Alien Relic Hunter

Before Soap and Noir could continue to ask questions, a subtle but clear "click" sound suddenly came from above their heads, and the next second, a few broken concrete particles fell on their heads and shoulders.

"Huh?" Soap immediately shined the flashlight directly above, and saw many small cracks in the reinforced concrete roof. Some pale roots emerged from the cracks and quickly spread to the surroundings. Come.

These slender roots look very fragile, as if they will break if pinched with your fingers, but as they grow, they burst out with amazing strength and toughness - Soap watched helplessly as a piece of concrete was destroyed by the roots. Wrapped up, crushed to pieces.

All high-grade super-hard concrete is used here. A ten-millimeter-caliber Type 01 rifle hitting it can only make craters as deep as a few fists at most. To crush it, the force required is extremely terrifying... But in front of these pale roots, concrete is as vulnerable as soft sand.

Even the steel bars wrapped inside the concrete have been completely deformed... This was not caused by the earthquake, but was forcibly bent by the pull of the roots.

"Good guy, is this... a mutated plant?" Soap murmured, "Clown, you just said it's not a monster, what do you mean? I think the scope of monsters should also include plants, right?"

"I mean...this thing is not a monster in the underground maze." The clown took two steps back warily. Although the expression on his face wrapped in a scarf could not be seen, through his eyes under the sunglasses , but you can see that his eyes are full of fear.

"Isn't it a monster in the underground labyrinth? Do you know this thing?" Noir couldn't help but ask, "What should we do now?"

"Ling it to the ground like other monsters?" Soap took over the words. As soon as he finished the first half of the sentence, he immediately shook his head, "No... the plant can't move, and you can't lure it even if you want to... …”

"No." It was not the clown who spoke, but Noir. He patted Soap on the shoulder with a serious face. "The fact that its root system appears here means that its body is already on the ground."

The resting position chosen by the four people is only two or three meters deep from the ground. Based on the area occupied by the roots, the body of this "plant" is definitely not small, at least more than ten meters high.

Then most of its torso must have been exposed to the ground.

"Uh." Soap was startled for a moment, then nodded blankly, "No wonder, the clown said this thing is not a monster in the underground labyrinth... So don't we need to worry about it? Anyway, the more trouble this thing will cause, the more trouble it will cause. , the more beneficial it is to us?”

"This thing is part of Zeus' plan. To him, it is not a 'trouble.'" The clown's voice became extremely cold. "He has spent decades cultivating this thing. …Now, the seeds have finally sprouted.”

"What? Is this plant planted by that bastard Zeus? What is his purpose?" Soap said in shock. At this moment, a few pale roots slowly extended to him as if sensing something. Less than half a meter away in front of me.

Naturally, Soap wouldn't let these roots touch him, but just when he pulled out his dagger and wanted to cut off these roots, the clown grabbed his collar and pulled him ten years back. A few steps away.

"What...are you doing?" Being dragged out so violently by the clown, Soap was a little confused. "I know that thing can't be touched, but you don't have to be so careful, right?"

The clown didn't say anything, he just took the dagger in Soap's hand and threw it hard towards the roots.

The force of the clown's throwing was extremely fast, and the tip of the dagger even made a whistling sound as it cut through the air - Soap had no doubt that at this momentum, the dagger would be directly nailed into the opposite metal pipe wall, leaving only the knife behind. until the handle is exposed.

However, just when the dagger brushed against those roots, the seemingly fragile white roots were like poisonous snakes attacking. Several of them shot out at the same time, instantly capturing the dagger flying at high speed in mid-air and holding it tightly. The ground was entangled.

The next second, the dagger, which was made of tungsten alloy and mixed with a little nino alloy, turned into dozens of metal fragments, scattered on the ground with a clatter.

"Mom... Damn," Soap couldn't help but widen his eyes, "This... what the hell kind of monster is this?!"

Although he already knew that the power of these roots was terrifying, he did not expect that the other party had such fast reaction and speed... His heart could not help but be filled with fear - if the clown had not pulled away from him just now, but allowed himself to swing If the dagger was struck, these roots would probably cut him into pieces together with the dagger.

"What on earth is this?" Noir also took a breath of cold air, looked around subconsciously, and distanced himself from these growing roots, "You seem to know this thing very well, can you reveal some information to us? "

"I can only tell you that when this 'plant' is completely mature, it will turn the Ark... no, all the materials on the entire planet into its nutrients."

"Hiss... is it so exaggerated?" Zao Yao bared his teeth, "Then what is the purpose of Zeus? According to you, wouldn't he himself become the nourishment of this thing?"

"He doesn't care about this thing. He just wants to dedicate everything to that existence...that is, the 'great god' mentioned by the heretical sect. This 'plant' is the carrier of the sacrificial ceremony. I can even assert that, Zeus has become one with it at this time." The clown said, "We were still a step too slow and failed to stop him before then."

"Is this thing really that scary? Is there any way to destroy it?" Soap asked.

"If you want to destroy it, you have to do it as soon as possible... Its growth potential is unlimited. It will first devour everything on the Ark, and then penetrate its roots into the earth of Alpha Planet. While absorbing the material of this planet as nutrients, It will also drive Alpha Star out of its orbit to impact and engulf other celestial bodies in this galaxy, and its ultimate target is the stars in this galaxy." Clown said, "Before it takes root into Alpha Star, human means are still there. There is a chance to destroy it... But after its roots penetrate deep into the core of the earth, it becomes a part of Alpha Star... In other words, Alpha Star becomes a part of it. If you want to destroy it, you must destroy it. Drop the entire Alpha star.”

Because Experimental Subject No. 1197 broke through containment, Ke Lan was not able to see the second half of the second trial procedure... However, in the historical documents of Alpha Civilization, the "Crown of Ashes" incident is recorded in detail. Engraved on a stone tablet stored in an underground icehouse.

At the beginning, Alpha Civilization indeed sent hundreds of Blasphemer mechas equipped with "annihilation bombs" to the asteroid "Ashes". According to the estimation of Alpha scientists, among one hundred Blasphemer mechas, as long as there are Fifteen aircraft that can reach the root system of the "Crown of Ashes", set up annihilation bombs and detonate them can destroy the Crown of Ashes - as for Ke Lan's trial, it was designed based on this task.

In fact, the number of Blasphemer mechas that reached the root system of the Crimson Crown far exceeded expectations - a full fifty Blasphemer mechas broke through numerous obstacles, penetrated deep into the root system of the Crimson Crown, and set annihilation bombs on target location.

These target positions were also obtained through rigorous calculations - Alpha Civilization paid a huge price to scan the data of the entire Ash Asteroid and Ash Crown, and established a precise model. These places where annihilation is set are basically the intersections of the most dense roots of the Crown of Ashes. If the Crown of Ashes were compared to humans, these places are equivalent to the heart and aorta... except that the heart and aorta transport blood, and ashes. The crown's root system transports energy and materials absorbed from the asteroid's core.

As long as these places are blown up, the overflowing frenzied energy will cause secondary damage, just like a bomb exploding... The annihilation bomb is just a fuse, and the huge energy contained in the Crown of Ashes is what the Alpha people really want. That big bomb to go off.

Fifty annihilation bombs were successfully detonated at the target location, and all the warriors who set up the bombs were sacrificed. As the scientists calculated, the Crown of Ashes was completely disrupted by the annihilation bombs. The internal energy cycle was completely disrupted, and earth-shattering events occurred. Self-destruct.

The self-destruction lasted for six hours, and the Ember Crown was completely turned into "ashes" in the literal sense... However, before the Alphas could start celebrating, a new Ember Crown was created from the big hole left by the burning of the previous one. It grew inside.

The two fleets responsible for towing the Ashes asteroid were swallowed up by the suddenly accelerating asteroid in an instant. In just thirty minutes, the newly born Ashes Crown grew to the size of 50% of the size of the destroyed one.

At this time, Alpha realized one thing - Ash Asteroid and Ash Crown were actually the same thing.

In desperation, Alpha Civilization could only activate the backup plan and use star-killing weapons to completely destroy the entire ashes asteroid.

Ke Lan didn't know about these things, and very few people in the Undead Crew knew about it - that stone tablet was sealed as the highest secret, and the only people who had seen it were the Fool and the stone tablet that was discovered by the ruins hunter at that time. At that time, Zeus was responsible for related "handover matters".

When relic hunters discover valuable relics in the ruins of the Alpha civilization, they have two options. One is to sell it to the Ark official; the other is to sell it to a non-governmental organization. Of course, the Ark official can also bid with the non-governmental organization, and if the price is the same Under such circumstances, the official has the right of priority to acquire.

However, this only refers to ordinary relics. Almost 99% of "documentary" relics such as stone tablets engraved with Alpha characters have been seized by the authorities, and less than 1% have been seized through various gray channels. , flowed into the people.

After the documentary relics are officially acquired, there will be a mysterious "identification procedure" - this identification procedure is only known to the Undead Crew Club, and the content is also very simple, which is to let the "symbiote" with the ability to read the language of Alpha Civilization "A simple translation of the document content.

After it is determined that the document content does not involve important secrets and will not lead to erosion and spread, it will be thrown to the research team of the institute for research. Once a document-type relic is characterized as a "dangerous item" or a "core secret" After that, it will be sealed immediately, and even the people in the institute will not have a chance to take a look.

Since this identification procedure requires the use of shady "humanoid consumables" such as "symbiotes", the entire process must be personally supervised by members of the Undead Crew. This stone tablet recording the "Crown of Ashes" incident was When it was delivered, the person responsible for supervising it that day happened to be Zeus.

"I'm afraid that at that time, Zeus had already had this idea in his heart..." The clown murmured to himself, "Assuming that he had been corroded by that time... Four years later, in the year 917 of the New Era... he sent He formed an army and went to the ruins to retrieve the genetic sample of the Crown of Ashes... It was probably during that time that his erosion level exceeded the critical value..."

"What are you talking to yourself about?" Soap couldn't help but ask.

"It's nothing." The clown shook his head, "I just feel a little pity."

"What's the pity?"

"My memory is not complete. There are too many gaps in it. It is difficult for me to recall the full response plan I made before. I can only follow the steps I remember and implement them step by step... But in the end Even I don't know what the result will be." The clown's tone sounded very strange. His eyes were fixed on the roots that were still growing and spreading, and his lips were slightly buzzing, as if he was saying something. , but Soap and the others could only hear the first few sentences, and the following content was completely inaudible.

"The memory is incomplete? Have you lost your memory?" Soap narrowed his eyes and looked the clown up and down, "Is it because of... the sequelae of that kind of power?"

"Amnesia... No, I have not lost my memory. My memory has been incomplete from the beginning. I just need to let myself know what I should know. Someone will complete the other parts." The clown said again .

At this moment, a mutant centipede with a body length of more than three meters crawled out from a crack above the head, but before it could completely leave the crack, it was dragged back by an irresistible force.

In the process of dragging it back, countless pale roots wrapped around its body... Before the mutated centipede was dragged into the crack again, its body was left with only a body full of holes. Empty shell...

[P.S. Thanks to Lao Li for the 8,800 starting coins rewarded by Chen Chen. 】

[P.P.S. In a few days, it will be time for the regular check-up every six months. I have to be hospitalized for bone marrow puncture again. I may take a leave by then (if the back pain is not obvious after the procedure and I can sit for a long time, then the update should not be interrupted) ), please report it to everyone in advance. 】