Chapter 434 "Infectious Diseases" (5)
The team that was ready for battle left Warehouse 14-21 and used the locking sequence on their armored masks to carefully observe both sides of the corridor. The noises they had heard before came from nearby.
"A large number of biological signals were scanned in the corridor on the right. Judging from the equipment numbers on the biological signals, they should be the crew members of the High Wall."
"Be careful. The full-band signal we sent when we boarded the ship didn't receive any response."
The lighting facilities in this part of the corridor were seriously infested by some fungus webs, which destroyed the energy pipelines and made this part of the corridor very dim. Only some glowing mushrooms could provide some light, but in the wide and huge corridors of the warehouse area, there were not many of these glowing mushrooms, so they could not play a role in lighting. Fortunately, the armor on the team members had enough equipment to deal with this dark environment.
The staggering footsteps and the voices that sounded like whispers did not disappear. Following these sounds, the team members quickly found their source. The source was consistent with the biological signals scanned by the lock sequence on their helmet panels. It was the crew members on the "High Wall". However, their condition was completely wrong. This group of crew members were like zombies, wandering around the corridor without any rules. These people were completely non-aggressive. Compared with biological organisms, their condition was more like some plants.
"What's wrong with them? They look like they've been infected with some virus."
The Tige people seemed to have never seen such a scene, but Han Zu stared at these strange crew members in silence because he had a strong sense of déjà vu. Fortunately, after Sinler scanned them, he found that they were not infected with any virus, and their vital signs looked normal, but this was the most abnormal point, because there was no explanation for why they became like this.
"Although there is nothing abnormal in the physical characteristics of these crew members, they seem to have no reaction to the outside world. Whether we touch them or call them, they are completely unmoved as if they have no feeling at all."
"I need to take some blood samples from them and then use the medical laboratory on the High Wall to check them. Maybe I can find some problems."
Under the protection of others, Sinler extracted blood from several crew members who were in abnormal conditions. Then the team carefully avoided these crew members who had no response to the outside world and prepared to go to the medical area first to use the equipment in the medical area to check whether they had any problems that had not been detected. The location of the medical area was not far from the cabin of the weapon control sequence, so it would not hinder their original actions.
The warehouse area was quickly inspected. Apart from the large-scale growth of strange fungi and some crew members who showed no reaction to the outside world, there was nothing abnormal here. Although it took several hours to pass through the warehouse area by taking a detour, the whole process was relatively smooth, and the armor energy of the team members was almost not consumed.
Soon, they came to the elevator at the end of the warehouse area. The wildly growing fungus web destroyed the elevator's magnetic levitation device, making the elevator unusable, so they used the nearby cargo transport platform instead. A large part of this place was also covered by the growth of the fungus web, but according to Sinler's scan of the cargo transport platform, it should still be usable. Although the operating table of the transport platform had been destroyed by the growth of the fungus web, Sinler covered the control authority of the transport platform through the control network, allowing him to use his own equipment to start the transport platform.
The lifting platform had a strong thrust. After some harsh friction sounds, the lifting platform finally tore off the fungus nets that were stuck on it and started working again. The time it took also showed the strength of the fungus nets. Han Zu looked at the bottom of the transport platform and found that the broken fungus nets were quickly repaired and the area they occupied was a little larger than before.
"Tom!"
"what happened?"
"It's stuck. It should be some dense fungus network blocking the track of the transport platform."
Through the locking sequence inside the armored mask, Engineer Sinler quickly found the reason why the transport platform was stuck. About four or five meters above them, there was a huge, entangled fungal web node. The two parts extending from here blocked the track of the transport platform, causing the transport platform to trigger the protection program and stop here.
"How far are we from the next level?"
"About ten meters, very close."
"Use the propulsion system to go straight up. It's a waste of time to continue cutting the fungus net at this position."
"I don't think so. The transport platform passage above is also blocked. We either have to use weapons to break through here, or find a maintenance passage or something like that."
"Let's find a way out. I've scanned it and there's a transport platform, but the platform's track connector is damaged. It's the fungus nets that hold it in place. If we use weapons to destroy it, it will solve the problem of the passage, but the transport platform will also fall down. Although we can easily dodge it, it will waste a lot of thruster energy. I don't think this is the time to waste it. After all, the thruster's energy charging speed is much slower than that of shields and weapons."
Sinler used his specialized top-seeking sequence and began to search for available routes nearby in combination with the structural diagram of the "High Wall". Their altitude was just right. Fifty meters directly in front of them was a closed maintenance passage. Since the power system here was damaged by the fungal network, Sinler was unable to remotely open the blockade of the maintenance passage.
"Can we use our weapons to blast it away from a distance?"
"No, the structure at the back is not very stable. If we use more powerful weapons, although we can lift the blockade, the entrance to the maintenance passage will also be destroyed. Weapons that are too weak cannot break the blockade... But I do have an idea."
Xinle looked at Han Zu and thought of a solution.
"Can you help me?"
"Okay, what do you want me to do?"
"This type of maintenance channel blockade has a manual release lever, which is just behind the blockade device. The position may not be certain, but it will not be too different in principle."
“What kind of pull-up bar am I looking for?”
"For this kind of thing, the handle is usually yellow, and there is a roller device at the end of the handle. Move the roller upwards, then press the lever down, and then push it down to open the blockade."
Xinle used projection to show Han Zu what the pull rod looked like. After confirming the target, Han Zu began to look for the shortest route. He found several fungal webs growing on the wall next to him. These fungal webs pierced the metal of the wall, revealing the location of the energy pipeline behind it. This energy pipeline was connected to the blocked maintenance passage in front.
There are only some tiny gaps where the energy pipeline is located. Under normal circumstances, it is difficult to pass through this location, but Han Zu is currently in liquid state and can easily pass through these gaps.
"Where's that 'vest' he's wearing?"
"I guess he got bored and threw it away."
"Oh."
Han Zu followed the gap around the energy pipeline and successfully reached the other end. He passed through the gap under the maintenance passage and successfully came to the inside of the maintenance passage. The manually operated pull rod was very conspicuous and was on his right. According to the operation method Xinle told him, he quickly unblocked the blockade and waved to the others on the opposite transport platform. After seeing that the maintenance passage was opened, everyone immediately rushed over using the propulsion device on the armor and entered the maintenance passage.
The maintenance passage was not wide and could only accommodate one person at a time. Han Zu walked in front, followed by Hai, and the others lined up in order. Xin, Gloria, and engineer Xinle were protected in the middle. The narrowness of the maintenance passage made everyone pay close attention when passing through it.
Fortunately, nothing happened. They quickly passed the maintenance passage and entered the maintenance area equipment room connected to the upper floor. Here, they found the bodies of two maintenance engineers with obvious penetrating wounds and ablation marks on their heads. The source of the fatal injuries was a standard energy pistol used for personal defense. The two energy pistols that caused their deaths fell on the ground next to them.
"Committed suicide? What happened?"
By scanning the traces at the scene and testing the bodies of the two engineers, Sinler concluded that the two men had indeed died of suicide a week ago. Due to the low temperature in the equipment room in the maintenance area, their bodies were properly preserved. As they had been dead for too long, the equipment in their bodies had been damaged and the information could not be retrieved. However, through their clearly identifiable faces, Sinler retrieved their information from the command network. The two were indeed maintenance engineers on the "High Wall". One of them had sent out several distress signals, but due to the large-scale interference in the No. 4 star zone, the specific content of his distress signals could not be known.
"We found nothing, but these two people would definitely not be idle enough to run to a place like this to commit suicide. I guess they were hiding from something. They were so desperate that they had no choice but to commit suicide."
Gloria squatted down and rummaged through the two bodies. She found a piece of paper, but it looked very ordinary. Although Gloria couldn't understand what was written on it, judging from the order and the numbers at the end of the sentence, it might be a list of goods. Several items were circled, and it was unknown what they meant.
"I found this. Looks like a manifest."
Han Zu looked down and, as he could already speak the Tigr language, he quickly confirmed what Gloria said. The paper was indeed a list of goods. Although he could understand the words on it, he didn't know what they meant. So Han Zu handed the list to Xinle.
"A cargo manifest? Why would a maintenance engineer have something like that?"
"Is there anything strange up there?"
"Let me see... These are some normal supplies. This list is a list of items that have been delivered. The planet with the items on the supply list should be a secondary civilization affiliated with us. Only they use paper documents."
"What about the circled items? Are there any abnormalities?"
"There are no anomalies. One is a metal that can be used to make energy supply devices, one is a plant material used to enhance the efficacy of medical drugs, and one is an animal raised by this secondary civilization, which can be regarded as a food supply. The last one... What is this thing used for?"
Among the circled items on the list, Xinle only didn't recognize the last one. He had no impression of this word, so he gave the list to Hai and Wu, who knew more and might know what they were.
"No impression, how about you?"
"I haven't seen it either. Let's check if there is any record of this thing in the Tongyu network."
Sinler quickly looked up the meaning of that word in the Domination Network. It was also a medical supplement. It was a product of medical research of a secondary civilization. It was some plant raw materials that could make super emergency gel. It had a certain anesthetic effect, but the effect was not great. It needed to be mixed with other materials to achieve the maximum effect. If it was used directly, it would have certain side effects, such as hallucinations or a short coma, but they were not serious. However, because the yield of these plants was not high, the Tig people rarely used them, so naturally not many people knew about this plant.
"So why would two maintenance engineers carry a list of goods that is not very useful? Are they secretly smuggling?"
"E, check the backgrounds of these two engineers to see if they have any criminal records or anything like that."
This cargo list, which should not have appeared on the two maintenance engineers, aroused everyone's suspicion towards them. However, after Wu checked the records of these two people thoroughly, he found that not only did they not have any criminal records, but they were also model soldiers and had never committed any illegal or disorderly behavior.
"Maybe just a coincidence?"
"Maybe, but take this list with you. Maybe there are some secrets we haven't discovered yet."
"Then let's continue to the medical area. I need to test the blood samples I collected earlier."
Since they changed the original route, although they were still able to reach the medical area, this part of the medical area was far away from the weapon control sequence. However, since they were there, Sinler found the nearest medical laboratory and tested the blood samples.
"How about it?"
"strangeness..."
"is there a problem?"
"On the contrary, these blood samples are completely normal. No bacteria, viruses, or similar changes were found. They are almost indistinguishable from normal blood tests. So it can be basically ruled out that these crew members have physical problems. There are other reasons for their current condition."
After leaving the medical area, everyone quickly arrived at the main control room of the weapon control sequence. The console showed that the energy level of the "High Wall" was about to drop to the standard for forced lock. Fortunately, they caught up, so Sinler immediately overrode the authority of the "High Wall", shut down all the weapon systems on it, and completed their first step of the goal.
"What do we do now? Go straight to the space station?"
"Let's go to the captain's room first, and then check out the officers' quarters. If we don't find anything, we'll set off for the space station."
The captain's room was just one floor above the weapons control sequence, and there was almost no wildly growing fungus network here. After bypassing the authority through the control network, they opened the elevator to the captain's room floor and successfully arrived at the corridor leading to the captain's room. It was terribly quiet here, with almost no sound.
"Do you smell anything?"
"A smell... a mixture of blood and rot... I think we'll see a bad scene soon."
"Be prepared, there could be danger here."
Everyone clenched their weapons, ready to fight at any time, but Han Zu seemed relaxed. His body seemed to be recovering slowly, and his perception ability had been partially restored. Through perception, he was able to confirm that there should be no danger in the corridor in front of him, only dead bodies all over the ground.