Volume 5: Bottomless Sinkhole Chapter 235: Crazy Relic Hunter
"Safe? If it's so safe, why is it rated as an S-level relic?" Ke Lan asked.
If it was just because of the high rate of return, then this bottomless tiankeng would definitely not be rated as S-level, just like Leviathan before it awakened - although the total value of the huge amount of energy crystals stored in Leviathan's body was terrifying, but because there were basically no threats found in the Leviathan area at that time, when this "remains of the prehistoric beast" was initially rated as a relic, those experts did not even consider the S-level rating.
"Ha... I was just joking. Actually, the word 'safety' should be put in double quotes." ACMS_0420 replied.
"I knew it wasn't that simple."
"Indeed, even though only two people died, more than half of the hunters who returned from the tiankeng went crazy."
"Crazy? Did you see something weird... or did you suffer some kind of mental attack?" Ke Lan asked immediately.
"Not sure... because they didn't go crazy right away. Some people even returned to the Ark to take a vacation a few days after leaving the tiankeng, and suddenly they had an attack. The most serious case was a 32-year-old female relic hunter. She was shopping with her boyfriend, who was also a hunter, when she suddenly pulled out her pistol from her waist. She first shot her boyfriend to death and then started shooting at passers-by around her, killing four and injuring six. When the garrison rushed over, she kept the last bullet in her pistol for herself... If you subscribe to the Ark Hot News Electronic Edition, you should still be able to find this news a few days ago."
"Is there an autopsy report on this huntress?"
"That's something that most people can't get."
"I know you are not an ordinary person."
"Hehe... In consideration of what you said, I'll give you this information for free: I've read the autopsy report, and the medical examiner concluded that no abnormalities were found."
"Nothing unusual?"
"Except for the brain - because she committed suicide by shooting herself, the bullet went directly into the skull through the upper jaw, and the whole brain turned into a mess. With the current level of technology, it is difficult to restore it, let alone trace the changes in the brain waves of the deceased before her death."
"What about the others? What about the other crazy hunters? Ark should have checked on these people as well, right?"
"Yes, each person's situation is different, but there is one thing in common - after these people went completely crazy , they all told their friends more or less that they had been having nightmares recently. Because of the torture of nightmares, these people's mental state was already very bad before they completely fell into madness."
"…Then why do you say the average casualty rate is less than 1%? Aren't these crazy people counted as casualties?"
"Since there is no definite evidence, it will not be included in the casualty rate statistics for the time being... However, at the strong request of the rating committee and the hunting groups that participated in these three exploration missions, ruins No. S-018, the 'Bottomless Sinkhole', has been classified as an S-level ruins."
"How could there be no evidence? Anyone with a discerning eye can tell that these crazy people are inevitably connected to the ruins!" Ke Lan asked puzzledly.
"First, not everyone who has gone down the tiankeng has gone crazy. Second, everyone who has come out of the tiankeng said that they did not feel any physical or mental discomfort during the operation, nor did they see any hallucinations... They all have vital sign monitoring equipment on their bodies. Even if what they say is not necessarily true, their heart rate and blood pressure cannot lie. Unless each of these hundreds of hunters has the psychological quality of 'not changing their expression even when facing a collapse of Mount Tai', how could a person with such a psychological quality go crazy easily? Third, everyone who returned to the Ark has undergone strict examinations, from physical to mental... You are more familiar with this process than I am, so I won't say much. In short, apart from the 'nightmare', no one has any abnormalities."
"As for nightmares, normal doctors would think that they are caused by personal factors such as excessive stress and anxiety. The treatment plans given by the doctors who were responsible for examining the hunters were also normal: a small amount of sedatives that can improve sleep, plus a period of vacation..." ACMS_0420 continued, "At that time, no doctor would think that the hunters' nightmares would be related to the bottomless cenote, because there is no observable stimulus in that place... and the monitoring equipment worn by the hunters also proved that they had not suffered any mental attacks in the cenote. To be honest, I felt that they were cursed."
"Those who are not crazy..."
"Everything is normal. For them, a trip to the bottomless tiankeng is just like a stroll on the commercial street." said ACMS_0420.
"Are there any personal reports from these hunters after they complete their missions? The official reports are too scanty, and a lot of important information has been omitted."
" I have collected a total of 57 personal reports, 29 of which were written by people who had gone mad, while the other 28 were normal. I have carefully studied each one and found nothing abnormal... or rather, each one was very abnormal."
“Are they all very unusual?”
"The biggest anomaly is the absence of anything unusual... Even the miners in Leviathan would encounter rats, bugs, and the like, right? But the hunters who entered the tiankeng didn't encounter anything except the things trapped in the ice on the pit wall... Even the native creatures that should have appeared in the glacier zone seemed to have completely disappeared."
"…Besides this, is there any more information?"
"No, the exploration of the Bottomless Sinkhole is progressing very slowly now. No one has been to the area below 500 meters, and above 500 meters, there are only the things you see in the photos... and the nearly 100 crazy hunters who were sent to a special hospital." At the end of this sentence, ACMS_0420 added a helpless expression with his hands spread and shoulders shrugged.
"By the way, those crazy hunters...are there any clues worth paying attention to from their behavior and words?" Ke Lan asked. If they could find out the reason why these hunters went crazy, maybe they would have a way to prevent this "curse".
"Some patients become very aggressive, some appear very depressed, and some develop symptoms of both obsessive-compulsive disorder and mania... Each person's manifestation is different and not representative at all. As for speech... They rarely speak human language after they go crazy. They basically just mumble meaninglessly or howl like crazy. It is impossible to analyze any valuable information from it."
