Alien Relic Hunter

"Where's Tanning? Where are the others?!" Ke Lan felt a numbness in his spine, and he jumped up from the ground in an instant, looked around, and asked loudly.

"Damn it! I remember he was walking around just now!" Thirty-three rubbed his neck in disbelief, "Why did he suddenly disappear from the world?"

"Ze Luo! Ze Luo, did you sense when the tanning disappeared?" Ke Lan placed her hope on the humanoid self-propelled plug-in in the team.

"No..." Ze Luo shook his head gently, "If you hadn't said that the man named Danning was missing, I wouldn't have remembered that there was such a person in the team."

Ivan nodded solemnly: "I feel the same way... Just when you were communicating with Mo Jue, I seemed to have completely forgotten about Dan Ning."

This is not normal!

The reason why they "forgot" the existence of Dan Ning was not because Dan Ning's presence among everyone was very low, but because there was some strange power in the gray mist forest that prompted them to ignore the missing person.

Even Ke Lan himself completely forgot about Dan Ning's existence when talking to Mo Jue.

If he still remembered Dan Ning at that time, he would definitely ask Dan Ning the same question - maybe, there are things that Mo Jue didn't notice, but Dan Ning, the "old man" in the team, did. .

However, when Ke Lan now realized that Dan Ning was mysteriously missing, that extremely unreal "sense of forgetfulness" was quickly fading away. It was as if he had had a dream. When he woke up, his memory of the real world Everything started to become clear, but some details in the dream could not be recalled.

The hairs on Ke Lan's arms stood up. He controlled the rhythm of his breathing as much as possible. At the same time, he grabbed Mo Jue, who looked frightened and stood up suddenly: "Don't move around. If If you disappear too, it will be a big trouble."

"Asano Akira, did you hear the sound of Danning moving?"

"I seemed to hear it at first...but then I didn't seem to remember that there was such a person in the team. From then on, I didn't hear his footsteps." Asano Akira said, "As for I have no memory of when the change occurred.”

Ivan strode to the front end of the safety rope. The auxiliary rope belonging to Denning was still fixed on the main rope. There were no signs of damage to either the rope itself or the lock... According to this logic, There was only one possibility: Danning took off the safety rope and walked into the thick fog while no one was paying attention.

Could it be that something had affected Dan Ning's sanity?

This kind of thing is common in ruins... But the problem is that the action of putting on and taking off the safety rope is not convenient. The whole process takes at least a minute or so. Even if they are already very skilled at it, it will take at least thirty seconds, no Maybe no one noticed Danning's dangerous behavior... If the safety rope swayed strangely, apart from anything else, at least Asano Akira and Ze Luo would definitely notice it.

But everyone present "forgot" the existence of tanning in the past ten minutes!

"That's it! That's it!" Mo Jue clutched the safety rope around his waist with both hands and shouted with rapid breathing, "Those people who disappeared in the gray fog forest! They all disappeared like this! No. exception!"

"This is too mysterious..." Thirty-three and Ivan each took a step back, and their backs just hit each other. The latter subconsciously grabbed Thirty-three with his non-mechanical prosthetic hand. The wrist - although this action may seem a bit gay, at least the sense of security it brings is real.

"You are right, in this forest, the safety rope is useless." Ke Lan held Mo Jue with one hand and put one hand on Ze Luo's shoulder, saying to everyone, "Everyone, stay safe. Physical contact with each other, counting the number of people on each side every thirty seconds... By the way, there is also Valentina, you set the mecha to automatically follow, and then come over and hold Zeluo's hand."

"knew."

Valentina responded, the hatch of the Blasphemer mecha opened, and a girl wearing a tight-fitting driving suit jumped out of the cockpit that looked like a monster's stomach and walked over quickly.

Fortunately, Mo Jue was in a state of high tension and did not notice the internal structure of the Blasphemer mecha. Otherwise, Ke Lan would have to spend a lot of brain cells to find an excuse...

Valentina walked to Ke Lan, but she did not listen to Ke Lan's instructions to hold Ze Luo's hand. Instead, she grabbed the wrist of Ke Lan's hand on Ze Luo's shoulder. He leaned into Ke Lan's chest in a sideways position.

Her other mechanical prosthetic leg passed under Ke Lan's ribs and was directly buckled on the main rope of the safety rope.

From other angles, the two seemed to be embracing each other.

Ke Lan could feel that Valentina's breathing was a little rapid and her heart was beating fast.

Chi Hanfeng once told Ke Lan about this matter. When she is in a dangerous situation, if Valentina is allowed to stay in the cockpit, then all her behaviors will be normal, and she can even behave under pressure. Inspire more delicate and extreme operations. But if she is allowed to come out of the cockpit at this time, her sense of security will be greatly weakened, and her whole person will become extremely uneasy... The most obvious characteristic is that she will habitually find a wall or other cover. Lean your body against it.

Obviously, Valentina regarded herself as the "wall" at this time.

Generally speaking, many people like her who almost died in the cockpit of a mecha will suffer from mental sequelae similar to claustrophobia... There are even some ace pilots who lost their lives after escaping death. When they sit in the cockpit, unspeakable fear will surge up crazily, with rapid breathing, rapid heartbeat, and a suffocation feeling like drowning. After the cockpit is completely closed, this symptom will becomes more obvious.

What happened to Valentina was exactly the opposite of claustrophobia.

"She once told me that only when you hold the joystick of the mecha in your hand can you feel the existence of power." These were Chi Hanfeng's original words.

But Ke Lan couldn't let her stay in the cockpit all the time... This forest was really weird. He had to put everyone in the team under his sight to feel at ease... If Valentin was allowed to If Na continued to drive the Blasphemer mecha, she was afraid that the mecha would suddenly stop while walking, and then open the cockpit and see that it was empty.

Judging from the strangeness of the sudden disappearance of tannins, this is very likely to happen.

"It seems it's time for Valentina to play the "Titanfall" series..." Ke Lan muttered in his heart, "The pilot 'Pilot' in this game can even exert stronger combat effectiveness without Titan. ...Mechas can be a help to people, but they can never be a shackles to people."

Just when Ke Lan was thinking this, a somewhat nonsensical sentence suddenly came out of Ze Luo's mouth: "Do you like Ke Lan?"

Ke Lan could feel Valentina's body stiffening in her arms, but she did not answer Ze Luo's question.

Is this considered acquiescence? Ke Lan's heart skipped a beat... Although he could indeed feel that Valentina had some strange feelings for him, especially after he enlightened her after the mecha competition, this feeling had already existed... But Ke Lan Lan always felt that it should be gratitude or some other emotion, not love!

If Major Chi Hanfeng knew this, wouldn't he be able to blow his own head off with a wrench?

For Chi Hanfeng, Valentina is like his daughter... The cabbage raised by one hand was taken over by the pig. The pig was a "famous pig with an owner" guy. Ke Lan could even imagine Chi Hanfeng's face was so gloomy that it could drip water.

But what made him feel most unjust was that he, the "pig," had no idea of ​​trying to win over this "cabbage". It was entirely the cabbage's idea!

No, now is not the time to think about this kind of thing... Anyway, we haven't told each other yet, everything can be discussed, and it will be too late to deal with this matter after this operation is over and we return to the Ark... As for Ze Luo, just Just think of this guy as a childish person.

"No, this is wrong!" Mo Jue suddenly struggled, "Ke Lan, let me go!"

"Don't let me go." Ke Lan refused, "If you get up and run straight into the fog, then I won't be able to pull you back."

"The disappearance of tannins is abnormal! Although this is already a restricted area behind the red line, it is only a few dozen meters away from the red line. For us, although this area is not 100% safe, we have never compromised here. It's better than others." Mo Jue said quickly.

"Is Danning considered a veteran in your team?" Ivan asked.

"Yes." Mo Jue nodded affirmatively, "His qualifications are second only to my father and those elders who know the 'secret'. He has explored the Gray Mist Forest more times than me. The time my father disappeared, he was five hundred meters away." He also participated in the in-depth exploration operations.”

"You mean, with his ability, he won't capsize in this kind of gutter, right?" Ivan asked again.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was any of you missing... But Denning, with his experience and ability, can even walk out of the penalty area from this position alone, how could he be missing here?"

"Perhaps he has gone outside the red line now?" Thirty-three said.

"You mean, he was worried that we would silence him, so he found an opportunity to escape?" Ivan looked at Thirty-Three, "This possibility does exist..."

"No! There's no way Dan Ning could leave me and escape alone!" Mo Jue said in a shocked voice, "In the battle with those heretical sect believers just now, he was almost shot several times to protect himself. He is not that kind of person. !”

"You two... like each other?" Ke Lan glanced at her. Although Mo Jue and Dan Ning looked to be about ten years apart in age, they were a married couple who were thirty or fifty years apart. It's very common, and the gap of more than ten years is actually not that big.

Mo Jue said nothing, but his cheeks turned red and white.

Well, if you don't speak, that's the default.

"No wonder he took the initiative to ask to stay and follow us into the gray mist forest. He wanted to be by your side; but you, as the leader of the lumberjack team, became so panicked after Denning disappeared... all of this It all makes sense." Ke Lan analyzed.

"He... he saved me once before... Once, at a depth of about 100 meters, I got separated from the large group... At that time, I thought I was dead... because according to the rules of our team, if If someone disappears in the fog, then it is assumed that the member has been "broken" and no manpower will be sent to search for the missing person, because that will only lead to greater losses. The only thing we can do is to try our best to To compensate his family." Mo Jue continued, "But just when I was so desperate that I wanted to commit suicide, I saw a figure walking through the thick fog and appearing in my field of vision... I thought it was someone at first. My father, but when he walked up to me, I realized it was tanning..."

"So you secretly made a promise at that time... Tsk, the hero saves the beauty. Although the plot is a bit old, this kind of plot is indeed easy to capture the hearts of girls." Ke Lan commented, "By the way, that denim Did he break away from the main army and come to you alone?"

"Yes." Mo Jue nodded slowly, "The large army stayed in place for three hours. This was the time they promised to Dan Ning, and it was within these three hours that Dan Ning found me and took me away. Go back."

"So, this Danning is indeed very familiar with the gray fog forest. He can walk alone through the gray fog at a depth of about a hundred meters, and can also find missing people... People with such abilities are indeed You shouldn't have disappeared in this place." As he spoke, Ke Lan suddenly changed the subject, stared at Mo Jue and asked: "You said you were separated from the main force once, can you describe in detail what happened when you fell behind? ?"

"I...I don't know how to describe it." There was a trace of embarrassment on Mo Jue's face, "Just...one second I was following the others, and the next second, my consciousness seemed to be in a trance. , I was left standing alone, surrounded by thick fog, I couldn’t see or hear anything.”

"Did you wear a safety rope at that time?" Ke Lan asked again.

"It was tied...but when I was alone, the auxiliary rope around my waist disappeared. Later I found out that the auxiliary rope remained on the main rope, and there was no sign of damage...just like now. ." Mo Jue said.

"This way of fixing the safety rope is impossible to loosen... If someone or something unlocks your safety rope, you will definitely find out at the first time... From a practical point of view, this kind of thing It's impossible." Ke Lan thought, "But if your memory... or other people's memories are tampered with... then any unreasonable event can be found to have a reasonable explanation. Especially The moment of trance you just mentioned is very suspicious. Coupled with our 'ignoring' of tannin just now... there seems to be something affecting our brains in this forest."

In addition to these, Ke Lan also thought of the discrepancy in memory between himself and others when he was in the glacier ruins... However, he did not say this directly.