Alien Relic Hunter

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The layout of the buildings in the upper city is much more reasonable than that in the lower city and bottom nest, and the streets are wider and cleaner... Hundreds of thousands of years have passed, and there is not even much dust on the ground.

But this was quickly explained - after Ke Lan and Sansan San walked around an intersection, they happened to see an automatic cleaning robot approaching from a distance. The shape of this robot was like a robot lying on the ground. The giant ladybug will suck the garbage and dust on the ground wherever it passes into the robot's abdomen, and then it will spray a gel preparation used to maintain the road surface from its tail, which will crack the road surface due to long-term disrepair. The gaps are filled.

The white paint on the robot's surface has peeled off in large areas, revealing the rusty metal shell underneath... But you must know that more than half a million years have passed since this automatic cleaning robot was created. Not only has it not transformed into It's a pile of rotten iron, but it can still start and work normally. This in itself is enough to make people shocked.

This robot seemed to have a built-in sensing device. When it was only ten meters away from Ke Lan and Sansan San, it began to slow down, then stopped, and began to emit a "beep" warning sound. The warning light on the top It also began to flash a dazzling red light with a warning tone.

"No wonder the streets are so clean... But then again, this thing should have been out of the factory for hundreds of thousands of years, right? If the managers of Shangcheng District have lost control of the hive city, then the daily maintenance and energy consumption of this robot will Problems and the replenishment of road repair gel... How are these problems solved? Is it all automated?" Thirty-three walked around the automatic cleaning robot and said in wonder.

"Maybe." Ke Lan stepped away from the front of the automatic cleaning robot. The warning sound quickly disappeared, and the robot returned to normal operation and continued to move forward along the street.

"Should we search the upper city area again?" Thirty-three asked Ke Lan as he watched the robot disappear at the corner of the intersection.

"The residential area is too large, and it will take a lot of time to search." Ke Lan thought for a while and rejected the proposal - although the "Nieto" on this floor seemed to have disappeared and stopped making a sound, Ke Lan Lan always felt that the other party seemed to be planning something... As time passed, Ke Lan's inexplicable feeling of uneasiness continued to grow.

"Perhaps we can only search for those landmark buildings, which shouldn't take much time." Thirty-three suggested.

"Iconic building...which one are you referring to?" Ke Lan asked.

"Uh, this..."

Thirty-three looked around and was stunned.

Although the buildings in the upper city are all luxurious... the biggest problem is that in this eastern half of the district, the luxurious residences of various "families" are almost the same, and it is difficult to find outstanding landmark buildings.

On the contrary, in the western half of the area on the other side, there are many unique buildings in the family-controlled area with the gear, thorns and shield as the family emblem.

"Search for a nearby house first. If nothing is found, go directly to the forest area." Ke Lan made a decision.

The two pushed open the door of the nearest manor, and what they encountered was an artificial lake covering an area of ​​at least two acres. Although the lake water had dried up, the bottom of the lake, which was not regularly cleaned by automatic robots, was also covered with thick There is a layer of dust, but Ke Lan can still imagine the sparkling scene of this artificial lake in the past.

As far as this artificial lake is concerned, this manor is much more impressive than the main house of the Williams family that Ke Lan had copied before - no matter how powerful the Williams family is, it will be difficult for them to win over every inch of land. Such a landscape lake was built in the West Third District purely for viewing.

"I can sense that there is a load-bearing frame made of Nino alloy buried at the bottom of the lake." Thirty-three tutted, "It's really a luxury. Our warships have to use Nino alloy in proportions. These people, actually Using so many precious materials in such a meaningless place...just to prevent the lake bottom from sinking."

The two did not take a detour, but chose the shortest straight path, crossing directly from the bottom of the lake.

On the other side of the artificial lake are rows of four-story villas. These villas are like the outer walls of a castle, enclosing the largest main house in the center... But now more than half of these villas have collapsed. The height of the ruins was not even half a floor. Ke Lan looked directly across the ruins and saw the innermost main house, which had been eroded by time and only had a frame left.

The internal structure of the main house can be seen at a glance. Whether it is furniture or daily items used by the owner of the house, they have disappeared... Compared with the hive itself, which is full of irrationalities, these dilapidated buildings are actually Bringing Ke Lan back to reality.

This "sanctuary" is at least half a million years old.

Even if there is no wind or rain here, such a long time is enough to turn most things into dust.

It is surprising enough that the archaeological work of the old era can find a document and antiquities dating back thousands of years... As for the relics from half a million years ago, even if the words are directly engraved on steel, without excellent preservation Due to the environment, steel will also rust and rot...not to mention those things recorded on stones, bamboo chips, cloth or papyrus.

Even with the iteration of technology, people began to use more advanced data carriers, but the most commonly used electronic storage devices on the Ark would have been degaussed long ago if they had been left there without maintenance for half a million years. It is simply impossible to extract documents that have been stored.

Not to mention all, not even a single character will be left.

"Weird... so weird..." Thirty-three glanced at the skeleton-like house frames, shaking his head repeatedly, "Ke Lan, don't you think there is a place that is weird?"

"Well, it's very strange." Ke Lan nodded and agreed, "The upper city is indeed more luxurious than the lower city and the bottom nest, but only in terms of the scale of the ruins... If it is replaced by the degree of preservation of the buildings, This place is much more dilapidated than the other two floors.”

"This is what the ruins of half a million years ago should look like." Thirty-three whispered, "As for the lower city and the bottom nest, if I insist on it, I feel that it will not even exist in a thousand years... It is so well-preserved that even the bed made of thin iron pipes is still there... In half a million years, that kind of thing should have corroded to the point where no slag is left."

"Could it be that time has stopped flowing?" Ke Lan muttered. He had long known that the Alpha civilization had the technology to control the flow of time... Among other things, the nameless island was a good example, so he could not send out the nest. There are completely different time flow rates between the bottom nest of the capital and the lower and upper city areas.

Ke Lan subconsciously lowered his head and glanced at the mechanical watch on his wrist. The second hand was ticking and the hour and minute hands stayed where they should. He compared it with the watch and electronic timer worn by Thirty-Three. , it was basically confirmed that there was no abnormality in time after they entered the nest city.

What's more, Ze Luo's power was not restricted when he was in the bottom nest and Xiacheng area. If there was an abnormality in the flow of time, Ze Luo, who was extremely sensitive to time and space, would be able to detect the problem immediately.

But Ze Luo didn't find anything wrong.

Unless, the abnormal power that caused everyone to be separated in the gray fog forest appeared again, erasing Ke Lan, Sansan and even Ze Luo's memories of the part where time flowed abnormally, even in an extremely incredible way. Tampered with all timers...

"No...that kind of power should only be effective on ordinary people. Otherwise, I should also be affected by it." Ke Lan thought for a moment and then rejected this possibility.

If even his own memory is really erased, there is actually no point in delving into this matter - that kind of power is simply not something he can resist, and that feeling of powerlessness is just like what the Alpha civilization faces when they face it. The same "great god" that I believe in.

"Could it be that Xiacheng and Dichao were rebuilt later?" Thirty-three guessed, "In the old era, people would also repair and rebuild some monuments to serve as museums or tourist attractions... Maybe, Alpha Did people repair and strengthen the lower city and the bottom nest tens of thousands of years ago? As for why the upper city has not been rebuilt, perhaps it has something to do with what is above our heads now?"

Thirty-three pointed at the dome directly above, the meaning of his words was self-evident.

Although the two of them never raised their heads to look at it, they both knew in their hearts that there must be something above the dome... Just one glance would completely lead things in an uncontrollable direction.

"Forget it, let's not worry about this for now... It seems that these mansions are all the same and have no search value." Ke Lan said, "Let's go directly to the forest."

The two of them returned to the street along the original path, and then followed the shortest route to the artificial forest in the center of the uptown area.

Compared with the dilapidated buildings, this forest looked full of life. A large number of trees and shrubs that Ke Lan couldn't even name were piled up in layers, replacing several forest paths marked on the original map. All the trails are buried... From the outside, this doesn't look like a man-made forest at all, but a completely undeveloped virgin forest.

In half a million years, climate and geological changes were enough to transform a barren land into a dense rain forest. Perhaps this forest is no longer the same forest as the original man-made forest... There is nothing to say about this. But there was one thing that made Ke Lan slightly concerned.

These trees are not illegal structures in the bottom nest, they are alive. Logically speaking, such a wildly growing forest will not take half a million years, but only fifty years, enough to cover most of the upper city area. But now it seems that no matter how long these plants grow, they have never crossed the boundary drawn on the ground. Even the crown part of the tree has not exceeded the boundary.

It's like there is an invisible spatial barrier that limits their growth space.

But after actual investigation, Ke Lan discovered that there was no spatial barrier at the boundary between the forest and the residential area. He entered back and forth at the boundary without any hindrance at all.

"Don't you think this place is very similar to the core area of ​​the Gray Mist Forest? No matter how dense the fog is, it will not invade that square even half an inch... The same is true here, no matter how dense the trees are, they will not invade even half an inch. "

"Probably some kind of restrictive measures are still in effect, just like the automatic cleaning robot that is still operating." Ke Lan responded.

"Speaking of which, that robot is weird enough. The buildings are in such a state of decay, but the chip inside the robot is still working... I think we should follow the robot to investigate, or simply take it apart... ..." Thirty-three said.

"Let's explore the forest first... I think there may be more to gain in the western half."

As Ke Lan said that, he walked towards the forest... However, after taking a few steps, an electric current suddenly burst out from the depths of his mind, and a familiar feeling surged up again.

"Wait a minute." Ke Lan raised his hand to signal Thirty-three to stand where he was, "This place... there are memory fragments activated in my brain again!"

"This forest can also trigger your memory fragments?!" Although Thirty-three was a little shocked, there was a hint of joy on his face, and he was with the "Nieto" who liked to tell riddles and the "Nieto" who kept asking them to look up. Compared with "trust", Ke Lan's memory fragments are much more reliable - since entering the nest, the most important and detailed information they have obtained is precisely provided by Ke Lan's memory fragments.

"What did you see?" Thirty-three asked anxiously.

"A man, a man with a crude weapon."

The memory fragments triggered by Ke Lan this time were similar to Ze Luo's "sense of instant vision". He could clearly "see" that thirty meters away from him, under a big tree that was as thick as four or five people could hug it. Leaning against a panting young man.

Although that location is now filled with a large number of shrubs, Ke Lan can still see a virtual shadow staying at that location through the shrubs in reality.

Different from Ze Luo's "sense of instant vision", the characters in Ke Lan's memory fragments did not have that kind of blurry fog. He could clearly see that this was a human being who was exactly the same as an earthling. From the body shape and appearance Judging from the above, this young man is about 18 to 25 years old. He wears a style that is a little weird compared to the ordinary residents of the Ark, but is very ordinary compared to the fancy clothes at the fashion exhibition. He was wearing pure white clothes and trousers, holding a hunting knife that seemed to be a modified Gurkha saber in his hand, leaning against the tree trunk, breathing heavily.

[P.S. Thanks to Reading Giraffe and Soap Youdayong for the 1,500 starting coins; thanks to Mo Daochou, Jiuhuan, Book Friends 20201203210026758, and H Han Paopao for the 100 starting coins. 】