146: Chapter 146: They dug up a hibernation pod, and inside was an alien loli?

Deep within the ruins, the stasis pod emitting a soft white light floated silently in mid-air.

The surrounding instruments were still emitting a low hum, as if it were the final heartbeat of this dead, silent planet. Academician Chen Shuyin circled that "crystal egg" three times, deploying various detectors one after another, yet she remained completely at a loss.

"It's useless."

Academician Chen Shuyin helplessly put down the laser cutter in her hand, pushed up her glasses, and her tone revealed a sense of frustration:

"The material of this shell is a type of degenerate matter; its hardness is even higher than diamond. There are no physical interfaces, nor is there a keypad. Unless we blow it up with a nuke, it's impossible to open."

She turned to look at Jiang Chen, her eyes filled with a thirst for knowledge:

"Jiang Chen, did that 'Wasteland friend' of yours leave you an instruction manual? Or... a master key?"

Jiang Chen was walking with his hands behind his back, pacing around the stasis pod like an old man visiting a museum.

Hearing this, a mysterious smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

"A master key? That's something only low-end players use."

Jiang Chen walked to the control console, extended a finger, and lightly tapped the holographic emblem that was still rotating.

On his retina, the system interface had already popped up a golden dialogue box:

** [ Detected homologous highest-authority device. ] **

** [ Target: Gaia Civilization · Bio-weapon Incubation Pod (Experimental Type). ] **

** [ Take over control? ] **

"To this civilization, I am the key."

Jiang Chen silently thought the word "Take over" in his mind.

"Hum—"

The machine, which had been running steadily, suddenly emitted a high-pitched buzz. The runes on the control console flashed frantically, and the originally red warning lights instantly turned a soft green.

"Beep! Authority confirmed."

"Identity: Supreme Executor."

"Executing awakening procedure... Nutrient solution draining... Life support system unlocked."

"Hiss—!!!"

Accompanied by a teeth-gritting sound of air pressure release, that seamless "crystal egg" slowly cracked open a gap.

A gust of white cold air, like thick dry ice fog, instantly gushed out from the crack, spreading along the floor and instantly dropping the temperature of the entire hall to freezing point.

"It opened?!"

Academician Chen Shuyin was startled and instinctively took half a step back, raising the detector in her hand. "It just opened? No password required?"

"Open Sesame, that's how they do it in fairy tales."

Jiang Chen spouted nonsense, waved his hand to dispel the white fog in front of him, and leaned forward. "Come, let's see what kind of treasure is hidden in the belly of this moon."

Zhao Gang had long since raised his gun and blocked the front, looking nervous: "Boss, be careful! What if a Xenomorph facehugger jumps out..."

However.

When the white fog completely dissipated, at the moment they saw the scene inside the pod.

The movements of all three people froze simultaneously.

There were no hideous Xenomorphs, no tentacled monsters, and certainly no green-skinned, big-headed aliens.

Lying in that sci-fi-looking pod was actually... a human.

Or rather, a little girl who appeared completely harmless.

She was curled up in the soft lining, looking like she was only seven or eight years old. She was wearing a thin, white one-piece suit similar to a hospital gown, her feet were bare, and her skin was so fair it was almost transparent; under the light, one could even see the pale blue veins beneath it.

A head of long, silver-white hair, like flowing mercury, covered the entire bottom of the pod.

"This..."

Zhao Gang's gun slowly lowered, his eyes widened into circles. "This is an alien? Isn't this just a doll?"

"No."

Academician Chen Shuyin leaned in closer; her professional instinct allowed her to keenly detect some "non-human" traits.

She extended her finger, pointing at the girl's head from a distance:

"Look at her ears."

Those were not the rounded auricles of a human.

They were a pair of pointed ears, slightly tilted backward, covered with a layer of extremely fine white down. At first glance, it looked like an elf from a fantasy game, or perhaps some kind of noble feline.

"And her hands."

Academician Chen Shuyin's gaze moved downward.

In the girl's arms, she was tightly clutching a fist-sized metal sphere with complex patterns covering its surface. Even in deep stasis, her hands were still guarding this object tightly, as if it were a treasure more important than life itself.

And on the backs of those hands, one could faintly see a few small, pale silver scales, like fish scales.

"Pointed ears, silver hair, scales..."

Academician Chen Shuyin muttered to herself, feeling that her worldview was suffering a dimensionality-reduction strike:

"This is unscientific... This is not scientific at all!"

"According to evolutionary theory, alien creatures should look like octopuses or insects! How could they possibly look so perfectly aligned with human aesthetics?"

"This art style... it's like she ran straight out of an anime!"

She suddenly turned to look at Jiang Chen, her eyes full of suspicion:

"Jiang Chen, tell me honestly."

"Could this be another delivery sent to you by that 'Wasteland friend' of yours? Is this the younger sister of that 'cat-eared maid'? Only this time, it's an elf version?"

Jiang Chen was also completely bewildered.

He looked at the sleeping little loli, feeling more puzzled than anyone else.

The system introduced it as a "bio-weapon"; he had expected something like a three-headed, six-armed Nezha, and this is what he got?

With these little arms and legs, can she fight?

Is she meant to kill the enemy with cuteness?

"Don't guess blindly, I don't know either."

Jiang Chen shook his head, his gaze falling on the girl's face.

It must be said that although the racial characteristics were a bit strange, her appearance... was truly top-tier. Those unreasonably exquisite features, combined with that sense of fragility of a sleeping beauty, could easily stir the protective instincts of any creature.

"Beep—Awakening procedure complete."

The cold electronic voice sounded again.

The soft light inside the stasis pod began to flicker, and some kind of bio-electric current was stimulating the girl's sleeping nerves.

"She moved!"

Zhao Gang whispered.

They saw the little girl, who had been motionless, suddenly flutter her eyelashes slightly. It was like a butterfly gently flapping its wings, yet it stirred up a storm in the hearts of the three people present.

Immediately after.

She slowly, and with extreme difficulty, opened her eyes.

What kind of eyes were those.

No pupils, and no whites of the eyes.

The entire eye socket seemed to contain two miniature nebulae. Deep purple halos swirled within them, as if they could suck in a person's soul.

Confusion.

Emptiness.

Until her gaze gradually focused, piercing through a thousand years of time and the cold air, finally settling on the face of the man in front of her.

That was the first living being she saw after waking up.

And it was also the coordinate marked as "Highest Authority" in the system's underlying logic.

Jiang Chen looked at those purple eyes, and a strange feeling suddenly welled up in his heart.

It was as if... he had been locked onto by some kind of destiny.

The girl blinked.

Clutching the metal sphere in her arms, she slowly sat up from the pod.

Then.

She tilted her head towards Jiang Chen, opened her cherry-like mouth, and uttered a soft, hoarse, yet incredibly clear syllable.

Although it was an ancient language, under the system's automatic translation, those two words slammed heavily against Jiang Chen's eardrums—

"Da... ddy?"