Volume 12: Yaguna Kotor Chapter 580 Block 1
"Forget it. Everyone has their own aspirations. There's no need to force others." The Hound said, "We were all the same before. If it weren't for the plane crash, we might still be Lone Rangers now."
"That's right..." Layton touched his forehead. "After all, among the few of us, Zhuoligetu is the only one who has teamed up with him before. We haven't been together for a long time, and we don't know each other very well. If he agrees to join us so readily, we will be suspicious."
"Thirty-three seems easy to get along with, but it's actually very difficult to gain his trust." The Hound shook his head. "My experience is quite similar to his. We have both experienced betrayal and selling out... Although from the perspective of the people above, this is called 'strategic sacrifice', a price that must be paid for the greater good... But only when you really become the 'price' itself, the abandoned child, can you personally experience that kind of despair."
"Let's not talk about this for now. Let's get ready. We have to set off at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning." Ke Lan said, "The destination is the area marked as 'Block 1'. I calculated it based on the energy required for each mass unit during transmission. This 'Block 1' consumes the least energy, so it should be the closest to the core power room."
"Don't talk about it 'logically'. Anything related to the Alpha civilization cannot be explained logically, at least not according to our logic... Not to mention that this thing is--" The Hound stopped talking here. As a member of the Molten Mine Reconnaissance Team, they all knew that this ancient battleship was most likely not a creation of the Alpha civilization, but came from a third civilization whose technological level was far superior to that of the Alpha civilization.
However, this matter is top secret and is not allowed to be disclosed to anyone. Even the hunters participating in the "Yaguna Kator" exploration operation do not have the right to know.
“No matter whether Block No. 1 is the nearest area or not, at least the energy we need to go back and forth is the least, and the transmission process is the shortest… For the first exploration, we don’t seek to achieve anything, but to avoid mistakes. Our initial goal is to first understand the general condition of this ancient battleship and lay the foundation for subsequent exploration operations.” Ke Lan said.
"So how much information do we have about this 'Block No. 1'?" asked the Hound.
"zero."
"Zero? Didn't you already gain access to the console? Is there not even a diagram of the battleship's internal structure?" The Hound said in surprise.
"I only know the general structure of the warship, but the details of each compartment and its internal state are completely unknown..."
"That is to say, this 'Block 1'... may be empty, or filled with boiling magma, or even full of Alpha corpses?" The Hound rested his elbows on the coffee table and tapped the glass surface with his index finger. "In the worst case, we may be wiped out right after we are teleported in?"
"So, we need to send the drone in first." Ke Lan said.
“But the drone’s signal can’t be transmitted back, right?”
"I can let the drone record the images and environmental data it captures, set up an automatic cruise program, and then open the transmission channel when the time is up..."
"What if the drone doesn't come back?" The Hound asked, staring at Ke Lan.
"Then there is only one way." Ke Lan paused and continued, "There will always be brave men when there is a big reward ."
Ke Lan would not be like those crazy people in the research institute who tied people up and threw them in... But in that case, if the exploration operation was to continue, someone had to risk his life to do "human investigation". Ke Lan believed that as long as the reward was high enough, someone would "voluntarily" come forward.
This is a gamble, and the stakes are the bettor's own life...but since ancient times, there have never been a few people who exchange their lives for money, not to mention that this is not a situation where death is inevitable.
He didn't need to do anything. As long as he could come back alive after entering the transmission channel, he would be rewarded handsomely... Even an old man who was dying, suffering from a terminal illness, or even a disabled person could do this. There was almost no threshold. Even if he didn't come back, his family would be able to have a better life.
In the old era, this kind of thing would usually be done by well-trained special dogs, but in this era, the life of a dog is much more valuable than a human life. Even among the rich and powerful on the Ark, a pet dog with a pure bloodline can be considered a rare "luxury".
This is ironic, but it is also an indisputable fact.
…
The next day, at 9:45 in the morning.
The hunters who had finished their rest all gathered in the open space in front of the base. A hundred meters in front of them was the energy supply array of the core power room. Those thick and square crystal columns were emitting a faint green fluorescence.
Everyone was wearing protective clothing - if they wanted to carry out large-scale teleportation, if they relied solely on energy crystals, the number of crystals required would be an astronomical number. Ke Lan could only use the "Aguna Kotor" power supply array again to provide energy for the teleportation device. The side effect was that the radiation intensity in the entire power room would increase to hundreds of times the original.
"Although I've seen it in photos before, the feeling of being there in person is still different... It's too shocking." The ghost owl of the Gray Bird Hunting Group looked at the crystal pillars in the pit and sighed.
"Of course, if humans in the old era saw a Himalaya made of 24K pure gold, they would also feel incredible." said the Hound.
On the Ark, energy crystals can be said to be a harder currency than credit points and precious metals, so there is nothing wrong with the Hound's metaphor.
"All the energy crystals in other S-class ruins combined are not even one-tenth of what's here, right?" Ghost Owl continued, "I'm really curious about the origin of this battleship."
"The reason why we are gathered here today is for this matter." Ke Lan said, "We can start now."
"Yeah." Leighton, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, nodded and connected the robotic arm to the drone controller, while his other hand quickly typed on the keyboard.
The four drones placed in front of him were suspended in the air one after another - these four drones were provided by the Ye Group. In addition to the propeller blades and emergency thrusters that most drones are equipped with, these four drones are also equipped with micro anti-gravity devices and energy shield generators. The configuration can only be described as "luxurious".
Four drones formed a diamond formation in the air, and four energy shields were directly activated. At the same time, Ke Lan also opened the transmission channel to "Block No. 1".
A ball of black fog appeared right in front of the drone formation - the transmission channel of "Yaguna Kator" was very different from the "portals" described in science fiction works. It did not have a fixed shape, nor a clear boundary. The only phenomenon observable to the naked eye was a ball of opaque black fog.
After entering the range of the black fog, the teleported person or object will not disappear immediately, but will gradually become transparent like a frozen afterimage, and finally completely merge into the black fog.
When viewed from the perspective of the person being teleported, the moment entering the black fog, the vision will become pitch black... Not only will the vision be pitch black, but other senses will also completely fail, and it will be as if only a wisp of consciousness is left floating in the darkness. Everything will not return to normal until arriving at the teleportation destination.
"After debugging, the drone is in normal condition. The automatic cruise program has also been designed. It is set to return home immediately, 600 seconds, 1200 seconds, and 1800 seconds after arriving at the destination. If the position of the return channel deviates, the drone will patrol near the original coordinates. As long as the deviation distance is not too outrageous, it will most likely crash into the destination."
"Okay, I'll keep the passage open." Ke Lan responded, "Go in."
As soon as Ke Lan finished speaking, Layton pressed the Enter key on the keyboard, the "auto cruise program" was activated, and the four drones flew steadily into the black fog.
"Based on the energy consumption required for transmission, the transmission process should only take a few seconds. If everything goes well, we will soon see the first returning drone." Ke Lan said to others.
"I hope so." The hound nodded, but the expression on his face was very solemn, and he stared at the black fog not far away without blinking.
Thirty seconds passed quickly, and there was no movement in the black fog - the thing that everyone was worried about happened: the first drone failed to return in time.
"I knew this wouldn't go so smoothly." The Hound sighed. "Compared to that, we were able to be teleported directly to the core power room, which was really a jackpot."
Ke Lan really wanted to tell the Hound that the reason they were able to successfully enter the core power room was probably because the Prophet did it on purpose...but there were so many people around and it was difficult for him to say such things directly, so he could only agree with the Hound's statement.
"Don't worry, maybe the exit at the other end of the transmission channel has shifted. This has happened before." Ke Lan said in a deep voice, "Wait a little longer."
Everyone stopped talking, but the atmosphere became more solemn.
Ke Lan and others waited for more than ten minutes, until the time when the second drone was supposed to return, but the first drone still hadn't returned.
"The chances of the drone coming back are very slim." Ghost Owl frowned and said, "It's time to consider a backup plan."
"In fact, there are many reasons why the drone can't come back. It's not necessarily destroyed." Layton said, "For example, the electromagnetic interference in that place is extremely strong, strong enough to affect the navigation device inside the body through the energy shield..."
"You're talking in vain." Hound rolled his eyes at Layton and said, "How strong must the electromagnetic interference be to be able to penetrate even the energy shield? If converted into radiation, I'm afraid even the protective suits we're wearing can't block it."
"I'm only talking about one of the situations...it's not the only one." Layton muttered.
"Wait for thirty minutes. If no drone returns, we will activate the backup plan." Ke Lan said... In fact, before the drone took off, he already had a strong premonition that this backup plan, which sounded a bit "inhumane", would definitely be used in the end.
Even if the initial exploration of "Block No. 1" goes smoothly, there will still be "Block No. 2", "Block No. 3", and so on... the so-called "unexpected situations" will happen sooner or later.
After all, this is an S-level relic.
Among the existing S-level ruins, the early exploration phase of any one of them has cost a huge amount of sacrifice. It is not an exaggeration to say that it was piled with human lives... It is simply a fantasy to explore an S-level ruins without losing anyone.
"I have a suggestion." Ghost Owl suddenly said, "It's a meat detective anyway, so it doesn't matter who we send...right?"
"What do you mean?" Thirty-three looked at him and asked.
"Everyone here is a professional ruins hunter, so let's be clear." Ghost Owl said, "To be honest, this meat scout thing is a life-threatening job, and it doesn't require much skill. There's no need to waste our precious hunters on this. My suggestion is - this person should be selected from the logistics personnel. Even if he doesn't come back alive, it won't be a big loss for us."
Although his words made people feel a little uncomfortable, Ke Lan and the others really had no way to refute him - indeed, letting less important and easily replenished logistics personnel serve as human detectives was indeed the most "cost-effective" method.
The selection process was very short - when Ke Lan proposed that whoever served as the meat detective would receive six million credits regardless of whether he or she could come back alive, a group of people almost broke their heads over it... Six million for a life was already considered a "high price" whether on the Ark or in the wilderness.
Looking at this group of people who signed up enthusiastically, Ke Lan couldn't help but think of an old saying.
“People die for money, birds die for food.”
In the end, Ke Lan selected two people from the logistics staff hired by the Ye Group.
Both of them are middle-aged men in their forties, responsible for odd jobs in the base. With their salary level, it would probably take them thirty years without eating or drinking to save up six million credit points.
This is because they took on special tasks and their monthly salary increased to more than 10,000 or nearly 20,000 yuan. If they had not come to "Yaguna Kotor", their monthly income would have been at most 3,000 or 4,000 yuan. Six million is simply a amount of money that they cannot earn in their entire lifetime.
The two chosen ones' faces were flushed with excitement at first , especially after they saw a long string of zeros starting with sixes being deposited into their accounts, the excitement reached its peak... However, it was not until the hunters put the heavy protective gear on them that the two realized that this was a mission from which they might not be able to return, and their originally flushed faces turned pale in an instant.
