150: The resonance of scars

Chen Feng did not barge in.

He leaned back against the cold metal wall of the corridor and slowly sat down, placing himself in the shadows.

"Fili." His voice was calm.

"Wh-what?" The captain was unnerved by his unusual behavior.

"Stay at the bridge. Before I come out, no one is allowed to approach this place," Chen Feng said. "If she is provoked again, I guarantee you will be the first to experience what it's like to swim naked in space."

Fili shuddered at that emotionless tone and scrambled back to the bridge.

The world finally grew quiet.

Only the intermittent, fragile sobbing that seemed like it would shatter at any moment remained deep in the corridor.

Time ticked by, minute by minute.

Chen Feng took a packet of high-energy nutritional paste from his pocket, tore it open, silently squeezed it into his mouth, and chewed mechanically.

Then, he took out another unopened packet and gave it a light flick with his finger.

The silver packet of nutritional paste slid silently across the smooth metal floor, crossing the line between light and shadow, and finally stopped deep in the corridor—at a position where Eve could see it just by looking up, yet wouldn't feel any threat.

He didn't speak, just waited quietly.

After an unknown amount of time, when the suppressed crying gradually turned into faint whimpers, Chen Feng finally spoke.

His voice was very low, carrying a trace of genuine exhaustion, as if he weren't talking to anyone but merely talking to himself.

"I knew someone."

"He once thought he had the whole world. The youngest star entrepreneur, a genius pursued by countless people."

"Until one day, his most trusted partner used a forged financial report to personally send him to hell. Overnight, he lost everything."

Chen Feng leaned against the wall, looking up at the flashing pipe indicator lights on the ceiling, his eyes somewhat vacant.

"He was trapped in the top-floor office of the skyscraper he built with his own hands for seven whole days. Lawyers, creditors, reporters... everyone wanted to tear him apart. He didn't dare go out, didn't dare answer the phone, and didn't even dare open the curtains."

"He just sat there in the dark, looking at the glittering world outside. That world was something he once wanted to conquer, but at that moment, he felt like a fish trapped in a transparent glass bowl."

"Everyone is looking at you, but no one hears your voice. You want to escape, but you find you can't even touch the boundaries of the fishbowl."

"That kind of loneliness... it can drive a person insane."

He didn't mention the mission, he didn't mention Reno, and he didn't even mention Eve's name.

He was just telling a distant story belonging to Earth.

A story of being betrayed, imprisoned, and abandoned by the world.

The sobbing deep in the corridor had completely stopped at some point.

In the darkness, a pair of silver, tear-filled eyes slowly looked up.

From that story, Eve heard a sense of imprisoned loneliness that was incredibly similar to her own.

For the first time, she began to seriously examine this man who had only ever made her feel fear and oppression.

Was he really... the same as her?

"Hey! I say, are you two done with your sweet talk? It's been nearly an hour! Time is money, my friend!" Fili couldn't hold back and sneakily poked his four-eyed head out from the corner.

Chen Feng didn't even turn his head, merely casting a bone-chilling glance over.

Fili immediately shrank back like a cat that had its tail stepped on, still whispering some complaint.

This comical scene caused the atmosphere in the corridor to loosen slightly.

Eve looked at Chen Feng's profile and hesitated for a long time.

Then, like a small animal tentatively emerging from its nest, she slowly crawled over bit by bit and picked up the packet of nutritional paste on the floor.

She didn't open it, but just gripped it tightly in her palm, as if there were something warm inside.

The corner of Chen Feng's mouth curled into an almost imperceptible arc.

He had bet correctly.

An hour later.

The door to the medical bay opened again.

Eve appeared at the door of her own accord, her face still as pale as paper, but her silver eyes had regained their usual clarity and focus.

She looked at Chen Feng, her lips moved, and she said softly, "During the analysis, you... are not allowed to leave."

"I'm not going anywhere," Chen Feng promised.

Accompanied by Chen Feng, who didn't leave her side for a second, Eve began her work.

She didn't touch those expensive professional instruments, but instead walked to the console she had personally smashed.

She skillfully dismantled the scorched casing and took out various chips and circuits that were still usable. Her movements were focused and elegant, like a craftsman restoring a precious work of art.

Soon, an extremely crude but fully functional spectrum analyzer, pieced together from various scraps, appeared on the workbench.

She connected the analyzer to Reno's life support system, and strings of dense data streams flashed across the screen like a waterfall.

Eve's brow furrowed tighter and tighter.

"I understand now." She turned to look at Chen Feng, her voice carrying a hint of gravity. "The stasis sliver isn't healing him; it's 'replicating' itself."

"It is trying to use itself as a template to forcibly 'assimilate' Reno's body structure into an existence like its own. This is an extremely crude process that is destined to fail. Reno's body is rejecting this modification, and that is the root of his collapse."

"The only way," a light that was a mix of madness and genius flashed in Eve's eyes, "is that we cannot stop it. We must intervene and guide this fatal evolution."