Volume 12: Yaguna Kotor Chapter 602: Calling for Help
"But..." Ke Lan hesitated for a moment, but continued, "Aren't you worried that sending her to the battlefield will cause the situation to develop in an uncontrollable direction?"
"With her abilities, we can't control her. All we can do is guide her." Pan said, "A beast, no matter how long it is locked in a cage, the hunting instinct in its blood will not disappear because of human feeding... Not to mention that she was created for the purpose of being a weapon..."
"arms……"
"Yes, you have to understand that she is a weapon , a weapon used for killing... It's like human sexual desire. If it is not released, it will cause problems." Pan's metaphor is a bit vulgar, but there is nothing wrong with the meaning he expresses.
If a weapon is kept in a warehouse and not used, the only fate that awaits it is rusting and becoming scrapped... But a "weapon" with self-awareness cannot be treated in this way.
"In fact, the crew would not want to disturb her daily life unless it is absolutely necessary... But in the current situation, if we don't use her ability to solve the problem..."
"Even you can't deal with the guy down there?" Ke Lan couldn't help but interrupt.
Although he was not sure about the limits of the undead crew's abilities, he was certain that they definitely had more than one way to get rid of the black mummy, otherwise this group of people would not be able to "watch" this farce so carefree.
This group of people are indeed very patient, but they are not arrogant - Ke Lan even feels that in the previous "memetic contagion" incident, even if he was unwilling to wear the living armor, the undead crew would most likely not activate the "Spark Project"... The reason why Pan said that was entirely to induce himself to put on this damn armor.
But at that time, Ke Lan had no better choice - if he didn't wear it, perhaps the residents on the Ark would not be abandoned, but at least he himself would most likely end up in the underground ice storage.
"There is definitely a plan B... but the problem is that this plan B is very difficult to implement. It is so difficult that we may even need to spend several years to make preliminary arrangements. Moreover, even if we complete the preliminary work, the success rate may not be very high in the end. The best plan is to let her take action - unless she herself is unwilling to take action, then we can make another plan."
"Of course, you can rest assured. As the human being closest to her in every sense, I think she should still be willing to help you clean up your mess." Pan added.
"Okay, I'll give it a try." Ke Lan hung up the phone and turned to look at Cao Ge. "Commander, I need you to provide me with a fast enough plane. I need to go back to the Ark now. Also, while I'm away, please keep an eye on that thing down there. If it makes any unusual movements, please contact me and the crew immediately."
"Okay, okay..." Ke Lan had hung up the phone for a while, and Cao Ge finally nodded as if waking up from a dream, "Can I ask you one thing... Are you planning to bring 'her' here?"
Although Cao Ge didn't know what the "she" in the conversation between Ke Lan and Pan referred to, but from the information revealed between the lines, it should at least be a thing with the appearance characteristics of a human female.
"Yes." Ke Lan nodded and looked at him.
Cao Ge immediately realized that he had spoken out of turn, and quickly said, "I am familiar with the relevant confidentiality regulations. I promise that no one here today will leak what they heard."
"...Huh?" Ke Lan was stunned for a moment, then smiled, "There's no need to be so nervous... Since the guy from the Undead Crew asked me to use her power to kill the thing below, her existence and abilities must be revealed. You will have to meet her later."
It would have been fine if Ke Lan hadn't said anything. Once she did, Cao Ge became even more nervous: "Meet her...?! Is there anything I need to be careful about?"
Cao Ge was deeply impressed by the adjectives in the conversation between Ke Lan and Pan, such as "the power to destroy the Ark at any time" and "more dangerous than all the collections in the underground ice storage combined". In his opinion, bringing "her" as Ke Lan mentioned to the First Fleet was even more disturbing than holding a hydrogen bomb with its fuse already triggered in both hands.
"Relax, just treat her as an ordinary girl full of curiosity." Ke Lan said, patting Cao Ge's shoulder - although in Ke Lan's own opinion, "curiosity" is an attribute that makes people uneasy, but at least Ze Luo's curiosity is still within the normal range. Except for "that request" that day, there has been no behavior that violates human ethics and morals.
…
…
As the fastest flying vehicle equipped by the First Fleet, the "Peregrine-class" high-speed reconnaissance aircraft took only twenty minutes to send Ke Lan back to the Ark.
As soon as Ke Lan got off the plane, he got on the jet-propelled military motorcycle that had been prepared for him and rushed towards Sofia's residence.
After Zofia left the Ark and went to Yagunakotor, Ze Luo has been living alone - Ke Lan was a little worried at first, but when he found out that Zofia and Ze Luo had video calls for nearly an hour every day and their relationship was as good as that of sisters... For some reason, this worry faded away little by little.
Many times, he almost regarded Ze Luo as a real human being.
Until today, the conversation with Pan made him suddenly realize an overlooked problem - Ze Luo is a life form completely different from humans. Although she wants to experience human life, she can never really become a human.
As Pan said, she is a weapon, a weapon created for the purpose of killing.
When Ke Lan pushed open the door of Zofia's study, she found Ze Luo squatting on a chair, staring at the computer screen intently - and her hands were operating the keyboard and mouse at a speed so fast that one could almost see the afterimage, and the keyboard kept making crackling sounds.
Ke Lan couldn't help but feel puzzled - with this girl's ability, she should be able to beat her opponents no matter what game she played... What kind of game could "force" her to be so focused?
Ke Lan walked closer and found that the computer screen was running a very old real-time strategy game - "Red Alert 2", and the armored force controlled by Ze Luo was retreating under the siege of a colorful multinational coalition.
"Red Alert?" Ke Lan was stunned. Although this game is old, it is also a classic. Of course, he has played it before. The highest difficulty of this game in stand-alone mode is one against seven ruthless enemies. For a novice who has just come into contact with this kind of game, seven ruthless AIs will most likely beat him to pieces. But for old players who have a certain understanding of the game, one against seven ruthless is actually not that difficult - especially on those maps where you can blow up bridges and block terrain.
As for Ze Luo, a humanoid plug-in, she should be able to suppress the enemy with one hand when she is outnumbered, right? How could she be forced to this point?
Ke Lan stood behind her and watched for a while, and immediately found the problem - the map that Ze Luo was using was dozens of times larger than the largest map in the original Red Alert... In the old era, due to the limitations of computer computing power at that time, the map size and number of units in Red Alert were limited. But in this era, any mid-range computer can be used to play Red Alert, and tens of thousands of units can fight smoothly on the same screen.
"So it was a MOD..." Ke Lan muttered softly, and then asked, "What difficulty are you playing on?"
"One against one hundred and twenty-seven is cruel." Ze Luo said.
"Excuse me, my dear..." Ke Lan glanced at the game time. Although Ze Luo's base had been destroyed by the enemy, she still led this group of remaining soldiers and used various terrains to fight the enemy, dragging the game time to nearly thirty minutes.
Although the AI of old games like Red Alert can only operate step by step, the difference in numbers is there, especially in a game with 2D graphics, attack lock, and simple calculation procedures, which leaves very little room for players to operate - with one hundred and twenty-seven times the number of enemies, one side only needs to send out a tank and rush in all at once to crush the player's base, leaving no chance of resistance at all.
F2A is done for. No matter how fancy the operations are, they are nothing but embroidered pillows that can withstand a single blow in the face of absolute power.
(Note: F2: Select all units; A: Attack command.)
Soon, the last Rhino tank operated by Ze Luo was also destroyed by the enemies rushing over from all over the mountains. The picture froze, and the word "failure" jumped out in the middle of the screen. Ze Luo, who was sitting in front of the screen, sighed slightly and turned off the game.
"You're back?" Ze Luo turned her head and looked at Ke Lan - in fact, Ze Luo had already sensed Ke Lan's approach when he stepped into the house within a few hundred meters, but at that time she was busy dealing with enemies that were a hundred times more numerous than herself and could not get away.
"Yes, there is a troublesome matter - it's about you." Ke Lan pulled a chair in front of the bookcase and sat down.
"Has my existence been discovered?" Ze Luo said expressionlessly .
"How do you know that?"
"During this period of time, I have always felt that something is spying on me... This is a kind of spying that belongs to the five senses of human beings. There is an elusive wave of thought that has come into contact with me - well, if I have to use something to compare it, it is like a fortune teller is predicting information related to me." Ze Luo said slowly, "This metaphor may be a bit strange, but in the literature I have read, this feeling is the closest."
"Fortune teller?" Ke Lan was slightly startled. Could it be some kind of detection method that the undead crew knew? From Ze Luo's description, this detection method seemed to have a very strong metaphysical color... Ke Lan felt that this technology was very likely to come from Alpha civilization, not human civilization.
"Well, the group of people spying on you are the Undead Crew."
"The Undead Crew? Who are they?" Ze Luo looked at Ke Lan curiously . "In all the documents I've read, there is no record of this organization."
"Of course they won't appear in a document that anyone can read." Ke Lan stretched his body back and leaned on the leather chair. "This group of people is secretly controlled by the Ark. They are the supreme rulers of human civilization - if there is no other human civilization in this world."
"Are they human?" Ke Lan thought Ze Luo would ask something else, but who knew that the first question she asked would be so sharp.
Sharp and to the point.
"I'm not sure." Ke Lan shook his head. "I haven't seen them, but I think they are most likely human, at least they used to be - and their current way of thinking is no different from that of humans, and everything they do is for the Ark and its residents. At least compared to the people of the heretical sects, I am more willing to believe them."
"Do you believe them?" Ze Luo asked.
Ke Lan always felt that this question was very familiar, as if someone had asked him the same question not long ago .
It’s just that the questioner and the key person in the question are reversed.
"I can only choose to believe it." Ke Lan's answer was almost the same as before.
"What will they do to me?" Ze Luo asked again.
"One of them told me that they would not interfere with your life for the time being... Although I'm not sure how long this guarantee will last, at least he is telling the truth, otherwise I wouldn't be the one looking for you now." Ke Lan said, "Also, I encountered some troubles outside that I couldn't solve..."
"Is it the enemy?"
"I guess so... It's a monster summoned by a heretical sect. No weapons currently available to humans can cause damage to it, but it should be unable to defend against your ability." Ke Lan said.
Ze Luo's ability is related to time and space. This level of power is described in the terminology of fantasy novels as "the law of heaven and earth". This kind of power cannot be endured by the physical strength of the body alone.
Thanks to the crystal, Ke Lan himself also possesses such power, but his ability is still mainly auxiliary in nature. In terms of destructive power alone, he is incomparable to Ze Luo and the puppet individuals.
"Okay." Ze Luo nodded.
…
When Ke Lan and Ze Luo returned to the White Ridge Mountains, the entire First Fleet had basically assembled over the White Ridge Mountains. Dozens of black warships were hovering in the sky thousands of meters high. Just looking from a distance was full of visual oppression.
"Commander, what's the current situation?" As soon as Ke Lan stepped onto the new flagship of the First Fleet, he asked Cao Ge directly.
Cao Ge first glanced at Ze Luo, who was following behind Ke Lan, with an extremely complicated look, and then said to Ke Lan: "The target did not behave abnormally. In the hour you were away, it has been moving towards the Ark, passing through two mountains and moving a distance of about seven kilometers."
If the phrase "through a mountain" is used to describe a person, it probably means that the person has climbed over the mountain or passed by the mountain. But when used to describe the black mummy, it means "through" in a literal sense.
It moved a distance of seven kilometers and also drilled a seven-kilometer-long tunnel inside the mountain.
