Volume 11: Memetic Crisis Chapter 542 The Third Line of Defense
"Are you telling the truth?!" The Hound showed an expression of disbelief on his face. It took him more than ten breaths to digest the news...
He took a step back and looked Ke Lan up and down: "Are you sure they didn't lie to you? Then why didn't we have any effect after being with you for so long...?"
"Perhaps my cloned cells and the cells of the Seed of Erosion have fused and caused a secondary mutation." Ke Lan raised his hand and looked at his palm - there was a light white mark there. When he was fighting with the members of the heretic sect, his palm was accidentally cut by the rough metal zipper on the collar of the other party. But now, the scar is completely invisible. It only takes a few days for the pigment to settle in the new light-colored skin layer, and the white mark will become exactly the same as the surrounding skin.
"To be honest... I'm not sure myself, biologically speaking, if I'm still human."
"Why not?" The hound glared at him and shouted, "Do you have more arms or eyes than us? How come you are not a human being? Don't you forget how you counseled Ivan before? Why do you start to have wild thoughts now that it's your turn?"
"I'm not overthinking. It's just that this matter was indeed caused by me. If I don't deal with it, if the 'thing' inside mutates three or even four times, I'm afraid the entire Ark will be in trouble." Ke Lan said.
"Are you sure you won't be infected by that thing?" asked the Hound.
Ke Lan nodded.
"But how can you guarantee that...the group of people outside are not using you?" The Hound suddenly changed the subject. "Don't think that they haven't mentioned anything about your abnormality yet. It's because you are the only one who can solve this difficult problem. They need your help, so they are pretending to be like this...After you deal with the 'thing' inside, I'm afraid this group of people will not be so easy to talk to."
"I don't think so..." Ke Lan shook his head. The abnormality of his body had already manifested itself when he was in Yaguna Tor, but the Undead Crew did not investigate further. Instead, they issued an order prohibiting any investigation into him. And this "memetic contamination incident" was caused by the fact that the people in the research institute violated the ban and secretly conducted experiments related to him.
Ke Lan felt that the Undead Crew might have foreseen such an outcome a long time ago, so they issued such a ban... Unfortunately, they still underestimated the persistence of those crazy people in the research institute.
"Curiosity kills the cat"... It never refers to the cat's own curiosity, but to the fact that humans, out of their own curiosity, want to know "whether cats really have nine lives", throw cats from high places... and now, Ke Lan feels that he is the unlucky cat.
If it weren't for the suppression of the Undead Crew, the crazy people in the research institute would have mobilized all the armed forces they could and rushed to Fleet Zero to capture people.
"You don't think so?" The Hound repeated in a rhetorical tone, "I have seen more of the faces of the Ark's top brass than you have. As long as there is enough benefit, any promise is no different from fart to them. Going back on their words is commonplace. What's more, they haven't made any promises to you. They just expressed an attitude in an ambiguous way. Even if this attitude changes 180 degrees at that time, you have no place to complain!"
Seeing that Ke Lan didn't seem to listen to his words, the Hound immediately became angry: "Ke Lan! You should have seen the blockade outside now! You are not stupid, you should know that the thing inside cannot be stopped by guns and mechas. So who do you think these things are prepared for?"
“…”
"When the cunning rabbit dies, the running dog is cooked; when the birds are all gone, the good bow is hidden! This is a proverb of you Chinese people, haven't you heard it? Moreover, for them, whether it is value or threat, you have to be above the 'thing' inside, you know?! Now you want to go in, they will make way for you, but when you want to come out, do you think it will be so easy?"
"I... I'm so fucking disappointed in my idol!" The Hound said as he smashed the toilet cubicle door nearby. Immediately, a hole the size of a bowl appeared on the old and brittle polymer door panel.
"The idiom 'hate iron but fail to achieve success' isn't used this way..." Ke Lan started to speak but was interrupted by the hound.
With a "click", another hole appeared on the door of the toilet cubicle.
A crack more than half a meter long connected the two holes, and the entire door panel was already shaking.
"I can use it however I want and it's none of your business! The problem now is that the group of people who call themselves the Crisis Management Department have already set up the pocket. Don't you know who this pocket is going to be used to catch? Are you going to just obediently get in?" The hound jumped up.
"In fact, if they wanted to arrest me, they would have done it long ago." Ke Lan sighed, "They know more than we think."
"They? Who are they?" The expression on the Hound's face froze - he had already heard the hidden meaning in Ke Lan's words: this "they" did not refer to the people in the "Crisis Management Department" outside, nor the Research Institute and the Security Bureau, nor even any class or organization he knew.
"An organization called the 'Undead Crew Association'." Ke Lan sighed and finally said the name, "They are the hidden rulers in the dark. The so-called highest decision-making organization, the 'United Parliament Group', is actually just a puppet they pushed out to the surface."
"The United Parliamentary Group... is just a puppet?" The Hound froze in his tracks. He felt as if there was a mouthful of thick phlegm stuck in his throat that he couldn't spit out or swallow. It was so uncomfortable that it made him want to go crazy.
"Who are these... Undead Crew?" The Hound took a deep breath. "Why are they hiding in the dark?"
"They..." Ke Lan recalled the fleshy body of "Pope" Chiron and paused, "Maybe they are not human."
"Not a human?" The hound was stunned for a moment, obviously not expecting Ke Lan to give such an answer.
"If it's not a human... then what could it be? Computer AI? It can't be an Alpha man, right?" The Hound pulled a somewhat absurd smile at the corner of his mouth. "This joke is not funny at all. Don't tell us that the rulers of mankind are actually a group of Alpha men. Haha, then I will only feel that I haven't woken up yet and am dreaming now. It is an extremely absurd dream."
"One thing is certain, they were once human beings. As for what they are now... I can't really explain it. They are probably 'things' similar to me," said Ke Lan.
The hound stopped laughing, looked at him steadily, and asked, "A... 'thing' like you? I think I understand..."
"This is just my guess. In fact, I have never seen the true face of the Undead Crew. Among the people I have come into contact with, none of those who knew of their existence had ever seen their true bodies with their own eyes. This includes Schroeder, Lin Qiming... and Maginot who was transferred to Mukach."
"Does Maginot know what this undead crew member will do?" asked the Hound.
"He knew the Crew existed, but he didn't know much."
The Hound suddenly sighed, shook his head and said, "Damn it... So that's what happened... No wonder Maginot took the initiative to contact you at that time. It turns out that the fat pig knew it from the beginning... Damn it, if I hadn't left the army, I should be able to access this information now..."
"Old dog?" Ke Lan called out with some concern.
"I'm fine, I just need a little time." The Hound waved at Ke Lan, not caring whether the floor in the toilet was dirty or not, he just squatted down and gently rubbed the hanging skull points on both sides of his forehead with both hands.
"In fact, I have always known that you were hiding something from us, but I knew you must have your reasons for not telling us... Now I see that this is it."
"I had no intention of telling you about the existence of the Undead Crew... The power they possess is too great, and I can't guarantee that they won't resort to extreme measures for the sake of their own secrecy. In their eyes, the lives of ordinary people are just a number, a number that can be put on the scales as a chip." Ke Lan said while standing.
"I know." The Hound nodded, "You did the right thing... Now I know about it. Oh, and there's Asano Akira outside. He will definitely hear it... As for the others, don't tell them."
He stood up from the ground, and for a moment, Ke Lan felt as if he had aged by a dozen years.
"I just never thought that the people who decide the fate of mankind... would be such a group of people." The Hound said slowly, "So, you should join them in the future, right?"
"They have already sent me an invitation. As long as I can pass the test, I can become a member of the Undead Crew." Ke Lan said, "The mission in the Molten Mine Area is the assessment content of the first stage of this test."
"Ke Lan, can you promise me one thing?" The Hound suddenly asked.
"What 's up?"
“Even if you really become one of them in the future, don’t forget that you are a human being, not a monster.”
The Hound paused and continued, "The power of life and death can easily make people addicted... I don't know what you will become by then, and I also know the truth that 'kindness does not lead to an army'... But after you become a chess player, don't forget your days as a 'chess piece'."
The Hound rubbed the muscles on his face vigorously and adjusted his mood: "It may be too early to tell you this now... In fact, I don't have much to be sad about. Compared with the useless people in the United Parliament Group who are just waiting to die, I would rather have more capable people lead us... But you... must be careful. Even if those things regard you as one of their own kind, the meaning of "one of their own kind" and "companion" are different..."
His words were a little incoherent, but Ke Lan still understood most of the meaning.
"I know." Ke Lan nodded.
"We shouldn't be a burden to you, right?" The Hound asked with a smile.
“Not really.”
"That's fine. Go in without worry. If these little bastards from the research institute dare to have any bad ideas when you come out, I will be the first to wipe out their lair."
"Okay, but it looks like their lair has been destroyed..."
"Fuck, you just have a fucking mouth, right? If you can't speak, then don't speak." In just a few seconds, the hound had returned to its usual state, as if the conversation just now had never happened.
"…Then I won't say anything."
"By the way, even if the crew has invited you, they may not be sincere. You need to figure out the specific situation yourself. We can't help you in this regard... It's always a good idea to be more careful. I never mind speculating on others with the greatest malice... Especially people like them who are in high positions and have a panoramic view of the overall situation. They can see a lot of things that we can't see. As I said before, they are chess players, and we are chess pieces - chess players can see the trend of the entire game, but we can only see a few squares around us. We may be abandoned in the next step."
…
…
Between the third line of defense and the institute's headquarters, which is designated as a "contaminated area," there is a "blank area" that is three hundred meters wide.
In order to prevent individuals infected by the "meme" from using buildings as cover to infiltrate the defense line, this circle of buildings were wiped out by some powerful weapons. Standing on the edge of the blank area, Ke Lan could only see the exposed foundations and the metal materials that were melted, flowed like magma, and then solidified again.
At the end of the blank area is the super energy shield that looks like an inverted giant bowl.
There were no personnel stationed on the third line of defense, and the entire line of defense adopted a fully automatic control system - as long as any moving object attempted to cross the blank area, those densely packed artillery positions would immediately lock onto it until it was blasted to pieces without leaving any trace.
At the same time, in order to prevent the spread of information containing "memes", all communication lines in the entire West Second District were cut off, and only the internal wired network of the Crisis Management Department could be used. The power armor worn by Ke Lan and Asano Akira was equipped with two sets of communication devices - the wired communication device was connected to the headquarters at this end of the defense line through a six-kilometer cable. If the cable was cut off, they could also use laser communication... Of course, the premise is that there is no obstruction on the path of the laser emission.
"The automatic firepower of the third line of defense will be shut down in fifteen seconds. You have a five-minute window to cross the blank area ahead. Are you ready?" Schroeder's voice came from the headset.
"Let me confirm one last time. I have the authority to open fire at will, right? I will not be responsible if any priceless bottles or jars are broken." Ke Lan said.
"...Experts from the institute said they hope to minimize the damage." Schroeder said, "After all, those are all valuable scientific research materials..."
"I'll try my best. I can only say I'll try my best."
