xi.

Only this time, it didn't have any intention of crawling out of the air hole at all.

And inside the cultivation tank, surrounding the Sunu fragrant wood, the star butterfly's nest has already begun to take shape.

Those thin silk threads became denser, especially around the first small ball of secretions, it looked like a light golden cloud to the naked eye, and it was still the kind that emitted fragrance .

Lin Xi also saw some Sunuxiang wood leaves at the bottom of the nest, and a few small stones that were used to pad the bottom of the cultivation tank.

Of course, the most eye-catching thing is some golden things.

Lin Xi couldn't help but squinted his eyes. He stared at those golden things for a long time, and no matter how he looked at them, he felt that they seemed to be some kind of metal accessories.

Where did this come from again?

Lin Xi checked the metal mesh covering the air vent very suspiciously—it was intact, without any gaps, and there was no sign of movement, just like Lin Xi covered it last night.

But those small metal parts are so familiar...

Just as Lin Xi looked at the metal in puzzlement and thought, "No. [-]" came out from behind Xiangmu in a buoyant manner.

It noticed Lin Xi's sight - the human was looking at the nest it had just built - and it immediately became happy.

Lin Xi stared dumbfounded at "Number One" spreading its wings around his nest.

It began to dance up and down in a strange posture, and the spots on its wings were more numerous, denser, and more colorful than those seen last night.

And these actions are all to make its nest more conspicuous.

I have to say that this move of "Number One" is quite cute, provided that it didn't accidentally overturn the nest with its own wings.

Perhaps this should be blamed on the too narrow culture tank.

Lin Xi thought.

After all, star butterflies have always been famous for their stretched, huge wings like rays of light.

It was so small here, and the fragrant wood it used to build the nest was so slender, not to mention, the stones it placed at the bottom of the nest and the metal parts it stole from no one knew where were so heavy compared to the nest.

In short, just as "Number One" turned around, the golden nest that was as soft as a cloud hung on its wings, and then turned over from the fragrant wood like that.