Chapter 583

The incident occurred suddenly; everyone present was stunned. Li Cheng stepped back half a step, while Midnight Dad retreated all the way to the door and roared: "Space Alien! These two are Space Aliens!"

Midnight Dad's finger pointed at Su Nisheng and Zhongli Mieming. When the power switch had been pulled, the ten people had stood in a circle, keeping distance from one another.

Midnight Dad was farthest from Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao; the positioning around Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao was: Uncontrolled — Zhongli Mieming — Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao — Su Nisheng — Master Pi Fu.

"Don't shout!"

Uncontrolled growled, waving his hand to signal everyone to stay put, then sprinted to the wall to examine Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao's corpse.

As everyone had previously speculated during idle chatter, the spacesuit concealed a second layer of tight-fitting clothing. Uncontrolled reached out, pinched the fabric, and found Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao's two ribs, spinal bone, sacrum, and femur severely fractured; internal organs were likely crushed into pulp, held together only by the tight-fitting suit.

"A heavy blow to the abdomen — one strike, fatal."

Uncontrolled withdrew his hand, drew a stunned breath, and spoke rapidly: "From the moment the lights turned on to when we heard the impact, roughly 0.8 seconds passed."

"We had been in total darkness, with our rod cells highly active. The sudden bright light instantly bleached rhodopsin within those rod cells," causing glare and rapid pupil constriction.

Vision loss lasted about two to three seconds before vision returned.

In other words, the Space Alien hidden among us launched an attack on Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao in 0.8 seconds, killed him, returned to his original position, and feigned the same innocent expression of someone just regaining sight."

"Therefore, Zhongli Mieming and Su Nisheng, who stood closest to Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao, are the prime suspects."

Laughing God nodded, turning to the two: "Do you two have anything to explain?"

Su Nisheng stood motionless. Zhongli Mieming tilted his head and said calmly: "Nothing to explain. Framing."

Dir, standing beside Zhongli Mieming, stepped back several paces warily and asked in a childish female voice: "What do you mean, you won't admit it?"

"A healthy adult's ribs require about 3,300 newtons of instantaneous impact force to fracture."

"To smash a human body this badly through the protective layer of a spacesuit, you'd need at least tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of joules of kinetic energy,"

Zhongli Mieming said calmly and firmly: "In other words, a Space Alien is equivalent to an engineering machine compressed into a human form."

Li Cheng touched his helmet's chin guard: "So, stronger than Tang Long, the underground boxing champion, weaker than Wang Chao, who has reached the Realm of Seeing the Divine and Unbreakable, and evenly matched with Captain America."

Valkyrie scratched her head: "I only know Captain America. Who are the other two?"

"I don't know either — my memories are incomplete,"

Li Cheng shrugged: "Probably ancient martial arts descendants."

Zhongli Mieming continued undeterred: "Strength is nearly equivalent to speed. We stood in a circle with a diameter of about ten meters. With a Space Alien's strength, it could easily cover ten meters in 0.8 seconds, kick Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao to death, then leap lightly back to its original spot, masking its landing sound with the echoing crash of Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao hitting the wall."

"The spacesuit would block any wind noise."

"Thus, not just me and Su Nisheng — everyone here is a potential suspect."

Midnight Dad laughed bitterly with rage: "Fine, fine, now you're blaming me too?"

"Not shifting blame — just logical deduction."

Zhongli Mieming said calmly: "First, Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao never revealed what type of tool-hand his left hand held — whether it was the weapon most threatening to a Space Alien."

"Second, if it were really me and Su Nisheng, why would we be so stupid as to attack Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao, who stood right beside us? We'd target someone farther away."

"To minimize our own exposure."

"Third, one sheep is herded, two sheep are herded too. If I were the Space Alien, and determined to kill as many human crew members as quickly as possible, why not seize this chance to kill two or even three at once? The blurred vision lasts two or three seconds, doesn't it?"

Zhongli Mieming's reasoning was sound; even Midnight Dad tapped his finger thoughtfully.

"Still problematic."

Uncontrolled paused, then shook his head: "Deliberately making yourself a suspect, then using evidence to clear yourself to increase credibility — that's the classic trick of a suspect in a detective novel."

"If you were the Space Alien, after killing Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao on your left, you couldn't kill Dir on your right — that would be too obvious."

"If you were going to kill a second person, you'd target Su Nisheng on Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao's left."

"But Su Nisheng is alive — meaning the probability that either you or Su Nisheng is the Space Alien remains higher than for anyone else."

"I can't refute that."

Zhongli Mieming raised his hands helplessly: "But I must clarify: the Space Alien's goal is to plant seeds of mutual suspicion among us, so it — or they — can slip through the chaos."

"From now on, keep a close watch on me and Su Nisheng. If we make any suspicious move, feel free to execute us."

59

""

No one answered. The air grew heavy as pooled water; the helmets of various spacesuits reflected the ceiling-mounted light strips, resembling barcode patterns.

"Time is running out."

Valkyrie broke the silence, pointing at her wristwatch: "We still have repair tasks to complete."

The stellar storm's electromagnetic interference had damaged various zones of the Xinxiang Base to varying degrees; every area needed repair. The group had only two hours — no time to waste.

"... Let's leave it at that."

Uncontrolled said: "The Space Alien can parasitize inside a host. We can't leave Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao's corpse here. We'll carry it to the central control hall."

According to the 3D map on the wristwatch, the central control hall was the core of the entire Xinxiang Base — it could temporarily activate all base security systems with a button press, halting all violent acts;

it could also launch heavy objects via recyclable orbital cargo pods to other colony bases, or eject them into space to drift.

"You two, stay back. Laughing God, Master Pi Fu — lend a hand."

Uncontrolled ordered Zhongli Mieming and Su Nisheng to stand farther away, then gripped Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao's arms and carefully pulled outward: "Hmph... so heavy."

"Fun fact: a human body that's lost voluntary mobility is far harder to move than you'd imagine,"

Laughing God hoisted one of Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao's arms, cheerfully saying: "Conversely, someone drunk and pretending to be unconscious can still adjust their center of gravity — so next time you carry a tipsy girl back to her hotel and find you can lift her effortlessly in a princess carry, you'll know she's faking — you're not the hunter, you're the prey."

"I learned this from my sister."

Oh, learned... bullshit. Yuan Zhi Kong, German orthopedics, Sweet Home Alabama?

A headache surged in his chest — if he weren't dragging Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao's corpse, Uncontrolled would've slapped himself.

Why did he ever ask this unreliable bastard, Laughing God, for help?

"Hss..."

Master Pi Fu, who was pulling Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao's buttocks out from against the wall, suddenly gasped, as if he'd discovered something — Uncontrolled immediately asked: "What is it?!"

"Didn't you notice?"

Master Pi Fu folded his blood-lion roar bones, shattered and limp at the waist, backward, draping his legs over his shoulders, and said in a low voice, "Three folds—no matter how you fold, there's always a surface."