I Am a Salted Fish in the Interstellar Era - Chapter 25

“Where did you get this from?” Luo Xiaci pinched the crystal box in his hand, deliberately lowering his tone, but his demeanor was unfriendly. Had it not been for the fear of attracting the attention of those around, he might have interrogated Gu Qianqian.

Gu Qianqian was utterly bewildered, looking at the butterfly specimen inside, then down at the spatial bag at his waist.

He had two spatial bags at his waist; this one belonged to his brother, Gu Mingzhan, who had not yet awakened, so he carried his belongings with him.

Shi Yu had seen this gray-black butterfly before, and thinking back to the eerily beautiful butterfly from earlier, she immediately had an ominous guess: “You mean this butterfly…”

“Exactly!” Luo Xiaci said emphatically.

His tone was so firm that Shi Yu frowned and gave him a closer look but didn’t question him.

“Where exactly did you get it?” Luo Xiaci’s tone was already frantic.

Gu Qianqian frowned and said, “I don’t know where it came from, but it was in my brother’s spatial bag, so it must be his…”

Luo Xiaci paused for a moment, holding the butterfly encased in the crystal box. He activated the private mode in the hover car where they were sitting, and said seriously, “This cannot stay here. You’ve seen the butterfly just now; it’s clearly of the same kind.”

Saying this, Shi Yu felt an odd sense of discordance in Luo Xiaci’s words; his assertions before and after were too firm, as if he was completely certain that this butterfly could create those kinds of holes for the insect race.

Shi Yu suddenly turned to Gu Qianqian and asked, “I remember you saying last time that the insect race came out of the exhibition hall in your house?”

Gu Qianqian nodded, something flickering through his mind. He widened his eyes and said, “Could it be that the thing my brother went to get from the exhibition hall was this butterfly?”

His mind was a mess, but he couldn’t help but continue, “No wonder… no wonder the insect race has been chasing us… impossible to shake off…”

After they escaped from the exhibition hall, the insect race didn’t follow, but for some reason, wave after wave of the insect race appeared on their escape route, continually entangling them. Initially, Gu Qianqian thought the insect race just wanted to consume humans, without giving it much thought…

“This can’t stay here!” Luo Xiaci said without hesitation.

The butterfly was still a specimen, but it was uncertain when it might awaken and tear open a hole like before, allowing the insect race to come from another dimension.

Most importantly, everyone in the shelter was within the hover car fleet. If the insect race were to follow them now, everyone would be doomed.

“Throw it away?” Lu Dongyan asked, frowning.

“We can’t just throw it away. If this is handed over to the research institute, it might be possible to solve the reason the insect race is coming to Sea Blue Star from other places and thus close the passage. Otherwise, Sea Blue Star will be completely occupied by the insect race…”

If the hole doesn’t close, there will be a continuous flow of the insect race from another dimension. Now, they are only rampaging on the surface, but with their strong combat abilities, who knows if they could also move and fight in space.

If that happens, the entire federation, no, the entire universe will face a terrifying crisis.

“But we can’t risk so many people. The insect race clearly knows where this is. If they come after it, everyone will die.”

The four were silent when Shi Yu’s brain-computer interface made a beeping sound. She looked down to see that it was from Feng Xiao, who had just finished treating the injuries of Lin Xie and others and was now blocked outside.

Shi Yu gave Luo Xiaci a look, and after Feng Xiao came in, he activated the private mode again.

Feng Xiao was stunned to see the grave expressions on their faces: “What happened?”

Lu Dongyan pointed at the crystal box in Luo Xiaci’s hand, and Feng Xiao exclaimed, “Isn’t this the butterfly specimen from the exhibition hall? How did it end up with you?”

Lu Dongyan then reminded him that this butterfly was very likely the main culprit behind the insect race’s invasion of Sea Blue Star.

After hearing this, Feng Xiao also fell silent. This thing was a hot potato; simply discarding it meant the secret of the insect race’s invasion of Sea Blue Star and their constructed passageways couldn’t be solved in the short term. But keeping it was like holding a human-shaped insect magnet, which was deadly.

Luo Xiaci suddenly looked up: “Do you have a way to contact Xie Yuyan?”

As soon as he finished speaking, he realized it was in vain. How could a few people possibly connect with the commander of the Judgment Army? Luo Xiaci was about to find Shen Han with the crystal box in hand, but Feng Xiao suddenly grabbed his wrist.

“Do you intend to give this thing to Xie Yuyan?”

Luo Xiaci nodded. This butterfly couldn’t stay in the floating car convoy any longer. Taking advantage of the fact that the insect race hadn’t arrived yet, it needed to be sent away quickly.

Xie Yuyan’s reputation wasn’t unfounded. He could definitely handle this hot potato, and he would surely know better than them how to deal with this butterfly.

Whether to kill it or study it, that was his decision to make.

A flicker of discomfort swiftly crossed Feng Xiao’s face, then he opened his brain-computer interface to dial a terminal number.

In the blink of an eye, Xie Yuyan’s face appeared on the virtual screen.

Well, Feng Xiao was keeping a low profile; he even knew Xie Yuyan’s terminal number.

“What’s the matter?”

For someone who had been “dead” in the list for ten thousand years to suddenly “revive,” it was obvious it wasn’t for a casual chat. Xie Yuyan paused a meeting to answer his call.

“Brother Yuyan, do you have anyone around you? I have something very important to tell you, extremely crucial, concerning the origin of the disaster on Sea Blue Star.”

Xie Yuyan immediately frowned, whispered to the people around him that the meeting was paused, took a few steps away, and then said, “Go ahead.”

Feng Xiao directly took the crystal box from Luo Xiaci’s hand, placed it in front of the virtual screen, and 3D projected it onto Xie Yuyan’s brain-computer interface.

The moment Xie Yuyan saw the butterfly specimen, he narrowed his eyes, Shi Yu knew he must have recognized it as the one from the exhibition hall.

“Where did you get this?” Xie Yuyan asked.

“There’s no time to explain now. Brother Yuyan, which shelter are you at? I’ll bring this thing over immediately. The insect race can lock onto its location. Our shelter just suffered an attack from the insect race and is currently evacuating. We absolutely cannot withstand a second attack.”

Xie Yuyan didn’t ask further. His mind was quick, and without needing to think too deeply, he guessed why Feng Xiao wanted to deliver the butterfly to him. He immediately reported a shelter’s location and, seeming uneasy, added a word of caution: “Be careful on your way.”

After ending the communication, Xie Yuyan looked at the lifelike butterfly specimen on the virtual screen. His fingers danced on the screen, and soon he and Feng Xiao had completed positioning. He then quickly formulated the safest route and sent the map over.

After doing all this, he reconnected with Xie Jiangsa’s communication.

–

After Feng Xiao ended the call, he faced four pairs of eyes. Shi Yu touched her chin and said, “Brother Yuyan? You even have his terminal number, I didn’t see that coming—”

She drew out the last few words, seemingly teasing on purpose.

Gu Qianqian parroted, “Didn’t see that coming.”

Lu Dongyan didn’t want to stand out, “Didn’t see that coming…”

Luo Xiaci refused to join in their foolery: “…”

Feng Xiao resisted the urge to roll his eyes: “Is now really the time to focus on this? I’m leaving.”

Shi Yu stood up and hooked his neck: “Where do you think you’re going? With your mecha, which runs slower than a tortoise, are you planning to deliver it by next year? Give it to me, I’ll go.”

Feng Xiao: “…”

To say an SSS-grade mecha runs slower than a tortoise, probably only Shi Yu would say something like that in this world.

“No, you just got injured—” Lu Dongyan immediately shut his mouth as he spoke.

Gu Qianqian suddenly raised his eyebrows: “You got injured?”

Shi Yu rolled her eyes: “What injury? Just got hit by a small spider, how bad could it be?”

Feng Xiao added softly, “An SSS-ranked Octo-Stiff Spider, that’s really ‘small’.”

Shi Yu: “…”

Well, the little doctor has learned to be sarcastic. He used to just flaunt his credentials.

After a few minutes of discussion, the four of them unanimously decided to leave Gu Qianqian in the hovercar.

Naturally, he strongly objected to this decision, but it was futile. He was injured, and Gu Mingzhan had not yet woken up. If Gu Mingzhan woke up, he would need his younger brother to explain why the butterfly specimen was taken by them.

Hearing this, Gu Qianqian felt disheartened. He didn’t know the purpose behind Gu Mingzhan taking the butterfly specimen, but he was willing to risk his life not to discard it, surely there was a reason.

Gu Qianqian could only watch helplessly as the four left the hovercar, then he decided to stay by Gu Mingzhan’s side.

After leaving the hovercar fleet, they sent a message to Shen Han, informing him that they were acting on Xie Yuyan’s orders.

Shen Han was skeptical, fearing that these young troublemakers were up to something. But now that they had run off, he couldn’t possibly chase after them in his mecha. He repeatedly cautioned them to be careful on their way and sent a message to the headquarters. Only after receiving a definite response did he relax.

Lin Xie was still unconscious. He was under great pressure and didn’t want anyone here to get into trouble.

Of course, the speed of a mecha is not comparable to that of a hovercar, but its large target size easily attracts the attention of the insect race.

Fortunately, the route Xie Yuyan planned mostly avoided the insect race territories. Initially, the four of them made smooth progress.

But soon, the “Insect Attractor” lived up to its name. Whenever they passed by an area near the insect race, the creatures were mysteriously drawn to them, relentlessly pursuing them as if drugged.

The feeling of running with a horde of insects rumbling behind them was indescribably odd. Amidst the tension, Shi Yu found it somewhat amusing, reminding her of being chased by a horde of zombies during the apocalypse.

But her amusement quickly faded.

In the sky, one giant bee after another appeared, their slender waists and ample buttocks, wings buzzing and trembling, emitting disorienting sonic waves.

Compared to the Black Leech Spiders and other insect races, these bees flying in the air were undoubtedly beautiful. However, these beautiful bees were classified with combat capabilities ranging from S to SSS grade in the Deep Blue Star System’s recently published insect race compendium.

And there wasn’t just one or two in front of them, but a swarm.