Volume 14: Devastation Chapter 668: Monsters in the Ruins
"Isn't this casualty rate too exaggerated?" Martin was stunned for a moment, "It's already comparable to the most intense battle zones... and this is just a C-level ruins..."
For Ke Lan fifty years later, this data is not exaggerated - in the year 902 of the New Era, humans had landed on Alpha for only two years, and many technologies were still at the level of the Old Era Earth. There was almost no alien technology obtained and successfully digested from the ruins of the Alpha civilization. The two alien technologies that completely changed human history, such as Nino Alloy and Energy Crystal, were still being technically tackled within the research institute... The equipment of the relic hunters of that era was at best at the level of the armed scientific expedition team of the Earth Era. As for the quality of the personnel, it was even more uneven, and even inferior to the professionalism of the scientific expedition team of the Old Era.
In that era when there were no human enhancement and transformation surgeries, no equipment enhanced by alien technology, the knowledge of various ruins and Alpha civilization was extremely scarce, and various intelligence system training mechanisms had not yet been fully established, the death rate of ruins hunters was definitely "unique" among all professions in the Ark.
Just like the Europeans who sailed to the American continent to explore the new land in the 17th century of the Old Era, more than 80% of the people who chose to become relic hunters in that era were forced by life and had no other choice.
Like Samuel, he became a relic hunter just to pay off his loan sharks.
To this day, although the relic hunter is still a high-risk profession with a mortality rate ranking among the top three, it is much better than it was fifty years ago.
At least for ruins of level C or below, the mortality rate can be basically controlled below 5%.
"Stop chatting and focus." Sergeant Ken reminded.
The soldiers of the 776th Special Forces Team quickly crossed the steel suspension bridge and came to a gap that was like a thread through the sky. The width of the gap was less than two meters. Soldiers wearing Fearless Warrior armor could barely pass through, but the engineering mecha carrying the tactical hydrogen warhead could only be stuck outside.
The two hydrogen bombs were carefully unloaded from the engineering mecha. Two fearless warriors each carried one, and the team continued to move forward.
The length of this gap is about 40 meters, just across two layers of nested steel structures. Judging from some joints reserved on the two walls of the gap and the cable inspection ports, this crack should be a channel reserved specifically for maintenance and repair work.
"Look... here, and here, there are traces of welding." Martin shouted in a low voice as if he had discovered a new continent, "And here, the riveted structure... there are even screws and nuts! This relic is really like Samuel, it's not the style of the Alpha people at all!"
"Samuel, are welding, rivets and screws rare in the remains of the Alpha civilization?" asked Connelly.
"Yeah, it's rare." Samuel nodded. "Many buildings of the Alpha civilization are made using one-piece molding technology, so it's hard to find traces of processing on the surface... Of course, given their technological level, this is not a big problem. Only those relatively old ruins will have buildings and mechanical structures similar to our human civilization."
"That is to say, the Alpha civilization once had a stage where its technological level was similar to that of humans, and this relic is likely left over from that period?" asked Cornelius.
"It should be, but I can't guarantee it..." Samuel replied.
"This is a good thing." Jino, who had been silent all the way, said, "As long as the architectural structure and style of this relic are closer to our human civilization, it will be easier for us to find its control center... and the easier it will be to restart it."
"It's been bad news all the way, and finally I heard some good news." Martin sighed.
"Be quiet." At this moment, Sergeant Ken suddenly pressed down on the shoulders of Kino and Connelly and whispered, "I seem to hear a sound above our heads!"
The soldiers of the 776th Special Forces Squad immediately raised their guns and looked upwards.
There are countless steel structure beams on it, which are intertwined and woven with each other, reminding people of a landmark building called "Bird's Nest" in the capital of China in the old era.
After everyone stopped talking, they soon heard the sound described by Sergeant Ken.
“Da, da, da…”
The sound is small, but it is there.
And, there is more than one place.
"It seems... there is something moving on those beams..." Martin said in a low voice on the communication channel.
"From our angle, we can't see the scene above the beam." Connelly shook his head. "Boss, what should we do now?"
Sergeant Ken did not answer directly. He just stared in the direction where the sound came from, not knowing what he was thinking.
"Should we use the drone?" Jino asked. "We have four reconnaissance drones. We can send one out and fly it over the beam to take a look..."
"Don't alert the enemy." Sergeant Ken raised his hand. "Since the thing that made the sound didn't take any action, we should just pretend that we didn't hear it. There's an old Chinese saying, 'Respond to changes with constancy'..."
"Then we... ignore it?" Connelly pointed his gun upwards in astonishment. "What if, what if the thing up there suddenly jumps down and attacks us?"
"Then open fire... but before that, don't disturb them." Sergeant Ken said, "Everyone, quickly pass through this rift."
Under the command of Sergeant Ken, dozens of soldiers crossed the crack as lightly as possible while paying attention to the situation above their heads. Sergeant Ken, who stayed at the back, pulled out several thin wires and set up several booby traps at the end of the crack.
The lowest of these booby traps is less than five centimeters from the ground, while the highest tripwire is nearly two meters away. No matter what size the objects on the beam are, as long as they jump into the crack, they will trigger these booby traps.
But just when Sergeant Ken finished setting the last booby trap, Martin's trembling voice came from the team's communication channel: "Boss... Come here quickly, there's something going on!"
Sergeant Ken's heart tightened and he quickly stood up and ran forward.
Behind the crack was a circular hall with a diameter of about 100 meters. At this time, the soldiers of the 776 Special Forces Team were all clinging to the wall on the side close to the crack. At the other end of the hall, a pale and hairless humanoid monster was shrouded in the light of a searchlight, lying on the ground with its head in its arms.
