bookbashuk Chapter 22: Turning into an insect? ?
Chapter 22: Turning into an insect? ?
"Treme-IV".
Himeko repeated the coordinates, then turned to the control panel.
"Conductor Pam, we need to adjust our route."
"Received!"
Pam hopped onto the driver's seat with her short legs, her long ears swaying with each movement.
Its little paws were rapidly pressing buttons on the control panel.
"Recalculating jump trajectory... Target: Teremy-IV... Energy recharge complete!"
With a slight tremor.
The starry sky outside the window began to stretch out.
The once still starlight transformed into shimmering lines, like countless glowing strings rushing past the car window.
The train entered the jump channel.
"Approximately how long will it take?"
Walter Young glanced at his watch.
"Hmm... this galaxy is on the edge, and we still have to pass through several unstable nebula regions in between."
Himeko looked at the data on the screen.
"It will probably take three to four system times."
"Three or four hours..."
On March 7th, he suddenly collapsed onto the sofa, as if he had lost all his bones.
"It's been so long... I'm practically growing mushrooms from boredom."
She turned her head and looked at Hoshino, who was still somewhat weak beside her.
His eyes suddenly lit up.
Since it's about taking an adventure...
Before that, shouldn't we relax a bit?
After all, the memory probe just now had everyone on edge, and the air was thick with tension.
"Sigh! Since there's still so much time..."
March 7th sprang up from the sofa and grabbed a soft pillow with Pam's image printed on it.
"How about we try something exciting?"
"Exciting?"
Xing was looking out the window at the flowing light when she heard this and turned around to look.
"Are you going to perform swallowing ramen in three bites?"
"It's not one of those weird talents!"
On the seventh day of the third month, hold your pillow high in the air.
"Of course it's... a pillow fight!"
She looked at Hoshino with a grin.
"Even though you're wounded and can't do strenuous exercise, sitting there like a stationary gun emplacement shouldn't be a problem, right? I can give you the softest pillow!"
A pillow fight?
Mohoshi paused for a moment.
Isn't this turn of events a bit too abrupt?
One second they were discussing the extinction of the Zerg and the tragedy of the red dwarf.
Is this some kind of elementary school game about to start?
But looking at March 7th's expectant smiling face...
And then there's Xing's "this seems kind of interesting" expression.
That heavy, suffocating atmosphere has indeed dissipated considerably.
"I……"
Just as Hoshi was about to say, "I don't have the strength to throw a pillow."
"Take this!"
Xing has already taken action.
She conjured up a sturdy-looking pillow from who-knows-where and tossed it at Dan Heng, who was standing in the corner in a daze, at an extremely tricky angle.
Snapped.
The pillow hit Danheng's head precisely.
Danheng: ...
He slowly turned around.
He was still holding the balloon pump in his hand.
Expressionless.
But their eyes clearly said, "You guys have a lot of free time, don't you?"
"nice shot!"
March 7th cheered and stuffed the Pam pillow in her hand into Hoshino's arms.
"Quick, quick! Goshoku, throw one too! We're now the pink-haired and gray-haired alliance! Two against one!"
Hoshi hugged the soft pillow.
The scene inside the carriage instantly descended into chaos.
Xing jumped around to avoid Dan Heng's counterattack.
March 7th cheered from the sidelines and launched a sneak attack.
Ji Zi and Lao Yang shook their heads helplessly, picked up their cups, and hid in the safe zone.
Even the nerves that have been constantly tense.
They seemed to relax a little as well.
Yes.
It's just a countdown, isn't it?
It's just a Zerg planet, isn't it?
There are these people.
It doesn't seem... that scary?
Hoshi raised the pillow in her hand, ready to make a token gesture and throw it as a "friendship throw".
"I suggest..."
A cold, emotionless voice suddenly broke in.
Even amidst the noisy commotion, it remained as clear as a scalpel cutting through glass.
"Before you waste your energy on this pointless brawl with fiber stuffing."
Nguyen Mai stood in front of the star chart platform, not even glancing back at the feathers and pillows fluttering in the air.
"It would be best to hear about this new discovery first."
Her voice wasn't loud.
But it has a peculiar penetrating power.
It's like pressing the pause button.
Xing stopped in mid-air, still clutching the corner of a pillow in her hand.
The smile on March 7th froze on his face.
Dan Heng lowered his hand, which he had prepared to block.
Everyone looked at Nguyen Mai.
This brilliant life scholar maintained his elegant and aloof demeanor.
She turned around.
He was holding a transparent display panel.
Above is a red curve that is climbing rapidly.
"Although I really didn't want to break this...so-called 'lively atmosphere'."
Nguyen Mai pushed up her glasses and looked straight at Hoshino, who was hugging a pillow.
"But this matter concerns the final time this young lady will have to exist as a 'human' species."
"Therefore, I believe I have an obligation to inform everyone."
"Wha...what do you mean?"
On March 7th, he swallowed hard, and that bad premonition resurfaced.
"I isolated a highly active factor from her blood sample."
Nguyen Mai pointed to the peak on the display panel.
"That is the purest original gene fragment belonging to the 'breeding' star god Taizyuros."
"It is devouring, assimilating, and rewriting the cellular structure that originally belonged to humans in her body at an alarming rate."
"Rewrite?"
Walter Young frowned.
"You mean... mutation?"
"No."
Nguyen Mai shook her head.
"Mutation is a change based on the existing foundation. And this..."
"It's a replacement."
She took a step forward.
The sound of high heels was particularly jarring in the now quiet carriage.
"Her bones will become hollow, light and strong, to adapt to flight."
"Her skin keratinizes and grows a shell, which is for defense."
"Her internal organs will reorganize, and even her brain structure will change, in order to adapt to that kind of simple thinking that can only understand 'eating' and 'reproduction'."
Every time Nguyen Mai said a word.
The temperature inside the carriage seemed to drop by one degree.
Hoshi felt the pillow in her arms suddenly become as hot as a branding iron.
Or it can be as freezing as an ice cube.
She subconsciously touched her arm.
Was it a little itchy there just now?
"In other words..."
Xing put down the pillow in her hand, her expression becoming more serious than ever before.
"She'll turn into... an insect?"
"To be precise."
Nguyen Mai corrected.
"It will transform into a queen insect possessing the power of seventeen life paths, potentially capable of destroying the entire galaxy..."
Dead silence.
Utter silence.
Even the streaks of light from the jump tunnel outside the window seemed to turn ferocious.
"That……"
The voice of March 7th trembled.
"Is there any hope? Aren't we on our way to that planet to find a solution? If we can find a way to suppress that factor, wouldn't that solve everything?"
"That's the crux of the problem."
Nguyen Mai looked at the data panel in her hand.
A cold, rational glint flashed in his eyes.
"Calculated based on the slope of this proliferation curve."
"The time required to completely complete the transformation is a fixed value."
She looked up.
Looking at Hoshino's gray pupils, which were beginning to widen.
"Seven days."
Nguyen Mai held up two fingers, indicating a number.
"Or... one hundred and sixty-eight hours."
boom.
These are just two simple words.
This is a simple time.
It exploded in Hoshino's mind like a nuclear bomb.
Seven days.
One hundred and sixty-eight hours.
She suddenly raised her head.
My gaze went past Nguyen Mai's shoulder.
Beyond those worried faces.
He stared intently at that point in the void.
There.
That blood-red countdown.
It is still beating silently.
159:43:08
One hundred and fifty-nine hours.
It had been about eight or nine hours since she first saw it.
Adding the rest...
Just right.
Precisely to the second.
That countdown.
It's not a warning of the "end times" at all.
It's not a harbinger of the extinction of the Zerg.
That is……
Her life as a "human being" is counting down.
It was her final deadline before she became that kind of monster that could only wriggle and devour.
fear.
Like a black tide, it instantly overwhelmed her reason.
Hoshino's fingers began to tremble violently.
The pillow in her arms slipped off and fell to the ground with a "thud".
The smiling Pam avatar now looks so ironic.
"Seven...seven days?"
She opened her mouth.
His voice was so hoarse that it was almost inaudible.
"Only... seven days left?"
Nguyen Mai nodded.
"This is the most optimistic estimate. If you experience severe mental stress or use a large amount of destiny power during this period... this time will be shortened."
On March 7th, she covered her mouth, and tears welled up instantly.
Xing clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her flesh.
Dan Heng turned around and slammed his fist against the carriage wall.
Only the black swan maintained its elegant posture.
But in the way she looked at Hoshino.
It also added a touch of genuine compassion.
"so."
Nguyen Mai put away the display panel, her tone remaining calm.
"This trip is neither a picnic nor an adventure."
"This is a..."
"A race against time."