Alien Relic Hunter

The rate of seawater gushing out becomes faster and faster, and in some places it even shoots out directly.

Five minutes later, when Ke Lan ran to the fork closest to the dead end, the sea water had reached the middle of his calf - it was not just the dead end that was seeping water, but also the entire underground maze, and even the entire cave, everywhere. Sea water keeps pouring in!

The piece of luminous ore that Ke Lan pried off was like opening a main valve. According to the current flow rate, in half an hour at most, the entire cave would be completely filled with the crazy influx of seawater.

"You shouldn't have pried that unlucky thing..." Ke Lan wished he could give himself a big slap in the face. He almost lost his life when he pulled out a stalagmite on the ground because of his poor hands. Who knew that it hadn't even been a day? Actually, for the same reason, he fell into death again...

He trudged hard in the knee-deep water, trying to recall the scene when he had just pried off the ore - Ke Lan vaguely remembered that before he started, he seemed to have considered the possibility of a mechanism in the stone pillar, but it seemed that in his heart There was always a voice urging him to do this...

"It's weird..."

Ke Lan is very clear about his character. Although he sometimes makes gambler-like decisions, he has always been very cautious when he is not forced into a desperate situation - it is precisely because of this caution that he I was able to escape unscathed from many exploration missions.

Logically speaking, after suffering such a loss just now, I shouldn't have acted so recklessly...

Is it because the "nearly infinite" forks in the road have worn away my patience? But this statement seems a bit far-fetched...

The more Ke Lan thought about it, the weirder he felt. He felt like he was just like a puppet manipulated by invisible hands. He almost subconsciously pulled out the dagger and walked towards the stone pillar.

Is it because that giant eye staring at me makes me feel too uncomfortable? Or is it some kind of psychological suggestion from the heart?

Moreover, for some reason, Ke Lan always felt that the glowing ore was very important in his subconscious...

Glancing at the ore still held in his arms, Ke Lan curled his lips helplessly... If this thing was some kind of treasure, why didn't he feel that way in the Undersea City before?

It would be okay even if the "eyes" of all the stone pillars were pried out in that place. Anyway, the sea is full of water...

"Alas... Am I making excuses for the stupid things I committed?"

The water level has reached thigh height. This depth has brought great obstacles to Ke Lan's actions. He no longer has the mind to think about these things. If he dies here, everything will be meaningless.

He stuffed the ore into his backpack, kicked off the ground with his feet, and fell directly into the water - at this time, swimming was much faster than running.

Ke Lan rowed his arms desperately, and at the same time pumped the water with his feet crazily - crawling is the fastest among several common swimming styles. At this time, if he can gain one more second, his chance of survival will be reduced. Add one more point.

"Strange... almost... we should be at the next... fork in the road, right?"

Just when Ke Lan was thinking this, the water flow suddenly turned sharply and dropped him heavily!

"This is?!"

Ke Lan, who was a little dizzy after being thrown, climbed up from the water on his hands and knees. He suddenly found that he was standing in a shallow pool at the moment. There was a hole about three meters square directly above the pool, and the black sea water was flowing in. It keeps pouring out of it.

And he himself had just fallen out of this hole.

At this time, Ke Lan noticed that there was a strong suction force coming from under his feet. He pointed the flashlight at the bottom of the pool and saw that there was a metal filter full of small holes underneath. The seawater entering the pool could pass through. After passing through this filter, it fell into the space below the pool - and it is precisely for this reason that although seawater has been pouring in, the water level of the pool has not risen.

Ke Lan raised his head, raised his flashlight and looked around. At this moment, although he was still in the cave, the cave walls were full of traces of artificial transformation - a large number of alloy plates covered more than half of the entire cave. , a substance similar to metal foam is filled between the alloy plates, and countless load-bearing columns and beams form an extremely complex structure, supporting this passage that leads to more than one place.

The sound of rumbling water came from above, and Ke Lan knew that the cave above was flooded by sea water, and that the vertical hole should be a "flood outlet" for emergency use.

"This underground maze...could it really be the drainage system of the Alpha people?" Ke Lan walked out of the pool and looked at the sea water that kept hitting the metal filter. He was a little confused: Since there is such a flood outlet here, why did he do it before? Didn't you notice it when you passed by? Was it because it was closed at that time, or was it because the path he took when he turned back was modified "again"?

But if this cave is really a drainage system, with the technology of Alpha Civilization, it would be easy to change the channel to modify the path of the water flow... As for the numerous forks, they must be part of this system.

"If there are water pipes above, then this should be a dedicated maintenance channel?" Ke Lan walked around the pool and soon found a metal sign nailed to the ground on the edge of the pool.

The sign was badly worn and covered in rust, but luckily the writing was still legible.

"It's Alpha text..." Ke Lan tried his best to express it in human language, "No. 3... Reservoir... When a disaster occurs... It's only for use... Don't... overload it?"

The third reservoir is easy to understand. It should refer to the huge water storage space under the metal filter. But what does "exclusively used in the event of a disaster" mean?

Do you mean this is a pool of life-saving water?

But all the water that is poured in is highly toxic and radioactive seawater. What use can this thing have... Besides, this is an island. Although freshwater resources may be tight, seawater is not inexhaustible?

There is also "Don't overload", but Ke Lan feels that his translation is not quite right. The last few characters have many meanings in this context, and overload is just one of them... In addition, there are also " Overheated,” “out of range,” “exploded,” and hundreds of other meanings.

This is the reason why the language of Alpha civilization is difficult to translate into human language. If it is just a pure text carrier, this language is extremely obscure and difficult to understand, but if it is converted into information and stored in the mind, it It will become something that can only be understood but cannot be expressed in words... And "overload" should be the word that Ke Lan can find in human language that is closest to its original meaning.

But here, Don’t Overload is not just the pool, but another thing that is not mentioned in the text. Although Ke Lan didn't know what it was, it was obvious that if that thing was "overloaded", a "disaster" would happen immediately.

"Could it be that this pool is a coolant prepared for 'that thing'? There seems to be no problem with this explanation?"