Falling into the Abyss

Samuel's home is very small, with two narrow rooms, one of which is obviously occupied, and a sweater that has not been folded is placed on the neatly laid quilt.In the sink of the kitchen there is a plate and a pair of knives and forks that have not been cleaned. On the dining table is the tea that has already cooled down, and the tea bags are quietly soaked in it.The room is fairly tidy, and there are no traces of struggle, but there is no response to calling the portable capsule.Ethan discussed with Samuel and decided to wait at home, maybe Samuel's father just came back later after going out for something.

Ethan walked across the damp and moldy floor and heard a creaking sound.He asked Samuel, "You grew up here?"

Samuel walked to the cabinet where the TV was placed, picked up a rare electronic photo frame, and looked at the photos that were rotated every ten seconds, "Yes."

Although it is clean and tidy, it can also be seen that it is very old, as if frozen in time many centuries ago.Even the thick table-like antique TV set that has been eliminated long ago still stands proudly on the cabinet.Ethan squatted in front of the TV and studied for a while, found the switch and turned it on.He was also very surprised by the remote control, and clicked on it indiscriminately.Most of the stations are a snowflake with no signal, but a few stations are connected to the current TV broadcasting system, and they can still see the news.

The broadcast on it is to call on everyone to report anyone who has symptoms of cold and fever, especially relatives or friends.The advertisement showed the clean corridors and wards in the isolation area. The patients were lying on the dazzlingly white hospital beds with smiles on their faces. The doctors and nurses greeted the patients with friendly smiles on their faces, and flowers were placed on the table next to them. , The food is also so rich that it looks like breakfast in a restaurant.No one gave any negative looks, as if they were not in the hospital but on vacation.

"The quarantine area is absolutely safe and comfortable, even if you don't get sick, you still want to live here~" the girl Beta with a sweet smile in the advertisement said this, but Ethan felt it was all ironic.Would anyone really believe such an embarrassingly obvious lie?

But even if you don't believe it, there's nothing you can do about it.There are robot police everywhere on the road that scan the body temperature. Once the body temperature is found to exceed the normal range, blood tests will be taken immediately.

Samuel was visibly disturbed, pacing the room anxiously.The time was getting later and later, and it was already past the meal time, even if my father went out to work, he should be back.Seeing him like this, Ethan saw a scarf on the arm of the sofa, so he walked over to pick it up, put it between his nose and sniffed it.The scarf was stained with the smell of Samuel's father, a slightly astringent hormonal smell, somewhat like the smell of persimmons.

Samuel noticed his movement and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Recognize your father's smell." Ethan put down the scarf, then closed his eyes, and a few thin black tentacles snaked out from the back of his neck, with a few nose-like nose-nosed mole on the tip. Small tentacles, like the petals of a sea anemone, spread out in the air.Those tentacles are densely covered with needle-sized protrusions, which seem to be some kind of organ used to perceive something.These thin tentacles are so long that they almost fill the entire apartment.They fluttered leisurely in the air like ribbons, while Ethan in the center stood silently in place like a statue.Even when Samuel spoke to him, he didn't seem to hear him.

Ethan concentrated, feeling that his sense of smell had left his body, floating above the chaotic and crowded seventh space station.This huge cosmic city is mixed with all kinds of smells, sweat, fish, rotting rats in the sewage, rotten wood, rusty iron, and the rust from the hot water pipes in the bath. The smell of blood, the pungent smell of cheap perfume, the smell of inferior artificial leather... Those smells converged into a huge river, flowing slowly around Ethan.

Among these scents, Ethan sensitively grasped a scent similar to the one he just smelled.The line of smell that had almost drifted away led him to a direction full of death and decay.

Ethan opened his eyes, and his green pupils faintly looked at Samuel who was staring at him anxiously.

"The situation is not optimistic." Ethan said, "Your father is in the quarantine area"

Samuel changed his face, "Is he infected?"

"Not necessarily. It may also be that the Earth Alliance government guessed that you might change your mind and not disclose my whereabouts to them, so it temporarily controlled him." Ethan slowly retracted his tentacles, and walked to the narrow door in the living room. Looking at the criss-crossed skyscrapers opposite, the chaotic lights dyed the outer atmosphere the color of blood, "I always feel like a trap there."

Samuel clenched his fists tightly, grabbed the coat on the back of the chair, put it on his body, and walked out the door, "I'll go by myself, you don't want to follow."

However, Ethan didn't intend to listen to him. He also picked up his coat, put on the hood, and covered his face with a higher collar, "I'll go with you."

"Didn't you say it was a trap? Didn't you send it to your door?" Samuel pushed him back and deliberately frightened him with a ferocious voice, "Didn't you come to Earth to find your father? Don't wait for me Alright, let's leave now."

Samuel always thought that the father Ethan was looking for was Adrian Eldridge.And Ethan didn't correct him, after all, he really wanted to ask Adrian to clarify.Ethan was no longer afraid of Samuel's bluff, and took a firm step forward, "Maybe it's not a bad thing to be found by people from the government. Since they will catch your father, it's hard to guarantee that they didn't put my father under house arrest."

"Do you think you can see your father if you fall into their hands?" Samuel blocked the door irritably, "They will just dismember you immediately and try to use your serum to make an antidote or something. Is it interesting to die for nothing? ?”

Ethan smiled, as if he heard Samuel make a joke, "Do you really think they can catch me so easily?"

Samuel froze.Although he didn't know what happened in the Ophiuchus Alliance, he also heard a few words from the guards.They seemed to be saying that an immortal monster that got off the Starwind would not be able to be locked up, and it also carried terrible plague seeds on it, making the entire military base panic.He guessed it was Ethan at the time, after all, he still remembered the terrifying appearance of Ethan when he mutated.

Even thinking about it now, there is an urge to stay away from the seemingly harmless Beta in front of him.But the other half of him couldn't help being attracted by the man in front of him who had a subtle evil spirit after he came out of the medical room.It is difficult for him to express his feelings for Ethan clearly. At first, he was attracted to him because he was somewhat similar to his love in the first half of his life, but later he learned about his relationship with the priest, and it gradually turned into a friendship.This friendship was shaken after Faun Xing saw Ethan's mutation, but it was still strong.

Then, after Schneider died, everything changed.The hatred made him only think about destroying all the sources of his pain, even using Ethan.But Ethan said that he found out early on...

Obviously found out, but still treated himself as usual.Even after being pointed out, it was almost effortless to forgive him.

Samuel couldn't let go, couldn't forgive his betrayal, but couldn't let go of that hatred.

He needed Ethan to complete that ritual, to destroy this filthy galaxy.Even if it's with myself.

Seeing that Samuel's expression was cloudy and uncertain, Ethan stretched out his hand to gently press Samuel's back of the neck comfortingly, and said to him with a seemingly innocent smile, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

**********

The isolation area set up by the seventh space station is on the opposite side of the area they are in. A nano-plastic wall is built to separate the human world that is still struggling to survive outside, and the dead zone shrouded in death inside.All usable rooms in the buildings behind the walls have been converted into makeshift wards, however many of the so-called wards are more properly called "cages".Many patients at the initial stage of infection were locked inside like beasts, and they were given a small amount of food and water every day, waiting for them to mutate into a black worm with tentacles dripping mucus all over, and then burned them to death.Only those who have not yet developed a disease can still receive a little humane care, but sooner or later they will be imprisoned in those dirty cages full of blood and mucus, and sooner or later they will be twisted and curled up in the fire without a human body.

There are not many medical staff inside, and almost [-]% of the nurses are soldiers dispatched urgently.There is always a burning smell in the city. Except for medical vehicles and patrolling people, no one can be seen walking on the street.

Ethan and Samuel had no symptoms of fever, so it was naturally impossible to just mix in like this.The way they figured it out was to sneak into the car while some supply trucks coming out of the quarantine area were parked at a nearby hospital.

The process of entering was relatively smooth, but there was a twist when the other party suddenly decided to conduct an inspection inside the compartment.Ethan had to use some needle pricks on the top of his tentacles to secrete some temporarily paralyzing neurotoxin to bring them down.In the darkness, those people couldn't even see what was attacking them in the car. They just felt something like a long whip whistling past, and when the back of their neck hurt, they lost consciousness.

The two got out of the carriage and found a gloomy abandoned city spreading out in front of them.Occasionally, beast-like hisses could be heard in the silent air, and the dilapidated high-rise building looked terrifying and eerie.

At this time, most of the nursing staff had already left work, and there were not many patrolling personnel. Even if there were, they were detected in time by the olfactory tentacles spreading from the back of Ethan's neck, giving them enough time to escape.

This is the center of the plague, and even the air is stale and stale.

On both sides of the wide but dirty road, there are often some large sealed bags piled up together, and there are some dark, shapeless things inside.It appears to be some semi-gelatinous object.I thought it was garbage, but in some bags, I vaguely saw a structure similar to a human head. The scorched skin was shriveled and attached to the skull, but the rest of the body was melted together, growing out of that dense The tentacles looked like a bug.

The nightmare on the red earth appeared again on a large scale.

Samuel just glanced at it before turning his head away, feeling a tizzy in his heart.He silently begged his father not to be in these bags, but he didn't know who he was praying to.

If his father really died, would he hate Ethan?

But Ethan mutated into that to save him and Schneider, didn't he?

He stopped himself from thinking about it, he just wanted to speed up and find his father.But when he turned his head, Ethan didn't follow.

I saw Beta squatting next to the corpse, with some pity and sadness, reaching out to touch the disgusting head through the transparent body bag.

"What are you doing! Time is running out, those who are brought down will be found soon!"

Ethan stood up, extending the thin tentacles from the back of his neck to detect smells, and continued to walk between the dilapidated buildings looking for that smell.The smell brought him to an exceptionally tall building with empty windows overlooking the two of them.In the stillness of night, cries of pain came from certain windows, making the hair stand on end.

"It seems...here." Ethan murmured.For some reason, those howls gave him a strange feeling.He didn't find it scary, and even felt a little kind.

He remembered the fearful look in the hotel's early-stage patient looking up at him.There was a subtle sense of anticipation.

I don't know if it was in response to his mood, but when they stepped up the steps, the terrifying howls from the depths of the building suddenly became several times louder than before, like tens of thousands of beasts weeping.Samuel was taken aback, and seemed to be considering whether to retreat temporarily.However, Ethan wrinkled his nose, and for a moment his expression was like that of a wild beast. Suddenly, a very thick tentacle stretched out from behind, and what seemed to be a mouth at the top suddenly opened, spinning sharply in circles. Its teeth opened and closed, and a roar that was inaudible to human ears came out from the black "throat", and the buzzing infrasound quickly spread through the air.

The roars of those infected people miraculously quickly fell silent, leaving only one or two trembling whimpers.

Samuel stared dumbfounded at Ethan beside him, watching the thick tentacles quickly retract into the flesh of Beta's shoulders, and the wound that should have been left healed quickly under the surge of many black things.And Ethan looked at him and shrugged, with a casual expression: I don't know what's going on.

However, what he didn't know was that even more incredible things were yet to come.