Alien Relic Hunter

"If the testing process goes well, maybe we can build an 'undead army'... not just the dead humans, but also the Alphas... and even the great beasts of the past."

This sentence, if placed in the past, would have been enough to be criticized by critics for ethical and moral issues... But now, at a time when human civilization is at stake, the combat effectiveness of the survivor coalition is extremely lacking, both for front-line combat personnel and logistics personnel. Huge gap. In such a desperate situation, if the fallen soldiers, especially elites like Masayuki Zakumi, can be "resurrected" in another form and become effective combat effectiveness, it will undoubtedly be a very feasible solution. Remedy options.

In the cultural customs of "death" in human civilization, whether in the East or the West, there are sayings such as "the dead are the most important" and "the dead rest in peace". In people's common understanding, desecrating, damaging the body or otherwise "Disturbing" the deceased in any other way is an unforgivable act.

Not to mention the act of extracting the "souls" of the deceased and "encapsulating" them into combat weapons.

There was a trace of worry on Alexander's face - if he was told that he would be treated like this after dying in battle, he himself would have no objection, but the question is, if the news is announced, how many people will accept it?

There is no way for a living person to know what it feels like to be an "undead". No one knows whether the soul encapsulated in the weapon still retains self-awareness, and what will happen to the soul encapsulated in the weapon after the weapon is damaged. Such a change - will it just disappear, or will it always be attached to the remains of the weapon like the "earth-bound spirit" in the ghost story, and will never be freed?

If it's the latter, then this is simply a punishment more cruel than death.

Alexander's lips trembled, but in the end he did not speak out his true thoughts, but changed the topic: "Currently, the Skati is out of danger, and the suppression operations against the monsters invading the ship in each cabin have also been advanced. At the end of the day, ask for instructions on what to do next - should we continue to conduct fire reconnaissance, or should we withdraw temporarily?"

"Retreat." Ke Lan said, looking at the Skadi that had been raised to an altitude of thousands of miles on the screen. Looking down from this height, you can only see heavy leaden-gray clouds, and you can't see Noah's Ark under the clouds at all.

The surface of the Skati's hull has become dilapidated - a small part of these wounds are caused by the monsters hatched in the egg-shaped sarcoma, and the vast majority are caused by the Skati's shield and Violent reaction caused by "intimate contact" between Ark shields.

In addition to the damage to the exterior of the ship, the interior of the ship was also severely damaged due to the invasion of monsters. According to the standards set in the Air Force Fleet Operations Code, the Skati has now lost the ability to continue fighting. , must return to Hong Kong immediately for maintenance and supplies.

ZB51 turned around and flew out. There were still some monsters left on the outer deck that had not been cleaned up. At the same time, several marine troops who had eliminated the monsters inside the ship also came out from various exits on the outer deck and began to fight with the outer deck. Fighting with those monsters.

"Turn around, half the cruising speed, and return to Mukach Fortress." Alexander transferred the control of the battleship to the helmsman, and walked back to the captain's seat and sat down with a tired look on his face.

Although the statistics have not yet come out, he already has an idea of ​​the casualties on the ship - except for the bridge, which was not attacked, monsters invaded almost every cabin on the ship, including the aviation group, marines and logistics personnel. Including, there are a total of more than 2,400 crew members... After this battle, the number of survivors may be difficult to even count as a thousand... With a death rate of more than 60%, this battle is not without tragedy.

Skadi's own damage is even more serious. The surface of the ship is full of holes dissolved by the highly corrosive liquid. From a distance, it looks like a piece of rotten wood... The modular cabins attached to the outside of the ship , including the hangar, cargo bay, ammunition depot, assault boat and lifeboat, as well as those external weapons, 90% were abandoned and turned into gorgeous fireworks in the collision with the energy shield.

The triple-mounted plasma main gun had all its core components melted down due to high-intensity firing; the secondary guns and close-in defense guns were heavily cared for by the monsters, and were destroyed in every possible way; except for the aircraft of the aviation brigade that was " All except the ZB51 operated by "Masayuki Zakumi" crashed, and more than 70% of the Marine Corps' tactical mechas were damaged.

Even the core power furnace modified from the "Heart of the City" was severely overloaded due to the protective shield of the Ark. Although it did not explode, the output power dropped to one-third of the normal state... which was only For this reason, the Skadi could only return to Mukach at half its cruising speed.

"It was almost, the Skadi was about to be sunk." Only then did Magino dare to breathe heavily. He reached out and touched his sweaty forehead, picked up the cup on the table... Only then did he I found that the cup was empty. The atmosphere just now was so tense that I didn't even realize when I drank all the coffee.

"Damn fat man, do you want some?" The hound noticed Maginot emptying the cup, took out the wine bottle in his arms, and shook it towards him - the Skati was able to escape danger, and everyone's mood changed. Much better.

"Okay." Maginot handed over the empty cup.

Maginot is a coffee lover and rarely drinks alcohol except for socializing. But at this time, a desire for alcohol suddenly arose in his heart... This is probably what the saying goes, "a drink to calm down the shock."

The hound unscrewed the lid of the jug, but instead of pouring the wine directly into Maginot's glass, he walked outside the office and scattered half of the wine in the jug on the ground at the door.

"To our fallen brothers," the Hound said silently.

"To the victims." Maginot walked behind the hound, filled the wine flask with a glass, and followed the hound's example, scattering it on the ground.

"Damn Fatty, are you afraid of death?" The hound suddenly turned his head and looked at Maginot and asked.

"What are you talking about? Who is not afraid of death?" Maginot looked helpless, "But the question is, is fear useful? Even if you are afraid, isn't it something you have to face in the end?"

Maginot poured another glass of wine and drank it all in one gulp. The spicy liquid rolled down his throat, making his facial features slightly distorted... He smacked his lips vigorously, and then said: "You You want to tell me that people here may die in the end, right?"

"Isn't this pure nonsense? As long as you live, you will die sooner or later... unless you are willing to lie in a coffin all day long like the monsters in the Undead Crew, with all kinds of tubes inserted into your body..." After saying this, the hound paused for a moment, and then cursed in a low voice, "You are a bunch of damn old immortals. How could they have caused so much trouble if they died earlier."

"No, what I mean is that during this combat operation, we will probably not survive until the end...even human civilization will end because of this." Maginot returned the wine bottle to the hound, "Don't you have nothing? Do you want to say something?”

"What can I say? Isn't it grand enough to have the entire human civilization buried with me? Besides, if you don't try it, how will you know it doesn't work? What if...I mean what if, we Was it successful?"

"That's right, no matter what the outcome is, you have to give it a try." Maginot nodded in agreement, "I remember there is an old saying in China, which is called 'do your best and obey fate'... As long as we do what we should do, it will be fine ”

"I don't like this sentence." Hound shook his head, "My life is my own, why should I listen to 'heaven'? Not to mention, that thing in the sky is our biggest enemy now."

The "thing in the sky" that the hound said naturally refers to the existence called "god".

"With the power of mortals, if you want to challenge the gods, don't you think it's overestimating your capabilities?" Maginot sighed, "I can't imagine how we can win."

"If you can imagine it, you are not Maginot." The hound glanced at this former colleague with disdain.

"What about yours?"

"I don't want to think about it at all, because it's useless to think about it." Hound shrugged, drank the last bit of liquid in the wine bottle, stretched, turned around and walked out, "It's late, it's time to go to bed , I have to get up early to hold a combat meeting tomorrow."

"What about you? Aren't you going to rest?" Magino turned his head and found Ke Lan and Ze Luo still sitting on the sofa, staring at the projection screen on the wall in a daze.

Ke Lan shook his head: "If General Maginot is sleepy, why don't you go and take a rest? I'm different from you. I don't feel sleepy due to lack of sleep. Sleeping doesn't mean much to me. "

"Uh... okay." Maginot nodded to Ke Lan, took off his uniform jacket hanging by the door, yawned and walked out - it is now four o'clock in the morning, and it has been from six o'clock yesterday morning to Now, he has not slept for a full twenty-two hours, which is already considered a physiological limit for Maginot, who has not undergone any intensive transformation surgery. During these twenty-two hours, he relied on high-concentration caffeine to survive, almost giving himself a shot of military stimulant.

Pushing open the bedroom door, Maginot rubbed his bloodshot eyes. Without even bothering to take off his jumpsuit and shoes, he rolled directly onto the bed... Within ten seconds, he started snoring heavily.

The camera returned to Maginot's office. The place was still brightly lit, and the image of the Ark captured by the drone was played on the projection screen. After the Skadi retreated, the Ark immediately returned to "quiet", just as violently as before. The offensive was just a dream.

The only thing that can prove the reality of this fantasy is probably those egg-shaped sarcomas that were smashed into pulp on the clearance zone-not all egg-shaped sarcomas can hit the Skadi. In fact, they can attach to the Skadi. The egg-shaped sarcoma on the pedicle accounts for less than one percent of the total number of launches.

According to computer statistics, the fleshy fungus blanket on the surface of the Ark fired a total of more than two million egg-shaped sarcomas into the air. Only about half of them fell back onto the fungus blanket after being missed, and the other half fell on the ground. They reached the clear zone and even beyond, turning into pools of "blood flowers" of different sizes in the wilderness.

For the fleshy fungi, these "blood flowers" seemed to be of recycling value - after about half an hour, Ke Lan saw countless mycelium spreading around the ark, centered on the ark. They covered those "blood flowers", and one hyphae split into hundreds of branches, like a gauze net. After a while, the broken flesh and blood on the ground was absorbed by these hyphae. net……

At 4:35 in the morning, all the "blood flowers" were cleaned up, and the hyphae retreated quietly, as if nothing had happened.

In this battle, the Skati suffered heavy losses, with more than 1,500 crew members killed... while their enemies' losses were almost negligible. Not only has the number of egg-shaped sarcomas hatching on the fleshy carpet not decreased, it has even become more numerous than before the Skati was dispatched.

Of course, the purpose of the Skati's fire reconnaissance has been achieved. Although it has not achieved any substantial results, it at least knows how the first cruise fleet and the garrison fleet were destroyed - the next target is the interior of the Ark. Exploration was carried out.

Ke Lan rubbed his eyebrows. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt a little tired, which made him have a doubt in his heart - not to mention "humanoid monsters" like him, even slightly higher-level enhanced people, continuously You can work hard all night for two or three nights without feeling any fatigue. Unless it was psychological factors, the drowsiness would not appear on Ke Lan at all.

"I just told Maginot that I wouldn't get sleepy. Did he get slapped in the face so soon?"

Ke Lan wanted to stand up and pour a cup of strong coffee, but his eyelids suddenly became extremely heavy. As his field of vision continued to shrink, the world eventually fell into darkness...

…

When Ke Lan woke up again, he found himself in a small room filled with various instruments. Under him was a hibernation cabin shaped like a coffin. The vital signs monitoring equipment beside him was regularly emitting " "Beep beep" sound.

He was wearing a pure white hibernation suit, with a small device for detecting heart rate installed on his chest. There were round electrode pads attached to his forehead, chest, abdomen and arms. These electrode pads were connected by a bundle of cables. Connected to the equipment next to the hibernation cabin.

"Where is this?" Ke Lan looked around cautiously. There were no windows in this room, and the only door was on the right-hand wall. In addition to him, there were six coffins in the room... Oh no, there were six hibernation cabins. In each hibernation cabin lay a person wearing a white hibernation suit and covered with electrodes.

There are exactly three men and three women among these six people. The youngest is in his early twenties, and the oldest is in his fifties or sixties... Of course, the people lying in the hibernation cabin must be much older than they look. of.

Ke Lan carefully looked at the faces of these six people, but these six faces felt extremely strange to him... None of the six people lying in the same room with him was known to him.

As if remembering something, Ke Lan's eyes suddenly turned and stayed on the screen of the vital signs monitoring device.

The upper right corner of the screen is where the time and date are displayed.

"New Era 859, December 1, noon, 12 o'clock."

[P.S. Thanks to Zhuhai Ancient Yue for the 1,500 starting coins. 】