Alien Relic Hunter

Chapter 135 A Whale Falls
"I don't believe that pies will fall from the sky." Ke Lan said.

"Miss Soma did mention additional conditions," Yuyi said, "but it has nothing to do with this entrustment. After you finish your trip to Leviathan, she will personally tell you the specific content of this condition."

"Is this going to ask me to reserve a blank check for her? If she asks me to spit out all the proceeds at that time, do I have to do the same?" Ke Lan twitched the corner of her mouth, this "additional condition" There are too many things that can be included, and it is impossible for anyone with a little brain to agree-this is tantamount to selling yourself.

"Miss Soma said that this condition is not mandatory, you can agree or refuse... But she also said that it is impossible for you to refuse."

"Non-mandatory? Then how does she know that I won't refuse? To be honest, I am not only greedy, but also lazy. I can tell you clearly now that no matter what the conditions are, I will refuse."

"Ahem..." At this time, the old dog suddenly glared at Ke Lan, "Don't talk too much, what if the condition is that you become the son-in-law? You refuse?"

"Ha, if this condition is true, then I can't wait for it." Ke Lan burst out laughing, "Old dog, have you been obsessed with reading novels lately? Xiaobai Shuangwen posted to the protagonist?"

"Cut! I'll stop talking here today, this girl is definitely looking for you, don't you believe me, let's take a gamble?" The old dog stepped on the gas pedal in a fit of anger.

"How much to bet?"

"Five thousand!" The old dog gritted his teeth and said.

"How is that enough? At least this number." Ke Lan stretched out five fingers.

"Fifty thousand? Are you ruthless enough?"

"What 500,000? It's 5. Anyway, I'm sure to win this round. If it wasn't for the fear of hurting the relationship between the brothers, I would even call [-] million." Ke Lan said lightly.

"500,000 is 500,000, I'm afraid you won't be able to cry in the end."

"Tsk... If you really made the right bet, I would hug a rich woman's thigh, and I'm still 500,000 short?"

"Grass... Seems like this is really the case? It doesn't matter if you win or lose... Cough cough..." The old dog who had just taken a sip of water suddenly choked and coughed.

"Okay, okay, this kind of thing, just think about it in your dreams." Ke Lan knew very well in his heart, let alone whether the other party would like him, the class and identity between the two alone is a fundamental Impossible chasm to bridge.

If Zofia Soma's real intention is to say that she wants to win her over and accept herself as a confidant... Although Ke Lan has not personally experienced the power struggle between the upper class, this kind of plot is simply too rare in history. It's not uncommon, like the ancient aristocratic families who raised dead men and women, in order to let these people work for themselves one day, but in this era, although the big chaebols and big families seem to be calm on the surface, but secretly The struggle has never stopped—it is obviously not that easy for Zofia to change from "one of the heirs of the Soma Consortium" to "the owner of the Soma Consortium".

Ke Lan still remembers the news that the first heir of a large consortium died suddenly of a heart attack last year. That guy was less than 40 years old, and with the current medical level of the Ark and the medical conditions that the noble class can enjoy, the heart Sudden death is simply impossible—but it just happened, and it just happened at this critical time when the former chairman of the consortium announced his abdication. It is hard not to remind people of some dark things.

But there are some things, as long as they are done cleanly enough, even if everyone knows the inside story, as long as there is no evidence, then this matter is equivalent to never happening - that big consortium has only two heirs, and one of them is dead. Even if he knew that the person who killed the elder brother was the younger brother, as long as the younger brother did not admit it openly, the chairman of the consortium as the father would only hand over the family business to the younger brother in the end.

Not only because of blood relationship, but also an extremely cruel "survival of the fittest"... The law of the jungle is not limited to the jungle.

"If that's the case... I'd better refuse at that time." Ke Lan thought silently, whether it was being a bodyguard for the eldest lady or an assassin at the time, it seemed that it was a job with a narrow escape, and it was really not worthwhile.

……

……

After this incident came to an end, the rest of the journey was relatively stable. Occasionally, the indigenous creatures attracted by the sound of the engine were swept into pieces by the large-caliber machine guns... As for Threats like lava beetles or exiles were never encountered again.

On the morning of the seventh day, the skeleton of Leviathan, which can be described as "majestic", finally appeared above the horizon.

People who saw the remains of Leviathan for the first time would not associate this mountain range stretching across the wilderness with a giant beast—on top of Leviathan's remains, a relatively independent There are not only rocks and sand, but also forests and mountain streams. Between the fourth and fifth vertebrae, there is even a Tianchi Lake with an area of ​​nearly ten square kilometers.

And there are more than [-] species of indigenous creatures living on Leviathan's skeleton.

"Good guy, I feel like this is an island, an island standing above the desert." The old dog clasped the steering wheel with both hands, and looked at the skeleton of Leviathan in the distance with some ecstasy.

"This is an island, an isolated island." Ke Lan said with emotion, "On Earth, there is a phenomenon called whale fall. Have you heard of it?"

The old dog shook his head: "I know about whales, but what is whale fall?"

"Whale fall is the process in which a whale's body falls and sinks to the bottom of the sea after it dies... During this process, the whale's body will be gradually eaten away by various creatures, until finally even the lipids in the bones are gone. Decomposed by bacteria ... it may sound cruel, but to biologists, this phenomenon perfectly embodies the greatness and romance of the natural world."

"Great? Romantic? Isn't it just a dead whale? What's so romantic about it?" The old dog couldn't understand.

At this time, Ivan couldn't sit still: "Old dog, have you ever seen the deep sea on earth?"

"You are talking nonsense. I was born on the ark. How could I have seen the deep sea on the earth? Who is still alive who has seen the earth with his own eyes?"

"I'm referring to the deep sea in the image data preserved in the old era."

"Aren't the seabeds all the same, a piece of blackness?"

"Then do you understand the ecology of the seabed?"

"I don't know." The old dog replied honestly.

"In the depths of the Earth's ocean, it is actually an extremely barren and barren land just like the desert on Planet Alpha... and a whale that falls into the bottom of the sea will establish an ecosystem on the bottom of the sea that can last for hundreds of years. It is like an oasis in the desert, or an isolated island in the deep sea, a small world of its own..."

Ivan continued: "The flesh, tissue, and internal organs of a whale... are enough to feed tens of thousands of sea creatures, until its bones turn into reefs on the seabed, and they can still provide a place for those species living in the dark and cold seabed. A livable place. In the world where the sun does not shine, the material and energy that this whale can provide is of immeasurable value to that world... I remember someone once used such a sentence to describe this Phenomenon: When a whale falls, all things are born."

"This Leviathan is actually like a whale that sank into the bottom of the sea." Ke Lan exhaled a long breath, and said, "And those species living on its remains, including us humans, are Those sea creatures that feed on whale carcasses."

Ke Lan raised his head and glanced at the lead-gray sky through the skylight. If Leviathan is really "a behemoth that rules the sky", then the Leviathan that fell from the sky to the ground is the same as the one that fell into the sky. What is the essential difference between the giant whales in the deep sea?

……

(End of this chapter)