Alien Relic Hunter

Looking at these remains, Ke Lan couldn't help but think of the 776 Special Forces Team that disappeared forty-eight years ago... The years between the two are extremely close, and they both appeared inside the Alpha ruins that humans have never set foot on...

More than forty years ago, when Ark first landed on Alpha Planet, what happened?

What is the purpose of the 776 Special Forces Team and these people now?

Even Lieutenant General Maginot bluntly said that he did not know the details, so who could know about them...

Wait a minute!

Ke Lan suddenly felt something stir in his head, and the five characters "Undead Crew Association" instantly appeared...

According to Maginot, the Immortal Crew has existed for hundreds of years, which means that before the Ark landed on Planet Alpha, they had already controlled the highest authority on the Ark...as the holders of the highest authority. , they must know the mission performed by the 776 Special Forces Team and the current owners of these bones.

However, forty years ago, neither the undersea city nor the glacier ruins had been discovered by humans. The former was submerged under trillions of tons of seawater, while the latter was covered by snow-capped glaciers... At that time, most of the forces on the Ark were devoted to the battle to wipe out the indigenous creatures near the landing site. The intensity of exploration of the remains of the Alpha civilization was completely incomparable to what it is now. Even if they couldn't find it, it was even more difficult. Forget about sending people into the ruins.

"If I can meet the Undead Crew next time, maybe..." Ke Lan thought for a moment and gave up the idea in an instant - since the mission record of the 776 Special Team has been deleted, it means that the Undead Crew doesn't want to let them Others know of their existence. If you ask rashly, there is a high risk that you will be silenced directly...

At least one of the words Maginot said to himself was true: Never take the initiative to provoke people from the Undead Crew... These people can easily discard the entire East 9th District module, let alone one like himself. An insignificant little hunter.

Perhaps, there is only one way to figure out these secrets, and that is, as that "Hermaphroditus" said, when the day comes when he becomes a member of the "Undead Crew Society", these secrets will naturally be revealed. Will open up on its own...

Ke Lan believed that that guy was definitely more than just talking...but, in what capacity did he want to join the Undead Crew?

As a living CPU? Abandon the physical body, retain only the brain, and then insert hundreds of electrodes and various catheters into the cerebral cortex?

Judging from the current level of technology, such a "brain in a vat" can indeed be preserved for hundreds of years... It can almost be said to be "immortal", but just thinking about this appearance is enough to make Ke Lan shudder. Already...

Could it be that the cost and body of this group of "Undead Crew" are all this kind of thing? Combined with the fact that they can remotely control Victoria's cyborg body through cables, maybe... this is really the case...

Just when Ke Lan was thinking wildly, the voice from before sounded in his mind again, instantly pulling him back to reality——

"Prepare to initiate handover procedures."

"The test subject with serial number 153 has been activated."

"Behavior pattern modified to the third set of default plans."

"The first phase of the trial begins, countdown...five..."

The pink flesh python appeared from behind the statue. It went around the waist of the statue, slowly slid to the statue's right knee, and then, with a "snap", it fell to the ground.

"……Four……"

Ke Lan took a few steps back, staring at the meat python in front of him, and slowly drew out his pistol.

"……three……"

The meat python began to deform, and it returned to the pink flesh state again, and then wrapped itself around a skull on the ground.

Countless differentiated tentacles penetrated through the large and small pores on the skull, filling, squeezing, and rolling against each other... The overwhelmed bones made a crisp sound, and fine cracks instantly covered the bone surface. ...But the skull did not burst open. The meat paste was like an adhesive...it crushed the skull into pieces, but firmly bonded the pieces together.

Compared with its previous "harmless" appearance, at this moment, its body is filled with a suffocating sense of oppression, and those powerful tentacles clearly show its aggression... Ke Lan's back gradually begins to seep out. Sweating, he smelled a smell called "danger", which was like the fishy smell emitted by a huge sea monster in the bottomless abyss...

It's scary, but there's no escape.

"……two……"

Those tentacles extended and began to pick up the bones scattered on the ground, and then pieced these bones together one by one...

"……one……"

Five seconds passed, and a strange human body appeared in front of Ke Lan. It moved its limbs and walked towards Ke Lan step by step.

It has a human head, but no human facial features. Its face is flat, as if a layer of rubber has been laid on the facial bones. The eye sockets and nasal cavity are three empty black holes, without lips, and two rows of white. And the neat teeth were just exposed, like a mask of a skinned ghost on Halloween.

"Is this what the so-called... trial is about?" Ke Lan took a deep breath and raised the gun.

He first aimed at the opponent's head, but just when he was about to pull the trigger, he suddenly changed his mind and moved the crosshair to his knees——

Although this thing has a human body shape, it is not a human being after all, and the head is naturally not a vital part. Instead of shooting the head, it would be more effective to break the joints to restrict its movement.

"Bang!"

The deafening gunfire of the large-caliber hunting pistol echoed in the hall. The 12.7mm armor-piercing bullet directly shattered the humanoid monster's right leg and knee. The humanoid monster lost its support and immediately fell to the ground.

But in the next moment, those tentacles shot out quickly, and they caught the bone fragments that were still flying in the air, leaving no trace behind... In the blink of an eye, the thing's right knee had returned to its original state.

"This thing...can't be killed with bullets?"

Although Ke Lan thought so, he still pulled the trigger repeatedly and poured out the remaining bullets in the magazine.

Several large holes were opened in the body of the humanoid monster, and the kinetic energy attached to the bullet even pulled it back. The last shot that shattered the neck bone even overturned it to the ground... ...But when it stood up again, all the wounds on its body had been restored to their original state.

The mercenary told the truth, bullets are useless against things.

As for the human skeleton, it is just a skeleton.

Even if it is ground into powder, it can restore every bone to its original state... This is like crushing the polymer material and throwing it into a material recycling machine, and then printing it out with a 3D printer...

No, it's far faster than any printer on the market... The repairs have already begun before the damage is done.

"Physical means can't kill it."

Ke Lan thought as he took another step back, but a curtain of light rose behind him, blocking his retreat like an invisible wall of air.

This was a closed venue made up of dozens of hexagonal floor tiles. It was a gladiatorial arena, and he and the humanoid monster he faced were the gladiators in this arena.

The opponent is still four floor tiles away from me...

This is a fight to the death, but the opponent is an immortal creature...

The humanoid monster's right hand suddenly moved back, and countless tentacles as thick as hair swept toward the rear. They rolled up the fragmented bones, then crushed them into smaller pieces, and then spliced ​​them together. into sharp pieces - by the time these tentacles returned to its body, it already had a strangely shaped bone blade over one meter long in its hand.

"Does this mean hand-to-hand combat?" Ke Lan seemed to be mocking, but also forced out a strange smile as if helpless, "I didn't expect that the level of science and technology of Alpha Civilization, which has completely crushed mankind, would be the content of the trial. It’s as primitive as the cold weapon era of the old era.”

But Ke Lan also understands that this way of fighting is not only primitive... but also cruel. In the era of hot weapons, hand-to-hand combat rarely occurs in wars... But any army capable of hand-to-hand combat can definitely be counted. The best of the best.

"It's a pity... If I had known better, I wouldn't have been in a hurry to return Asano Akira's knife..." Ke Lan sighed, and at the same time took out the dagger and a finely polished stone cone from a submarine cave.

Holding the stone awl in his left hand, with his fist closed in front of his chest, and holding the dagger in his right hand, Ke Lan assumed a standard close combat posture.

The humanoid monster's knees and ankles began to bend, and streamlined muscle lines suddenly appeared in various parts of the body. These muscles began to contract and accumulate strength - starting from the spine and waist, the force was first exerted, then the thighs, calves, and all the way to the toes. , its soles kicked hard on the ground, and with the help of this strong reaction force, it accelerated violently, and in less than a breath, it had already rushed in front of Ke Lan!

It held the bone blade in both hands and stabbed diagonally forward with rapid force, heading straight for Ke Lan's side of the body——

However, the moment it started running, Ke Lan had already used the ability to stop time to clearly see its charging direction and attack angle, and calculated its evasion route - Ke Lan just took a just right step to the left. This viciously angled stab slid out against his coat, creating a nearly half-meter-long gash in the tough fabric.

Ke Lan took this opportunity and swung the sharp blades of both hands downward at the same time, making two deep bone-visible incisions on the outside of the opponent's right arm!

"laugh--"

Accompanied by a harsh sound, the wound made by the stone cone instantly became charred black, which was almost exactly the same as the change that occurred when the erosion seed came into contact with the stalagmite. The wound made by the other dagger, But there was no trace.

Taking advantage of the momentum when the two sides were fighting hand to hand, Ke Lan took a step away and once again put some distance between himself and his opponent.

During this brief confrontation, he discovered two crucial things.

1. The stone cone that is effective against the Seed of Corrosion is also effective against the guy. Although it will not show fear, there is no doubt that this thing can cause substantial damage to it, and the wound cannot be recovered immediately.

2. Although the body of the humanoid monster has movement abilities that are completely inconsistent with biological common sense, when fighting itself, it will imitate the principles of human muscle movement and pull the bones of the whole body through the contraction and relaxation of "muscles"... In this way , it can only display fighting skills that can only be used by humans, and Ke Lan does not have to worry about being suddenly attacked by dozens of tentacles coming out of nowhere while fighting.

This should be the restriction set by the "trial procedure". From a certain perspective, Alpha Civilization is still very martial.

Without giving Ke Lan much time to breathe, the humanoid monster launched another attack, but Ke Lan used Shi Ting's plug-in ability to see through the trick, and added a blackened wound on its lower back. .

Although this thing seems almost unsolvable, as long as we can obtain restraint weapons like stone cones, it is only a matter of time to solve it... Apart from its abnormal recovery ability, the combat ability of the humanoid monster itself does not exceed Out of the category of ordinary humans, if Akira Asano were here, he would probably be able to kill him within three moves.

Another staggered pass. This time, Ke Lan simply gave up the dagger attack and used a stone awl to poke two bloody holes several centimeters deep in the opponent's hip.

But at the same time, Ke Lan also discovered something strange: every time he launched an attack, the opponent's height and body shape would undergo some subtle changes, as if they were adjusting in a certain direction... Not only The body and the originally flat face have gradually become more three-dimensional.

I don't know why... Ke Lan always feels that this face is starting to look familiar...

After the sixth round of confrontation, Ke Lan finally recognized it - that face was clearly his own!

It is gradually becoming itself!

The attack methods of humanoid monsters have also undergone significant changes. There are less direct pokes and slashes and more predictions and sudden changes of moves. This makes Ke Lan need to consider factors when choosing an evasive route. It’s becoming more and more…

It's imitating itself! It's learning itself!

It is the same type of creature as the "flesh centipede" that Asano Akira fought with in the stone chamber!

[P.S. Little knowledge: Regarding the overhand and underhand grip of a dagger, in fact, ordinary people hold the dagger upside down (that is, the tip of the knife extends from the side of the little finger) before holding it upright. The overhand grip has strong control and can exert powerful and quick force. , highly lethal, and difficult to snatch the knife or grab the wrist; and the common holding posture in daily life (like holding a kitchen knife, with the tip of the knife sticking out from the thumb and the tiger's mouth side) is actually a reverse grip, The advantage of the underhand grip is that the attack distance is slightly longer than that of the overhand grip. 】