Alien Relic Hunter

"How did you survive?" Soap immediately asked.

"I ran for a long time... I don't know how long..." Urich recalled, "I collected the little dry food and water left under the others, and it lasted for about five days... no, maybe six days .

"Later, I remember that I fell ill...a very serious illness that almost killed me. At that time, I felt like every organ in my body had melted, and my skin was burning and painful. Rubbing it will remove the skin and the bloody flesh underneath...I can't remember exactly. Anyway, that feeling is more painful than death..."

"What happened next?" Soap asked again.

This is obviously a symptom of acute radiation sickness, and it is in the late stage of severe disease... Generally, people who have reached this stage can already prepare for their funeral. Even if they are provided with the most advanced medical methods in the Ark civilization at this stage, they will not be able to survive. There is no way to get people back from the Lord of Hell - although the whole body cybernetic body can replace the tissues and organs that have been necrotic due to radiation, the human brain is the only part of the cybernetic body that cannot be replaced.

Although the brain is the most "resistant" part of the human body to electromagnetic radiation, in the late stages of acute radiation sickness, the lymphocytes and hematopoietic systems of the whole body are severely damaged. Even if the brain cells themselves are not damaged by radiation, they will still be damaged by other Damaged system implication - in the case of complete loss of self-immunity and hematopoietic ability, the invasion of viruses and bacteria, lack of oxygen supply, etc. will pose fatal threats to the brain... Symptoms of cerebral infarction may occur as mildly as In severe cases, it can lead to direct brain death.

"I don't know... I can't remember how many days passed. These painful symptoms gradually disappeared... When I regained consciousness, my strength came back... The original skin turned into a layer of dry, hard, The fragile shell took a long time to completely fall off." Ulrich stretched out his hands, "the nails fell off and never grew back."

Soap lowered his head and looked at Ulrich's hands carefully. Although his fingers had no nails, their fingertips were covered with a hard cuticle, just like the claws of a beast.

"You...you don't know how you survived?" Noir muttered, "Acute radiation sickness, just recovered on its own?"

"This possibility does exist." The clown nodded, "The human gene sequence has infinite evolutionary possibilities. These evolutionary branches cannot be programmed even by the most advanced genetic engineering technology. They can only be developed when certain conditions are met. Unlock it by yourself... The institute conducts this experiment to allow these D-class personnel who are put into testing to evolve, or mutate, under the stimulation of extreme environments. As long as a successful sample can appear, they can learn from this sample. Find breakthrough points among genetic changes and expand the scope of gene editing technology."

The existing genetic engineering technology of Ark Civilization is not as simple as inserting a few key characters directly into the code like computer programming... Every existing gene editing technology is obtained through countless trials and errors. Valuable experience... There are countless genetic changes, and 99.9% of them end in death. Only the path with a probability infinitely close to zero is feasible. The institute's experiments are to continuously drive "experimental subjects" into these "forks in the road" and observe their subsequent changes.

Most of the forked roads lead to cliffs or traps, but as long as there are enough roads to choose from, one or two of them will always work...and these "roads" that work will become the focus of subsequent gene editing project research. direction.

For example, in the old era, there was a rare disease with a mortality rate of 100%. Everyone who suffered from this disease died without exception. But one day, a special patient miraculously recovered. The doctors conducted the most detailed examination of the recovered patient and found that there were some obvious special features in the patient's genes.

But doctors don’t know which special place leads to the recovery of terminal illness. They can only choose to try, using the most common "control variable method" in science to try little by little... This is a very stupid idea. method, but it is the most reliable method.

After it is determined that a mutation in a certain gene can make people immune to the disease, gene therapy for this rare disease will officially appear...but in this process, thousands of people will undergo clinical trials. Patients die, and only a handful of "lucky ones" can choose the right "road" to survive.

Ulrich is such a lucky person who is one in a million... It can even be said to be one in a million.

"No... I think self-healing from radiation sickness is not the key..." Soap glanced at the clown intentionally or unintentionally, "Radiation is not the key. The key is how you survived in this place for five years without being discovered by Ark's detection robot. To be honest, even if this place has no radiation at all, I don’t think I can stay here for five years. How do you avoid those mutated creatures, and how do you identify the direction here? The structure of the underground maze is every step Every second changes, and I don’t believe you can keep track of them all—not even the Joker can!”

"Wha, what?" Soap's series of questions immediately confused Ulrich. He hadn't communicated with humans for a long time. Even his language ability was still slowly recovering, and his brain was still recovering after a while. He had not changed from his previous way of thinking that was close to that of a beast. Soap's barrage of questions made him unable to resist, and almost caused Ulrich's brain to shut down.

"Answer one question at a time, don't worry." Noir patted Ulrich's shoulder comfortingly, took out a bottle of diluted military stimulant and stuffed it into him, "You tell us first. , how did you identify the direction in this place?"

"The direction...I, I don't know either." Ulrich shook his head, "I just...walked based on my feelings..."

"Have you ever been lost?"

"I don't know..." Ulrich still shook his head, "But if I want to go to a place, I can always get there... Just like here, I know that the big bug up there is very quiet and it is not a threat to me, but Other monsters never come close to here because of the existence of this big bug. So, every time I catch prey, I will come here to eat."

"Also," Urich continued, "this big bug releases a strange smell. It smells to me like...like..."

Ulrich repeated the word "like" several times, as if he was searching for a suitable adjective, and it seemed that he had forgotten the things in human society that could be used as metaphors. He was stuck. After a while, he said: "I don't know what kind of smell it is. Anyway, it is a kind of smell. I don't feel anything about it, but it will attract some other small things to pounce on it. At this time, I can catch it." We caught a lot of prey.”

Urich grabbed the body of the flying squirrel as if to show off, and said to Soap and the others: "This is what I caught here... It flies very fast, but as long as you see the opportunity and pounce on it, you can There’s meat to eat!”

"It seems like this guy is not lost." Soap and Noir looked at each other. "No matter where he goes, he can return to this place...Obviously, he has regarded this place as a 'safe zone' ’ ”

"Could it be biological instinct?" Noir wanted to reach out to lift his chin, but it was empty - the chest of the protective suit and the helmet are connected together, and when viewed from the front, it looks like it is divided into two parts. It's like an iron bucket. A person wearing this thing can't even touch his own neck, let alone his chin.

"I heard that in the past, there were creatures called migratory birds on the earth. They would travel back and forth between two fixed habitats every season. Some of the distant habitats even spanned half the earth, but these migratory birds Never lost my way," Noir continued.

"This guy is a human being, and we are human beings too. Why don't we have this instinct?" Soap said, "Even the kind of cyborg modified person who puts a positioning device into his head cannot be in this underground maze. Move freely.”

The structure of the underground maze is very complex, with many upper and lower floors. It is a constantly changing three-dimensional space, not a two-dimensional flat area that can be expressed with a map. Even if they are given a navigation system that can function normally Device, they can't get out of this maze.

"He is different from us." Noir shook his head vigorously. "Have you ever seen an ordinary person who can recover from acute radiation sickness without receiving any treatment? For this reason alone, he is different from us."

Just when Soap was still about to argue with Noir, the Joker spoke up: "I don't think you have to struggle with this kind of thing at all... We just need to pursue the results now. As for the process, I don't care. As for the reasons, I don’t care even more.”

"Uh... what you said seems to make sense, so how do you plan to pursue the results?" Soap was stunned for a moment and asked.

"Urich Nowitzki, do you want to seek revenge from the people at the institute, so that those in white coats can experience what you have experienced in the past five years?" The clown looked at Ulrich, shocked. vocal channel.

"Yes! I want them to die! No, simply dying is too cheap for them! I want them to live a life worse than death and suffer all kinds of torture... I will do what I have experienced ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times Give it back to them!" Ulrich, who had already calmed down, became excited again. He waved his skinny arms vigorously, not even caring that the prey in his hands was thrown to the ground.

"We have a plan, do you want to participate?" the clown asked again.

"what's the plan?"

"You should know that there are many very powerful monsters in this place, right?"

"I know... those monsters, some are even more terrifying than the Thunder Beast... I don't even dare to get close to the edge of their territory..." When he mentioned those monsters, Ulrich shuddered involuntarily, and his voice They are much smaller.

"Can you sense those powerful monsters in the underground labyrinth?" Soap widened his eyes and asked with a hint of surprise.

Ulrich nodded: "Yes...but I never go near those places."

"Then if I ask you to take us to find those monsters, can you find them?" The clown asked again.

"No! I will die, and so will you! You don't know how terrifying those monsters are! Everyone who sees them will be killed! Don't go near those places!"

"Strange, since you have been close to these places and have never seen those monsters, how do you know they are scary?" Soap asked confused.

"I...I can't tell, but anyway, I know it!" Ulrich showed a hysterical look on his face, "If you want to go, you can go by yourselves. Anyway, I will not go near those places until I die. !”

"But you can determine the general location of those monsters, right?" the clown asked.

Ulrich was startled for a moment, then nodded hesitantly.

"If we plan to put these monsters on the ground and let the white coats of the institute face these monsters, are you willing to help us... This plan is very risky, but the feasibility is not low... As long as you It can help us solve two problems.”

"Put these monsters on the ground and let them kill those damn white coats..." Ulrich stared at the clown in a daze, and after a few seconds he asked, "Are you sure... you can do it?"

"As long as you are willing to help us, there is a high probability that we can do it." The clown nodded solemnly.

"How do you want me to help?"

"First, you have to help us locate these powerful monsters so that we can find them." The clown said, "Second, you have to help us find an exit to the ground, and it has to be big enough to allow us to The exits through which those monsters pass. Third, you have to tell us the route between those monsters and the exit... As for the riskiest task of leading the monsters to the exit, you are not required to participate."

"It's over, I think the second point is useless." Soap said to Noir, "If this guy knew the exit to the ground, he would have run out long ago. How could he stay in this ghost place for five years? "

But Soap never expected that he would be slapped in the face the next second——

"I know the exits. There are many exits to the ground... some are very big." Urich said confidently.

"Since you know the exit, why don't you leave here? Are you a masochist?" Soap felt a little confused on his face and asked immediately.

"There are those white coats on the ground... If I were caught by them... it would be worse than staying in this place." A trace of very real fear flashed in Ulrich's eyes - for those in the institute, he In addition to hatred, there is more fear in my heart.