"If other companies are made aware of the existence of the 'Holy Grail', the situation will be completely out of control."

On the way, Yui had already told Ke Lan that the "Holy Grail" was a code name given to ultra-pure crystals within the Soma Consortium in order to keep it secret. Just like Ke Lan and the others had previously used "container" to refer to the eroded

species or the same humans that are parasitized by flesh-eating worms.

"I know that Miss Soma sent me here just to deal with this matter." Ke Lan nodded, "Please rest assured, Mr. Manstein, my teammates and I are all professional relic hunters and have rich experience in such tasks.

experience."

"Of course I believe in the abilities of Mr. Ke Lan and your team. I'm just a little curious... I heard that you just joined the consortium not long ago?"

The meaning of Manstein's words couldn't be more clear. What he questioned was not Ke Lan's ability, but their identity. To him, Ke Lan and his group were just a group of outsiders, and let outsiders interfere in this matter.

This kind of thing related to the core secret of the consortium makes people unable to completely relax.

"Since Miss Soma chose me, it means that I am trustworthy, Mr. Manstein, what do you think?" Ke Lan did not change the topic, but directly chose tit-for-tat.

Manstein was stunned and said quickly: "You are right, I am worrying too much..."

"None of these are important. The most important thing now is the Holy Grail, right?" Ke Lan deliberately lowered his voice and said in Manstein's ear.

"But..." Manstein hesitated, "How about this, there is still some time before lunch, I will take you and your team to the reception hall to have a rest and get detailed information about the 'Holy Grail'

It will be delivered to you after the meal."

"No need to go to the reception hall, just go to the infirmary." Ke Lan suddenly said, "The survivors of the previous exploration operations should still be recuperating in the base, right?"

"All the survivors of the first and second batches have returned to the Ark headquarters. Only two seriously injured people in the third batch of survivors were sent back by transport planes. The others are still here... As for

In the fourth batch, only one person escaped alive and was not injured, but... there was something wrong with his brain." Manstein replied.

"crazy?"

Manstein nodded.

Generally speaking, the willpower of hunters is much stronger than that of ordinary people. Even a group of rookies who have become monks will not be able to obtain a license if they fail to pass the will test... If you want to let a hunter

His will completely collapsed and he fell into madness. Only the extremely weird things or illusions that can completely subvert human cognition, and even things that cannot be described in words can do it...

So what did this survivor see under the mine?

"Mr. Manstein, I think I need to see this person. Please take us to the infirmary immediately."

"Uh, this...the survivor, he is not in the infirmary." Manstein said.

"Where is that?"

"Because his symptoms are very strange. Once he sees people or is in the dark, he will have a very strong stress reaction. In order to calm him down, we can only lock him in a confinement room without allowing anyone to

Contact them directly.”

Seeing people or being in the dark will cause a stress reaction...

Ke Lan repeated this sentence in his head. It was easy to understand the dark words. After all, it was pitch dark in the mine, but why... would he have a stress reaction when seeing people?

After being attacked by a monster and finally escaping from the mine, shouldn't you relax when you see your own kind?

"Then please take us to the solitary room. This person is very important to us."

…

Through the observation window made of one-way glass, Ke Lan and the others saw a young man wearing a hospital gown curled up on the bed with his back against the wall. His face was very pale, his eyes were wide open and filled with bloodshot eyes.

His hands were clenched into fists in front of his chest, and his lips were trembling constantly, as if he was talking to himself.

"He would only fall asleep if he was sedated, otherwise he would stay that way," Manstein said. "Anyone entering the room would drive him crazy, so we could only use robotic arms to deliver food and injections to him.

Grow potions.”

"Won't he have a stress reaction to the robotic arm?" Ke Lan asked.

"No, but in order to prevent him from committing suicide, we took away everything in the room except the bedding. Even the tableware is made of paper."

There were more than a dozen dirty lunch boxes piled next to the man's bed. The food in the lunch boxes had gone rancid and spoiled. Judging from the amount of food residue, his appetite was obviously very poor. If he hadn't been injected with nutritional supplements regularly, he would have died.

I can't hold it anymore.

The white sheet was crumpled into a ball and thrown into the corner, covered with the man's excrement. The pillow was torn into pieces by him, and the stuffing inside was scattered everywhere.

"We have asked doctors within the consortium to take a look at it, but the doctors are also at a loss to deal with his symptoms."

"Open the one-way glass." Ke Lan looked at it for a while and said.

Manstein nodded, and the guard on the side clicked a few times on the operation panel, and the color of the observation window changed slightly - now, the outside scene can also be seen from inside.

The man was stunned for a moment, and then a look of fear appeared on his face. He immediately jumped up from the bed, shrank into the corner, and shouted incoherently: "Don't come over! Please... don't come over."

!No! Ah—help me—don’t come here! Help me! Help!”

The crazy look in his eyes became more and more intense, and the next second, he actually pinched his neck hard!

Manstein's expression changed and he hurriedly said: "Quick, inject a sedative!"

Just when the man's face began to turn purple, several robotic arms descended from the ceiling, pressed him directly to the ground, and inserted needles into his buttocks.

With the injection of medicinal liquid, his struggle gradually weakened, but he still stared at Ke Lan and others behind the observation window, breathing heavily.

"Restore one-way shielding." Manstein said to the guard, and then turned to Ke Lan: "Mr. Ke Lan, you have also seen that he is unable to communicate at all in this state..."

"I have a way." At this time, Ivan, who was standing behind Ke Lan, suddenly took a step forward, "But I need something."

Ivan handed over a list he had just written, and Ke Lan understood what he was thinking after just one glance.

"Are you going to hypnotize him?"

"Yes, although I can't have direct contact with the patient and the operation will be more troublesome, I am more than 50% sure." Ivan said.

"You can try it. Anyway, there is no loss if you fail." Ke Lan handed the list to Manstein, "These things should be available in the base, right?"

[P.S. Regarding whether there will be a female protagonist in this book, let’s do a small survey here. Please leave readers’ choices in this chapter: A: Women will only affect the speed at which I draw my sword. B: But rich women will not.
Chapter completed!