Alien Relic Hunter

Of course, others also saw the outline of the skeleton. Except for Mo Jue, the entire team adjusted their positions within half a second and entered a battle-ready state.

But the skeleton seemed to be just floating nearby, and did not continue to move towards the crowd.

"What's going on?" Ivan frowned. He held a large-caliber hunting pistol in his left hand, and the mechanical arm in his right hand held the short knife just used to cut the bark.

"This thing seems to be hanging there..." Ke Lan narrowed his eyes and said, "Let's go over and have a look."

"Yeah." Thirty-three nodded, and with a wave of his hand, dozens more black flying blades floated into the air. Originally, Thirty-three didn't have so many flying blades, but since he joined the Hunting God Hunt, After the group, Ke Lan directly asked Layton to make hundreds of Nino alloy flying blades for him. Even if he used these things as consumables, it would not be a problem at all.

These nearly a hundred flying blades protected Thirty-Three's body tightly. He took a deep breath, and then walked step by step towards the skeleton hidden in the thick fog.

Ke Lan also walked forward, and Ze Luo followed closely behind him. Every time the two of them took a step forward, the fog blocking the front would be pushed away.

They only took three steps forward, and all the mist surrounding the skeleton was squeezed away... Only then did everyone realize that this was a human skeleton entangled with more than a dozen air roots. These air roots did not have any Instead of drilling into the ground to form pillar roots, they drilled into the chest of the skeleton like a vine and hoisted it into the air.

"Huh...it turned out to be a false alarm." Thirty-three retracted most of the flying blades, leaving only about ten to maintain a state of alert - manipulating so many flying blades at the same time was a mental challenge for him. The burden is also extremely heavy. If all the flying blades on his body are mobilized, his brain will be completely "squeezed dry" in a few minutes.

Ke Lan stepped forward and looked at the skeleton carefully - although the flesh, blood, organs and other parts of the skeleton had disappeared, the clothes on the body were still relatively intact, except for a few holes pierced by the air roots. There are no other signs of damage.

This is an "Archaeopteryx" mountaineering jacket. This brand is relatively high-end in the civilian market, but it is rarely included in the official material procurement list due to the price premium, so it is basically certain that this is an unofficial explorer. .

This jacket was covered with a thick layer of dust, the alloy accessories were also covered with traces of oxidation, and the pockets on both sides were filled with finely chopped leaves of the mist perch.

"This skeleton looks like it's old. It shouldn't be tanning." Ke Lan turned to look at Mo Jue. He originally wanted to comfort her, but found that she was staring at the chest of the skeleton.

Does Mo Jue know this skeleton?

Ke Lan followed Mo Jue's line of sight and saw that around the neck of the skeleton was a silver necklace that was also severely oxidized. However, the pendant part of the necklace had been wrapped in the winding roots of the mist tree. It looked like I don’t know what it’s like.

"Can you... dig out that necklace?" Mo Jue's voice was trembling.

"What? Do you know him?" Ke Lan asked.

"It's not sure yet." Mo Jue shook his head, "But I feel like..."

"Thirty-three, dig out that necklace." Ke Lan immediately ordered.

"Yeah." Thirty-three nodded. He didn't move, but the two black flying blades shot out with a "swish", neatly cutting through the air roots wrapped around the neck of the skeleton, and The pendant wrapped inside was freed.

It was a silver cross. The surface of the cross was inlaid with tiny rhinestones, but these rhinestones had now lost their luster, and the metal part of the cross was also covered with a gray-white oxide layer.

"It's really him!" Mo Jue's eyes widened and he said in shock.

"Who? The missing lumberjack from your team?"

"He is one of the veterans who created this team together with my father... None of us know his name. My father and they all call him 'Golden Retriever', and I call him 'Uncle Golden Retriever'..." Mo Jue murmured. Said, "He really likes to wear Arc'teryx brand equipment... but it has been many years since he disappeared, so I can't remember exactly what kind of clothes he was wearing at that time, but this necklace , I will never admit my mistake!”

"Golden Retriever?!" After hearing this nickname, Ke Lan became a little excited - this was one of the only people in the lumberjack team who knew "the secret". Although he was dead, Maybe we can find some important clues from him!

But the next second, a warning sign suddenly flashed in Ke Lan's heart: According to Mo Jue's previous description, the place where Golden Retriever disappeared was almost 350 meters away from the red line, but how could his body appear here?

Could it be that they were moved here by the indigenous creatures in the gray mist forest?

At this time, Mo Jue had already walked up to the body hanging in mid-air and whispered: "Uncle Jinmao believes in the Christianity of the old era... Although he himself said that God does not exist at all, he also said However, people always need to find something to express their faith, even if it is just an illusory thought. This cross necklace was given to him by a bartender who he liked very much... uh... he liked very much. gift, so he keeps wearing it.”

"This behavior sounds like a love affair... but didn't you say he is a slut? If there is a bartender you really like, why don't you marry that woman? Even if the woman signs a contract of sale, you can use it to keep us It should be easy to redeem your income for others, right?" Thirty-three asked.

"I don't know... Uncle Jinmao himself is often inconsistent in what he says. Except when he is discussing business with my father and the others, he always tells the truth and the other is false when chatting with us, so..." Mo Jue said awkwardly.

"Understood." Thirty-three nodded, "I used to know a guy like this who was full of braggadocio, but when he was drunk, he liked to spit out all his true words... That guy was good at shooting. , but his fighting skills are not very good. If he gets close to me, I can knock him down with just one move."

"How is that person doing now?" Mo Jue asked subconsciously.

"He's dead too." Thirty-three shrugged, looking indifferent, "I saw with my own eyes that his abdominal cavity was opened by the sharp joints of the man-eating spider... But he hadn't died yet at that time, and the food on his head was The human spider was pressing on him, biting his body with its large pincers, and his screams made my eardrums hurt..."

Thirty-three paused for half a second, sighed, and then continued: "I emptied three magazines at the man-eating spider, but the bullets were not able to tear open the carapace of the man-eating spider. I could only I turned the gun and ended his suffering. He was the first comrade to die in my hands, so I remember it very clearly."

"Mo Jue, did you say before that this golden retriever disappeared while exploring an area 350 meters deep? Why did he appear here?" Ke Lan also walked up to the skeleton and asked Mo Jue.

"This... I don't know." Mo Jue shook his head, with doubts also showing on his face, "Not only is the depth wrong, but the direction is also wrong... During that exploration operation, we entered the forest from the south direction of the Gray Mist Forest. , at least ten kilometers away from this place.”

"Have you ever encountered this situation before? It was a missing person. His body was later found far away from the place where he disappeared. Has something similar happened?" Ke Lan continued to ask.

"No... this is the first time I have found the remains of a team member." Mo Jue replied.

"I don't think this is surprising..." Ivan interjected, "As Mo Jue said before, people who get separated from the large army will not die immediately. It is possible that this golden retriever wandered around in the forest by himself after falling behind. He hit this place and died due to exhaustion, poisoning, oxygen depletion or other reasons. It is also possible that he died in other places, and the body was dragged to this place by the indigenous creatures living in the gray fog forest. ."

"Indigenous creatures... I thought so at first, but we didn't seem to encounter any indigenous creatures along the way." Ke Lan said while looking at the remains in the air, "Mo Jue, you are exploring and During the logging process, have you encountered any indigenous creatures living in the gray mist forest?"

Mo Jue: "I have encountered it, but the chance is very low... Contrary to the indigenous creatures that live in the tree canopy and have the ability to fly, the indigenous creatures that live on the ground are very timid and will quickly escape when they encounter traces of humans. Even if you shoot at them, they won't attack humans, so they basically don't pose a threat."

"Forget it, let's put this corpse down for now." Ke Lan walked up, and Thirty-Thirty-One held the thigh bone of a corpse. The black flying blade quickly plundered the hanging corpses. The aerial roots were cut off one after another.

"Ivan, come here and check it out and see if you can find out the cause of his death." Ke Lan said as he took off the coat of the corpse - Mo Jue said that his father carried a copy of the book with him. "Important notebook full of secrets", if something similar can be found in this "golden retriever"'s relics, it will definitely be great news for Ke Lan.

The pockets in the coat were stuffed with leaves, but there seemed to be something else hidden under the leaves.

On the other side, under the command of Ivan, Thirty-three used flying blades to remove the aerial roots and vines wrapped around the skeleton, and a complete human skeleton was laid flat on the ground.

Ivan first walked around the skeleton and muttered: "Including the pelvis, there are six fractures in the bones of the whole body. The amount of bleeding from this level of fracture is enough to be fatal, but considering the entanglement of the air roots and vines just now, Method, these six fractures should have appeared after the death of this person. Apart from these six fractures, there were no other injuries to the bones... At least it can be confirmed that the deceased was most likely not exposed to any injuries during his lifetime. Severe physical blow."

"Of course, it is also possible that the fatal injury did not touch the bones, such as damage to the heart and lungs, spleen bleeding, etc., which can also kill people in a short period of time, but because there are only bones left in the body, there is no I found other foreign objects besides branches and leaves, so I can't make a judgment." Out of rigor, Ivan added.

Immediately afterwards, he squatted down again, scraped some bone powder from various parts of the skeleton and poured it into the test tube. He also added several reagents and test paper into the test tube and shook it gently a few times.

"There are no signs of poisoning, or the degree of poisoning is not deep enough to penetrate into the bones." Ivan shook his head helplessly, "It is difficult to determine the specific cause of death. It is also possible that he was poisoned, and the poison did not cause death. But the person passed out, hit the back of his head on a rock exposed in the soil, or buried his face in the soil and suffocated... If I were forced to list them one by one, I could name at least thirty different ways to die."

"Check more carefully and don't miss any details." Ke Lan only left this sentence and continued to look at this old mountaineering jacket.

Most of the outer pockets contain small items that are easy to access at any time: a pack of yellowed tissues, a small bottle of alcohol that has completely evaporated, a rusty folding knife, and a magnesium stick for making fire.

They are all common items found on explorers, and they are all brands and models that can be easily bought in stores. There is nothing special about them.

Ke Lan even spread out the pack of paper towels one by one, unscrewed all the screws on the folding knife, and split the handle in half. No new discoveries were made - paper towels are just paper towels, folding knives It's just a folding knife.

The pocket located on the upper arm of the mountaineering jacket contains medical supplies, but compared to the contents of the military's standard field first aid kit, the contents of this pocket are pitiful, only a pair of scissors, a small roll of bandages and an expired tube. Just adrenaline.

There are no traces of use on these medical supplies, which means that the golden retriever was not injured at that time, or the injury was too serious to use these medical supplies for himself.

There were two anonymous commercial bank savings cards in the inner pocket of the jacket, as well as a custom shop membership card with a pink lip print pattern. Ke Lan glanced at the address of this custom shop, which happened to be in the Old East 9th District. On the "Kabukicho Ichiban Street"...both this store and the people in the store have long been turned into ashes floating in low-Earth orbit...

Most of the equipment that Golden Retriever carried should be in his backpack, but Sansan walked around the place where the body was found several times and found no backpack or anything else left on the ground.

Ke Lan was a little disappointed. Not only did this corpse not provide them with any useful clues, but it also brought them many new doubts...

"Wait a minute, that necklace!" Ke Lan suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "That necklace that Golden Retriever cares about... bring that necklace over and show it to me!"

[P.S. Thanks to Sophie 66 for the 100 starting coins. 】