However, Lin Xi understood what Lisa meant. Since this aircraft can come here from Earth (judging from its intact appearance, it's impossible it made an emergency landing due to an unexplained jump failure like Helios). here), then its central computer must have records of flight routes, or, even simpler, the coordinates of this planet.
But when he saw the aircraft, Lin Xi already had a vague guess in his mind.
Perhaps, as those people said, this was indeed the destination of the Providence that mysteriously disappeared... Planet as192.
This speculation made Lin Xi feel a little nervous.
The few words Professor Ando said after going crazy in the solitary room still weighed heavily on his chest like a stone.
Providence again...
Could it be that the ghost of the captain of the Providence, who disappeared into space with a quarter of a million people three hundred years ago, was still lingering on this strange planet?
Lin Xi's reason told him that this was impossible, but sometimes, there's not enough reason to calm the human mind.
"Dr Lin Xi? Is something wrong?"
Schrodreth's trembling voice forced Lin Xi to pay attention. He glanced at the young man next to him. His face was pale, he was obviously thinking wildly because of Lin Xi's long silence.
"No, it's nothing."
Lin Xi shook his head.
He didn't show any uneasiness. Forced by the situation, he unknowingly became the leader of these four people. He had to learn to stabilize the situation.
Lin Xi clutched the gun in his hand tightly and walked forward along the corridor.
The light was very bright, so bright that he felt a little uncomfortable. Helios consumed too much fuel to maintain the "Covenant" shield, and unknowingly, he had nearly gotten used to the unstable and dim lights brought by the secondary energy source.
For the same reason, Lin Xi wasn't used to the silence here.
After all, the old things on Helios that's been in service for hundreds of years always make noises here and there from time to time— But here, except for the subtle buzzing sound when starting up, there were only the slow and hesitant footsteps of their group, echoing in the long and narrow corridor.
They first passed through a temporary passage for emergency evacuation, then used a crowbar to push open an isolation door and came to the real interior of the aircraft.
What appeared in front of Lin Xi and the others was a bright and smooth corridor. Because the spacecraft itself wasn't horizontal, the corridor was tilted all the way down.
Some circular hatches were embedded on both sides of the corridor.
Lin Xi tried to open them, but most of them were locked from the inside.
However, their original function could be seen from the metal signs on the hatch.
"Living necessities storage room 1, living necessities storage room 2, living necessities— hell, these people are so rich, how many living necessities do they have in storage?"
Schroedreth repeated the words on the signs in a low voice, and then asked in wonder.
No one answered his question. Lin Xi cautiously walked down the sloping corridor. He would stop from time to time, trying to find some clues from this smooth and sleek aircraft... clues as to why it appeared here.
In addition, he found that the materials and facilities of the aircraft were very particular, but the styles were all in the style of the era of exploration.
They found the elevator at the end of the corridor. Lin Xi glanced at the sign and then pressed the upwards arrow.
When they came to other decks, the clean and bleak view of the storage deck finally changed.
There was a lot of debris on the ground, and a white shoe made of reflective material that obviously belonged to a researcher. He must've been in a panic when he ran through the corridor where Lin Xi and the others were now.
"... Otherwise, he wouldn't have lost his shoe."
Lin Xi murmured.
Then he set his sights farther away.
There's some information on the ground, but those electronic ink papers have completely faded over the long years.
Now they look nothing more than gray plastic sheets.
Then came the weapons, each of them empty of bullets. Going a little further... black stains appeared on the ground and walls.
Lin Xi's eyes paused on the stains for a long time, and his heart accelerated a bit.
Because the stains that have turned completely black... are actually blood stains.
"What on Earth... happened here?"
Schroderreth's voice was trembling.
Lin Xi didn't answer him.
They continued walking, and finally they came to a row of cryo-sleep chambers with wide open doors.
After seeing the situation, almost everyone let out a low cry of fear.
There were almost hundreds of freezing compartments in the aircraft. At a glance, it seemed that the neatly arranged freezing compartments can be lined up directly from this section of the aircraft to the other end.
Compared with the sleeping rooms here, the sleeping rooms on Helios looked simply unsightly.
Moreover, there were people inside these cryo-sleep chambers... or rather, corpses.
That's right, the hundreds of people lying in the cryo-sleep chamber have all turned into shriveled, slender, dark-skinned mummies. However, the vital signs monitor and terminal system still glowed slightly with a bluish light— they've been working non-stop from beginning to end.
Lin Xi's figure shook slightly, he felt sick and scared.
But he forced himself to calm down.
After looking around, he endured the extreme discomfort and slowly walked to the middle of the dormant cabins.
He examined the mummies and the instruments in order.
The mummies' eye sockets were deeply sunken, but their lips are all open. However, due to the low temperature, all the hair and clothing on their bodies have been completely preserved. Some people still have clear tattoos on their skin, and some have wedding rings hanging around their necks, some people still have photos next to their pillows, but the people in the photos have long lost their outlines... Everything about them makes them vaguely resemble a breathing, living person. It seemed that in the next second, they'd open their eyes and smile at Lin Xi.
The other three were already too scared to speak. Lin Xi calmed down and clicked on the work log of the freezing warehouse.
The freezing started in 2275... This coincided with the guess in his heart. It was indeed the end of the Age of Exploration, the Providence had disappeared into space by that time.
All the freezing warehouses were opened under normal conditions, and Lin Xi searched page by page for the information he wanted.
The first few dozen pages were filled with boring and monotonous data, which looked normal. However, in 2280, something strange began to appear in the work log.
He discovered that people began to frequently use emergency freezing devices to put some people into cryo-sleep mode, and soon after, some bizarre instructions began to appear in the work log.
For example...
"Adjust the unfreeze period from 2295 to 1,000,000?"
He looked at the words on the work log in confusion.
This adjustment is tantamount to letting everyone in the cryo chambers die, and really, they were indeed very dead.
Lin Xi tried to find the source of the instruction, but he ultimately failed because he lacked the key.
"You mean, these people were all killed?"
Lina spoke with a trembling voice. She was obviously frightened by the hundreds of living mummified corpses in the freezer.
"Maybe... but this is so weird."
Lin Xi murmured.
"This kind of instruction completely violates the basic right to human survival. Unless the underlying program had been changed, it'll never be successfully issued, let alone approved by the central computer."
Lin Xi looked around at the mummies around him.
The mummies, whose jaws had been pulled apart by tight skin and whose lips had gaped open, now looked as if they were screaming silently.
And this scream has been going on for three hundred years.
Lin Xi felt uncomfortable, he wanted to vomit, he was getting cold.
For a few moments, he almost wanted to give up exploring and run away with his companions.
But while he was thinking this, there seemed to be a voice deep in his body that kept reminding him— look again, look again, here is what you need, here is the... clue you need.
I am the captain of the Providence—
In his daze, Lin Xi seemed to hear Dr Ando's ethereal, ghostly whispers ringing in his ears again.
______
PastTimer: Only one chapter for now because I'm really tired and need to rest. I think I'll make up for it but definitely not soon. I'll continue being busy but hopefully there'll be two chapters next week. Ciao.