Survivors

Long Fei opened the recording device and looked at the files recorded on the tablet.

From the recorded files, he saw many images of the spaceship's crew members during their lives.

The person filming was a little blonde girl.

The girl's interactions with the crew members were very harmonious.

Then, a blonde woman in an orange jumpsuit, who looked about six or seven parts similar to the little girl, appeared. Judging by their appearance and skin tone, they didn't seem like pure Caucasians. They looked more like mixed-race individuals, with features and skin tone suggesting Eastern heritage, while their hair color and eyes were Caucasian blonde and blue.

"They must be sisters. Medical science wasn't as advanced fifty to sixty years ago. Human lifespans only started extending to around two hundred years in the last fifty years. Back then, only those in the Earth Sphere could afford gene modifications to extend their lifespan, and it was only accessible to the wealthy. The cost was prohibitive for anyone but the rich. It only became common about thirty years ago. It seems the crew of this Jupiter spaceship didn't undergo any gene modifications," Long Fei deduced.

Long Fei pressed a shortcut, speeding up the video playback.

He watched several video files, all meticulously documenting their lives aboard the spaceship.

Finding it a bit boring, Long Fei clicked on another video file. If it continued to document their daily lives, he decided he would finish it and then move on to the written documents.

In a video of many crew members eating, just as the recording was about to end, the expression of the little girl's sister, who was filming, suddenly turned to one of terror.

Long Fei immediately hit the pause button and then rewound ten seconds, playing it at normal speed.

The little girl, who had been filming frequently, suddenly started shouting, and then her sister's expression turned to one of horror. The crew members then looked at the sisters in surprise.

Suddenly, in the last few seconds of the video, an explosion and violent shaking occurred, followed by the screams of the crew members, which abruptly cut off as the screen went black.

"The explosion sound suggests the spaceship's engine blew up."

Long Fei watched the subsequent video files, which showed the captain and crew attempting to salvage the situation after the accident.

Their efforts ultimately failed, and even their distress signals received no response.

Long Fei searched for any remaining footage left by the captain.

In one video, a captain with a full white beard and a haggard appearance sat in his seat, confessing to the screen.

"Year 3 of the Jupiter Federation. As the first Jupiter spaceship to travel to the Earth Sphere, we unexpectedly encountered an accident. The engine exploded for reasons unknown. Despite our best efforts to salvage it, we failed. Many crew members suffered radiation poisoning, leading to physical mutations. Those crew members who mutated, unable to bear the psychological trauma, committed suicide. Without any rescue, most of the surviving crew members, in their despair, took their own lives. The remaining few, in this dark and hopeless environment, gradually went mad, harming each other. To prevent the situation from escalating, I had no choice but to personally end their lives with a gun." The old captain's voice was choked with tears, his expression filled with despair and self-blame.

The old captain continued, "Lixiang, who was always the life of the party on this ship, tried her best to keep smiling after the accident, hoping to bring hope to the crew. At first, everyone worked hard, but as time went on, countless failures led to despair. Lixiang also gradually lost her smile. To make matters worse, the ship collided with an asteroid, damaging many onboard systems and rendering them unusable. Everyone fell into even greater despair. Lixiang became increasingly melancholic from that point on. To prevent her from continuing to live in such an environment, her sister and I discussed it, and we administered a sedative to Lixiang. She was then placed in the hibernation pod in my secret room, entering cryo-sleep. This cryo-sleep technology is an experimental technology of our Jupiter Federation. It's still in its experimental stage, and I'm not sure if it will be successful. To be safe, I actually had another cryo-sleep pod in my secret room. Fortunately, it worked. The other spare cryo-sleep pod will not be used for now. The power required for the cryo-sleep pod does not come from the ship's nuclear engine or backup power room; it comes from the ship's emergency solar panels. Although we are far from the sun and the absorbed solar energy is insufficient to operate the ship, it is enough to power the cryo-sleep pod." As the old captain spoke, he looked towards a certain spot, which Long Fei judged to be the captain's secret room hibernation pod.

"The remaining less than ten crew members committed suicide one after another. Taoxiang was almost sexually assaulted by the last two crew members who had gone mad, and I personally shot and killed those two crew members to save her. Taoxiang didn't even thank me. She felt that no matter what happened, it didn't matter, as she didn't want to live anymore. At that moment, I slapped Taoxiang directly and told her that her sister was still sleeping, and she needed her as an older sister. A flicker of will to live appeared in Taoxiang's despairing eyes. I decided to give the spare cryo-sleep pod to Taoxiang. At first, when Taoxiang learned there was only one cryo-sleep pod left, she refused, wanting me, the captain, to use it. But I told Taoxiang that if her sister were rescued and woke up to find me, an old man, by her side instead of her sister, she would be heartbroken. What she would need most upon waking wouldn't be me, an old man, but you, her sister." After saying this, the captain shifted the camera to a picture frame containing his oil painting.

"To the rescue personnel who see this video, please remove the oil painting frame. There is a button there. Once pressed, the secret room will open. The password is yzj00. The two sisters are sleeping there. I hope you can save them. This is my only dying wish." After speaking, the captain shifted the camera back to his seat.

Then, the captain took out a handgun from a drawer and made his final confession to the camera.

"I, Bickley, am useless. I failed to bring all my crew members to the Earth Sphere. Witnessing such an accident on that beautiful planet is all due to my incompetence as captain. I have only one last wish: that all my deceased crew members can forgive me, and that together we can bless these two sisters to be rescued."

With that, Captain Bickley raised the gun to his temple and ended his life with a single shot.

Long Fei immediately got up, deciding to investigate and see if the last two individuals from Jupiter were still alive.