Alien Relic Hunter

"Take it away? How to take it away and blow this thing up again?" The corner of the hound's mouth twitched twice, "Are you sure that this will allow me to escape instead of entering the little black man you just imprisoned?" In the house?"

"Of course not, but use this thing as a medium to trigger the transmission mechanism in the tunnel." Ke Lan said.

"Teleportation mechanism? Where is it?"

The second memory fragment that Ke Lan saw in the abnormal space was Park Sangwoo standing inside the tunnel, stuffing the things in his hands into the crystal tanks on both sides of the tunnel that were used to power lighting equipment.

Although Ke Lan couldn't see clearly what Park Sangwoo was holding from his perspective, the voiceover of the memory fragment clearly told him that it was an "ultra-pure crystal" from inside Leviathan.

Arasaka Yui once said that the energy contained in an "ultra-pure crystal" the size of a rice grain is equivalent to 1,400 standard unit nine-level energy crystals, and the one held by Park Sang-woo obviously has more than Much bigger than a grain of rice.

Those crystal card slots are not just for lighting!

"Leiton, is there any equipment that can be used to test the level of energy crystals?" Ke Lan asked.

"Yes." Layton rummaged in his backpack and took out something that looked like a vernier caliper. "The crystal measuring ruler is not as accurate as the equipment used specifically to rate energy crystals in the trading house, but it is still accurate. It’s pretty much the same, people who resell and buy crystals on the black market like to use this.”

In fact, Leighton's explanation was a bit redundant. Ke Lan and the others were all veterans who had been in society for many years. They knew all about the famous black markets and public toilets in Ark. , not to mention this kind of prop that is almost necessary for opening a store.

The status of the crystal measuring ruler in this era is as important as the cash register computer and code scanner in the store in the old era. If we push it forward thousands of years, it is equivalent to the abacus and steelyard in ancient times.

Although experienced people can roughly judge the level and remaining amount of energy crystals by just relying on their eyes and hands, special tools are still needed for accurate measurement.

This is like those butchers in ancient times who have been selling meat for decades. They can tell how much a piece of meat weighs by just casually weighing it with their hands. However, in actual transactions, the cut meat still has to be weighed before it can be bought. Everybody is convinced.

The operation of the crystal measuring ruler is very simple. You only need to place the energy crystal in the middle of the measuring claw, turn the nut to clamp it, and then turn on the power switch. The specific level of the energy crystal and the remaining energy balance inside will be displayed on the display of the ruler body.

There are two types of crystal measuring rulers: AB. Generally, the common ones in the black market are B-level measuring rulers. This kind of ruler can only detect energy crystals of level five or below. The minimum unit of balance measurement accuracy is one percentage point. The measuring ruler that Leighton took out is an A-level measuring ruler that can only be seen in large merchants in the black market or official trading houses. It can measure energy crystals from one to nine levels, and the balance calculation is even more accurate. Two decimal places.

Of course, better things are naturally more expensive. The price of a second-hand A-grade measuring ruler is enough to buy a whole box of brand-new B-grade measuring rulers, and they are often sold at high prices but not in the market. The price-performance ratio between the two is simply incredible. It's a world of difference.

The price of a brand new A-grade measuring ruler is almost as much as that of a desktop measuring equipment weighing several tons.

Among them, the main reason is that the core component of the A-level measuring ruler adopts a part of the crystal circuit structure excavated from the Alpha ruins, which is used to "stabilize the beam" of the output power of the energy crystal - this thing is based on human technology. It cannot be manufactured at all, not even imitated, and more than 95% of the cost of the entire ruler comes from this small crystal structure chip.

"This thing is not good, it will explode." Ke Lan glanced at it and shook his head.

"This is an A-level measuring ruler. It's not the kind of cheap stuff you can see everywhere. It's impossible to make it explode even with level nine crystals." Leighton said. When Ke Lan said no, he thought Ke Lan took it out for him. This A-level measuring ruler was mistaken for a B-level measuring ruler, which can only measure up to five-level crystals.

"Do you still remember the 'ultra-pure crystal' that the miners of the Soma Consortium were looking for in Leviathan? The energy contained in that thing is thousands of times that of the ninth-level energy crystal. Even the crystal structure of the A-level measuring ruler is It can burn it instantly.”

"What? You said this thing is equivalent to thousands of ninth-level crystals?" Leiton looked at the black "core" in Ke Lan's hand in surprise, and his lips trembled involuntarily, "The stability of this thing should not be Problem, right? If it explodes... I'm afraid there won't even be any scum left in our group."

"I just exploded one of the Valkyries. It seems that the safety performance of this thing is acceptable." Ke Lan threw the "core" in his hand twice, which made Layton's face tremble with fear.

"Okay... If this player is really that scary, maybe only this thing can test its energy intensity." Layton raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, walked behind Valkyrie, and walked from a sealed A metal cylinder with a diameter of 30 centimeters and a length of nearly one meter was pulled out of the cargo hold. The surface of the metal cylinder was even covered with a silicone film to isolate the air.

"What is this?" The hound walked around the thing, and a strange expression appeared on his face. "The shape, and the silicone sleeve on the outside... it is easy to think of that thing, but However, to be able to match a 'prosthetic body' of this size, it would have to be a giant taller than a mecha, right?"

"Old dog, why are you so full of yellow waste?" Layton rolled his eyes at him and said, "This is a special energy converter for the Phoenix series skeleton. It took the Ye Family Group six years to develop it. A single Cost price is seven million credits.”

"Good guy, if you take out the things, wouldn't the mecha be scrapped?" Hound asked.

"This is a spare. Didn't you see that the sealing film hasn't been torn off yet?"

"What's the maximum energy intensity that thing can withstand?" Ke Lan walked to the converter and asked.

"This... I don't know. The extreme test data is a trade secret of the Ye Group and will not be released to the outside world. Moreover, this kind of data has no practical significance. No one will spend a lot of money to buy one. The converter is for testing - after all, even if the converter is filled with ninth-level crystals, it cannot be overloaded, but then again - who would use precious ninth-level crystals for this kind of thing? What about the individual mecha? Let me tell you—"

"Okay, okay, stop talking - can I just tear this membrane off directly?" The hound patted the converter that was standing on the ground by Layton, and pulled out a short knife from his waist.

Whenever topics like equipment were brought up, Layton immediately started to talk a lot. If the hound hadn't interrupted him in time, he would have been able to talk for half an hour.

This is still a one-man show. If a colleague starts a discussion with him, this guy can even talk about a screw for a whole day.

"Yeah, but be careful not to scratch the surface of the heat dissipation metal tubes. In order to achieve the best heat dissipation effect, the walls of these metal tubes are made very thin." Layton held the converter and warned the hound.

"So fragile? Can it also be used as a weapon?" The hound held a knife, selected a position, and cut the silicone film. "This thing needs to be installed inside the mecha. It will definitely jump up and down and bump into each other during combat. It’s inevitable. If it’s really that fragile, what’s the practical value of it?”

"The base of this thing is magnetically levitated. If you have more money, you can even replace it with a small anti-gravity device. The converter will not come into contact with the inner wall of the engine when it is working, so there is no collision problem." Leighton said Then, while holding the pull ring at one end of the converter, rotate it ninety degrees counterclockwise, and carefully pull out the inner core.

The inner core of this converter is made of graphite, gold and a special superconducting material. After being powered on, the temperature of this thing will drop to more than minus 200 degrees Celsius. In that state, the resistance of the superconducting material will It becomes zero, and the electrical energy converted from the crystal can be delivered to the body with almost no loss.

Unscrewing the cover of the inner core, there was a space with a diameter of one punch inside. Ke Lan visually inspected it. If it were filled with level 9 energy crystals, it would be able to contain at least more than a hundred pieces of level 9 energy crystals - more than 100 pieces of level 9 energy crystals. The converted energy is enough to allow a heavy cruiser to fly around the Alpha Star several times. If it were a "lower" energy-consuming unit such as a single-soldier mecha, it would continue to operate for four to five years without any problems.

But compared with "ultra-pure crystal", it's still a bit far behind.

"For safety's sake, everyone should stand as far away as possible." Ke Lan asked others to retreat far away, while he stood in front of the converter with the "core" in his hand.

Layton sprayed a large amount of solidified foam on the rear of the converter, fixed the converter on the ground, and pulled out two wires from inside the Valkyrie and connected them to the electrodes of the thermostat.

Layton did not directly connect the output end of the converter to Valkyrie, because no one knew how much energy was stored in the "core". Once the output was overloaded and burned out the engine, the mecha would directly If it is scrapped, the reconnaissance team will lose their most powerful combat unit.

The converter has a spare, but the mecha engine doesn't.

Layton connected the output terminal to the power armor of the dead Security Agency agent. Of course, in order to achieve the test effect, he removed the limiter of the armor's power furnace.

"That's it. I'll leave the start-up time to Valentina. Ke Lan, just put this thing in - oh! Wait a minute!" Seeing that Ke Lan planned to throw the "core" directly into the converter, Lei Dun immediately shouted.

"Be careful! It's better to be careful!" Leighton quickly handed a gel to Ke Lan.

Ke Lan squeezed out a little gel and put it on the "fruit core", and stuck the core to the inner wall of the converter.

"Stay away, I can't guarantee what will happen." Layton stared at the converter with all his concentration, and slowly took two steps back.

"Yes." Ke Lan nodded and retreated behind Valkyrie.

"Open your shield and prepare!" Leiton shouted in a deep voice.

Valkyrie opened the energy shield at the same time as him, pushing forward.

"Three, two, one, power on!"

Valentina in the cockpit pressed the button.

The thermostat made a soft buzzing sound, and then the entire converter began to tremble violently——

"Why is this thing shaking so hard? Layton, is this normal?" the hound in the distance asked nervously.

"Not normal! Not normal at all!" Layton's voice trembled a little, "Pull up the shield power to the maximum!"

The shell of the converter began to "clang", and the outside of the armored power furnace gradually began to melt!

Immediately afterwards, a large amount of black smoke came out from the cracked gap in the converter shell!

"The temperature...the external temperature of the converter has exceeded five hundred degrees...this thing is going to explode!"

As soon as Layton finished speaking, the converter that had reached its limit exploded. The broken metal pieces hit the top of the tunnel and bounced back to the ground.

A large number of blue-white arcs raged outward from the center of the exploding converter, and most of the power armor placed on the ground, only half a meter away from the converter, was vaporized in an instant!

"Maximum power!! You must resist it!" Layton roared angrily.

He and Valkyrie have two energy shields at the front, constantly absorbing the arcs coming in this direction - these arcs are actually just the aftermath of the converter's overload, but they are just the aftermath. Penetrated these two energy shields.

"Cut off the circuit, cut it off quickly!" Layton shouted, "My shield is about to be unable to withstand it!"

"It has been cut off!" Valentina replied, "I cut it off when the converter started to smoke!"

Just when Layton's energy shield was so thin that it was almost invisible, the raging arc finally disappeared, and a large pit more than half a meter deep appeared where the converter was originally placed.

As for the converter itself and the power armor, they were completely vaporized. The ultra-high temperature metal vapor slowly cooled down after contacting the tunnel wall, forming a colorful metal coating on the walls and ceiling.

"Huh...huh...I almost...I almost lost it..." Layton gasped.

"Seven million converters... not even a bit of dregs left?" Hound swallowed with some difficulty, "Could this thing be the same kind as the ultra-pure crystal found inside Leviathan... thing?"

"From a certain point of view, they are all energy carriers with huge reserves." Ke Lan walked forward despite the high temperature that had not completely subsided. The black "fruit core" was now lying quietly. In the center of the pit bottom, it looked completely unchanged.

"This thing doesn't comply with the law of conservation of energy at all!" Layton whispered, "Why does a human-turned-monster have this kind of thing in his body? If he could have so much energy, wouldn't he become a superman? Already?"

"It has nothing to do with Park Sangwoo." Ke Lan bent down, "The monster was not transformed by him, it was 'summoned'."

[P.S. Thanks to book friend 20180826173312349 for the 100 starting coins. 】