Alien Relic Hunter

"I almost forgot that your human body was created by 'mimicry'..." Ke Lan touched the tip of his nose awkwardly, "Then...hasn't there been any change in your original body?"

"No." Ze Luo said.

One of her arms suddenly turned into a black asphalt-like substance, swayed in front of Ke Lan's eyes, and then turned back into that beautiful limb as white as a lotus root.

"..." Ke Lan couldn't help but fell into deep thought. Although the sight from the "god" had seen them, it did not take action because he and Ze Luo destroyed the things summoned by his followers with sacrifices. Any move...

Ke Lan knew that He had the ability to interfere in this world. Among other things, Yui Arasaka who exploded in front of him that day was the best proof... If He was willing, He could also easily obliterate himself and Ze Luo.

But He just watched.

Ke Lan couldn't figure out why He did this... Was it just to kill the boring time of hundreds of millions of years?

God, can you get bored too?

Ke Lan has never thought that the entire Alpha Planet is an artificially created "testing ground", and all living things on this planet are "experimental samples" under observation... But as the secrets he knows become more and more More and more, he felt more and more that the idea of ​​a testing ground was untenable: with His ability, he could literally "turn his hands into clouds and turn his hands into rain", so what was the point of building such a testing ground? ?

For a being that is nearly omniscient and omnipotent, whether it is a human, an Alpha, or even those incredible prehistoric beasts, there is essentially no difference... This may be a little difficult to understand, so you might as well change it. statement:

Assuming that humans have completely deciphered the genetic code of an organism and have a clear understanding of the organism's birth, aging, illness, and death, as well as various future mutation and evolution pathways, humans will also spend a lot of time and energy specifically building an ecological experiment box, using Come and observe every move of this creature in daily life?

There may be such experiments in biology classes used to enlighten children, but as a benchmark for the highest technological standards, the research institute will never waste resources on such things.

When a thing no longer has any "unknown attributes", it naturally loses its value for exploration.

Unknown attributes... Ke Lan couldn't help but glance at the gap between the battleships and the sky covered by radiation clouds. Is there something "unknown" to him in the Alpha people, or in other words, humans?

…

Ke Lan was left in a daze for only a few minutes. A large number of heavily armed marines had already landed on the top of the mountain. Cao Ge jumped out of the cabin of a transport plane nearly ten meters above the ground. , with the help of the built-in propeller of the mechanical prosthetic body, it landed steadily on the ground.

"Resolved?" Cao Ge walked quickly to Ke Lan and looked with some disbelief at the place where the black mummy turned into pieces and then disappeared.

"That's right..." Ke Lan curled his lips, "This thing feels like a piece of tempered glass to me."

Tempered glass refers to special glass that has been specially treated to produce "compressive stress" on the glass surface. The impact resistance and load-bearing capacity of tempered glass are much stronger than ordinary glass... but it also has defects that ordinary glass does not have: when When tempered glass is damaged, even if it is just a small damage such as a missing corner, the entire glass will explode due to the destruction of the uniform compressive stress balance, and the entire glass will instantly become shattered.

Just as Ke Lan said, the body of this black mummy, which could not be damaged even by nuclear bombs, was torn apart by Ze Luo's space stasis, and the entire body instantly lost its original physical strength - Ke Lan It even felt that what previously maintained the strength of the black mummy's body was not the material itself, but an unknown force field.

This force field restrains the black mummy's body, but at the same time it also gives it a terrifying defense that is almost immune to physical attacks. However, Ze Luo's ability can just restrain and destroy this force field. And when the force field disappears, just like the stress balance of tempered glass collapses, even if Ke Lan and the others don't attack the black mummy, the black mummy's body will collapse on its own.

Ke Lan couldn't help but feel a little pity in his heart. He originally thought that through the study of black mummies, he would be able to make some breakthroughs in the field of human materials science...

He stretched out his hand and showed the crystal.

"This is the only remnant of the target." Ke Lan said to Cao Ge.

Every move he and Ze Luo made was watched by the monitors on the battleship. Not only Cao Ge and others, but also people from the Immortal Crew Club should be paying attention to the situation here. They must have also seen this crystal. ——Instead of being asked to hand it in later, it is better to take it out now.

What's more, Ke Lan doesn't know whether this thing is dangerous or not - in the old era, some people often regarded radioactive materials picked up from garbage dumps as treasures. However, in their eyes, these "night pearls" can glow and heat. It is completely the beginning of a nightmare. When they realize that there is something wrong with their body, it is usually too late. What awaits them is death approaching step by step...

"I'll have someone bring a safe container over immediately." Cao Ge said cautiously, "What should I do with this thing? Send it back to Ark... to the institute?"

Before Ke Lan had time to answer, Pan's voice rang in the headphones worn by him and Cao Ge at the same time: "Just keep this trophy of yours for yourself."

"I'll keep it for myself? You don't have any conspiracy, right?" Ke Lan suddenly became wary when he thought of the living armor in his body. He even felt that the crystal lying in the palm of his hand suddenly became hot to the touch.

"What kind of conspiracy can I have? Please don't think of me as a bad person, okay?" Pan's tone was helpless.

"The matter of the living armor has just passed not long ago." Ke Lan said immediately.

"That's to save you. Besides, can you think of a better way? Besides, aren't you using the power of the living armor very well?"

"But no one would like to have a bomb planted inside their body, right?"

"As long as this bomb never explodes, it is safe." Pan argued, "For example, suppose you are a heart patient. If you don't change your heart, you will die soon, but you can use it to replace it. There is only one artificial heart, and it also contains a bomb that cannot be disassembled and will explode at an unknown time - so do you choose to die immediately, or replace it with a heart containing a bomb?"

"Then I will choose to have a second heart transplant surgery in the future." Ke Lan replied without thinking.

"That's fine... If you can find a way to separate the living armor, no matter how you handle it, the Undead Crew will not interfere with your decision. We have always respected everyone's freedom..."

"You can save the second half of your sentence... When this sentence comes out of your mouth, it easily reminds me of a rogue country between the Pacific and the Atlantic in the old era." Ke Lan didn't say anything. He retorted mercilessly, "Also, tell me what this crystal is and what it does - don't tell me you know nothing. Do you think I will believe you?"

"This is really just a piece of waste core." Pan said, "It was originally the core in the body of the Corroded Seed that was sacrificed. The flesh, flesh and power in the core have been drained, leaving only this one The empty shell... although it’s useless, it’s actually pretty cool to keep as a souvenir, right?”

"Then if I plan to put this thing up for auction, will you stop me? I think the stupid and wealthy people on the Ark will be very interested in this kind of object, right? It just so happens that the God Hunting Group has been on the move recently. Funds are a little short, this thing should fetch a good price..."

"It's best not to." Hearing that Ke Lan planned to sell the crystal, Pan quickly said, "Okay, to tell you the truth, this thing is indeed a useless core, but its only special The only difference is that a beacon is imprinted on it."

"Beacon?" Ke Lan stared at the crystal in his hand in confusion, "What beacon?"

"It has something to do with the 'great god' believed in by the Alpha civilization... We have discovered hundreds of objects with beacons like this on Planet Alpha, but until now, we have not figured out what the beacon does. ."

"Things related to that 'god' are never good things. I think I'd better throw it away." Ke Lan looked at the cliff not far away, "There should be no problem if it is thrown in this valley. Bar?"

"I suggest you keep this thing with you - although we have not discovered the function of the beacon so far, every beacon is under our close surveillance, so even if any beacon changes, we will Be able to respond immediately.”

"Then why don't you take this thing away?"

"Because we want to see if something interesting will happen with this beacon in your hands." Pan said bluntly, "You can think of this as an experiment, but you have no right to refuse."

"Who just said that everyone's freedom will be respected?"

"You can think I just farted." Pan said shamelessly.

"This thing won't suddenly open a portal while I'm sleeping, and then a lot of alien monsters will come out of it, right?" Ke Lan asked.

To be honest, he really wanted to throw this crystal out - but he also knew that even if he threw away the beacon, it wouldn't be long before the Undead Crew would send it back to him... or even , they will also stuff themselves with more other beacons.

They have already boarded this "thief ship", even if Ke Lan wants to refuse, it is useless.

"The first beacon object we discovered was a stone tablet. It was found in the B-009 ruins in 902 of the New Era and is now stored in the underground icehouse of the institute. Placed together with this stone tablet is another Ninety-four beacons. In addition, there are thirty-one beacons left inside the ruins due to reasons such as being too large or unable to be moved - but whether they are beacons in the underground icehouse or in the ruins The beacon has been silent for decades.”

As he spoke, Pan added: "We believe that they will maintain their status quo for hundreds of years to come - a few hundred years is equivalent to several or even a dozen generations for humans, but For the existence of these beacons to be imprinted, it only takes a blink of an eye.”

"..."

"You can rest assured that in your lifetime, this beacon will most likely be a dumb bomb that will never explode."

"What about the small probability...Besides, since there is no movement, why do you let me take this thing with me?"

"out of curiosity."

“Curiosity will kill the cat.”

"So do you think you are that cat?"

"Why are you starting to be the Riddler too?"

"You were the one who got involved with the cat first." Pan argued like a child arguing, "Well, I can promise you that as long as you carry this beacon, in six months, you can directly How about becoming a member of the crew association—all the previous assessment tasks will count as your passing?"

"Three months."

"Five months, no more."

"Four months, fixed price, this is my bottom line."

"Four and a half months, if it's shorter, you'd better throw this thing away." Pan said angrily.

"make a deal."

Keeping this "dangerous item" with you for four and a half months can be exchanged for the opportunity to join the Undead Crew Club. This is a very good deal for Ke Lan, and he has no reason to refuse.

Even if Pan rejected his bargaining at the beginning, Ke Lan would eventually agree to the six-month condition.

Facing the absolute power of the Immortal Crew Association, he had no right to refuse. It was better to use this as a bargaining chip to gain more benefits for himself.

Even if you want to sell yourself, at least you have to sell it for a good price.

The expression on Ke Lan's face didn't change much. On the contrary, Cao Ge, who had listened to the entire bargaining process, stared at him in astonishment - if nothing unexpected happened, four and a half months later, this person who looked like less than A thirty-year-old young man will become a member of the Immortal Crew!

This is an organization that symbolizes the highest power of mankind, but it gives Cao Ge the feeling that the two of them are buying vegetables at the vegetable market...

This was the first time that Cao Ge saw the true form of a member of the Undead Crew. An indescribable sense of unreality surged up from the bottom of his heart. He stretched out a finger of his prosthetic limb and placed it on his other biological body. On the arm, electric sparks passed over——

"Hiss...it hurts..."

Looking at the burning marks and the heartbreaking pain on his arm, Cao Ge realized that everything he just heard was true.

"This, this is too child's play... no... this is too crazy, right?" Cao Ge couldn't help but said in his heart, but the expression on his face did not dare to show any abnormality, for fear that the young crew member in front of him would judge him. Members are aware of it.

"Oh, by the way, there's another thing." Pan said again.

"What's up?"

"According to the route of the hijacked Hercules transport plane, we found signs of activities of heretical sects north of the White Ridge Mountains."

"Is it the stronghold of the heretic sect? Can't we just use missiles to call it over? Anyway, they have no hostages in their hands." Ke Lan said.

"No, it's not the stronghold you imagined. They occupy an A-level ruins... According to our estimates, the heretical sect has most likely controlled the core defense modules inside the ruins." Pan said in a serious tone.

Class A ruins north of the White Ridge Mountains? A map of Planet Alpha suddenly appeared in Ke Lan's mind... The A ruins north of the White Ridge Mountains are the only "Ancient Bronze City Ruins" numbered A-009.

This is one of the earliest A-level ruins discovered by humans. Because most of the materials used in the buildings in this city ruins are an alloy with copper as the main component, it was named "Ancient Bronze City". There are not many valuable relics inside the Ancient Bronze City, but various defense facilities and institutions emerge in endlessly. To use a saying in the hunter circle to describe it, it is "the risk of Class A ruins, the oil and water of Class D ruins"... Time After a long time, few hunters explored this A-level ruins.

I just didn't expect that this forgotten A-level ruins would now be the home of a heretical sect.