Alien Relic Hunter.

Chapter 862 "The Ice Age"

"All the information is encrypted. Every hunter who comes back from the 'Ring City' will be required to sign a non-disclosure contract. I spent a lot of credits to buy a bit of scrap from an...an information dealer. Information." Ke Lan paused, and continued, "There is a brain hidden under the ground... To be precise, it is a large group of brain cells that are like cancer cells, infinitely dividing and proliferating."

"After I saw the core mastermind of the Ark with my own eyes, I once thought that some of the things discovered under the 'Ring City' and the technology extended from this thing should be applied to the core mastermind." Ke Lan Sighing, "But at that time, my focus was not on the core mastermind and Ring City, so I didn't have time to use my authority to check related information."

"Since the undead crew members can apply this technology to the core brain of the Ark, haven't they extracted some valuable information from those 'brain tissues'? For example, how did the Alpha civilization disappear? ?”

"Maybe there is, but the undead crew will not make it public. I don't know which hard drive these fragmentary information will be hidden in the black well." Ke Lan shrugged regretfully. At this moment, he suddenly became a little envious of Ze Luo Already - if I have the ability of Ze Luo, maybe it only takes a few days to move all the information stored in the black well to my mind.

It’s not that Ke Lan never thought about taking Ze Luo to the black well, but considering that doing so would probably cause an overreaction from the undead crew members, that’s why he didn’t take action for a long time... To this day, I’m afraid this idea It can never be realized.

The topic of "biological computer, ring city, and brain" ended without a problem, and the two continued to walk through the hive city in silence, carefully looking at this city that revealed irrationality everywhere.

"This factory... um, does it process canned food?" 33 stopped in front of a semi-open factory building, and pointed to a mountain of empty cans that hadn't been filled and capped in the corner of the factory building and said.

"Canned food production line." Ke Lan also walked past—for a carbon-based biological civilization, food is always one of the most important things. Starting from the clue of food, we can understand many important things about this civilization. information.

The most important point is that in the remains of the Alpha civilization, the hunters of the Ark have never found any buildings or venues that can be related to "eating" including farmland, animal husbandry, food processing factories, vegetable markets, and restaurants. , even kitchen knives and tableware have never been found. As for some containers that look like bowls or cups, their real purpose is not to hold food and drinks, but to store some things that are obviously not used. Come for something to eat.

Until now, whether it is the academic circle full of experts or the chats of ordinary people, it is unanimous that Alpha people do not obtain energy through ingesting food-as for what the energy source of their life activities is, that is Opinions vary.

Some people say that it comes from the nuclear radiation that can be seen everywhere on the surface of Alpha Star; some people say that the skin of Alpha people contains substances similar to chlorophyll, which can perform photosynthesis like plants; some people say that Alpha people also eat, but what they eat is not what humans see food, but energy crystals, metal ores and the like.

There is even a more daring statement, which believes that the total amount of energy in the body of Alpha people has been decreasing since the moment they were born, until they die - just like the batteries that are installed when they leave the factory, and cannot be disassembled or replaced Batteries are like children's toys.

Ke Lan remembered the scene he saw in the "Sea of ​​Dirac"—thousands and hundreds of Alpha people standing on a huge square, with lead gray thick clouds above their heads, and the distant The horizon glowed with a pale and bleak sunset, and one hose after another was inserted three centimeters below their necks, and the light gray viscous substance was slowly pumped into their bodies along the hoses.

If this kind of behavior is the "eating process" of Alpha people... then Ke Lan thinks that they don't seem to be "eating", but like a car using chemical fuel refueling at a gas station.

As for the "civilization" that built Yagunaktor and the Hive City, it is obvious that they should be closer to humans... After all, the crew on the escaped engineering ship were originally humans from Earth.

Diet has always been an important culture that has been passed down from the birth of human civilization to the present. In many cases, diet is not only a means of survival, but also an act of spiritual and emotional self-satisfaction: Ke Lan feels that even if he It can be done like those cultivators who have reached the "Bigu Stage" in Xiuxian novels. The cultivator does not need to eat, and it is difficult for him to refuse the pleasure brought by eating-the plump and juicy meat is chewed and squeezed by the teeth. Delicious juices, vegetables and fruits of various tastes and textures, and a variety of staple foods... Even synthetic foods can have a unique flavor with the blessing of thousands of seasonings.

Even, just the two actions of chewing and swallowing can bring pleasure and satisfaction to the human brain.

The "canned food production line" in front of the two is operated in a semi-manual mode. Four huge "capping machines" stand against the wall. It is full of holes that are the same diameter as the cans - Ke Lan just glanced at it and understood how to use this easy-to-operate "capping machine": put the filled cans into the slot in the middle , and then put the tin cover on the mouth of the can, pull the lever hard, while the circular blade cuts the lid out, the welding torch hidden inside the blade will weld the lid and the can tightly together in an instant, so that the airtightness of the can is improved be guaranteed.

From the perspective of an earthling living on the ark - this way of sealing is really really backward.

Not to mention that sealing the cans in this non-sterile environment is not hygienic, and will seal the air, machines, and bacteria and dust from the hands of the operator into the cans. Efficiency alone is enough to eliminate these Equipment grounds too.

According to Ke Lan’s understanding, the canning production line of “Weijia Synthetic Meat Company” under the Soma Consortium, one of which is fully mechanized, operates 24 hours a day and can produce at least 150,000 cans, which is almost every [-] One per second.

This assembly line includes the entire process of making synthetic meat, from the deployment of raw materials, stirring and then congealing, seasoning, cooking, sterilization, filling and sealing are all completed in one process, except that the empty cans need to be shipped from other places , the entire process is fully automated, and the managers of the production line only need to sit in a small glass room on a high level and glance at the computer screen from time to time.

As for the "canned food production line" in the hive capital, according to Ke Lan's conservative estimate, two to three thousand canned food can be produced in a day, which is already considered a peak output... Calculated according to the population of the upper layer, This canned output is completely a drop in the bucket.

Come to think of it, canned food should also be considered a "luxury" for the residents of the upper hive city, right?

If you really want to feed so many mouths, the best solution is protein lumps and synthetic starch. The former is made from various biological waste, farmed cockroaches and even corpses, while the latter is a pure chemical synthesis preparation. In Ke Lan's eyes, these two things are not even "food", they can only be regarded as "things that can be used to satisfy hunger and replenish energy"-but for the manager of this hive city, the taste of food Food and taste are not important at all, the most important thing is not to let the people in the hive starve to death.

"Unfortunately, they are all empty cans." 33 picked up a can and looked it over carefully, "If we can find a batch of finished cans that are well sealed, we may be able to know what these guys are eating."

"After such a long time, even if there is still something left in the can, without the help of the equipment on the ark, it may be difficult for us to distinguish the ingredients." Ke Lan said, "Zero may be able to do it, but now Deciphering those texts is the top priority, and I don't want other things to slow down the progress of deciphering."

"This can—" 33 flicked the can wall covered with a thick layer of oxide with the fingernail, "the material seems to be an alloy with aluminum as the main material."

"aluminum?"

On Earth, the most common material for metal cans is tinplate, which is tin-plated iron, followed by aluminum, but on the Ark, aluminum cans hardly exist—aluminum is a very important industrial material, There are huge reserves of aluminum ore on the earth, so there are so many things that use aluminum as a raw material in daily life.But on Alpha Planet, aluminum mines are not only scarce, but also very barren. The little aluminum is used in more important places, and the value of aluminum itself has also risen accordingly...Using aluminum to make cans, this waste Things that were commonplace in the old era seem a bit extravagant today.

Rare things are more expensive, this sentence is an undeniable truth... Judging from the aluminum reserves on Planet Alpha, this thing can basically be equated with precious metals such as gold.

"I also find it strange that aluminum resources are so scarce on Planet Alpha, and they are used to make cans." 33 said, "It always makes people feel...wasted."

"Wait a minute." Ke Lan said suddenly, and then, he walked around the four "capping machines" several times, looked at every corner of the four machines, and then turned his head to 33, "I think these cans may not be used to hold food. It's our preconceived idea... When we see this kind of 'pop-up cans', we will subconsciously think that there is a high probability that the food inside is edible."

"Why do you think so?"

"These four pieces of equipment are too clean." Ke Lan pointed to those machines that were covered with a layer of dust and some steel parts were rusty, but there was no accumulation of stains and said, "If this is a can packaging Machine, according to this method of operation, there will definitely be something spilled on the machine. After a long time, places like corners and grooves will definitely accumulate that kind of mud-like stains, even if it is scrubbed every day. It is impossible to avoid. Even if microorganisms eat up those stains in tens of thousands of years, there will always be some remnants of inorganic substances... But in these grooves, apart from dust, there is nothing None. Do you think this is a machine for processing food?"

The modern fully automatic food processing workshop can indeed be clean and tidy as new, but this canning production line is just a manual workshop. Since it is operated by humans, there will definitely be mistakes. It is inevitable that things will be spilled on the equipment, which is not as good as those mechanical arms whose movement accuracy can be accurate to millimeters.

Unless, the brains of workers using these devices are comparable to super biological computers, and the control ability of their bodies is comparable to high-end robots... But if they really have this ability, how can they put this backward manual workshop into use? ?

"Ke Lan, there seems to be words on the inside of the can."

33 took out a Nino alloy dagger, cut an empty can along the side, and then flattened the entire side. Ke Lan saw that at the bottom of the inside, there was a line of small characters that were easily overlooked.

This line of writing is engraved on it, but the engraving is very shallow, and it cannot be found from the outside of the can... Logically speaking, neither product information nor production serial number should be engraved in such a difficult-to-find position.

"It's that kind of text." 33 said, "Look, this character, and this, this, and this, all match up with some characters in the sentence we just saw on the edge of the lifting platform. This is the same language."

"Then it looks like we'll have to wait for Zelo..."

As soon as Ke Lan finished speaking, the living armor on his body was already separated, falling to the ground and turning into a girl with a stunning face but no expression.

"The deciphering is complete." Zelo blinked, and the long eyelashes cast a thick shadow on the lower part of the eyelids, "The general idea of ​​that sentence is: People below the authority level 'four' are prohibited from entering Hive Capital City area. This regulation was promulgated in the fourth year of the Ice Age and will take effect immediately."

"The upper city of the hive capital?" 33 repeated, "Does it mean the third floor below? It seems that this upper city should be the so-called 'noble district'. This place is really hierarchical."

"No, I'm more interested in the 'Ice Age' mentioned later... Does this mean that there was a period similar to the Earth's Ice Age on Planet Alpha, and this hive was designed to escape the extreme cold on the surface? , and the built shelter?"

(End of this chapter)