Volume 9: Molten Mine Chapter 429: Inscription and distress signal
"Let me see." Layton took the scrap, stared at the octagonal hole for a few seconds, then shook his head. "The so-called 'rough processing' is actually to use a high-power laser cutter to cut the irregularly shaped Nino alloy ingots into alloy bricks that are easy to transport... Given the physical properties of Nino alloy, it is difficult for ordinary tools to leave marks on it, except for the heavy equipment and ultra-high temperature furnaces on the Ark."
"For example, do you see this Nino alloy bolt on my robotic arm? It is a custom part with non-standard specifications. It needs to be pressed into shape by a 150,000-ton forging press, and then refined by a pulse laser and a water grinder to achieve this precision... and the precision of this octagonal hole is no less than that of my bolt." Layton continued, "If this is a material recycled from scrap parts, it's understandable, but the problem is... this thing is cut from an ingot?"
"Could it be the traces left behind when the Alpha civilization processed the Nino alloy? With their forging equipment, it shouldn't be difficult to do." Ke Lan speculated.
"That should be it."
However, when Ke Lan picked up another long piece of scrap, he found a string of clear inscriptions left on it - this was neither the language used by humans nor the language of the Alpha civilization... "Look at this... this text, it doesn't seem like the text of the Alpha civilization!"
Hearing what Ke Lan said, the facial expressions of Hound, Ivan and others suddenly changed slightly. They immediately gathered around and focused their attention on the scrap lying in Ke Lan's palm.
"You think these characters are not the words of Alpha civilization?" The Hound looked at Ke Lan meaningfully. Among the people present, except Valentina and the agents in Aya Blea's group, everyone knew Ke Lan's ability. Since Ke Lan said so, it can only mean that the inscription on this scrap is neither the words of human civilization nor the Alpha words commonly seen in the ruins.
"Could it be the relics of a third-party civilization? Besides us and the Alpha civilization, has there been another civilization on this planet?" Ivan said.
"I don't think so. These Nino alloys were all smelted by the Alpha people, and these inscriptions should be related to them. I am more inclined to believe that this is a secret code or a rarely used ancient script... Just like the oracle bone script and cuneiform script in the early days of human civilization, these scripts are also very different from the scripts we use now. Except for scholars who specialize in studying ancient scripts, ordinary people can't distinguish their meanings." The hound shook his head, "Ke Lan, have you studied that kind of ancient script?"
"I read a few related papers when I was bored." Ke Lan said with a wry smile, "The ancient characters of human civilization that I know are no more than 20 in total, let alone the ancient characters of Alpha civilization."
Ke Lan suddenly paused, and then said to others in an almost joking tone: "But I always feel that these words do not belong to the Alpha civilization."
He slightly emphasized the word "feel", but if you didn't deliberately distinguish it, it would be difficult to detect the implied meaning in Ke Lan's words.
Ke Lan once explained to Hound and others how to read Alpha text - unlike human text, the text of Alpha civilization cannot be directly translated using human language logic. Whether it is language or text, these information carriers seem to be encrypted in a very special way, and only a specific "decoder" can read the meaning.
The information instilled into Ke Lan's mind is the "decoder" of these texts.
Unfortunately, so far, Ke Lan can only "use" this "decoder" but cannot crack its working principle.
The difference in difficulty between these two things is like the streets in fantasy novels filled with magic apprentices and great magicians whose names are recorded in history.
The former only needs to wave the wand and recite a specific spell to release the spell; while the latter needs to create new spells by studying the origin of the world, the nature of magic, the sequence of elements, and the compatibility and reaction of different elements...
Everyone can use a mobile phone, but only a few people can make one.
With this "decoder", Ke Lan can "read" the text of the Alpha civilization no matter how it changes. But this time, facing this string of inscriptions, the "decoder" did not show any reaction.
Although the appearance of human civilization's writing has undergone tremendous changes during the thousands of years of development, its core logic has not changed much. All ancient characters can be translated into modern characters almost without any obstacles, and their meanings are basically the same - and the ancient characters of Alpha civilization should be the same. However, in Ke Lan's eyes, the difference between this string of inscriptions and Alpha characters is as great as the difference between Alpha characters and human characters.
This difference is so great that it cannot be explained by ancient characters or secret codes. This is a completely different, new language system - Ivan's guess was not wrong, this string of inscriptions came from a third-party civilization!
But the question is - why would the writing of a third-party civilization appear on the creations of the Alpha civilization?
Could it be that there was ever any intersection between these two civilizations?
Ke Lan had said so much, and those who knew the situation naturally understood that these characters did not belong to the Alpha civilization. Only the security agents were still working hard to check the archives, trying to find similar characters from the vast number of Alpha text rubbings.
"These things are of no help to our mission, right?" Aya Breya glanced at her subordinates who were staring at the screen, feeling a little speechless. "Even if this is a clue related to the new civilization, we should put it aside now and complete the mission first."
"You're right." Ke Lan nodded, but just when an agent subconsciously wanted to take the box of scraps, he took a step forward and stood in front of the other person. "If I remember correctly, everything found in the wilderness, except for important documents and technological equipment, belongs to the discoverer, right? Even if the Security Bureau wants it, it has to spend credit points to buy it , right?"
"Isn't that string of inscriptions an important document?" Aya asked.
"Okay. But don't forget, I'm still the commander of this reconnaissance team. The gains from the exploration will be kept by me for the time being. Is that okay? As for how to divide the spoils, we should put this matter aside for now and talk about it after we complete the mission and return to the Ark, right?" Ke Lan quickly repeated what Aya Breya had just said to her.
"Team leader... according to the regulations, it seems to be true..." The agent turned his head and glanced at Aya, and was shocked to find that his boss, who was usually known for his good temper, had an extremely ugly expression at this moment, and it seemed like he was about to lose his temper.
"...Okay." Aya Breya stared at Ke Lan for more than ten seconds before gritting her teeth and nodding vigorously, "You're right. But please don't use the word 'divide the spoils' next time. I don't like it."
Both of them responded to each other's words, but there was a huge difference in momentum.
"If we don't count the spoils, then this thing should be calculated at the standard purchase price. Ten percent is ours—" The Hound rubbed his hands, "Hey, if this is really the writing of a third-party civilization, this is the first discovery, the purchase price should be in '100 million' right?"
"The value of this thing will be determined by the people in the research institute. It has nothing to do with me." Aya snorted coldly and walked away with her weapon.
"Continue to search the area nearby, and pay more attention to your feet. Although the cargo box of the truck fell into the rift, there might be things scattered on the ground when it overturned. Keep your eyes open, and don't accidentally step on treasures worth hundreds of millions!" The Hound shouted in the team channel. Just when Aya Breya walked away, Ke Lan deliberately switched to a one-on-one communication channel and said something to him.
"I think this string of inscriptions is inevitably related to the earthquake."
"How do you know?" the Hound asked immediately.
"Intuition... Every time I have this strong intuition, what I sense is very accurate. I can't be sure if this is just good luck or because of the little tricks that the stone tablet is playing in my head." Ke Lan replied.
The Hound wanted to ask more questions, but Ke Lan had already switched the communication channel back, so he had to give up.
But there was one thing he did not doubt—Ke Lan's intuition was indeed very accurate.
But he couldn't figure out why this string of inscriptions could be linked to this earthquake...
Scraps like these cut from the ingot may have been lying in this box for months, and the driver just needed a chance to take them back to the Ark to sell them - if it was said that the scraps were just taken out of the furnace on the day of the earthquake, the two events might have a slight connection, but the truck's mission record clearly stated that this batch of Nino alloy had been "roughly processed" half a year ago and was "inventory" that had been piled up in the garrison base and had not been transported away in time.
"I just can't figure it out..." The Hound patted his helmet, but at this moment, a faint "beeping" sound suddenly rang in his ears.
His first reaction was that maybe he had damaged his helmet... Two seconds later, the Hound realized that the "beeping" sound was the universal distress signal on the Ark.
"Distress signal! I received a distress signal! This direction!" Hound immediately shouted in the team's communication channel. He turned around on the spot, and after determining the direction from which the distress signal came, he quickly ran towards that direction.
"The special agent team stays where you are, and the others follow. Ivan, be prepared for rescue, there may be someone alive this time!" Ke Lan said. He also received this weak distress signal after running more than ten meters. Although the chances of survival for the person who sent the distress signal were not optimistic, at least this was the first distress signal they had received since entering the Molten Mine Area.
"Valentina, occupy the commanding heights. Asano Akira and Layton, you are in charge of the left and right wings. Zhuoligetu and Ivan follow me. And Old Dog, come back here. This is a universal distress signal. In addition to the survivors of the garrison base, those heretic sects will definitely use it."
"I know!" the hound replied. After running nearly a hundred meters in the direction of the distress signal, he lay down behind a rock more than half a person's height and began to observe the situation ahead with the scope on his gun.
"When launching the drone, pay attention to the altitude. Do not exceed fifty meters, otherwise it will be locked by the mining area's air defense system." Ke Lan squatted down behind the boulder and said to Layton.
"Understood." A drone with three pairs of horizontal rotors flew out from the backpack behind Layton. In addition to the mechanical snake, he also carried several different unmanned detection equipment. Although the remote control radius in the Molten Mine Area was only a pitiful 200 meters, it was completely sufficient for a reconnaissance team of this size.
At least, in terms of safety and concealment, drones are much better than traditional "human reconnaissance".
Directly in front of us is a "hilly area". Of course, the hills here do not refer to hills in the conventional sense, but rather a special landform that is caused by the collision and compression of two rock plates, with the joints showing wavy shapes.
The originally flat ground is now like a "swimming ring" squeezed out of a fat man's belly, with layers of wrinkles piled up together, and cracks everywhere between the wrinkles that are emitting high-temperature gases and toxic smoke. If you are not careful, you will slip into the abyss filled with magma.
"The signal source... is right here, hidden behind a certain wrinkle..." the hound muttered, "I don't think there are any survivors."
