Volume 10: Ancient Battleship Chapter 503: Rush to the Aid of Mukah
Although the huge roar resounded through the sky, Ke Lan could still vaguely hear a slight but crisp "cracking" sound.
That was the sound of bones being crushed.
He couldn't be sure whether it was his own hallucination or the sound collection device of this ancient warship was too amazing... In short, when the warship rolled over the ground, the consciousness from the prophet's substitute disappeared completely.
What it left behind for Ke Lan was a trace of extremely malicious thoughts, just like when the villain in the movie was forced into a desperate situation and cursed the protagonist with cruel words like "die a bad death and never be reborn".
However, Ke Lan didn't care about the prophet's curse. In this guy's plan anyway, he was originally a "sacrifice". Since he wanted to kill him, Ke Lan didn't have to worry about offending him to death.
"Since I'm going to kill someone anyway, I might as well just kill you."
If you have too much debt, you won’t worry about it; if you have too many lice, you won’t feel itchy. That’s the truth.
What's more, the positions of both sides are inherently hostile. This hostile relationship is different from the political game between countries in the old era. This is an ideological confrontation, almost a fight to the death - if we must use something to compare it to, perhaps the religious wars of the Middle Ages would be closer.
In that dark age, when lords fought against each other, they would not kill knights of status. Rather than creating blood feuds, it was better to exchange captives for ransom and land, and to do a favor for the other side... As for wars between religions, they could only be described as mountains of corpses and seas of blood. There were many inhumane tragedies such as massacres and purges.
The other party wanted Ke Lan to die, and Ke Lan also didn't want to leave any chance for him to survive.
He directly activated the battleship's energy shield. In a flash, the remains of the prophet's substitute, along with a layer of rock more than five meters thick, were instantly vaporized, leaving not even a trace of ashes.
"This is the one-stop service of a professional team, the true meaning of 'crushing bones and scattering ashes'." Ke Lan thought to himself and pulled the battleship into the air again.
When activating the energy shield, Ke Lan found that his perspective changed from the first-person perspective of the battleship to the third-person "God's perspective", and the true appearance of this ancient battleship was finally presented in front of him in its entirety.
Unlike the "Noah's Ark" which is disc-shaped and looks like a flying saucer, the "Agunakotor" is shaped like a huge horizontal water droplet. The diameter of the head is tens of kilometers, and it suddenly shrinks into a cone at the tail.
Although this shape seems a bit top-heavy, the streamlined appearance and mirror-smooth shell surprisingly fit Ke Lan's aesthetic, especially the three blue halos of varying sizes surrounding the tail, which are full of an indescribable sense of mystery and beauty.
The only flaw is that near the end, there is an area that looks bumpy , like metal corroded by strong acid - this location should be where the Alpha civilization "mines" Nino alloy.
But if it was cut with tools, there shouldn't be such marks left... Could it be that not only the crystal columns, but also the battleship hull cast with Nino alloy has the ability to repair itself automatically?
If this is the case, then why has the Alpha civilization, after studying this battleship for so long, still not figured out the synthesis formula of Nino Alloy?
Isn’t this too embarrassing?
Now that the enemies in the Molten Mine have been annihilated, what should we do next? Should we go find the remains of the garrison base or just drive this ancient warship back to the Ark?
In terms of value alone, this battleship is definitely worth a thousand garrison bases, or even more...
No, we shouldn't compare a small garrison base with this battleship... In a sense, the value of this battleship is even higher than that of the Ark!
For a moment, an idea flashed through Ke Lan's mind: using this battleship as a support, breaking away from the Ark, and establishing a completely independent organization... However, this idea was quickly rejected by himself.
Not to mention whether Hound and others would agree with his idea, what kind of treatment would be given to those hunting group members who remained on the Ark, Zofia, and a series of other people related to them, the hard condition of "surviving alone" alone was enough to make Ke Lan give up this idea.
This ancient battleship is very powerful, but without any logistical support, its own weapons are completely unusable, and Ke Lan's exploration progress on it is also pitifully small. It is completely unknown how much of its combat power it can exert.
In addition, the energy reserves were not much, and they had to face the pressure from both the heretical sect and the Ark at the same time. Ke Lan had no idea how long the warship could last. Once the energy was exhausted , even if Ke Lan could sink it into the magma pool again, the long recharging time was not something he could afford.
As for seizing the Ark by force, don't even think about it - there were few successful peasant uprisings in ancient times, let alone the complex and sophisticated modern society. Even if he could replace the undead crew, he would have no ability to completely bring the Ark under his control.
The emperor also had to take great pains to balance the relationship and power between the powerful and his subjects. How could a person who climbed to the top through force possibly win the support of the people?
Besides, this force does not belong to him, but comes from an external object called the "ancient battleship".
Ke Lan performed dozens of deductions in his mind, but the results of each deduction proved that leaving the Ark at this stage would mean death.
On the contrary, if you join a heretical sect, you may have a chance of survival.
But this is completely contrary to Ke Lan's own wishes.
After much consideration, Ke Lan decided to bring the battleship back to the Ark first - "Aguna Tor" was undoubtedly a powerful weapon, but now he was far from having the qualifications and ability to master this powerful weapon.
It would be better to complete the assessment mission of the Undead Crew first, find a way to become one of them, and then act after careful planning. This is the safest way.
…
At the same time, Ark, core area.
Central restricted area.
Conference Room No. 1.
This is a room in complete darkness. There is no lighting equipment installed in the entire conference hall. There is only a holographic image projected on the round table in the middle of the conference hall, emitting a faint cold light.
The object in the holographic image was a huge teardrop-shaped battleship with three halos of different sizes at the tail, floating quietly just above the platform.
In the darkness, a red light lit up silently, just like a swaying will-o'-the-wisp, suspended in the air about two meters above the ground.
With the help of a faint light projected by the holographic projection, one can vaguely see that it is a black cabinet shaped like a coffin standing upright on the ground. If there is a person lying in this "coffin", then the position of the red light should correspond exactly to his eyes.
"He found Yaguna Kator, and successfully launched the battleship before that person. Everyone, do you find this a bit unexpected?"
The red light flashed twice, and an old male voice sounded, echoing in the huge conference hall.
"Maybe he is just lucky?" Opposite the first red light, nearly a hundred meters away, another red light lit up, but the voice seemed much younger, sounding like a boy who was not even twenty years old.
"I originally thought that the best he could do was to discover the existence of Yaguna Kator. Being able to escape from the Molten Mine alive and return to the Ark was already his limit." The second voice continued, "In this respect, he is stronger than that person."
"We have always believed that luck is also part of strength." The third red light, the third voice, this is a female with an elegant and pleasant voice like a noble lady.
“But luck is not stable. People who rely on luck will find it difficult to go far,” the second voice retorted.
"In the face of established facts, there is no point in arguing about these things." The old voice that spoke first said, "What we should discuss now is how to deal with him."
"Although I hate people who are lucky," the young man said, "I don't hate him. I think we can proceed as planned."
"I second the motion," said the lady.
"The original plan?" a fourth voice joined in. This was the voice of an octogenarian woman. "Did you really want him to... join us and replace the dying Chiron?"
"Why not?" This was the fifth voice. This voice was almost emotionless, and even the gender was difficult to discern. "That person's progress has far exceeded our expectations. We need a sharp blade, and he is our best choice."
"Indeed." The second voice spoke again, "Letting him join us is the best way to gain his trust."
"But..." The fourth voice seemed a little hesitant, "If he knew the truth, would he take extreme action? At that time, do you still think you can control him?"
"Then just don't let him know." The lady said, "The truth only exists in your memories. Even if he gets the same authority as us, as long as you keep your mouth shut, how can he know those things?"
"By the way, the Mukah base was attacked. He and Yaguna Kator are the only units that can provide timely support. Should we let him go?" asked the first old voice.
"I think it's fine. It's a good opportunity to try out the power of this new toy." The second voice said, "Besides, even if we don't let him go, he will still go to save people, right? This man still has a strong sense of justice in his bones."
"A sense of justice is a rare quality," the lady commented, "although..."
She didn't say anything else, and the others also remained silent at the same time.
…
…
Above the Molten Mine Area, inside the power room of the ancient battleship "Aguna Tor".
At the moment when the Prophet's four substitutes were destroyed, the members of the reconnaissance team suddenly discovered that the shielding field that originally covered the entire Molten Mine Area had disappeared all of a sudden.
At the same time as the shielding field disappeared, everyone in the reconnaissance team received a top-priority message for help.
Hound looked down at the content of the distress message, and his face suddenly changed: "Something happened at the Mukach base! The heretic sect created a super monster, which broke through the base's defense circle directly from underground. The two sides are currently fighting fiercely, but the situation is not optimistic. The base may fall at any time."
"Mukakh Base? That's a super fortress! The foundation alone is poured with more than 10 million tons of molten steel. How could it be breached from underground by a heretical sect?" Layton exclaimed.
"You can find out by clicking on the message yourself." Hound said with a stern face, "There are photos and videos in the attachment."
Layton immediately opened the video attached to the message for help. After a few seconds, he exclaimed again: "Oh my God, what the hell is this?!"
"Don't ask us. I believe no one here has ever seen this monster." The Hound said, "I think the heretic sect dug out something good from the ruins and created a new type of biological weapon."
"With this thing here, all the bases on Alpha Planet can't be defended except the Ark." Layton said, "If we want to destroy it, we'll probably have to send out the main fleet."
"Where is the main fleet closest to the Mukah base?" The Hound looked at Aya and asked.
"It's the Third Fleet." Aya replied, "But it will take at least five hours for the Third Fleet to reach Mukach."
"Five hours..." The Hound pursed his lips tightly. "Let alone five hours, I don't think they can even last an hour. I'm afraid we are the only ones who can save them."
"We? Are you planning to... use this battleship to support the Mukah base?" Aya was stunned, then said seriously, "I reject this proposal! Our first priority is to send this battleship back to the Ark safely, not to send it into a dangerous battlefield without authorization! This matter has exceeded the autonomous authority of the reconnaissance team. Even if you are the commander, Ke Lan, I cannot obey your orders this time."
She paused, then said firmly, "We must prioritize the mission of escorting Yaguna Kotor!"
"Bullshit! There are more than 10,000 people in that base! We are the only ones who can save them! Do you want us to watch them die without helping them?" Hound pulled off the ammunition bag from his waist and threw it to the ground in frustration. "You people in the Security Bureau have never taken the lives of ordinary people and ordinary soldiers seriously!"
"I really want to save them! If conditions permit, I will definitely not stand by and watch them die!" Aya shouted, "But have you considered the importance of this battleship? If it falls into the hands of the heretic sect, the Ark's losses will be far more than these ten thousand people! Can you bear this responsibility?!"
The atmosphere between the two sides, which had been relaxed, suddenly became tense - the three agents standing behind Aya subconsciously put their hands on their weapons, while Hound stared at them with wide eyes, his clenched fists making a constant "clucking" sound.
Layton took a step forward and protected the hound behind him, while Asano Akira casually turned sideways and gently placed his thumb on the guard of the sword.
Just as the smell of gunpowder in the air gradually became thicker, Ke Lan's voice suddenly echoed throughout the power room -
"Captain Breya, now that the signal blocking has been lifted, you can ask your superiors whether they will allow this support operation."
