Alien Relic Hunter

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Nest City, second floor "Xiacheng District", No. 6 Garbage Treatment Plant.

According to the information provided by Nieto, this garbage treatment plant has a total of four garbage transfer channels. Two of them have been blown up in "Calamity Era" and are impassable. One of them is specially used to transport high-risk garbage and waste materials. , very dangerous, and only the last passage is barely "walkable".

"This should be it." Ke Lan said, looking at the rusty passageway with a diameter of ten meters in front of him - after spiritually connecting with Ze Luo, he also obtained the kind of weapon that can understand the use of the residents of the nest city. The ability of writing, the inscription on the ground clearly states that this is the exit of the "Channel No. 1" mentioned by Nieto.

This is a one-way passage with the exit in the lower town and the entrance in the upper town. In the past, the garbage generated in daily life in Shangcheng District would be transported here. After simple processing and packaging, it would be put directly into the channel. Then, the garbage treatment plant built in Xiacheng District would conduct more detailed screening and select those valuable items. They should be sorted into categories. As for the real garbage and scraps, they will be incinerated or landfilled.

Of course, in such a hive city where even the corpses of residents have to be put to good use, there are very few things that can be called "garbage and waste in the true sense". This is true from the garbage treatment plant. This can be seen from the ultra-small incinerator, which is so clean that there is not much residue inside.

At least in Ze Luo's sense of sight, Ke Lan had never seen this incinerator being used.

Even if there is really no value to be found, if you throw it into the "bottom nest", the residents at the bottom will fight for their heads - even if it is a stone, those who are crazy about hunger will not be able to help but lick it. A few mouthfuls, trying to find some food residue stained in the cracks... Although the probability of this kind of thing is lower than winning the lottery, every time the garbage in the lower city is packed and thrown into the bottom nest, it can trigger a burst of looting. It even cost a few lives.

But no one thinks there is any problem with this kind of thing... Even if several people died in the last looting, the same plot will happen again next time if garbage is thrown into the bottom nest.

Everyone is struggling desperately to survive.

Joining the surface exploration team is a struggle, and fighting for garbage is also a struggle, but compared with the former, the mortality rate of the latter is simply negligible.

Thinking of this, Ke Lan suddenly became very interested in those ground exploration teams who returned to the nest alive - those who could survive this exaggerated probability could not be exaggerated to say that they were the "chosen ones".

Based on this survival rate, the surface of Alpha Planet at that time was simply more dangerous than the S-class ruins.

"By the way, if the garbage is sent from the 'Upper City' below to the 'Lower City' above, it shouldn't be as easy as throwing it directly into the pipeline, right?" Thirty-three looked at the depths of the dark passage and said, "Either there are Lift-type carrying platforms, or anti-gravity devices or launching devices push the garbage up... As for the 'one-way valve' mentioned by the manager, it is probably used to prevent scattered garbage from falling. "

"Probably." Ke Lan nodded, took out a breathing mask, fastened it on his face, and walked in first.

This garbage channel has been idle for hundreds of thousands of years. Even if there are garbage residues in it, it has been completely degraded. However, toxic and harmful garbage goes through another channel. There are toxic substances and odors in this "Channel 1". The chance is very small... But having said that, I have to mention the "sense of immediate vision" that Ze Luo shared with Ke Lan.

Although it is called "sense of sight", the senses are not only vision... Hearing, smell and touch will all be affected. Ke Lan can hear the sounds from hundreds of thousands of years ago, and the shadowy figures on the street. When it hits or passes through his body, he will feel a very subtle strangeness, as if a cold "ghost" has passed through his body... And at the exit of this garbage transfer channel , before even getting close, Ke Lan could already smell the disgusting stench.

He could see a lot of garbage wrapped in polymer films and formed into huge balls being pushed out of the passage. However, where the force pushing the garbage came from could not be seen from the "sense of sight". Ke Lan could only It is speculated that it should be some kind of mechanical device... After all, in this hive city, there are many places where anti-gravity devices can be used, but Ke Lan has not seen them. From this, it can be determined that the civilization that built the hive city did not Master the technology associated with it.

"Why are you wearing a gas mask?" Thirty-three followed Ke Lan, looking at the environment in the passage, and asked a little strangely, "There is no smell in here... Besides, with your physique, , you shouldn’t be afraid of toxic gases, right?”

"You can't smell it, but Ze Luo can smell it, and even I can smell it." Ke Lan said somewhat depressedly. Ze Luo "smelled" the smell of garbage through the "sense of sight". It is equivalent to this "odor signal" being formed directly in the brain. Unless Ke Lan can directly block the related modules in the olfactory center, he will not be able to block the smell even if he wears a hundred layers of gas masks.

Although the population of "Shangcheng District" is only one-twentieth of that of "Xiacheng District", it consumes hundreds of times as many resources as Xiacheng District, and its living conditions are also as high as those of "Xiacheng District" - through some garbage bags with damaged membranes, Ke Lan even saw a cowboy bone that had not yet been chewed, and a cupcake with only a spoonful of cream on the top.

Not only food, but also all kinds of clothing... Even from the perspective of a resident with a normal living standard on the Ark, many of these things cannot be called garbage at all.

Another garbage bag was pushed up from the bottom of the passage. The surface of this garbage bag was not damaged, but Ke Lan could still see through the almost transparent wrapping film and see the contents inside - a sapphire bag studded with diamonds. The long dress of a high-colored dress with no visible damage on the surface. There was only a little dirt on the skirt that seemed to be wine stains... This kind of clothing could be said to be a luxury item on the Ark, let alone this one. It was used as a "sanctuary" hive.

It seems that the level of luxury in Shangcheng District is far higher than Ke Lan originally imagined.

While people in the lower nest are eating people and people are starving to death every day, while the residents in the lower city are working early and late in the factory to squeeze out their lives for the meager food and right to live, the people in the upper city are still holding cocktail parties. , eating expensive steaks and red wine, listening to "elegant" retro vinyl records...

Even though Ke Lan knew that the civilization that built the hive city was most likely a compatriot from Earth, he still couldn't help but feel a strong sense of disgust in his heart.

A civilization like this, a hive city like this... is actually quite good if it is destroyed.

The things in these garbage are things that people in Xiacheng District and Dichao don’t even dare to think about. They don’t even know that Chaodu has the ability to produce these things... If they knew, Ke Lan probably saw it before It won't just be a gathering of people to protest.

Ke Lan didn't tell Thirty-three these things... Thirty-three's character is very similar to that of an old dog. Although he usually seems indifferent to things that have nothing to do with him, he is actually a jealous guy in his heart. Telling him what happened would only make him more troubled.

What's more, after reaching the third floor, even if Ke Lan didn't say anything, Thirty-three should be able to see what the living standards of the residents in the upper city are like and the huge gap between them and the lower city.

Ke Lan sighed imperceptibly and continued to walk forward. The hard soles of his boots stepped on the rusty passage wall, making a "dong dong" sound that continued to spread along the passage wall.

This garbage transfer channel does not go straight down, but slopes. At the exit, it is at an angle of about 25 degrees with the ground. The further you go in, the steeper the slope becomes... after walking two hundred meters forward. After that, the slope had changed to nearly forty-five degrees.

Ke Lan and Thirty-three don't have the kind of hook boots specially used for climbing and climbing, nor do they have equipment such as gecko suction cups... Fortunately, Ze Luo's space power can be used on both of them. Steps were formed under his feet, so that the two of them would not slide down the passage wall in embarrassment like they were on a slide.

"This passage is really long... By the way, did the manager tell you how deep the third level of the hive is?" Thirty-three asked.

"I didn't say." Ke Lan shook her head, "But she told me that this garbage transfer channel is seventeen kilometers long... This journey is not short."

"Seventeen kilometers... If all calculations are based on the initial angle of 25 degrees, the sine function is 25 degrees... Well, the multiple is about 0.42... Then it must be seven kilometers deep. Look The upper city and lower city are far enough apart, are you worried that the people below will riot and dig through the partition between the two floors?" Thirty-three joked.

The height of the "Binchao" space is about one thousand meters, and the height of Xiacheng District is about the same. However, the thickness of the partition between Bottom Nest and Xiacheng District is only about 60 meters. If people living in Bottom Nest can get A piece of excavation equipment - it doesn't have to be too high-end, just a single-person operation model like the "Gold Digger III" commonly used by miners on the Ark - can drill through this area in a month. layer of rocks and enter the lower city area.

If you want to drill through the rock formations from the lower city area into the upper city area, I am afraid that only a shield machine can complete this task.

Not to mention, there must be an isolation layer made of metal between the upper city and lower city, or other means to prevent residents of the lower city from digging tunnels to "sneak across".

"Speaking of which, this passage was almost empty. I didn't see anything along the way. I really don't know how the upper city brought the garbage up. Did it use the force?" Thirty-three shrugged, "Seventeen With a kilometer-long pipeline, even if you install a rocket thruster on a garbage bag, it would still be awkward.”

"I guess this question can only be answered after seeing the first 'one-way valve'." As soon as Ke Lan finished speaking, the road ahead was cut off.

"You've really opened your mouth. It's not just Layton. I think all the members of the Hunting God Hunting Group are crows, right?" Thirty-three raised the tactical flashlight above his head and looked at things not far away. said.

This is a metal ring slightly smaller than the diameter of the channel. It must be the "one-way valve" that Nieto said. But this valve was in an "open" state... let alone closed, even Ke Lan didn't see the door panel.

"Is it just such a ring?" Thirty-three walked to the middle of the ring, "Where did the door panel go? There doesn't seem to be a part on this ring to connect the door panel or a gap for the door panel to hide in?"

"This door doesn't have a door panel to begin with." Ze Luo suddenly said, "This is actually an 'accelerator', which uses technology similar to the 'voyage stargate' made by humans to impose an accelerator on things that pass through it. The thrust of one-way movement is just like the star gate pushing the Ark away from the solar system. It’s just that the power of these accelerators is very small, not even one billionth of that of the star gate.”

"Stargate?" Thirty-three's mouth twitched twice, "In a hive where even the lifting platform is a purely mechanical structure, there is such a technology? And it is also used in the garbage transfer channel... This... …”

Ke Landao was not too surprised. Theoretically, if the people who built the hive were really the Earthlings on the escape engineering ship or their descendants, then they might indeed possess such technology - after all, these people were Probability was involved in building the Ark and Stargate and maintaining them.

The mini star gate in front of him has obviously stopped working. Thirty-three has traveled back and forth several times, but nothing happened. If it was still working, the moment Thirty-three stepped into the ring, he would be trapped. Push directly to the exit of the channel.

"No wonder it's called a one-way passage. It turns out to be such a design..." Ke Lan nodded secretly in his mind, looked at the scrapped mini star gate for a few times, and continued to walk forward.

But he didn't go far before he was forced to stop again.

There was a deviation in the information given by Nieto - Channel 1 was also not intact. About one kilometer deep, the entire channel had collapsed and was completely blocked by broken rocks.

"What should I do?" Thirty-three glanced at Ke Lan and asked, "Do you want to dig it up?"

"The amount of work is too big. Even if Zeluo is here, we will have to dig until the end of the year of the monkey..." Ke Lan sighed, "We can only turn around and go back to try our luck at the last passage."

The last channel is the No. 4 channel dedicated to transporting "hazardous waste".

[P.S. Thanks to Tianyi for the 500 starting coin reward for her barbecued pork buns; thank you to Mingyumen for the 100 starting coin reward. 】