Volume 5: Bottomless Sinkhole Chapter 234: Information Dealer
"It's really strange...but this record was compiled by the official, so there shouldn't be any omissions, right? Forget it, let's take a look at the next record first." The Hound frowned and clicked on another file.
This record contains more text content, but there are only a few photos.
"Biological tissue was found at 270 meters, with no signs of life. It was initially determined to be the organ of some unknown indigenous creature." The picture accompanying this text is a piece of meat that is frozen in ice and looks like a human liver. The whole piece of meat is a strange dark purple color, and the surface is covered with a layer of light gray fascia, under which is a network of shriveled blood vessels evenly distributed.
Due to concerns about causing irreversible damage to the specimens, the hunters did not cut the ice but sent it directly to the research institute. As for the subsequent research, it was not mentioned in this record.
"Ivan, what do you think this thing looks like?" The hound raised his head and looked at Ivan. If we exclude the information fragments left by the Alpha civilization in Ke Lan's memory, Ivan is the person with the highest level of biology in the entire team. In terms of the amount of relevant materials he has read, even Ke Lan is slightly inferior to him.
"The shape is a bit like a human liver. In my impression, no indigenous creatures should have such an organ, but it is not ruled out that this thing may be a teratoma... If it is a teratoma, then such a thing may grow on any creature. It is difficult for me to make a judgment just by observing with the naked eye." Ivan shook his head with some regret.
"Where is Ke Lan? Do you have any 'impression' of this thing?" The "impression" mentioned by the hound naturally refers to the fragments of information implanted in Ke Lan's brain, but when Ke Lan focused his attention on this photo, nothing came out.
"No." He also shook his head and said.
In addition to this liver-shaped piece of meat, the second mission record also found a large number of underground building wreckage sealed in the ice and giant mechanical devices of large scale but unknown purpose. However, since the temperature decreases as they get closer to the bottom of the tiankeng, the hunter team did not go any deeper after exploring to 440 meters and chose to return.
"To be honest, there's not much useful information in this record." Hound curled his lips and closed the file. "I've read two-thirds of the content... and I haven't even seen a casualty report. These records always seem strange to me."
Not only the hound, Ke Lan also felt strange... The strange thing was not because the content of the records was small, but that these exploration records did not write down the most important things in the ruins that needed to be recorded the most - casualties, causes of death and injury reports, risk assessments, trap and mechanism analysis, relevant information about the ruins guards, combat process reports... These things are what hunters want to know most when purchasing intelligence - when exploring the ruins, saving their own lives is the first thing every hunter needs to consider. Otherwise, even if the backpack is full of priceless trophies, it will be all in vain if they can't take them out of the ruins alive.
Just as Ke Lan and the others had expected, the last exploration record was full of irrelevant content, which even gave them the illusion that these reports were written by completely amateur journalists - even if a rookie hunter who had just passed the entry assessment was asked to write this report, it would not be written like this!
"That's it? This pile of junk is worth 10,000 credits?" Layton couldn't stand it any longer. "I'm going to file a complaint. Isn't this a clear consumer fraud?!"
"Complain? Who are you going to complain to?" The Hound glanced at him, his tone cold and a hint of disappointment. "This stuff is collected and compiled by the official. You file a complaint and wait for them to ask you 'Who is suing me?' Save your energy... There are at least more than 1,400 people who have been cheated like us."
Leighton was speechless for a moment, and after holding it in for a long time, he could only utter two dirty words: "Fuck."
"Wait a minute, I'll ask a friend of mine to see if he has any detailed information." Ke Lan said, took out his mobile phone, opened the browser, and logged into the Hunter section of the Ark Forum.
I glanced at my friend list and found that the information dealer "ACMS_0420" was online at this time, and his most recent active record was... uh, this guy seemed to be arguing with a group of Lü Quanists in another forum. In just a few seconds, he actually posted more than 200 posts without any swear words that blocked sensitive words...
No matter how amazing the hand speed is, it is impossible to achieve such efficiency. Ke Lan guessed that this guy probably installed some kind of fully automatic debate plug-in, so he could debate with a group of people with one account with ease. In the eyes of bystanders, he was just like a god of war.
"Are you there?"
"Yes? Just now the kitchen asked your mother how well she wanted it done, whether to use an air fryer or a traditional oven."
"There are many good horses, but you are rare."
"When your horse was pregnant with you, was there only a placenta but no fetus in her stomach?"
…
In an instant, dozens of foul-mouthed replies filled Ke Lan's screen several times...
"Sorry, sorry... I was just arguing with a group of Mu Blades and forgot to turn off the plug-in. As soon as I clicked the reply box, these things were automatically sent to me..." "AMCS_0420" explained.
"It's okay, I don't mind..." What else could Ke Lan say? She couldn't just send him an emoticon of sweating soybeans.
"Uh, let's get down to business?"
"Do you have any information about the 'Bottomless Sinkhole' in ruins S-018? The more detailed the better ." Ke Lan asked straight to the point.
"Oh, you ignored me at first, but now you can't afford me..."
"…Did you forget to turn off the plugin again?"
"Oh no, I'm still in the sarcastic mode I was in just now. It took me a while to switch back. Please let me slow down for a while."
Half a minute later.
"Are you feeling better?"
"Okay, okay... Actually, I'm just curious. Didn't you say you had no interest in this relic? Why are you planning to take action against it now ?"
“Why wouldn’t I make money if there’s money to be made?”
"That's true... After all, this is the first time such an S-level ruin has appeared. In the three explorations, only two people died, and they were all man-made accidents caused by equipment problems. The average casualty rate is less than 1%, and the profit figure for a single trip is over 100 million. Any hunter would be tempted."
"Only two people died?" Ke Lan asked. This number was not disclosed in the information provided by the authorities. Although he knew that the casualty rate should not be very high, it was still lower than he had imagined.
"Yes, one of them froze to death at a depth of 360 meters because the inner liner of the power armor was broken and the communicator failed. The other one was tired from working for a long time and accidentally made an operational error, causing the suspension cable to lose balance and hit the wall of the pit... To be honest, I have never seen a ruin safer than this, and it's a fucking S-class ruin."
