Volume 9: Molten Mine Chapter 475: Swapped Shadows!
Could it be that the "shadow" seen in the time-stop state is one of these humanoid creatures?
Is this a creation of the Alphas?
Or... are they the true appearance of the Alphas?
When Ke Lan thought of this possibility, his breathing suddenly became faster.
In the fifty years since humans landed on Alpha, thousands of ruins have been excavated, and more than one million documentary items have been transported out of the ruins alone, but to this day no one knows what the Alpha people looked like.
Ke Lan, who had inherited the legacy from the stone tablet, had also never seen the true face of the Alpha people in those memory fragments.
The creatures that once ruled this planet are even more mysterious than those powerful primitive species.
Although traces of their life are found all over the planet, experts and scholars can only get a glimpse of their life - the structure of their homes is very similar to that of humans, with furniture such as tables, chairs, and beds, but no utensils related to eating or excretion can be found.
No clothing, shoes or socks were ever found. The only equipment that could be found was a collar made of metal with a crystal structure installed inside - of course, the term "collar" was just speculation by the experts.
What is most puzzling is that in all the Alpha city ruins, there are no medical institutions or buildings with similar functions. Instead, in the center of each residential community, there is a device that is very similar to the incinerator on the Ark.
Some people believe that this creature can use its skin for photosynthesis, so it does not need to eat or excrete, and it does not need to wear clothes. Because of this characteristic, the Alphas probably do not think it is shameful to expose their bodies in public.
As for why there are no hospitals, perhaps with their biotechnology, they have long since removed the restrictions of birth, aging, sickness and death. The genes of a newborn individual have been adjusted before birth, which is enough to ensure that it will not suffer from any disease before the end of its natural lifespan.
…
There are many speculations like this. In the Ark's electronic library, there are more than 5,000 books studying the life and society of the Alpha civilization. The contents integrated together are estimated to be several TB. However, most of the contents are imagined by the editors based on very poor information. Many statements are simply untenable and have as many loopholes as the code written by a newly graduated third-process programmer who stayed up all night.
But at least one thing is certain: the Alphas have many similarities with humans.
Ke Lan had once ridden on the "Blasphemer Mech" of the Alpha civilization. At least the cockpit of that thing could be adapted to the human body shape, and the neural connection device it carried could also be fully applied to the human body.
Therefore, these humanoid creatures in the square might be the mysterious Alpha people themselves.
What are they doing? A military parade?
Ke Lan tried hard to recall the scene that flashed through her mind, trying to make the details as clear as possible...
He suddenly discovered that on these creatures, there was a silicone tube connected about three centimeters below the neck. Through the translucent material of the tube, he could vaguely see a light gray viscous fluid flowing inside, slowly pouring into their bodies.
Is this how the Alphas eat?
If the internal structure of the upper body of these creatures is similar to that of humans, then the silicone tube would be inserted right into the esophagus. The texture of the gray liquid food would also be more in line with the standard of nasogastric nutritional supplements that do not require chewing and are easy to absorb.
If these "Alphas" are really eating, then this square is actually equivalent to an open-air canteen?
The area of this square is not small, roughly a square with a side length of about one kilometer. If this square was located on the surface , it should have been discovered by the Ark's detection drone long ago.
But in Ke Lan's memory, from the S-level ruins at the top of the pyramid to the lowest F-level ruins that were almost removed from the rating committee several times, there was no such square.
Perhaps, this square has been destroyed... or perhaps, like the remains of a glacier, it has sunk deep into the earth?
Are these memory fragments popping up at this time because this strange space and strange phantom just happen to meet certain triggering conditions?
Although it was unclear why Valkyrie's electromagnetic sniper cannon would teleport her into this space after hitting the tumor-like protrusion, nor was it clear why such a half-human, half-octopus monster appeared in front of her, there was one thing Ke Lan could be sure of - the humanoid outline she saw in the "time stop" state was the same as the unknown creatures lined up in the square to eat in the memory fragments.
If these creatures in the square are really "Alpha Men", then isn't the one standing five meters in front of him an extremely precious living specimen?
An idea suddenly popped into Ke Lan's mind: to "capture" this creature alive.
"I'm sorry. Although you haven't shown any hostility towards me, there is nothing in this damn place except you. I have no choice but to use you as a breakthrough point."
Ke Lan turned on the "time stop" function, then aimed the grappling hook launcher on his arm armor at the shoulder of the phantom and pressed the launch button.
There is a steel cable connecting the hook and the launcher, so it will not be fixed even after being launched. The sharp tip instantly pierced through the right shoulder of the phantom, and the four barbs opened instantly and cut into the opponent's body without any hindrance.
At this moment, a sharp pain suddenly came from under Ke Lan's right shoulder blade. The muscle tissue in this area seemed to be torn apart by something. Ke Lan immediately came out of the "time stop" state.
As soon as the "time stop" was released, the originally fixed hook immediately lost its target and quickly retracted into the launcher. Ke Lan endured the pain and removed the armor on his right shoulder.
He reached out and touched the area where the severe pain came from. It was a bloody wound that ran from the front of his shoulder blade to the back.
Ke Lan's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
He gritted his teeth and poked his finger into the wound. Deep inside the wound, he felt four cuts in different directions, which corresponded to the four barbs on the claw...
"I used my grappling hook to hit the phantom that looked like an Alpha, but the wound appeared on my own body?"
Ke Lan's heart was filled with fear - although his wounds had begun to heal and the pain had begun to subside, the indescribable feeling of oppression gradually swallowed him up.
Why did the damage I caused to that phantom reflect back on myself?
There was no damage on the shoulder armor of the power armor, and even the lining of the clothes was intact. The wound appeared completely out of thin air.
What is the principle behind this?
Assuming that is true, then why didn't there be any bullet holes on his body after he fired two shots at the phantom?
No! The two conditions are not equal!
Ke Lan subconsciously touched the retracted hook - after the "time stop" was lifted, the hook that had already hit the target lost its target, which means... the phantom was no longer there, and naturally, the bullet that had just been fired could not hit it.
Inferring from this conversely, that is to say, this phantom can only have an "entity" that can be hit when it is in the "time stop" state?
No, that's not right!
It has no entity! The one that was hit was not the phantom! It was Ke Lan herself!
That phantom was more like Ke Lan's shadow, a shadow whose perspective was reversed from Ke Lan's!
