Alien Relic Hunter

It seems that I guessed right. This 'hive' is a large shelter. Thirty-three nodded vigorously and agreed with some pride.

What do these characters mean? Can they be translated? Ke Lan asked, pointing to the inscription on the inside of the can.

The 43rd batch is only for use by ground exploration teams. Ze Luo said.

Only for the ground exploration team? Ke Lan quickly imagined a picture in his mind: the surface of Alpha Planet was completely covered by ice caps, and the people living on this planet were forced to move into buildings built underground. Shelter life in the depths. However, long years have passed, and the environment on the surface has not changed in any way. The various resources in the underground shelter have gradually begun to be stretched. In order to prevent the shelter from collapsing, the managers had to form a ground exploration team and send people to the surface to collect information and resources... If this is the case, this ground exploration team is somewhat similar to the ruin hunters on the Ark.

It seems that this kind of canned food should be regarded as a special offering, and the output will not be too large. Thirty-three thought of something similar to Ke Lan, The forty-third batch... It seems that this hive has already sent out to the ground Passed many exploration teams.”

These cans are not used to hold food. Ze Luo said suddenly.

Why do you say that? Thirty-three was stunned, Where did you see it?

My intuition tells me that what is in this can is very dangerous. Ze Luo said seriously.

Intuition... The corner of Thirty-three's mouth twitched a few times, These are just some empty cans with nothing inside. How can you 'perceive' that the things inside are dangerous? If you say this can There are also prefabricated fragmentation slots engraved on the surface, which may contain explosives... But the problem is that this thing is almost the same as the common food cans on the Ark, except that the tab on the lid may be a little different.

Thirty-three thought for a while, and took out a can of Potato Stewed Beef Brisket from his backpack. He tore off the label, shook the smooth can in front of Ze Luo, and said: Then when you look at this can, do you feel any danger?”

That's not what I meant. Ze Luo shook his head, It's just that when I stand here, I seem to be able to see... they are filling the cans with something... that can make me feel dangerous.

You can see...could this be the legendary 'sense of instant vision'? Thirty-three immediately shifted the focus of his attention to Ke Lan, If it's convenient, can you tell me the origin of Ze Luo? ?Maybe she has been to this place before?

Even she and I don't know the origin of Ze Luo. Ke Lan shook his head, When her self-awareness awakened, she was already on the 'altar' built by the Arasaka Consortium... As for the Arasaka Consortium The people inside who know her origins have all died in the East Ninth District Incident, even if there are survivors...

Speaking of this, Ke Lan suddenly let out a sigh: Hey... I suddenly thought that the Undead Crew might know the true origin of Ze Luo. They originally sent the World to carry out the abandonment operation of the East 9th District module. Will they? Don’t you just want to wipe out all the survivors of the Arasaka Foundation to prevent them from leaking this matter?”

Did the undead crew never mention Ze Luo later? Thirty-three asked curiously.

I mentioned it, but only once. They seemed to have tacitly agreed to let Ze Luo stay by my side without any interference. Ke Lan said thoughtfully, The more I think about it, the more suspicious it becomes... After the East Ninth District incident, Those members of the Arasaka Consortium who stayed in other blocks later disappeared from the world... Although it is impossible for these people to have access to secrets of this level based on their level. But judging from this method of eradicating the roots, it does seem to be immortal. The handiwork of the Crew Association... I thought for a while that the remnants of the Arasaka Consortium were purged by people from the heretical sect.

Ze Luo, I remember that you can have a spiritual connection with me, right? Then can you share this 'sense of instant vision' with me? Ke Lan asked the Sanwu girl.

I'll try. After Ze Luo said this, he turned into the black liquid again and adhered to Ke Lan's back. Ke Lan could clearly feel that countless fine tentacles penetrated from his neck, went all the way up along the cervical spine, and then drilled out from the gap under the occipital bone, carefully avoiding the rich blood vessels and nerves in the brain, and then penetrated Several layers of ligaments and mucous membranes were penetrated, all the way to the cerebral cortex.

An electric shock-like feeling came from his limbs, and Ke Lan couldn't help but shudder, followed by waves of numbness in his scalp.

Generally speaking, describing the brain as painful as a needle prick is a metaphor, but now Ke Lan can really feel the feeling of those tentacles piercing the brain... Although Ze Luo has tried his best to avoid important blood vessels and nerves However, the strangeness coming from his brain still caused Ke Lan to suffer from temporary facial paralysis.

Fortunately, this strange feeling subsided before Ke Lan was about to burst into tears.

Huh...huh... Ke Lan gasped, Spiritual connection...is it so exciting? Why didn't you feel this way the past few times?

The past few times were shallow connections. Ze Luo's voice rang directly in Ke Lan's brain, But I just tried it, and it was just a shallow connection that couldn't combine the pictures I saw and what I heard. Those sounds are shared with you, so only the deepest connection method can be used. If the connection is not made in the cockpit of the Blasphemer mech, it will indeed make people feel uncomfortable, and it will also affect the mental strength of the connecter. The weaker party causes irreversible damage.”

Irreversible damage...what does it mean? Ke Lan subconsciously thought of the connection between himself and Valentina.

If the spiritual connection is too deep and takes too long, the one with the weaker spiritual power will lose his complete personality. In other words, he will 'live forever in the shadow of others.' Ze Luo explained.

I probably understand. Ke Lan couldn't help but think of his first experience of encountering a black skeleton, which was in the No. 9 cargo hold of the Pioneer icebreaker. Ke Lan, who had not yet figured out his own abilities at that time, tried to control the black skeleton, but his self-awareness was almost swallowed up by a black hole that suddenly appeared in his mind.

At that time, Ke Lan thought that his consciousness was counter-invaded by the Black Skeleton when he invaded it. But judging from the symptoms of brain tingling at the beginning, he should have inadvertently interacted with the Black Skeleton at that time. Skeleton” establishes a spiritual connection.

The black skeleton had obviously lost its self-consciousness a long time ago, so what Ke Lan came into contact with was a black hole, not another conscious body that could communicate.

Are you ready? Ze Luo asked.

Ke Lan nodded silently.

A feeling that is difficult to describe in words suddenly spread, and Ke Lan felt that his vision seemed to become blurry... But when the scene in front of him began to blur to a certain extent, he could vaguely see a Humanoid shadows moved around the streets and factories.

This image is very similar to the shadowy figure Ke Lan saw in the memory fragments before, but there is a subtle difference between the two: the memory fragments are like short short films that can only be seen at a specific time and at a specific time. Things and scenes in the place; and the sense of immediate sight that Ze Luo shared with Ke Lan is more like giving Ke Lan's eyes the ability to go back in time, peering through the confusion of time and space to see what happened tens of thousands of years ago. .

The bodies of the workers who operate the capping machines seem to have been specially modified. Compared with the figures walking on the street, their shoulders and arms are more than a circle thicker, and the edges and corners are also very stiff, not like them at all. The roundness that biological limbs should have - just like the cyborg robotic arm on Layton.

Workers work in groups of four. One person fixes the empty can on the machine, the other two work together to lift a seemingly heavy barrel-shaped container, and the last person uses a long drainage rod to guide the contents of the barrel. into the empty can.

Although he couldn't see clearly what was in the bucket, when the liquid was exposed to the air, Ke Lan also felt an inexplicable palpitation - he didn't know whether this feeling came from himself or from Ze who was connected to his spirit. Luo, but all in all, when his sight was removed from the gurgling liquid on the drainage rod, he had a feeling of hairiness all over his body, and he wished he could immediately turn his sight elsewhere, or simply withdraw from the state of mental connection.

Ke Lan forced herself to stare at the workers' operations, pinching her thighs with both hands, not even noticing that her nails dug into her flesh through her pants and small pieces of blood stained them.

Those workers acted very carefully, as if the liquid they were filling was nitroglycerine... But if it was really an inflammable and explosive substance like nitroglycerine, although it was very dangerous, Ke Lan knew that he would never produce it. That feeling.

There are a total of sixteen cans in a batch. After filling, they have to go through a screening process. Only the qualified ones will be transported to other places by rail trains. The unqualified ones will stay and be carried on trolleys to the basement of the factory. Go inside.

Ke Lan really wanted to follow the cart to the basement to have a look, but in reality the entrance to the basement had been doused with molten steel. He could only watch the figure on the cart pass through the steel and disappear under the ground. .

What did you see? Thirty-three on the side saw Ke Lan walking towards the semi-open factory with wide eyes, and quickly followed him.

I don't know what they are filling...but I also feel a bit of danger from that thing. Ke Lan said in a very sure tone, After the cans are sealed, there is a 'quality inspection procedure'. Qualified products will be transported away, and unqualified products will be sent to this basement... But this basement has been sealed with molten steel and cannot be entered.

Then it seems we can only follow another clue. Thirty-three answered, Can you keep up with the qualified products that were shipped away?

Yes. Ke Lan turned around and walked outside. After looking around, he selected a track leading into the distance and quickened his pace.

The two of them walked through the second level of the hive city for a full half an hour before finally arriving at an empty square. But just as they walked out of the corner, Thirty-Three suddenly braked and fired hundreds of black flying blades. At the same time, the hidden pockets on his body shot out and floated one meter in front of him.

What's wrong? Sensing that Thirty-Three was taking an attacking stance, Ke Lan had a trace of doubt on his face.

In the center of the square, there is a platform, can you see it? Thirty-three's voice was very low, There is a lump on the platform... a lump of rotten meat... This lump of meat seems to be alive. Can I You see, it's squirming slightly.

A piece of rotten meat?

However, what Ke Lan saw was a little girl with long straight black hair, pale skin, slender figure, and was about twelve to fourteen years old.

Unlike the other figures, he could completely see the face of this little girl, so much so that when Ke Lan saw her for the first time, he almost thought that this little girl existed in the real world and was not shared by Ze Luo. Your own sense of sight.

She is so real, so real that she is so incompatible with the foggy world in The Sense of Immediate Sight.

Ke Lan's eyes moved towards the little girl's lower body - don't get me wrong, he was not a pervert with some weird quirks, he simply wanted to know whether this little girl was a human or an Alpha.

But what makes Ke Lan a little disappointed is that the little girl's body only has the upper part, just like a bust statue. Her waist is directly connected to a base, and there are many tubes extending from the base and inserted into her back. and ribs. Some mechanical structures similar to powered exoskeletons covered her spine and limbs, and hard and cold metal restraints tightly pinched her pale limbs.

A black robe was symbolically draped over her shoulders, and the outline of her bony shoulders was completely highlighted on the surface of the robe.

A mask equipped with a ventilation valve and an oxygen supply tube was buckled on her face, covering most of her face. Only half of her small and delicate nose bones and a pair of big eyes with purple pupils were exposed. Even so, it can be seen that the beauty of this little girl is definitely not bad. If she can be a few years older, she can definitely be called a beauty that brings disaster to the country and the people - according to normal human beauty standards.

Ke Lan, what did you see? Thirty-three asked in a low voice.

A... no, to be precise, half a little girl.

Half?! Thirty-three was stunned for a moment, Is it just that piece of rotten meat?

I'm not sure. Ke Lan shook his head. Just when he was about to turn his attention to other places to explore, the little girl suddenly raised her head and met Ke Lan's eyes.

She can see herself! Ke Lan's heart was beating wildly - with just a look, Ke Lan was sure that the other party could see him!

Why? Why can she see herself? !

This is Ze Luo's sense of sight. Logically speaking, it should only be regarded as a one-sided peek by Ke Lan and the others... From the perspective of a little girl, Ke Lan cannot be observed... Why, why do you and her Will there be this kind of confrontation between them, separated by countless time and space?

Just when Ke Lan was shocked, the other party spoke——

Hello, I am the manager of the second level of the hive, Nieto.