Alien Relic Hunter

"This is pretty good... I'm afraid it's a trap." Ke Lan whispered.

"How about..." Hound turned to look at the Security Bureau agents who followed Ke Lan's orders and stayed around the truck, "Let them get in?"

"Don't worry, the drone hasn't arrived yet." Ke Lan shook his head.

The drone flew smoothly just above the squeeze zone, and four high-resolution cameras captured the entire scene of the squeeze zone - about one hundred and sixty meters away from Ke Lan's hiding place, a circular The cylindrical rescue capsule was stuck between two folds. At the top of the rescue capsule, two orange signal lights flashed continuously.

"People are still alive!" the hound exclaimed with some excitement - the signal light on the top of the rescue cabin has three colors. Green means that the survivors in the cabin are in good condition, and red means that no signs of life of the survivors can be detected or the survivors have died. After leaving the rescue cabin, the orange color means that the survivors are in a precarious state with extremely weak signs of life.

The rescue capsule that originally contained Marshall's body floating into deep space had a red light flashing.

"No, this is an empty ship's rescue capsule. Even empty ships cannot enter the molten mine area. Where did this rescue capsule come from?" Layton's question rang in the team channel.

"What's so strange about this? It's obvious that the airship this guy was on was destroyed by anti-aircraft weapons in the mining area, and then the life capsule ejected from the ship fell here." Hound said.

"That's not the case, old dog, you don't know. Before I came here, I checked the information on the Alpha Civilization's air defense system in the Molten Mine. The accuracy and sensitivity of these things are not comparable to human air defense weapons. If this life capsule is attacked by an airship, If it is ejected, it will be locked as a target the moment it breaks away from the airship, and there will be no chance of it falling to the ground intact!" Layton explained, "The Alpha people will not talk to you about international conventions, even if it is They can also hit the rescue capsules without fail... What's more, those dead things that no one controls can't tell what is an intruder and what is a survivor."

"I think even if they have the ability to distinguish, they will open fire without hesitation - in the eyes of the Alpha civilization, each of us is an intruder who should be strangled." Ivan added.

"What a ghost, Layton, can you tell what level of airship this life capsule belongs to?" Hound asked.

"Wait a minute, I'll let the drone get closer." Layton said as he gently turned the joystick of the remote control with his fingers. The drone's floating height suddenly dropped, and it came close to the rescue capsule. Nearby.

"...It is the MSA-02C universal rescue capsule. This rescue capsule is produced by the 'Martha Aviation Industry Company' under the 'Soma Consortium'. This rescue capsule has a large market share, and more than 30% of civilian airships have it. With this rescue capsule configured, I can’t tell what level the airship was shot down.” Layton paused, then continued, “But one thing is certain, this rescue capsule came from a civilian aircraft. Ship. If it is a warship, the armed drop cabin is usually used directly as a rescue cabin."

"It's not necessarily the rescue capsule of the empty ship." At this time, Valentina suddenly spoke, "The major told me that some ground vehicles operating in dangerous areas will install modified rescue capsules. It serves as a cockpit. If an accident occurs, the ejection device can directly launch the entire rescue capsule, which can greatly increase the driver's chance of survival."

"There seems to be such a thing...and this mining area seems to meet the conditions of a 'dangerous operating zone'..." Layton muttered in a low voice.

When the hound heard this, he immediately shouted back angrily: "Then why didn't you think of it just now? How dare you talk to me?"

"This is a one-size-fits-all matter. Although some people have done this before, such modified vehicles are too rare... The main problem is the cost-effectiveness - an MSA-02C rescue capsule does not count. Those bits and pieces of supporting equipment, just for a bare cabin, the official price is more than 9 million credits. And the 'Rhinoceros MkⅢ' all-terrain armored patrol vehicle we found earlier, the top version plus The four spare tracks cost no more than two million points - if there is such a special need, why not just use the money to buy the rescue cabin to customize a special vehicle with better performance and a built-in escape device? It is a complete waste to install this kind of rescue capsule on an ordinary vehicle." Leighton defended with a look of injustice, "Not many normal people can do such stupid things, and it can only be done in emergencies. That’s why we use this method as an emergency.”

"Then this is the kind of emergency you mentioned." Ke Lan said solemnly, "Moreover, the person who is qualified to escape on this modified vehicle should be an important role."

"Who knows? Maybe they robbed the car and escaped..." Hound curled his lips and said, "The orange signal light is flashing slower and slower. It is estimated that the person inside only has half a breath left. He needs to save others. Then hurry up!"

Layton controlled the drone and circled around the outer edge of the squeeze zone. After confirming that there were no heretical sects or exiles ambushing around, everyone walked out of the hiding place and came to the edge of the squeeze zone. .

"Let me do it." Zhuoligetu volunteered, "I will save people."

Ke Lan grabbed his belt, shook his head and said, "Don't worry, the geological structure of the compression zone is very unstable. Have you noticed those wrinkles and cracks?"

"I saw it. I just need to be careful and avoid them." Zhuoligetu said.

"The rock formations in the entire compression zone are not evenly stressed. Those places that appear to be complete and solid may be broken into pieces like cinders underneath. The moment you step on it, you will fall directly into the ground and it will be too late to save you." As Ke Lan spoke, he took out a steel cable from his backpack and connected one end of the steel cable to Zhuo Ligetu's body. The barrel shaft and runner at the other end were made of a steel drill more than half a meter long. Firmly fixed on the ground, "This is a safety rope. After you enter the squeeze zone, once you feel that the ground under your feet is loose, lie directly on the ground to increase the stress area, and we will find a way to remove you." Pulled back."

"If this equipment wasn't too heavy, I would have used a drone to carry you over." Leighton said. He took out another ring of steel cables and handed one end to Zhuoligetu. "There are lifting rings on both sides of the door of the MSA-02C rescue cabin. Each lifting ring is marked with a number. You put the steel cable through it in order according to the number. After threading it into a circle, buckle the head of the steel cable. Even if it’s done!”

"Okay, I understand." Zhuoligetu grabbed the steel rope, took a deep breath, and slowly walked into the squeeze zone.

Because they are not sure whether the survivors in the rescue cabin are wearing protective clothing, Ke Lan and his team's plan is to directly recover the entire rescue cabin. Otherwise, even if the survivors are in good condition, the environment outside the rescue cabin will be high temperature, hypoxic, full of radiation and The toxic gas environment was enough to kill him.

"Zolig Diagram, pay attention to the scan I shared with you, which is the window in the upper right corner of your heads-up display. The ultrasonic waves emitted by the drone will automatically analyze the surrounding address structure. You should pay attention to those red and orange areas. , don’t get close!” Leighton said in the team’s communication leather computer, “In addition, green does not necessarily mean it is absolutely safe, so be careful!”

"Yeah." Zhuoligetu responded, walking cautiously towards the depths of the squeeze zone - if he said he wasn't nervous, he would be lying. After walking less than thirty meters, his forehead There were already beads of sweat oozing out. When responding to his teammates' instructions, he didn't even dare to make small movements like nodding or raising his hands, and even his breathing became cautious.

If it weren't for the bravery inherited from generations in his blood that was still supporting his body, I'm afraid even his calves would be weak now.

People who have never stepped into a squeeze zone cannot understand this feeling. As Ke Lan said, many seemingly solid grounds have already been crushed into powder. If you step on it, It was like stepping on soft sand. Every time Zhuoligetu set foot, he had to test it several times to make sure that there was really a complete rock underneath before he dared to step on it.

Walking all the way, a long series of intermittent footprints were left along the way - this was still just the outer edge of the squeeze zone. The further in, the situation would only become more dangerous.

Finally, he reached the first fold.

The height of this fold is 1.5 meters, and its length traverses most of the squeeze zone. To reach the location of the rescue capsule, Zhuoligetu must climb over this wavy fold full of cracks.

It may be difficult for some people to imagine this kind of wrinkled appearance, then you can try to take two pieces of toast bread, or a softer sponge cake, stick the edges of the two pieces of bread or cake together, and then Squeeze hard towards the middle - the shape of the joint between the two pieces of bread is almost the general appearance of the squeeze strip.

It's just that the thing being squeezed has been changed from soft bread to hard rock slabs - even the bread will crack and scatter a lot of crumbs. You can naturally imagine what will happen to the rock formations.

The top of the fold was torn apart at an angle perpendicular to the direction of the collision. Fortunately, the rock at the bottom was pushed up by huge force, so that an insurmountable rift did not appear here - Zhuo Ligetu glanced Looking at the ultrasonic scan from the drone, most of the folds were red and orange. Only the space less than three meters wide directly in front of him was green.

"Green places are not necessarily safe." Layton's words were still echoing in his ears, especially this kind of green area sandwiched between large red and orange areas, like an island teetering in the center of a whirlpool Likewise, raging waves are constantly scouring the base of this isolated island. No one knows when this isolated island will fall apart and be sucked into a bottomless whirlpool.

But there is only one road in front of Zhuoligetu. If he chooses to take a detour, he will have to pass through more dangerous places.

What's more, there is not much time left for the survivors in the rescue cabin. If a dead person is rescued, this adventure will become meaningless.

Zhuoligetu gritted his teeth, clenched his hands hard twice, and began to climb toward the top of the fold.

The sharp steel claws popped out from the wrists of the power armor and cut into the rock easily. These devices can help Zhuoligetu stabilize his body, but they will also cause secondary damage to the rock. He doesn't even dare to test the stability of the steel claws - it may be able to support the first force, but The second time, the third time... maybe the entire rock will collapse instantly, erasing the only green area.

Zhuo Ligetu couldn't help but speed up. Fortunately, this fold was a blessing, and nothing unexpected happened. He quickly climbed to the top of the fold.

But the moment he stood on the top of the folded ridge, the rocks under his feet collapsed like crispy cookies. Zhuoligetu staggered and quickly lay down, pressing his whole body against the On top of the rocks.

Ke Lan and others standing far away couldn't help but hold their breath.

"First...don't pull me, the rock formation...the rock formation seems to be fine...I made a mistake just now, I shouldn't have stood up..." Zhuoligetu's intermittent voice came from the team communication channel, he said , while sitting up on hands and feet, riding on the top of the folded ridge.

He turned his head with some fear, and saw a landslide one palm wide and ten centimeters long appearing where he had just stepped. The black rocks turned into debris and rolled down the slope. Fortunately, the landslide The range did not expand, nor did the fold ridges collapse.

Everyone watching from a distance breathed a sigh of relief.

"Damn, I was scared to death." The hound cursed and said, "Fortunately, the Mongolian guy is lucky..."

"I was ready to pull the tightrope just now..." Leighton said, still hunched over and holding the shaft tightly.

"There are no problems for the time being...I...I'm moving on." Zhuo Ligetu adjusted his breathing, then climbed down to the other side of the fold and disappeared from the sight of Ke Lan and others.

Climbing down is much easier than climbing up. The only thing you need to pay attention to is whether the ground where you land is solid. Because Zhuoligetu adopts a half-climbing and half-sliding posture with its back against the folded slope, so even if you step on it Even if it is empty, the body will not lose balance.

Soon, he climbed over three more folds in the same way. Now, there was only the last fold between him and the rescue capsule.

But Zhuoligetu could no longer move forward - the drone scan showed that the entire fold was a "high-risk" red zone, and there was no "green window" for people to pass.

This is also clearly reflected in the appearance of the fold: the top of the fold is as pitted as if it had been gnawed by a dog, and sulfur-containing gas is constantly coming out of the gaps and holes - this means , this fold is hollow and filled with large and small gas channels...

Like a fluffy sponge cake full of air holes.

[P.S. The bone puncture report is out, the MRD is still negative, and I can survive for another half a year. Thank you everyone for your concern. I myself am relieved... In addition, although the bone puncture result is good, I have had a bad cold in the past two days. I'm feeling groggy, and there may be a lot of typos. Please help me catch the bugs. 】