Chapter 586

Xinxiang Base, Lower Level, Dome Shield Control Room.

Loss, Hydra, Midnight Dad, and the Laughing God stood at industrial control panels, turning knobs according to wristwatch instructions to regulate power supplied to the dome shield.

According to the 3D map's description, the frequency of meteorite impacts on HD966A planet is far higher than on Earth.

The dome shield not only concentrates oxygen but also blocks meteorites.

"Deng, deng-deng, deng-deng-deng."

The Laughing God hummed softly, his neck stretching and retracting in rhythm like a DJ scratching records.

"You're in a good mood?"

Loss tried to ignore it but failed, unable to resist asking: "Aren't you afraid you'll die?"

Base members who lost their memories cannot possibly resist the base's main AI.

The worst outcome is being forced by the AI to play hide-and-seek with space aliens—and getting killed.

The best outcome is still being purged and executed by the AI, uploaded to a USB drive, and turned into a digital pet.

"Death isn't scary. Death is a cool summer night—peaceful, worry-free sleep."

The Laughing God casually uttered a nonsense phrase whose origin he himself didn't know, cheerfully adding: "Based on the remnants of common sense left in my mind, a civilization capable of sublight travel should have highly advanced consciousness upload technology."

If the Noisy Kid didn't lie to me (assuming robots are either incapable of or disdainful of lying), when I wake up, I'll already be in a lush new world.

Maybe I'll even reunite with my comedy troupe members and continue staging light comedies like 'Camel Fengchuan Xiangzi,' 'Liáng Shànbó and Zhùróng,' and 'Spring Festival Gala: Dumpling Dumpling Dumpling.'

So why fear death?"

"—." Loss had no reply, only shook his head: "You really are optimistic."

The Laughing God shrugged. "Same half-full glass: a pessimist sees only half a glass; an optimist sees water at 26.5°C, pH 6.6, volume 225ml."

You can even eyeball the pH value? Kid, your attention is incredible!

Just as Loss was mentally grumbling, a noisy commotion erupted deep within the ceiling above.

The kinetic rounds from the armed hand had apparently pierced a wiring conduit inside the wall, causing the dome shield control panel to overload and spark.

Midnight Dad froze for a moment, then immediately dropped his control panel and bolted out the door, chasing the fading sound.

Space aliens can alter their body structure to move through pipes. Since they likely wouldn't scream for help, this commotion must be two base personnel—one with an engineering hand, one with an armed hand.

"You two don't need to come! Keep repairing!"

Loss shouted without turning back, sprinting after Midnight Dad, leaving Hydra and the Laughing God behind—

The dome shield must be repaired as soon as possible to defend against potential meteorite impacts.

Otherwise, if we all go through hell to kill the space aliens, wait for the Noisy Kid to fulfill his promise, and then a meteor crashes down, destroys the base, and kills everyone hand-in-hand, facing dinosaurs—that'd be too darkly ironic.

Loss and Midnight Dad dashed into the corridor, following the thunderous noise from the pipes, sprinting until they skidded to a halt before a facility.

It was the base's embryo storage room—a circular, spacious area rivaling the central control hall, lined neatly with liquid nitrogen tanks.

Each tank froze hundreds or thousands of fertilized eggs and undeveloped embryos.

In the center of the storage room stood about forty horizontal cylindrical machines, each filled with translucent suspensions and biological sacs connected by electrode patches and cables.

A strange sense of familiarity surged in Midnight Dad's mind—he instantly realized those cylindrical machines were highly complex biological reactors—or rather, artificial wombs.

One machine's glass had shattered, its suspension spilling across the floor; the biological sac suspended within the fluid—

its life-support system—was gone.

As they stared in shock, the ventilation grate above the ceiling detached, dropping three figures.

They were Valkyrie in blue space suits, Edith in yellow space suits, and... a humanoid creature roughly 1.4 meters tall.

A massive head, no hair or skin, pink muscle exposed to air, grotesquely proportioned limbs, a monkey tail extending from the coccyx, and a distended belly.

It looked like ancient cave paintings of early humans—or like an alien who'd never seen a human, reconstructing one from fossilized bones.

Edith's left and right arms were bound together by the creature's long tail.

Her armed hand on the left arm couldn't extend, offering no chance to fire; she was dragged along the ground by the creature toward the array of artificial wombs.

Even more eerie and terrifying: as it dragged Edith, the creature hummed a muffled lullaby.

The bizarre scene froze both Midnight Dad and Loss in place, their minds in chaos.

Didn't the Noisy Kid say only these awake humans remained in the base? What the hell is this humanoid creature?

Tap-tap-tap-tap.

Heavy footsteps approached rapidly—Zhongli Mieming arrived from the middle level of Xinxiang Base, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Midnight Dad. But the humanoid creature showed no reaction to the commotion, continuing to drag Edith toward the artificial womb units.

Valkyrie signaled Zhongli Mieming and the others not to move. She remained silent, crouched low, and crept swiftly from behind, snatching up shards of broken glass and slashing them hard against the tail coiled around Edith.

Ssshh—blood sprayed. The humanoid creature shrieked; its previously blank, dull expression instantly twisted into violent fury as it turned and lunged at the two.

Valkyrie grabbed Edith's space suit life-support backpack and pulled back, while Edith strained to wrench free the severed tail from her wrists, hastily raised her left arm's armed hand, and pulled the trigger.

Firing a hypervelocity round in an enclosed space, the gunshot echoed violently; even muffled by the space suit helmet, the noise still hammered their eardrums.

The shot struck the humanoid creature, blasting its upper body and spine into fragments; the bullet's momentum continued and slammed into the wall.

The metal wall immediately dented, carving a deep furrow along the bullet's path, severing buried wiring.

The embryo storage room's blast door automatically sealed, trapping Zhongli Mieming and Midnight Dad inside, leaving Loss outside; simultaneously, the room's lights abruptly went dark, leaving only a dim, pitch-black red emergency glow.

Fortunately, the humanoid creature was unquestionably dead.

Adrenaline still surged through her, Edith trembled as she lowered her armed hand, exhaled deeply, and turned toward Valkyrie's approximate location, sincerely thanking: "Thank you."

To be fair, if Edith and Valkyrie had swapped roles, she likely wouldn't have risked her life chasing a suspected space alien's location after knowing the teammate for only minutes.

In the dimness, no reply came—only a shadow flashed past her face, followed by a heavy thud and the scrape of pipes.

The precedent of the Blood Lion's roar still fresh in mind, Edith recoiled several steps instinctively and raised her armed hand again.

Just as she was about to pull the trigger, the base's alarm blared, and the lights returned to normal brightness—Dir and Su Nisheng had reached the central control hall on the middle level and pressed the emergency button.

As for Master Pi Fu, clad in a red space suit and tracking here with his engineering hand, he leaned his head down through the ventilation grate, surveying the scene: the humanoid creature was dead beyond doubt, and so was Valkyrie.

Her chest caved inward, her body slumped against a nearly bent-over liquid nitrogen tank.

Another one dead.

The three survivors in the embryo storage room cried out in alarm, but Li Cheng was neither sad nor glad, lost in thought — the fertilized eggs and embryos preserved in the liquid nitrogen tanks were at least a hundred years old, which meant...

The moment they were born, they'd already qualify for a pension!