Chapter 134: Little Grey Men

Chapter 134 The Gray Being

As a scientist, Ji An always instinctively noticed details others overlooked.

For instance, he now remarked, "Have you ever considered that the lack of new life might be a consequence of your civilization's development? You've abandoned physical bodies, existing only as consciousness—this could be why new life can no longer be born."

"The possibility you've raised was theorized by our scientists long ago. We replicated your physical forms to create shells, which was no difficult feat given our level of civilization. Yet even when wearing such shells, the new life born from them lacked a spiritual essence—they were soulless husks," the alien replied frankly, without any attempt to conceal the truth.

Ji An fell into brief contemplation. *No soul? Why would there be no spiritual essence? What exactly are these aliens? Are humans truly of the same origin as them from millions of years ago? Do human souls persist after death? Is the birth of new life truly the reincarnation of those departed souls?*

The aliens' inability to produce new life stemmed from their existence as consciousness-based lifeforms. Once they died, they vanished completely from the world, unable to reincarnate—was that why no new life could emerge?

"Xiao An, Xiao An..." Gu Jinsheng's cool voice carried a trace of concern. Ji An snapped out of his thoughts and offered him a reassuring smile.

Gu Jinsheng knew Ji An's tendencies well—how a single offhand remark could send his imagination soaring, often leading to revolutionary technological breakthroughs.

Right now, however, Gu Jinsheng was more focused on another matter. "Personal connection—what did you mean by that?"

The alien's large gray eyes didn't so much as glance at Gu Jinsheng, as if the man didn't exist in the room despite having addressed him.

Prompted by Gu Jinsheng, Ji An recalled the earlier statement. "You mentioned we had a 'personal connection'—does that mean we knew each other before? But I'm an Earth human. How could I have met you?"

Then a thought struck him, and he quickly added, "Unless... you knew my soul—my spiritual essence? If your 'Earth prison' theory holds, then my soul must have committed a crime on your planet and was exiled here. So before that, we were acquaintances?"

The idea excited Ji An. This was like something from past lives! Who wouldn't be curious about their own history?

The alien first nodded, then shook its head.

Ji An was baffled. "What does that mean? Do you know me or not?"

"I know you, but you don't know me—so we can't be called acquaintances."

"Even so, we must have had overlapping social networks back then, otherwise how would you know me? Speaking of which, what kind of person was I in that life?"

The alien shook its head again. "You were a celebrated scientist. Many knew of you, admired you, followed you—but you didn't necessarily know all of them."

Ji An couldn't help feeling a little smug. "Of course. A talented person excels no matter where they are."

He shot Gu Jinsheng a cocky, teasing look—a look that was equal parts boastful and flirtatious. Gu Jinsheng's throat moved slightly as he swallowed hard.

The unspoken intimacy between them needed no words.

Suddenly, the alien grew agitated. For the first time, its large eyes fixed sharply on Gu Jinsheng.

"How dare you associate with his kind? He's a criminal—his soul is filled with evil!"

Ji An frowned. Even if they *had* been acquaintances, this alien had no right to dictate his relationships.

"By your logic, I'm a criminal too, exiled to Earth. So isn't it only natural that we'd end up together? A match made in heaven, you could say."

The alien fidgeted agitatedly in its chair. Had it not been securely restrained, it might have lunged violently.

Its reaction resembled that of a rabid fan discovering their idol in a secret relationship—especially with someone they despised. This wasn't just betrayal; it was outright defilement.

"You're not! You're no criminal—you were framed! Just a casualty in a transfer of power!" the alien shouted furiously. "You're nothing alike. Your soul is pure. His is the corrupted one!"

"You hold quite a grudge against your current rulers, don't you?"

Ji An's question instantly calmed the alien down.

He warned cautiously, "I didn't, stop making things up."

Ji An grinned with mischief, and the alien seemed to sense his scheming, abruptly said, "I must leave."

Ji An's expression instantly changed, all joking aside as he became serious.

"Don't go, I won't cause trouble."

The alien shook its head, "This body is failing and can't hold out much longer."

Ji An pushed urgently, "I have one last question—please answer me. Why did you appear near the nuclear war zones and volcanoes?"

"Actually, we were able to pinpoint Earth's coordinates again precisely because of the Nuclear War that erupted here."

The alien explained, "The damage of nuclear weapons is much worse than what you humans realize. Nuclear radiation also severely affects us aliens. We located Earth by detecting nuclear radiation waves."

"So, this isn't your first time coming to Earth."

"We first arrived during the initial Nuclear War. Not just us—the Reptilians also came to Earth then."

"The Reptilians?" Ji An was surprised to hear about another movie alien. If Reptilians existed, this alien before him must be one of the Greys.

"The Reptilians are born evil, unlike us. We are neutral toward humans, but they oppose you. They're restrained by rules from acting directly, so they sneak in to turn humans against each other."

"There are Reptilians hiding among humans?"

"Yes, M Base has the most."

"How can we identify them?"

"They aren't truly human—their disguises aren't perfect. Careful observation reveals them." The Grey refused to elaborate further.

"So you initially came because of the Nuclear War, then stayed to observe and study humans after discovering new life could be born here." When the Grey clammed up, Ji An changed tack.

"Correct."

"Then why are there so many flying saucers near active volcanoes? What draws you there? Is there something special?"

"Active volcanoes are dangerous to you—eruptions claim many lives. But for us, the magma generates tons of energy to keep our saucers running."

"I see."

Suddenly, the Grey blinked hard. "I must leave now, or I'll be in great danger."

"What danger? No one here wants to harm you, and we don't even know how to damage an energy being."

"Another Nuclear War is imminent. The radiation will kill me—I must go." The Grey's tone grew urgent.

Ji An's expression turned grim. "Who's starting a Nuclear War? M Base?"

The Grey nodded, gave Ji An a long look, then started to slump. "Goodbye, Ji An."

Its eyes closed as the body went limp, motionless.

Not caring about the risk, Ji An rushed in with Gu Jinsheng close behind—but they were too late. The Grey was dead.

Ji An examined what was left—just an empty shell now.

He realized the Grey's body lacked human flesh and bones. Its smooth surface felt like some kind of spacesuit material, not skin at all.

Ji An took a closer look and could confirm this was definitely not the alien's skin; it must be a specially crafted outer garment. However, this garment was so seamlessly fitted that it completely encased the alien like a second skin.

Ji An searched all over but couldn’t find any seams or openings in the alien’s clothing. It was as if the garment itself was the skin, like this was the alien's actual skin.

"Boss, Director Ji," Kong Zhongcheng rushed in. "Owen is here. She’s received word—Charles has launched H-type missiles at us again."

"We already know."

"Huh? How did you know? We don’t have eyes in M Base, do we?" Kong Zhongcheng was puzzled.

"It was that gray alien earlier. He told us. H-type radiation is extremely harmful to them—it scared him off."

Only then did Kong Zhongcheng notice the gray alien’s corpse.

"Alright, have someone come and freeze the alien’s body. Let’s head to the research institute."

At the institute, everyone cursed Charles upon hearing the news. No one had expected Charles to go this far. They seriously suspected Charles had lost his mind—not as an insult, but in the literal sense, he's mentally ill.

This suspicion wasn’t limited to people in China. Even those in M Base believed Charles had developed a psychiatric condition.

"Get ready. We must intercept the missile outside China’s borders," Ji An instructed the researchers.

"I have full confidence in you. We’ve succeeded once before—we can do it again."

The researchers were also confident about the interception. As long as the missile’s launch coordinates remained unchanged, our odds of stopping it were good.

When China and the rest of the world received the news again, people were beyond furious.

Everyone’s first concern was their own safety.

"Charles is a lunatic, a psychopath. Why's Jing City Base picking fights with him?"

"Why should we suffer for their conflict? Last time, the missile didn’t hit the Jing City Base, but H-type Base was wiped out."

"Who's gonna get screwed this time? Why should we pay the price of the Jing City Base’s mess?"