Volume 1 Glacial Relics Chapter 4: The Corpse That Should Not Appear
"Okay, now, the second question—" Hound pointed to the box at his feet, "Except for the protective suits that Brother Ke Lan fought so hard to get, most of our equipment was swept away with that fragile cargo hold. However, we are not rookies. Apart from the things in those boxes, there should be a lot of portable equipment. I hope that some of these resources can be managed in a coordinated manner— after all, we are a team now."
Although the Hound did not specify it explicitly, everyone present knew what the "part of the resources" he was referring to was.
"Alpha Energy Crystal".
This is an energy carrier created in the Alpha civilization. Most of them are pyramid-shaped crystals. According to scholars' research, the status of this carrier in the Alpha civilization is equivalent to that of a battery in the human world. The only difference is that the energy contained in a palm-sized crystal far exceeds that of a fuel cell of the same mass.
This is a clean, efficient and portable energy storage device, but unfortunately, with the current level of human technology, we can only create a conversion device to extract crystal energy, but cannot reversely charge the energy into the crystal, let alone imitate similar energy crystals.
Fortunately, the reserves of this crystal are huge and have been found in many ruins of the Alpha civilization. In the past few decades, the Alpha energy crystal has gradually changed from the top secret of the Ark to a very valuable hard currency among human survivors. In addition to the official research team, the public has also introduced a very complete set of standards for identifying the color and texture of energy crystals of various levels.
As for the crystal energy conversion device, although the popularity rate is not high, it is not difficult for relic hunters like Ke Lan to get a few sets - a device with a slightly lower conversion rate, about 75%, only needs two or three thousand credit points to buy a new set.
A mid-to-high-end conversion device like the one on Layton that's used to drive his mechanical prosthesis has an energy conversion rate of about 90 percent, and costs only 50,000 credit points.
Compared with bulky fuel cells, most hunters choose to use crystal-powered equipment. This type of equipment is lighter, has greater power, and has excellent endurance. If there is any disadvantage, it may only be the cost-effectiveness.
Moreover, for hunters, energy crystals not only serve as batteries for equipment, but also have another very important use, that is - "key".
As the main energy carrier of the Alpha civilization, many of the mechanisms inside the ruins require energy crystals to drive. If there are not enough crystals, even if you find the right path, it will only become a dead end in the end.
"I only brought four pieces, all of first-grade quality..." Ke Lan awkwardly took out a pocket from his body and poured out four dull-colored energy crystals. First-grade quality was the lowest grade, which was slightly higher than the waste crystals whose energy had been used up.
"At first, no one thought of going deep into the ruins. I didn't have many crystals with me, and I didn't have any equipment that needed crystals, so this is all I have." Ivan opened his medical box and took out two second-level crystals.
…
"One level 4, five level 3, nine level 2, twenty-four level 1..." Hound's face looked a little ugly, and he shook his head slightly, "plus the two level 5 crystals dug out from the wreckage of the transport plane... No, the energy in these two level 5 crystals is almost exhausted, and can only be converted into level 3 at most... It's really too little. Just to open that gate, we have to use up half of our stock."
The gate mentioned by the hound is the only passage connecting this cave and the ruins A-087. The gate is now locked. After testing and calculation, at least eighty units of energy are needed to restart it.
One level one crystal counts as one unit. When the crystal level is raised by one level, the energy storage will triple. Ke Lan roughly calculated that all the crystals in everyone's hands added up to only about 140 units. Just opening this door will use more than half of them. No one knows how many more gates like this will appear in the next journey...
"But this is the only way out," Layton said solemnly, "After we enter the ruins, everyone should keep their eyes open. If we can't find enough crystals in this A-level ruins, I'm afraid we will all die in there."
"Bah!" The hound glared at Layton. "I haven't lived long enough. Stop talking about death all the time. It sounds unlucky!"
"Okay, if there are no problems, put on your protective clothing and get ready to work."
The radiation intensity of Alpha's underground world is slightly weaker than that of the surface, but if you are exposed to this environment for a long time, it will still cause irreversible damage to the human body. Radiation sickness below a dose of 10 sieverts will not cause immediate death, but it will definitely make the patient's short life worse than death.
After putting on protective gear and briefly cleaning up the crash site, Ke Lan followed the other hunters into a tunnel formed by a landslide. After walking about a hundred meters, a circular gate that was more than 20 meters high and covered with strange relief patterns appeared in front of everyone.
The gate is covered with a large amount of green copper rust, but when the copper rust is wiped off, a black metal is revealed underneath.
"Why is there a layer of copper rust on this door? I don't think this door is made of copper." Zhuo Ligetu touched his head in confusion. His originally rough voice sounded even more muffled when it came through the mask.
"The copper rust is there because there was originally a copper mine here, and with the high humidity underground, the copper element reacted with the air to form rust. As for this door... hehe, do you know what this is? This is Nino Alloy! The top-level alloy material smelted by the Alpha Civilization. Those losers on the Ark still haven't figured out the formula of this alloy. If this door can be unloaded and transported out as a whole , it would be conservatively worth at least 200,000 credit points!" The Hound patted the gate and said proudly.
"That depends on the thickness of the gate. I think it's more than 200,000, at least double that." Leighton shook his head.
"Whether it's two hundred thousand or four hundred thousand, you have to have a life to spend the money. Open the door first. If you can get out alive, you will still have time to come back and tear down the door." Ivan urged.
"Okay, everyone be careful. I can't tell what's behind the door--" As the hound spoke, he counted out eighty units of energy crystals and embedded them into the grooves on the gate.
"Don't worry, no matter what it is, as long as it's alive, I will blow it to pieces!" Layton spread his legs and stood firmly on the ground in a horse stance. The entire mechanical arm disassembled, revealing a large-caliber machine gun hidden inside, aimed at the gate.
"The gate is activated!" With a rumbling sound, the circular gate began to roll to one side, and the hound quickly hid behind Layton.
"This...what is this?!" There was indeed something behind the gate, but it was not a ferocious alien monster, but a corpse, a human corpse.
"What he's wearing... looks like the uniform of the advance team!" Ivan exclaimed in a low voice.
"This is impossible!" At this moment, even Jiang Lian, who had always remained aloof, couldn't remain calm.
"How come the advance team is here?" Ke Lan took a deep breath. The seven people present had read the intelligence provided by Fangzhou, which naturally included the exploration records of the first three advance teams. According to the intelligence, the last recorded location of the three advance teams before they lost contact was a long way from here. Besides, the corpse was only wearing the simplest advance team uniform without any protective equipment. With human physical fitness, it was impossible for him to walk so far.
As the only doctor in the team, the task of examining the body naturally fell on Ivan. The body was already highly decomposed, and the disgusting smell could still be smelled even through the filter of the protective mask, but Ivan didn't seem to be affected at all. His hands were steady and every step was orderly. However, as the examination progressed, the doubt on his face became more and more serious.
"The direct cause of death was a penetrating wound to the chest. This is very common. There are at least eight hundred types of traps that can cause this kind of wound, but..."
Ivan paused and continued, "The muscles and soft tissues at the joints of the corpse are severely damaged. This kind of damage can only be caused by high-intensity mechanical movement after the body has become rigid. This is not normal."
"You mean..." Ke Lan was stunned and suddenly felt his heart tremble.
"That's right," Ivan nodded, "This body came here after it died."
"What the hell! Isn't this a zombie?! Is it going to suddenly jump up now?" The hound subconsciously took a step back.
"Give me twenty minutes. I need to perform a local dissection to verify a guess of mine." Ivan's eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had thought of something.
"Okay, but is twenty minutes really enough?" Layton asked.
"That's enough, just a local dissection." As he said this, he had already taken out a bunch of tools for dissection from his medical insurance.
Ivan did not follow the usual dissection process like an ordinary medical student, but went straight to the head of the corpse. The tissue scissors and scalpel flew up and down, and soon all the skin and soft tissues of the head of the corpse were removed. Then there was a sound of sawing bones that made people's teeth ache...
…
"It's done." Less than twenty minutes later, Ivan stood up from the ground, shook off the filth on his hands, and said, "It's basically consistent with my guess."
"What do you mean?" the hound asked immediately.
"Although it was severely decomposed, the lacerations in the nasal cavity were still clearly visible. In addition, the horizontal plate of the ethmoid bone was perforated, and the brain also had serious organic damage... I speculated that something had invaded his brain from the nasal cavity, and then controlled his body to walk here."
