"Of course...but..." Yui said with difficulty.

"What's going on? Could it be that some consortium secrets are involved again?" Ke Lan asked.

Yui shook her head, tapped her fingers on the tablet a few times, and then handed it over with an expression that said, "You'll understand when you see it yourself."

Displayed on the screen is a video clip shot with an infrared camera in a dim light environment. Judging from the constantly shaking lens, the road the photographer was walking on must have been very difficult to walk on.

"This is the only remaining recorded footage from the second team's exploration. Their current location is about 300 meters away from the end of the explored area of ​​the mine," Yui explained.

"Three hundred meters? Is it the horizontal distance or the vertical distance?" Old Dog interrupted.

"Neither. The spatial structure inside Leviathan is very complex, and the positioning instruments often fail. We calculated the actual distance traveled."

The hunter who is responsible for leading the team should be wearing heavy power armor. The high-temperature color block on the back is very conspicuous. That is where the engine and energy converter of the power armor are located.

Ke Lan could vaguely hear the rapid panting... The dark and narrow passage, the rugged ground underfoot, and the fear of the unknown in human instinct made these people almost always in a state of high tension... And in this situation, the physical strength was undoubtedly consumed very quickly. From this point alone, it can be seen that the commander of the Soma Group's hunter team is probably a rookie with little practical experience.

According to the normal process of ruins exploration, the team should rest once every 100 meters, not to mention 300 meters, to allow the team members to adjust their condition before continuing to go deeper. However, the people in the video are obviously almost exhausted. If such a team suddenly encounters an enemy, they can only wait to be killed, and it is difficult to organize a decent counterattack...

Just as Ke Lan was thinking of this, something happened in the video—the hunter in power armor seemed to be tripped by something and suddenly fell to the ground!

"Um?!"

No, that's not right! He was not tripped, because the next second, he was dragged into the darkness by something... As for what attacked him, even Ke Lan didn't see it.

"The infrared camera did not capture the attacker, which means that the attacker's temperature is almost exactly the same as the environment..." Ke Lan murmured.

"It is a cold-blooded creature and may have a certain degree of camouflage ability," Ivan added.

Soon, the team fell into chaos. The panicked hunters fired frantically into the darkness. The bright muzzle flames almost blocked the entire video screen...

Then, with the picture rolling wildly, the video ended abruptly.

"Including the hunter with the infrared camera, only four people escaped, but from the beginning to the end of the battle, they didn't know what they were fighting against." Yui explained awkwardly, "Ruins exploration is not the main business of the Soma Foundation, and the foundation has not invested many resources in this area, so the quality of these hunters... It is for this reason that Miss Soma decided to issue this commission to you."

"It can be seen that the quality of these people is really hard to describe... Even the captain in charge of command does not seem to be a professional." Ke Lan said.

"They're not even third-rate, they're pure newbies! Complete rookies! They're probably a bunch of rubbish mercenaries who were converted into laymen. It's a pity you're willing to spend so much money to support these useless bastards." Lao Gou didn't even give them any face and complained sharply.

"By the way, have the bodies of the victims been found?" Ivan asked.

"No." Yui shook her head regretfully. "The situations in the next two explorations were similar. Apart from some scattered weapons and equipment, there were no corpses left... I guess they were taken away by those creatures as food."

"Then this information is really pitifully little." Ke Lan stared at the four big words "Playback End" on the screen and sighed, "It seems that I have to reconsider the risks and difficulty of this commission."

There is a very special magnetic field in the body of the Leviathan. Under the influence of this magnetic field, human electronic equipment often malfunctions. In addition to mining equipment, remote-controlled robots used for surveying are also affected... If you want to find out the situation deep in the mine, the only way is to use human reconnaissance...

The Soma Group has tried this method four times, but after losing so many hunters, they still can't figure out what the attackers are...

In the eyes of Ke Lan and the others, the sacrifice of these hunters was almost worthless.

"It's not impossible for us to take on this commission, but we have to pay more."

"..." Yui's lips moved, but she didn't say anything in the end.

She is just a secretary and the bargaining power is not in her hands.

"How about this? The original reward will be increased three times. In addition, any ultra-pure crystals found deep in the mine..." Ke Lan thought about it for a moment, then said, "Converted into credit points or standard crystals of equivalent units, we will get 20%."

Twenty percent, this is a very delicate number - if he chooses to ask for a huge share, asking for 50% or more at once, it is very likely that the two sides will tear each other apart... and if he asks for too little, it will not be worth the risk and difficulty of this mission...

According to the relevant laws and regulations on the Ark, if a hunter finds a relic such as an energy crystal, which is equivalent to "hard currency", in the ruins, he can decide whether to keep it or sell it to the authorities at the average transaction price of the day. The authorities will not forcefully interfere. If a rare high-level crystal is found, selling it to the authorities will even earn an extra bonus...

But in the current situation, the natures of the mine and the ruins are different. As the party with the mining rights, it is not an exaggeration to say that this place is the private territory of the Soma Group, and this super-pure crystal is equivalent to a treasure dug out from the Soma Group’s own back garden... However, the monster guarding this treasure is too ferocious, and the owner of the garden has no way to deal with it for a while, so he asked these "outsiders" to deal with it.

Twenty percent is just the right ratio, neither too much nor too little, and should be within the range acceptable to both parties.

"I can't decide that..."

"But Miss Soma can." Ke Lan stared at him with a smile, "I think you should be able to contact her now?"

The command vehicle in the convoy is equipped with a complete set of signal amplification equipment, which is almost equivalent to a mobile base station. With the help of various transfer stations set up in the wilderness, Ke Lan and his team can still get in touch with the Pioneer icebreaker far away in the middle sea... although the signal is not very good.

Five minutes later.

Yui hung up the phone, turned around and said to Ke Lan, "Ms. Soma agreed to your request, and she is willing to increase the share ratio from 20% to 25%."

"Oh? Does she have any additional conditions?" Ke Lan was a little confused. The ratio increased from 20% to 25%. It seemed that it was only an increase of 0.5%, but Ke Lan and his team's income was actually a full quarter more than before.

Considering the value of super-pure crystals, this 0.50% is not a small amount... In fact, it is much more than the three times fixed salary proposed by Ke Lan.