Volume 12: Yaguna Kotor Chapter 586 Technical Support
"If you ask me now, I can only think of something called 'dry ice'... but this thing is obviously not 'dry ice', and we didn't observe any white mist rising." Ke Lan said.
Dry ice is the common name for solid carbon dioxide. In the old days, the most common use of dry ice for ordinary people was to create "smoke" on stage or in film and television dramas. In fact, this substance is more often used in industry for low-temperature refrigerated transportation and cleaning of some special equipment.
Regardless of the purpose, the reason why dry ice can work is inseparable from its characteristic of easy sublimation.
Ke Lan could be sure that the crystals found in the cranial cavity of the wolf-like creature were definitely not dry ice, and the way it disappeared was not "sublimation" or "evaporation" at all.
Any substance that sublimates or evaporates will take away a certain amount of heat, and dry ice can be used for emergency cooling precisely because of this property. The large amount of "smoke" generated when dry ice sublimates is because the low temperature condenses the water vapor in the air into small droplets, turning the "water vapor" that cannot be observed by the naked eye into "water vapor" like white mist.
But not only did Ke Lan and his team fail to observe any water vapor, even the thermometer readings did not show any significant changes...
"Continue the dissection and cut open the entire cranial cavity." Ke Lan said to Ivan.
Let's go all out. Since we have already "wasted" a sample, we must at least squeeze out its value.
"Yeah." Ivan nodded, picked up the saw drill again, and began to expand the incision.
Soon, the two of them lifted up the entire top of his head.
"Look, this is where the cranial cavity and the spine are connected - the middle of this spinal canal is also empty." Ivan indicated with the light.
This should have been the location of the medulla oblongata, the place with the densest neurons in the body, but what the two saw at this moment was only an empty spinal canal.
"Expand the scope of the dissection and take apart the entire spine." Ke Lan said.
"That's exactly what I meant."
The process of disassembling the spine is more complicated than craniotomy, but because the two men no longer had anything to worry about, their movements naturally sped up, and in less than twenty minutes, all the vertebrae in the cervical spine were disassembled.
Humans have seven cervical vertebrae, C1 to C7, while this wolf-like creature has only four cervical vertebrae, but each one is nearly twice as long as a human's cervical vertebrae.
"Sure enough, there are cavities inside these vertebrae." Ivan held a piece of bone under the spotlight. "So... this creature is not without nerve cells, but its nerves have been replaced by those crystals that die in the light."
"But this structure is too unreasonable, isn't it?" Ivan said again, "If these crystals will automatically decompose after being exposed to the outside, then if these wolf-like creatures are injured, the injuries that were originally not fatal will become fatal due to the crystals... From the perspective of biological evolution, this is undoubtedly very stupid."
"We can't look at these creatures from the perspective of natural evolution... They are most likely modified biological weapons... Although from the perspective of weapons, this design is also stupid enough." Ke Lan said.
"So what should we do now?" Ivan asked.
"With the equipment in the base, we won't be able to come up with anything new if we continue to research." Ke Lan said, "I'll have someone send a group of professional equipment and researchers here... But to be honest, since the incident at the institute, there don't seem to be many scientific research talents in this area. Those private research organizations are actually pretty lame. After all, who would leave an 'academic sanctuary' like the institute and stay to work in a private enterprise?"
In the old era, private enterprises might be able to retain talents by offering high salaries, but on the Ark, whether it is treatment, authority or status, the research institute can crush private organizations. Since there is an opportunity to become a real "superior", who would be willing to stay in the "mortal world"?
"It is better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix" is what the incompetent use to comfort themselves. But in the eyes of those who are truly capable, have pursuits and ambitions, the saying "People go to high places and water flows to low places" is the eternal truth.
The two of them cleaned up the scene. Ivan stayed in the lab to continue writing the report, while Ke Lan stretched out and staggered out.
There was no distinction between day and night in the core power room, but the designers had a sudden idea to move the "virtual sky" system on the Ark to the base. Ke Lan looked up and saw that the huge had just sunk halfway below the horizon. The last rays of the setting sun gave the buildings in the entire base a soft golden hue.
"We actually stayed in the lab for so long?" Ke Lan sighed softly. The exploration of Block 1 started before ten in the morning, and when Ke Lan and his team "dealt with" the group of wolf-like creatures and returned to the base, it was just after twelve noon. In a blink of an eye, it was almost evening.
"Is there any situation in Block 1?" Taking out his cell phone, Ke Lan sent a message in the online discussion group of the exploration operation.
"Everything is normal. According to the original plan, someone will come back every half an hour to report the news. The last time they came back was seven minutes ago." The Hound quickly replied, "The engineering team and the survey team have been sent over. The outpost is probably almost finished now. At least the people who are left there don't have to spend the night outdoors tonight."
"Where is the survey team? Any news?" Ke Lan asked.
"They collected some rock samples and sent them back to the Ark along with the first batch of wolf-like creature samples. Then the gang started drilling on the ground." The Hound replied.
"Drilling? To determine the thickness of the rock?"
"Yes, according to them, if Block 1 is really a cabin inside the 'Aguna Kator', then the rock layer on the surface is just a 'disguise', and there must be something else underneath... If you think it's inappropriate, I can send someone over to stop them immediately."
"It's okay, let them drill." Ke Lan said, "Anyway, the purpose of organizing the aircraft and the convoy is to explore the boundary of Block 1. The underground boundary is of course also a boundary - if they find anything, report to me as soon as possible."
"I know. Oh, by the way, there is something I need to remind you of. The eldest lady from the Soma family is here too."
"Zofia?"
"Yeah...By the way, have you already taken down the young lady?" The Hound suddenly switched from the group chat to the private chat, and sent an emoticon with a lewd smirk.
"What did you say?"
"Don't play dumb in front of me. I can tell at a glance from your appearance." The hound said, "How is it, the taste of the young lady... isn't it great?"
"How did you figure that out?" Ke Lan was puzzled. "Can you really figure out something like this?"
"Hehe... I can't tell you this. This is a secret." The Hound made another "hehe" expression, "I know young people have good physical strength, but remember to take it easy and don't hurt your waist..."
"Stop!" Ke Lan said quickly, "Let's stop talking about this topic——"
"Okay, okay, just don't be late tomorrow morning, or you'll be embarrassed."
…
…
Just when Ke Lan returned to her residence, she happened to see a graceful figure standing in front of the cabinet, looking at the exhibits inside.
Ke Lan's cabinet was naturally not filled with priceless works of art like those of the wealthy families. On this cabinet were placed basically all the equipment he used in his daily life. At this moment, Sofia was playing with his large-caliber hunting pistol that he had used for many years.
"I bought this gun when I just got my hunter license. It's a second-hand product, and I only spent 2,800 resource points on it. " Ke Lan said, "At that time, others told me that the larger the caliber of a hunter's pistol, the better. But after I bought it, I found that I, as a child at the time, could not control such a strong recoil at all."
"What now?" Sofia turned her head and asked with a smile.
"There is no problem now, but it can't help me with the problem I'm facing now." Ke Lan shrugged helplessly.
"But you still take good care of it." Green fingers stroked the slide of the pistol. Although the paint on the gun body had almost fallen off, the exposed metal parts were polished to a shiny finish. The vulnerable parts such as the trigger and magazine release button were replaced with customized reinforcements, and a code mixed with English and numbers was engraved on the grip with a knife.
"That's my personal identification code. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to remember it, so I engraved it on the handle." Ke Lan said, "By the way, how did you get here?"
"I told you before that I would also participate in this exploration mission, and you agreed." Zofia put the pistol back to its place, turned around and said.
"When did you come? Why didn't you tell me in advance so that I could arrange someone to pick you up?" Ke Lan took two steps closer to Zofia, and suddenly, a familiar fragrance entered his nostrils.
"I came here with the second batch of supplies from the Soma Group. When I first arrived, they told me that you were in the laboratory, so I didn't go over to disturb you." Sofia raised her eyebrows, glanced at Ke Lan with some reproach, and grabbed the other's hand that had silently slid to her waist. "Your self-control wasn't that bad before, why now..."
"There's an idiom in China, 'Once you taste the marrow, you'll know the taste'... You should know it, right?" As he spoke, Ke Lan had already picked up Sofia and held her sideways, buried his head in her neck, sniffing greedily.
"Not here... go inside..." Being treated like this by Ke Lan, Sofia's body suddenly froze. She wrapped her arms around Ke Lan's upper body and kicked her long legs gently.
"It's okay, I'll lock the door." Ke Lan said, and placed the delicate body in his arms on the large desk.
…
…
At the same time, in Ark, Research Institute.
Although the "meme contagion" incident caused the institute to reduce its staff by nearly 90%, the institute was not in a hurry to recruit new people. Not only that, even the monthly regular admission assessments were suspended .
The current research institute has been basically completely taken over by the Crisis Management Department. The entire West District 1 has been surrounded by armed personnel with live ammunition in three layers inside and outside - ordinary people will be immediately questioned by the guards if they even look in this direction for a few more times, let alone get close... If you dare to stop and wait, you will find several red dots on your body in the next second.
Those were the laser sights of the snipers and machine gunners. These men had already obtained permission to open fire. Anyone who tried to break into the West Zone 1 by force could be shot dead before their identity was verified. Even if that person was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Group who often appeared on news programs, or a high-ranking general with several stars on his shoulders, anyone who violated the rules would be killed without mercy.
The deaths of a large number of researchers should have been a disaster no less than a magnitude 10 earthquake for the Ark academic community, but after the incident, a somewhat strange phenomenon emerged - many experts who were well-known in their respective fields, those famous experts who should have died in the memetic infection incident... they did not disappear, but still appeared in various interview programs, and all research topics that had intersections with the public were also proceeding in an orderly manner... As for the "death news" of these experts, no media published it.
Lin Qiming also knew that this was probably a special measure taken by the people above to maintain stability, but the question was... How long could it be concealed like this?
Although the blocks inside the institute have been cleared, there is still no time to repair the damaged buildings. Even though the Crisis Management Department has adopted Ke Lan's suggestion and allowed non-governmental organizations to participate in the reconstruction of the institute, the specific progress is still as slow as a snail - the repair of the external buildings alone is initially estimated to take more than half a year.
But buildings are actually the least valuable thing in the institute - the most precious wealth of the entire institute is neither the expensive high-tech equipment nor the rare collections transported from various ruins, but the researchers in white coats themselves... The losses in this area will probably take decades to recover.
"This matter will have to be made public sooner or later." Lin Qiming, who was sitting behind his desk, sighed. He was about to make a cup of coffee to refresh himself when his exclusive secretary, who had just been assigned to him, opened the door and walked in.
"What's the matter?" Lin Qiming glanced at the secretary - although this girl in her early twenties looked like a fresh graduate from college, in fact, she already had six years of work experience in the Security Bureau before being transferred to the Crisis Management Department.
"'Yaguna Kotor' sent us a request, asking us to organize a team of biological experts to provide them with technical support... In addition to people, they also asked for a lot of equipment, many of which are on the embargo list." said the secretary.
"What's going on? Have you found anything over there?" Lin Qiming suddenly sat up straight in his chair. Although the matter of "Yaguna Kotor" was not within his authority, when this name was mentioned, a young figure immediately emerged in his mind.
