#1763 - Scientific expedition team (the firecrackers were so noisy early in the morning!)
The truth is always stranger than the movies.
Duanmu Huai originally thought that he was following the route of a space science fiction horror movie, the kind of old-fashioned plot where rescue arrives, then everyone dies, and then everyone comes to investigate what happened.
Of course, for Duanmu Huai, this is an ideal situation. After all, if everyone really died, then nothing would happen.
So when he walked to the bottom of the pit and was hit directly in the face by the smoking gun muzzle, he was stunned for a moment.
"Hey, who are you!?"
A burly mercenary pointed his gun at Duanmu Huai with a serious look on his face.
"How did you get here!?"
Do you want to kill all these guys now?
Facing the gun, Duanmu Huai thought for a second and then made a decision.
"I'm here to help."
It would be too easy for them to kill these guys now, and they didn't know what was in the ruins of the Mechanicus. Duanmu Huai was not sure whether the Mechanicus had rebelled. If so, it would be good to have one or two more meat shields left to clear the mines.
"help."
Facing Duanmu Huai's answer, the big man hesitated for a moment, then made a gesture. Soon, another companion left quickly, and after a while, they came over with a thin old man. The latter wore glasses and looked like an old scholar. Seeing Duanmu Huai, he also showed surprise and confusion.
"You were summoned by...Professor Williams?"
"Yes."
Duanmu Huai looked at the old man.
“Excuse me, who are you…………?”
"I'm Celtic, the leader of the search team. We lost contact with the previous exploration team, so we came here to investigate."
When the old professor said this, he stared at Duanmu Huai in silence for a moment.
"Are you alone?"
"Yes, may I ask how Professor Williams is doing?"
"They are missing. According to our investigation, they should have entered the ruins, but the gate is currently locked and we have no way to open it."
“I see…”
That's great. When silencing someone, there's no need to worry about involving other people. Hearing this, Duanmu Huai also breathed a sigh of relief.
"I am Professor Williams' student. I have done some research on this civilization ruins. That's why Professor Williams contacted me and asked me to come here."
"I see……………"
Professor Celt looked at Duanmu Huai, who was also staring at him. After a moment, Professor Celt turned his head away.
"Come with me."
As he spoke, he hunched over and walked deeper into the tunnel. Duanmu Huai followed him, and several other mercenaries also surrounded him. But Duanmu Huai didn't care, he just listened to Professor Celtic's explanation.
"We found some strange things inside. They seemed to have been dormant before, but suddenly activated and woke up. We tried to communicate with them, but we got nothing..."
According to Professor Celt, the expedition team was divided into two groups. One group was led by Williams and was responsible for on-site inspections. The other group was led by Professor Celt and was responsible for logistical support. The reason why Professor Celt came to the scene was because Professor Williams' scheduled contact was interrupted, so he brought others to check the situation.
“You didn’t make any external contact?
"We shut down communications."
Professor Kelt sighed.
"After all, the situation is not good right now. It is not appropriate to tell these things before we figure out what happened to Professor Williams."
For Duanmu Huai, this was also a good decision—in this way, he could kill all these people without restraint.
Anyway, no one will know what happened here.
As they were talking, the group arrived at the gate. Duanmu Huai glanced at the already opened door of the Mechanicus and then walked in.
Then, he saw several archaeologists standing in front of a big door, scratching their heads, with several mercenaries standing next to them.
Oh, strictly speaking, what gave these guys a headache wasn’t the gate, but a human-shaped object next to the gate.
Seeing this, Duanmu Huai chuckled and wanted to laugh.
No, brother, you are stuck here? This is just the beginning.
"Ah, Professor."
At this time, one of the young men saw Professor Celtic coming back and hurried over.
"You are finally back. What happened? ...Uh, who is she?"
Looking at Duanmu Huai who was following Williams, the young man looked confused. However, Duanmu Huai was also dressed very tightly, and his face could not be seen at all.
Duanmu Huai did not answer the young man's question. He walked directly to the gate and looked at the thinker who was guarding the gate. Logically speaking, this thing is not a Necrons. It should have rotted away after being here for so many years. But in fact, everything here is brand new. According to Professor Celtic, there seemed to be some strange reaction here before - um...
Looking at the thinker in front of him, Duanmu Huai suddenly felt a little uneasy.
Could it be that the seal here was a super-large stasis device? Then it was closed because it was activated by his own song? Then it opened? Then Professor Williams led the team to investigate, and then the door was closed again?
What did those oil bastards put in here!?
Damn, is it too late for me to go back now?
Of course, Duanmu Huai was just thinking about it. The Mechanicus and the stasis device, all of this made him feel very uneasy, quite uneasy.
Damn, in his memory, nothing good happened when the Mechanicus and the stasis device were involved!
"Excuse me……………?"
Seeing Duanmu Huai standing in front of the thinker without saying anything, the person next to him asked in confusion, and Duanmu Huai sighed, then raised his head and looked at the thinker.
"Open the door."
Hearing Duanmu Huai's request, the Thinker slowly raised its head. Its mouth was completely transformed into a grille and breathing tube, and a distorted, static-filled sound emerged from it.
[Please identify yourself, outsider]
"Grand Inquisitor of the Tribunal, emergency code MKA32541."
If it was the original body, Duanmu Huai could let it scan him. But the clone didn't have this convenience, but Duanmu Huai was not completely helpless. The emergency code was a forced opening code. Of course, this code was only known by a small number of Grand Inquisitors. It was mainly used to enter certain closed Mechanicus churches.
Of course, if this kind of underlying code were known to outsiders, the Mechanicus would be furious.
But the Inquisitor didn't care.
Because generally when this code is needed, it means that the unrepentant Mechanicus have messed up again...
[Emergency code verification... Verification completed]
[Warning, the facility is currently in Level 1 alert]
"What about the defense protocol?"
[Unable to verify, connection failed, control...data transmission...was terminated, reason unknown]
“Can you contact other people?”
[The communication protocol is damaged, the signal delay cannot be evaluated, and a two-way connection cannot be established]
“……………………”
What exactly happened in there?
"Open the door."
Duanmu Huai withdrew his thoughts, looked at the scene in front of him, and silently gave the order.
“Crack——!”
Following Duanmu Huai's order, the door slowly opened.
At this moment, the people around saw this scene and widened their eyes in surprise.
Of course, they couldn't understand the High Gothic language that Duanmu Huai used to communicate with the Thinker, and Duanmu Huai also used the jargon of the Inquisition, but as archaeologists, they could more or less hear that this should be a very ancient language. In other words, this girl was a specialist in studying this language? That's why Professor Williams asked her to come along?
"What did you just say to it?"
The young man asked curiously, and Duanmu Huai glanced at him.
"Nothing, I just asked if the door could be opened so we could come in..."
"You know this language?"
“Well, this is my research area.”
Because he had been to an archaeological site with Mary before, it was easy for Duanmu Huai to disguise his identity - after all, anyone who might have exposed his identity would have been killed in there by now.
"Okay, let's go in."
Everyone looked at each other, but still mustered up their courage and followed Duanmu Huai in.
Cold inorganic light poured down from above, illuminating the passage in front of him. The fan was humming as it turned. Because of the stasis field, everything here remained in perfect condition. Or at least, in the same condition as when they were stasis.
No guards, no servitors, it looks abandoned? No, it looks more like a blockade. But where have all the people here gone?
Duanmu Huai walked through the corridor and came to the control room, which was still in a mess. Traces of laser shooting could be seen all around. Unless a tech priest was planning to test his mechanical tentacles here, something serious must have happened.
"Where on earth is this place......?"
Professor Celtic's eyes widened in surprise, and the expressions of the others were equally astonished. This was understandable, after all, ancient ruins were generally made of stone. However, the place in front of them was made of pure steel, and even had an air intake fan. If it weren't for the fact that the decorations around them did not look modern, they would have thought they had come to the wrong place.
However, the surprise only lasted for a moment. After a moment, everyone came to their senses and walked along the passage into the ruins.
After passing through the corridor, the group arrived at the hall, where they soon saw several boxes and instruments placed in the middle of the hall.
"This is Williams' equipment!"
Professor Celt ran over in a hurry and looked at the equipment, including computers and some instruments. However, these instruments seemed to be damaged and could not be used at all. There were also a few rifles thrown on the ground next to them, as well as...
“……………………”
A mercenary walked forward, squatted on the ground silently, and stretched out his hand to wipe the blood on the ground.
"It's already done."
"Did something happen to Professor Williams and the others?"
Seeing the bloodstains, the other members of the expedition team suddenly felt a twitch in their hearts and subconsciously looked to the side. However, in the cold hall, except for the steel statues on both sides of the wall staring at them indifferently, there was no one. Apart from the bloodstains, they could not see anything.
"Be careful."
Professor Celtic also looked solemn at this moment, and spoke seriously. Then he signaled several mercenaries to raise their guns and walk to the front, and he and others followed behind.
"Let's follow the blood trail and look for it!"
There is no other option for them now.
