Volume 2: The Undersea City Chapter 39 Registration Office
"They can't send agents to assassinate me, can they?" Ke Lan suddenly made a face at the investigator, scaring the latter so much that he shuddered again.
"Who knows? They have too many privileges and are used to being unreasonable. If they are really provoked, they will do anything." Hound patted Ke Lan on the shoulder, "How about I use my connections to get you into the military system? I don't think they have the guts to assassinate active military personnel."
"I appreciate your kindness, old dog, but if they really dare to come and cause trouble, at worst I will take a long-term mission and go out to avoid the limelight... like clearing the wasteland or guarding the mines, and then come back in a few years."
"You guy, I thought you were pretty calm..." The Hound shook his head helplessly, "Well, let's deal with the next trouble first."
…
As the height of the aerial platform continued to descend, Ke Lan and his companions could already see dozens of fully armed soldiers surrounding the entire helipad.
As soon as the door of the transport plane opened, the four of them were immediately "arrested".
However, what puzzled them was that the people who arrested them were not affiliated with DAS, but soldiers from the regular army.
The transport plane was pulled into the DAS's dedicated hangar, and the group of soldiers escorted them in completely different directions.
"What's going on? Old dog, did you use your connections?" Leighton turned around and asked in some confusion.
"No..." The Hound was also confused.
DAS should have been fully responsible for this matter, and the person who was beaten up by Ke Lan was also an investigator from DAS. But now the plot has suddenly taken a turn - this group of people who should have been sent to the DAS interrogation room were actually taken over directly by the military.
"Anyway, this is a good thing." The Hound narrowed his eyes. "The military and DAS have always been at odds with each other. Maybe Ke Lan's punches just happened to be appreciated by a big boss, so we were saved."
Although Hound's words were a joke, the confrontation between DAS and the military was a "secret" known to everyone in the Ark. Minor frictions often occurred between the two groups when performing their respective tasks. Even some cooperative tasks would inevitably cause some bumps and bruises. It was not impossible that the military intercepted Ke Lan and his team in order to target DAS.
"Brother, where are we going?" The Hound asked the soldier next to him.
"I don't know." The soldier's tone was very stiff.
"But you were walking in front leading the way. Are you planning to take us out for a drink? And find some pretty girls to hang out with?"
"Shut up!" The soldier became impatient.
"Brother, this is boring. Back then, those guys under my command..."
Just as the hound's saliva began to fly everywhere , they finally stopped in front of a door at the end of the corridor.
The door is a bulletproof door made of alloy, with no house number or label.
"Come in." The soldier opened the door.
Inside were several compartments separated by acrylic. Each compartment had a table and a chair. Opposite the table was a small window that looked a bit like a bank counter. Through the transparent acrylic panel, one could see that there was a civilian officer sitting behind each window.
"What's going on?" Ke Lan discovered that the civilian officers looked relaxed and didn't look like they were here to interrogate a prisoner. There were no shackles or anything like that on the chairs to restrict people's personal freedom, and even the escorting soldiers did not follow them in.
"...That's strange, this is the registration office? Why are we sent here?" said the Hound. He and Layton obviously knew what this place was for, but there was also a hint of confusion on their faces.
"Registration Office?" Ke Lan had never been a soldier, so naturally he had no idea what this "Registration Office" was.
"The full name is 'Mission Handover and Regular Job Re-appointment Registration Office'. In the army, it is generally referred to as the 'Registration Office'. In fact, it is similar to the handover office of the Hunter Management Agency... But why were we sent here? This is the place where frontline commanders submit combat reports, and we are not soldiers..."
"You are now..." A man in military uniform but without a military rank flashed out from behind the cubicle. "Due to some confidentiality reasons, the personnel participating in this ruins exploration have been assigned to the army. In other words, you are now military personnel."
"What do you mean?" There was a hint of unspeakable resistance in the hound's tone.
"In order to prevent the DAS people from continuing to interfere in this matter, we can only use this method of cutting off the source of the problem - the reason why you appeared in that exile settlement is because your superiors assigned you the corresponding reconnaissance mission." said the man.
"Oh... is this possible?" The hound sneered.
"Why?" Ke Lan stared at the man and asked. The military's intervention completely disrupted his original plan and also gave him an unspeakable sense of crisis.
"I don't know. I'm just completing my mission."
Ke Lan looked the man up and down. He was about 35 years old and wore a pair of gold-rimmed plain glasses for decoration. Judging from his height and appearance, he should have undergone a certain degree of genetic modification. His skin was smooth and delicate, and he did not look like a person who often performed field missions. His uniform was straight and fit, and he had no gun. Instead, there were some minor wounds on his fingertips - they were cut by the sharp edge of brand new paper, not from fighting.
This is a standard high-ranking civilian officer. To be more precise, he should be the confidential secretary of a senior military figure.
But for Ke Lan, the higher the level of the people who care about them, the more troubles he may face...
After they left Ruins A-087, more hunters, prospectors, and researchers would soon follow the exit they had escaped from and enter the core area of the ruins. Although the stone tablet had been completely shattered, there was no guarantee that the group of people would find some clues from the mess...
The sarcophagus placed on the platform was so conspicuous that it would definitely be regarded as a key research object. They might even find a way to expand the exit and transport the entire sarcophagus back to the research institute on the Ark.
Ke Lan could only hope that the stone tablet could not be restored. Otherwise, if someone who could understand the Alpha Star language appeared again, he would definitely not be able to escape.
"Don't be nervous. Although you have been registered as a soldier, you are still independent relic hunters. We will not restrict your personal freedom, nor will we force you to carry out any missions... However, if you take on an exploration mission yourself, the files will also be backed up by the army."
The officer continued, "Okay, now you can leave after you make a written statement about this mission. It's just a routine matter. Please cooperate."
Ke Lan randomly chose a cubicle and sat down. Opposite her was a pretty female officer. She held a recorder in one hand and placed the other hand on the keyboard. She glanced at the screen, nodded to Ke Lan, and said with a smile: "You are Ke Lan, right? These are just routine questions. Just answer according to the actual situation."
The questions were indeed simple ones, similar to those asked every time the Hunter Management Agency handed over a mission. However, the other party obviously already knew the whole process of the matter. All Ke Lan could do was to add some non-critical details.
However, the question about the hallucinations that Ke Lan saw was just glossed over in one sentence, and the other party did not ask any further questions.
Their point of view should be the same as that of Hound and others. It was completely an "illusion" caused by Ke Lan's spirit being affected.
If the other party didn't ask, Ke Lan would naturally not choose to "expose herself".
The only thing that took Ke Lan a little more time to explain was how he cracked the seventh-level mercury lock "by luck", but it was just a few more questions.
"...Did you really write it down like that?" Ke Lan was speechless.
"What do you mean?" The female officer blinked her big eyes.
"Uh, that... 'Because of good luck, I just randomly picked a few keys and cracked the seventh-level mercury lock', did you just write that down?"
"What else? Or were you kidding me just now?"
"No, no, no... I am indeed lucky, but I don't think anyone would believe me if I wrote this?"
"I am only responsible for recording. Believe it or not is not my concern." The female officer said seriously.
"All right……"
"Then the record is complete... If you don't have any additional questions, you can leave..." The female officer was halfway through her speech when she suddenly looked to the side as if attracted by something.
Ke Lan also turned his head to look over, and saw that in the compartment on the far left, Hound was leaning on the table, slapping the window frame with his hands, and arguing about something angrily .
This guy Lao Gou…he said before that he wasn’t calm enough, so why is it his turn to quarrel with others now?
Acrylic panels are double-layered and hollow in structure, so they have excellent sound insulation. Ke Lan couldn't hear what the hound was yelling at all. She could only say hello to the female officer and hurried out of the compartment.
At this moment, Layton had already dragged him out with the hound...
"What's going on?" The hound was still cursing, so Ke Lan could only ask Layton.
"It's not a big deal. Jiang Lian... is the female hunter who was parasitized. You still remember her. Because her body was not found, she was classified as MIA. You should know what MIA means, right? It means missing. Lao Gou thought this was unreasonable and wanted to change it to KIA."
"Is there any difference?" Ke Lan knew the meaning of KIA, which was generally used to describe someone "killed in action".
"If he was just a hunter, then there would be no difference between disappearance and death. But if he was registered as a soldier, then the difference would be huge... At least the pension would be very different..."
Layton suddenly sighed as he was talking: "Do you know how Lao Gou retired? In fact, offending someone was just a cover. He commanded a combat operation before, and the casualties of the troops were heavy... At least a hundred brothers died, but because the bodies were not found and the dog tags were not recovered, many people were defined as 'missing'. Lao Gou made a fuss about this for a long time, and the conflict intensified, almost causing a mutiny, so he was kicked out..."
"These damn bastards are still like this. I clearly saw people die, how can they be missing!" The hound spat viciously, "Many of the brothers in the past were swallowed by wild beasts, how could there be corpses... Those beasts have strong acid in their stomachs, even if I dig up their feces, I can't dig out even a dog tag... How can they be considered missing? Bah!"
"Alright, alright, old dog, calm down..." Seeing the hound swinging a chair and trying to smash it against the window, Layton quickly hugged him around the waist.
"No, we have to figure out this matter about Jiang Lian. Even if we only have ten minutes, this woman is still my teammate!"
