Volume 8: A Trip to the Sick Village Chapter 353: A Depressing Journey
Judging from the information currently available, it seems that only the "missionaries" and "priests" of heretical sects would tattoo this emblem on their bodies, and without exception, they all have some kind of dangerous creature parasitic in their bodies.
Could it be that there is something lurking inside these two miners?
However, every miner sent to the "sick village" should have undergone an examination. Even if the examination was not as detailed as a full-body physical examination at their own expense, blood tests, radioactive scans and the like should have been included. If there was something parasitic in their bodies, it should have been discovered long ago.
No... that's not right. Since the heretic sect was able to let these two people blend in with the miners, it wouldn't be that difficult for them to hide from routine inspections. The staff responsible for the inspections were all employees of the Mine Development Alliance, not soldiers or agents of the Security Bureau. It wouldn't even cost much to bribe them...
But the question is...why would the heretical sect send these two people to the "sick village"?
Ke Lan looked at the two men out of the corner of his eye: one of their "badges" was tattooed on his ankle, mostly covered by his trouser legs, and the other was on his neck, mixed in with a bunch of messy tattoos.
However, compared with the other tattoos, this emblem composed of a skull, tentacles and water droplets was obviously much more delicate, which is why Ke Lan noticed it at a glance.
What is their purpose? They can't be going to the sick village to preach, right?
This is an isolated place. Even if the heretic sect occupied the entire sick village, it would be meaningless. It would just allow the Ark's main gun to be activated again... Without the airship, no one could leave this prison-like space station...
There is no land, no resources, and no wealth left over from the Alpha civilization. The only things of some value may be the seriously ill miners... No, to be precise, even these people have no value at all.
They cannot provide the heretical sects with funds, intelligence, and technology like the Arasaka Foundation does. Their weak constitutions also make it difficult for them to become ideal "containers" for parasitic monsters. Even if a very small number of miners mutate into radioactive monsters, compared with the Seeds of Erosion, they are just vulnerable cannon fodder.
In Ke Lan's opinion, it would be much wiser to recruit believers even in the exile camp in the wilderness than to run to an aerial prison filled with dying people.
Unless there is something they want on it.
In order not to attract the attention of the two "missionaries", Ke Lan and Asano Akira did not do anything out of line from beginning to end. About ten minutes after the man who was choked to death by his own vomit died, two crew members wearing protective clothing, carrying U-shaped long-handled anti-riot steel forks and electric batons, walked into the cargo hold - obviously, in a place where the miners could not see, there should be infrared cameras installed to monitor them, otherwise these crew members would not have rushed over so quickly.
Two crew members came closer and first looked around at the miners around them. After confirming that there were no other abnormalities, the one holding the riot fork stepped forward and poked the corpse on the ground with the fork in his hand.
"He's dead. The cause of death was suffocation." The man said to his companion. The voice coming from under the protective suit sounded particularly dull.
"Hiss... What a trouble..." Another man squatted down, shone a flashlight on the dead man's face, and then pulled up the dead man's arms - including Ke Lan and Asano Akira, every miner in the cargo hold wore a rubber ring on his wrist. This thing contained a chip, and its function was similar to the wristband used in hospitals to mark the patient's identity information.
He took out a scanner and scanned it at the rubber ring. The scanner made a soft "beep" sound, and the screen on the handle lit up with a faint fluorescent light.
"It's someone from Tramin Mining Co., Ltd..." he read the information on the screen.
"Do you want to report it?" asked the crew member holding the steel fork.
"Forget it, just leave it here. When the ship arrives at the station, we can just drag the bodies down... No one cares about their life or death anyway. Once we transport the cargo to the space station, our mission will be accomplished." The crew member holding the scanning gun said impatiently.
"That's right." Another person nodded. "Even if we report it, the people above us probably won't bother to respond..."
"That is to say... if you have this much time, you might as well watch a few movies..."
"Movies? We've already flown to this altitude, can you still connect to the Ark's network?"
"Humph, I knew about this mission a long time ago, so I downloaded the resources into my PAD in advance. There are a few movies starring amateurs this time. I took a look at them in advance. The quality is pretty good, and they are all infantry..."
"What a great thing! Pass it to me later!"
…
The voices of the two crew members gradually faded away, and with the sound of the electric door closing, the cargo hold returned to silence again.
A foul odor mixed with the sour smell of vomit gradually spread in the air...After the miner died, the sphincters of his excretory organs lost their function, and the filth accumulated in his bladder and rectum began to be discharged from his body, flowing on the floor of the cargo hold.
Radiation sickness severely affected his gastrointestinal system. There was almost no formed feces in his excrement. It was all a thin, dark green liquid mixed with a lot of pus, blood and necrotic tissue that had fallen off the inner wall of the intestine... Even if he didn't choke to death because his vomit blocked his trachea, given the severity of his condition, he probably wouldn't have much time to live.
"Perhaps dying like this would be a relief." Ke Lan muttered to himself.
A few hours later, the electric door opened again, and two crew members came in pushing a cart and stopped about ten meters away from the miners.
"It's time for dinner, everyone line up and don't fight over food, or else don't blame me for taking action." A crew member knocked on a cargo box nearby with the stun gun in his hand. Urged by the "bang bang" sound, the miners got up from the ground and lined up in a sparse line in front of the cart without saying a word.
The body of the dead miner was lying in the middle of the team, but no one tried to pull the body aside. They just stepped over the body woodenly and walked forward on the filth on the ground.
"You, you, and you, the three of you, bring a meal to the people over there who can't get up." The crew member in front of the cart randomly pointed to three people and opened the side door of the cart.
The food distributed was a paste-like nutritious meal packed in a plastic bag. This food was originally in powder form and could be eaten directly after being mixed with water. Even patients with tumors in their throats who were unable to swallow could eat it - but this was limited to a few meals on the transport ship. Once they arrived at the sick village, the black, palm-sized protein lumps would become the only food they could choose for the rest of their lives.
