Alien Relic Hunter

"Okay, now, the second question -" Hound pointed to the box at his feet, "Except for the protective suits that Brother Ke Lan fought so hard to grab, most of our equipment was buried together with that crispy cargo hold. Swept away. However, everyone is not a rookie. Apart from the things in those boxes, there should be a lot of personal equipment. I hope that some of these resources can be managed as a whole - after all, we are a team now."

Although Hound didn't explain it clearly, several people present knew what "part of the resources" he was mainly referring to.

"Alpha Energy Crystal".

This is an energy carrier made in Alpha Civilization, mostly in the form of pyramid-shaped crystals. According to scholars' research, this carrier's status in Alpha Civilization is equivalent to a battery in the human world, only the size of a palm. The energy contained in the crystal is far beyond that of a fuel cell of the same quality.

This is a clean, efficient, and portable energy storage device. However, unfortunately, with the current technological level of mankind, we can only create a conversion device that extracts crystal energy, but cannot reversely charge energy into the crystal. Not to mention imitating similar energy crystals.

Fortunately, the reserves of this kind of crystal are huge and can be found in many ruins of Alpha civilization. In the past few decades, Alpha Energy Crystal has gradually transformed from the top secret of the Ark into a very valuable hard currency among human survivors. In addition to the official research team, the private sector has also introduced an extremely complete set of standards. , used to identify the color and texture of energy crystals at various levels.

As for crystal energy conversion devices, although the popularity rate is not high, it is not difficult for ruin hunters like Ke Lan and others to get a few sets - devices with a slightly lower conversion rate are about 100%. For about seventy-five, you can buy a brand new set with only two to three thousand credits.

As for the mid-to-high-end conversion device used to drive mechanical prosthetics on Layton's body, it has an energy conversion rate of about 90%, and its price is only 50,000 credits.

Compared with bulky fuel cells, the vast majority of hunters have chosen crystal-powered equipment. This type of equipment is lighter, more powerful, and has excellent battery life. The only drawback is its cost performance.

Moreover, for hunters, in addition to serving as batteries for equipment, energy crystals also have another very important purpose, that is - "keys".

As the main energy carrier of Alpha Civilization, many mechanisms inside the ruins require energy crystals to drive. Without enough crystals, even if you find the right path, it will only become a dead end in the end.

"I only brought four pieces, all of which are first-class quality..." Ke Lan took out a pocket from his body with some embarrassment and poured out four pieces of dim energy crystals, first-class quality, which is the lowest one. The level is higher than that of waste crystals that have run out of energy.

"No one expected to go deep into the ruins at first. I didn't have many crystals with me. Plus I didn't have any equipment that needed crystals, so this is all I had." Ivan He opened his medical kit and took out two second-level quality crystals.

…

"One piece of Level 4, five pieces of Level 3, nine pieces of Level 2, twenty-four pieces of Level 1..." Hound's face looked a little ugly, and he shook his head slightly, "In addition, two pieces of Level 5 were dug out from the wreckage of the transport plane. ... No, the energy in these two fifth-level crystals is almost at its bottom, and it can only be converted to level three at most... It's really a little less. Just opening that gate will use up half of our inventory. "

The gate in the hound's mouth is the only way to connect this cave to the A-087 ruins. This gate is now locked. After testing and calculation, at least 80 units of energy are needed to restart it.

A piece of first-level crystal is considered a unit. If the crystal level is increased by one level, the energy reserve will be tripled. Ke Lan did a rough calculation and found that all the crystals in everyone's hands together only amounted to about 140 units. It takes more than half of the time to open this door. No one knows how many more such gates will appear in the next journey...

"But this is the only way out," Leighton said solemnly, "After entering the ruins, everyone's eyes will be brighter. If we can't find enough crystals in this A-level ruins, I'm afraid we will all die inside. .”

"Bah!" The hound glared at Layton, "I haven't lived enough yet, don't keep the word death on your lips all day long, it sounds unlucky!"

"Okay, if there are no problems, then put on the protective clothing and get ready to work."

The radiation intensity in the underground world of Alpha Star is slightly weaker than that on the surface, but if exposed to this environment for a long time, it will still cause irreversible damage to the human body. Radiation sickness at a dose below 10 Sieverts will not cause immediate death, but it will definitely make the patient's life worse than death for the rest of his or her short life.

After putting on protective equipment and briefly handling the crash site, Ke Lan followed the other hunters into a tunnel formed by the landslide and walked about a hundred meters. The tunnel was more than twenty meters high. , a circular gate with strange relief patterns on its surface appeared in front of everyone.

The gate is covered with a large amount of turquoise patina, but when this layer of patina is wiped away, what is exposed underneath is a metal with a black luster.

"Why is there a layer of patina on this door? I don't think this door is made of copper?" Zhuo Ligetu touched his head in confusion. His originally deep voice came out through the mask, making it even louder. Bored.

"The patina is due to the fact that this place was originally a copper mine. Coupled with the high underground humidity, the copper element reacted with the air. As for this door... Hehe, do you know what this is? This is Nino alloy! Alpha Civilization It is a top-grade alloy material that is smelted. The losers on the Ark still haven't figured out the formula of this alloy. If this door can be completely removed and shipped out, it will be conservatively estimated to be worth two hundred thousand credits. !" The hound patted the gate and said proudly.

"It depends on the thickness of the gate. I think it's more than 200,000, at least twice that." Leighton shook his head.

"Whether it's 200,000 or 400,000, if you have money, you have to spend it with life. Open the door first. If you can get out alive, you can come back and tear down the door in time." Ivan urged.

"Okay, be careful. I can't tell what will be behind the door -" the hound said as he counted eighty units of energy crystals and embedded them in the grooves on the gate.

"Don't worry, no matter what it is, as long as it's alive, I'll blow it to pieces!" Layton spread his legs and firmly planted himself on the ground. The entire mechanical arm was decomposed, revealing A large-caliber machine gun hidden inside was pointed at the gate.

"The gate has been activated!" With a rumbling sound, the circular gate began to roll to one side, and the hound quickly hid behind Layton.

"This...this?!" There is indeed something behind the gate, but it is not an alien monster with teeth and claws, but a corpse, a human corpse.

"What he is wearing... seems to be the uniform of the advance team!" Ivan exclaimed in a low voice.

"This is impossible!" At this time, even Jiang Lian, who had always maintained aloofness, could not remain calm.

"How come the people from the advance team are here?" Ke Lan took a deep breath. All seven people present had read the information provided by Ark, which naturally included the exploration records of the first three advance teams. According to intelligence, the last recorded locations of these three advance teams before they lost contact were thousands of miles away from here. Besides, this body was only wearing the simplest advance team uniforms without any protective equipment. With human physical fitness, there was no way he could go this far.

As the only doctor in the team, the task of examining the corpse naturally fell on Ivan. The corpse was highly decomposed, and the disgusting smell could still be smelled even through the filter of the protective mask. However, Ivan did not seem to be affected in any way. His hands were steady, and every step was methodical, just accompanied by inspections. As the process progressed, the look of confusion on his face became heavier and heavier.

"The direct cause of death is a penetrating wound to the chest. This is very common. There are anywhere from a thousand to eight hundred types of traps that can cause such wounds, but..."

Ivan paused and continued, "There are serious injuries to the muscles and soft tissues at the joints of the corpse. This kind of damage can only be caused by high-intensity mechanical exercise after the body has become rigid. This is not normal."

"What do you mean..." Ke Lan was stunned, and suddenly felt his heart tremble.

"That's right," Ivan nodded, "This body came here after it died."

"What the hell! Isn't this a zombie?! It won't jump up suddenly now, will it?" The hound subconsciously took a step back.

"Give me twenty minutes, I need to perform a partial dissection and verify a guess I have." Ivan's eyes suddenly lit up as if he thought of something.

"Okay, but is twenty minutes really enough?" Layton asked.

"That's enough, it's just a partial dissection." As he said that, he had already taken out a bunch of tools for dissection from his medical insurance.

Ivan did not follow the regular dissection process like an ordinary medical student, but went straight to the head of the corpse. The tissue scissors and scalpels flew up and down, and all the skin and soft tissues of the head of the corpse were quickly removed. Then there was a heartbreaking sound of sawing bones...

…

"It's over." Before twenty minutes, Ivan had already stood up from the ground, shook off the dirt in his hands, and said, "It's basically consistent with my guess."

"What do you say?" Hound asked immediately.

"Although the decay was severe, the lacerations in the nasal cavity were still clearly visible. In addition, the horizontal plate of the ethmoid bone was perforated, and the brain also suffered severe organic damage... I speculate that something invaded his nasal cavity. brain, and then controlled his body to get here."