Alien Relic Hunter

"Let me take a look." Leighton took the scrap and stared at the octagonal hole for a few seconds, then shook his head, "The so-called 'rough machining' actually means using a high-power laser cutting machine. Irregular-shaped Nino alloy ingots are cut into alloy bricks for easy transportation... Based on the physical properties of Nino alloy, except for the heavy equipment and ultra-high temperature furnaces on the Ark, it is difficult for ordinary tools to stay on it. Leaves traces."

"For example, have you seen this Nino alloy bolt on my robotic arm? This is a custom-made part with non-standard specifications. It needs to be pressed and formed with a 150,000-ton forging press, and then used with a pulse laser. Only through fine repair with a water mill can such precision be achieved...and the accuracy of this octagonal hole is no less than that of my bolt." Leighton continued, "If this is material recovered from scrap parts, That makes sense, but the question is...is this thing cut from a billet?"

"Could it be the traces left by the Alpha civilization when it processed Nino alloy? With their forging equipment, it shouldn't be difficult to do it." Ke Lan speculated.

"This should be."

However, when Ke Lan picked up another long piece of leftover material, he found that there was still a string of clear inscriptions on it - this was neither the writing used by humans nor the writing of the Alpha civilization... "Look at this. ...This writing doesn’t look like the writing of Alpha Civilization!”

Hearing what Ke Lan said, the facial expressions of Hound, Ivan and others suddenly changed slightly. They immediately gathered around and focused their attention on the leftover material lying in Ke Lan's palm.

"You don't think these characters are the characters of Alpha civilization?" Hound gave Ke Lan a thoughtful look. Among the people present, except for Valentina and the agents in Aya Breya's group, , all know Ke Lan’s abilities. Since Ke Lan has said this, it can only mean that the inscription on this scrap of material is neither the writing of human civilization nor the alpha writing that is common in ruins.

"Is it a relic of a third-party civilization? In addition to us and the Alpha civilization, there was another civilization that appeared on this planet?" Ivan said.

"I don't think it seems like these Nino alloys were smelted by the Alpha people, and these inscriptions should have something to do with them. I am more inclined to think that this is a kind of cipher text or an ancient text that is rarely used... just like the early days of human civilization. Like the oracle bone inscriptions and cuneiform writing, these writings are also very different from the writing we use now. Except for scholars who specialize in studying ancient writings, most people cannot discern their meaning." The hound shook his head, "Ke Lan , have you studied that kind of ancient writing?"

"I read a few related papers when I was bored." Ke Lan said with a wry smile, "I don't know more than twenty ancient characters of human civilization in total, let alone the ancient characters of Alpha civilization."

Ke Lan paused suddenly, and then said to the others in an almost joking tone: "But I always feel that these words do not belong to the Alpha civilization."

He slightly emphasized the word "feel", but if he didn't distinguish it deliberately, it would be difficult to detect the hidden meaning in Ke Lan's words.

Ke Lan once explained to Hound and others how to read Alpha text - unlike human writing, Alpha civilization's writing cannot be translated literally using human language logic. Whether it is language or text, these information carriers seem to be A very special method is like encrypting it, and only a specific "decoder" can read the meaning.

The information that was instilled into Ke Lan's mind was the "decoder" of these words.

Unfortunately, so far, Ke Lan can only "use" this "decoder" but cannot decipher its working principle.

The difference in difficulty between these two things is like the streets in fantasy novels filled with magic apprentices and great magisters whose names can be recorded in history.

The former only needs to wave the wand and recite specific incantations to release spells; while the latter requires studying the origin of the world, the nature of magic, the sequence of elements, and the compatibility and reactions of different elements to create new spells. …

Everyone knows how to use a mobile phone, but only a few people can build one.

With this "decoder", Ke Lan can "read" the alpha civilization's text no matter how it changes. But this time, facing this string of inscriptions, the "decoder" did not show any reaction.

Although the characters of human civilization have undergone earth-shaking changes in appearance over the course of thousands of years of development, their core logic has not changed much. Almost all ancient characters can be translated into modern characters without any hindrance. The meanings are basically the same - and the ancient characters of the Alpha civilization should be the same. But in Ke Lan's eyes, the difference between this string of inscriptions and the Alpha characters is as huge as the difference between the Alpha characters and human characters. .

This difference is so big that it cannot be explained by ancient writing or cipher text. This is a completely different and brand-new language system. Ivan's guess is not wrong. This string of inscriptions comes from a third-party civilization!

But the question is - why do the words of a third-party civilization appear on the creations of the Alpha civilization?

Could there have been any intersection between these two civilizations?

Ke Lan had said this for the sake of it, and those who knew about it naturally understood that these words did not belong to the Alpha civilization. Only the agents of the Security Bureau were still diligently searching the files, trying to find similar ones among the vast Alpha text rubbings. character of.

"These things are of little help to our mission, right?" Aya Breya glanced at her subordinates who were staring at the screen, feeling a little speechless. "Even if this is a clue related to the new civilization, we are now We should put this matter aside and complete the task first.”

"You're right." Ke Lan nodded, but just when an agent subconsciously wanted to take the box of scraps, he moved a step in front of him with a different tone, "If I Remember correctly, everything found in the wilderness, except for important documents and technological equipment, belongs to the discoverer, right? Even if the Security Bureau wants it, it has to spend credits to buy it, right?"

"Aren't those inscriptions considered important documents?" Aya asked.

"Forget it. But don't forget, I am still the commander of this reconnaissance team. The proceeds from the exploration will be kept by me for the time being. Is that okay? As for how to divide the spoils, we should put this matter aside first and wait until the mission is completed. , Let’s talk about it after we return to the Ark?” Ke Lan quickly returned what Aya Breya had just said to her.

"Team leader...according to the regulations, it seems like this..." The agent turned his head and glanced at Aya, and was shocked to find that his immediate boss, who was usually known for his good temper, had an expression on his face at this time. It was extremely difficult to see, and it felt like I would go crazy later.

"...Okay." Aya Breya stared at Ke Lan for more than ten seconds, then gritted her teeth and nodded vigorously, "You are right. But please don't use 'divide the spoils' next time I don’t like this word.”

Both of them returned what the other had just said, but there was a big difference in their momentum.

"If you don't count the spoils, then this thing has to be settled at the standard purchase price, right? Ten percent is ours -" Hound rubbed his hands, "Hey, if this is really the text of a third-party civilization, this But for the first time, I discovered that the purchase price must be expressed in units of '100 million', right?"

"The value of this thing will be judged by the people at the institute and has nothing to do with me." Aya snorted coldly and walked away with the weapon in hand.

"Continue to search the area around here and pay more attention to your steps. Although the truck bed fell into the rift, there might be something scattered on the ground when it overturned. Wipe your eyes and don't accidentally step on something valuable. Yi's baby!" Hound shouted in the team channel - just when Aya Breya walked away, Ke Lan specially cut into a one-to-one communication channel and said something to him -

"I think this string of inscriptions is inevitably connected with the earthquake."

"Where did you see it?" the hound asked immediately.

"Intuition... Every time I have this strong intuition, the things I sense are very accurate. I'm not sure whether it's just good luck or because of the little tricks the stone tablet made in my head. ." Ke Lan replied.

Hound originally wanted to ask some more questions, but Ke Lan had already switched back the communication channel, so he had no choice but to give up.

But there was one thing he didn't doubt - Ke Lan's intuition was indeed accurate.

But he couldn't figure out why this string of inscriptions was connected with the earthquake...

Scraps like this cut from the ingot may have been lying in this box a few months ago. The driver just needed a chance to bring them back to the Ark for sale - if this scrap was an earthquake It was hot that day. The two things might have been related in the slightest before, but the truck's mission record clearly stated that this batch of Nino alloys had been "roughly processed" half a year ago. It belongs to the "inventory" accumulated in the garrison base and has not had time to be transported.

"I'm puzzled..." The hound patted his helmet, but at this moment, there was a faint "beep" sound in his ears.

His first reaction was that he had damaged his helmet... After two seconds, the hound realized that the "beep" sound was a universal distress signal on the Ark.

"Distress signal! I received a distress signal! This direction!" Hound immediately shouted in the team communication channel. He turned around in a circle, and after determining the direction from which the distress signal was sent, he quickly moved towards that direction. Ran over.

"The special agent team remains in place, and the others will follow. Ivan, be prepared for rescue. There may be survivors this time!" Ke Lan said. He also received the weak distress signal after running more than ten meters. Although The chance of survival of the person who sent the distress signal is not optimistic, but at least this is the first distress signal they have received since entering the molten mine area.

"Valentina, occupy the commanding heights. Asano Akira and Layton are in charge of the left and right wings. Zhuoligetu and Ivan follow me - and old dog, come back. This is a general distress signal, except for those stationed at the base. Not only will the survivors use it, but those from the heretical sect will also definitely use it.”

"I know!" the hound responded. After running nearly a hundred meters in the direction of the distress signal, he lay down behind a stone about half a man's height and began to use the scope on his gun to observe the situation ahead.

"When launching the drone, pay attention to the height. It should not exceed fifty meters, otherwise it will be locked by the air defense system in the mining area." Ke Lan squatted down behind the boulder and said to Layton.

"Understood." A drone with three pairs of horizontal rotors flew out of the backpack behind Layton - in addition to the mechanical snake, he also carried several different unmanned detection equipment. Although the remote control radius in the molten mine area is only a pitiful two hundred meters, it is completely enough for a reconnaissance team of this size.

At least, in terms of safety and concealment, drones are much better than traditional "meat reconnaissance".

Directly ahead is a "hilly area". Of course, the hills here do not refer to hills in the conventional sense, but a special landform caused by the collision and extrusion of two rock plates, and the joint is undulating in a wavy shape.

The originally flat ground is now like a "swimming ring" squeezed out of a fat man's belly. Layers of folds are piled up, and there are cracks everywhere between the folds that emit high-temperature gas and toxic smoke. If you are not careful, you will slip and slip into the abyss filled with magma.

"The source of the signal... is right here, hidden behind a certain fold..." The hound muttered, "The survivors... I'm wondering."

[P.S. Thanks to Xuan An for the 500 starting coins. 】

[P.P.S. The conceptual descriptions in these recent chapters may be a bit confusing. This is due to the author’s limited talent and extremely low professional level, so he cannot describe it in precise and academic terms. This is a brand new language that is completely different from the logic of human language, causing some "concepts" to give people a very vague feeling. There are also such problems in the early chapters of this book, which I really can't solve (after all, it is too difficult to describe something that does not exist in reality, even if it is a creature in the Cthulhu Mythos, They are all transformed and pieced together based on the creatures that exist in reality.), for the convenience of reading, everyone can just look at this thing as a kind of magic——

Although my original intention was to bring the language of Alpha Civilization closer to machine language, I gave up considering that with the current level of science and technology of mankind, deciphering machine language may be more convenient than deciphering natural language. 】