Alien Relic Hunter

Uncharted waters, the city under the sea.

Four people and one aircraft formed a standard reconnaissance and advancement lineup, walking slowly on the streets of the underwater city.

The original blanket search plan failed in the first minute of execution - 90% of the doors and windows of the buildings in this undersea city are locked. If a forced breakthrough is made, it will directly trigger the fire in the building. Self-destruction device: If the one who broke through was not the Lone Walker mecha driven by Valentina, I am afraid that the team would have been reduced by this time.

As for the remaining 10% of buildings with damaged locking systems, the contents of the building have basically been corroded by seawater. Only some pieces of furniture that are so rotten that only a metal frame is left are still fixed to the ground and On the wall, one glance can tell that these buildings have no exploration value at all.

Only some inscriptions engraved on metal objects or walls seemed to be of some use, but neither the ghost owl who heard the whispers earlier nor anyone else could decipher these inscriptions written in Alpha script - after entering the underwater city After that, that strange "revelation" never happened again. The "phantom magnetic field" that everyone was most worried about before does not seem to exist at all.

But this cannot make the hounds feel relieved. The previous "revelation", including the smell smelled by the hounds, the stone pillars scribbled by Chi Hanfeng, and the phrase "Leave the bed" heard by the ghost owl... are all there. It means that there are problems in this place, and these problems cannot disappear for no reason... This kind of metaphysics can only appear in that kind of magical program that is obviously full of bugs but can run stably, and it will never happen in the Alpha civilization. in the ruins.

When things go wrong, there must be monsters. The absence of any abnormal phenomena is the biggest anomaly in itself.

"This thing should be a road sign, right?" The team was marching to a crossroads. At the intersection of two roads, there was an upside-down stone pillar. The surface of the stone pillar was covered with water plants, and there were also a large number of things like corals and barnacles attached to it. type of parasite.

Compared with the previous, extremely clean undersea city located under the forbidden sea area, this undersea city is much "dirtier"... But this looks like the ruins of a city that has been soaked in the sea for tens of thousands of years. What it really should be like.

The hound pulled out his dagger, cut open the water plants, and pried off the parasites - the surface of the stone pillars had been corroded to the point of being pitted, but fortunately the inscriptions on the stone pillars were all made of Nino alloy, even the stone pillars themselves All turned into powder, these inscriptions can still remain as they were back then.

"Come over and take a look. Can you understand what it means?" Hound waved to the other people.

The other three people immediately gathered around. They stared at the inscriptions for a long time, then looked at me, then at you, and shook their heads in unison.

"Same as the documentary relics we saw before, we can't understand Alpha text at all." Chi Hanfeng said with some helplessness, "Although the whisper the ghost owl heard was most likely in Alpha language, it This should be limited to specific sentences... If Alpha language can be mastered so easily, why would the undead crew bother to create some kind of 'symbiote'?"

"I think what Lao Chi said makes sense." Zhuo Ligetu nodded, "Old dog, think about it, those missing soldiers, hunters, etc., all left only one sentence of information, and Ke Lan He also made an extremely risky attempt - do you remember that when the Memetic Crisis broke out, Ke Lan encountered a small group of heretical sect members in a temporary shelter? That group of members had black-clothed members. The bishop existed and activated the 'Holy Word', and was interrupted by Ke Lan..."

"I remember, Ke Lan said." Hound frowned and recalled, "He said that he once leaned into the other party's ear and said a few words in Alpha language, but the other party only responded to the phrase 'Leave the bed' There is a reaction..."

"The black bishops cannot understand the Alpha language, and the prophet only taught them the syllables that imitate the 'Holy Word'... They only react to this sentence, which means there is something special about this sentence. :Perhaps, this is the only Alpha language that ordinary humans can understand."

"Then why is this sentence?" Chi Hanfeng couldn't help but ask, "What does it mean?"

"No one knows." Hound shrugged, "What information is hidden in this sentence is something Ke Lan has always wanted to understand... But he didn't have any clue until he set out for the Gray Mist Forest."

"Maybe Ke Lan already knew some clues and didn't tell you?" Ghost Owl whispered.

"Impossible, Ke Lan has no need to hide these things from us... He chose to keep secrets alone in order to prevent us from being put in danger... But later he and we both discovered that even if we didn't know anything, There is no way to guarantee our safety. With the way the Immortal Crew and the heretic sect behave, as long as we have a relationship with him, we will not be able to escape implication... Instead of dying inexplicably, it is better for everyone to speak clearly, so that Come, even if you encounter any problems, we can work together and solve them together." Hound said, "I believe Ke Lan, he will not hide anything from us."

"It's hard to say..." Zhuo Ligetu suddenly shook his head and took a deep look at the old dog, "Some things, not knowing, are a kind of protection."

"I've said it, even if we didn't know it, we wouldn't be able to escape... Look, could our current situation be avoided if we didn't know it?" There was a hint of annoyance in Hound's tone.

"No, that's not what I meant." Zhuoligetu shook his head, "Before, when Yagunaktor was confronting the black fleet, Ke Lan was not remotely connected to Yagunaktor's control system. , and handed over control of the battleship to Leighton? At that time, he briefly talked to me in private."

Zhuoligetu looks like a tall and reckless man, but he is actually a very careful person with a very high IQ. Among the people who fell into the glacier ruins, Zhuoligetu is actually the explorer. The one with the highest points (personal exploration points are similar to hunting group exploration points, consisting of the level and number of explorations of ruins. The higher the points, the higher the qualifications, which is the main criterion for the hunter's personal rankings).

It is impossible for a lone hunter with only strength and no brain to complete so many exploration tasks alone... If it were placed in ancient times, Zhuo Ligetu would definitely belong to the kind of hunter who seems to be powerful and sturdy, and wins with force, but in fact On the other hand, he is a wise general with a fine mind and a thoughtful mind. It's just that his appearance and appearance, as well as his silent personality that doesn't like to talk much, will cause misunderstandings among many people who have not been around him for a short time... But these people naturally do not include Ke Lan and the others.

"Ke Lan wanted to chat with you privately? What did he say to you?" Hound immediately asked, "Of course, if Ke Lan says something that we can't let us know, then don't tell us... I believe he did this , there must be his reasons.”

"Ke Lan didn't say this clearly." Zhuo Ligetu said solemnly, "He mainly mentioned something called 'forbidden knowledge' to me..."

"Forbidden knowledge... refers to things related to the 'god' believed in by Alpha Civilization?" Chi Hanfeng asked with a flash of inspiration.

"That's right." Zhuoligetu nodded, "This thing is just like the 'meme' in the memetic infection incident. As long as we know the content of these 'forbidden knowledge', we will be eroded by it. Both physical and cognitive changes will occur...So, for some things, not knowing is a kind of protection."

"According to what you say, it's really possible..." The hound raised his hand out of habit to rub the stubble on his chin, but instead hit the lower edge of the helmet of the deep diving suit with a "pop" and cursed in a low voice. After that, he took out his camera and took several photos of the inscriptions embedded in the stone pillars.

Although they cannot understand these Alpha civilizations, what if they can get in touch with Ke Lan again in the future? What if a member of the team suddenly received some kind of "revelation" and became able to understand these words? Although the chance is very low, it is always good to be fully prepared... there may be some crucial clues hidden in these photos.

"Cortana, you should continue to tell us what happened in the Gray Mist Forest." The hound said to the Blasphemer mecha, "Although I have heard you say it once, I always feel that there is something missing. There are many details...the whole story seems to be cut off section by section..."

"I feel the same way," Chi Hanfeng agreed. "It's like a very rigidly edited script. In many places, the front and back parts don't match up. It's too jumpy."

"But I only remember these..." Valentina said, "The environment in the gray fog forest is very strange. I don't know if it's the fog or the trees... They seem to affect our memory. Just like that name and us The lost woodcutter, after he went missing, we all completely forgot about the existence of such a person. If Ke Lan hadn't suddenly remembered, none of us would have cared that there was one less person in the team."

Valentina paused and continued: "But even if we later found out that the lumberjack named Danning had indeed disappeared under Ke Lan's prompt, I still had a strong sense of unreality in my mind. It's like the character Danning only exists in my imagination. There was no such person in the whole team from the beginning... His disappearance is just my imagination... And the most terrifying thing is that the details about this person, he I can’t remember anything about his appearance, clothes, etc., and the memories related to him have become extremely blurry...as blurry as a dream.”

"To be honest, I have a bad premonition... I think you are not the only one who has been separated from Ke Lan." Hound whispered, "The gray mist forest is too mysterious... I'm afraid except for Ke Lan and Ze Except for Luo, everyone else has now dispersed."

"Then..." Chi Hanfeng's face turned ugly when he heard what the hound said. "Without the protection of Ke Lan and Ze Luo, if other people were teleported to this place, it wouldn't be possible in an instant. Was he crushed to death by the water pressure?”

Valentina was able to survive and find the Hound and their deep submersibles because of the Blasphemer mecha. As for Ivan, Asano Akira and others, with their physical strength, it is impossible to withstand the depth of thousands of meters under the sea. of water pressure.

"It's more bad than good, it's bad..." the dog murmured, "That guy Asano Akira might be able to create miracles, but Ivan... I'm afraid..."

"No, if Ivan is teleported to the bottom of the sea, he will not necessarily die." Zhuoligetu said, "Don't forget that there are still alienated cells of erosion seeds in his body. As long as the suppression device in the prosthetic arm is damaged, he will die. You can survive by relying on the power of the Seed of Corrosion.”

"But in that case, wouldn't he become a 'vessel'... He would rather die than become a monster." Hound whispered.

"As long as you live, there is always a way." Zhuoligetu patted the shoulders of Hound and Chi Hanfeng, "Don't think so much first. Instead of worrying about them, we should worry about ourselves first... our remaining oxygen generators , is not enough to search the entire underwater city. If we find nothing more, we will have to give up."

"Giving up" was the last resort in their plan. Just like the literal meaning, they gave up exploring the undersea city and let the Blasphemer mecha take everyone to the surface. If they were lucky, maybe they would surface, but they I always feel that it is impossible to leave this unknown sea so easily... so "giving up" can only be the last resort. As long as there is a shred of planning in other options, they will not choose this last resort.

"Let's move on while there is still plenty of oxygen concentrator." Hound sighed. He glanced at the pressure gauge of the container containing the oxygen concentrator. The number above showed that the oxygen concentrator could still last for six hours... At this position, one hour of oxygen is needed to float to the surface, so their remaining exploration time is only five hours.

For five hours, trying to find some clues in this undersea city was as difficult as climbing to the sky.

"I'm thinking about two things right now. One is that Yagunaktor and Ke Lan will be safe. The second is that the sea is directly above us." Chi Hanfeng said.

But at this moment, the Blasphemer mecha suddenly assumed a defensive posture, using one arm to protect the four people, and the other arm raised its weapon, aiming at a person not far away. building.

"There is life in that building," Valentina said.

[P.S. The single-tube nucleic acid result came out and it was negative. It was a false alarm and I breathed a sigh of relief... However, many local friends were positive, and some people who had not had time to do the nucleic acid test also developed corresponding symptoms. Currently, the first The peak period of this wave should be coming soon, and I still plan to retreat at home during this period...and by the way, I can also pay back the extra money I owe to the leader...

Everyone should also pay attention to personal protection and stay out if possible. After the first wave of peak is over, the situation will improve a lot. According to my friend who is studying medicine, it will be about two months until the Lantern Festival. After that, everything should be fine. 】