CH 7

Alisa complained in a private message that the meeting organized in response to the crisis was a disaster.

When Lin Xi received Talan's urging, he had to bite the bullet and step into the warzone, he realized that Alisa's words weren't credible at all—that girl was about to become a saint in essence. Well, she really over-beautified the situation before.

After hours of swearing and bickering with no progress, all the senior members were exhausted, the air purification system had been turned to maximum gear, and the old air unit sounded like it'll explode at any second. The smell of human sweat, smoke, and alcohol mixed together, the air was very turbid, but what really makes people breathless isn't the bad air, but the tension— anger, bitterness floated in the air, fear and restlessness.

It was precisely because of this that Lin Xi's arrival didn't even attract anyone's attention.

"... This is the place, everyone can see! There's no need to compare with the damned star map. Everyone knows that as192's orbit is completely unstable, its operation entirely irregular. Comparing the star map is meaningless! Ladies and gentlemen, open your eyes and look at those things outside the spaceship! Those disgusting things match the descriptions in the original exploration logs to the period! And only that son of a bitch as192 has them. We have to find a way, or we'll all die here—"

When the door that no longer shone from age slowly moved away, the first thing Lin Mao heard was a high-pitched voice screaming, rapid and hoarse.

Lin Xi looked towards the person speaking. It was John Bronson. At this time, he was waving his arms, dancing, and yelling loudly at the others.

He was the second-oldest member of the crew and this voyage is said to be his last before retiring.

From this point of view, it's somewhat understandable why he's so excited.

Anyone suffering from this kind of accident on their last job before retirement will at least feel very bad.

However— as192? John said that the planet they were now forced to land on was as192?

Lin Xi blinked.

Almost subconsciously, he felt that John might've lost his mind— after all, as192 was famous for its legendary status and extraordinarily mysterious history.

It used to be the dreamland of all people on Earth, it was the match that lit the fire of the era of great exploration.

It's said that it's almost the twin brother of Earth in this vast universe. The density, atmospheric composition, gravity, and even its revolution and rotation orbit were almost exactly the same as Earth. It's a vibrant planet, like the first planet specially created by God for mankind. Their second home.

And, best of all, it's right next to an ancient jump point.

It's so perfect and wonderful, and probably because of this, it turned out to be just an illusory dream in the end.

Three hundred years ago, the Providence carrying 250,000 people slowly flew towards as192. Their transition point then mysteriously disappeared, breaking this dream with unprecedented cruelty and indifference. Those 250,000 people and the most expensive spaceship in human history were never heard from again after sailing into space. The once most powerful country on Earth also completely fell apart because of that huge planetary immigration plan, and the aftermath and wars lasted for decades.

And almost all history books came to a common conclusion, that is, the failure of human beings on planet as192 officially ended the era of great exploration that was once in full swing. Of course, three hundred years is enough to heal all scars, and the pain caused by as192 eventually evolved into a place where breath-taking mysterious background, and fantasy stories in horror movies, and various dark novels take place. At least, for Lin Xi, all this was too divorced from reality. "... John, that statement's too absurd. After the transition failed, we crash-landed directly on a planet that can't be found on the star map, and this planet happens to be as192? This possibility's really too small to consider."

What he said was almost exactly what Lin Xi thought, but after stepping into the cabin, Lin Xi had been observing these tired and anxious crew members, and he didn't miss the expressions of these people.

Likewise, he wouldn't admit his mistake— the crew didn't seem so confident when refuting John's words.

"However, the data sent back by the exploration robots we released..." Sure enough, someone stuttered and continued weakly after a while, "I mean, those values... After comparison, they indeed perfectly match the data of as192 kept in the records."

Everyone looked at that person in unison.

The young crew member burst in cold sweat.

"Of course, there's still some details that don't match up..."

He added in a low voice.

Is there a mistake...

Lin Xi whispered in disbelief in his heart.

John might be talking nonsense because his retirement life has been ruined, but the data clerk that's been hired later was very reliable— Lin Xi has never liked this kind of complete nerd, but he has to admit that those people don't lie or even think of doing so.

...

"I still think this is all absurd, the possibility's very small but who knows if it's a coincidence?"

"Who knows if there's something wrong with your robots, I heard that they were all about the same when forced to land... "

"Even the data can hardly prove as evidence that this is that planet. It's disappeared for so long, and the transition point—"

In the quarrel that started again, someone accidentally mentioned the transition point.

Then, without any warning, everyone fell silent.

They looked at each other with unnatural expressions.

Oh yes, of course, it's very unscientific, but that idea came to everyone's mind almost instantaneously.

The transition point.

Helios landed on this planet precisely because of an unexplainable transition failure. What if it was pulled over by a now gone but previously recorded transition point during a normal transition process? Considering that the transition point that swallowed the Providence disappeared for unknown reasons, its reappearance doesn't seem impossible.

"There's a layer of 'ghost dust' floating in the low-earth orbit of as192. They'll absorb all outgoing communication waves and interfere with the detection system of a spacecraft. The initial exploration team was equipped with a customized communication system so as not to lose contact with Earth..."

Someone weakly said in a very uncertain voice.

"Hey, wait, we have no proof at all that this is the God-damned as192. We don't need to start worrying about shit like ghost dust at a time like this, do we?"

"It's just a possibility..."

A small commotion spread through the shabby cabin like particles stirred up by the vibration of a dry attic.

"Shut the fuck up—"

In the end, it was Talan's tyrannical roar that ended everything.

According to Lin Xi's understanding of this control freak, he should've furiously suppressing the unreasonable speculation, but to Lin Xi's surprise, Talan didn't really refute that statement.

"It doesn't matter whether it's some unknown strange planet or that damn as192, what we should be doing is find a way to fix the spacecraft, and then bring the cargo back to Earth instead of wasting my time here and there." Talan said with his characteristically weird accent, he then turned his eyes to a bearded man who looked completely disconnected from the others. From the surface, the bearded man was just like everyone else on the Helios, an ordinary crew member.

But Lin Xi knew that this guy was actually a professional mercenary sent by the government to guard Helios.

"Sorian, I told you four hours ago that I need 'humans' to go outside and give a good look around. Collect your instruments, your eyes, and your brains. All the information and give me a fucking professional report! Where's the team I need now? What's the stuff they sent back? God, look at this group, they're like a bunch of spineless chicks."

Talan scolded sternly.

Sorian's expression was a little ugly.

"Yes, I've arranged the manpower, but for the outboard activities, there's a little problem..."

"Problem?"

Talan narrowed his eyes dangerously.

Sorian stood up straight, and Lin Xi noticed that the man looked at John Bronson either intentionally or unintentionally.

"It's just some strange rumors, boss. One, maybe two of my boys, are still very young. This is the first time they've encountered such a thing on a spaceship, so they're a little easily influenced."

The man's bushy beard extending to his chest blocked his expression, however, the way he looked at John couldn't be called friendly.

"Your people have been muttering outside my crew's cabin, I don't think you'd wanna to know the details."

He shrugged and whispered, with a professional mercenary's glibness.

Without further ado, Talan immediately realized what had happened.

"Bronson?"

He looked at the excited old man.

"What did you say?"

Talan asked gloomily, his eyes horrifying.

At this moment, Lin Xi felt a little thankful that the person he was staring at wasn't himself.

"The truth."

John Bronson also flinched under such a gaze, but he still muttered softly.

Talan's facial muscles twitched.

Lin Xi saw that his hands on the table were exerting force, it was obvious that Talan's anger was rising.

"What truth, what do you know?" The coldness in Talan's tone became more serious, "... You're just a cook, what do you know?" In the last sentence, Talan didn't hide any of his contempt.

Yes, John Bronson, the most senior chef in charge, was responsible for feeding the crew members who weren't cryogenically hibernated so they wouldn't go crazy from the nasty-tasting canned food during the two-year flight.

However, no one expected that such a rhetorical question would inexplicably touch John's nerves.

"The truth— Damn it— I'm telling the truth—"

John Bronson suddenly stood up, and he yelled back at Talan.

"You think you're hiding it well but I know everything, Taran Ida, you damned alien bastard, you're just as crazy as those bugs, you want to sacrifice us, right! You and I have long known that this is as192, the cursed place, the devil's lair, you want to sacrifice us to the devil, you want to kill us all, so you brought us here—"

The old man's voice was near roaring by the end, his face flushed red, the veins of his forehead popping out, his eyes bloodshot.

He looked completely out of it, or rather, insane.

And the words he yelled, although everyone could tell that they were just figments of his imagination from extreme fear or frustration, but coupled with his extremely frightened and frantic demeanor, those scream actually arose an unbearable, indescribable feeling of doubt.

But Talan just looked on, as if unmoved.

He stared at John in disgust, his lips curled in disdain.

"Alisa, find a way to deal with this guy."

He didn't even say a word to John but turned to look at Alisa.

Alisa's face was stiff (even desperate), but she quickly managed to get the out-of-control old John out of the conference room first.

Of course, that "solution" was hardly friendly, given John's overly agitated mood.

"... This place will kill us, and the devil will kill us, just like how they killed those 250,000 people back then. If we don't do anything, we'll die too! We'll die!"

While being forcibly dragged out by an armed robot, Old John's desperate cries echoed in the depths of the corridor for a long time.

_____

PastTimer: I cheated, I charged my phone. Providence oh my gosh that brought me so much hype, you guys have no idea how much I loved that arc! Providence is such a cool name, I'll name my first born Providence frf