Alien Relic Hunter

"Since the heretical sect's stronghold is located deep in the ruins, and the ruins' defense facilities are most likely to have been fully activated, if the army is used to attack by force, the casualties will be immeasurable." Pan continued.

A city of Alpha civilization, even if it is a severely damaged ruin, as long as its original defense facilities can be activated to 10/20, it will be a fortress that cannot be conquered by the human army.

For example, assuming that the human army attacks the intact Alpha civilization city head-on, it is equivalent to primitive people holding spears and wearing leaves launching a surprise attack on a modern tank phalanx. Then, the ruins of an Alpha Civilization city are equivalent to replacing a tank with a Maxim heavy machine gun that appeared in the late nineteenth century - the result will not be much different.

The reason why ruin hunters can enter these high-level ruins is entirely because these ruins are usually in a "sleep" state, and only a small part of the defense mechanisms and facilities are still operating... But even so, exploring these ruins The casualty rate for high-level ruins remains high.

And now, the heretical sect has completely controlled the ruins of a city of Alpha Civilization... Let alone sneaking into the ruins, even getting close to it will become an extremely difficult task.

"In addition to the first cruise fleet, we will invest 14 ground troops, totaling about 160,000 troops, to encircle the ruins of the Ancient Bronze City... This 'siege war' requires the assistance of the God Hunting Group. Pan said in a tone that could not be refused.

160,000 people... This is almost the entire mobile force that the field corps can deploy, except for those strongholds, military bases and transportation lines that must be garrisoned. There has never been such a large-scale military operation since the Ark gained a foothold on Alpha.

"Aren't you afraid that this is a trap?" Ke Lan said, "If these troops are trapped and killed in the ruins...the heretical sect may take advantage of it and directly attack the Ark."

"But it is also a very rare opportunity... If the effective forces of the heretical sect can be successfully annihilated, at least in the next ten years, Ark's foreign troubles can be effectively alleviated."

"Your deal doesn't sound like a good deal at all. The chips and benefits on both sides are completely unequal." Ke Lan took a long breath and continued, "It's okay to do stud, but you can't beat the opponent to death even if you do stud. If you win the bet, you'll get nothing. If you lose the bet, you'll lose everything. This is... a loss of blood."

"There is never a completely fair deal in this world."

"Okay... Even if you want to bet, don't drag me into it. This is war... and we are just ruin hunters, not soldiers or mercenaries." Ke Lan said.

"You are soldiers." Pan said immediately, "Don't forget, you have all joined the military. If you run away from battle, you will be punished as a deserter."

"Good guy, it turned out that you were waiting to take advantage of us at this time, right? If you had known, we might as well have been squatting in the Security Bureau's cell for a few months."

"Do you think you can come out intact after entering the detention room of the Security Bureau?"

"That's better than being cannon fodder and attacking a city of awakened Alphas."

"Don't be cowardly, I can guarantee that you will not be used as cannon fodder and thrown into the frontline combat sequence..."

Before Pan could finish speaking, Ke Lan made plans for him: "I know that we will probably be treated as a surprise attack team, sneaking into the ruins of the Ancient Bronze City from the side and rear, and then carrying out sabotage or direct beheading operations - the survival rate is also not good. It will be much higher than cannon fodder, right?"

"If you can regain control of the core of the Bronze City, your safety will definitely be guaranteed even if you are trapped deep in the enemy's lines."

"This is all nonsense... I just want to ask one thing, are we qualified to refuse this mission?"

"No." Pan's answer was very direct.

"Okay, I can participate in this battle, but in terms of specific actions, I need enough autonomy." Ke Lan said, "I will judge the battlefield situation and plan action steps on my own... I don't want to put my own and my companions' My life was placed in the hands of a group of commanders and staff officers whom I didn’t know at all.”

Whether it is Thirty-Three, Valentina, or Lao Gou's former troops, they have all been tricked by the military to a greater or lesser extent, so much so that Ke Lan's trust in the military's command is infinitely close to zero - in In the eyes of the commander, every soldier is just a number on the sand table of war. They can throw these fresh lives into the abyss without any scruples to fill the ravines on the way forward... But Ke Lan But he couldn't let his teammates become victims of war.

…

Ke Lan, Ze Luo and Cao Ge returned to the First Fleet's new flagship "Suzaku", while the soldiers stayed behind. Their mission is to clean up the battlefield. Although the black mummy has turned into pieces and dispersed in the wind, some necessary aftermath steps are still indispensable - if the people from the institute were here, they would even destroy this mountain. The dust from every rock crevice on the mountain was dug out and transported back to the research laboratory...

"By the way, how are Lin Qiming and Dr. Norrison's team doing now? Have the search and rescue personnel found them?" Ke Lan asked after taking a cup of coffee handed over by the orderly on the side, taking a sip.

"The search and rescue operation has ended. Thanks to the relatively short window for parachuting, their landing points were relatively concentrated, and everyone was found in less than an hour." Cao Ge said, his cup was also dark brown. It was a liquid, but it exuded a strong medicinal smell, which was obviously not the same thing as what Ke Lan drank.

Seemingly seeing Ke Lan paying attention to his drink, Cao Ge raised his cup and said, "Anti-rejection medicine... I have to drink several cups every day. There is no other way."

Although the technology of cyborg prosthetics has developed to this day, the problem of rejection between prosthetics and native bodies has been solved to some extent, but there are differences between people after all - there are so many A small number of people's bodies will always reject the installed prostheses, and even genetic editing surgery cannot solve this problem - for these few unfortunate people, there are only two in front of them. Choice: First, remove the cybernetic body; second, just like Cao Ge, take a large amount of anti-rejection drugs with strong side effects every day.

Ke Lan was stunned for a moment and immediately changed the subject: "What are the casualties among those rescued?"

"Fortunately, no one died, but two researchers suffered severe frostbite due to damaged equipment, and one person hit the cliff and suffered multiple fractures throughout his body. They have all been sent to the medical cabin on the ship. , there is no danger to life... As for the avalanche caused by the subsequent bombing, it did not pose much of a threat. After the positioning was completed, the rescue team directly used laser weapons to cut through the snow, and the last person dug out was also It was just buried under a snowdrift for ten minutes."

"The situation was better than I expected. I thought at least a few people would die," Ke Lan said.

"The airbag ball installed in the life-saving equipment has done a great job. Without it, the avalanche alone would be enough to kill everyone." After Cao Ge finished speaking, he raised his head and took a sip of the hot potion in the cup. He fell down and then coughed violently.

"Ahem...Although I have no sense of taste anymore, every time I drink this thing, it feels like I drank a glass of burning alcohol. This feeling...after so many years, I still can't get used to it, ahem... ..." Cao Ge's face flushed red, and the five fingers of his prosthetic limb clenched instantly, leaving five shallow marks on the alloy seat armrest.

"This description sounds like a spirit with a high alcohol content." Ke Lan looked at Cao Ge and said, "You didn't really like drinking bars before?"

"As a soldier, I don't drink alcohol." Cao Ge shook his head, "But this thing and alcoholic beverages are definitely two different things. You will know just by touching this cup - by the way, be careful of burns."

The cup Cao Ge used to fill the medicine was specially made. The outer layer was made of silicone insulation layer and the inner layer was made of some kind of ceramic material. Ke Lan stretched out his finger and touched the ceramic inner wall of the cup briefly, and immediately understood what Cao Ge said.

The cup is empty, but the temperature on the inner wall is still as high as nearly two hundred degrees... You can imagine how high the temperature of the medicine contained in it was originally.

Cao Ge's description of it being like drinking burning alcohol is actually not an exaggeration... because the original temperature of this cup of potion is actually almost the same as that of burning alcohol.

Fortunately, Cao Ge's mouth and digestive tract were also replaced with cybernetic prosthetics, otherwise this thing could directly burn through the esophagus.

"What kind of medicine is this? Generally speaking, for this kind of rejection reaction, doesn't it just take immunosuppressants on time?" Ke Lan couldn't restrain her curiosity and asked.

Rejection means that after foreign tissues enter the host's body, the host's own immune system regards these foreign tissues as "enemies" invading the body and launches an attack on them. Generally, the most commonly used method to suppress rejection is hormones. Drugs and cytotoxic drugs... But no matter which treatment method is used, the patient will not be allowed to drink liquid with a temperature of several hundred degrees...

After all, not everyone has a prosthetic mouth and digestive tract. For those who use native digestive tracts, this behavior is tantamount to murder.

"This is a biological agent. I don't know the specific formula. People from the institute prepared it for me... Anti-rejection is only part of its effect. Its main purpose is to suppress the biological toxins in my body."

"Biological toxins?" Ke Lan suddenly thought of the reason why Cao Ge was injured, "Is it because of those bugs?"

"Yes." Cao Ge nodded, "When those bugs eat, they will inject a corrosive venom into the food. This toxin cannot be completely removed by existing medical methods. If I don't use this biological agent If I suppress them, my body will be corroded bit by bit into a pool of smelly pus..."

"I can help you remove toxins." Ze Luo, who was sitting quietly playing on his mobile phone, suddenly said.

"Do you have a solution?" Cao Ge was stunned for a moment. For some reason, his original fear of Ze Luo suddenly dissipated a lot.

If he hadn't just seen the changes in Ze Luo's arms in the surveillance camera, he would have even thought that she was an ordinary human girl who was introverted and not very talkative - apart from that, her appearance could only be described as "perfect" Two words to describe it. Cao Ge has seen many beautiful women, and there are also many beautiful female officers and soldiers on the Suzaku flagship... But if these people stand next to the girl in front of him, they will suddenly be overshadowed.

"I can... try." Ze Luo nodded and stood up.

"Is that okay?" Cao Ge looked at Ke Lan, with a hint of hope in his eyes.

The feeling of being tormented by residual toxins day and night is difficult to describe in words. Among the people Ke Lan knows, Valentina is probably the only one who can empathize with this...

No matter how resolute a tough guy is, he will gradually collapse under this kind of torture for many years... Ke Lan can clearly feel that compared to the first time he saw him, Cao Ge has changed in more than half a year. Here, he seemed to have aged nearly ten years.

Cao Ge's real age is actually less than forty years old, but he looks like an old man who is over fifty and about to enter his sixties.

Ke Lan even suspected that if this trend continues, maybe after a while, the commander of the First Fleet will be replaced again...

But now Ze Luo actually offers to help Cao Ge remove the remaining toxins, which is naturally the best thing.

"Are you sure it can be removed?" Ke Lan asked Xiang Zeluo - Cao Ge's situation is actually very different from Valentina's. Although Valentina also suffered from old injuries and some residual biological toxins, But the reason why she fell into this state was entirely because she did not receive proper treatment... and later she and Major Chi also delayed the injury again and again due to financial reasons...

Speaking of Major Chi, Ke Lan suddenly felt that taking this opportunity, he might be able to offer conditions to the Undead Crew Association for his release - as an experienced veteran and mechanical maintenance engineer, it would be terrible to be locked up in prison like this. What a waste.

Closer to home, Valentina's condition improved a lot after being nursed back to Sakuraina. If it hadn't been for too long, she would have been cured by now - and Cao Ge, he could enjoy the medical treatment The conditions were definitely the best on the Ark, but even so, the institute was still unable to completely solve his physical problems and could only use drugs to delay time.

The difficulty of treatment between the two is completely different.

"If it's just toxins secreted by insect creatures, that's fine." As he said that, Ze Luo had already walked up to Cao Ge.

"What should I do?" Cao Ge asked in a deep voice - to be honest, he is no longer so afraid of this "girl" who "has the ability to destroy the entire ark"...

Even if the treatment fails, the situation cannot get worse... maybe, I can get relief from it.

"Just stretch out your arms and lie back on the chair." Ze Luo said.