Alien Relic Hunter

"I'll go." Asano Akira stood up and said.

"It's better for me to go. Although Qianye is the strongest among us, but..." Ke Lan did not continue, but everyone present could understand his hidden meaning.

After all, Asano Akira is blind. No matter how sensitive his other senses are, blindness is always a flaw - there are many things that cannot be solved by hearing and touch alone... Otherwise, with his ability, he would not be able to solve it. He will be forced to retire from the army.

"Okay." Asano Akira didn't say anything more, but took a step back and gave up his position.

"Ke Lan, are you okay?...The side effects of the medicine won't affect you, right?"

"It's okay, it's just rock climbing."

Although most of the equipment of the hunter team was swept away together with the cargo hold of the transport plane, fortunately Ke Lan still carried a pair of rock climbing suction cups with him. The prototype of this thing comes from a kind of reptile on the earth called a gecko. With the help of intermolecular With great attraction, this suction cup can be attached to walls of various materials, and can withstand up to 800 kilograms of weight. As long as the battery is sufficient, even a fully equipped Layton can hang it.

Carrying a backpack filled with energy crystals, Ke Lan climbed up the giant door like Spider-Man, while others were responsible for lighting and warning on the ground - after getting rid of the previous panic and tension, the elite The professionalism of the hunters was immediately apparent. There was no need for anyone to take the initiative to direct them. Everyone performed their duties, and the tacit cooperation between them made it impossible to tell that this was a temporary team formed by loners. squad.

…

Twenty minutes later, Ke Lan finally climbed onto the one-meter-square small platform.

There is a half-meter-high circular stone pillar standing on the platform, and a heavy metal basin is placed on the top of the stone pillar.

"What did you find up there?" The hound's voice came from the earphones.

"A stone pillar. There is a basin on top of the stone pillar." Ke Lan said truthfully. He took a step closer and looked into the basin. He saw that it was full of fine cracks. It looked like the entire metal basin had been dug by someone. It's the same thing that's put together from pieces.

"Basin? Never heard of this type of energy tank?" There was a hint of doubt in the hound's voice, "Try throwing a crystal in and see?"

"Yes." Ke Lan took out a crystal from his backpack. Judging from the color, it should be a level six crystal, equivalent to 243 units - to put it in a more intuitive way, it is enough for the "Amran" "class transport aircraft flew them back and forth from the Ark to here.

But for a giant gate of this tonnage, a piece of level six crystal is just a drop in the bucket...

As soon as Ke Lan placed the energy crystal in the middle of the metal basin, it lit up, and the tiny cracks on the metal basin also emitted a soft white light.

"Reacted."

"That's right!" There was a hint of excitement in Hound's tone, "Try putting in a few more pieces. Such a large stone gate would cost at least several thousand units."

"Wait... the metal basin seems to have changed..." In just a few seconds, the sixth-level crystal had turned into a worthless waste crystal, and the metal basin that had absorbed the energy rotated clockwise. Half, and then... split into six petals.

However, when Ke Lan saw what was revealed under the metal basin, his expression suddenly changed...

"Hello? Ke Lan? What happened to the metal basin? Why is there no sound? Hello?" After not receiving any news from Ke Lan for almost ten seconds, the hound couldn't help but become anxious.

"Mercury lock." There was a trace of despair in Ke Lan's voice.

"What did you say?"

"Mercury locks... There is a set of mercury locks hidden under the metal basin."

"……Grass!"

After a short silence, there was a curse word filled with annoyance and anger. The hound took several breaths, and then said to Ke Lan in a forcedly calm tone: "Ke Lan, calm down, be sure to calm down...don't be anxious first... …Tell us first, what level of mercury lock is it?”

"...seventh level."

"... Grass! Grass! It's over! It's over!"

Mercury locks are a not particularly common security measure in Alpha civilization, and are often set up in important areas of ruins. Generally speaking, a complete mercury lock consists of mercury droplets, crystal columns and rolling balls. When the mercury lock is triggered, the mercury droplets located in the crystal column will slide to the bottom at different speeds. The "unlocker" must The rolling balls are used to adjust the sliding speed of the mercury droplets, so that the mercury droplets in each crystal column reach the bottom of the crystal column at the same time, and the crack is considered successful.

Otherwise... the mercury lock will activate the self-destruction program of the ruins and bury all intruders inside the ruins.

Generally speaking, a mercury lock with two crystal pillars is considered a first-level mercury lock, four is a second-level mercury lock, eight is a third-level mercury lock... As for a seventh-level mercury lock, it has a full 128 crystal pillars!

It only takes five to ten minutes for the mercury drop to slide from the top to the bottom. Moreover, the roller balls used to adjust the speed of the mercury drop have neither markings nor scales. How to adjust it depends entirely on the personal touch of the unlocker. As long as there is a slight Error, even if it seems to the naked eye that every mercury droplet falls at the same time, it is still counted as a failure.

The most powerful unlocking masters among humans have at most cracked fourth-level mercury locks. As for seventh-level mercury locks, they have never even seen one!

Of course, another possibility cannot be ruled out... that is, no hunter who has seen the seventh-level mercury lock can get out alive...

Adjust the mercury droplets in one hundred and twenty-eight crystal pillars at the same time so that they fall to the ground at the same time without any deviation. Even the supercomputer on the Ark cannot achieve success once... But as long as they fail once, they will lose A chance to come back.

The mercury droplets have begun to move, and the one falling fastest has even passed a third of the crystal column...

"It's over... I didn't expect that we survived the crash, escaped the slitjaw, were poisoned, and endured the cold... and finally died on this broken door..." The hound cried sadly and kicked the giant door hard. Above, "Seventh level mercury lock! One hundred and twenty-eight crystal pillars! Even if Ke Lan is a god, he can't handle it!"

"Is there really no chance? If I run now, is it still too late?" Ivan clenched his hands tightly, and the veins on his forehead were beating wildly. The toxins remaining in his body caused the capillaries on his face to rupture. His whole face was so red that it looked like he was about to bleed.

"It's too late, it's too late. In ten minutes at most, the self-destruction system inside the ruins will be activated. Even if we are lucky enough not to be killed, we will be buried alive under the ruins." Hound shook his head feebly.

"I would rather have a good time than be crushed to death under a rock." Layton sighed. If the ruins were destroyed, then there would be large-scale avalanches and landslides in the entire snow mountain. They who were located in the middle of the mountain simply couldn't wait. Until the rescue from the Ark - just digging out the ruins from the rubble would take at least several years.

Asano Akira, who was holding the scabbard, said nothing, but he also let out a slight sigh.

A certain death situation.

At the same time, on the platform.

Ke Lan looked at the one hundred and twenty-eight crystal pillars in front of him. Cold sweat continued to seep from his forehead and rolled down his cheeks. His hands were shaking, stretching out and then retracting, retracting and then extending...

There were a total of one hundred and twenty-eight rolling balls, each one corresponding to a mercury droplet in a crystal column. He had no idea where to start - the fastest mercury droplet had already reached the middle of the crystal column, and the last one had reached the middle of the crystal column. The slow ones are almost untouched.

This time...are we really going to die here?

How wonderful it would be if the scene before me was also an illusion...

In a daze, Ke Lan seemed to see the high platform in his dream again. There was a huge sarcophagus on the high platform. Everything seemed so familiar...

No, this is different from last time! Ke Lan suddenly realized that he was standing inside the huge sarcophagus, looking down at the pieces of meat below that were trying to climb onto the high platform...

Those chunks of flesh were still climbing, and he was already at the top...

He felt that he was full of power, and he seemed to be able to mobilize every muscle and bone at will... He could clearly hear the screams and roars of every piece of flesh, and he could fully control every corner of his body at the same time. Close your eyes...

He seems to be no longer in human form, but an almost perfect creature... He has the ability... to destroy everything in front of him with a single move!

A sudden burst of excitement brought Ke Lan's thoughts back to reality, but when he looked at the mercury lock in front of him, he was completely stunned——

Every mercury droplet lay quietly at the bottom of the crystal column, but the self-destruction system of the ruins was not activated, there was no explosion, there was no collapse, nothing happened.

"Did I do it?" Ke Lan noticed that his finger was resting on the last ball. He didn't even know when he put his hand on it.

This is unbelievable, but...it happened.

"I...I seem to be untied..." After regaining his composure, Ke Lan said to Mai.

"What did you say?"

"I said I...unlocked...the mercury lock." Ke Lan repeated.

"What did you say?!" There was a "pop" sound from the earphones, as if the hound slapped himself.

"I unlocked the mercury lock...the seventh level...one hundred and twenty-eight crystal pillars."

"How is this possible?! How did you do it?!" The hound almost roared. Even without headphones, Ke Lan could hear his shouting below.

"I don't know, but we don't have to die." Ke Lan wiped the sweat from his face, completely exhausted, and sat down holding the stone pillar... He vaguely remembered that he seemed to have a dream, and the mercury lock , it seems that it was solved at that time...

What exactly is going on?

"Are you lying to me? Is it really a seventh-level mercury lock?"

"See for yourself." Ke Lan took photos of one hundred and twenty-eight crystal pillars and sent them out.

Once again the hound fell into a long silence.

"...Fuck! My old dog never admires anyone, but I have to say something today - you are awesome! Seventh level! This is a seventh level mercury lock. How did you unlock it? ?”

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't know it myself?" Ke Lan said helplessly.

"To be honest, don't talk about it. I can't even believe that we encountered a seventh-level mercury lock and survived. I can brag about this for the rest of my life... Hey! This door! This door is moving Got it!"

There was no need for a hound to remind him. Ke Lan, who was on the platform, was naturally the first person to notice the movement of the giant door. Although the amplitude was very small, the two two-hundred-meter-high door panels were indeed slowly sliding towards both sides. .

It took half an hour for a gap large enough for humans to pass sideways to appear in the middle of the giant door.

Ke Lan had climbed down from the platform, but he noticed that, except for Asano Akira, the way others looked at him had changed more or less.

"I didn't expect you... you are so secretive! You can break through the seventh-level mercury lock, it's so strong!" Hound punched Ke Lan hard on the chest, "This time, all of us have to do it again. I owe you my life!"

I, Ke Lan, am not cheating!