Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 557 Contact
"Until we have more information, we can't rush to do a destructive examination of this mass - especially after confirming that it has a living heart in it."

Ted Lear opened his thick book while talking, and put the "stethoscope" back into the pages, with a complicated expression on his always tired face.

"Quite frankly, this is the strangest 'thing' I've ever seen in my life. I've seen quite a few indescribable things that invade the real world, but a mass of metal with a heartbeat is not that common, and it's so... quiet .”

"Quiet?" Lucrezia frowned subconsciously when she heard it.

"Yes, quiet, almost harmless to humans and animals," Ted Lear nodded, "As you can see, its 'shell' has almost solidified, according to the field team, when it first entered the real world There was a short period of intense activity, but it quickly shifted towards this 'frozen' state, and it didn't show any 'active features' such as trying to escape containment, contaminate watchers, resist outside prying... "

The Keeper said, slowly shaking his head: "Among 'alive' 'foreign objects', this is quite abnormal—attempting to breach containment is the greatest characteristic of all 'living foreign objects'."

Lucrezia didn't speak again for a while, but Nina at the side gradually showed a thoughtful expression, and she didn't know what she was thinking of. She suddenly said: "It feels like 'life is nothing. Lovely'?"

"That's an interesting... point of view, although I don't think this mass of living metal will have such a human reaction," Ted Lear raised his eyelids and glanced at Nina, but obviously didn't take this whimsical idea seriously. Take it to heart, "I am more inclined that it cannot adapt to the living environment of our real world, but as time goes by, it may gradually adapt, and by then it may have a process of rising activity."

"Tell me about the situation at the market at that time." Duncan suddenly broke the silence at this time, his eyes fell on Nina and Shirley, "Nina, when you contacted me, you said that you and Shirley Feeling some inexplicable prying eyes, and was about to report this to the guards on the side of the road, this 'thing' suddenly appeared?"

"Yeah," Nina nodded immediately, recalling the situation at the time and said, "I and Shirley have felt several times that eyes fell on us from time to time, and there was an aura that was always approaching. I think it should be That's the thing—it couldn't help but pounced when Shirley and I were going to report to someone, and..."

Speaking of this, she stopped suddenly, with a very hesitant look on her face, and hesitated for a few seconds before she frowned and said uncertainly: "And there is a very strange detail, I don't know if it is my own I saw it wrong, when this thing first appeared, the moment I saw it out of the corner of my eye, I felt...I thought it was a person."

Nina's tone was very hesitant, and what she said instantly made the room quiet. Even Ted Lear, who had been acting tired and lazy all this time, immediately opened his eyes wide, but before he could speak, Shirley, who was closest to Nina, was the first to yell: "Huh? What are you talking about? You saw that this thing looked like a fucking human at first? You didn't tell me?"

"This matter was not mentioned in the report of the field team," Ted Lear said, with a very serious expression, "Miss Nina, are you sure?"

"So I don't know if I misread it," Nina said nervously. "The situation in the market was chaotic and there were people running everywhere. Maybe I misread it...or maybe Did the guards at the scene miss it? After all, there is only a moment of the beginning..."

"Unlikely, in the working guidelines of the guardians, there are strict 'contact process record standards'. Because many 'foreign objects' do have the ability to quickly change themselves or evade cognition, we will require the implementation of 'first contact' 'When reporting the situation, the staff strictly described the 'start time of contact', and whether everyone's line of sight shifted during the operation, so as to confirm whether the entire group had an 'observation window' on the target..."

Ted Lear briefly explained the working principles of the "Knowledge Guards", and then shook his head: "According to the report of the field team, they made contact with the target at the first moment it entered the real world, and at least two The guardians watched the target before it appeared, and there was always at least one person watching it during the entire contact process, so there was no possibility of an 'empty window'."

As soon as he finished speaking, Duncan on the side suddenly broke the silence: "But I believe what Nina said."

Ted Lear was taken aback, and seemed to come to his senses: "...What do you mean?"

"At least from Nina's point of view, this 'intruder' looked like a person at a certain moment at the beginning," Duncan said lightly, and then glanced at Shirley again, "You have been with Nina all this time, you have not See that scene, right?"

"No," Shirley shook her head immediately, "I didn't see it 'like a person'."

"Because of different observers, did you observe different 'forms' on the same target?" Ted Lear's eyes changed obviously, and he looked at Nina with surprise and thought, "And only Nina Miss Na is different from what people around her see...why is that?"

He seemed to have great curiosity, and his eyes quickly fell on Duncan: "Is there anything special about Miss Nina?"

The "Keeper of Secrets" seemed rather puzzled. He didn't know the details of Nina. After all, Nina was just an ordinary person from the outsiders' eyes without actively urging "Spiritual Vision" to observe. A 17-year-old girl - but there is no doubt that there must be something special about this "ordinary girl".

Just because she stayed on Duncan Abnomare's boat.

"Have you heard of the 'Black Sun Falling' event in Purland? If you have, then you should know that when the Lost Homeland left that city, it took some fragments of the ancient sun with it," Duncan said, carrying Pointing to Nina, "She is."

After that, he didn't pay attention to Ted Lear's wonderful expression for a moment, but refocused on Nina: "Do you still remember what the 'person' I saw at the beginning?"

Nina immediately tried to recall, and finally said after a while: "It looks like a person wearing a strange ancient armor, the kind of armor that appears in history books, like a tin can... Oh, there is another one A tattered scarf, or a short cape? Because I saw it for a moment, and I'm not sure about too many details..."

She paused for a while when she said this, and added: "Because wearing a helmet, the armor looks very thick, and I don't know what the person in the armor looks like, or even whether it is a man or a woman, but I can feel it. The armor is tattered, as if it's been through a lot of fighting."

"A warrior wearing ancient armor..." Lucrezia murmured on the side. She thought quickly and asked a question, "Then how did this 'person' turn into a ball of living metal? During this process you see it?"

"No," Nina shook her head, "It changed like this in a flash, as if there was no gradual process... Maybe I blinked? I'm sorry I can't remember..."

"It's good to be able to remember these. You provided very critical and important information." Duncan said, comforting Nina who seemed a little lost, then turned around and walked to the platform where the "sample" was placed. .

He looked at the solidified "living metal" with a serious face, sorting out the information he had so far.

For an initial moment, "ta" appears to be a warrior in heavy ancient armor, and the armor is worn and battle-tested.

Nina felt the sight of herself falling on her several times, and felt like being followed, which indicated that this thing was probably coming towards her, or... maybe it was coming towards the "ancient sun" .

There were people coming and going in the market, but when Nina first felt the sight and the sense of tracking, no one noticed anything unusual, which indicated that "ta" either possessed some kind of cognitive interruption ability, or came from a similar spirit. The reality of "submerging" into a deep world like the world...

Duncan slowly stretched out his hand and pressed it on the surface of the "metal".

A cold and hard touch came from the fingertips.

He seemed to be able to feel the heart buried deep in the mass of metal, to feel the slow beating, and the low heartbeat.

It is alive, "alive" in a way that humans cannot comprehend.

It seemed to have a certain purpose, but an accident occurred in the last step of the action - it appeared from hiding and rushed towards Nina and Shirley, probably not for the purpose of turning into such a solidified mass of metal at the last step.

Ted Lear watched Duncan's actions nervously, and then subconsciously turned his gaze to the "witch" aside.

Lucrezia just shook her head, signaling not to interfere.

A little green Mars appeared at Duncan's fingertips.

He carefully controlled the flame, so as not to let it ignite the group of metal in front of him, which at first glance belonged to the category of "extraordinary". He controlled the flame to penetrate into the metal group, felt its life flow, felt its heartbeat , and possibly...thoughts.

However, what responded to him was only the "touch" of great emptiness and hazy confusion.

There does not seem to be any information that can be "deciphered" within this mass of metal.

But for some reason, Duncan always felt that there was something else in the depths of that empty and hazy sense of touch—it wasn't that he couldn't find it, he just couldn't "understand" it for the time being.

"...Who are you?" He couldn't help asking softly in his heart, "Where are you from?"

After an unknown period of time, the huge emptiness always existed, but there seemed to be a ripple in the weak message sent back by the flame.

Duncan seemed to hear a voice, or an "idea", appearing in his mind——

"We're trekking toward the end."

(End of this chapter)