Volume 14: Devastation Chapter 676 Warehouse
"We wasted too much time for a can." Sergeant Ken said irritably, "Put this can away. When we get back to the Ark, let those people in white coats at the research institute worry about it."
"But... Boss, I always feel like there's something wrong with this place..." Connelly whispered, "Whether it's that monster or this empty can, there's something weird about it..."
"What's weird about that?" Sergeant Ken looked at him and asked.
"I... I can't explain it for the time being... but I just feel uncomfortable all over, and the hairs on my back are standing up... I don't want to move forward until I figure these things out..." Connelly nervously touched the charging handle of the machine gun in his arms.
"You feel uncomfortable because you are timid." Sergeant Ken said loudly, "We shouldn't waste too much time on things that are not related to the mission. Keep moving forward!"
…
Under Sergeant Ken's order, the 776th Special Forces Team had to continue moving forward. Fortunately, the downward stairs were not long. They only walked for about twenty minutes before entering a horizontal corridor.
There are many rooms locked by automatic doors on both sides of the corridor. Only the third automatic door on the left side was damaged and stuck in the middle.
The dark space under the door is like the huge mouth of a monster that has not completely closed. Normal people will instinctively feel a .
"I found something!" the sharp-eyed Martin said in a low voice. He walked forward, reached out and felt around the bottom edge of the automatic door for a while, then ran back.
In the palm of his hand, there were some irregular white fragments, some of which had dark brown lumps that looked like blood.
"It's dried dead skin flakes." Liao Xing immediately made a judgment. "Judging from the texture, it should come from the monster I just dissected... or one of its kind. One of them accidentally scratched his back on the edge of the automatic door when entering this room, so these things were rubbed on."
"Did those monsters run out of this room?" Martin took a deep breath, and he looked back at the shadow under the automatic door. He couldn't help but feel a little scared - he always felt that as long as he approached the door again, a few pale, bony, but terrifyingly powerful hands might reach out from the darkness and drag him into the darkness.
"Not sure, but they must have been in and out of this room." Liao Xing said.
"Martin, Collins, you two go in and take a look." Sergeant Ken ordered.
"Ah?" Martin's face suddenly showed bitterness. Although Collins' performance was better, judging from the way he involuntarily tightened the grip of his rifle, he was obviously extremely nervous inside.
"Be careful, there may be humanoid monsters left in there." Liao Xing reminded.
"Boss, can't we send a drone in to take a look?" Martin asked.
"The drone's battery power is limited, and we can't charge the battery through solar energy inside the ruins, so we can't waste it," said Sergeant Ken.
In this era, although energy crystals have been discovered by relic hunters, their practical application is still in the theoretical stage, and the technology of small nuclear reactors is not yet mature. Equipment such as drones and mechas can only use two types of energy: electricity and chemical fuels.
"Okay, okay..." Martin shook his head helplessly, then took two deep breaths, turned to Collins and said, "Collins, I'll go in first. If anything happens, you can pull me out from behind quickly. Do you understand?"
"Don't worry." Collins patted Martin on the shoulder.
The gap left by the automatic door was not large, only about thirty centimeters. It might not be too narrow for a skinny humanoid monster, but it would be a bit difficult for a fully armed soldier to pass through.
Martin first took off his backpack, and then took off his protective armor and tactical gear. Then he lay on the ground, sideways, supporting himself with one hand on the ground, holding the pistol with the other hand, biting the tactical flashlight with his teeth, and slowly moved in from under the automatic door.
"Damn it... I even took off my bulletproof vest. This military uniform can't stop the claws of those monsters..." Martin cursed in his heart as he crawled through the automatic door. Then he immediately squatted up from the ground, holding the gun in both hands, and quickly scanned the inside of the room.
Of course, he did not miss the ceiling above his head and the blind spots on both sides of the automatic door.
After making sure there were no living creatures in the small room, he heaved a sigh of relief and said to the outside, "It's safe inside... There are only a bunch of polymer boxes... and... and a pile of dried shit on the ground."
Soon, Collins also came in, followed by Sergeant Ken, Jino and Liao Xing.
"There really is shit all over the floor..." Sergeant Ken rubbed the sole of his boot on the ground with some disgust, "Doctor, these things should be the excrement of those humanoid monsters, right?"
"Yeah." Liao Xing nodded and walked to the boxes.
Most of these boxes had been opened, with the lids scattered all over the ground, and in the farthest corner, there was a pile of empty cans exactly like the one they had just picked up.
"These boxes are used to store canned goods," Liao Xing said. "There are still marks of round cans on the cardboard at the bottom of the boxes... but there are only a few cans left."
As he spoke, he picked up the few cans available and examined them.
As expected, the bottoms of these cans were also printed with Arabic numerals.
“Such a large number of canned foods full of old era characteristics... Ken, you don’t think they were drifted from the Ark, do you?” Liao Xing looked at Sergeant Ken with a serious expression.
Sergeant Ken held a can and looked at it, silent.
"Ken, we all follow you through thick and thin because we trust you. If there is anything hidden in the mission content... I hope you can tell us." Liao Xing added, "As executors, the brothers should not be kept in the dark."
"I've told you everything I know about this mission before I entered the ruins." Sergeant Ken's voice was heavy. "I'm not a fool. I also know that there are problems with these things... big problems... but we are soldiers, and soldiers' orders are to obey their duties. Don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask, and don't care about things that you shouldn't care about. We... just need to complete the mission."
"Even if there is a secret in this relic that may change everything, we still have to blow it up?" Liao Xing asked again.
"Perhaps, it is precisely because of these secrets that we need to blow it up."
