Volume 11: Memetic Crisis Chapter 560: Two Hundred Standard Doses
"I can't answer these questions...partly because your authority is not enough for you to know the truth, and partly because even I don't know." Pan replied.
"Which part don't you know?" Ke Lan couldn't help but feel confused. Logically speaking, the Undead Crew Club was already the organization with the highest authority among humans. If even Pan didn't know, who else was qualified to know?
Are the members of the Undead Crew also divided into different ranks? However, judging from the details shown in various aspects, those seat numbers are really just numbers, and do not represent the level of authority. Otherwise, when Ke Lan joins the Undead Crew and inherits the title of "Pope" of Chiron's fifth seat, wouldn't he be ranked ahead of most members?
This is obviously impossible.
The Undead Crew should be an organization with a balanced power, at least on the surface - just like the United Parliamentary Group, every member of the parliament has an equal voting weight... However, the forces represented by each member of the parliament are another matter.
It is reasonable that some crew members know some secrets that other members do not know. Especially for members like Ke Lan who "joined later", many events that they have not personally experienced are difficult to get all the details of the events based on the archives alone.
“I still can’t tell you.” The security robot shook its head, and the joints of its neck made crisp “crackling” sounds due to the low temperature. “You will naturally know after you join us.”
"Okay, let me ask it another way..." Ke Lan hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Am I... a human?"
He did not ask "Am I still a human being?", but directly asked "Am I human?"... Although these two questions are only two words apart, their meanings are completely different... Ke Lan found it hard to believe that so many "unreasonable" things could happen to an "ordinary human being".
He even once suspected that he might be an "experimental subject" like Asano Akira, but he didn't know it.
But he felt that this possibility was very low - if he was really a manipulated "experimental subject", then the undead crew would not have to reveal so much information to him, and Chiron would not have recommended him to inherit the seat of "Pope" at all...
Ke Lan, on the contrary, felt that the experience of the "prophet" of the heretical sect was more like the plot of an "experimental subject" who resolutely rebelled after discovering the truth about the Ark's top management - the first half was quite full of rebellious spirit, but after he successfully broke free from the shackles, he went to the other extreme.
It would be great if the undead crew would be willing to tell me things about the prophet. Unfortunately, even if Ke Lan asked, he would probably get the same answer.
Ke Lan asked Pan this question just to verify this point.
Since the Undead Crew would not mind letting him know this information, there was no need for them to hide these things from him - the more they concealed, the more suspicious he would become, and the less trust he would have in the Undead Crew.
If not handled properly, it is entirely possible that you will become the second "prophet".
Some things are better to be explained openly and honestly. Ke Lan felt that the other party must understand this.
"Yes." This time Pan answered very straightforwardly, "Of course you are a human. Just like the tens of millions of people on the Ark, but you are luckier and have gained some abilities beyond the scope of ordinary people's cognition."
Ke Lan breathed a sigh of relief.
"Is it really just luck?"
"At least that's what I think." Pan controlled the guard robot and tapped his metal skull with his fingers. "In fact, I didn't think highly of you at first... The phrase I despise the most is 'luck is also a part of strength'... But I have to admit that you are indeed lucky."
"..." Ke Lan knew in her heart that even if she continued to ask, Pan would probably just say some repetitive words to evade her... There was no point in continuing this topic.
"Speaking of Demeter? Why didn't she come forward this time?" Ke Lan walked around the hall and asked as she walked.
"...Are you infatuated with that old woman? No way? I didn't expect you to like her?" Pan said with some surprise. Unfortunately, the hardware conditions of the security robot were limited, and it was impossible to show that kind of exaggerated expression.
"I'm just wondering, why did someone suddenly change this time when it was Demeter who contacted me before?" Ke Lan said unhappily, "It can't be that because your serial number is 'Devil', you have to deliver the living armor to me, right? Then you guys are really too formalistic - or, too 'middle school'."
"Of course it's not because of this reason, although I think the reason you gave is great." Pan shook his head. "That old woman is probably in trouble now, so how can she have the time to take care of you? The crew will start the accountability process against her next Monday. Even if she is not impeached, her authority will probably be greatly restricted."
"Impeachment?" Ke Lan was stunned. He wanted to ask if a member of the Undead Crew could be impeached, but he quickly thought of Chiron, the "Pope" who was expelled from the Crew. "What did she do wrong?"
"Well, that's it." The security robot raised its chin towards the pus that the Seraph had transformed into on the ground. "Although this accident was caused by Smith, without the old woman's tacit consent, Smith would not have been able to obtain so many cell samples with his authority. You know, according to the ultimatum issued by the crew to the research institute, the batch of cloned cells should have been destroyed two days ago."
"Was this experiment instructed by Demeter?" Ke Lan was stunned. To be honest, the information revealed by the other party was beyond his expectations. He originally thought that it was just the people in the research institute who were hiding it from their superiors. But he didn't expect that the seemingly elegant and dignified "lady" was actually a lunatic at heart?
"If the experiment was directly instructed by her, then the accountability procedure can be omitted." Pan sneered, "But it's almost the same. This old woman seems to be very patient, but in fact she is more impatient than anyone else... But her methods are better than that idiot Chiron. At least she won't use herself as an experiment."
“…”
"Oh, by the way, that little girl Renee...well, you should not have slept with her, right?" Pan suddenly changed the subject and asked.
"No." Ke Lan couldn't help but look up at the security robot - although Pan's personality and tone seemed like a big boy who had just reached adulthood, judging from the way he addressed Dr. Renee as "little girl", this guy was obviously an old monster who had lived for who knows how many years.
"She is also a member of Demeter's staff... Although there are no factional disputes within the crew, each of us still has a few "confidants" who are more convenient to use. Renee is such a character. You probably don't know that this girl has planned at least thirty "attack" plans to try to force you to have a relationship. She even tried to add two hundred standard doses of aphrodisiacs to your food, but the meal was intercepted by the security bureau and was not delivered to your table in the end."
"..." Ke Lan stared at the robot in silence. After a long while, he said, "With my current physical condition, two hundred doses of medicine probably won't work, right?"
"It's hard to say... Besides, I didn't say these were 200 doses for human use... That crazy girl put a super concentrated version of the drug. The 200 standard doses actually refer to the standard for use on thunder beasts."
"Is she planning to poison me?" Ke Lan's mouth twitched twice, and she couldn't help but secretly feel lucky that the meal was intercepted. If she had really eaten it, God knows what would have happened.
"That's not the case. She tested your cell clones and calculated the drug resistance before coming up with the actual dosage." Pan shrugged again. "Compared to that, the Morgans' group was just playing small fry... The 'incense' they used, even if it was strong enough to trigger the fire alarm inside the cabin, wouldn't make you lose your mind - of course, if you already have that idea, then only a tiny dose would be enough to help you along the way."
"She even chose Zofia as her experimental subject." Ke Lan took this opportunity to start "complaining". "To be honest, I find it hard to tolerate this kind of behavior against people around me. As the leaders of mankind, you should also know very well what the consequences will be if their families are bullied when soldiers are fighting for the Ark on the battlefield. Although I can't be considered a real soldier , I am at least working for you, right?"
"I know." Pan nodded, "We will try our best to prevent such things from happening again in the future."
"Even the Undead Crew can only say 'try our best'?" Ke Lan complained somewhat unsatisfiedly.
"There is no such thing as a 100% reliable guarantee in the world. Otherwise, we wouldn't be standing here talking now, don't you think?" The security robot spread its hands helplessly. "Okay, the people from the crisis management department are here. Let them handle the cleaning work."
As soon as Pan finished speaking, the vertical tunnel of the secret passage was filled with the whistling sound of heavy objects falling at high speed. The sound came from far away and finally there was a loud "bang" as the air near the nozzle exploded when the buffer thruster ignited and sprayed. Four humanoid mechas over three meters tall walked out of the secret passage one after another.
The people from the crisis management department arrived a full twenty minutes earlier than the expected time, obviously they had rushed here at full speed.
"We received news from the crew meeting that you have solved the problem." The hatch on the chest of the leading humanoid mecha flipped up, revealing Lin Qiming sitting on the ground.
His face was covered with a silver-grey VR goggle, and the sensors on the outside of the mecha would map the surrounding terrain into a VR image and present it on the screen, so that the operator of the mecha could avoid being infected by the "meme" - but the disadvantage of doing so was that the sensors could not identify creatures infected by the "meme", and when faced with monsters wandering in the contaminated area, these mechas were almost half-blind.
They could only rely on sonar devices to detect the movements of the infected creatures, but the shortcomings of sonar were that it did not react fast enough and was easily interfered with and deceived - these four mechas all had some damage on their bodies, and it seemed that they had suffered a lot in the battle with the escaped indigenous creatures.
"In order to speed up the process, some operators chose to engage in visual combat at the risk of being infected, so that we were able to arrive here ahead of time." Lin Qiming added, the gas exhaled from his mouth instantly formed a large cloud of misty white fog.
"The main body of the 'meme' has been dealt with." Ke Lan said, "Those indigenous creatures that escaped have at most mutated more severely and should not pose a risk of infection."
"Yes, so far, we haven't received any news of anyone being infected... By the way... aren't you cold?" Lin Qiming reacted at this moment. In this environment with a temperature of nearly 100 degrees below zero, Ke Lan was only wearing a piece of rag around her waist and standing almost naked on the deep red ice surface formed by blood plasma.
"Oh, now that you mention it, it does seem a bit cold. Do you have any spare clothes?" Ke Lan said.
"This... I really don't have this. How about this, you wear my clothes and I'll give you my mecha." Lin Qiming said as he reached for the zipper at the collar.
"Forget it. If he really was afraid of the cold, he would have frozen to death long ago." Pan's lazy voice came from behind. "Don't you use your brain to think about it? If it were you, how long could you last in this place with just a piece of rag wrapped around you? I see that you are already a little too cold to bear it before you even take off your clothes, right?"
"Who?" Lin Qiming and the other three mechas turned around instantly. They then noticed that in addition to Ke Lan, there was also a security robot leaning against the wall in the hall.
But before Pan could speak again, Lin Qiming's face showed a panic expression: "You...you can't be a crew member..."
"You still have some brains." Pan said, "Okay, we've finished this , and the rest will follow the preset process."
After saying that, Pan went offline without even saying hello to Ke Lan. The head and arms of the security robot that had lost control drooped down, and it instantly switched to a "waiting to start" state.
…
Lin Qiming left two people to guard the fifth floor of the underground ice storage to meet the subsequent "cleaning" people, and he and another person escorted Ke Lan out of the contaminated area - of course, he did not forget to ask someone to send a set of suitable clothes over, so as to avoid the embarrassing scene of Ke Lan running naked on camera.
