Volume 10: Ancient Battleship Chapter 481: Transmission
The object of the "Holy Word"'s prayer may not necessarily be in the universe known to mankind... That look that still makes Ke Lan feel frightened, since it can cross countless planes and easily interfere with the physical laws that humans believe to be eternal and unchanging, then it should not be a difficult thing to "teleport" a monster with "super-pure crystals" in its body to this space.
Beings of that level are like the ancient gods who created chaos in the ancient legends. They cannot be described in human language at all...
Ke Lan once saw this description in a strange novel:
They are indescribable beings. If humans hear their names, they will instantly fall into madness.
They are beings that cannot be looked at directly. If humans look directly at their true bodies, flames will burst out of their eyes and their entire bodies will be burned to ashes.
They have been sleeping so that races as small as dust can survive in the soil; and when they wake up, the whole world will be destroyed.
…
Although the novel uses common exaggeration techniques, based on Ke Lan's personal experience, this description is actually not exaggerated at all.
…
"That kind of sacrificial ritual is completely against the laws of physics." Aya also agreed, "The research institute has invested a lot of manpower and material resources to study this topic. There are more than a dozen special research groups alone, and there are more than 60 senior researchers involved in the project..."
"So what have you found out?" asked the Hound.
"I have no clue." Aya shook her head helplessly. "I have no idea where to start the research project. It has been several months and there has been no substantial progress."
"Is it that exaggerated?" the hound exclaimed.
"If the research institute hadn't often entrusted our security bureau to collect relevant clues, I wouldn't have known about the existence of this topic... If they could come up with any results, our security bureau would definitely be the first to know the response plan. But now, for this kind of monster summoned by the sacrificial ritual, the countermeasures in the action manual are still only one sentence."
"A what?" the hound continued.
"Concentrate firepower to suppress and kill." Ke Lan answered the question for Aya. He had read the entire archive of the Security Bureau and had also paid attention to the content related to the sacrificial ceremony. But as Aya said, even if the people in the Security Bureau encountered such a situation, they would not have any effective means to deal with it.
"Can't we interrupt him in the middle of the sacrifice?" the Hound asked, "If we kill that man, will the monster not be summoned?"
"Okay, but it will only get worse," Ke Lan said.
A researcher once suggested that the sacrificer could be killed during the sacrificial ceremony, perhaps to interrupt the ceremony. The Security Bureau also tried this - they intercepted a "black-robed bishop" in an exile camp controlled by a heretical sect. Under their deliberate guidance, the "black-robed bishop" broke through the siege, and was then surrounded by a special agent team ambushed outside the camp, and was forced into a desperate situation.
(PS Special Task Force refers to the Special Task Force. The original meaning of the word is used here, not the extended meaning that was developed later.)
The black-robed bishops are people with a very special identity in the heretical sect. They wear black robes similar to those of ordinary believers, but if you look closely, you can see the difference between the two: the bishops' black robes are long enough to drag on the ground, and are covered with strange patterns. As for the black robes wrapped around the believers, they are just a piece of black cloth with a few stitches sewn on it, and there are strict restrictions on the length - when standing upright, it is not allowed to exceed the ankles.
In addition, there is another biggest difference between the black-robed bishops and the believers, that is, they have the ability to use the "Holy Word" (according to the official description of the Security Bureau, they have the ability to launch the "second-class sacrificial ceremony", as for the "first-class sacrificial ceremony", it refers to the self-destruction of the container of the Seed of Corrosion). This ability is much more difficult to defend against than the container with the Seed of Corrosion parasitic in the body - the latter can be discovered through a simple inspection, while the former's body is no different from that of a normal human.
It is also because of this that Park Sang-woo was able to evade numerous inspections.
The black-robed bishops only need to recite the corresponding spell to start the sacrifice ceremony, and the task of the special agent team is to find a way to force the black-robed bishop to initiate the sacrifice, and then interrupt the ceremony by killing him.
The members of the special agent team first used an electric shock trap to trap the black-robed bishop, making him unable to move, and then shot him in the back with bullets. If the amount of bleeding from such an injury was not treated in time, it would only take more than ten minutes to kill him. This was also done to cut off the black-robed bishop's thoughts of living and force him to use his last trump card.
Up to this point, the plot was still proceeding according to the designed script - the black-robed bishop had no hope of escape, so he recited the "Holy Word" and began the sacrificial ceremony.
After confirming that the black-robed bishop was truly performing a "sacrifice ceremony" instead of muttering anything else, the special forces team's sniper blew his head off cleanly. Afterwards, the light gunboat that had been on standby in the sky launched a round of ground-cleaning bombing directly at the location of the electric shock trap.
However, an accident happened at this moment - a spherical storm suddenly appeared in the area centered on the black-robed bishop, and expanded rapidly, swallowing up the unsuspecting special forces team. Even the gunboat floating in the air was not spared and was directly shredded into pieces.
The induction troops responsible for attacking the exile camp were able to escape disaster because they were at a relatively long distance. According to eyewitnesses, the interior of the storm was completely dark. It did not look like a hurricane formed by high-speed rotating airflow, but more like a torn space.
The gunboat initially tried to escape the storm, but as soon as the storm touched the stern, the four main thrusters exploded at the same time, and the entire gunboat was dragged into the center of the storm.
Although it was only a light gunboat, it was also a military-grade warship. The protection measures for its main propulsion system were not comparable to those of civilian ships. It could withstand a direct hit from a 90mm cannon, but it was easily destroyed by the storm.
The armor that was hundreds of centimeters thick and the main keel that was more than three meters in diameter were folded and crushed by the irresistible force like a proportional paper membrane.
Some people say that it was not a hurricane at all, but the "space storm" that made people shudder in the drifting era.
The term "space storm" first appeared in fictional novels of the old era, but when humans truly stepped into the universe, they discovered that space storms in reality were far more terrifying than those in novels.
But no matter how terrifying space storms are, this rare phenomenon only occurs in space. In the 900 years of human beings' wandering, no space storm has ever been observed appearing on a planet.
This is because, as long as a space storm appears on a planet, then the planet will inevitably escape the fate of destruction - a space storm can easily destroy an entire star system, and the destructive power is even no less than the energy released during a supernova explosion.
The biggest difference between a space storm and a black hole is the intensity - a black hole simply sucks in the surrounding matter and energy, while a space storm continuously tears out countless fleeting space cracks. Each space crack is equivalent to an extremely unstable small black hole.
In that report, a "?" mark was put behind the space storm, which meant that the official did not recognize this statement - the affected area of the storm was less than three kilometers. Such a small space storm had never been observed in human history. Moreover, even if it was only three kilometers in diameter, the characteristics of the space storm were enough to destroy Alpha.
But the "?" mark also means that the authorities have not completely ruled out this possibility... Even the research institute cannot be sure what the storm that only existed for a few seconds is.
Later, similar "interruption experiments " were carried out several times. The situation was different each time, but one thing was the same: interrupting the sacrificial ceremony would basically lead to catastrophic consequences. As for how lethal the catastrophic consequences were, it was completely random and there was no pattern to follow.
Once they tried to kill the sacrificer as soon as the first word of the sacrificial prayer was recited. As a result, the temperature within a radius of one kilometer dropped to minus 273 degrees Celsius, which is the "absolute zero" in the concept of thermodynamics. Absolute zero lasted for a full fifteen seconds, and no one affected survived.
In another experiment, the members of the special forces team killed the sacrificer ten seconds after he had performed the ritual, but it only caused a small explosion. Apart from the sacrificer's body turning into ashes, no one in the special forces team was injured or killed.
After paying a huge price in terms of human lives, unless under special circumstances, the agents of the Security Bureau rarely choose to interrupt the sacrificial ceremony. They would rather fight the summoned monsters than face a completely unknown terrifying force.
Interrupting the sacrificial ceremony is a complete gamble with one's life. It may lead to the annihilation of the entire group, or it may result in nothing happening.
The reason why Ke Lan chose to shoot at the life capsule was actually a gamble - in his opinion, if Park Sangyou's sacrifice was successful and something was summoned, the reconnaissance team trapped in this tunnel would most likely be slaughtered. Instead of this, it would be better to take a gamble.
It was a pity that the bullet failed to penetrate the porthole of the lifeboat, so he would never have the chance to know what consequences would be caused by interrupting Park Sang-woo's sacrifice.
But now it seems that this situation is not bad. At least the summoned monsters are dead, and the price paid by the reconnaissance team is far less than Ke Lan expected.
Most importantly, this also allowed Ke Lan to obtain the key prop to escape from the tunnel - the "black core" used to store energy in the monster's body.
"After saying so much, how are we going to get out?" The hound's eyes stayed on the "black fruit core" picked up by Ke Lan. "Even if the energy contained in this thing is enough to open an artificial wormhole, we don't have the corresponding equipment. You said there is a teleportation mechanism here, but where is it? Why can't I find it?"
The tunnel's architectural style is very simple. Everything on the walls, floor, and ceiling is clearly visible. The joints between the metal plates are also tightly fitted. Just by observing with the naked eye, you can't see where the mechanisms are hidden.
"It's right in front of us." Ke Lan walked to the crystal groove on one side.
"Isn't that thing used for lighting?" The Hound asked in astonishment, "You mean, this thing can also be used... for teleportation?"
He looked incredulous.
"I saw some fragments of Park Sangyou's memories in that abnormal space. He once placed an ultra-pure crystal into such a groove." Ke Lan said.
Because there were security agents present, he attributed this ability to the abnormal space, but Hound immediately heard the hidden meaning in Ke Lan's words and nodded immediately: "So this kid escaped like this!"
The Hound has great confidence in Ke Lan's abilities. At least so far, the information from "unknown sources" has not deviated in any way.
But just when Ke Lan was about to put the "black fruit core" into the groove, Layton suddenly stood up: "Ke Lan! Wait a minute!"
"What's wrong?" Ke Lan turned around and looked at him.
"Valkyrie's and Valkyrie's energy shields are still cooling down. You should at least wait until we're done cooling down before you use them," Layton said.
The explosion in the converter just now almost caused the reconnaissance team to capsize. If it happened again, without the protection of the energy shield, they would still be affected by the electric arc even if they retreated hundreds of meters.
On the other side where there was no energy shield protection, the electric arc spread at least one hundred and fifty meters away.
…
"Okay, the shield generator has been cooled down, and I have replaced the energy crystals with new ones." Layton raised his robotic arm and nodded to Ke Lan seriously.
"My shield has also been recharged." Valentina's voice sounded in the headset.
"Okay, then I'll let it go." Ke Lan took a deep breath, pushed the "black fruit core" into the groove, and then quickly stepped behind Layton.
There was no explosion or raging electric arc - from the third second after the "black fruit core" was placed in the groove, the lights in the tunnel began to flicker. As soon as Ke Lan raised his head, he found that the surrounding scene was blurred, and then the narrow space suddenly became spacious!
They were actually teleported away!
"It really worked. We escaped--" The Hound stopped talking before he could even utter the word "come"--they did leave the tunnel, but did not return to the Molten Mine.
"Where is this place?" Aya looked around, sizing up this space which was completely different from the tunnel.
This is an extremely open space, at least several kilometers long and wide. There is a flat and smooth dome above the head, and less than a hundred meters ahead is a huge square pit.
Layton quickly measured the distance with a laser - the space was 8,400 meters long, 5,500 meters wide, and the height of the dome was 350 meters. As for the huge pit directly in front, it was a square with a side length of 1,600 meters.
"Look! It's the research institute's vehicle!" an agent shouted - at the edge of the huge pit, there was a shuttle-shaped metal vehicle with a damaged shell, and a human corpse was lying less than ten meters away from the vehicle.
"Ivan, the body is in your hands. Zhuoligetu and Layton, check this vehicle. Don't miss anything valuable, whether it's data files or supplies. If the vehicle can be used, try to repair it. If it can't be repaired, dismantle it and take away all the usable parts." Ke Lan said, "Old dog, Team Leader Breya, come with me to the side of this pit and take a look."
Ivan, Layton and Zhuo Ligetu immediately ran towards the vehicle and the corpse with tools, while Ke Lan and the other two walked carefully to the edge of the huge pit.
This giant pit is not empty.
Inside the pit, many huge cubic crystal columns were neatly arranged. The height of each column was flush with the edge of the pit, and the distances between them were also exactly the same.
What concerns Ke Lan the most is that the texture of these crystal pillars seems to be exactly the same as the energy crystals that can be seen everywhere in the ruins of Alpha civilization!
