Chapter 52: Alien Prequel – They Need Me

For the Engineer, this was the first time he had ever observed one of his creations from such a close distance.

Jiang Shulan rested his chin in his hands and looked at him. His blue eyes were like two glass marbles freshly scooped from a stream, clear and spotless. Whenever he looked at someone, his eyes were always wide open, with the corners drooping slightly.

“Is it good?” he asked.

The Engineer swallowed the pudding that melted instantly in his mouth.

“It’s good.”

Much better than the food of his own people.

“Try this too.”

Jiang Shulan picked up a piece of fish and placed it on the Engineer’s plate.

“This one’s delicious too!”

To celebrate the success of their expedition, Weyland had told everyone to eat freely. Steaks, lamb, and bottles of aged wine were brought out.

Jiang Shulan only liked Chinese food, so David had prepared a separate meal for him.

Since only Jiang Shulan could understand the Engineer’s language, he had simply brought the Engineer to his room.

The Engineer ate the fish and nodded.

“It’s very good.”

“Try this one too.”

The two of them chatted happily.

Meanwhile, David, who could only watch the Engineer’s gaze toward Jiang Shulan become increasingly gentle while he was still frying egg fried rice, remained silent.

“Hey!”

Holloway stumbled drunkenly toward the Engineer and suddenly collapsed onto the Engineer’s knee.

He looked genuinely drunk, smiling foolishly.

“Dad!”

Jiang Shulan choked.

“Have you lost your mind?”

David immediately put down the wok and utensils and walked over to pour Jiang Shulan a glass of water.

Compared with the Engineer, humans were indeed much smaller, but that didn’t mean you could casually call him father.

Jiang Shulan looked toward the door and found Janek and several others standing there just as drunk, hesitating awkwardly.

He made a puzzled expression.

It was as if someone had pressed a switch.

They all stumbled forward and crowded around the Engineer, shouting one after another,

“Dad! Dad!”

Jiang Shulan stared blankly at the scene before him.

The Engineer froze for a few seconds, then actually reached out and patted Holloway’s head, though it looked suspiciously like he was trying to crush Holloway’s skull.

Jiang Shulan was completely baffled.

Had they all been drinking counterfeit alcohol?

The only sober person, Shaw, laughed.

“Mr. Weyland made a bet with them. They lost, and the condition was that they had to come here and call the Engineer ‘Dad.’”

When Weyland was young, he had loved making bets.

He always bet that he could accomplish things others believed impossible, and he almost always won.

From a dreamer mocked by everyone, he had become an idol admired by countless people.

A sense of unease suddenly rose in Jiang Shulan’s heart.

He hurried into the main hall.

Weyland was sitting at the table, peacefully asleep.

Vickers was crouching in front of him, saying nothing.

This time, Weyland had won his bet as well.

He had died at the end of his journey into the unknown and found the creator of humanity.

With reddened eyes, Jiang Shulan draped a blanket over Weyland.

“Father, have a good dream.”

For several days after Weyland’s death, both Jiang Shulan and Vickers were deeply depressed.

David stayed by Jiang Shulan’s side every day, telling him stories and jokes, trying every possible way to comfort him.

No matter how much he coaxed him, Jiang Shulan simply cried silently.

For the first time, the Engineer understood how terrifying and heartbreaking death was for humans.

After staying aboard the Prometheus for a few more days, he finally decided to return to his own ship.

Jiang Shulan was still sad. His nose and eyes were red.

“Why?”

“The black liquid aboard my ship is too dangerous,” the Engineer said.

“I’m going to take it somewhere much farther away from Earth. But if humanity ever disappoints me, I will still bring the black liquid to Earth.”

“The black liquid?”

Jiang Shulan sniffed, his eyes filling with tears again.

“Didn’t you say you didn’t know what it was?”

It seemed his diplomatic skills had not been enough to stop the foreign visitor from lying to him.

“Because we had seen humanity commit many wrongs, and in our anger we intended to destroy Earth. The black liquid was our weapon.”

“And now?”

The Engineer looked at the embarrassed Holloway and smiled with a strange, almost paternal expression.

“Humans are my children.”

Holloway’s face instantly turned bright red.

He wished he could dig a hole and bury himself.

This would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Jiang Shulan couldn’t help smiling.

Finally, he was smiling again.

The Engineer and David both quietly let out a sigh of relief.

The Engineer departed in his crescent-shaped ship, and the Prometheus prepared for its return journey to Earth.

One after another, everyone entered cryosleep.

After comforting Jiang Shulan briefly, Vickers also fell asleep.

She was grieving too, but Weyland Corporation still needed her.

She would carry on her father’s ideals.

Jiang Shulan cried almost every day.

It was the first time he had felt the warmth of a family in a movie world.

He missed home terribly.

Even when the system reminded him that no matter how many worlds he completed, only a brief instant would pass in the real world, he could not stop crying.

David never left his side.

The closeness between them seemed to have returned to the intimacy of their childhood, and that only made him feel worse.

[That’s why I told you not to become too emotionally attached.]

[That’s because you sent me here so early!]

Jiang Shulan cried even harder.

“David.”

His eyes were red, his eyelashes clumped together with tears, his lips pressed tightly, his lower lip slightly pouting, and his chin trembling faintly.

After so many worlds, he could vaguely sense David’s feelings for him.

But…

“Don’t be so good to me.”

He cried quietly.

“One day, you’ll leave me too.”

“I won’t, Little Master.”

David knelt beside his bed and gently kissed his fingertips.

“I’m an android. I won’t die. I will never leave you.”

“But androids can die if they run out of power.”

“They won’t.”

As soon as David finished speaking, he suddenly collapsed.

Panicked, Jiang Shulan rushed over to check on him.

At that moment, the electronic watch on his bedside table suddenly vibrated.

A message from an unknown sender appeared.

“Little Master, as long as there are electronic devices, I’ll always be here, always with you ^_^. Love, David.”

Jiang Shulan choked back tears and complained,

“What about places without electronic devices?”

The watch immediately replied with a shameless message.

“Then may I enter your body, Little Master?”

Jiang Shulan threw the watch onto the floor.

“What? You’re actually sexually harassing me?”

“No.”

David stood up again, his pale blond hair gleaming with a metallic sheen under the cold light.

His light blue eyes were almost colorless, like a frozen lake beneath a winter sky.

Smiling, he said something that made Jiang Shulan’s scalp tingle.

“Little Master, I made a chip. May I implant it into your body?”

Jiang Shulan refused immediately.

“Isn’t that terrifying?”

Since David could control all electronic devices, anything implanted in his body could presumably be controlled as well.

“Don’t you want to ask what the chip can do?”

“No. I don’t want to know, and I’m not going to agree anyway.”

David smiled faintly.

On the night he realized his feelings, he had already implanted it.

For his little master, he had violated every directive encoded into his body.

The chip could constantly monitor his little master’s physical condition, sense his surroundings, and alter certain physiological responses whenever they met.

Now, the only person who had ever been able to restrain him, Weyland, was gone.

His little master’s sister was in cryosleep.

Two years was more than enough time.

This was the perfect moment to activate the chip.

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