heyheyhey!!!
buggybuggyday!
Anyway, on a happier note — I’ve gotten a little more confident in my ability to tl quicker and, hopefully, with a good quality. Updates, from now on, should be around the ~5000 word mark (or just as how the chapter is in the raws). I’ve noticed that the raws’ chapter counts aren’t really that consistent, but generally, updates should be stable other than a few outliers.
Also, a heads up — school holidays are coming up, so it’s likely I’ll be taking a hiatus. Next week Monday is the last update until February next year; don’t worry, I’ll be building up a stockpile and will be back with a bang.
Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 28
Separated by a layer of plexiglass, the sand that No.1 had lifted with its hind legs naturally wouldn’t fall onto Lin Xi’s body. But even so, Lin Xi was still taken aback — after all, Dr. Ando hadn’t written this in his notes. Besides, on Earth, bugs, regardless of kind, were… just a bug. But this Star Butterfly, a highly intelligent alien insect, would directly lose its temper when unhappy.
‘Hey — this is rude!’
Lin Xi bent down and knocked on the glass harder than before to demonstrate his determination. No.1 was cute, yes, Lin XI would never deny that, but he had no intention of condoning this little guy’s naughty behaviour. However, despite his intentions… Even he himself didn’t notice that, when he spoke to No.1, his tone had become so much softer.
‘CRASH —’
No.1 responded to him even more directly — it shovelled up more sand and chucked it at Lin Xi.
Lin Xi: ‘…’
He looked at No.1, not knowing if he should laugh or cry. This was the first time that Lin Xi had ever seen such a vivid and distinct display of emotions on a bug. It was probably due to this that it was difficult for him to keep his anger as he watched No.1 lose his temper.
‘Forget it…’ He muttered quietly. He looked at No.1 again, softened his voice and added to the angry bug, ‘Anyway, thank you for the gift.’
Hearing his slightly conceding response, No.1’s tentacles swayed slightly, above its head. For a moment, Lin Xi even thought that No.1 was going to reconcile with him and ask for his caress again. But when No.1 caught his eyes, it paused again, then turned its head indifferently, showing its back to Lin Xi. It rushed towards the Sunu incense tree, of which was unable to hide its huge size, and hid.
— Obviously, it didn’t intend to forgive Lin Xi just like that.
‘All right.’
Lin Xi looked at its angry back and sighed with a mild headache. However, the next second, he couldn’t help but cover his face with his hands; hidden behind his palms, an uncontrollable smile showed (he didn’t dare directly laugh in front of No.1, for he had a hunch that his smiling would likely make No.1 angrier).
No.1 would probably never be able to hide its emotions, Lin Xi thought. He stared at its beautiful wings, peeking out from behind the Sunu incense tree. Those beautiful, massive wings now looked rather intimidating: the spots dotted on the wings were now flashing desperately, the insides turning an immensely aggressive red and black every few seconds or so. After a while, those spots would turn a gentle blue and green; these two different hues kept changing, perfectly exposing No.1’s complicated thoughts to Lin Xi’s eyes.
Lin Xi sighed. He didn’t continue the stalemate with the little bug; after all, it wouldn’t solve any problems. So, he walked to the other side of the room, opened his personal terminal, and called Ernie, who was in the animals’ lab.
The other party quickly answered his call.
But what made Lin Xi a little puzzled was that Ernie seemed rather flustered when he saw Lin Xi; even when he talked to Lin Xi, he would stutter. But Lin Xi clearly remembered that last time they met, Ernie would nag in front of him, complaining about this and that. This guy wasn’t the kind of researcher who was unable to speak clearly…
Lin Xi pretended to be ignorant and talked to Ernie, but Ernie seemed to be afraid to look directly into Lin Xi’s eyes.
Did he unknowingly offend Ernie?
Lin Xi secretly frowned, but on the surface, their conversation remained calm and friendly.
‘— I don’t want to cause you too much trouble, but, I apologise, I would like to ensure that the large insect tank I requested has indeed been found in the warehouse? For God’s sake, I really need that thing.’
Otherwise, my room is likely to become a pile of metal sheets and foam boards lacking bolt joints and directly collapse. Thanks to the help of a certain little bug who likes to play ‘jailbreak’.
Lin Xi silently swallowed his joke, because in his peripheral vision he happened to catch a glimpse of the tank in the corner.
No.1, who had seemed so angry just a few minutes ago, had come out from behind the Sunu fragrant wood again at some point. Its tentacles trembled carefully above its head, and its eyes were staring directly in the direction of Lin Xi. There was no doubt that this little bug was listening carefully to his conversation with Ernie.
Lin Xi even had a strange illusion: he felt that No.1 seemed to be carefully looking at Ernie’s projection in the communicator.
On the communication terminal’s side, Ernie looked rather relieved after hearing Lin Xi’s question.
‘God, what are you talking about…’ He muttered quietly, his shoulders relaxing, ‘Everything is ready, the tank has been arranged; I was planning to contact you.’
Lin Xi secretly cursed in his heart,
You don’t look like you want to contact me.
‘…I’ll have the insect tank transported over right away, the location is your greenhouse, right?’ Ernie said.
‘Of course, I think there is only one place in the entire spacecraft that can accommodate the Star Butterfly’s breeding tank.’ Lin Xi said calmly.
Now that he had heard his satisfactory answer, Lin Xi had no intention of investigating the reason for Ernie’s evasive appearance. Lin Xi never liked to think too much; after all, he already had enough troubles in his life now.
After hearing Ernie’s assurance that the large insect breeding tank would be installed in his greenhouse this afternoon, Lin Xi cut off the conversation very bluntly.
At this time, there was a very slight rustling sound behind him, which should be the sound of No.1 moving quickly. When Lin Xi turned around, No.1 had already returned to its previous hiding position, as if it had never crawled out from behind the Sunu incense tree and eavesdropped on the conversation between Lin Xi and Ernie.
This look of it had Lin Xi feeling a little humour.
He said cheerfully to the little bug, ‘You’ll have a new home soon; it’s something to celebrate. Don’t be so angry anymore.’
Recalling it in hindsight, Lin Xi felt that perhaps he shouldn’t have said those words, for since the landing on this wretched planet, his life had continuously gone contrary to his wishes.
After the insect breeding tank was installed, Lin XI couldn’t wait to bring No.1 to its new home.
This sort of breeding tank was customised for the many super-sized insects on Sunu; it was much larger than Lin Xi expected. When placed in the centre of Lin Xi’s greenhouse, it looked almost identical to a small glass house, without a single difference.
If Lin Xi wanted, he could even put a hammock in it and get a good night’s sleep. Of course, he didn’t have such a strange hobby.
Lin Xi carefully inspected the installed insect culture tank, and then began his unusually busy work. He placed many enrichment materials in the culture tank — from Sunu shrubs, grass, thick and cool sand.
When he finally finished arranging the layout, he wiped off his sweat, panting. No.1’s glass tank was rather presentable. Those dense Sunu plants gloomily stretched their branches and leaves in the growing channels{*}; No.1 could freely perform its fascinating dances in the specially provided empty space, or it can drill between the branches and leaves. The plants could perfectly cover its body.
{*Not quite sure how to translate this. 栽培槽}
And if it wanted to rebuild its nest, it no longer had to worry that too-thin branches would make the foundation of the nest unstable and turn directly to the ground.
Of course, it was not just this that made Lin Xi of most satisfaction — when he checked the insect breeding tank’s ventilation system, it was of rather professional sealation measures. He was quite satisfied with those facilities, for their existence meant that next time, Lin Xi would no longer have to worry about a certain little thing that loved jailbreaking in and out of the incubating tank, removing the metal parts of a device he didn’t know about to put in his lair.
Even No.1 itself seemed very satisfied with the new home Lin Xi had prepared for it at the beginning — Lin Xi didn’t not notice that when he was busy, No.1 had been quietly hiding behind the Sunu fragrant wood and observing his every move.
However, when Lin Xi completed his arrangement, then carefully coaxed No.1 to move to the nest, for some reason incomprehensible to humans, No.1 stubbornly ignored Lin Xi’s attitude… probably to show its anger to this human.
However, its stubbornness only lasted for a short period of time. After entering the new cultivation tank, perhaps out of its innate nature, No.1 couldn’t wait to dance in more ample space for a while.
Lin Xi also brought its previous nest over, and together with the previous thin Sunu incense tree branch, tied it to the shrubs in the culture tank. Then, he took the collection pieces out from his pocket, and under the gaze of those ruby-like eyes, he one-by-one put the metal parts into its nest.
Of course, at the end, Lin Xi also added some new little things for No.1 — it wasn’t a metallic machine part, but a cufflink that he had left unused due to its excessive gorgeousness. It was probably a gift given to him by a friend long ago. Because it didn’t conform to Lin Xi’s aesthetics, he has been thrown into a corner at will. Lin Xi doesn’t even know why he brought it unboard the Helios, but it now finally had a use.
As soon as Lin Xi saw this cuff, he felt that this kind of shiny thing, inlaid with precious stones, would probably be very pleasing to No.1.He didn’t hesitate at all; he took it out and placed it under the Star Butterfly’s nest.
Sure enough, as soon as he saw the cuff, No.1 shook his wings and tentacles uncontrollably.
On the surface, it still refused to interact with Lin Xi, but its body involuntarily slowly crawled a few steps into the nest.
Then it stopped there, motionless.
Lin Xi looked at it for a moment, and then suddenly realised that something was wrong.
He pursed his lips tightly (lest he really laughed) and took a step back, pretending not to notice No.1 and its precious lair.
Sure enough, once Lin Xi moved away a little, No.1 quickly rushed into the nest. It shook its wings, circled around the cuffs several times, and then kept rubbing the shiny gems on the cuffs with its forelimbs.
Whether it’s the constantly shaking tentacles or the pair of fast-flashing red eyes, it could be seen that No.1 was in a good mood.
Lin Xi turned his head slightly and observed the lively appearance of No.1 out of his peripheral vision. He finally smiled, standing there quietly, and watched it for a while.
In fact, if it could continue like this, the relationship between him and No.1 could probably be connected again.
But God didn’t seem willing to let Lin Xi live as easily as he expected —
‘Dr. Lin Xi? Do you have time? If I can… can I go to you?’
Someone had initiated a call to Lin Xi and pressed for a visit request.
Lin Xi looked at the man’s ID in surprise.
‘Mark?’
He recognized the particularly young boy, and a ray of doubt flashed in his heart.
Since that time in the medical room, when in front of those team members, he forcibly killed the two team members who were parasitized by insects, the originally harmonious relationship between him and the exploration team had deteriorated sharply (of course, Lin Xi could be sure that Sorian’s mean and vicious attitude also had a lot of influence on the group of young lads). Under such circumstances, Mark, an exploration team member, who would take the initiative to come to him, was very unusual indeed.
After a brief hesitation, Lin Xi agreed to Mark’s visit.
And that person quickly knocked on the door of the greenhouse, as if he had been waiting for Lin Xi’s response.
Lin Xi walked out of the culture tank and locked the huge glass box. No.1 followed him a short distance, but then was blocked behind the falling glass curtain wall.
It seemed a little disbelieving. It flapped its wings heavily and circled in mid-air for a while, then fell on the glass. The colour on the wings began to change drastically again. It’s just that No.1’s small actions weren’t noticed by Lin Xi, whose back faced him. By the time Lin Xi took Mark back into the greenhouse, No.1 had quickly rushed back into the dense bushes, letting the lush shade of the trees block his figure.
‘Wow, so this is your greenhouse. It looks really fancy —’
Mark followed Lin Xi into the greenhouse. He looked full of thoughts; the conversation and smooth talk that he usually was quite good at had now turned into dry pleasantries.
Lin Xi turned his head and said to Mark, ‘Yes, if the special Sunu plants here can reach Earth smoothly, they can participate directly in auction. Each can be said to be priceless.’
He then smiled and watched Mark quickly shrank his hand back from a snake tree.
Lin Xi secretly observed the young boy: Mark, just like his colleagues, had lost a lot of weight during this period of time, and his eyes were also inlaid with iconic dark circles. But what made Lin Xi happy was that his pupils still at least had the appearance of a human’s, and they looked… quite normal.
Lin Xi felt much more relaxed when he found that there was a normal person like Mark among the exploration team members.
The only thing that made Lin Xi feel a little concerned was the smell of alcohol on Mark’s body. That smell of wine, unable to be hidden by cologne, clearly told others that he had drunk before coming to Lin Xi.
If it weren’t for the spacecraft’s accident, just drinking alone would be enough to make Mark die along with all his gold coins — this was a serious violation.
However, the present was different from the past. With the degradation of Taran’s illness and the lengthening time the ship spent stranded, especially after that crazy bug attack, order on the ship had subtly loosened and changed.
Taking the tremendous pressure the exploration team suffered during this period of time into special account, most people turned a blind eye to this kind of violation. As long as they didn’t turn themselves into drunk dogs during missions, this sort of thing was nothing.
Lin Xi thought for a while, and then felt relieved.
‘So, what’s the matter?’ He asked Mark directly, ‘If it weren’t for any special circumstances, I don’t think your companions would want to see you come to me.’
‘Ah, I…’
Mark opened his mouth, and he looked at Lin Xi blankly. Obviously, the effect of alcohol made him much duller than usual.
‘I just wanted to remind you.’
After a long time, Mark said to Lin Xi as if he had finally found his tongue, ‘Remind?’
Mark muttered vaguely, ‘Yes, actually I shouldn’t have come, but I know you are a good person, and you should know…’
Lin Xi could see that he was still hesitating about what he would say next.
‘What do you know?’
Lin Xi put his hands around his chest and continued to ask as calmly as possible.
‘This isn’t very good news.’ Mark’s eyes flickered, and his attitude became more and more secretive.
Lin Xi raised his brows, and Mark’s attitude seemed a bit familiar — ah, right, just this morning, when he was talking to Ernie, the latter seemed to have the same flinch.
‘You can just say it, I don’t think I’m fragile enough to pass out when hearing bad news.’
Lin Xi’s face gradually became more gloomy. Remembering Ernie’s previous strangeness, Lin Xi already had some bad premonitions in his heart, and Mark’s attitude before him made him even more irritable.
‘It’s about the death of John Bronson.’ Finally, Mark said to Lin Xi with difficulty, ‘I just came to you to say… that… in fact, reasonable people, or people who saw the scene, know that it is by no means something that humans can do. I really don’t understand why some people think you did it…’ Halfway through the conversation, Mark’s voice suddenly stopped abruptly.
Lin Xi could feel his searching gaze falling on his face.
Then that incredible emotion flashed across Mark’s eyes.
He looked surprised and asked, ‘Wait, you don’t know?’
Lin Xi was already numb at this time.
‘Do you mean that I don’t know that John Bronson is dead, or do you mean that someone thinks I was responsible for his death?’ He asked. ‘By the way, you’re right, I didn’t even know.’
Now that it happened, it seemed that describing Lin Xi’s mood with ‘shock’ was rather cliche. But when he learned that the lunatic who’d slashed at him with an axe had died in his cell overnight, he still felt an almost illusory sense of absurdity.
He licked his lips, but found that his tongue was exceptionally dry.
John Bronson is dead?
One knew, he had originally planned to meet John Bronson some time; he was eager to have a good talk with that man.
The words John Bronson shouted when he attacked him were likely just random, crazy words to Bryce or Alyssa, but to him, they were full of troubles and doubts.
Lin Xi wanted to know, more than anyone else, why that old man knew the words ‘Mother of Insects’, and even more so wanted to know why the latter felt that he was that being.
This really didn’t make sense. After all, in the myths, the ‘Mother of Insects’ was an authentic goddess. The records stating that she ‘gave birth to hundreds of millions of children’ could prove this.
‘This matter has spread all over…’ Mark murmured.
He began to explain to Lin Xi, ‘They delivered food to that poor old gentleman this morning, but as soon as they opened the door of the confinement room, everyone was petrified. John died miserably, and… now some people think it might have something to do with you. Moreover, because John had been nagging among those people before, he said you were that something insect…’
‘Mother of Insects.’ Lin Xi corrected.
‘Ah, yes, that’s it, some “Mother of Insects”.’ Mark frowned and muttered, ‘Some people are full of prejudice against you. They think there may be something wrong with you. After all, Liz Chen had too died strangely at the beginning, and Professor Ando’s madness… It’s a bit scary. Sorian said that before their accident, only you had visited them. Oh, by the way, there was also the time they were attacked by alien bugs. Joe and the others were lying in the treatment device. Everyone thought they were just bitten. Only you yelled that there were bugs in their bodies, but those bugs hadn’t even come out of their bodies at that time. Just how did you know…?’
Mark’s voice gradually became smaller under Lin Xi’s gaze, and soon, a suffocating silence slowly fell between the two of them.
Although Mark has been trying his best to emphasise that the exploration team’s speculation about him was nothing more than nonsense. One could hear it just by listening to the questions he kept repeating; in fact, Mark himself believed it a little, deep in his heart.
But of course Lin Xi would not blame him for his unscrupulous words. After all, Mark looked drunk, and he kept rubbing his temples. For a few seconds, his eyes looked like those of his companions who had begun to become wrong, dark and scattered.
Lin Xi couldn’t help but tighten his nerves.
Alcohol, it’s only because of the alcohol that Mark is so strange.
That little voice in his heart, who wished to escape all this, tried to calm his emotions.
‘Ah, yes, sorry!’
After a while, Mark suddenly reacted, and he raised his voice in a panic.
‘I didn’t mean that —’
‘I know.’
Lin Xi interrupted him, but soon he realised that his voice was very cold and hard.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean anything else, I just had a bit of a mess in my head. Anyway, thank you for telling me about it,’ he said to Mark.
Then he reluctantly squeezed out a stiff smile for Mark.
‘You’re, you’re welcome. I hoped to clarify something for you, but no one was willing to listen to me, so I… I could only remind you that if you meet those exploration team members at this time, it is best to avoid being alone with them. No one knows what they heard from those two people…’
At the beginning of this passage, the young man still seemed normal, but gradually, gradually, his gaze became unfocused.
‘I know you, you are definitely a very good person… you… You smell so good, doctor… Did you use any special cologne? This smell{*} is simply so fascinating{*}.’
{*Has implications of ‘flavour’ or ‘taste’.}
{*Has implications of ‘enchantment’, ‘charm’, or ‘temping’.}
‘Mark?’
When Lin Xi returned from his thoughts, he realised that Mark had almost pressed right to his body.
Moreover, the latter’s gaze was intoxicated; his breathing was also very heavy, and there was an abnormal red flush on his unusually thin face.
‘Mark!’
Lin Xi was taken aback. When did Mark lean over? Why didn’t he make the slightest sound?
‘I have never smelled such a wonderful scent… This scent… Haa… Haa…’
Mark kept muttering, repeating sentences, and Lin Xi wondered if he could really hear his yelling.
He glanced behind him with the remaining light. Thankfully, it wasn’t far from the greenhouse’s tool table.
‘You’d better stay away from me!’ Lin Xi yelled at Mark.
At the same time, he instinctively wanted to retreat, and hide away from this man who was so wrong. But Mark showed a kind of speed that was so weird that it seemed inhuman.
As soon as Lin Xi wanted to step back, he suddenly stretched out his hands and grabbed Lin Xi’s shoulders vigorously. Not only that, he simply put his whole face towards Lin Xi’s neck.，
‘I don’t want to offend you… but the scent{*}is really… crazy…’
{*Again, it has connotations of ‘taste’ or ‘flavour’.}
Mark’s gasping became heavier and thicker, and Lin Xi could even smell the scent coming out of his mouth.
It wasn’t just the smell of wine.
It was hidden under the smell of wine, another strange scent, mixed with weird sweetness and fishy reek. That scent invoked a little familiarity in Lin Xi, but after thinking about it carefully, he can’t figure out where this familiarity came from.
‘I warn you one last time, Mark, you’d better get your fucking hands off me.’
Lin Xi’s body tightened, and his voice became extremely cold.
His hand stretched out behind him — there were scissors for pruning on the tool table. There were also pesticides that he hasn’t used before, and Lin Xi can guarantee that no matter which one is, he can teach Mark enough of a lesson.
However, just when Lin Xi was ready for the worst, Mark suddenly screamed.
He suddenly jumped away from Lin Xi’s side —
‘It hurts!Ah ah —’
He kept shaking his fingers and called out in pain.
A bug — he didn’t know when it crawled onto his hand — had bitten him heavily, and now most of Mark’s palms were swollen.
This was rather tragic, but it was also very lucky.
Because after crying out in pain, Mark seemed to return back to normal.
After a while, Mark said, ‘I’m sorry… I’m really sorry… I drank a little too much today. After all, everyone’s having a hard time during this time. I can’t control it, and that kind of wine is too potent.’
Having recovered his sanity, he apologised to Lin Xi while gasping for air.
His apology seemed very sincere.
Lin Xi kept a certain distance from him and threw a box of medical foam over from a distance.
He suggested stiffly, ‘You’d better go and have a check with Bryce,’ tactfully issuing an expulsion order.
‘These bugs are not toxic in terms of species… But your hands are a bit too swollen. I don’t know if it’s because they’ve eaten too many pesticides during this period of time or they simply mutated during the jump.’
Mark looked at Lin Xi tragically and tried to save the situation, ‘I’m really sorry, doctor, I didn’t mean it, I… I just didn’t have control, you know, I have been to you…’
‘You should go, Mark.’
Lin Xi said to him expressionlessly.
Mark looked extremely frustrated, and he took a step in Lin Xi’s direction a little unwillingly, as if he wanted to say something more.
But at this moment, he suddenly opened his eyes wide, frozen into place with horror.
‘What, what… what… is that thing…’
He raised his hand and pointed tremblingly behind Lin Xi.
Lin Xi turned his head, only to find that — he didn’t know when — No.1 had already crawled out of the bush where it was hiding.
Right this moment, it was tightly stuck to the curtain-like wall of the glass tank.
Its wings were fully extended, hanging there like a tapestry. However, judging from the markings on its wings, it was probably in a very bad mood at this time.
No.1’s red eyes stared straight at Mark, showing unusually obvious hostility.
Lin Xi frowned and looked at it, and then at Mark. The disgust for Mark that filled his heart at first was now replaced by confusion.
‘This is the Star Butterfly,’ Lin Xi replied briefly.
Mark looked very afraid of No.1, but it was because of this that Lin Xi was so confused.
Well, he had to admit that the angry No.1 certainly didn’t look its best, but Mark behaved as though he had seen some immensely terrifying monster.
This made Lin Xi more and more upset.
‘The people in the animal laboratory are too busy, so I’ll be taking care of it now. By the way, although he is only a youngling now, it’s probably more valuable than all the plants you can see in this greenhouse combined.’
‘Yes, right… Oh, yes, Star Butterflies, I heard about it, humans found a way to hatch the sacred relics of the Sunu people.’
It was probably Lin Xi’s attitude that affected Mark. He looked calmer than before, but when he saw No.1, his face was still very ugly.
‘It’s amazing… it’s… it’s really amazing.’ Mark repeated blankly, ‘I have seen it in the illustrated book before, but I really didn’t expect the Star Butterfly to look like this in reality…’
‘Mark, look at your hand. I really think you should go to the medical room —’ Lin Xi pointed to Mark’s hand. The young man’s palm was completely swollen, and now his hand was like a shiny fuchsia pudding ball with five short sausages stuck in it.
Lin Xi didn’t have the patience to continue the discussion with Mark. He still remembered the strangeness that the latter had shown before.
Even if Mark used his drunkenness as an excuse, just staying in the same space with this person was enough to make Lin Xi uncomfortable.
Mark finally left Lin Xi’s greenhouse quickly, leaving only a frightened back.
Lin Xi frowned involuntarily as he looked at his distant figure.
It seems…
He couldn’t help but think:
Something didn’t seem right.
Out of a strange sense of unease, Lin Xi still sent a text message to Bryce, asking him to check Mark’s physical condition. However, Bryce, who usually always responded to messages quickly, did not respond to him for a long while this time.
Because Bryce was now outside John Bronson’s confinement cell at this moment, and the difficult situation he was facing made it difficult for him to notice the message that belonged to Lin Xi on the personal terminal right in the first place.
As aforementioned, the brig at the bottom of the spacecraft was actually a prison used to temporarily imprison crew members who had made major mistakes. It is close to the instrument floor, and the pipeline is also ageing quite badly. Both the air and the noise are very bad. Usually, except for robots and some fixed-point inspectors, almost no-one came down there.
It’s just that now it can be said to be extremely ‘lively’ compared to before.
The narrow, dark corridor was almost clogged by security personnel and uneasy onlookers.
Several management members stood a little further away from the brig. They looked at the scene in front of them with heavy expressions, and they already secretly felt that something was wrong in their hearts.
They had been stranded on this unknown planet for too long, and the confidence of the crew was disappearing. It was at this time that Ando and his wife died tragically in such a terrible manner; now it was John Bronson’s turn, the old man who had already made a big storm before.
Alyssa stood at the end of the crowd in a uniform, her face as pale as paper.
She maintained a posture of looking ahead, her lips moving slightly. She said to the man beside her, in a voice so quiet that was almost purely lip-language, ‘Actually, I shouldn’t have allowed you to come. You heard those rumours…’
Bryce’s face was as dark as deep water, but he didn’t show any panic. He took out latex gloves from his pocket and put them on his hands.
‘Of course I heard those ridiculous rumours… Maybe staying in a stressful and enclosed space for a long time will indeed reduce human IQ, how else would this sort of ridiculous rumour spread? By the way, my identity on this ship is not just Lin Xi’s brother, I am also the medical officer of the Helios.’ Bryce said coldly.
He crossed the crowd and walked towards the brig, Alyssa following him.
Almost at the same time as Bryce appeared, everyone’s eyes fell on his face.
That kind of inquiry and doubt was almost turned tangible, but Bryce seemed unmoved.
Soon, Bryce and Alyssa came to the brig where John Bronson died.
Bryce only glanced into the confinement room, then turned his head and whispered to Alyssa, ‘You can go back.’
‘Come on, I’m not that weak.’ Alyssa replied.
She also looked into the confinement room, and then her already unusually pale face instantly lost blood.
‘Oh my God…’ She murmured.
Neither Bryce nor Alyssa were flowers that grew in greenhouses.
In fact, as long as one had been in space long enough (long enough to be promoted to the spacecraft’s top medical officer and the deputy captain), then it was impossible for one not to have seen all kinds of accident scenes.
If one wished to survive in space, a qualified crew must possess exceptionally strong nerves.
It was just that after seeing John Bronson’s cell, both Bryce and Alyssa felt that their professional attitudes had been challenged.
There is no other reason; it was purely because the tragedy here really exceeded all previous accident scenes, even put together.
John Bronson’s body… No, it should be said, his fragments… had been strewn to the extent it almost smothered the entire cell.
Blood, human secretions, fragments of internal organs, nails and hair left over from being eaten, was scattered randomly on every surface of the room.
What was even more terrifying was that on the walls, floors and ceilings, in addition to these corpse fragments and blood stains, there were countless, clear scratches.
This meant —
‘He was even conscious when he was torn apart.’
The poor old man had suffered all of this while sober.
Thinking of this, Bryce couldn’t help but feel a chill on his back.
He carefully used a pair of tweezers to tear a piece of minced flesh off the wall. He put it in a glass dish in his palm and looked at it carefully in the light.
The details he observed made his face turn worse, even more than before.
Many small wounds had made the facets of this piece of pounded flesh fragmented and mottled.
No matter what Bryce thought, he couldn’t think of any weapon that could create similar traces.
Unless…
Unless it was a bug bite.
There seemed to be a voice in his heart. It spoke coldly.
Bryce shook his head, as if this would throw the thought in his mind directly out.
John Bronson was the cook on the ship before he had gone insane. Even if he had become so scrawny and thin afterwards, his skeleton was still that of a big, sturdy man’s.
How many bugs would it take to gnaw a person like John into this ghostly state overnight?
This kind of speculation is really ridiculous, Bryce said to himself.
After collecting the required corpse samples, he walked quickly towards the door.
He was completely caught in his own contemplation, so he almost bumped into the man at the door.
It was Sorian. He had been carefully observing the interior of the cell at the door, and when he confronted Bryce, his gaze was sharp like knives.
‘The person who should’ve died was clearly your brother,’ Sorian murmured softly to Bryce.
As soon as he heard these words, Bryce’s fist clenched at his side, and he suddenly raised his head and stared at Sorian fiercely.
For a moment, he had almost lost control of his emotions and started a fight with that damn bastard.
But thinking of the increasingly tense atmosphere on the Helios, Bryce still forcibly suppressed his temper.
‘I don’t want to talk to a lunatic,’ Bryce said.
He didn’t intend to get entangled with the other party.
Until Sorian said those words to him…
‘When I was a kid, my father took me to that exhibition. I learned later that John Bronson was also there at the time…’
The author has something to say:
John and Sorian are not father and son, hahaha…
It’s merely that both of them were at the exhibition.
Translator’s Rambles
huhuhu the plot THICKENS
If you appreciate what I do, please consider buying a me a coffee!
AhrihnTranslations 