CH 3

But then again, even when Talan didn't show anything wrong with him, the relationship between Lin Xi and him was quite bad.

As for this "scientific research project", this tall, thin, pale man showed a paranoia and desire for control that normal people couldn't understand.

Lin Xi had no doubts that, if possible, Taran would've numbered every single plastic bolt on the Helios, counting them back and forth every night.

However, in front of such a captain, Lin Xi couldn't be as "obedient and meek" as the well-trained professional crew members of Helios. In fact, even in the Earth-Moon Union University, Lin Xi was infamous for being free and unrestrained, otherwise thar bald dean wouldn't have been so eager to drive him out of the university and even Earth.

Taran simply hated Lin Xi, if it weren't for the fact that the goods the Earthlings scavenged from Sunu planet this time contained dozens of rather delicate Sunu plants, and the cute little things had to be handled professionally ( "Ha, that's right, it's me!"——Lin Xi) to be take care by him, Lin Xi would've probably been fixed by Talan long before the voyage started.

However, considering that Bryce Drake was his brother and also the only medical professional in Helios, the conflict between Taran and Lin Xi was suppressed within a controllable range. In the later part of the voyage, as Talan's paranoia increased, Lin Xi also spent more time in the nursery to avoid Talan.

Lin Xi originally thought that the days when he and Ta Lan hated each other would soon be over, but looking at this current situation, his expectations were visibly dashed to the naked eye.

Taran was still looking at him with that hideous expression.

"Captain..."

Bryce saw Taran's sharp and strange gaze towards Lin Xi, and couldn't help but whisper. He took a step forward, intentionally or unintentionally, and blocked Lin Xi.

"Dr. Lin Xi, you look fine."

Taran finally spoke quietly, as if he didn't see Bryce at all, his attention was on Lin Xi from beginning to end.

"The sequelae of the concussion doesn't seem to have caused you any trouble. I don't think this had anything to do with Dr. Bryce? I heard that he brought a few extra medicines on board... because he had a fragile and delicate scholar brother, oh, yes, his brother's said to have particularly severe space sickness."

Taran began whispering strangely.

Lin Xi's space sickness was indeed very serious. In these past two years, if it weren't for the potions that Bryce prepared for him in advance, he would probably be riddled with endless nightmares and auditory hallucinations every night.

Besides the broken sleeping cabin, Bryce injected Lin Xi with the last shot.

It's obviously a very normal thing, but when said by Talan, it has a different kind of weird meaning.

Both Alisa and Bryce frowned instinctively.

"Those are approved—"

"I just heard you're worried about those goods in the warehouse."

Before Bryce tried to explain, Lin Xi stepped forward.

"Heh..."

Sure enough, a smile appeared on Talan's mouth when he heard Lin Xi's response.

This shitty man really did it on purpose, Lin Xi thought silently, he put his hand behind his back, and raised his middle finger at Talan.

"Yes, I'm worried, very, very worried," Talan whispered softly. He stretched out a hand and pressed it on his chest, his weird and hostile eyes shifted away, sweeping towards Alisa's face who had confronted him before, "However, some people have been very worried about the condition of the crew, especially the sequelae of the transition and interrupted sleep. However, Dr. Lin Xi doesn't seem to have such troubles."

However, today's different.

This wasn't a dull, smooth, boring, normal flight, now it was the shitstorm after a jump fails. The forced landing and can't find your own coordinates- at this time, Lin Xi didn't want Bryce and Alisa to waste any more of their precious energy dealing with Taran, or mediating his secret battle with this madman.

So Lin Xi took over the task sent by Talan quite directly.

Of course, Bryce and Alisa resisted in every possible way. However, just like what Lin Xi worried about, when you have a spaceship that fails to make a transition and has to be forcibly landed on an unknown planet, with a group of people in extremely bad conditions, a not very good crew and an exceptionally unreasonable captain, then many of your worries and resistances can only be vented afterwards.

Ten minutes later, Lin Xi was already standing at the entrance to the lower warehouse. He got a piece of light exoskeleton armor as equipment for exploring the lower warehouse.

This piece of armor is thick, extremely flexible and equipped with an independent survival system, it's enough for Lin Xi to wear directly for extra space activities. The only problem is that it's somewhat too large for the interior of a spacecraft like the Helios.

With great reluctance, Lin Xi allowed himself to manipulate into light armor and squeezed down the dimly lit lower space from the gateway.

"... Because of the impact, we've completely lost power and communication support from floors b-1 to c-12. I think the system settings must've been struck during the severe vibration— Hello, Lin Xi, no need worry about that guy Taran, just know that your safety is always the most important thing."

Alisa's soft voice came from the other end of the communication system.

Lin Xi inserted a mechanical claw into the wall of the ventilation duct, slowly walking around a pile of deformed support structure fragments.

He was slowly descending.

Even the emergency lights didn't work, the place was as dark as the bottom of the sea.

"Of course, but if it's for you, I'm willing to work hard to fix those damn system settings." Manipulating the light armor made Lin Xi involuntarily start to pant, he muttered to Alisa.

Lin Xi believed that his sweat must've completely soaked his one-piece inner lining.

He had to hypnotize himself, the clumsy metal set outside his body more or less represented Bryce's love so he shouldn't curse directly.

"I know you're cursing me, darling."

Just as that thought flashed through Lin Xi's mind, Bryce's voice also transmitted over.

"Just in case, no one knows if the cargo storage facility is connected to power. If the emergency equipment goes down, there'll be problems with sealing and isolation. I don't want you to risk contact with something that shouldn't be contacted..."

Even through a speaker, Bryce was superbly nagging.

Lin Xi's feet was already stepping on solid ground, the screen inside the armor showed that he's arrived at his location, the warehouse on the first floor.

Relying on the dark environment, Lin Xi rolled his eyes heartily.

"Please, those are just some special Sunu products. When we were young, we went to that Sunu Exhibition several times. I even stroked those beautiful Sunu star butterflies with my own hands... oh, yes, I remember. At that time, you were so jealous you almost cried in the museum... If those Sunu gadgets really have that alien virus that you think of, you and I would've been dead long ago—"

"Hey, Bryce, are you still listening?"

There was an unpleasant hiss from the communicator. Lin Xi squinted at the screen, the communication symbol had changed from lovely green to red.

"Fuck it—"

Lin Xi cursed.

He knew that these old antiques left over from the era of great exploration were prone to failures, of either one kind or another...

However, apart from his somewhat bad mood, Lin Xi's actions weren't affected by this sudden interruption of communication.

He quickly checked the warehouse between c12 and b-7.

The closer to the lower warehouse, the more serious the damage. The only good news is that the goods that Lin Xi inspected were basically all in good condition—

Except for the valuables storage area ​​b-3.

That's right, it was the location of the fossil that made Taran extra irritable and sensitive.

Lin Xi skillfully used the armored mechanical arm to lift a thick steel plate, and then with the help of searchlights, he clearly surveyed the situation in area B-3.

"Oh, this is really bad."

Lin Xi sighed, feeling that his headache getting worse.

The hard and solid protective layer of the valuables storage area had a counterproductive effect in this accident. Those heavy alloys directly crushed the storage container wrapped in the fossil sculpture during the squeeze caused by the forced landing.

It's like letting a three year old run into a crystal craft supply store to play hide and seek, with shards of hard composite resin and glue all over the place.

And Sunu's sacred sculpture has slipped out of the container and fell on the wet ground.

Under the searchlight's strong light, it showed a strange bluish-white color.

This sculpture had been carved directly from fossils, but anyone could see that the Sunu craftsmen didn't leave too many carving marks on it, it still retains the fossils shape to a large extent. In its original appearance, it was a group of irregularly shaped and smooth pupae.

Only at the very top of the fossil, were countless intricate and detailed lines carved, somehwhat looking a bit like the face of a human dying. Lin Xi took a step forward, only to realize that the so-called "face" was just an illusion under the light.

The thing was actually more like the mouthparts of some kind of extraordinarily large insect, and Lin Xi could even see the sharp and ferocious teeth and the elongated tongue.

"This thing's disgusting."

Even though he knew that communication had been cut off long ago, after seeing the fossil sculpture clearly, Lin Xi still muttered to himself involuntarily. Considering that its innermost part still retains biological activity, and can also secrete the so called "ground milk", Lin Xi felt more and more that what he's facing was the corpse of some kind of animal rather than a fossil.

It looked... almost as if it would start wriggling again the next second.

_____

PastTimer: It's pretty slow on the start