Chapter 585: Living Brain Cells (7)

"Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Wellington steak, Provençal stew—wow, even West Lake Vinegar Fish."

Li Cheng hauled a heavy high-density polyethylene bucket out of the low cabinet, pried off the lid with its butyl rubber sealing ring, and took out vacuum-packed space food in aluminum foil composite film pouches one by one.

This was the cafeteria on the upper level of Xinxiang Base. At Out of Control's suggestion, the remaining ten survivors had been split into three groups to carry out repairs in different zones.

Su Nisheng and Zhongli Mieming, the two with the greatest suspicion of being alien species, naturally could not be assigned to the same group, and the others weren't reassured either.

Therefore the groups were:

Master Pi Fu, Dir, Su Nisheng;

Edith, Valkyrie, Zhongli Mieming;

Out of Control, Hydra, Midnight Daddy, Laughing God;

"Calling it food is generous—it's basically flavored protein powder, right? It doesn't even qualify as pre-made meals."

Dir pinched the aluminum foil composite film pouch that had no production date; a dry rustle of powder rubbing together came from inside. He murmured, "A civilization capable of subluminal cruise, and this is still all they can eat..."

"Compared to British cuisine, it's about even."

Given the precedent of the Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao, the three stood unusually far apart in the cafeteria. Su Nisheng was examining the titanium alloy dinner plates in the dish cabinet.

"We've had it too good. Back in the day, down at the deep-sea hydrothermal vents, getting two bites of organic matter was already something to celebrate."

Li Cheng set down the space food, lay on the floor, and slid the upper half of his body into the cabinet. Following the idiot-proof operating guide on his smart watch, he began repairing the electrical wiring and liquid pipelines, saying casually, "These should be emergency rations. The butyl rubber used in the sealing rings is chemically inert—it won't degrade for decades. If any crew member wakes up temporarily, this can fill their stomach.

As for fresher ingredients, I guess we'll have to wait until atmospheric modification is done and we can start tilling farms by hand? Or maybe there's some automated indoor farm inside the base."

"There is an indoor farm, actually. It just doesn't show up on the map."

Su Nisheng said. She pulled open the dish cabinet door and took out a large bundle of grayish-white biodegradable cutlery. "This cutlery is made from algal cellulose and starch. There are dedicated recycling bins—no incineration needed; it can be ecologically degraded directly."

_co

Su Nisheng paused, then said calmly, "There's a high wall between bare hands and armed hands. Titanium alloy cutlery would have been nice—could serve as improvised weapons. Too bad there are only titanium alloy dinner plates."

... Big sis, you're quite the optimist.

Li Cheng offered no comment. Judging by the Blood Xue Shi Paoxiao's death, he seriously doubted that even if every human colonist were handed a Fang Tian Halberd, a Zhangba Serpent Spear, or a Green Dragon Crescent Blade, they could take down a space alien species without the base's security system stepping in.

"Dinner plates aren't bad either—they can work as ballistic insert plates."

Dir wasn't picky. He took a titanium alloy dinner plate from the dish cabinet, strapped it to his chest and abdomen with cable ties, and stuck another to the life-support unit on his back.

Suddenly, her movements stalled. She hesitated, "Did you guys hear..."

"Heard it,"

Li Cheng slid out from under the pipelines, glanced at the ceiling, and said in a low voice, "Crying, from inside the ducts."

Xinxiang Base, middle level, management room.

Edith and Zhongli Mieming stood at opposite corners of the room, repairing a fax machine and a printer respectively.

Perhaps out of distrust of whether electronic equipment could remain robust in space and on alien planets, Xinxiang Base used paper documents in addition to electronic files—carbon fiber paper, to be precise—as backup.

Filing cabinets were stuffed with paper records: personnel rosters, important equipment maintenance logs, communication records with other bases, and the like.

All the text was engraved by high-precision laser engravers, so tiny it was hard to read with the naked eye—you had to put it under a microscope.

Unfortunately, most of the filing cabinets were locked with mechanical locks. The one open drawer held a small portion of the ship's voyage log from before they arrived at planet HD996A—ship heading, speed, fuel consumption, micro-meteorite collision incidents, shield repair logs, and so on. Not much value.

Valkyrie released the microscope, blinked her dry eyes, and suddenly heard something. "In the ducts..."

"Someone's crying."

Edith and Zhongli Mieming simultaneously pressed their spacesuit helmets against the wall. Waa waa—a clear, faint, distant baby's wail echoed through the ducts inside the wall.

A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head. Zhongli Mieming quickly glanced at his left mechanical arm—he had the life-monitoring hand installed, which could display the vital signs of the other repair crew.

Everyone's vital signs were steady. No one had died. Laughing God and Master Pi Fu might be a bit unhinged and heartless, but they probably wouldn't crack jokes in a situation like this... right?

At their worst, they'd maybe toss digestive tablets to a roadside beggar;

On the pretext of opposing kimonos, sneakily poke a few holes in the Okamoto condoms at the convenience store;

In an elevator, deliberately mutter "it's so crowded in here" while quietly walking away, to spook the strangers inside;

Pranks of that sort...

Wait, no—how did my train of thought end up syncing with theirs?!

While he was thinking, the baby's wail rapidly drew closer, accompanied by the patter of slapping sounds.

Zhongli Mieming suddenly realized. He snapped his head up and shouted to Edith in the distance, "Get away from the wall!" Before the words were out, something went terribly wrong.

The ventilation grille at the baseboard burst open. A hairless, pink, translucent-looking ape arm shot out and seized Edith's calf.

The ape arm was far thinner than the spacesuit's leg, but its grip was terrifyingly strong.

Edith was caught off guard and yanked to the floor. Most of her body was dragged into the ventilation duct. Thud!

She grabbed the wall with her left palm, and a cracked shout burst from the speaker at her neck, "Help me!"

Zhongli Mieming and Valkyrie, standing at the other two corners of the room, dropped what they were holding and sprinted over, gripping Edith's arm and kicking desperately against the wall.

But the spacesuit's fingers were thick and clumsy; their grip slipped, and Edith was still pulled into the ventilation duct and vanished.

Bang!

Two seconds later, a tremendous crash rang out from inside the duct. Zhongli Mieming and Valkyrie, frozen in place, watched as the high ventilation duct and wall of the management room were blasted open with a breach. Along the same line, the corner of a locked filing cabinet also cracked open, with half a broken steel needle embedded in the back of the cabinet.

The attack had come from Edith—her arm was the weaponized kind, capable of firing kinetic ammunition. But the dragging sounds inside the wall were still receding.

"She's still alive." Zhongli Mieming glanced at the vital signs monitor—Edith's heart rate had spiked to 180.

"I'll go save her."

Valkyrie didn't waste words. She stepped on the handle, leapt onto the filing cabinet, and her left arm's engineering hand popped out a magnetic suction pulley. With a sharp click, it locked firmly onto the inner wall of the duct, and she slid bodily into the ventilation shaft.