Alien Relic Hunter

When there is electricity, there is not much difference between 400 meters and 650 meters. This maintenance channel, which is closer to the public communication terminal, naturally becomes the "most preferred".

There are lights in the maintenance channel, but in order not to alert others, the team did not turn on all the lighting equipment in the channel, and only lit up a few lights on the elevator.

Only a section of the passage less than thirty meters can be illuminated by light, and places further away are gradually engulfed by darkness. Everyone raised their heads, pointed their weapons directly upward, and stood ready.

No one spoke, and the only sounds in the passage were the deliberately suppressed breathing and the friction of the elevator pulleys and tracks. Not only Soap and the Giraffe felt very depressed, but everyone else in the team was also a little breathless.

Especially in closed spaces like tunnels, once they encounter an enemy, they have no chance to escape and can only fight to the death with the opponent.

There is not even any extra space to dodge, and there are no obstacles that can cover the body. They can only shoot at the enemy like the line infantry in the 17th century of the old era - this kind of fighting has no skills. There is no luck at all. The soldiers are simply used as consumables. The morale of that side collapses first, and the soldiers of that side begin to collapse first...

However, for everyone in the small team, they didn't even have a chance to collapse.

It only took forty-five minutes for the elevator to reach the exit, but to them, these forty-five minutes were as long as forty-five years.

When the bright lights at the exit appeared in the distance, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"To be honest, when I was in the tunnel just now, the plots of those thrillers I had watched before, especially those in closed environment movies, those scenes kept flashing in my mind... I felt that if I stayed in there for a while longer, I'm afraid everyone will suffer from claustrophobia." Soap whispered to the giraffe.

"I'm not much better...by the way, do we...have boarded a pirate ship?" Giraffe cautiously glanced in the direction of the spear team, "According to our plan, shouldn't we be on the pirate ship?" Did you anoint the soles of your feet with oil before you boarded the ark?”

"What a thief ship... don't talk nonsense!" Zao Yao glared at his unabashed companion, "If you want to say thieves, it's because those monsters are thieves. We are the party representing justice. The survivors on the Ark are still waiting. Let’s go save it.”

"Don't speak so righteously. I don't know whether a thief is a thief or not. Don't be able to save the survivors by then and risk your own life instead." The giraffe said with some depression, "Actually, now It’s not impossible to find a way to escape... Let’s try to find a reason... No, that shouldn’t work... Or, when we meet the enemy, we will be in a melee..."

"Run away? Where are you going to sneak away?" Soap gave the giraffe a white look and asked.

"Anyway, let's leave the Ark first... Didn't the previous survivor tell us to escape as far away as possible? I don't think there's anything wrong with what he said. With our little strength alone, it's impossible to complete the mission. ."

"Then what? Escape from the Ark, do we have somewhere else to go?" Soap said helplessly, "General Maginot planned the battle to retake the Ark, but all the military bases and strongholds in the wilderness were involved, and no place would take him in. We... have no place to stay and no supplies. How many days do you think we can survive in the wilderness? Even if we throw the few so-called survival masters in the team into the wilderness without logistical support, they won't be able to hold on for long... ...A few years ago, maybe we could have found an exile settlement and survived for a few years, but now..."

Soap did not continue, but the two of them were partners in action, and the giraffe naturally knew what the second half of the sentence was.

In the original settlement of exiles who did not actively provoke Ark, Ark always turned a blind eye to them. Some exiles would even make deals with people in transit stations or military bases. But since the war between Ark and the heretical sect officially started, every settlement in the wilderness has become a "must battleground for military strategists."

The heretical sect needs the exiles in these settlements to supplement their believers and combat power. In order to prevent these exiles from becoming part of the heretical sect, Ark has launched a high-intensity annihilation operation against all the exile settlements that have been discovered—— Just like to prevent mosquitoes from breeding, it is necessary to fill in the puddles where mosquitoes can breed. For Ark's senior leaders, these exile settlements are the soil where seeds of erosion breed, and they are potential sources of soldiers for heretical sects.

Soap and Giraffe have also participated in several operations to exterminate exile settlements, but in recent months, fewer and fewer exile settlements can be discovered... According to incomplete statistics from those intelligence websites, the current wilderness The number of exiles still existing on the planet is likely to be less than a thousand, and this number will completely reach zero within the next three months to six months.

In other words, they have nowhere to go.

Giraffe's mood was obviously a little depressed, and Soap was certainly not much better... But even the soldiers of the spear squad didn't look very good.

"Don't be so frustrated." The transport plane pilot said to everyone, "Actually, we are very close to completing the mission - you see, this area is lit, and the lift in the maintenance channel can also operate normally, which means The power plant here is still supplying electricity... The public communication terminal is most likely not damaged yet. As long as we can contact the 'big man' that the general called, the situation should improve."

"Is it improved? How much improvement can it be? Is it possible that the situation of the war can be reversed by contacting the big shot? If nothing else, the big shot himself is trapped on the Ark and cannot even send a distress signal. Even if we contact him , so what can I do?" Soap wanted to use these words to refute the transport pilot, but he still suppressed these words - he himself knew that such words were really damaging to morale. If he spoke out, he might be killed by the serious team leader for a reason.

"I hope... I hope that big shot... is useful." He murmured for a while, and finally whispered in a voice that only he could hear.

The team moved close to the edge of the power plant park. This is a fully automated nuclear power plant with a large area. The distance around the park is several kilometers. And the nearest public communication terminal is more than 800 meters away in the 12 o'clock direction, which is the junction line between the power station park and the residential area of ​​West 12th District - according to Ark's design plan, every residential area , must be equipped with a public communication terminal, but this public communication terminal is not so much equipped for the residents of the West 12th District as it is the supporting facilities of the power station... Compared with those residents, the power station's residence Personnel and security forces use it much more.

"There seems to be no one in the power station. No trace of the resident personnel or security forces was found." With the assistance of an exoskeleton, a scout easily climbed over the three-meter-high wall of the power station park and said to the team leader, "Security The door to the troops’ barracks was open, but no bodies were found and no signs of fighting were found.”

"Are the weapons and ammunition still there?" the squad leader asked.

"The weapons rack is half empty, and the reserve ammunition is basically untouched," the scout replied.

"Strange...where will that person go?" the team leader wondered.

The security forces of this kind of power station work in two shifts, with half resting and half on duty. Under normal circumstances, the weapon racks should be half empty. Moreover, if there is an emergency, the amount of ammunition carried will be increased from one base in daily life to two bases in alert time, or even four bases in wartime. Such a big thing happened on the Ark, and the ammunition reserves were even continuous. It's so unreasonable that it hasn't even been touched.

Basically, we can rule out the possibility that the security forces will be wiped out in place, or be transferred to other places upon receiving orders... But, where will these dozens of people go?

Even if they run away in a hurry, the remaining half should always bring their weapons, right?

The squad leader smacked his lips and rubbed one side of his cheek vigorously. He thought to himself that since he had been in the field for so many years, the quality of the garrison on the Ark should not be so low that he even forgot to bring weapons. To some extent...

At this time, another scout also rushed back from the opposite direction and reported: "No survivors were found in the residential area, and there were no bodies. It was as if all the residents had simply disappeared."

"West 12th District is a semi-industrial and semi-residential area. The living conditions here are worse than many areas called slums. The air is filled with toxic gases emitted by various factories. People with a little ability have already moved there. Let's go." A relic hunter said, "I have been to the West 12th District once before. Many houses in the residential areas here are empty, and the occupancy rate is not even one-fifth."

"The designed population capacity of the West 12th District residential area is 30,000 people. Even if it is one-fifth, there should be 6,000 people. These 6,000 people cannot just evaporate out of thin air without leaving any traces. ?" the captain of the spear squad asked suspiciously.

"Did you really find no traces?" the transport pilot asked the scout, "Have you checked those inhabited houses?"

"I picked out a few houses with fresh garbage at the door and went in. They were all empty." The scout immediately replied, "The rooms are very messy... but the rooms in these slums are usually very messy. As for more There are not many details due to time constraints..."

There was nothing wrong with what the scout said. The time limit given to them by the team leader was fifteen minutes. It took fifteen minutes to run back and forth. It was impossible to have much time to carefully inspect those houses.

"I always feel like it's a trap." The transport pilot mused. "This place has no trace of being invaded by those monsters. Infrastructure such as power plants, lighting equipment, and gas supply equipment are still running. It makes no sense. There’s no one there.”

"Could it be that after the upper levels of Ark discovered the invasion of those monsters, they urgently ordered everyone to take refuge in the blocks with higher numbers and concentrate their efforts on defense?" asked a relatively young ruin hunter. .

"Absolutely impossible." Soap immediately retorted, "Based on my understanding of Ark's senior management, if this happens, these people living in the slums will definitely be the first group to be abandoned. Ark's senior management will not Maybe to protect them, we won’t distribute precious survival materials to the people living here. Or to put it more bluntly, in the eyes of Ark’s senior officials, the people living here are not human beings at all.”

The captain of the spear team glared at Soap and pursed his lips, but did not refute it - because he knew in his heart that although what the other party said was ugly, it was indeed the truth.

"You two, go in the direction of the public communication terminal and make sure there are no obstacles or creatures on the route. Others, stay put." The captain of the spear team ordered.

The closer we are to the target, the less we must be anxious... The other team may not even be able to enter the "Shadow Zone" before being wiped out. If something unexpected happens to their team again, this combat operation will be considered a complete one. Failed.

"Be cautious, you must be cautious." The team leader warned himself over and over in his heart.

Five minutes later, one of the two scouts hurried back. Before he could get closer, he made a gesture symbolizing "alertness" to everyone from a distance.

Everyone suddenly felt nervous.

The radio equipment carried by the team was powered by energy crystals. Although no fleshy carpets or monsters were found in this area, the team leader ordered all such equipment to be disabled just in case.

"What's going on? What's going on?" When the scout came closer, the team leader asked hurriedly.

"Near the public communication terminal, there is a humanoid creature wandering back and forth. Simon is staring at that guy." The scout's breath was a little unsteady, half due to fast running and the other half due to nervousness.

"Humanoid creature? Isn't it human?" the team leader asked again.

"Probably, it was once a human..." The scout looked confused, as if he was worried about how to describe what he saw, "It... it roughly maintained a human shape, with a head, limbs and torso... but the physical expression There are a lot of signs of mutation, like that survivor we found out there.”

"Hiss..." Everyone couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.

"Captain, do we want to make contact with that person...that thing?" the scout asked.

"Are there other similar individuals nearby?"

"No, it's the only one." The scout shook his head.

"Let the sniper deal with it." the team leader ordered. "The risk of contact with it is too great. I don't want what happened to Roni to happen to anyone in the team again. What's more, from the mouths of these things, the big There is no chance that we can find any useful information, so we might as well focus our mission on the communication terminal."

[P.S. Thanks to the reading giraffe for the 5,000 starting coins; thanks to the photography master for the 400 starting coins. 】