Alien Relic Hunter

"..." Ke Lan didn't answer immediately. He kept recalling those few seconds... In fact, due to the light, he couldn't see the other person's face and the expression on his face clearly, and the other party didn't make any sound. The voice pushed him down without saying a word.

Although I can’t remember the falling process clearly, the drop was at least several hundred meters, which, including the acceleration of gravity, was enough to make Ke Lan shatter into pieces the moment he hit the water...

But he wasn't dead, just had a few broken bones.

"There's something wrong with that place..." Ke Lan said to himself, "At that height, I will definitely die, but why..."

He didn't tell the hound about the illusion, but if that space was used to imprison the creature that seemed to be a prehistoric species, how could there be sea water underneath...and how could he appear above the sea?

Ke Lan felt that his head was in complete chaos. All kinds of clues and information were piled on the ground like countless puzzle pieces. From each piece, he could glimpse a small part of the truth, but he just couldn't help it. Join these pieces together to form a complete picture.

"I have already told the others that the operation is suspended, and we will take the transport plane back to the Ark with you... You need to recover from your injuries first, and we will talk about other things later." The hound said, and was about to get up, but just before At this time, a knock on the door suddenly rang.

"Mr. Ke Lan...are you awake?" First Officer Caroline's voice came from outside.

"Yes, he's awake." Hound opened the door and let Caroline in.

Caroline was wearing an orange-red one-piece protective suit and a pair of long sealed boots. She had obviously just come off the deck. She was holding a thin document in her arms and looked like... It seems a little unnatural.

"What's wrong?" Ke Lan asked, turning his face slightly to look at Caroline.

"The plane to pick you up has arrived..." Caroline said, suddenly swallowing a mouthful of saliva, "That... that... that black skeleton that was sent back before... the relevant analysis report has also come out..."

"Analysis report? Didn't it say it would be out tomorrow? Why is it a whole day early?" Ke Lan was a little surprised.

"They...I mean the people at the institute...after they got the things, they conducted a gene comparison experiment as usual...and then hurriedly sent the report over." Caroline said intermittently, she As if he was considering his tone, he said, "That... something is a little wrong."

"What's wrong?" Ke Lan asked quickly. The research institute didn't even have time to do a complete test and just sent the report in such a hurry. It must have made a very important discovery.

Caroline hesitated for a few seconds before speaking: "The things in the black skeleton... are those translucent substances that look like slugs. The people at the institute extracted its DNA, and after comparing it..."

It seemed that even she couldn't believe it. After taking several deep breaths, Caroline said with some difficulty: "Its genetic material is 99.92% similar to humans and us."

The genetic material similarity is 99.92%... Anyone who has completed the compulsory education process for the new generation of Ark will understand what this means: this creature... is actually a human being.

In other words - this thing, he and Ke Lan, the hound, Caroline, and all the people on this boat are of the same species!

You know, the genetic similarity between human blood relatives is almost 99.95%, while the chimpanzee, the species that is said to be biologically closest to humans, has only 98.8% genetic similarity with humans.

This means that there is not even reproductive isolation between humans and that thing...

"How is this possible?! This is absolutely impossible!" The hound was stunned for a moment, and then said immediately, "You mean... that thing is a human being?" He pointed to his nose, with a look of astonishment on his face, "Is it our kind? Then Something like a slug? One of my kind?"

"Judging from this comparison report alone, it's true..." Caroline nodded silently. It seemed that this incident had a big impact on her.

"Did they make a mistake? Did the people at the institute get the wrong specimen? Did someone accidentally get their own blood in?" The hound still couldn't believe it. In his opinion, this matter Even more outrageous than Ke Lan's experiences.

"They thought so at first, and then conducted three identical comparison experiments, and the results were all the same." Caroline handed the document in her hand to the hound, "Well... as someone who has witnessed it with her own eyes... that ...As for that 'thing', I myself cannot accept this fact. The captain has ordered this matter to be classified as the top secret of the entire consortium, and is trying to find a way to bypass the Security Bureau and directly communicate with the institute. Get in touch with someone…”

The word "research institute" without any prefix refers only to the "Noah Core Research Institute" which represents the highest technological level in all mankind and the official authority of Ark... It is understandable for the Soma Foundation to do this - —If there are no problems with this report, then this matter is no longer something that a consortium like them can solve.

However, Ke Lan, who was lying on his back on the bed, thought of other things: the black skeleton... human beings... the black skeleton in the 776 special team camp... and the person who pushed himself off the cliff, suspected of being "Liao Xing" Mysterious black shadow... There seems to be an invisible thread connecting these clues together...

There is also the code word "Leave the bed" with unknown meaning, which appears in three places in total: on the inner shell of the diving cabin, on Collins's log, and on the password to open the black box of the 776 Special Forces Team...

From this point of view, the first "Leave the bed" was probably made by the black skeleton.

So what message does it want to convey to them?

However, since this black skeleton wanted them to see this line of text, why did it attack them?

If it successfully killed Ke Lan and others who entered the cargo hold, then why would it need to carve those words in the diving cabin?

This is the first place that doesn’t make sense…

Just when Ke Lan was about to change his mind, the scene from the previous fight with the black skeleton came to his mind again... He suddenly discovered that there was a detail that he seemed to have overlooked.

The target of that black skeleton’s attack was himself from the beginning!

In the first confrontation, Asano Akira stood in front of him, and after that, the black skeletons were all trying to attack him, but Asano Akira took the initiative to stop him...

Coupled with the subsequent invasion of consciousness...that fatal black hole of thinking...

Ke Lan suddenly came up with an extremely bold idea: Could he be mistaken for an Alpha person by the black skeleton because he had the language ability of the Alpha civilization? Does it want to kill itself to protect others?

From its perspective, it was itself, the "alien", who held several other people hostage... As long as it could kill itself, it could save the others?

However, Ke Lan didn't use those abilities at the beginning...

Ke Lan felt that he seemed to have completed one corner of the puzzle, but just when he was about to get a glimpse of part of the truth, the crucial piece could not be found.