Alien Relic Hunter

"Necklace? Is there something wrong with the necklace?" Ivan picked up the cross pendant necklace and threw it to Ke Lan.

Ke Lan took the cross pendant and looked at it carefully, and soon discovered the problem.

This cross pendant looks like a religious ornament, but it is actually a delicate and small hidden container.

On the side of this cross, which is no more than one centimeter thick, there is a fairly obvious gap. This gap was originally tightly closed, but because the metal at the joint produced a layer of oxide, it was difficult to see with the naked eye. The gaps I saw were opened.

With the mold opening and pouring process on the Ark, even the cheap handicrafts sold on the street stalls can be formed in one go. The structure of this cross is not complicated at all. There is no need to divide it into two parts. Doing so will only be in vain. Added hours and costs.

This can only mean one thing: there is another mystery inside the cross.

Ke Lan inserted his nails into the gap and dug it gently. The cross formed by nesting the front and back parts immediately split into two halves, revealing the hollow internal structure.

Inside this cross, there is a small pink paper slip stuffed inside. The edge of the paper has faded and turned yellow. It has obviously been rubbed by someone's hands many times.

Ivan's eyes lit up and he asked: "Ke Lan, how did you know there was something hidden in the cross?"

"Mo Jue just said that this Golden Retriever usually speaks mixed truths and falsehoods, and the gift from the bartender is mostly a casual story... But one thing he told is the truth. To him, this cross, It is indeed a very important thing. You can see that the edges and corners of the cross have been rounded. This is not an effect caused by metal oxidation. It is difficult for this kind of carbide to wear to this extent with daily wear... There is only one kind Maybe, the wearer would touch the pendant from time to time to confirm whether it is lost," Ke Lan analyzed.

"You can guess this with just such a few traces of wear and tear?" Mo Jue was a little surprised. Although she didn't get along with Uncle Jinmao for a long time, it was at least a few months, but this Ke Lan only had one look. Some clues on the bones actually revealed Uncle Golden Retriever's most frequent unconscious movements... She would never have thought that there was any mystery hidden in the pendant. She would only think that it was a kind of person who touched his nose and bit his nails. Hobby.

What he said was absolutely correct. Uncle Golden Retriever has always had a quirk, that is, he would reach out and touch the pendant around his neck every few minutes. But if Ke Lan didn't bring this up on purpose, she wouldn't think of it at all. ——Because after getting used to it, Uncle Golden Retriever’s behavior of touching the pendant is really normal to me.

"Of course, based on this alone, I dare not guarantee that there is any secret hidden on this cross. After all, Mo Jue also said that the golden retriever is a Christian. As a sustenance of faith, it is considered very good to touch the cross pendant often. Normal behavior. But now I have searched every corner of his clothes, even the layers of fabric, but still found nothing. At this time, I naturally thought of this cross pendant." Ke Lan continued Said, "In fact, according to the normal evidence collection process, the inspection priority of this cross pendant is the same as other things. It's just that everyone's attention was attracted by the bones and the clothes on the bones. The cross pendant The target was too small, and it served as identification for the bones in the first place, so we ignored it.”

"Stop talking about this, take a look quickly, what's on the note?" Thirty-three couldn't help but urge.

Ke Lan didn't dare to start directly, for fear of damaging the already pineapple note, so he had to ask Ivan for a pair of tweezers and carefully took out the note.

However, when he flattened the note with great expectation, he found that the pink note was just a corner torn from a custom shop coupon, with a figure wearing black silk screen printed on it. A photo of a bunny girl wearing stockings, but the part above the waist of the bunny girl has been torn off, leaving only two long legs that were obviously photoshopped, posing in a seductive pose.

"What the hell is this..." Ke Lan's eyes twitched involuntarily. He couldn't accept this result - hidden in this cross pendant, was a damaged custom shop coupon? !

Moreover, judging from the emblem on the QR code, it belongs to the same custom shop as the VIP card with the lip print pattern... Even if the golden retriever buried any clues in that custom shop, it is now with the old East 9th District Turned into ashes.

This thing is obviously the kind of joint code that is similar to playing cards - the torn off corner of the coupon is held in the golden retriever's hand, and the remaining part is with the other joint person. When the two meet, there is no need for more In half a word, as long as you can piece together this coupon completely, it will be considered your identity.

But the problem is, even if the contact person didn't die in the old East 9th District incident, where would Ke Lan find him?

What's more, it's impossible for him to return to the Ark before he understands the secret of the Gray Mist Forest - if he goes back now, it may be difficult to come out next time.

"This thing should be a token of contact, right?" Ivan's idea was exactly the same as Ke Lan's, "I've seen many spy movies, when agents and informants are meeting, there will be a card torn in half or something. The shot of putting things together, this corner of the coupon, should be the same.”

As he spoke, Ivan sighed and said: "This may be a very important clue, but unfortunately it is useless to us at this stage."

Ke Lan looked over the corner of the coupon of the custom shop several times. Except for the explicit promotional copy, the long black stocking legs of the bunny girl, and the services that only experienced drivers can understand, everything on this corner of the coupon The only information contained is the QR code.

Ke Lan suddenly had a thought in his head - QR code? ! Why is there a QR code on a custom store coupon?

Although the custom shop is an official apricot trading place that exists in Ark, no matter what, it is part of the gray industry. Scanning this QR code will definitely not be the official website of the custom shop - no custom shop dares to With such blatant publicity, even in Kabukicho Ichiban Street, most of the services that can reach home base will only be open to regular customers.

As for the payment code...have you seen any store that prints the payment code on the coupon?

This QR code can't be a short video for customers to "preview", right?

With the idea of ​​scanning it for free anyway, Ke Lan took out his mobile phone - the screen of the mobile phone showed the words "Not in the service area" in big words. If the information contained in this QR code was a link, If it's an address, then Ke Lan can't do anything with it, but if it's something else...

He pointed his phone camera at the QR code.

Ke Lan's mobile phone was customized for him by Zofia. All the configurations are basically top-notch. The QR code recognition speed is extremely fast. As soon as Ke Lan moved the camera over, a photo popped up on the screen. .

It's not the kind of large-scale pictures of beautiful women, nor is it the price list of various apricot services, but a photo of an earth-yellow stone tablet with strange words engraved on it.

The first time Ivan saw these strange words, he looked up at Ke Lan and said solemnly: "They are the words of Alpha Civilization."

The second half of his sentence was obviously to ask Ke Lan what the meaning of these words was, but with an outsider like Mo Jue present, there were some things that the fewer people knew about, the better.

Ke Lan naturally wanted to "read" these Alpha words subconsciously, but when he focused on the Alpha words on the stone tablet, he felt his head suddenly sink. In a trance, these words seemed to float from the picture. He stood up and then slammed into his eyes!

These words have no specific meaning, but when they are connected together, they form another picture!

"This is... the image-text conversion technology of Alpha Civilization? These words are actually a painting?!" Ke Lan was stunned. The things engraved on this stone tablet can actually be regarded as a two-dimensional code.

"Russian matryoshka doll, right..."

He focused his attention on the picture that appeared in his mind. It didn't take long for Ke Lan to realize that this should be a map, and it was also a map of the Gray Mist Forest!

This map is different from ordinary maps: ordinary maps directly draw the terrain and routes to make it clear at a glance; but this map is more like a dynamic compass...or, in other words, a navigation software.

It will not show you the whole forest in front of you, it will only tell you how to walk through each area shrouded in gray fog.

When Ke Lan "looks" at this map, the map will expand instantly and wrap his consciousness inside.

From Ke Lan's perspective, he felt as if he had transformed into a disembodied ghost, moving quickly through the thick fog. Countless mist tree trunks and pillar roots on both sides retreated rapidly... From time to time, the perspective would change. Turn a corner and sometimes even move horizontally or even backward.

But no matter how the perspective changes, there is a voice in the subconscious telling Ke Lan: he is moving forward, moving forward, toward the core of the gray mist forest.

But just when Ke Lan felt that he was about to reach the destination, the camera stopped abruptly - this was a map, yes, but it was not a complete map.

It can take Ke Lan through the depths of the gray fog forest, but it cannot directly reach the core area.

"Did you see anything?" Ivan glanced at Mo Jue, rephrased the question, and asked cautiously.

"It's a map." Ke Lan said without hesitation.

"Map?!" Mo Jue was the first to react, "What map? The map of the gray...grey mist forest?"

"Yeah, but it's not complete." Ke Lan nodded. "It can only take us to a depth of thirty-five kilometers at most. We have to walk the remaining one-third of the way by ourselves."

"Thirty-five kilometers?!" Mo Jue was shocked. You must know that their team spent several years and sacrificed more than 20 members before they could reach a depth of 500 meters. Now, all of a sudden It has reached a depth of thirty-five kilometers. Isn’t this span too exaggerated?

If my father and the others had this thing in their hands at that time, how could they...

When Mo Jue thought of this, he suddenly came back to his senses. He looked at the photo of the stone tablet with a puzzled look on his face, and then looked at Ke Lan: "How did you know that this was a map?"

"I can read the text of Alpha Civilization." Ke Lan said bluntly.

Anyway, this matter is not a secret at all to the Undead Crew Association, and Ke Lan is too lazy to hide it anymore.

Mo Jue was stunned for two seconds, then his whole body trembled suddenly, and he whispered: "It seems... you have made up your mind to silence yourself from the beginning, right?"

"I have no intention of silencing you, as long as you don't talk nonsense when you go back." Ke Lan said with a nonchalant look, "Even if you really do this, the only people who will come to you will be Agents of the Security Service... As for what they will do, I don’t know.”

"Then...then this thing is really...a map?" Mo Jue changed the topic in a stiff tone, "But my father and the others can't understand the Alpha Civilization's text, how could they know that this is a map? Did you save it?"

"Your father and others may not know that this is a map, but they definitely know that this stone tablet has a very important connection with the Gray Mist Forest." Ivan said from the side, "In fact, you can rest assured that if we want to silence you, you have already died."

"Uh..." Mo Jue thought about it for a while. There seemed to be nothing wrong with what the team doctor named Ivan said: his furthest exploration depth was five hundred meters, and the most important thing to reach that depth at that time was to rely on His father and others...with their own abilities, being able to bring Ke Lan and others to a depth of three to four hundred meters is already the limit. But now, the other party has obtained a map with a depth of 35 kilometers, which means that he is no longer of use to them.

"Is there a safe route drawn on this map?" Thirty-three asked, "Judging from the strange situation in this forest, even if we follow the route on the map, we may still get separated. The situation, after all, a map can’t protect against those things.”

The "those things" that Thirty-Three refers to are naturally referring to the strange phenomenon of "collective forgetfulness" of Tan Ning when he disappeared.

"This is not an ordinary map. If you say it is a map, I prefer to call it navigation." Ke Lan shook his head, "I have just walked that road in my mind. As long as everyone follows my pace , you won’t get lost.”

After saying this, Ke Lan turned to look at Mo Jue: "Miss Mo Jue, your mission has been completed. You can choose to go back and leave the forest, or you can choose to stay and move forward with us. "

"I..." Mo Jue hesitated for a moment, bit her lower lip hard, and finally said with determination, "I will continue walking with you... I actually also want to know what my father has been looking for. 'Secret', what on earth is it."