Alien Relic Hunter

Noir lowered his gaze and glanced at his watch - he had just set the countdown, and now there was only one minute and twenty-five seconds left before the countdown reached zero.

"Here we come." Noir mouthed to Soap, and at the same time he reached into his backpack, took out a pickaxe with a folding handle and an engineer shovel, and threw the engineer shovel to Soap.

"Use this thing? Carve out the well wall?" Soap looked at the engineering shovel in his hand, and then at Noir, his eyes full of speechlessness.

This engineer shovel is indeed very well made. The edge of the shovel is even covered with a thin layer of Nino alloy to increase strength and durability. Four high-proportion Nino alloy rods are also added to the inside of the hollow handle. Reinforced ribs prevent the handle from breaking when swinging and receiving force. If you want to find a construction shovel like this on the black market in Ark, you will have to spend nearly five figures of credits at least. If you want to sell it in a place like Mukah Fortress, the price will be even more expensive. .

But the tool was good, and what was in front of Soap at this time was a well wall made of steel bars and high-grade cement concrete as filler, with a thickness of more than half a meter - even if Soap's powered exoskeleton did not Scrapped, it is not easy to drill through such a well wall with an engineering shovel.

But now, all he can rely on is his own hands...

"This is impossible." Soap said directly, "There is only one minute left, don't waste your energy, unless-"

Before he could finish his words, the clown took action.

Accompanied by a dull rumbling sound and a beep that kept echoing in the cochlea, a large hole with a diameter of one meter was directly exploded in the wall of the well in front of the clown. On the edge of the hole, one could even see a hole that was forcibly struck by a huge force. A steel bar as thick as a torn thumb.

"Have you forgotten that there is this monster... this 'master' next to us? This kind of thing doesn't require any effort on our part." Soap patted Noir's backpack and said.

"I didn't ask you to dig into the well wall." Noir responded, but he did not look at the soap, but focused on the gaping hole.

Under the illumination of the tactical flashlight, a dark pipe could be seen slowly approaching them. Without even thinking about it, this was the two pipes that the clown said would be disconnected... part of the Ark's underground maze.

The pipeline is suspended by countless steel cables, and is surrounded by a suspended abyss. Looking into the distance, you can only vaguely see some load-bearing steel structure beams... If you jump from here, the depth will be at least a hundred More than 1 meter, if there are no protective measures such as parachutes or airbags, this height is enough to knock a living person into a puddle of flesh that even parents cannot recognize.

Soap lowered his head and glanced down, subconsciously took a half step back and swallowed a sip of saliva.

"Let me go, this is... too high, isn't it?" Soap took a deep breath, "Isn't there a place to climb?"

They did bring parachutes, but they threw away the heavy parachute bag when they left the transport plane - the plane was gone, what use was the parachute?

Seemingly guessing what Soap was thinking, Noir whispered to him: "Even if you still have the parachute, it's useless. You can't open the parachute at this height. There's a high probability that people will touch it before the parachute is opened." The ground."

Soap:"……"

"There are still the last thirty seconds." The clown reminded.

The pipe stopped ten meters away from the abandoned shaft, followed by a teeth-searing friction sound. The two pipes seemed to be rotating in opposite directions, and the originally tight joints gradually separated. Come on.

"I-we're not going to jump from such a long distance, are we?" Soap's eyes widened, "Even if someone has enhanced... their jumping ability can't be so abnormal, right?"

"That's why I gave you the engineer shovel." Noir took out a nail gun. "Although I don't know the movement rules of the underground labyrinth, I know that all movable pipes in the Ark structure have strict safety regulations. distance to prevent the pipes from colliding when moving, so the situation where two pipes are right next to each other will never happen.”

After saying that, Noir looked at the clown and asked, "Is it time to pass?"

The clown nodded, jumped deep, and jumped directly out of the hole.

Just when his body was about to start falling, two tentacles shot out again, grabbed the edge of the left pipe mouth, pulled hard, and lifted him up.

With this force, the clown flipped forward in mid-air and landed firmly inside the pipe.

"There are still thirty seconds before this pipe will move. Hurry up." The clown turned around and urged.

Noir pulled the trigger, shot the nail rope in, and fixed it on the inner wall of the pipe. Then he took out an explosive screw with gunpowder as the power source, and pressed it on the top of the shaft where he was now. .

With a slight explosion, a ten-centimeter-long screw was drilled into the well wall, and the nail gun was hung on the metal ring at the end of the screw. Noir tugged on the cable a few times, and after making sure that both ends were fixed firmly enough, he placed the pickaxe in his hand on the cable, kicked off his feet on the edge of the hole, and slid towards the pipe.

The position of the pipe was slightly lower than the abandoned shaft. It would be difficult to use this height difference to cross the ten-meter distance in thin air, but if it was a zipline, it would be enough.

Only then did Soap understand the purpose of Noir throwing the engineer shovel to him. He immediately imitated the example and placed the engineer shovel on the cable, then gritted his teeth and slid out.

However, an accident happened at this time - the place where the handle of the engineer shovel came into contact with the cable was exactly where the anti-skid pattern was engraved, and the friction was much greater than the smooth place. Therefore, Soap slides much slower than Noir, and even has a vague tendency to stop midway.

"Damn it, you can't be so unlucky, right?" Soap's heart skipped a beat, and he began to twist his body, hoping to use the force brought by the twist to accelerate, but the result was just the opposite. He was still four meters away from the pipe. At that point, he stopped completely.

"Damn...you guys, can you pull me over?"

Su Soap felt that his underwear was wet with cold sweat, and even his palms were soaked with sweat... Fortunately, the inner and outer sides of the tactical gloves had anti-slip designs, otherwise he might not be able to hold on to the engineer shovel.

The distance of four meters seemed not far, but without the help of force, it was difficult to jump over. Soap could only try to swing his body back and forth like a swing, trying to "throw" himself over with the help of inertia.

But he soon discovered that this method didn't work at all - the fixed point at the front end of the nail rope was in the middle of the inner wall of the pipe. If he swung over, even if the distance was enough, he would hit the lower edge of the pipe mouth.

Unless Noir or the Joker can catch him in time, he will definitely not be able to grab the edge of the pipe.

"You try to jump over, I should be able to catch you!" Noir lay on the edge of the passage, stretching his arms forward as much as possible.

As for the clown, he has been standing in the shadow of the pipe, looking idly by... and doesn't seem to care whether Soap will fall to death like this.

Seeing that the clown didn't move, Soap felt cold. He asked for the savior from the clown, but he found that the clown didn't seem to want to save him - think about it, an ordinary person like him would at best be helpless in such an action. He's just a cannon fodder...the only role he can play is probably as bait...

The clown seemed to only plan to take himself away at first, which means that only one bait is enough. But now, with Noir, his life and death probably don't matter to him anymore...

Damn it, this person... no, this monster, is it really so cold and heartless?

At this moment, both Noir and Soap heard a desperate "click" sound - the thirty-second countdown had ended, the pipe began to move away from the abandoned shaft, and the nail The rope was pulled by this force, and the two anchor points began to loosen.

"Hurry!" Noir glanced at the fixing point of the nail rope and shouted urgently, "The nail rope can't hold on for long, hurry up and swing over!"

"I... I don't want to die... ah!" Soap yelled out of breath. Maintaining this posture was already exhausting his physical energy, and it became difficult for him to even speak.

"Can't you help him?" Noir turned to look at the silent clown, "Is this a very easy thing for you? Since you brought us with you, you can't let us just do it casually. Would the earth die in a place like this?"

"There is something in the pipe. The direction I'm facing is more dangerous than your side. I can't be distracted." The clown said in a deep voice.

"What?!" Noir turned his head. Only then did he notice that at some point, countless pairs of red eyes lit up deep in the pipe!

Do those monsters dormant in underground labyrinths in urban legends really exist? !

Noir didn't feel anything strange at all when he entered the pipe. He even scanned it with a tactical flashlight and found nothing except the bare pipe wall.

Where did these eyes and these creatures come from?

The signs of pipe movement are becoming more and more obvious. One-third of the anchors of the nail cable have been pulled out, and the entire cable is stretched straight.

"What's going on?" Soap hissed, "He...is he really...unwilling to help?"

"No, there are monsters in the pipeline, a lot of them!" Noir said desperately, "He is confronting those monsters. We...we can only rely on ourselves."

"Monster? What...monster?" Soap's face was completely distorted, partly because of exhaustion, and partly because of inner fear and despair.

"I don't know either!" Noir said, "Anyway, swing over here quickly and I will catch you!"

"No! I really don't want to die!"

"You will definitely die if you don't swing over! Either you can't hold on and fall, or the nail rope will be pulled away! The longer you delay, the worse the situation will be!" Noir yelled.

"I don't want to die!"

Soap shouted loudly, closed his eyes, used his last strength to swing his body forward, and then let go of his hands——

At the same time, in the pipe behind, the monsters seemed to be stimulated by Soap's shouts and rushed towards them!

Although he knew that a large group of monsters were coming behind him, Noir did not look back at all. Instead, he stuck the upper half of his body out of the pipe and grabbed the soap that was swinging over!

"Don't close your eyes! Look for it!" Noir shouted.

"Ah!" Soap opened his eyes and stretched his hands forward desperately. However, he was still ten centimeters away from the lower edge of the pipe. Just when he thought he was dead, a huge force came from under his ribs. Came - Noir grabbed the shoulder strap of his tactical vest and "carried" his whole body.

But the next moment, fear surged up again - in order to catch himself, Noir's parts above the waist were already outside the pipe. It was impossible for him to pull himself into the pipe. Instead, he would be pulled by this weight. Drag it down with inertia!

Both of them will fall to their death!

Before Soap could react, he found that he and Nuval were being pulled up bit by bit, and they did not fall into the abyss together as he imagined.

"what happened?"

"It's the clown. He wrapped his two tentacles around my ankles and was pulling us up," Noir said.

His face was also pale. Obviously, he didn't know that the clown would take action beforehand, so it was just a subconscious act to fly out and grab Soap... But even so, his hands were still firmly grasping the shoulder straps of Soap's tactical vest, without any trace of it. No sign of letting go.

The white joints creaked, and a large piece of skin was torn on the wrist at the edge of the pipe. The bright red blood was directly smeared on the ground, dragging a winding blood trail until both of them were pulled into the pipe. , Noir dared to breathe heavily.

Although his hands had left Soap's tactical vest, he still kept his grasping fingers... Noir wanted to try to move his fingers, but his stiff fingers refused to obey him at all.

"Huh...huh...Brother, I owe you a life." Soap collapsed on the ground, leaning against the wall of the passage, saying intermittently.

"I, we... all owe... the clown our life." Noir shook his head, raised his immobile, bloody hands, turned around and sat down opposite Soap.

The two looked at each other, and then looked in the direction of the clown.

The clown had already rushed into the depths of the pipe. The two of them had no strength to raise the tactical flashlight at this time, so they could not see the clown's figure clearly in the darkness. The two of them could only see those red eyes scurrying around... The red eyes "went out" every second. As the number of eyes became less and less, a strong smell of blood gradually appeared. The pipes filled the air.

[P.S. Thanks to the Desert God of War for the 2,000 starting coins. 】