Volume 12: Yaguna Kotor Chapter 603 Being Watched
"But after you left the Ark, the target's trajectory changed again." Cao Ge added, "But if you draw an extension line in the direction of each change of direction, this line will pass through the real-time coordinates of your location."
"It's really keeping its eyes on me... It seems that no matter how far away I am from it, it can always lock onto my position..." Ke Lan pondered, "Could this also be an ability bestowed upon it by the 'God' of the heretical sect?"
What Ke Lan couldn't understand was why the "great god" gave the black mummy immense power, an indestructible body, and tracking capabilities that were almost comparable to the global positioning system of the old era, but didn't give it a slightly better brain?
If only this monster's IQ was a little higher—it doesn't have to be much higher, just enough to reach the level of a normal person—the trouble it would bring to Ke Lan and Fang Zhou would be hundreds of times more than it is now.
At least, he won't be like he is now, running around in the mountain like a fool.
Could it be that there weren't enough sacrifices during the offering?
Ke Lan was not sure, but fortunately at that time there were only three people and three seeds of erosion in the entire cockpit who could be used as sacrifices besides him. Otherwise, the thing summoned by the black cardinal would probably not be this stupid black mummy.
But this incident also reminded Ke Lan that in the sacrifice ceremony of the black cardinal, the number of sacrifices can be stacked... In other words, if the heretical sects want to cause trouble, they can even gather a dozen black cardinals and hundreds of containers to complete the "fusion sacrifice"... With this amount of sacrifices, they can probably summon a prehistoric species, right?
Wait a minute!
A bold idea suddenly popped up in Ke Lan's mind...
Could it be that those primitive species on this planet were summoned in this way?
Otherwise, why don't their genetic samples match any of the indigenous creatures on Alpha?
They have no related species, nor have they left any traces in the process of biological evolution, and they are not even the creation of the Alpha civilization - these primitive species really seem to have appeared out of thin air.
It's really strange...
The heretics clearly held such powerful power in their hands - if they advanced, they could use the "side effects" caused by the interruption of the sacrificial ceremony to draw lots; if they retreated, they could gather a group of black cardinals and Seed of Erosion containers to summon monsters of the Primordial Seed level... No matter which option they chose, they could severely damage or even destroy the Ark, but the prophet did not do so.
In this way, Ke Lan has more reason to believe that there is something in the Ark that the prophet wants very much or is very afraid of.
"The target appears in sight!" whispered the staff officer at the side. At the top of a mountain, a black mummy emerged from the hard rock, raised its head and looked at the warship hovering in the sky.
Its sight spanned a distance of hundreds of meters, penetrated the layers of armor and cabins on the warship, and locked firmly on Ke Lan - Ke Lan took a step back slightly, and its sight moved a few degrees.
Unfortunately, the black mummy did not have the ability to fly, and it did not seem to know how to jump. It could only stand on the top of the mountain, raise its head, and look blankly at Ke Lan who was on the spaceship.
Just when most people thought that the black mummy was at its wits' end, a shrill alarm suddenly sounded inside the "Yao" class aircraft carrier battleship. Immediately afterwards, the more than 1,600-meter-long super battleship actually began to tremble in the air, as if it was about to crash at any time.
The metal parts on the officers' uniforms in the command room, such as buttons and rings, fell off one after another and were instantly sucked onto the floor. The holographic projection image on the command desk was covered by large patches of snow-like interference.
"What's going on!" Cao Ge's voice sounded a little painful - although his mechanical prostheses are all high-end products made of titanium alloy and nino alloy, some circuit structures and magnetized components are still inevitably affected by the magnetic field. Even if these prostheses have taken this problem into consideration at the beginning of their design, the protective measures also have their limits. When the magnetic field is strong to a certain extent, it will still be affected.
Black blood flowed out of Cao Ge's nostrils and ears. He clenched his teeth and grasped the edge of the table tightly with his flesh arms.
"Report! The ship is being pulled by a strong external magnetic field! The risk of crash is increasing rapidly!" The captain's voice came from the communicator, "We may lose control of the battleship at any time!"
"Immediately, raise the altitude!" Cao Ge said decisively.
The eight main thrusters of the "Yao" class aircraft carrier battleship, each with a diameter of more than 35 meters, simultaneously ejected dark blue tail flames. After the head of the battleship was raised to a certain angle, the entire battleship trembled and flew towards a higher place.
It was not until the reading on the altimeter jumped to more than 4,700 meters that the battleship's hull stabilized and the strong magnetic field interference disappeared.
The military doctor on the battleship hurried over at this time, helped Cao Ge sit on a special wheelchair, and attached the electrodes of various examination equipment to his body and prosthesis.
It was not until the military doctor injected a tube of dark brown medicine into Cao Ge's body that Cao Ge's originally rapid breathing gradually stabilized.
"What happened just now? Is it related to the target? Check it out quickly!" Cao Ge ordered his subordinates, and several technical officers immediately buried their heads in front of the computer and started typing.
A data model was quickly projected in front of everyone.
"Just 20 seconds ago, the magnetic field around the target's body disappeared. To be precise, it didn't disappear, but was constrained into a straight line." A technical officer said haltingly, "We don't know the principle behind this, but from the results of a comprehensive analysis of various monitoring data, the target's magnetic field was 'twisted' into a 'rope'... a 'gravity rope' that is over a thousand meters long."
"You mean, the warship was just held by this 'gravity rope', right?" Cao Ge asked in a deep voice.
"Yes." The technical officer nodded.
"Continue to maintain this altitude and monitor the range of the magnetic field and gravitational field around the target at all times." Cao Ge ordered.
"yes!"
"Something seems to be wrong." Ke Lan shook his head, "This thing... seems to have become a little smarter."
"It seems to have a certain learning ability..." Cao Ge frowned, and the muscles on his face were so tense that his half-flesh and half-machine face looked even more hideous.
"If it had used this trick on the Albatross just now, the aircraft's engine would not have been able to escape this gravitational field." Ke Lan said, "The Albatross would have crashed directly, and the crew on board would not even have a chance to parachute to escape."
"Is this good news or bad news?" Cao Ge couldn't help but smile bitterly.
It's just that his face looked even scarier when he smiled than when he cried... Ke Lan suddenly understood why the new commander of the First Fleet kept a poker face most of the time - to him, perhaps the expressionless look was the least scary.
"At least it's good news before any actual damage is done." Ke Lan turned to look at Ze Luo behind him, "How about it, can you get rid of this thing?"
"I can try...but it's too far from here." Ze Luo said softly.
"Okay, I'll take you down."
"I will immediately arrange an elite force to escort you closer to the target." Cao Ge said immediately, but Ke Lan waved his hand at him - "There is no need to let your men take this risk. Even if we are really in danger, do you think they can play any role?"
This sentence immediately choked Cao Ge speechless - what Ke Lan said was absolutely right. If even the First Fleet could not kill the enemy, it would be useless to send more and more elite soldiers. The so-called "escort" sounded more like a joke.
"O-Okay... Good luck to you then."
…
In order to prevent the aircraft from being captured by the black mummy's magnetic field again, Ke Lan and Ze Luo boarded a light glider made of high molecular polymers without any metal parts. The moment the glider flew over the top of the mountain, Ke Lan jumped out of the cabin holding Ze Luo and landed less than 20 meters away from the black mummy.
The black mummy slowly turned around, stared at him dimly with its eyes without whites, and took a step towards Ke Lan.
But the next moment, a surprising scene appeared - the lower body of the black mummy was moving forward, but its upper body was fixed in place and motionless... Then, this inconsistent and weird feeling was broken by a crisp "click" sound, and an obvious crack appeared on the waist and abdomen of the black mummy.
The crack expanded rapidly, covering the middle part of the black mummy's body like a spider web.
This was the first time that damage visible to the naked eye appeared on its body. Black, metallic fragments fell from its body, and before they hit the ground, they had already turned into finer dust and completely dissipated in the biting cold wind.
"I solidified the space where its upper body was, but its legs didn't stop moving..." Ze Luo said to Ke Lan, "In fact, its body was torn apart by its own strength..."
"I know that this thing's power is terrifying, but I didn't expect it to be so outrageous..." Ke Lan smacked his lips. The body that was intact in the nuclear explosion could actually be torn apart by hand... Then for this black mummy, it should be easier to tear apart those warships floating in the sky by hand.
“Ka-ka…”
The cracks were still spreading ... Finally, the upper and lower bodies of the black mummy broke apart. Its legs took a few steps forward due to inertia, then fell to the ground with a bang and shattered into powder.
The body, which originally had physical strength far exceeding that of Nino Alloy, now looked as fragile as ordinary glass...
The next second, the upper body that was freed from solidified time and space also fell to the ground - unlike the lower body, an irregular crystal fell out from the fragments of the black mummy's upper body.
The shape of this crystal looks like the "core" of the Seed of Erosion, but there is no bright red "God's Blood" inside, only a drop of asphalt-like black round liquid.
When Ke Lan picked up the crystal, the drop of liquid was shrinking rapidly... In less than three seconds, it completely disappeared under Ke Lan's eyes, leaving only a hard transparent crystal.
Ke Lan casually put the crystal away and turned around, only to find Ze Luo raising his little head and staring at the sky with a dull expression.
"What's wrong?"
Ke Lan also looked up at the sky along her line of sight, but could only see warships blocking out the sun and various fighter planes surrounding the warships, and did not discover anything else unusual.
"Just now, when this thing broke, it seemed like something looked at me." Ze Luo said.
"Undead Crew?"
"It's not them... It's a completely different feeling. That sight seems to come from a very far away place." Ze Luo said.
Ke Lan's breathing suddenly stopped.
He knew exactly what "that sight" Ze Luo was referring to.
That was the gaze from Him - when the black mummy was summoned to this world, Ke Lan had felt the sight from Him, and now, when the black mummy fell apart, His sight once again swept across the sky above this planet.
But this time, He was not looking at Ke Lan, but Ze Luo who killed the black mummy.
Ke Lan felt his heartbeat quicken. He looked at Ze Luo carefully, trying to find any subtle changes in her.
"Do you have any feeling that is different from before?" Ke Lan couldn't help but ask.
Ze Luo shook his head and said, "Only when I was stared at by that gaze just now, my body seemed unable to move... But that was only a very brief moment. If measured in human time units, it was less than a microsecond."
For humans, a microsecond may be just a thought that flashes through the mind and does not even leave much memory. It is not even a momentary illusion... But anyone who has been looked at by Him will not think so.
In the moment of being watched, time is frozen...The moment is eternity, which is very appropriate to use here.
It was an experience that could be described as "unforgettable". Although all the details would become blurred in the memory, the sight itself would be deeply imprinted in the consciousness of the person being looked at.
"Apart from that? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere in your body?" Ke Lan asked again.
"My body doesn't produce any uncomfortable symptoms. However, if you want me to simulate human illness or physical injury, I can do it..." Ze Luo looked at Ke Lan with some confusion.
