1RomanceEB Chapter 13 City of Crystal Rock
Chapter 13 City of Crystal Rock
In the conference room, everyone's expressions shifted, and they all simultaneously considered one possibility—
Fields and his group carried something that allowed the Crystal Stone People to lock onto them across space.
Does that mean that the temporary camp where Fields and the others are located is not safe either, and that hordes of Crystal Stone Men will be attracted there?
But then again, there were plenty of exoskeletons in the temporary camp, and the conference room they were in was also equipped with shielding against abnormal influences, so there shouldn't be any major safety issues.
Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Fields chuckled twice, cold sweat rolling down his forehead.
"Mr. Fields, I think it's necessary to conduct a full-body checkup on you and your companion. I hope you can cooperate."
Fu Chen's expression was not good. He didn't realize when he brought Fields back to the camp that he had brought back a signal transmitter to lure monsters.
"We will cooperate, we will definitely cooperate."
Fields nodded with a smile, winked at the three people beside him, and placed his backpack on the table in front of him, stretching out his body in a "T" shape.
A few minutes later, wearing gloves, Wenmu pinched a palm-sized, coin-thick stone slab from a gap in Fields' backpack.
"This is what's attached to that strange rock!"
Fields cried out in surprise.
On his way to the planet Golun, he placed the container containing the strange stone in his backpack, which he carried himself.
"It's possible that when I took it out one time, it brushed against the edge of the container, causing this piece of rock to fall into my backpack."
After a moment's thought, he quickly found a logically consistent explanation.
Wen Mu frowned, picked up the shards of stone with both hands, and held them up to the light to examine them.
The stone fragments are translucent and, under the light, they don't look like stones but rather like pieces of dark gray crystal.
There are almost no impurities visible, and through the lustrous sheen of the stone, there seems to be a gentle ripple like flowing water.
"It looks somewhat like crystal rock, but it's slightly different from common crystal rocks."
Hu Zhou stood to the side observing and drew his own conclusions.
In the afternoon, they disassembled the body of the crystal rock man, and the crystal rock components that made up its body were more mixed than those of this stone piece.
However, in general, the similarities between the two are not low.
Cheng Xu also came closer to observe the structure of the stone slab up close:
"They do look somewhat alike, and it feels like they might have come from the same source, but this stone fragment should be of a higher quality."
Cui Tang, standing to the side, subtly took a step back, slightly increasing the distance between herself and Cheng Xu, and added:
"To fully understand this, we'll need further physicochemical analysis. It would be great if it could be proven later that this stone is related to the Crystal Rock Clan..."
Standing by the lookout window, Fu Chen smiled and replied:
"We shouldn't have to wait until later. They've already arrived."
Everyone was startled and looked in the direction Fu Chen was pointing.
In the darkness before the sky had fully fallen, several enormous figures, shimmering with an eerie light, were wandering around the edge of the camp.
Upon closer inspection, their movements seem to carry a certain sense of uncertainty and hesitation.
"Were they attracted here by this rock?"
Cheng Xu looked around the room; the interior walls were covered with a special agent that shielded against abnormal influences.
"Because you're blocked by this room, you can't sense the presence of the stone, so you're confused?"
Hu Zhou gave his subordinate a serious look.
If we exclude its inherent end-level anomaly nature, he believes that Cheng Xu's ability to judge anomalies is almost on par with those of senior operations operators.
"If he were just a regular employee of the Anomalies Management Bureau, he should be able to get promoted quickly, right?"
Fu Chen then looked at Wen Mu: "If we want to verify this, the fastest way might be to take this stone out with us."
Wen Mu nodded and handed the stone shard in his hand to Fu Chen.
Everyone else understood what Fu Chen meant:
By leaving the camp with this stone fragment and observing whether the Crystal Rock Clan will give chase, we can determine whether it is the key factor that enabled the Crystal Rock Clan to track Fields and his group.
"be safe."
As soon as Hu Zhou finished speaking, Fu Chen rushed out of the metal barrier like lightning, grabbed the stone piece, and jumped into his exoskeleton.
Using the light source set up in the camp, Cheng Xu saw the several crystalline rock creatures that were wandering around suddenly stop and turn sharply towards Fu Chen's location.
"It should be correct."
Cheng Xu was basically certain in his mind that the Crystal Rock Clan was actually tracking this stone, and Fields, who was carrying this stone without knowing it, naturally became their target.
He glanced at Fields, who was pale-faced, and remarked that the man was incredibly lucky to be alive.
Fields, carrying stones everywhere, must have been like a light in the darkness, a bright target in the perception of the Crystal Rock People.
If it weren't for the fact that he was in a relatively remote location at the beginning, that he was carrying an unusual prop like a doll, and that he was rescued by the Bureau's agents one after another, he probably would have died a thousand or eight hundred times over.
If you applied this kind of strength to buying lottery tickets, you could probably win a big prize.
Outside the camp, Fu Chen's mech leaped and dodged, firmly drawing the aggro of the Crystal Rock Man, and headed away from the camp.
The crystal rock creatures immediately abandoned the Administration's camp, not even glancing at it, and chased straight after Fu Chen.
Its heavy body stomped on the ground, causing tremors like a small earthquake.
The other Special Operations agents in the camp naturally wouldn't just stand by and watch. They all crawled into the exoskeletons and activated them, following behind the almost deranged Stone Golem.
The crystal rock people that were previously used for research have been reduced to a pile of rubble. It's a good opportunity to capture more research samples.
"What exactly are those stone shards and strange rocks?"
Cheng Xu entered a thinking mode.
He is now 100% certain that the stone flakes and the Crystal Rock Clan are related.
The stone flakes were broken off from the strange rock brought by Fields, suggesting that the strange rock must have an unknown connection with the Crystal Rock Clan and even the Crystal Rock Tomb.
The anomalies in the Crystal Tomb might indeed have been caused by that stone.
He searched his mind for information about the Crystal Rock Tomb, trying to find useful clues from the slightest hints in various intelligence reports.
But suddenly, a hand patted his shoulder, interrupting his thoughts.
Fields peeked out from behind him: "Hey bro, that guy just went out like that, is he alright?"
Cheng Xu was stunned for a second before he got used to the other person's overly familiar way of communicating.
He waved his hand with a smile: "Captain Fu is very capable, he'll be fine, there are other people to support him."
"Is the problem with those rocks that's causing me to be chased by the stone golems?"
Fields' expression revealed that he already knew the answer to the question. Cheng Xu nodded slightly.
"Yes. This stone fragment will likely be handed over to us for safekeeping and research."
"No problem, no problem." Fields breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm relieved to leave it to you."
When he learned that all his suffering these past few days was because of this broken stone, he wished he could throw it into space.
As he spoke, Fields seemed to have thought of something else:
"By the way, when I asked someone to appraise that strange stone, they gave me a report."
"Let me look for it. I should be able to find that report. It should be useful to your administration."
Cheng Xu's eyes lit up: "That's great!"
Unbeknownst to them, the noise gradually subsided as they talked.
Fields' two bodyguards and a guide sat in the corner, trembling as they watched the atmosphere in the conference room become so tense it was almost freezing, barely daring to breathe.
Hu Zhou controlled his breathing and calmed his turbulent emotions.
When Fields suddenly patted Cheng Xu on the shoulder, everyone on the rescue team, including him, felt their hearts skip a beat.
In other words, Fu Chen wasn't there. If he were, he would probably have pressed the dark muzzle of a gun to Fields's forehead the next second.
Young master, elder brother, and father, how many lives do you have to live to be so reckless?
If you knew you had just slapped an antimatter bomb that could explode at any moment, would you still be able to laugh?
No matter if you're the son of the Explorers' Guild president or some other second-generation rich kid, do you dare act like this in the face of a final-level anomaly?
Fields didn't know Cheng Xu's true identity, but no one expected that this young master would cause such a big mess without them noticing.
Fortunately, Cheng Xu did not show any particular reaction, but instead started talking to Fields.
The main reason Fields approached Cheng Xu was that, looking around, Cheng Xu was the only one his age, and he felt that it would be easier to talk to someone his own age.
Furthermore, Cheng Xu's earlier pointing out of his being chased by the Stone Golem naturally made Fields more familiar with him.
The conversation between the two lasted less than a minute, but it felt like an eternity to Hu Zhou and the others.
This situation was broken when Fields revealed that he had an expert report.
Wenmu raised an eyebrow and looked at Fields with annoyance: "You should have said so earlier!"
As everyone relaxed, the atmosphere of conversation returned to the meeting room, but their voices sounded somewhat weak after the intense psychological stimulation.
The identification report on that unusual stone is indeed crucial research material at present.
If we can uncover the connection between the strange stone and the Crystal Rock Tomb, we might find the key to solving the mystery of the Crystal Rock Tomb's anomalies.
"Don't worry, don't worry, I'll look for it right now. Just a moment..."
Fields was startled by Wenmu's stern tone and jumped to his mentor in three quick steps.
The horse-headed guide understood and handed his backpack to the young master.
"This one? No."
"This one? No, it isn't either."
"What the heck is this? Brody, why do you have a mare photobook in your backpack?!"
Strange gazes were directed at the horse-headed guide, who lowered his head, exhaling hot breath from his nostrils, his body turning slightly red.
"Found it!"
Finally, Fields' discovery freed Brody from his predicament.
He took a chip out of his backpack: "This is it."
After handing the chip to Wen Mu, a delighted Fields approached Cheng Xu again.
"Hey bro, you look pretty young. May I ask how long you've been with the Bureau?"
"Brother, you must be an elite to be able to come and handle the situation at the Crystal Rock Tomb. Would it be convenient for us to exchange contact information?"
"By the way, how are the food and accommodation conditions at the Administration Bureau?"
"I also wanted to take the exam to work for the Bureau, but the anomaly encyclopedia was too complicated, I couldn't memorize it, so I had to give up in the end..."
Fields has always had a strong desire to express himself since childhood.
Everyone else present looked quite serious and seemed difficult to talk to, except for this young man who looked the most approachable and easy to talk to.
As Hu Zhou watched this social tyrant relentlessly chattering away at Cheng Xu, his expression began to crumble.
Even Wen Mu, who had just received the chip, focused most of his attention on Cheng Xu.
Somewhat to their surprise, Cheng Xu and Fields started chatting and seemed to be having a pleasant conversation.
Hu Zhou and Wen Mu exchanged a glance, realizing at the same time that this was a good opportunity to observe Cheng Xu.
At Cui Tang's signal, an agent secretly turned on the video recording device.
-----------------
While Fu Chen was using himself as bait to lure experimental materials for the researchers, Xue Zijing went to another place.
Guided by the Whale-class spaceship, he headed north.
The Crystal Rock People are silicon-based life forms that have survived for countless years, and have developed their own unique civilization over the long course of time.
In fact, the area around Valley Thirteen, where the branch office members landed, is a desolate wilderness on the planet Golun, where the distribution of Crystal Rock People is relatively rare.
But in the deeper parts of the Crystal Rock Tomb, several cities belonging to the Crystal Rock race stand on this planet.
Although the disaster destroyed these cities with the ritual that year, the ruins can still be seen in the crystal clusters.
The study of crystallite cities is a very important topic, as these cities are often located in transportation hubs that connect various places.
Based on this factor, whether it is a branch of a research institute or an office of a major association, they are often set up on the outskirts of the city.
Fu Chen is currently at the entrance to the nearest Crystal Rock City.
The stone city, once nestled in the mountain ridge, now resembles an anthill that has been brutally trampled.
The rough rock archway had collapsed most of its length, and the broken boulders, like the jagged teeth of a dying beast, blocked the entrance and exit.
The houses of the Crystal Rock Tribe are completely different from those of human society; their rugged and wild style perfectly accommodates their enormous bodies.
Through scholars' reconstruction, it has been discovered that the Crystal Rock Tribe typically used a variety of colorful minerals as decorations for their homes.
But now, most of the original crystal roofs are broken and crumbling, leaning precariously among the rubble. The colors used for decoration have faded, leaving only a dilapidated, gray monochromatic hue.
The rainwater no longer flows along the grooves, but instead accumulates in the ruins into murky puddles, reflecting the shattered sky.
In the darkness of night, the entire city lay coldly prostrate under the starlight, like a huge and ugly scar on a mountain ridge.
Many people are deeply impressed when they see these cities for the first time.
It is both awe at the once glorious silicon-based civilization and a sense of sorrow upon seeing countless ruined buildings.
However, Xue Zijing and his group had no time to dwell on their feelings.
They were rushing here at full speed because a message from the Whale-class spaceship indicated that there were still signs of survivor activity around the city.