Falling into the Abyss

The distance to the red earth is getting closer and closer, and the atmosphere among the non-humans is also becoming tense.Some of the nine people who met with the priest that day had apparently leaked the content of the video, which caused a commotion.A female Beta was originally pulled into this mission abruptly. After hearing the story about "that thing", her whole body was on the verge of collapse, and she huddled in a corner every day without knowing what to mutter.The other Betas and a few Alphas who were so anxious that they didn't know what to do obviously decided to seek religious comfort and gathered around Chen Zeng to listen to his sermons.

Ethan saw an old man about 70 years old who was always writing. He didn't know where he got a pen refill and kept writing on the toilet paper.Ethan saw that he was writing very strenuously. His eyes were already aging due to the increase in age and the lack of suitable treatment. When writing, he could only stretch his arms, write a few words and take them to a distance to read. , and then continue to write.Once Ethan saw himself sitting on the ground crying, very sad, so he quietly asked Samuel what happened, Samuel said that the letters to his daughter he wrote on the toilet paper did not know who Used it as toilet paper.

Samuel said that there was nothing to cry about. The Forbidden City does not allow correspondence between non-human beings and citizens, and his letters will never be seen by his daughter.

Ethan felt a sudden sourness in his heart. The old man's hair was already gray, and his figure was a little stooped. He didn't know how many years he had stayed in the Forbidden City.Looking at the tattoos on his arm, he might have been as strong as Samuel when he was young, but now he is as sad as a child.So he asked the old man what his daughter's name was, and said he could write the letter for him.He spent the next day sprawled on a cardboard box, writing lines of letters on crumpled toilet paper.The letter didn't say anything about farewell, it just babbled about some trivial matters in the old man's own life, and reminded his daughter to live a happy life.

After finishing writing, the old man happily put away the suicide note that could never be mailed, and thanked Ethan a thousand times.When Ethan returned to Samuel, he was ridiculed by the latter for a long time, saying that he was more compassionate than Omega.Ethan didn't bother to explain to him that the old man reminded him of his father, and scolded you for being sexist, but in the end he couldn't help asking, "He's so old, hasn't he been released yet?"

"When he was young, he was in gangs, and he didn't make any big mistakes, but there were many small things that provoked troubles. Little things add up, and he didn't want to give himself points by reporting other people's immoral behavior. In the end, his moral value decreased. He came in when he was gone. For a person like him who has no great ability, he is generally not used for redemption missions with high scores. Naturally, the score cannot be improved. Now that he is getting older and has more and more physical problems, in order to reduce It is estimated that the expenses of the Forbidden City have only added him to this atonement. To put it bluntly, it is to send him to die."

Ethan felt a chill in his heart when he heard that.One hundred points, even a lifetime is not enough...

After the spacecraft entered the red earth orbit, the elevator connecting the warehouse floor finally opened again.Non-people crowded in batches like dumplings and went up in the elevator all the way up. Some people who were terrified were crying all the time, which made Ethan upset.Their chief of guards was waiting for them on the first floor of the manned cabin of the spaceship. Sure enough, as Tanisel said, they will be sent to the red earth as an advance force, and the mother ship—Magic Flute will give them instructions and guide them. They search for Earthlings and Eves who lost contact on the Red Earth.

The surface temperature of the red earth is slightly higher than that of the earth, and the air pressure is also slightly higher, but the air quality is good, so there is no need to wear a spacesuit.They equipped everyone with basic food, water, and some outdoor survival items.Non-people file into the circular exploration equipment area to change clothes. The advanced nano-material suit can prevent being bitten by poisonous insects on the planet, has a certain heat insulation function, and can also turn on the camouflage stealth function. The clothes can reflect the nearby scenery and make people temporarily "" Stealth".Ethan put on the straight collar suit, and found that it was more elastic than expected, and it looked very stylish.Since there will be a period of space flight between landing on the red earth from the mothership, everyone still put on spacesuits and helmets outside, and gathered in the scary high and wide small spaceship launch cabin to wait for boarding and departure.

Only then did Ethan know that there were actually two of their non-humans who used to specialize in piloting spaceships. It seemed that the non-humans selected by those people for missions were not random, but purposeful.

So why did you pick him in the first place?Is it because he has talent?

Or... want to kill him as soon as possible?

Although he didn't want to admit it, Ethan still felt that the latter possibility was more likely.

When boarding, everyone lined up and slowly entered the hatch of a medium-sized saucer-shaped spaceship.From behind, everyone was wearing a helmet, and it was hard to tell who was who, but the man in front of him just turned his head and glanced at him as he entered the hatch.

He seemed to see a pair of gray eyes, and strands of blond hair peeking out from the transparent part of the helmet?

No way... Ethan opened his eyes slightly... Although the priest seemed to be different from the clergyman in his impression, his interest in the monster was a little fanatical.But it's not enough to do such a crazy thing as sneaking in among inhumans, right?

Must be hallucinating from being too nervous...

The spaceship was fired from the mothership like bullets carrying non-human beings. In an instant, the empty and cold cosmic galaxy unfolded in front of everyone's eyes through the refracted projections on the walls and ceiling of the spaceship.The huge Hera star is already a red giant star, and it is burning the last heat of her death. The bright and brilliant blood hurts people's eyes, and the steaming heat seems to evaporate the universe together, just like the last day of the Queen of Heaven. song of rage.And around it, some planets that have not been devoured are still flying around her tirelessly, especially the one that is rapidly zooming in in their field of vision.

From a distance, it is really a beautiful pearl.Large areas of red and blue blend with each other, and there are white clouds and air veils covering the entire planet.There are three satellites around this planet, which means that there will be three moons at night, and the reflected Hera's light makes the night very bright.

The atmosphere of the red earth is thicker than that of the earth. The spacecraft entering the atmosphere trembled violently, and the lights flickered in the electromagnetic storm.Terrified and inhuman cries sounded in the cabin.In this trembling, Ethan really realized that they had really arrived, this planet that was likely to be their burial place... No matter what that thing was, they would meet soon.

After surviving the terrifying tremor of entering the atmosphere, the spacecraft successfully landed near a human pioneering base with a blue cyclone.A few non-humans vomited out before getting off the spaceship, and the others were also paled by the terrifying landing.The hatch door opened with the gentle voice of Angela, the computer on the mother ship, and there was a strange, slightly fishy smell in the rushing heat wave.

Outside the cabin of the spacecraft, a large expanse of red, like an endless sea of ​​manjusawa, spread out in all directions. It was a red plant about forty to fifty centimeters high, with thin stems without leaves, and several branches at the top. A small fork, with small bowl-shaped things on it, I don't know if they are flowers or leaves.Among the overwhelming red grass, there are many blue-purple herbaceous plants about one meter high. The thick stems are covered with dark red spots, and there are many filament-like things extending from the trunk and fluttering in the air. The wind will dance by itself if needed.At the end of the gently undulating land, there is a sharp mountain shadow, and above that is the sky that gradually changes from light to deep, purple, yellow, pink and other colors are changing in the clouds, and there are some light white satellites His shadow lay across one corner like a crescent moon.Some strange creatures with long tails and cylindrical bodies were flying in the high sky, making some kind of dry metal friction-like cry, echoing in the silent wildness.

An extraordinarily beautiful and paradoxical world.

Ethan walked off the spaceship with hesitation behind Samuel, bathing his body in the brilliant and warm sunlight of Hera.Samuel put his hand under the helmet, took off the helmet with a click, then raised his head slightly, took a deep breath, with a very calm expression on his face.Ethan also took off his helmet, and the vast air accompanied by the breeze blowing through the ends of his hair made the non-human beings who had stayed in the dark and cold warehouse floor for a full week break free from the iron cage. sense of pleasure.

The anxiety and fear in non-people's hearts are temporarily soothed by this vast world.They took off their heavy outer space suits one after another, and carried their bags full of survival necessities.About a few hundred meters away from their spaceship, a white low-rise building can be seen, which is the base left by the pioneers who disappeared before.

Ethan wandered among the inhumans who were taking off their helmets, with a trace of hesitation.When almost all non-humans have taken off their helmets, only one person has only taken off his spacesuit and has not taken off his helmet.

Ethan stared at him closely, and Samuel saw his abnormality, and followed his line of sight to look at the man.

"What are you looking at?"

Ethan pursed his lips tightly and did not speak. After a while, he walked straight towards the person whose back was facing him.Just when he was still a few steps away from that person, the other person finally took off his helmet and turned around.A head of pure blond hair shone brightly in the red sunlight, and his delicate face like a puppet smiled when he saw him again.

Ethan's eyes widened, and he pointed at him with a finger, "You...it's really you!"

His voice attracted the attention of others, followed by an uproar.No one expected that an Eve person would appear in their team.

Samuel rushed over, frowning, "Why are you here? Are you crazy?!"

Tanithel threw the helmet on the ground casually, bent down and continued to organize his luggage, "I changed my mind, I decided to see the entropy god in person."

At this moment, there was a sharp electric current in everyone's ears.All communication between the mother ship and them is carried out through the microwave signal transmitters plugged in their ears, and everything they see will be recorded through the camera hole in their neck collars and transmitted back to the mother ship.At this moment, the scene of Tanisel among the inhumans must have been transmitted back to the mother ship. After a while, there was an angry man speaking loudly in Eve language. He was probably the commander of Eve's army in this operation. .When those Eve soldiers discovered that their priest accompanying the army had gone to explore the red earth without permission, they must have tens of thousands of grass and mud horses galloping past in their hearts.At this moment, what wah wah wah said is probably not a good thing.

Tanithel took some of the headset out of his ears as if he thought it was too noisy, and replied lightly to Eve's words to the microphone connected to the headset, and then put the headset in his pocket.Ethan and the others heard Commander Eve on the other end of the headset still roaring, but apparently it couldn't reach the crazy priest's ears.After a while, the shout finally stopped, and was replaced by the voice of a dignified earthling, who seemed to be their chief of guard.

"The incident happened suddenly. The content of this mission was added to protect the priest of Tanithel. After the mission is successful, the reward points will be increased to 18 points. Now everyone is going to enter the No. [-] Pioneering Base to search for any suspicious clue."

Pioneering Base No. 18 is about one kilometer away from them.Passing through the dense red grassland and a small piece of woodland composed of that weird livid plant, the temporary buildings of the base are clearly identifiable.If you get closer, you can see that those nanoplastic buildings have been abandoned for a while, and the white seen in the distance has been covered with a layer of rust-colored dust, and some twisted red capillaries have climbed on some buildings. Alien plants with general blood vessels.

The semi-circular main building gate is locked, and the camera for pupil recognition can still be seen after dusting off the surface of the code disk.At this time, the mother ship issued an order for Otto to unlock it, saying that it was in his backpack.Otto rummaged around and found a foldable computer about the size of a palm, and a pair of strange-colored glasses.Otto whistled, put on his glasses, unfolded the computer so that it floated in the air, and then stood in front of the password disk and turned around.Probably because the base is stationed on an alien planet, there is no danger of being invaded, so the human body identification combination lock is not as difficult to open as imagined. After 10 minutes, I suddenly heard some kind of rumbling machine starting sound coming from the ground.

Apparently some systems in the base started to work after detecting that the door lock was unlocked, and the tightly sealed door quickly rose up, and a gentle female voice said, "Welcome back."

Ethan followed everyone into the bright and clean corridor.In the sealed environment, even after several years, there is not much dust, and the smooth and clean frosted board reveals a soft light color, giving people an extremely clean, even somewhat inhuman texture.Samuel walked in the front, Tanisel followed closely behind, and the rest, including Ethan, followed behind.The short corridor ended in front of a cabin door, and the light female voice sounded again, "I am Gina, the main computer of the frontier team, please verify your identity."

Samuel said, "We are sent by the Earth Alliance, you will know when you contact the Earth Alliance."

Gina said, "Sorry, my communication system has been severely damaged, and there is no way to get in touch with the Earth Alliance. Please say your identity verification code, otherwise the expulsion process will start in 5 minutes."

Everyone was in an uproar, and Derek said suddenly, "It can't be something like a death ray..."

Samuel asked irritably into the headset, "Do you have any verification codes?"

A sentence came from the other end of the headset, "All verification codes are personally encrypted, and we have no way to obtain them. Derek in your team is good at dealing with artificial intelligence, let him negotiate with Gina."

Derek said directly, "Protecting the base from unauthorized people is Gina's central task, and she is already a mature artificial intelligence, I can't convince her unless I can directly enter her The network interface modifies the way she receives information, but I guess this interface should be in the safest place in the base."

Although everyone couldn't understand what he was talking about, they basically understood that he couldn't handle the computer.A long sigh came from the headset, "Okay, you guys come out first. Give us a few minutes, and we will destroy the defense system of Base 18."

"Wait." Ethan said something suddenly, then raised his head and said, "KA35T792."

After a while, the closed safety door suddenly opened silently, and Gina responded, "Identity confirmation, welcome, Mr. Eldridge."

Everyone stared at him in surprise, and Ethan smiled awkwardly, "Seven years ago, the identity verification codes of all the important officials of the Energy Bureau were entered into this project, and the information contact has been cut off in the past few years. It is estimated that Gina has not updated the information about my information."

Samuel laughed, "It seems that your secretary was a big shot before?"

Behind the door is a spacious irregular circular lobby, with several comfortable sofas in the middle, surrounded by a 3D projection table.There are comfortable leisure seats of different shapes and similar projection computer desks at every corner. The snow-white walls are actually screens that can display naked-eye [-]D images when you look closely.On the wall directly in front of the gate is a portrait of President Aibia, with black velvet-like black short hair, and a pair of cold eyes on a fair face, giving people a sharp beauty that is rarely seen among women.

At first glance, except for the lights on one wall, the entire hall is surprisingly clean and tidy, and it seems that it has not been vandalized, but the plants are all dead, and there are some decayed and deteriorated tables in the restaurant that cannot be seen at all. It turned out to be some kind of food, a black lump in the bowl exuding a rancid smell, covered with thick fluff.

Samuel and several others led a dozen people to search the entire main base separately.Ethan naturally followed Samuel step by step, and the priest also followed their team, looking around curiously.

They searched the entire east wing area and found plant greenhouses for cultivating grains, vegetables and fruits and some animal breeding warehouses, but all the plants had withered and the animals were also missing.The strange thing is that there are no signs of damage to those breeding warehouses, and there are even a lot of feed in the food bowls inside, but the animals are gone.Even the breeding warehouse marked "cockroach" was empty, with only rotten food residue left.There are also many data disks stored in other archive rooms, and Ethan pulled out a few databases and quietly put them in his trouser pockets.When he turned his head, he saw that Priest Eve was sitting at the computer desk with great interest, looking at the images of several documents floating on the desktop.

Ethan leaned over, "What are you looking at?"

"It seems that they were still diligently entering data before they disappeared." Tanisel pointed to a document above, "Look, here it is said that they began to observe mammals brought from the earth a week before disappearing They were all very restless, and the docile sheepdog also became manic, tried to escape several times, and bit two breeders. The corn they planted also began to wither for no reason. "

Ethan looked at the document carefully, and the language recorded was very brief, and it was indeed what Tanithel said.But the strange thing is that it seems that the sentence at the end has not been entered yet. The last word seems to be "observation", but it stops abruptly after writing only half of it.

The tabletop is very clean, no blood stains.It's as if the entry clerk suddenly needed to leave the table when he wrote "obse", and he was so anxious that he didn't even have time to type the word and ran away, and then never came back.

Tanithel turned his head to look at Ethan, but his clear eyes shone with excitement, "Look, all the organic things in this base are either rotten or disappear. It happened in a short period of time, and they didn't even have time to pack their things."

The author has something to say:

I have a feeling that this article will reach new heights..._(:з」∠)_