Alien Relic Hunter.

Chapter 229 "Sacred Objects" (two-in-one 4000-word chapter)
"That is to say, I can do whatever I want?" Ke Lan confirmed to the officer again.

"It's almost like this. The higher-ups asked us not to interfere with your personal freedom, and to provide you with assistance as much as possible if you ask for it." The officer paused, and then added, "Of course, only within the capabilities of the assisting unit."

"Then the authority given to me is really great. I almost can't directly command the troops in this camp." Ke Lan said.

"Uh... If you need command authority, I can apply to the higher authorities for you, and if approved..."

"I'm not interested in the command, but I want to stay here and watch the separation process of the East Ninth District."

"Huh?" The officer was a little stunned.

"What's the matter? Can't it work?"

"It's not impossible... It's just that when the separation operation reaches the third stage, our camp will have to retreat another two kilometers... Now this area will become a dangerous area. In principle, no one is allowed to stay in it." Here..." the officer said with some embarrassment.

"Then I will retreat with you." Ke Lan did not insist on staying here. For him, as long as he can see the separation and destruction process of the East Ninth District-he did this to confirm himself Does the "time-stop" ability just obtained have anything to do with the thing in the Iron Maiden, and whether the ability will disappear after this thing is destroyed by the main gun of the ark.

This ability was brought to him by the black liquid that seeped into his palm, which was basically certain, but Ke Lan had no idea what the black liquid had to do with the contents of the Iron Maiden.

But what made him even more strange was that the effects he had received due to the severe radiation had all disappeared on their own now. When he was on the stretcher just now, the medical soldiers accompanying the team had already drawn his blood once, and all the indicators of his body They have all returned to normal, and the radiation concentration in the blood is almost the same as that of a completely healthy person.

Does that black liquid have the function of repairing body damage?Ke Lan couldn't help but think of Ziyan's terrifying recovery ability. Even the blood holes made by bullets can be restored instantly. In comparison, this is not an exaggeration.

"Mr. Ke Lan, you will enter the third stage of the separation operation in about 10 minutes. If you have nothing else to do, you can go with us now. The remaining soldiers will also withdraw from the camp after dismantling the facilities. This area." The officer said to Ke Lan.

"Okay... But I want to ask, am I the only one who came out of the East Ninth District? Are there any other survivors? And... Why did the reinforcements not arrive after we fired the signal flare?"

"It is true that you are the only survivor. As for the reinforcements..." the officer showed a strange look on his face, and said, "Actually, after you, three more reconnaissance teams entered the East Ninth District, but they also entered the East Ninth District with the commander. The headquarters lost contact... Then, after the headquarters observed three orange flares rising from the depths of the East Ninth District, it immediately organized an assault composed of 450 elite soldiers of the garrison and 120 senior agents of the Security Bureau. team... but..."

The officer hesitated to speak, as if he was troubled by not being able to think of a suitable adjective.

"But what?" Ke Lan asked.

"But... they encountered very strange things." The officer thought for a long time, and finally chose the word "strange".

"Strange thing? We thought the reinforcements were blocked."

"There was no blocking... The commando team didn't encounter any enemies during the whole process, but they have been circling around the outskirts of the East Ninth District. They couldn't find their way and couldn't go in at all." The order of the officer's words was a little confusing, but it was still there. Made it clear what he wanted to express.

"Lost?" Ke Lan was a little stunned. He never thought that the delay in the arrival of the reinforcements was due to getting lost. "Even if the electronic navigation fails, you should have paper maps, right? Getting lost in such a handful of blocks is outrageous!"

"It's not getting lost!" The officer waved his hands again and again, "It's just that I can't find the way to enter...the outer areas of the East Ninth District...um...how should I put it, probably, probably because some changes have taken place in the spatial structure. Everything has become like a maze, even setting up beacons along the way is completely useless..."

"A change in the spatial structure?" Ke Lan repeated the other party's words, and couldn't help but fell into deep thought.

"Uh... you are from the Chinese ethnic group, I remember that there is a word in the Chinese folk saying to describe this phenomenon, it is called... what is it called... yes, 'ghost hits the wall'! That's it! The commandos and the others Encountered a 'ghost hitting the wall'!" the officer added.

"Ghosts hit the wall... According to your description, it seems to be the case." Ke Lan nodded, "But why didn't we encounter ghosts hitting the wall? Besides, when I escaped from inside, although Those blocks were severely damaged, but several main roads have not changed at all... If the spatial structure really changes, I'm afraid I won't be able to get out."

"This... I don't know about this..." the officer said helplessly, "Probably when those blocks were damaged, these changed places returned to their original state, just like the 'formation method' described in ancient military books. 'Same."

Although this officer is a white man, he seems to have a lot of research on ancient Chinese culture, and he can even tell things like formations.

To say that the most famous of this type of formation is probably the "Bagua formation" set up by Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period, but in fact the formation is not as magical as described in the novels, at best it is just a kind of row. It’s just a plan for the formation of troops... Even if the "stone formation" that can trap millions of troops in the novel really exists, when the modern technological level completely crushes that era, if you want to rely on such a maze It is also impossible for a well-trained army to be trapped inside.

But if the space structure really changes, then the crushing side between technological levels will be reversed—for human beings, most of those complex and exquisite space technologies still exist only in theory On a higher level, if the heretic sect really masters the space technology left over from the Alpha civilization, it can definitely be regarded as a "dimensionality reduction blow" to the humans on the Ark.

Moreover, if they really mastered this technology, Ark would have no chance of winning at all—not to mention, just open a portal to enter the core mastermind, and the entire Ark would be paralyzed directly. beat?
From this point of view, the technology mastered by heretical sects is only superficial, and they may not even be able to control themselves...

But there is still a doubt about the whole thing: why didn't Ke Lan and his team encounter similar things?
"By the way, did the commando hear any strange sounds?" Ke Lan asked the officer.

"Strange sound?" This time, it was the officer's turn to be stunned.

"It's a sound similar to howling and sobbing. The recording equipment can't collect it, but everyone's ears can hear it, and what different people hear is completely different..." Ke Lan described in as much detail as possible. .

"No." The officer said in a very affirmative tone, "Although I am not a member of the commando, many soldiers under my command have joined the commando, and they have not heard any abnormal sounds at all."

"No..." Ke Lan pondered, he suddenly felt that whether it was the voice, or the thoughts in his mind... or those so-called "masked arrays", all of these seemed to be verifying one thing : "It" wanted to let itself in, but everyone except itself was blocked...

This does not refer to people from heretic sects, nor is it Ziyan, but the thing in the Iron Maiden, which has a certain degree of self-awareness... and can spread this awareness and invade the minds of human beings ...

The reason why Ke Lan has such a strong desire to "go in and have a look" is entirely because it induces Ke Lan subconsciously!

And its purpose of seducing itself is to...

Ke Lan couldn't help but look down at his left hand—now there was no trace of any trace on the palm, but when he pressed it gently with his thumb, he found that there seemed to be a hard, cocoon-like lump inside. thing.

This thing didn't exist before, when did it appear?

Could it be that he was parasitized?

This thought suddenly shocked Ke Lan into a cold sweat. He subconsciously put his left hand into his pocket and pinched the stone cone.

Nothing happened. Although he could touch the cocoon with his fingers, Ke Lan didn't feel any foreign body sensation, as if the thing was originally a part of his body.

Ke Lan really wanted to find a scalpel to cut his palm open to see what that thing was, but so many eyes were still looking at him... If he was really parasitized by something, he couldn't guarantee it. What "emergency measures" these soldiers will take for themselves...

"By the way, do you have CR imaging equipment here? It's better to be a portable one that can be operated by one person." Ke Lan asked the officer.

"Ah? What do you want this for?"

"I feel uncomfortable in my right wrist. I suspect that the bones may be injured. I want to take a picture to check." Ke Lan moved his right wrist and pretended to be a little uncomfortable.

"If it's just for filming, it's available in the medical point here, and I'll send someone to—"

The officer was interrupted by Ke Lan before he finished speaking: "You let everyone in the computer room go out, I can complete the operation by myself, and you are not allowed to come in until I say yes."

"...you operate it yourself?"

Although the officer was very puzzled by Ke Lan's request, in view of the order issued by his superiors, he still met Ke Lan's request and took all the operators out, leaving only Ke Lan and the machine in the room.

Ke Lan checked every corner of the room, and then unplugged the network cables of the computer and the X-ray machine. After setting the corresponding parameters and delay time, he stretched his left hand under the machine.

After scanning, Ke Lan returned to the computer and looked at the digital image displayed on the screen—in the palm of his left hand, there was a crystalline object the size of a grain of rice "parasitic".

Crystalline objects?
Ke Lan suddenly thought of the ultra-purity crystals excavated from Leviathan's body... Could this be the thing that the heretic sect dissected out of Manstein's stomach and was called the "sacred object" by Yui Arasaka?

Shouldn't that thing be in that iron coffin?How did it get into your own body?
Moreover, judging from Manstein's autopsy report, that thing should contain extremely powerful radiation. Manstein wrapped it in many layers with radiation-blocking materials, but couldn't completely block the radiation, but now Ke Lan didn't have any protective measures on his hands, why didn't he even feel a little radiation?
He picked up the Geiger counter hanging from his waist and held it close to his left hand—the machine didn't beep, and the reading on the screen didn't change at all.

Could it be that during that ceremony, the "nature" of this thing changed?Not only is the radiation gone, but it also has the ability to freeze time?

"Wait a minute!" Ke Lan was startled suddenly. If the "sacred object" had been transferred into his body, wouldn't there be only an empty shell left in the iron coffin?
The undead crew will not hesitate to abandon the things that the entire East Ninth District will destroy, but they have already unknowingly landed on themselves?
If they found out, wouldn't it be difficult for me to be thrown into low-Earth orbit to be shot by the main cannon of the Ark?

"This thing is a big trouble." Ke Lan took one last look at the image on the screen, then deleted all the data, and took another picture of his right wrist - he originally wanted to format the computer directly Afterwards, all the computers and X-ray machines were destroyed with grenades, but doing so tended to attract some unnecessary attention. Even Ke Lan himself could not guarantee whether the people from the Security Bureau could recover from the pile of wreckage and debris. Record those images.

He has already decided that when this matter is over, he will find a way to perform an operation to take this crystal out of his palm—even if he loses the ability to "freeze time" because of this, it is better than letting such a person of unknown origin It is better to keep the strange object in the body, not to mention, this thing may bring disaster to oneself.

Ke Lan printed out the film of his right wrist, then walked out of the computer room with a relaxed face, and said to the officer waiting outside: "It looks like the bone is fine, it should be just a muscle injury..."

"It's fine." The officer nodded repeatedly, "Mr. Ke Lan, if you have nothing else to do, retreat with us now. The third stage is only the last 10 minutes."

[PS I don’t know why the right abdomen hurts for a day today, and the whole person is also very weak... I suspect it is appendicitis, but it seems that the pain is not as severe as appendicitis. If the situation worsens tomorrow, I may ask for leave to go to the hospital. 】

(End of this chapter)