Alien Relic Hunter

"In other words, I can do whatever I want?" Ke Lan confirmed to the officer again.

"That's more or less it. The higher ups ask us not to interfere with your personal freedom, and to provide you with assistance as much as possible if you ask for it." The officer paused, and then added, "Of course, only within the scope of Within the capabilities of the assisting unit.”

"Then the authority this gives me is really great. I can barely command the troops in this camp directly." Ke Lan said.

"Well...if you need command authority, I can apply to the higher-ups for you. If approved..."

"I'm not interested in command, but I want to stay here and watch the separation process of East Ninth District."

"Ah?" The officer was a little stunned.

"What's wrong? Isn't it possible?"

"It's not impossible...it's just that when the separation operation reaches the third stage, our camp will have to retreat another two kilometers...Now this area will become a dangerous zone, and in principle no one is allowed to stay there. Here..." the officer said with some embarrassment.

"Then I will retreat with you." Ke Lan did not insist on staying here. For him, as long as he could see the separation and destruction process of East Nine District - he did this to confirm that he Is the "time stop" ability that I just acquired related to the thing in the Iron Maiden, and whether the ability will disappear after this thing is destroyed by the Ark's main gun.

This ability was brought to him by the black liquid that seeped into his palms. This was basically certain, but Ke Lan had no idea what the relationship between this black liquid and the contents of the Iron Maiden was.

But what made him even more strange was that all the effects he had suffered due to severe radiation were now eliminated on their own. When he was on the stretcher just now, the medical soldiers accompanying him had already drawn his blood once, and his various physical indicators They have all returned to normal, and the radiation concentration in the blood is almost the same as that of a completely healthy person.

Could it be that that black liquid also has the function of repairing body damage? Ke Lan couldn't help but think of Zi Yan's terrifying recovery ability. Even the blood holes made by bullets could be restored instantly. In comparison, this was not an exaggeration.

"Mr. Ke Lan, we will enter the third stage of the separation operation in about thirty minutes. If you have nothing else to do, you can come with us now. The remaining soldiers will also withdraw from this place after dismantling the camp facilities. area." The officer said to Ke Lan.

"Okay...but I want to ask, am I the only one who came out of the East 9th District? Are there any other survivors? And...why did the reinforcements not arrive after we launched the signal flare?"

"You are indeed the only survivor. As for the reinforcements..." the officer said with a strange look on his face, "Actually, after you, three more investigation teams entered the East Ninth District, but they also cooperated with the commander. The headquarters lost contact... Then, after observing three orange signal flares rising deep in the East 9th District, the headquarters immediately organized a group of 450 elite garrison soldiers and 120 senior A commando team composed of Secret Service agents...but..."

The officer hesitated to speak, as if he was having trouble thinking of a suitable adjective.

"But what?" Ke Lan asked.

"But... they encountered something very strange." The officer thought for a long time, and finally chose the word "strange".

"Something strange? We thought the reinforcements were blocked."

"There was no blocking...the commando team did not encounter any enemies during the whole process, but they have been circling in the outer area of ​​East Ninth District. They can't find the way and can't get in at all." The officer's word order was a little confusing, but at least it was still there. He made it clear what he wanted to express.

"Lost?" Ke Lan was a little stunned. He never imagined that the delay in the arrival of reinforcements was due to getting lost. "Even if the electronic navigation fails, you should have paper maps, right? A large army of several hundred people can actually It’s outrageous to get lost in such a handful of blocks!”

"It's not that I'm lost!" The officer waved his hands repeatedly, "It's that he can't find the way in... On the outskirts of the East Ninth District... well... how should I put it, probably, probably some changes have occurred in the spatial structure. The entire block It has become like a maze, and even setting up beacons along the way is completely useless..."

"The spatial structure has changed?" Ke Lan repeated the other party's words and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"Uh... you are Chinese, right? I remember that there is a special word in Chinese proverb to describe this phenomenon, called... what is it called... Yes, 'ghost hits the wall'! That's it! Commandos and the others Encountered a 'ghost beating the wall'!" the officer added.

"Ghosts hitting the wall... According to your description, it seems like this is indeed the case." Ke Lan nodded, "But why didn't we encounter the ghost hitting the wall? Moreover, when I escaped from inside, although Those neighborhoods were severely damaged, but several main roads were completely unchanged... If the spatial structure had really changed, I might not be able to get out."

"This... I don't know this..." the officer said helplessly, "Probably when those blocks were damaged, the changed places were restored to their original state, just like the formations described in ancient military books. 'Same."

Although this officer is a white man, he seems to have done a lot of research on ancient Chinese culture and can even explain things like formations.

To say that the most famous of this type of formation is probably the "Bagua Formation" set up by Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period. However, in fact, the formation is not as magical as described in romance novels. It is at best a kind of arrangement. It's just a plan for deploying troops... Even if the "stone formation" in the novel that can trap millions of troops really exists, when the level of modern science and technology completely overwhelmed that era, if you want to rely on such a maze of formations to defeat an army, It is simply impossible for a well-trained army to be trapped inside.

But if the space structure has really changed, then the crushing side between technological levels will be reversed - for humans, most of those complex and exquisite space technologies still only exist in theory. On the other hand, if the heretical sect really masters the space technology left behind by the Alpha civilization, it can definitely be regarded as a "dimensionality reduction strike" for the humans on the Ark.

Moreover, if they really master this technology, Ark will have no chance of winning - if nothing else, just open a portal and enter the core master brain, and the entire Ark will be paralyzed. What else is going on? beat?

From this point of view, the technology mastered by the heretical sect is only superficial, and it is possible that even they themselves cannot control it...

But there is still a doubt in the whole matter: Why didn't Ke Lan and his team encounter similar things?

"By the way, have the commandos heard any strange sounds?" Ke Lan asked the officer.

"Strange noise?" This time, it was the officer's turn to look confused.

"It's a sound similar to wailing and sobbing. The recording equipment cannot collect it, but everyone's ears can hear it, and the content heard by different people is completely different..." Ke Lan described it in as much detail as possible .

"No." The officer said in a very affirmative tone, "Although I am not a member of the commando team, many of my soldiers have participated in the commando team, and they have not heard any unusual sounds at all."

"No..." Ke Lan muttered, and he suddenly felt that whether it was the voice, the thought in his mind... or the so-called "maze", everything seemed to be verifying one thing. : "It" wants to let itself in, but everyone except itself is blocked outside...

This does not refer to the people of the heretical sect, nor does it refer to Ziyan, but the thing in the Iron Maiden, which has a certain degree of self-awareness... and can spread this awareness and invade into human minds. …

The reason why Ke Lan had such a strong desire to "go in and have a look" was entirely because it subconsciously induced Ke Lan!

And its purpose of seducing itself is to...

Ke Lan couldn't help but look down at his left hand - no traces could be seen on the palm now, but when he pressed it gently with his thumb, he found that there seemed to be a hard, cocoon-like substance inside. things.

This thing didn't exist before. When did it appear?

Have you been parasitized?

This thought suddenly shocked Ke Lan into a cold sweat. He subconsciously put his left hand into his pocket and pinched the stone awl.

Nothing happened. Although he could feel the cocoon with his fingers, Ke Lan couldn't feel any foreign body sensation, as if the thing was a part of his body.

Ke Lan really wanted to find a scalpel and cut open his palm to see what the thing was, but there were so many pairs of eyes around him still looking at him... If he was really parasitized by something, he would not be safe. What "emergency measures" will these soldiers take on themselves...

"By the way, do you have CR imaging equipment here? It's best if it's portable and can be operated by one person." Ke Lan asked the officer.

"Ah? What do you want this for?"

"I feel uncomfortable in my right wrist. I suspect the bone may be injured. I want to take a X-ray to check." Ke Lan moved his right wrist and pretended to be uncomfortable.

"If it's just for taking pictures, there are them at the medical point here. I'll ask someone right away—"

The officer was interrupted by Ke Lan before he finished his words: "Let everyone in the computer room go out. I can complete the operation myself. You are not allowed to come in until I say yes."

"...You do it yourself?"

Although the officer was very puzzled by Ke Lan's request, in view of the order issued by his superiors, he still complied with Ke Lan's request and took all the operators out, leaving only Ke Lan and the machine in the room.

Ke Lan checked every corner of the room, then unplugged the network cables from the computer and X-ray machine. After setting the corresponding parameters and delay time, he reached his left hand under the machine.

After the scan was completed, Ke Lan returned to the computer and looked at the digital image displayed on the screen - in the palm of his left hand, there was a crystalline object the size of a rice grain "parasitized".

Crystalline object?

Ke Lan immediately thought of the ultra-pure crystal unearthed from Leviathan's body... Could this be the thing that the heretical sect cut out of Manstein's belly and was called a "holy object" by Yui Arasaka?

Shouldn't that thing be in that iron coffin? How could it come into my own body?

Moreover, judging from Manstein's autopsy report, that thing should have contained extremely powerful radiation. Manstein wrapped it in many layers with radiation-isolating materials but could not completely block the radiation. But now Ke Lan didn't have any protective measures on his hands. Why didn't he feel even a little bit of radiation?

He picked up the Geiger counter hanging on his waist and brought it close to his left hand - the machine did not sound, and the reading on the screen did not change at all.

Could it be that during that ceremony, the "nature" of this thing changed? Not only is the radiation gone, but it also has the ability to freeze time?

"Wait a minute!" Ke Lan was suddenly startled. If the "holy object" had been transferred to his body, would the contents in the iron coffin only be an empty shell?

And the immortal crew will not hesitate to abandon the things that will destroy the entire East 9th District, but in fact, it has already happened to them unknowingly?

If they found out, would it be difficult for him to be thrown into low-Earth orbit and take a shot from the Ark's main gun?

"This thing is a huge trouble." Ke Lan took one last look at the image on the screen, then deleted all the data, and took another picture of his right wrist - he originally wanted to format the computer directly Afterwards, he destroyed all the computers and X-ray machines with grenades, but doing so would easily attract unnecessary attention. Even Ke Lan himself could not guarantee whether the people from the Security Bureau could recover from the pile of wreckage and debris. Record those images.

He has already decided that when this matter is over, he will find a way to perform an operation to take out the crystal from his palm - even if he loses the ability to "freeze time" because of this, it is better than letting such an unknown person. It would be better to keep the strange object in the body, not to mention that this thing may bring death to oneself.

Ke Lan printed out the film of his right wrist, then walked out of the computer room with a relaxed look on his face, and said to the officer waiting outside: "It looks like the bones are fine, it should just be muscle damage..."

"It's okay." The officer nodded repeatedly, "Mr. Ke Lan, if you have nothing else to do, please retreat with us now. There are only the last ten minutes until the third stage."

[P.S. Today I don’t know why my right abdomen has been hurting for a day, and I feel very weak... I suspect it is appendicitis, but the pain doesn’t seem to be as severe as appendicitis. If the condition worsens tomorrow, I may ask for leave to go to the hospital. 】