Alien Relic Hunter

…

The dry food that Ke Lan and the others carried plus the supplies they scavenged from the mercenaries were enough to last the seven of them for about seven days. As for drinking water, after filtering and purifying the water in the saltwater lake, it could barely meet the minimum drinking standard. ——In other words, after deducting the two days that have passed, they still have five days... If they cannot find a way to leave the ruins within these five days, they will have to eat...

The hound turned his head and looked at the piles of mercenary corpses in the distance, trying his best to ignore the rotten smell wafting in the air - to be honest, if he really had to, he would rather eat under the lake. That big octopus.

I hope those piranhas haven't eaten all the big octopus yet...

The corpses of the exiles were thrown into the lake to feed the fish in order to prevent some strange things from parasitizing in their bodies. As for the corpses of these mercenaries, the hounds didn't know why Ke Lan kept them... This guy couldn't possibly Do you really plan to use the dead as emergency food reserves?

"Ke Lan... what do you plan to do with those corpses?" The hound couldn't help but ask, "The smell is so bad, my nose really can't stand it."

"Be a bait." Ke Lan replied immediately, "to lure away those piranhas."

"As bait? Are you planning to go into the water again? Are you trying to go to the cave that the mercenary mentioned?" The hound frowned, "I always felt that that guy didn't tell the truth. Know what’s in that cave.”

"But in the past two days, we have searched everything above the water, and we have not found any exit. And the secret passage has been completely blocked. The cave is our last chance." Leighton He said, pointing to the corpses in his voice, "Even if that guy is lying, at least they have been to that place and came out alive... Since they can come out, then it shouldn't be a problem for us."

"Are you stupid? Have you never thought that those brats might trigger the hidden mechanism of the ruins after taking out the jar? Do you think that the cave will still be the same as before they entered? That look?"

Hound's words immediately choked Layton. What he said was not wrong. When the ruins mechanism is activated, even places that were originally judged to be safe areas will be instantly filled with traps. First of all, The first batch and the second batch of people entering it will enjoy completely different treatment - let alone the distance, this is the case with the nearby glacier ruins: they came out of the core area alive, but the subsequent exploration teams were Completely buried under gravel and ice.

"Let's do this," Ke Lan said, "Me, Asano Akira and Layton, the three of us are currently the most capable people in the team. The three of us will explore the cave, while the others will stay behind. Stand by on the shore. In this case, even if an accident occurs, the entire army will not be wiped out."

"I don't agree. We have to go together. There's no reason for us to risk our lives by watching you from the shore." Hound objected.

"Now is not the time to be impulsive." Ke Lan said in a very calm tone, "Old dog, you are injured. If we take you with us, you can only be regarded as a burden. If something unexpected happens, we will still have to share some of it. I will use my energy to take care of you... Or, if we decide to retreat and you fall behind, do you think we should risk the team being wiped out to rescue you?"

"But..." Hound still wanted to argue, but found that Ke Lan was not wrong. In this situation, not only him, but also Ivan and Qin Zhao can be regarded as "burdens". As for Zhuo Lige The picture is barely on the passing line.

Their abilities are of no use underwater, and bringing them along will only make the team extremely bloated.

"A three-person team is the best choice. The smaller the size, the higher the flexibility in operations. Even if we encounter a monster, we can make the decision to fight or escape immediately." Ke Lan said.

"...Okay." The hound finally nodded, "Be careful and don't show off. If you can't, just run away. Saving your life is the most important thing."

"Don't worry, I will definitely die later than you!" As soon as Layton finished speaking, before the hound made a move, Ke Lan already kicked him on the butt——

"I have never seen anyone set a death flag on themselves like this... You are still the first." Ke Lan complained.

"Damn, the old dog always says that I have a crow's mouth, so isn't it true that I am just as good as a negative?" Layton rubbed his butt and said with a smile.

"Where are you, Asano? You just woke up, are you in good health?" Ke Lan looked at Asano Akira and asked.

"I have no problem." Asano Akira said.

The main reason why Ke Lan made this decision was because of the return of Asano Akira. This is a combat force so powerful that it is almost unreasonable. This taciturn guy cannot be measured by conventional human standards at all... Even if Ke Lan, who has the ability to "stop time", is by no means a match for Akira Asano.

Even if he could clearly see the trajectory of Asano Akira's sword, he couldn't avoid the wind-like attack. What's more, Asano Akira also has explosive moves that can overdraw his own mental power, and he can kill him in an instant. Drop the powerful "Sea Anemone Head".

In the dark and deep underwater environment, Asano Akira's only disadvantage: blindness, can almost be ignored - even people with normal vision have very limited vision with the help of lights. If the lights are lost, they will also have to reach out. No fingers visible.

But Asano Akira is different. In addition to vision, his other senses are much more sensitive than ordinary people. The sound transmitted through the water body, the subtle fluctuations and undercurrents in the water... all of these can provide him with enough information. For him who has adapted to the darkness, the strength he can exert in this environment is far beyond that of people like Ke Lan who use their eyes as their main receptors.

As for Layton, Ke Lan chose him for even simpler reasons: propellers that can move quickly underwater, micro rockets that can be used as torpedoes, and chainsaws and anchors that can be used as both tools and weapons. Wait... To sum it up, it can be accurately summarized in six words: the perfect tool man.

…

The three of them put on the diving equipment brought by the mercenaries. In addition to diving suits and scuba, the mercenaries were also equipped with several harpoon guns. Although the harpoon gun is not as good as professional underwater weapons, it is cheaper. An alloy harpoon only costs less than 100 points, which is about the same as one bullet of the "Shark Hunter" underwater machine gun. ——It would be really weird if all these mercenaries were equipped with "Shark Hunters" and "Vortex Torpedoes".

Even for the top relic hunters, such expensive and cutting-edge equipment is still a huge burden. In order to obtain these things, in addition to enough credits, connections and channels are also indispensable.

"A single-shot harpoon gun, a one-time consumable... its power is okay, but its hit rate is really poor." Layton commented. He did not hold a harpoon gun himself. He already had enough equipment. On the contrary, Ke Lan had six harpoons inserted behind his back. From a distance, he looked like an old general on the stage of the old era.

"You just said that I set up a flag, but you have planted a lot of flags behind your back?" Layton couldn't help but complain.

"Wouldn't it be equivalent to pulling out the flag if we shoot them all later?" Ke Lan said, then picked up two more submachine guns and a dozen magazines and stuffed them into his backpack.

Although the mercenary said that the cave had been filled with sea water, he also said that the relative position of the cave was higher than the water surface of the saltwater lake - if the cave was not completely closed, then under the action of gravity, the water level would Eventually it will fall back to the level of the lake.

This is like holding a cup filled with water upside down on the surface of the water. Due to the atmospheric pressure, the water in the cup will not flow out, but if a small hole is punched in the bottom of the cup, the situation is completely different.

Therefore, it is still necessary to carry some weapons used on land.

The mercenaries also had two inflatable kayaks in their equipment. Ke Lan and the other three took one of them to the connection between the cave and the underground lake, while Hound and the others carried the corpses left behind to the underground lake. the other end.

They would throw the rotting corpses into the lake and try to lure the piranhas to the other end of the lake. Ke Lan and the others could take this opportunity to dive directly.

…

Thirty minutes later.

Ke Lan sat on the edge of the kayak, glanced at his watch, and said, "Ten minutes have passed since the scheduled time to release the bait. All the piranhas in the lake should have been attracted. It's our turn to take action."

"Understood." Leighton gave Ke Lan a thumbs up, jumped into the water first, and dived quickly.

Ke Lan and Asano Akira then put on scuba diving, leaned back, and dived headfirst into the lake.

"Testing communication." Ke Lan said in the short-distance communication channel.

"Thirteen meters away from you, the communication quality is good and there is no interference." Layton replied from below, "To be honest, these mercenaries really gave us a big gift. Without these equipment, we probably can only I stared blankly on the shore."

This sonic communication device was also found in the backpacks of the mercenaries. They knew in advance that the mission would require diving, and were much more prepared than Ke Lan and the others.

"Well, continue diving and pay attention to the surrounding environment." Ke Lan said.

"The water flow is normal, and there are no abnormal sound sources approaching. I only heard the sound of the propeller blades." Akira Asano said on the communication channel. Now, he is like a humanoid living sonar, and every move within a range of tens of meters is detected. There was no way to escape his ears - in order to improve the monitoring accuracy as much as possible, Asano Akira didn't even wear a diving suit. The entire upper body was naked, and the scuba only chose a half-covered style.

Ke Lan stared closely at the mechanical depth gauge in his hand. The dial of the depth gauge was coated with fluorescent coating, emitting a faint light in the dark environment. The slender metal pointer was moving little by little, which meant Their diving depth is constantly increasing...

Twenty meters...twenty-five meters...

Thirty meters...thirty-five meters...

Finally, when the pointer was about to point to thirty-nine meters, Layton's voice came from the earphones: "We found the stone door that guy mentioned... but the stone door is open."

"Understood, you are on standby at the Shimen location. Asano Akira and I will be there soon." After Ke Lan finished speaking, he accelerated his dive speed, and within a short while, he was already next to Layton.

A stone door more than three meters high suddenly appeared on the rock wall. The two doors opened inward and were close to the two walls of the passage. There were several extremely obvious scratch marks on the inside of the passage.

Ke Lan glanced at the depth gauge again. It was exactly fifty meters.

"Ke Lan, there is writing on this door... It seems to be Alpha writing. Come and take a look. What is it?" Layton put his hands on the door on the right and shouted in a low voice.

Ke Lan went over to take a look and saw that it was indeed a string of alpha characters. Although the stone door was severely eroded due to being soaked in salt water for a long time, he could still barely make out the shape of these characters.

"What does this mean?" Layton couldn't help but ask again.

"This is a series of serial numbers..." Ke Lan said, with a hint of doubt in his words, "Just like the numbers composed of numbers or letters in human language, they have no specific meaning and their only function is to sort."

"Sorting? Numbering?" Leighton was stunned. "Does that mean there is more than one stone gate and passage like this?"

"It's hard to say, but now we don't have time to look for other stone gates." Ke Lan took out a harpoon gun from behind and held it in his hand. He nodded to Layton and Asano Akira, "Let's go, hold on tight. time."

"Yes." Layton was still the vanguard. With a slight turn of the propeller, he floated into the passage.

Ke Lan and Asano Akira followed immediately.

The three of them walked less than twenty meters before Layton stopped again.

"There is also alpha text here." He said, "The left side, the right side...and the top and bottom. The amount of text is quite large. This time, it won't just be a series of numbers, right?"

Just as he said, from here on, a large number of alpha characters began to appear in the passage, and even the floor under his feet was paved with stone slabs engraved with characters.

But Ke Lan only glanced at it, but a strong sense of vigilance still arose in his heart. He quickly turned his head away and said to Layton: "Don't look at those characters!"

"What do these words mean? Why can't I read them? Besides, I can't understand them even if I read them..." Leiton said with some confusion, but he still listened to Ke Lan's words and turned his eyes away from those words. The text moved away.

"It's difficult for me to translate the meaning of these words to you in human language, but I can tell you their function... Just now, I just tried to understand the meaning of these words, and a wave of emotions came into my brain. Irresistible sleepiness... There is something wrong with these words themselves! I suspect that the mercenary's trance of consciousness must have something to do with them."

"They must be staring at these words because they are curious." Ke Lan continued, "Whether they can understand these words or not, these words will have some effect on the people who look at them -"