Volume 9: Molten Mine Chapter 426: Differences
"We have no way of knowing, but they should know very well." Ke Lan pointed at the body in the carriage, "Also, the situation must have been extremely urgent at the time, otherwise this person would not have even bothered to put on his shoes."
"What about the communication records? The communication records on this kind of patrol car should be recorded!" Aya asked.
Layton shook his head. "The disk storing the communication records was badly damaged. A broken steel bone directly crushed the entire device. If we take this thing back to the Ark, we may be able to restore it, but under the current conditions, I can't do anything."
"Pack all these things up and seal them up." After Ke Lan finished speaking, he turned to look at Aya Breya, "Team Leader Breya , these clues are far from enough to achieve our mission goal, right?"
"Well, we have to find the garrison base...or until there is conclusive evidence that the base has been completely destroyed, the mission will be completed." Aya Breya nodded and responded.
"According to what you said, as long as we get enough intelligence, we can go back and report even if we don't find the base, right?"
Hound and Ke Lan just looked at each other, and immediately understood the hidden meaning of Ke Lan's words, and then said, "To be honest, if I can, I want to turn around and go back now... The result of this matter is obvious. Do you think there are still survivors among those who failed to escape from the base?"
"No! Even if they are all killed, we have to see it with our own eyes... 'If they are alive, we have to see their bodies. If they are dead, we have to see their bodies.' This is the requirement from above." Aya said in a deep voice, "The same goes for the garrison base. Even if it sank into the magma, there will always be some traces left!"
"Heh... I'm afraid it's hard to even find corpses. Are you planning to fish out those human bones from the lava?" The Hound crossed his arms and sneered, "You're a stubborn person."
"Is this the working attitude of your non-governmental organizations?" At this moment, Aya Breya seemed like a different person. The previous image of "gentle sister next door" was gone, and the atmosphere between the two groups suddenly became a little tense.
"Weighing the balance between risk and benefit is a compulsory course for every relic hunter." Ke Lan stood up and pressed the hound's shoulder, signaling the latter not to speak for now, so as not to escalate the friction again. "We don't mean to give up the mission, but we think we should revise the original plan. After all, the situation is far more serious than we imagined."
He paused and continued, "You have seen the situation in the mining area. If... I mean if, the garrison base and the entire rock layer sank into the magma, then where should we look for clues?"
This mission cannot be abandoned. Ke Lan knows this much better than Aya Breya. But if the goal of this mission cannot be achieved at all, then that is another matter.
"But we can't be sure now, right? At least we have to reach the coordinates of the garrison base before we can draw such a conclusion, right?" Aya argued.
"We are currently 70 kilometers away from the coordinates of the garrison base. Based on the mixed squad of erosion seeds we just encountered, it is not difficult to conclude that the heretic sect has already taken the lead. If we continue to move towards the garrison base, the enemy density will only increase. Who knows, the heretic sect may have already occupied the ruins of the garrison base. If we rush over, it will be like walking into a trap."
"Besides, the thruster fuel has been used up, so we can't escape even if we want to." Leighton added .
"Then what are you going to do?" Aya stared at Ke Lan and asked word by word.
"Using the coordinates of the garrison base as the center, search the surrounding circular area - there must be more than three people who escaped from the base, and there are definitely more clues related to the garrison base than just this emergency evacuation notice... If we are lucky, maybe we can find a few survivors." Ke Lan said slowly.
"The information provided by the survivors can always be regarded as first-hand intelligence, right?" Ke Lan stared into Aya Breya's eyes and looked at her without any hesitation.
"...Only if we can find any survivors." Aya bit her back teeth hard and said, "If the intelligence we collect is not enough, I will not give up the mission. Even if you insist on returning, I will continue to go to the garrison base with my people."
"You're such a stubborn person." Hound shrugged and turned away. "When I was in the army, I saw many guys like you..."
He paused, then said softly, "But they are all dead."
"Then let's make it like this for now. Layton, re-plan the navigation route. We will no longer head straight for the base coordinates, but instead search the outer ring radiation area. Our primary goal is to collect intelligence and find survivors who have escaped from the base."
"learn."
The new route was quickly modified, and Layton shared it with everyone in the reconnaissance team. Compared with the original straight line, the distance was increased by at least five times. The large number of detours could be said to have thoroughly implemented the concept of "carpet search". However, at Ke Lan's instruction, this new route deliberately avoided the areas controlled by the Seeds of Erosion and the surrounding areas.
It is impossible for any survivors to exist in such a place; it is a typical “high risk, low return” area.
"How can you be sure that there is not another batch of seeds of erosion in this direction?" Aya asked the question after taking a look at the new route.
"I didn't say that there are definitely no seeds of erosion in this direction, it's just that the probability is relatively low. If we encounter enemies in this direction, it can only mean two things," Ke Lan replied.
"Which two questions?"
"First, the heretic sect's combat power is sufficient to completely surround the 50-kilometer area around the garrison base. If this is the case, it would be useless even if we had 1,000 people, let alone 100. Second, there is a traitor among us."
"There is absolutely no way there is a traitor among my people. They are all experienced agents." Aya said immediately.
"It's the same with us." The Hound sneered, "We all have killed a few heretics. There's nothing much to say."
"Okay, old dog, there's no need to quarrel over this kind of thing." Ke Lan pulled him aside, "This is just a guess. In addition to the insider, being eavesdropped or followed could lead to similar situations. Don't doubt your own people unless it's necessary."
"I know." The Hound whispered to Ke Lan through the one-on-one communication, "I am not cooperating with you. One of us plays the good cop and the other plays the bad cop... To be honest, I think this woman is a bit stupid. I don't like to cooperate with this kind of person anyway."
"We're already here, there's no point in talking about this." Ke Lan said to him, then switched back to the team channel, "If there's no objection, let's go?"
