Chapter 602

With the lighting gone, the vast circular hall was left with only the faint blue glow emanating from the pool.

“Hey? Hey!”

Midnight Dad frantically tapped his smart wristwatch, but the Noisy Kid was already offline, leaving only the 3D projection map and the floating text instructions suspended beside it via guide lines.

“Fuck.” He cursed, took a deep breath, and walked to the blast door to wrestle again with the handle.

“You can’t open the hatch with just the handle—didn’t you read the instructions? You need to touch the lock with your wristwatch and swipe a card to open it...”

Hydra, inside her blue spacesuit, couldn’t stand it anymore and stepped forward to help, but Midnight Dad spun around sharply, raised his left arm’s functional hand, and barked: “Don’t come near me!”

According to the instructions, the five functional hands, the life sign detector, and personal genetic and fingerprint data are all bound together.

The armed hand, for instance, can fire ferromagnetic bullets driven by electromagnetic force—easily piercing the homogeneous steel plates of main battle tanks, let alone a mere spacesuit.

Hydra dared not gamble whether Midnight Dad’s functional hand was the armed type; she immediately raised both arms to show she meant no harm.

“Everyone, calm down.”

Out-of-Control stepped forward to mediate, his voice steady: “Did you all hear what the Noisy Kid said? We’re all on the same rope now. Suspicion and infighting will get us picked off one by one by the Space Aliens.”

“Only by being honest with each other and uniting with sincerity can we have even a glimmer of hope.”

The Laughing God, leaning against the railing, tilted his head and chuckled: “Your so-called vitality—what’s the best-case scenario? Completing all repairs, then having the Noisy Kid execute your body and uploading only your consciousness to a hard drive?”

“Still better than being killed by the Space Aliens. At least you’d still be alive, still able to reunite with your family.”

Out-of-Control shot back coldly: “The Noisy Kid went offline too fast—there’s still critical information he didn’t have time to relay.”

“I propose everyone now reveal the type of their functional hand. If two or more of us have armed hands or life-monitoring hands, our side gains a significant advantage.”

Earlier, when it was still unknown whether the Noisy Kid was friend or foe, Out-of-Control had taken the risk of pressing his wristwatch button first—logically, his words should carry more weight.

Yet, no one responded to Out-of-Control’s proposal.

“Huh, looks like none of you here are fools.”

Li Cheng muttered to himself: Among the five auxiliary hands—recon, armed, life detection, engineering, and alert—only the armed hand has offensive capability to counterattack potential Space Aliens.

Auxiliary hands cannot be duplicated. If you reveal your type now, you’ll be instantly identified by the Space Aliens as a defenseless target—just meat on the cutting board.

Better to keep your info hidden, make the Space Aliens uncertain, force them to hesitate before striking—wondering if they’ll be killed in return.

Too bad—my own hand is just the engineering hand, capable only of magnetic pulleys for fast movement through pipes, with zero offensive power...

“The worst-case scenario is that the Space Alien hiding among us is equipped with an armed hand.”

Out-of-Control remained calm, speaking evenly: “But since no one wants to reveal anything, fine. According to the map, we’re near the lower reactor—why not head out first?”

“I saw on the map that the circuit breaker in the electrical room can reboot the base’s lights.”

No one objected to this suggestion. Hydra stepped around Midnight Dad and brought her wristwatch close to the card reader on the lock.

Light beams shot from the edge of her watch, forming a card-shaped key that swiped across the reader.

Click-click-click—

The rotary door handle turned automatically; the blast door swung open, revealing a dark corridor lit only by green emergency exit symbols.

Hydra led the way, followed closely by Midnight Dad.

The corridor was hexagonal, wider than expected—wide enough for four space-suited individuals to walk shoulder to shoulder.

Worried about the Space Aliens the Noisy Kid mentioned, everyone kept a distance from each other. The metal floor was smooth and clean; their boots clanged and squeaked as they walked.

Li Cheng, positioned in the middle of the line, turned to look back at the circular hall. As the last of Su Nisheng stepped out, the blast door automatically sealed and locked.

“By the way, don’t you all find this spacesuit a bit strange?”

Li Cheng didn’t turn back; instead, he used the dance technique called “Space Walk” to backpedal slowly, speaking casually: “My common sense tells me the average height of adult males is 1.72 meters, and adult females is 1.59 meters.”

Yet now, every single one of us is wearing a spacesuit that’s exactly 1.9 meters tall.

Males could perhaps be explained by adjustable joint dimensions.

But you four—Edith, Dir, Valkyrie, Su Nisheng—do you all perfectly fit a 1.9-meter height? Don’t you feel like you’re wearing heel lifts?”

Around the corner, Valkyrie replied flatly: “If you’re hinting at something, I’m sorry—I don’t feel like I’m wearing stilts, high heels, or insoles.”

“Neither do I.”

Su Nisheng paused briefly, then said calmly: “Two possibilities: one, the tens of thousands of adult colonists at Xinxang Base were all carefully selected so their age, height, and physique match the equipment’s universal design. Two, this spacesuit is more advanced than I remembered—its internal movable joints perfectly adapt to any wearer’s height, leaving no sensation of wearing anything at all.”

Su Nisheng paused, then said calmly: “Two possibilities: first, the tens of thousands of adult colonists at the Xinxiang Base were all carefully selected, their age and height as closely matched as possible to the equipment’s universal specifications.”

Zhongli Mie Ming, walking behind Su Nisheng, paused and said: “Didn’t you notice? When I move my arms or thighs, my skin feels no friction against the fabric, no impact against the exoskeleton’s inner walls.”

“It’s as if... the entire suit grew on me.”

Zhongli Mieming, walking behind Su Nisheng, paused and said: “Didn’t you notice? Whenever I move my arms and thighs, my skin feels no friction against fabric, and no impact against the exoskeleton’s inner surface.”

Dir pondered. “Same for me.”

“Maybe it’s some ultra-advanced super-fabric bodysuit.”

Li Cheng said: “Like how Confucian scholars in history emphasized self-cultivation, family harmony, state governance, and world peace—self-cultivation came first, so scholars always wore yoga pants and sports tank tops in public to show off their physiques.”

“??? Which dimension’s scholars are you talking about?”

Zhongli Mie Ming instinctively retorted: “You’re not even trying to be serious?”

The Laughing God clapped his hands and laughed: “Actually, there are sellers—didn’t they say ‘Master arts of literature and martial arts, sell them to the imperial house’? And ‘Warm silk curtains, spring nights—I, the emperor, take off the general’s battle robe’? ‘The maid lifts the frail beauty—I, the emperor, take off the general’s battle robe’? ‘On my deathbed, I suddenly sit up—I, the emperor, take off the general’s battle robe’?”

“Fucking emperor, doing nothing but taking off generals’ battle robes—purely a dynasty-destroying monarch.”

The Laughing God clapped his hands and laughed: “Actually, they’re for sale too— isn’t it said that one studies literature and martial arts to sell them to the imperial house? Besides, ‘Warm silk curtains, spring nights spent in bliss—I, the Emperor, unfasten the general’s battle robe’; ‘Servants lift the frail beauty—I, the Emperor, unfasten the general’s battle robe’; ‘On the brink of death, I suddenly sit up—I, the Emperor, unfasten the general’s battle robe’.”

The Noisy Kid said the Space Aliens can shapeshift, perfectly mimic voices, and steal hosts’ memories.

A casual personality, flippant speech, and off-the-cuff remarks don’t prove he isn’t a Space Alien—in fact, they might be the very disguise to win over normal humans.

The Noisy Boy said that space aliens have shapeshifting abilities, capable of perfectly mimicking voices and stealing the host's memories.

As they arrived at the electrical room, rows of ceiling-mounted metal cabinets lined the space, regulating voltage, distributing power, and transmitting electricity.

The Noisy Kid mentioned that Xinxang Base had a reactor—the voltage here would naturally be terrifyingly high.

Fortunately, the wristwatch provided detailed guidance; as they approached, it automatically projected light arrows indicating which circuit breaker to flip.

The Noisy Boy mentioned that the Xinxiang Base has a reactor; the voltage in the electrical room is naturally high enough to kill.

Blinding lights suddenly flared on. The group, accustomed to the dim corridor, instinctively squinted and raised their hands to shield their helmets, relief quietly settling in their chests.

Fear of darkness is an instinct carved into humanity’s ancient genes.

Though this spacesuit’s protective capability seems slightly stronger than standard blast armor, light is still better than darkness...

Fear of darkness is an instinct carved into humanity’s ancient genes.

A thunderous crash echoed through the electrical room. Li Cheng, his vision blurred by the sudden brightness, strained to open his eyes—and saw Blood Lion Roar, who had been six meters away from him, vanish from his spot, half his body embedded in the ceramic wall, upper and lower torso folded at a grotesque angle, already dead.

Blood Lion Roar.

A deafening roar echoed through the electrical room; Li Cheng strained his eyes against the blinding light, only to see the Blood Lion, which had been six meters away, vanish from its spot—its lower half embedded in the ceramic wall, its upper and lower body folded at a grotesque angle, already dead.

The Blood Lion roared.