Volume 1 Glacial Relics Chapter 17 Revision
Every relic of the Alpha civilization has a complete set of operating mechanisms, and the main control console of this operating mechanism is often located in the core area deepest in the ruins - if a relic is compared to a battleship, then this "absolute core area" is equivalent to the bridge of the battleship.
As long as we can gain control of the core area, we will be able to leave here safely, no matter what.
Plus the huge reward for discovering the core area, this time, maybe it can be a blessing in disguise...
Ke Lan quickly got in touch with the Hounds and the others. Fortunately, everything was calm over there and nothing happened. The two teams finally met up.
Layton's operation went smoothly. Ivan was not only proficient in medicine, but also had a high level of attainment in the repair of artificial organs. In the absence of a spare trachea, he cut a section from the air supply pipe of the protective suit, and after a simple disinfection and modification, he successfully connected Layton's throat and artificial lungs together. Although Layton said he felt like "there was a spring stuck in his throat", at least his life was saved.
Next, comes the real highlight.
"Brother Asano, are you really sure that there is a huge door a hundred meters high underneath? Are you sure which one is the door?... Ah, don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't believe you, I'm just saying... it's possible, maybe you can just touch a relief on the wall or something..." The hound walked around the platform in the middle of the stone chamber. There was a very hidden secret door under the platform. Asano Akira had crawled out of here before.
"I can confirm that it is a door," said Asano Akira.
"A hundred meters... a hundred meters in size..." The Hound sighed. According to the official records of the Ark, the largest door found in the exploration of the ruins was located in Ruins A-019. The door was made of crystallized steel mixed with Nino alloy, 45 meters wide and 77 meters high... If we follow this ratio, then the huge door found by Asano Akira must be nearly 200 meters high? !
The huge door that is fifty stories high is shocking enough just by imagining it. As for what will be discovered at the back door, the Hound finds it hard to imagine.
"Well, old dog, if you don't believe it, why don't you go down and see it with your own eyes later?" Layton said. Most of his body was wrapped in bandages like a dumpling. Fortunately, the cyborg had thick skin and flesh, so such a serious injury only caused him some inconvenience in movement.
On the other hand, Zhuo Ligetu, who had not undergone the transformation, was still in a deep coma due to excessive blood loss. His face was pale and his breath was weak. Although Ivan had given emergency treatment to the broken limbs, some necrosis had occurred. It was obvious that he would not be able to hold on for much longer.
"Zhuoligetu is dying. We need to get out as soon as possible." Ivan said, "There is no time to lose. If there is nothing else, we should act quickly."
"Let's go!"
Layton wanted to lead the charge as usual, but was stopped by Asano Akira: "You are injured, you should follow behind, and I am most familiar with the situation down there."
"How can you let a blind person... a person who can't see be a pioneer? I'm fine. It's just a broken arm. I can go back and buy some spare parts and build a better one!"
"That's something we'll have to do after we get back." Asano Akira said, and went into the secret door.
"Hello--"
Layton wanted to say something, but was kicked in the butt by the hound: "Are you stupid? Why don't you appreciate it when others are nice to you? Besides, with Brother Asano's ability, do you think it has any effect on him whether he can see or not? Look at that damn thing——"
The hound pointed at the corpse of the monster beside him and continued to curse: "You useless thing was killed in one round. Even if you were equipped with twenty mechanical arms, do you think you can be a match for Asano Akira? You just like to show off your strength, and you still think the losses you suffer are not enough?"
As he spoke, the hound slapped Layton on the forehead.
"……" This time, Layton didn't talk back or fight back. He muttered a few words in a voice that only he could hear, then obediently followed the hound and entered the secret door as the third person.
Ivan took on the responsibility of carrying Zhuoligetu, while Ke Lan was responsible for covering their retreat.
Below the secret door is a bottomless vertical cave. The cave is roughly funnel-shaped, with a spiraling stone staircase on the wall. There is no guardrail on the outside of the stone steps, which are covered with a thin layer of ice. Therefore, everyone walked very slowly, for fear of accidentally slipping and falling down.
"Asano, is there a huge door under this cave?" Ivan asked.
"Yeah." Asano Akira nodded. He walked at the front of the team. Every step he took was steady, not like he was blind at all.
"This place should be located in the belly of the mountain... It seems that the scale of this ruins is much larger than we imagined."
There seemed to be many cracks in the rock formation leading to the outside world. Ke Lan could always hear the sharp sound of air passing through the narrow cracks, but in this sound, there seemed to be a series of meaningless whispers ...
Did I hear it wrong?
He stopped and stood still, but at this moment, the whispers seemed to have completely disappeared...
Hearing Ke Lan stop, Ivan turned around and asked, "What's going on? Did you find anything?"
"I thought I heard... uh... voices in the wind? Did you hear them?"
"No." Layton and the Hound both shook their heads.
"Could it be our own echo? This kind of terrain can easily produce echoes, which will then mix with the sound of the wind, making it sound like it's coming from somewhere else." Ivan analyzed.
"Maybe. By the way, Asano, did you hear anything unusual?" Ke Lan set his gaze on Asano Akira. As a blind man, his hearing should be the sharpest in the entire team.
"No, there's only the sound of the wind." Asano Akira shook his head.
"It is also possible that you are too tired and have mild tinnitus. Do you need me to give you some refreshing medicine?" Ivan glanced at Ke Lan and reached into the medicine box.
"No, I feel fine." Ke Lan waved her hand, "Let's go, maybe it's just an echo."
…
…
When the hundred-meter-long gate that Asano Akira mentioned appeared in their field of vision, everyone in the team except Asano Akira took a deep breath in unison.
If you haven't seen it with your own eyes, you will never be able to experience the awe-inspiring aura. Ke Lan still remembers that the last time he had such a feeling was when he first saw the entire Ark from the air.
Although reason told them that it was not difficult to build a two-hundred-meter-high gate even with the construction technology of the old era of mankind, let alone the Alpha civilization, when they stood in front of the door in person, they could not help but feel a strong sense of powerlessness - just like a group of dwarfs who had mistakenly entered the kingdom of the Titans in mythology.
"Huh ... I feel like, this time when we go back, we're going to be recorded in history..." The hound rubbed his hands excitedly, looking at the magnificent gate with excitement.
This huge door is embedded in an extremely high rock wall. It has two door panels polished from rocks. Its structure and shape are very similar to the sliding doors in the human world. The track groove used to support the door panels alone is as deep as two meters.
If the door had not been activated by the energy crystal, Ke Lan and the others would have had no way of pushing it open even if it was not locked.
"I just don't know what good stuff there is here..." Layton said with a smile, "This time when I go back, the new arm must be replaced with a top-notch one, and all the parts must be the best!"
For some reason, when Layton mentioned "good stuff", Ke Lan couldn't help but think of the pieces of meat he saw in the ice track, and couldn't help but say: "As long as there are no disgusting pieces of meat in it... It seems that in the eyes of the Alpha people, those things seem to be treasures."
"Pieces of meat? What pieces of meat?" Leighton was stunned for a moment, staring at Ke Lan and asked.
"Are those pieces of meat frozen behind the ice?" Ke Lan was a little puzzled. At that time, Leighton's reaction was much more intense than hers.
"What are you talking about? Apart from those damn split-jaw worms, we haven't encountered anything else along the way?" Layton looked confused.
"Have you lost your memory?" Ke Lan looked at the big guy in front of him who was wrapped tightly in bandages. "Do you still remember how you got all these injuries?"
"Of course I remember! It was in the oval hall before. I accidentally stepped on the wrong floor and was blown up by the machine gun... Luckily I was lucky..."
Ke Lan felt his scalp tingling. He pulled Layton and quickly told him everything that had happened before. As a result, the latter suddenly laughed: "Brother, when did you make up this horror story? I didn't expect you to be a novelist! The meat pieces and the big eyes, these things have never appeared at all. As for the monster that killed me in one move - don't joke, although my mechanical arm is not made of Nino alloy, the materials cost me half of my family fortune, how could it be torn apart directly?"
"Did you really hit your head?" For some reason, Ke Lan suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Hey, why are you suddenly talking nonsense... Never mind, I won't argue with you. Let's call everyone else over and ask them, and you'll know that the things you said don't exist at all!"
As he spoke, Layton called over Hound and the others who were studying the giant gate.
…
However, the truth made Ke Lan shudder.
"It's true that we fell into a trap in the Oval Hall, and Zhuoligetu was seriously injured by the split-jaw worm, but Asano Akira has never been separated from us... As for what you said about finding the secret passage at the crash site, it's true, and the hound did have his finger scratched by the seal at the entrance to the secret passage, but the kind of meat that can transform into a human form has never appeared... To be honest, I've never even heard of this kind of thing. If it really exists, it will definitely cause a storm in the academic world." Ivan said calmly.
"What about poisoning? You and the hound were poisoned, and then Layton and I chose to move on, and you stayed where you were and waited. Have you all forgotten about it?" Ke Lan asked hurriedly.
"Indeed, the doctor and I were poisoned, but the poison was not emitted from the corpse, nor did it smell like blood. It was colorless and odorless, and we were caught off guard. There is another thing you said wrong, it was not you and Layton, it was you, Layton, and Asano Akira. Oh, including Zhuo Ligetu who was carried on Layton's back, there were four of us in total who continued to move forward. You crossed a cold ice road and arrived at the stone chamber. You let us come over only after confirming that there was no danger." The Hound continued.
"We have searched the ice path very carefully. There are no pieces of meat sealed in the ice, nor any huge eyeballs that can roam in the ice—" Layton continued, "Also, there is no monster in the stone chamber that you mentioned. However, I do admire your imagination. How did you come up with such a strange thing?"
"What is going on?" Ke Lan felt a huge fear gripping his heart, and even his breathing began to become unnatural.
"You must be hallucinating. This is a very common thing. The Alphas are the best at playing tricks." The Hound shrugged and said nonchalantly, "I've seen this happen a lot. Don't worry, we won't laugh at you. Even veterans will fall for it. Every year, many hunters come out of the ruins intact, but end up going crazy. They take those illusions as real. Listen to me, let's finish this job, go back for a big dinner, and then find some pretty girls... In just one night, you'll forget all these messed up thoughts."
Both Layton and Ivan laughed knowingly, but Ke Lan couldn't laugh. No, when did all these changes begin? Was it after leaving the stone chamber and entering the secret door? Or after seeing this huge door?
Is all this just an illusion... or has the memory of everyone except myself changed?
Suddenly, Ke Lan remembered a piece of evidence that could prove the truth of the matter, and said quickly: "Oh, right! Specimens! Ivan, I remember you collected specimens of meat and monsters, in the pocket inside your protective suit!"
"Specimen?" Ivan reached into his pocket and took out a test tube. "This is the only specimen I have in my pocket, but it's not from a piece of meat or a monster. It's from a bug that can control a corpse. If you want it, I'll give it to you."
"That's impossible! I clearly saw you put those test tubes into your pocket!"
"That may also be part of your hallucination." Ivan said, turning the pockets of his protective suit inside out, revealing nothing.
"...There is...there is another way. We can go back the same way. The body of the monster is still in the stone chamber. There are also traces of fighting with the monster in the stone chamber. All of this can prove that what I saw was not an illusion!" Ke Lan was extremely stubborn. There was a firm voice in the depths of his brain telling him: All of this is true! All of this is not an illusion!
"No way...return the same way?" The hound seemed a little depressed. "It's just an illusion, there's no need to make such a fuss, right? Doctor, do you have any sedatives? Give him an injection?"
"Are you sure that what you saw was not an hallucination? But you have been with us all the time. If what you saw was not an hallucination, then did we all lose our memories? That's impossible. I thought about it. From the plane crash to now, my entire memory chain is complete. There are no blurred or missing fragments. This does not seem like a manifestation of amnesia." Ivan did not really give Ke Lan an injection, but it was obvious that he also felt that what Ke Lan saw was an hallucination.
"I don't think Ke Lan is lying, I believe him...but, I have never left the team." Asano Akira said while holding the battle blade.
"If we turn back, Zhuoligetu's condition may become worse. He has lost too much blood."
"Donate my blood to him. We both have AB blood type!" Ke Lan said without thinking, "I must go back and take a look, otherwise I will never give up."
…
Finally, with Ke Lan's insistence, everyone made a decision. Ivan and Asano Akira stayed to look after Zhuo Ligetu, while Hound and Layton accompanied Ke Lan back to the stone chamber to look for evidence.
Going up the stone steps, the three of them once again passed through the cave and returned to the familiar stone chamber.
However, just one glance made Ke Lan feel like she was falling into an icy cave.
Not only did the monster's body disappear, but even the bloodstains on the ground, the knife marks on the wall, and the big hole smashed by Layton were all gone!
The pottery jars in the corner were intact and not damaged, and there was no dark hole on the ceiling.
What was tampered with...was it memory or reality?
