Alien Relic Hunter

"Could it be some kind of mechanism?" Thirty-three judged with the inertial thinking of a ruin hunter.

"This possibility cannot be ruled out." Ke Lan thought of the mechanical bugs he encountered in the glacier ruins that could penetrate into human brains and manipulate corpses... If one of Hruni's group was carrying three The large-caliber hunting pistol mentioned by Thirteen and unfortunately died in the hive city, then its body is indeed likely to be occupied by some kind of creation left by the hive city civilization and become a walking corpse.

As for why the corpses can be preserved for more than ten years, this is also easy to explain - according to Nieto on the second floor, when Hruni and the others entered the nest, everyone had been "severely contaminated" by the "disaster" , there is no longer an individual that can be called a "human". Even if it dies, the corpse will be in a semi-eroded state. Let alone more than ten years, it is possible to preserve it for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Judging from the remaining technological facilities and creations in the upper city, the technological level of the hive civilization is no less than that of the Alpha civilization. The so-called "brilliant but backward mechanical civilization" is actually a civilization that only exists in the lower hive and lower city. Illusion. The Hive City Civilization has long mastered the technology of crystal circuit structures and has widely used them in various facilities in the upper city. In addition to the aesthetic style of the buildings being relatively close to that of human civilization on Earth, in terms of technological level alone, it is also quite different from the Alpha Civilization cities on the surface.

This should be a deliberate move by the managers of the hive city. By restricting the technology in the lower city and the bottom nest, they cut off the possibility of rebellion by the people at the bottom and minimize the threat of those unstable factors to the high-level rule.

There is such a huge technological generation gap between the upper city area and lower city area, which means that even if everyone in the lower city area is not afraid of death and works together, it is absolutely impossible to control the upper city area and higher levels. Even if it wavers a little bit.

Apart from anything else, the most powerful weapons that the Lower City District can obtain are just those firearms equivalent to those during the Second Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Facing the armed rebels in the Lower City District, the Upper City District only needs to release A few drones can kill all the rebels.

Those guns couldn't even penetrate the drone's thick armor.

As for wanting to hack into drones through technical means, that is even more nonsense... Xiacheng District and Dichao don't even have the simplest computer, let alone anyone who can use such equipment, even if Ke Lan travels through time In the past, they were given a special device for the top hackers on Ark, and these people in the lower city and the bottom nest didn't know how to use it at all.

The most effective way to completely solidify class is to control the people at the bottom in education and culture, so that they cannot have access to cutting-edge technologies that are enough to advance the times... As time goes by, these people will no longer be able to No matter how it can be regarded as a human being, it can only be regarded as an animal with a similar appearance to a human being.

And the hive city's attitude towards the residents of the Lower City and the bottom hive is indeed like treating livestock.

However, the leaders of the hive capital never imagined that what would overthrow their rule would not be the people at the bottom of their captivity, but a force from the outside—the "disaster" in their mouths.

"But why are they shooting at this time..." Thirty-three did not relax his vigilance at all, almost maintaining the "floating shield" around him, "Listen to the sound of gunfire, the shooting position is at least several kilometers away from us, even if there are not these trees As a cover, this distance is also completely beyond the maximum range of a hunting pistol.”

"The target of the shooting should not be us." Ke Lan said, "Before the gunfire rang out, I didn't feel any threat or sense of crisis."

Although from a scientific point of view, the so-called sixth sense is very unreliable, but for people like Ke Lan and Sansan, the former has passed by fatal crises countless times, and the latter has passed through cruel battlefields. The surviving veterans believe in their sixth sense far more than ordinary people living in a safe environment... There is no other reason. People like them are more or less saved by their "sixth sense" Pass.

This cannot be regarded as superstition, but a survival instinct.

"Even now, I don't smell the smell of danger." Thirty-three whispered, "This is very strange... If I hear such a gunshot on the battlefield, even if it is out of range, my whole body will feel... My muscles would immediately tense up, but now, the sound of the gunshot seemed to be coming from a movie screen, and I couldn’t feel the tension at all.”

Thirty-three swallowed and continued: "Compared to the sound of gunfire, it was the dense jungle in front of me that made me a little afraid."

"In this case, let's ignore it for the time being." Ke Lan nodded, "Anyway, the location where the gunshot was fired is on our only way through the jungle... We will know what happened when the time comes. The most important thing right now Things still have to go through this jungle.”

"You said before that this jungle was used by people in the upper city as a hunting ground, right." Thirty-three lifted the floating shield that required a lot of mental energy, and most of the black flying blades returned to him. In the hidden bag, only about twenty black flying blades were left floating around to keep alert. "Even the tunnel dwellers can survive until now. The prey raised in this hunting ground... will definitely have offspring." Leave it behind.”

"According to normal logic, this possibility is very small." Ke Lan glanced at the PAD strapped to his arm. On the screen was the map of the upper city he had just taken. "The area of ​​this jungle hunting ground is not large. It is quite large." It is difficult to form a sufficiently complete ecosystem...If there is no artificial feeding, breeding, and introduction of various organisms, it will soon become desolate...unless..."

"Unless what?"

"The wild beasts kept in this hunting ground no longer fight each other and have lost reproductive isolation. Only in this way can this fragile ecosystem last for half a million years." Ke Lan finished. Then he smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Speaking of which, I am a little too serious... You are right, even the tunnel dwellers can survive until now, so how can this hunting ground be completely dead? Besides, those beasts , I'm afraid they have all been contaminated by the 'disaster'."

"It seems... what's waiting for us will be hard battles one after another."

Thirty-three is not an exaggeration, and the battle with the Tunnel Dweller is not difficult. This is not only because Ke Lan can use Ze Luo's space ability to assist at that time, but also because of the tunnel dweller's own It's about strength - Ke Lan's Thirty-Three can completely suppress the tunnel dwellers by relying on their own abilities. The only thing that can pose a threat to them is the gravity gun.

But now Ke Lan already knows that the physical fitness of the tunnel dwellers has actually deteriorated compared to the hive residents... Even if "No. 32" is just a special case, the average physical fitness of the hive residents should at least be the same. There are six to seven levels of enhanced human beings.

In Channel 4, Ke Lan had witnessed armed men kicking an able-bodied worker away. Even if the source of their power was augmentation surgery, in a society where augmentation surgery is so common, the residents of Shangcheng District The level of enhancement will only be higher than that of people in the lower city... There will only be a minority of people like those in the Ark who are unwilling to undergo physical enhancement because they are afraid of the risk of surgical failure and the surgical process.

In this way, the beasts that are prey should also be relatively strengthened... If it is just an ordinary tiger instead of a genetically modified giant saber-toothed tiger, this kind of hunting will not be a challenge at all to the residents of the hive city. ——This is like the nobles on earth riding horses and carrying guns into the hunting ground, only to find that the hunting ground is filled with only chickens, ducks and geese with less than five combat abilities.

"Yeah," Ke Lan sighed and checked the gravity gun in his hand again, "Be prepared."

After saying that, he punched a positioning beacon at his feet and walked forward.

Thirty-three followed.

"I didn't expect that not long after I left the Gray Mist Forest, I ran into another forest." Looking at the towering trees around him, Thirty-three couldn't help but sigh in a low voice.

The speed of the two men was not fast, but definitely not slow either. They almost maintained a speed of about two meters per second. Compared with the gray fog "outside", the terrain of this hunting ground is much flatter. This design is estimated to The obstacle-crossing performance of the mechanical horses ridden by the dignitaries who participated in the hunt was also taken into consideration.

It is necessary to make the hunting activity interesting and challenging, but not to set the difficulty too outrageously, and at the same time, it is necessary to make the participants feel a certain degree of "comfort"...

Just when Ke Lan was thinking about how he would control the "game balance" by adjusting the terrain if he were the designer of this hunting ground, the sense of crisis that he had not felt when he heard the gunfire suddenly emerged. Come up.

"Nine o'clock, it's not big in size, but it's very fast." Ke Lan quickly identified the source of the sense of crisis. He originally wanted to use his time-stop ability to see what the thing looked like, but he found that he was in Shangcheng District. The time-stopping ability, like Ze Luo's space ability, has also been "banned".

But it’s normal to think about it. These two abilities have the same origin, so they will naturally be restricted together.

"I can only see a black shadow. Do you see clearly what it is?" Thirty-three crouched, holding a dagger in one hand and a pistol in the other hand, resting on the knife-wielding hand. above the wrist.

More than fifty black flying blades were released, sticking close to the ground and spreading silently around, waiting for opportunities to move.

"Can't see clearly, the time stop is also disabled." Ke Lan did not directly use the gravity gun - although the gravity gun can level an entire forest, there is a short delay in triggering the effect. He had previously approached the tunnel dweller using the gravity gun through high-speed irregular movements and subdued him. And now, the speed of this black shadow can also avoid the attack of the gravity gun.

Ke Lan suddenly felt that he had relied too much on "Time Stop" before, so that after "Time Stop" was disabled, even his self-confidence was greatly reduced.

"I can't predict the movement trajectory of that thing... I can only see it scurrying between the trees." Ke Lan said, "I don't want to use a gravity gun. The movement created by this kind of thing is too big and will cause trouble." To cause unnecessary trouble."

"I agree." Thirty-three nodded briefly, "Don't use this thing if you can't use it."

Ke Lan hung the gravity gun on the equipment on his waist, then pulled out the engineer shovel inserted on the other side, and opened the folded shovel head.

"That thing is not running around." Thirty-three said solemnly, "The distance between it and us has been shortening... It is only twenty meters. This distance is my advantage range, let me test it first! "

Before he finished speaking, those black flying blades that were sneaking close to the ground suddenly shot into the air, forming a siege and killing force, trapping the black figure inside.

The movement trajectory of the black shadow did not change, but directly collided with several of the flying blades - the expected sound of the sharp blades cutting flesh and blood did not appear, replaced by the clang of metal collision and splashing. spark. The black shadow knocked away the black flying blades, tore a gap in the killing circle, and then dodged and hid behind a big tree.

"So hard!" Thirty-three raised his hand to retrieve the flying blades that collided with the black shadow. He was shocked to find that the flying blades forged with pure Nino alloy had deformed to a certain extent. "The carapace on that thing ...It’s very hard!”

"As far as I know, the only material on Alpha that can compete with Nino Alloy is another piece of Nino Alloy." Ke Lan said, "The armor of this thing is probably also made of Nino Alloy."

"Is it an artificial creature?" Thirty-three was surprised, "Nino alloy is a synthetic material, how could it grow on the body of a beast?"

"It may be man-made, or it may be evolved." Ke Lan shook his head and whispered, "There are so many nino alloys in the upper city. There is no shortage of indigenous creatures on Alpha Planet that can digest metals. , if the digestive systems of these creatures are strengthened, they should be able to use the swallowed nino alloy for their own use."

"I understand, then this thing is not easy to kill..."

"If it's a living thing, there are weaknesses after all...such as eyes, mouth, nose, etc... As long as you can seize the opportunity...here you go!"

Just as the two were talking, the black shadow that had approached ten meters away suddenly jumped out from behind the tree. This time, it no longer dodged left and right, but crashed straight towards Ke Lan.

Ke Lan finally saw the shape of the black shadow clearly - it was a creature about two meters long that looked like a crocodile. But unlike the crocodiles on Earth, it actually had eight pairs of crocodiles on both sides of its body. paw.

[P.S. Thanks to non-existent people, book friends 20170502095238711, and book friends 20210804103528600 for the 100 starting coins. 】