mother of all races

We need Taran.

Alisa stood in front of a metal door with the crowd. For some reason, this sentence suddenly resurfaced in her mind.

This was what the third officer of Lavvich had told her in an emergency meeting a few hours ago.

The scene at that time can be described as chaos, well, it seems that their meeting has become very chaotic since a long time ago.

Ingesting a large number of food bags has caused many people to become hyperactive and low in IQ, while some of the remaining people, some people who have not had time to go completely crazy, have already anticipated the imminent disaster of the people on this ship and become silent and sad world-weary.

Alisa didn't expect these bastards to help the status quo at all. She had been trying her best to barely maintain the normal operation of the Helios.However, when the killer named Sam escaped from the medical room and killed more than a dozen innocent crew members, people piled all the mistakes on her, and then they were like three years old asking for sugar. The little ones generally yelled to the sky that they needed Taran.

"I hope you don't think too much, Alisa... you've done enough. But it's clear that something is wrong with our ship, and we need to stabilize this chaotic situation."

That's what those people said at the time, they told Elle it wasn't about her, but even a fool could hear that they were full of condemnation and complaints against her.

Oh, in that case...then you come to Taran.

While thinking wildly, Alisa stared silently at the mottled metal door in front of her. The nameplate on the metal door read "Captain Talan Ida of the Helios".They had pressed the visitor button before, but Taran ignored them at all.

If Taran's personal terminal was not still receiving information and processing work as usual, some people might think that Taran had already died in his dark captain's room.

"Captain Taran - we all know this is not the right time, but this is an emergency and we need you very much right now."

A man with a strong figure appeared, and Alisa glanced at him. That was Robert, the director of the energy team. Of course, he is now the main person in charge of the emergency team, and he has always looked down on her, Alisa Always knew this.

That's why this guy was barking like a puppy begging for food in front of Taran's hatch?Alisa thought a little meanly, she knew she shouldn't be so negative, but now she was tired and irritable, sweat was coming out of every pore.

The filter components of the ventilation system had been scrapped a few days ago (they had been overloaded for a long time before scrapping), so the interior of the Helios is now smelly and stuffy, and Alisa feels very uncomfortable. She hasn't had a break for a long time, and now this kind of thing has happened to her.

To make matters worse, those "little premonitions" of hers started screaming in the back of her brain again.

These days, Alisa is almost used to this feeling of uneasiness and fear, but there has never been a time when her sense of foreboding has become so intense and sharp.

For several moments, Alyssa even wanted to run away - far away from the damn metal hatch.

But her feet seemed to be against her will, and they were nailed to the same place without moving.

"Captain Taran, please come out, the situation is really critical—"

Robert was barking furiously again.

Alisa suddenly pressed her temples with her hands, and her figure staggered.

She heard a small sound.

Rusting, as if something is moving fast...

Gradually from the ceiling to the walls.

There was a pause, and then the crackling sound again.

Alisa's breathing gradually became short, and her head suddenly hurt like hell, but it was not a real headache, but a kind of excessive mental oppression.

her premonition...

Alicia trembled with extreme discomfort.

She tried her best to calm herself down, but big cold sweat kept coming out, soaking her clothes quickly.

rustle--

rustling-

The voice gradually approached the door.

Alyssa turned her head slowly. She observed her surroundings, wondering why no one responded to the weird sound.

The sound was so disgusting and disturbing.

Alisa couldn't even find words to describe it, well, if I had to make an analogy... It was like countless fingers, gently scratching the hard frosted metal surface with their nails, and then kept moving up and down.

That voice is getting closer...

Getting closer……

But Robert and others still didn't know anything, they looked at Taran's cabin door in a panic.

If Taran was really seriously ill to the point where he could not get up, then Alisa would still be the person with the highest authority on board, but now almost everyone has noticed the rift between the top management.

The group headed by Robert would not want to see Alisa still retaining her rights.

"Captain Taran—"

Robert is still calling.

This time, he finally got a subtle response.

"Shoot-"

The metal door that hadn't been opened for a long time was opened, and because it hadn't been opened for a long time, it made a sharp friction sound.

But the metal door didn't slide open completely, but revealed a narrow gap.

Taran's pale face slowly poked out from behind the metal door, and the room behind him was pitch black.

If Lin Xi was here, he would definitely feel that the scene in front of him was so familiar—the former Dr. Ando also appeared in front of him in the same way.

It's just that strictly speaking, Ta Lan's current appearance is probably worse than the An Teng Jingxiong that Lin Xi saw at the beginning.

"For God's sake, Captain Taran, you—"

Even Robert, who was most positive about Taran's reappearance, was taken aback after seeing Taran, and even became stuttering and incoherent.

He couldn't be blamed for that, Taran looked really bad, after all.

His hair had almost fallen out, with only a few stray strands sticking to his scalp.And his skin was as white as a dead man's, showing a lifeless gray, swollen, smooth to the point where there was no wrinkle or elasticity, and what was even more disgusting was that on the surface of his skin, there was a layer similar to grease something, just greasy covering his skull and cheeks.His eye sockets seem to have turned into two dark hollows, his eyeballs have become small and black, without any brilliance, even his lips have turned blue, his chin protrudes forward sickly, his gums look like But there are already signs of shrinking.

That strong premonition that would even bring a severe headache reappeared.

Alisa almost screamed the moment she saw Taran.

"I've already said that I need to rest. I've read all the questions you sent—a mercenary who has a mental breakdown due to heavy stress is worth all of you coming to me with such fanfare. Let everyone panic and make the situation worse. Terminate the alarm, and then let other mercenary ships search for the man, he will appear soon, unless he is really brave enough to escape from the spaceship."

Taran looked at the crowd outside before speaking hoarsely.

His voice was cold.

The people Sam had killed after escaping from the infirmary didn't seem to stir Taran's emotions at all.

Alisa noticed that his teeth had indeed fallen out.

"You, you're right."

After hesitating for a moment, Robert nodded and answered.After he said this, many people echoed hypocritically behind him.

Surrounded by this group of people, only Alisa, who was pale and dripping with cold sweat, looked out of place.

There must be something wrong with Taran!

Alisa's body convulsed slightly due to the excessive tension, and she had to do her best to control herself so as not to scream.

It took so much of her energy that it took her half a beat to feel that gaze.

——the sight from Taran.

Alisa raised her head suddenly and met his dark eyes.

Are those really human eyes?

This thought flashed through Alisa's mind, and her body was chilly.

However, Taran stared at Alisa, and said hoarsely: "Compared with the problem of the mercenary named Sam, I am actually more worried about the rumors on the ship. I really can't believe this kind of confrontation among the crew. Rumors about it will spread..."

……

Taran only spoke a few words to the other crew members at the door of his cabin, and slowly retracted his pale body into his dark room like a snail wriggling its eye stalks.

But his orders (of course, in Taran's own words, those are just some small suggestions) were still carried out without hesitation.

Not long after the alarm on the ship was terminated, bloody clothes and shoes belonging to Sam were found in a remote corridor, and he never appeared again.

In the next few days, the mercenaries swept up and down the ship with astonishing efficiency.

Their attitude towards doing things is far more serious than before, probably because the person who did such a horrible deed this time is their companion.

But no matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find Sam himself—there was some fresh blood at the pipe mouth of the water system, but that was all.

On the contrary, someone raised this speculation because of this. Sam probably escaped out of the spacecraft along with the waterway system.

Well, this is the most feasible possibility, but at the same time, if this is the case, the whole thing will become more confusing in an instant.

After all, after discovering the bloodstains, the mercenaries quickly counted the remaining extravehicular activity suits on board, and they found that none of the activity suits was missing. Similarly, the number of oxygen devices used for extravehicular exploration also completely matched the record number.

This meant that Sam left the Helios naked without any equipment for EVAs and lost a lot of blood.

It's the behavior of a madman, but... maybe that's why he's doing it.

He was originally a lunatic, and a lunatic would do such crazy things.

Lin Xi should have been very concerned about Sam's whereabouts. After all, Sam was beaten unconscious by him before this.

It's a pity that Lin Xi is so overwhelmed now that Sam's subsequent movements have become an insignificant matter to him.

As for why it's so frustrating——

"Talan assigned me to the exploration team. I have to go on the exploration mission now? Is he crazy?"

Lin Xi still remembers how surprised she was when she heard this order.

"Now the crew of the ship will start taking turns doing outdoor exploration."

Alyssa said bitterly across from him.

"According to Taran's words, this method can reduce the burden on the exploration team...to prevent another crazy crew member hacking and killing on the ship."

"What the hell kind of bullshit is that?"

Lin Xi cursed a curse word.

Seeing his appearance, Alisa sighed, she secretly decided to hide those words that Taran said lightly in front of everyone.

Participating in the exploration mission will also help to solve the misunderstanding of Lin Xi by the exploration team——

This kind of nonsense is probably only Taran can say, no matter whether he is still human or not, the treachery and insidiousness in his bones have always been retained.

Alisa is not sure whether the survey mission will really calm down the message against Lin Xi, but she can be sure that once Lin Xi gets outside the spaceship, he will be in an unprecedented dangerous situation.

"I'm sorry. I protested, but..."

Alicia felt extremely depressed every time she thought about it.

"Oh, don't say sorry, Alisa, I know what you did for me."

Lin Xi met Alisa's guilt-filled face, and he leaned over distressedly and gave her a hug.

"I believe that even if you refute him this time, that guy will definitely find a way to make me trouble again."

He said, and then carefully observed Alisa's reaction.

He could see that her physical and mental state had deteriorated dramatically since that day when she came into contact with Taran.Lin Xi suspected that Alisa had noticed something she didn't know, but no matter how Lin Xi asked, Alisa never revealed much.

"I'll try to get some trustworthy people with your squad—that way, at least when those lunatics try to do something to you, you'll have helpers and witnesses by your side."

Alicia couldn't help but said.

"This is probably the only thing I can do for you."

she says.

"You've done enough for me, Alisa, and I really appreciate it."

Lin Xiqiang forced a wry smile and said to her.

After seeing Alisa off, Lin Xi rubbed her temples and checked the team list.From the perspective of the exploration mission itself, this is indeed not a difficult task, but those exploration team members who inexplicably responded to him with great malice will indeed be a big trouble.

Lin Xi sat at the table for a while, but he couldn't think of any way to solve the current predicament, so he simply got up, put on his clothes and walked towards his greenhouse.

The metal door slid open slowly, and after the lighting facilities in the greenhouse were turned on, "Number One" appeared in Lin Xi's field of vision.

It's just that Xingdie, who used to be happy about his arrival like a puppy, is now hanging motionless on the branch——

Because today's "Number One" is just a cocoon between the branches.

This is the second thing that makes Lin Xi anxious, yes, "Number One" is actually chrysalis.

That's the day Sam escapes from the therapy machine to kill and set off the ship's alarm.

When Ernie came to observe "One" this morning, the happy alien insect looked normal.

However, when Lin Xi managed to survive the alarm and returned to the greenhouse, what he saw was the huge cocoon in front of him.

A thick layer of light golden cocoon shell completely wrapped "No. [-]" from the beginning to the end.

That color was exactly the same as the filaments that Number One had used to make his nest.As an alien bug, the cocoon of "No. [-]" does not look much different from its own kind on the earth, except that its volume will be larger.Some red and black spots spread unevenly on the surface of the cocoon. In the first few hours, those spots, like the wings of "Number One", responded very weakly to external stimuli.But soon they solidified on the surface of the rough cocoon shell.

You know, this process of Xingdie did not appear in Dr. Ando's notes. Lin Xi was so frightened that he quickly called O'Neill.Thankfully, the man who was always terrified of bugs was quite calm when he saw the cocoon, of course, the premise was to ignore the cold sweat and shivering all over his body (it is said that he had nightmares for several days after returning).

If O'Neill could explain why after the series of inspections, Lin Xi would probably have more sincere sympathy for him... But the reality is that even if O'Neill bit the bullet and checked one side after another, He still couldn't tell Lingxi anything useful.

"I don't know what's going on, its cocoon is incredibly thick, and it blocks all the detection beams. Maybe after it finishes pupating, we can find out what happened to it."

Facing Lin Xi's worried gaze, O'Neill always said the same things with minor differences.

In comparison, when he talked about his nightmare, there were more details.

You don't want to know what I dreamed about yesterday... I dreamed that there was a human corpse in this cocoon, oh my god, that's really scary, it must be because the cocoon of that thing is too huge, I think It doesn't match the size of that bug at all... Oh, yes, the corpse in my dream has become limp in it, that kind of feeling like a mass of thick meat sauce, and yours The bugs just lie there and suck those nutrients...

Lin Xi couldn't help frowning when he thought of the nightmare that O'Neill vividly narrated yesterday.

Even though he knew that it was just a figment of the horror fan's imagination after watching too many boring stories, Lin Xi felt inexplicably that he could see that horrible and evil scene following O'Neill's narration.

He felt extremely sick, but also couldn't hide his worry.

After all, in the first day or two, Lin Xi could still feel some faint movement from the cocoon, sometimes it was a soft hum, and sometimes it was a violent vibration, but soon, those movements It all disappeared.

The cocoon became quiet, like a dead thing.

Star butterflies are not creatures with exceptional vitality. On the contrary, they will inexplicably start to lose their activity in many processes, such as the egg case placed in the incubator in Lin Xi's room today.

Obviously "No. [-]" hatched smoothly under even worse conditions, but its brothers and sisters seemed to be about to sleep to death, remained silent for so many days and gradually began to lose their vitality.

What if... what if "Number One" is the same?

Just thinking of this, Lin Xi felt her chest constricted, as if she couldn't breathe.

But at such a time, that guy Talan actually wants him to go outside the cabin to conduct exploration activities, so how on earth can he find time to take care of "Number One"?

Thinking of this, Lin Xi's hatred for Ta Lan deepened in an instant.

"Come out, 'Number One'."

Lin Xi himself didn't know that this was the first time he sat in front of this cocoon and talked to "No. [-]" today. He stretched out his hand and gently pressed on the cocoon shell of "No. [-]".

After a while, Lin Xi frowned thoughtfully.

What Ernie had said jokingly to him before began to echo in his head inappropriately.

"You don't have to worry too much, since you can have 'Number One', then there will be 'Number Two', 'Number Three'... one of them will survive...

"Maybe I should give you a more formal name when you come out?"

Lin Xi couldn't help but whispered to "No. [-]" who was still pupating.

"After all, if you can successfully pupate, you should be a more mature bug?"

Speaking of this, Lin Xi couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Of course, the premise is that you can come out smoothly..."

He added.

The golden star butterfly cocoon remained motionless and unresponsive under Lin Xi's caress.

However, Lin Xi will never know that at the moment his words fell, in the dark and chaotic liquid filled with viscous protein slurry, two eyeballs that had gradually lost their luster suddenly flickered .

It was very faint at first, but gradually, the two red gleams became stable.

The light green neural network gradually spread along the spine, and then the bones, muscles, internal organs, skin... and wings and tentacles gradually began to gather and take shape.

In a place where no one could see, a weird and terrifying creature was re-condensed little by little.

Lynch...name...my...name...

He murmured joyfully within his cocoon.