Volume 11: Memetic Crisis Chapter 546: Violent Beast of Load
A dull explosion sounded from the body of the six-winged gray mosquito. Ke Lan and Asano Akisonori picked up the equipment that fell on the ground and continued to move forward.
"The storage area for the six-winged gray mosquito samples is Area G on the first floor of the underground ice storage. When the underground ice storage loses power, the refrigeration equipment in this area is indeed the first to stop working." Schroeder said in the communication channel, "As for highly threatening experimental samples such as the Seed of Erosion, they are all sealed in the three areas of A, B, and C on the fourth floor. These three areas have their own power generation equipment. Even if the power is cut off, the fuel stored in the power generation equipment can support more than twelve hours, ensuring that the temperature of the fourth floor will not rise."
"So, we have to solve the problem within twelve hours of the incident?"
"It would be best if it were within ten hours...we have to leave time for secondary cleaning and circuit repairs," Schroeder said.
"Okay, I understand... So is the fourth floor the deepest level of the underground ice storage?" Ke Lan asked casually.
However, Schroeder's answer made him want to curse again -
"Actually, there is a fifth floor..."
"The fifth floor? Monsters like the Seed of Erosion are sealed on the fourth floor, so what kind of monsters are hidden in the fifth floor? Are they SP-type mutants? Or are they the remains of the Primordial Species?" Ke Lan couldn't help but feel a headache, and asked through gritted teeth, "These lunatics are really not afraid of death... They bring everything on the Ark? Have they ever considered that if one day... the things in the underground ice storage break out of containment, who will clean up the mess for them?"
"The crisis management department is set up for unexpected situations like this." Schroeder replied immediately.
"Then can you tell me what kind of treasures are on the fifth floor? If they really escape, I can be prepared."
"I'm sorry, the objects contained on the fifth floor are the highest level of confidentiality on the Ark. Without the authorization of the Undead Crew, I cannot reveal any relevant information to you." Ke Lan did not expect that Schroeder would reject her request this time. "But I can assure you that the objects contained on the fifth floor will never be awakened."
"What guarantees can you make?" Ke Lan asked in dissatisfaction. "There are less than a hundred people left in the entire research institute. Do you think I will still believe in the safety measures you say will 'definitely not go wrong'? This is simply outrageous, it's outrageous to the extreme!"
"Do you know the 'Heinrich Safety Law' of the old era?" Ke Lan continued, "Behind every major accident, there are at least 29 minor accidents and 300 potential hidden dangers... and each of these 300 potential hidden dangers has the potential to turn into the major accident we encountered today! As a member of the Crisis Management Department, it is impossible for you not to understand this principle!"
"Actually... the fifth floor of the underground ice storage is independent of the first four floors." Schroeder hesitated for a moment, then spoke again, "The so-called 'fifth floor' is actually a completely sealed alloy container that is sunk into the cooling pool of the Ark's main reactor. The container is surrounded by a large amount of flowing liquid nitrogen, and the interior is kept at a low temperature of minus 200 degrees Celsius all year round... Nothing can escape from it in that state."
Schroeder paused and added, "In fact, you can completely exclude the fifth floor of the underground ice storage from the action plan..."
"If I were you, I wouldn't say it so absolutely." Ke Lan sighed helplessly. He couldn't help but think of the "Experimental Subject No. 1197" imprisoned by the Alpha civilization under the "Bottomless Pit". Fortunately, when this guy escaped, the Alpha people had disappeared from this planet. Otherwise, what awaited them might not be a massacre with completely unequal strength...
Ke Lan and Asano Akira turned a corner, and suddenly, dozens of autonomous robots came into their sight. These robots seemed to have been unplugged at the same time, and they still maintained the posture they were in when they were advancing along the street.
"Command, I found a group of autonomous robots that lost contact." Ke Lan said, "They are in the second fork on the right side of Galileo Avenue..."
As Ke Lan spoke, she sent the images she had taken back to the headquarters. Robots, which are non-living things, cannot be affected by "memes".
There is no risk of infection, but as long as you don't do anything stupid and check their operating records, these things are "relatively safe".
"Judging from the numbers on the robots, this is the second batch of autonomous robots deployed into the contaminated area. Their original mission was to enter the underground ice storage and repair the damaged circuits... Based on the images you sent back , we preliminarily determined that this robot team may have encountered a high-power electromagnetic pulse attack."
While Schroeder was speaking, Ke Lan had already walked up to a robot, opened the cover at the back of its neck, and connected the data cable to the maintenance socket.
"The chip has been completely burned, leaving no records." Ke Lan said, "I also think it was a high-power EMP... But then again, there are many species with similar abilities among the native creatures of Alpha. If possible, I need a list of the underground ice storage for comparison."
"The list of underground ice storage is in my mind," Schroeder replied. "Among all the objects contained, there are 27 indigenous creatures with the ability to generate electromagnetic pulses, and 61 Alpha civilization artifacts found in the ruins, 57 of which are inanimate objects, and 4 are unnatural biological weapons."
"There should be a mutant species of the Corrosion Seed that can release EMP, right?" Ke Lan said as he took out a magazine with a yellow and black warning sign from his backpack and inserted it into the magazine pocket on his chest.
"Among the four biological weapons I mentioned, two are mutants of the Seed of Corrosion, and the other two are semi-finished products that have not yet fully differentiated and are not threatening. I have already sent you the specific information."
Looking at the densely packed list before him, Ke Lan smiled bitterly and said, "This search range is indeed a bit too large. I knew that the institute must have some specimens of indigenous creatures, but I didn't expect there would be so many."
Although Ke Lan said that there were many species of indigenous creatures that had the ability to generate electromagnetic pulses, this "many" was only relative - in fact, including various rare subspecies, there were only more than 30 species of indigenous creatures that had this ability. As a result, there were 27 species in this underground ice storage alone, almost taking up all of them.
Ke Lan couldn't help but feel curious about the capacity of this underground ice storage which she had only heard of but had never been seen by outsiders.
On the Ark, the area for human habitation and activities actually only occupies about one-fifth of the entire internal space of the Ark. Even so, most humans cannot walk through every corner of this one-fifth area in their lifetime , let alone the remaining four-fifths.
A thought flashed through Ke Lan's mind - the Undead Crew Committee, the Crisis Management Department, the Underground Ice Storage... How many secrets ?
He always felt that there was a vague answer deep in his memory, but every time he was about to touch the answer, an invisible force would push his consciousness away, making it impossible for him to ever glimpse the truth hidden behind the thick fog.
Why do I have this feeling... Is this also due to the broken stone tablet?
However, what I saw in the blurry and fragmented memory fragments... was clearly the outline of Noah's Ark, and the stone tablet was obviously made long before the time when humans on Earth proposed the "Ark Project". No matter how advanced the technology of the Alpha civilization is, it is impossible to predict what will happen tens of thousands of years later, right?
No! Ke Lan suddenly realized that he had fallen into a misconception: If the stone tablet is an information storage device like a computer hard drive, then why can't it also be a recording device? When the Ark landed on Alpha, the stone tablet should still be intact in the "sarcophagus" of the glacier ruins. With the technology of Alpha civilization, it is entirely possible to scan the entire Noah's Ark without anyone noticing and record this information.
Even though the Alpha people have disappeared for tens of thousands of years, many of the automatic devices they left behind in the ruins are still in operation. If something as massive as the Ark landed on the surface of the planet, it is estimated that all the detection equipment on the entire Alpha planet would be triggered.
Although this explanation is a bit far-fetched, it is very reasonable - the function of this stone tablet is probably similar to the human "chronology".
At this moment, Asano Akira's voice came back from the front: "Any new findings?"
Ke Lan then realized that he had been standing there stupidly for dozens of seconds, and quickly responded: "No, I was just thinking about something and was a little distracted."
"Distracted? If necessary, you can open the cover on the inside of the arm armor. The control button of the fully automatic syringe is hidden inside. The drugs there can help you." Schroeder immediately said in the communication channel, "Don't worry, these are products that have undergone clinical trials, and the side effects are almost negligible."
"Actually, I can't say I was distracted. I was just looking up the information you sent me." Ke Lan said, "But I found that this is a complete waste of time... If the monster that killed these robots doesn't appear in our field of vision, then this information will be meaningless; and if it jumps out, then there is no need for us to guess what it is through all this information..."
"Uh... that seems to be the case." Schroeder was obviously stunned for a moment. "If the specimens that broke through the containment did not cause any obstacles to you, the subsequent cleanup team would be responsible for dealing with them... There is really no need for us to waste time on this at this juncture."
Even if there is a high probability that these biological specimens have been infected by the "meme", as long as Ke Lan and his team can get rid of the main body of the "meme", the "sub-memes" carried by these infected host carriers will naturally lose their effectiveness.
Ke Lan simply ran and headed straight for the laboratory building in the central area.
According to conventional combat thinking, when entering an area where dangers exist everywhere, the most correct method should be to advance slowly and step by step, cleaning and emptying each room, building and street one by one. However, doing so requires a lot of manpower and time. If Ke Lan and Asano Akira want to empty the entire research institute headquarters, it is estimated that even a month will not be enough.
They had no choice but to rush straight to their target location.
If there is something blocking the way - for example, the long-haired beast of burden in front of them that suddenly crashed through the glass wall of a restaurant and blocked the way of the two of them, well, to be precise, it should be a long-haired beast of burden that has been mutated after being infected by the "meme".
The long-haired beast of burden is a herbivorous mammal that lives in the cold tundra of Alpha. It is one of the few indigenous creatures on Alpha that can be considered "docile". Many exile settlements and even some transit stations and military bases in cold areas will domesticate some long-haired beasts of burden to use as animal power. They are very useful for carrying things or as mounts. The only drawback is probably that the meat of this creature cannot be eaten. In order to neutralize the highly toxic plants on Alpha, the long-haired beast of burden will secrete a substance that is also highly toxic to humans. This substance will spread to every muscle of the long-haired beast of burden along with body fluids and blood.
Just a few milligrams of this substance entering the human circulatory system can kill a person.
However, as long as you don't have the intention to eat it, this animal is very safe for humans. Even if you rush up to it and kick it, it will not fight back.
However... the long-haired beast of burden that appeared in front of Ke Lan and Asano Akira obviously had nothing to do with the word "docile".
