Xinxiang Base, lower level, do shield control room.
Out of Control, Hydra, Midnight Dad, and Laughing God each stood by the industrial control panel, rotating knobs as guided by their wristwatches to regulate the power fed to the do shield.
According to the text on the 3D map, the frequency of teor falls on planet HD966A is much higher than on Earth.
In addition to gathering oxygen, the do shield also serves to block teors.
"Dun, dun dun, dun dun dun dun."
Laughing God hums continuously, his neck extending and retracting along with the rhythm, like a DJ spinning discs.
"You’re in a good mood?"
Out of Control tried to ignore him but failed, asking, "Aren’t you worried about dying?"
Ordinary mbers of the base who lost their mory had no way to contend with the base’s main control AI.
The worst outco is being forced by the AI to be killed during a ga of hide-and-seek with the Space Alien Species.
The best outco is also being disposed of by the AI, uploaded to a USB drive, and turned into an electronic pet.
"Death is not scary; death is a cool sumr night, allowing people to sleep without worries."
Laughing God casually uttered so nonsensical words of unknown origin, saying lightly: "From the remaining common sense in my mind, a civilization capable of achieving near-light-speed travel should have a very mature consciousness upload technology.
If the Loud Kid wasn’t lying to (assuming robots aren’t skilled or disdainful of lying), I might wake up in a lush new world.
I might even reunite with my Theater Troupe mbers. So why fear death?"
"..." Out of Control was speechless and could only shake his head, saying, "You’re really optimistic."
Laughing God shrugged, "With the sa half cup of water, a pessimist sees only half a cup, but an optimist sees water temperature at 26.5℃, a pH of 6.6, and a volu of 225ml."
Being able to visually perceive the pH, your attention to detail is truly remarkable!
As Out of Control muttered inwardly, a chaotic noise echoed from deep within the ceiling above. It was a mix of cries for help, collision sounds, roller noises, dragging sounds, and the sound of ard hands firing.
It seed the kinetic ammunition from the ard hand had hit so circuit within the wall, causing the do shield control panel to overload and emit sparks.
Midnight Dad paused for a mont, then imdiately dropped his control panel and dashed out the door, pursuing the direction of the fading sounds.
The Space Alien Species can change its body structure, moving through pipes. Considering that these creatures likely wouldn’t shout for help, the noise probably ca from two base personnel holding an engineering hand and an ard hand respectively.
"You two stay here! Continue the repairs!"
Out of Control shouted, not looking back, as he rushed out the door following Midnight Dad, leaving Hydra and Laughing God behind.
The do shield needs to be quickly repaired to defend against potential teor falls.
Otherwise, if everyone manages to kill the Space Alien Species only to be struck by a teor afterward, damaging the base, and everyone holding hands to face extinction,
that would be quite a dark humor.
Out of Control and Midnight Dad dashed into the corridor, followed the thunderous sounds from within the pipes, and stopped abruptly in front of a structure.
It was the embryo storage room, a spacious circular area comparable to the Central Control Hall, with liquid nitrogen tanks neatly placed around the periter.
Each tank stored hundreds of thousands of frozen embryos and fertilized eggs.
And in the middle of the storage room, there were about forty horizontal cylindrical machines, each filled with a semi-transparent suspension liquid and connected to electrode patch cables affixed to biomass bag-like entities.
Midnight Dad felt a strange sense of familiarity wash over him, suddenly realizing that these cylindrical machines are highly complex bioreactors, or rather, artificial wombs.
One of the machines had shattered glass, its suspension liquid spilled everywhere, and the biologically supported system in the shape of a bag subrged in the liquid was missing.
Amid the uncertainty and confusion, the grid on the ceiling vent fell open, dropping three figures from within.
Clad in blue spacesuit was Valkyrie, in yellow spacesuit was Edith, and...a creature about 1.4m tall resembling a human.
It had a large head, no skin or hair, pink muscles exposed to the air, limbs with odd proportions, a monkey tail extending from its sacrum, and a prominently raised belly.
It seed both like the ancient cave paintings of primitive humans and an alien pieced together into a human form using skeletal fossils.
Edith’s hands were bound together by the creature’s elongated tail.
The ard hand in her left arm could not expand, finding no opportunity to fire,
Being dragged by the creature across the ground, towards the array of artificial wombs.
More bizarrely, the creature humd an indistinct lullaby while dragging Edith.
The bizarre scene halted both Midnight Dad and Out of Control, their minds thrown into chaos.
Didn’t Loud Kid say the base only had these alert living individuals? What is this creature?
Thump, thump, thump thump.
Heavy footsteps approached swiftly; Zhongli Mieing ran from the upper to the lower level of Xinxiang Base, standing side by side with Midnight Dad.
Yet the creature seed oblivious to the commotion outside, continuing to drag Edith towards the artificial womb equipnt.
Valkyrie gestured, signaling Zhongli Mieing and the others not to act rashly.
Without a word, she bent down and stealthily approached from behind, picking up the shattered glass pieces on the ground, and fiercely cutting at the tail coiled around Edith.
Rip—
Blood splattered as the creature let out a wretched cry, its previously dazed expression instantly turning to furious rage, lunging at the two.
Valkyrie pulled Edith’s spacesuit life-support backpack, retreating back,
Edith, with all her effort, freed her hands from the severed tail, hastily raising her left arm’s ard hand and pulling the trigger.
Firing a high-speed projectile indoors, the gunshot resonated intensely, even through the attenuation of the spacesuit helt, the noise still inflicted pain upon the eardrums.
The shot hit the creature, blowing apart its upper body along with its spine, the bullet’s montum further denting the wall.
The tallic wall instantly caved in, carving a deep groove along the bullet’s trajectory, damaging the circuits buried in the wall.
The explosion-proof door of the embryo storage room automatically closed, trapping Zhongli Mieing and Midnight Dad inside, Out of Control outside the door, while the lights inside turned off leaving only indistinct red alert lights.
Thankfully, the creature was undoubtedly dead.
Adrenaline still circulating through her system, Edith tremblingly lowered the ard hand, exhaled deeply, looking towards Valkyrie’s rough location, sincerely thanked: "Thank you."
Truthfully, if Edith and Valkyrie swapped roles, she’s unlikely to risk her life for a teammate she’s known only for a few minutes, chasing after a position suspected to be occupied by Space Alien Species.
In the darkness, there was no response, only the fleeting shadow swiftly passing in front, followed by heavy thuds, scraping sounds from the pipes.
With Blood Lion Roar’s previous lesson still fresh, Edith reflexively retreated several steps, once again raising the ard hand.
Just as she was about to pull the trigger, alarms blared across the base, lights switching back to normal brightness—Dir and Su Nisheng had gone to the Central Control Hall on the upper level and pressed the ergency button.
As for Pifu, in a red spacesuit using an engineering hand, chased all the way here, he poked his head below the vent’s grate, observing the room.
The creature was beyond dead, as was Valkyrie.
Her chest had collapsed, her body leaning against the nearly bent liquid nitrogen tank.
Another one dead.
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