Alien Relic Hunter

Ten seconds was neither too short nor too long. Everyone had just prepared to bear the impact. A shock wave with terrifying power swept over them along with a searing heat wave. At the same time, there was a sound that was enough to kill everyone. A loud noise that cracks a person's eardrum.

The entire "Shaojiang modified" frigate shook violently, stirring up waves in the surrounding thick fog. Fire mixed with metal fragments sprayed out from the middle of the hull and slapped on the inside of the energy shield. , turning into tiny flashes of light in the sea of ​​mist.

Ke Lan finally understood why the damage to the middle and rear sections of the "Shaojiang Modified" frigate was so serious. Except for the hardest main frame, almost all of this part of the hull was hollowed out, and it was completely repaired by thick vines. Filling it makes it look less empty.

Just like when Ke Lan and the others gather for grilled fish, the fattest and meatiest fish belly is usually the first to be eaten. A few old men went down with chopsticks each, and basically only the bones remained in the middle of the grilled fish, but the head and tail of the fish were relatively intact.

At this time, the "Shaojiang Kai" was like a grilled fish with the middle part eaten away - when he saw the damaged state through the surveillance camera outside the ship, Ke Lan knew that Hruni had lost the bet.

All the surveillance cameras inside the ship were destroyed in an instant. Nearly 90% of the combat videos divided into dozens of screens turned into snowflake screens. Only a few surveillance cameras far away from the nuclear explosion site, such as the bridge, were preserved. , but the picture was also extremely seriously affected.

It can be seen from the few remaining surveillance cameras that the "Shaojiang Kai" frigate has lost its balance, and the entire ship has been submerged in the thick fog and penetrated into the tree canopy.

The next second, the combat video stopped abruptly.

Ke Lan knew that at this time, the "Shaojiang Kai" frigate had already hit the ground - from a God's perspective, he knew the outcome: Khruni Yang and the officers and soldiers on the "Shaojiang Kai" frigate failed to create a miracle , they only lasted a few minutes longer than another crashed high-speed support ship.

"The combat record has been played." As the screen returned to darkness, the AI's voice sounded in the bridge.

"What happened after that?" Ke Lan asked immediately.

"Due to the excessive damage caused by the nuclear bomb, the ship lost its balance during flight. The bow of the ship hit the bottom first, the anti-gravity device failed, and all the remaining main thrusters stalled... At 11:09 pm on the third day of the combat operation , crashed deep in the gray fog forest, nineteen kilometers away from the red line."

"After the battleship crashed, were there any survivors on board?"

"During the crash of the ship, the safety measures of the central control computer were triggered, the AI ​​also fell into a dormant state, and the data after the crash was not recorded in a timely manner."

"Then when did you wake up again?"

"This part of the data has been damaged and cannot be restored."

"..." Ke Lan exhaled heavily, and then changed the question, "After the crash of this battleship, you met the captain himself. I mean...Hruni Yang himself, not someone who claimed to be" Erosion's monster."

"I've seen it." AI replied with certainty, "Captain Hruny Yang has been trying to repair the ship after returning to the ship. In addition, there are another group of officers and logistics personnel assisting him. "

"Aren't there survivors? Why didn't you answer when I just asked you if there were survivors after the battleship crashed?" Ke Lan asked with some confusion... Logically speaking, the thinking logic of military AI should be very clear. , it is impossible for artificial intelligence to become artificially retarded.

"Because I cannot judge whether Captain Hruny Yang and others are still human beings, nor can I judge whether they are still alive, so I cannot define them as 'survivors.'" The AI ​​narrated an incident in a very calm tone. Just the sound of it makes people feel creepy, and it has the flavor of a stream-of-consciousness horror movie.

"Why?"

"The data detected by the vital sign detection equipment has exceeded the numerical range of normal humans. According to emergency regulations, they should be judged as 'contaminated persons' rather than 'survivors'." AI replied.

"Wait a minute... you just said that Hruni has been trying to repair the ship since he returned to it. Did he leave before? Where did he go?" Ke Lan asked.

"Hruni himself did not store this part of the information in the ship's database."

"Okay, from the moment you wake up again, as long as there is no damaged recorded data, all the recorded data will be retrieved for me." Ke Lan said with some annoyance... Faced with an AI whose data is seriously damaged, it is like... It's almost maddening to have a conversation with someone who has intermittent amnesia.

It would be better to let this AI tell everything it knows, and then analyze it slowly.

"When the central control computer restarted, Khruni Yang and others had already returned to the battleship and were repairing the power part of the ship. According to my analysis, they should have restarted the ship's central control computer. But the specific restart time and project files have been damaged, so event backtracking cannot be carried out." AI continued to say in an emotionless tone.

"Since Hruni and the others were already in the battleship when you woke up, how did you know they had gone out?"

"There are signs that the external hatch of the ship was forcibly opened, and the protective suits they wore were severely radiated. Also, from the conversations between Hruni and others, it can be determined that they have left the ship. "

"Are the conversation records between Hruni and others damaged?" Ke Lan took a deep breath and stared at the virtual screen in front of him with fiery eyes.

"Partially damaged."

"Put out the undamaged part!"

"yes."

One audio file after another popped up on the virtual screen. Ke Lan counted it. Excluding those files whose data were damaged and could not be played, there were a total of one hundred and sixty-seven files that were intact, with a total duration of about two hours. arrive.

"There are only two hours of audio files left?" Ke Lan frowned, "How long is the damaged part?"

"The length of the damaged part is only one-third of the entire audio file. There was very little conversation between Hruny Yang and other people on the ship. They spent most of the time working on the repair work in silence."

"What about the others? Where did they go?"

"Except for Hruni Yang, everyone else is in poor health...According to human standards, they should have died long ago, but they dragged a body that should have died for many... records The person with the shortest activity period stopped all activities after forty-one hours, and all physical function data returned to zero. The person with the longest activity period persisted for a full year."

AI uses "activity time" here instead of "survival time" because in its logical understanding, these people are judged as "dead people" contaminated by unknown things. Although they still have the ability to move, But in the eyes of AI, they are just zombies.

"But Hruni Yang has survived until now?"

"No, Hruni Yang is the one who has been active the longest. From the recorded time, he did not stop all activities until the 8765th hour."

8765 hours, that is exactly one year and five hours...

"But he woke up again just now. He had a conversation with me not long ago, and his body was just lying here!" Ke Lan asked, pointing to a place on the bridge.

"Sorry, there is no record of this in the database."

"Are you sure there are no records and it's not data corruption?" Ke Lan narrowed his eyes.

"There is no record." AI repeated again.

Ke Lan thought for a moment and understood the problem.

Hruni had actually ceased life activities for more than ten years. Until the second crash of the "Shaojiang Kai" frigate, he remained in that "suspended death" state... until Ke Lan and the others approached the bridge, he Only then did his life activities revive again.

During this period of time, the central control computer of "Shaojiang Reform" happened to be shut down, so it is completely logical that there is no record.

Could it be that his arrival... awakened Hruni who was in suspended animation?

Ke Lan forced himself to suppress the urge to continue asking questions to the AI, and reached out to click on the audio file ranked first.

This file is small in size and only lasts for five minutes, but it does not prevent it from containing an explosive amount of information.

"Recording file 01001025, recording time: unknown."

After the AI's unique mechanized voice, there came a voice that was somewhat familiar to Ke Lan.

"We must repair the Shaojiang River, otherwise we will never be able to leave this forest."

Ke Lan quickly recognized that this was the voice of Hruni. Compared with the "corroded" state, Hruni's voice was more powerful and full of energy at this time.

"But our time... ahem... I'm afraid... ahem... not enough." Another unfamiliar voice sounded. This voice sounded very weak, and it was also mixed with fragmented coughs.

"But we must make the things found deep in the forest public to the world..." Hruni said solemnly, "I know that there are some things that we soldiers should not worry about, but I can't watch the people above. Keeping everyone in the dark.”

"But, Captain, have you ever thought about..." This was the third voice, which also seemed a little weak, but in better condition than the second person, "If... I mean if, we can return to the Ark. , being able to publish these things... and to take a step back, even if people are willing to believe us... have you ever considered what will happen after that? "

"The Ark will fall into chaos." A fourth voice sounded. This voice sounded very unclear, as if there was a mouthful of thick phlegm in the mouth, or like a wriggling tentacle stuck in the throat, "Maybe... above People do this because ordinary people cannot accept such a desperate reality... Once we make these things public, the order of human society and Ark will collapse overnight..."

"But the people above have not taken any active measures. What they have been doing is to constantly send people like us to erase the traces related to these things... They just want to maintain their rule and power. I have never considered the future of mankind!" There was a hint of anger in Hruni's tone.

"Captain, look at what I look like now... have you ever thought about why I am like this?" A fourth unclear voice said, "And Lao Zuo, Cliff... what do you think? , can we still be considered human beings now?”

These two names, Ke Lan, are no strangers. They are both officers and soldiers on the "Shaojiang Kai" frigate. According to the description in the file, "Lao Zuo"'s full name is Zuo Jie, and he is the ship's logistics supervisor with the rank of major; Cliff is an ordinary soldier in the Marine Corps, with the rank of corporal.

"We are just infected by the toxins in the mist... As long as we can return to the Ark, we will definitely be cured with the medical methods on the Ark!" Hruni said, but even Ke Lan, who was listening to the recording, recognized him. The lack of confidence in his tone.

"Is it really just a toxin infection?" The vague voice said with a hint of laughter, "Little Jack who stayed behind in the 'Shaojiang Kai', in order to prevent him from being 'infected', we all came back from that place Everyone is prohibited from contacting him, but he who has been locked in the cabin just because he saw my appearance through remote communication has small tentacles growing on his forehead... and after listening to our previous conversation After the content, his physical mutation suddenly deepened... The doctor said that he may not survive these two days."

There are four people named "Jack" on the "Shaojiang Kai" frigate, but they can be called "Little Jack" because they probably just graduated from the Air Force Military Academy and were deployed to "Jack Garcia" on this frigate, his military rank is lieutenant, and he serves as an electrical engineer on the "Shaojiang Kai" frigate.

"He...he..." Hruni did not continue speaking. It was obvious that he could not even convince himself.

"Captain, you should know better than any of us that this thing is like a plague... except that the way it spreads is more terrifying than the plague... you can see it, hear it... and even know it through certain carriers. If things happen, the body will mutate... If we take this information back to the Ark, it will be a disaster."

The vague voice paused and continued: "Of course, I don't think the people above will give us a chance to enter the Ark."

At this time, the second voice spoke: "Ahem... I guess... also... ahem... I can't hold on for much longer... I feel like... something is growing out of my lungs... ...Ahem... This 'infection' is very strange. Its severity seems to be random. Obviously, Captain, you are the one who has the most contact, but your condition is obviously the best among us... If we say If any one of them has the chance to return to the Ark for treatment, it should be you."