Volume 15 Gray Fog Forest Chapter 762: Eclipse
"All information related to the great gods will bear the imprint of God. This is one of the eternal and unchanging truths in the universe."
"The more information a biological individual absorbs, the more 'imprints' will accumulate in the body... This is a change at a high-dimensional level, but it will also affect the biological individual's observable form under normal circumstances..."
"This change is called erosion. It is an irresistible and irreversible process. It spreads through the thinking and cognition of individual organisms. When they realize the existence of the great god, the process of erosion has already begun."
"Intelligent creatures are generally curious. Driven by curiosity, they will actively search for and absorb relevant information, thus accelerating the progress of erosion..."
"All information bearing the mark of the gods is collectively referred to as 'forbidden knowledge'. To obtain this knowledge, one must pay an unforeseen price..."
"Everything that belongs to the great gods cannot be observed and understood by mortals, unless one abandons the mortal body."
"When the degree of erosion exceeds the 'threshold value', the soul of the individual creature will be assimilated by the great god and become a part of him, and the body of the individual left in the mortal world will become an 'eroded corpse' - this phenomenon is called 'super erosion'."
…
"Super Eclipse?!"
Ke Lan couldn't help but hold her breath, carefully looking at the "eroded corpse" in front of her.
The Undead Crew had never revealed to Ke Lan what would happen if the degree of erosion exceeded the critical point, but now, a living example was placed in front of Ke Lan.
This "eroded corpse" was undoubtedly one of the crew members of the "Shaojiang Kai". During this operation, he actively or passively accepted the "forbidden knowledge" that was enough to cause the degree of erosion to exceed the critical point, so that he became what he is now.
From this point of view, the Undead Crew’s “opposition” concerns are not unreasonable... The Undead Crew undoubtedly possesses a large amount of “forbidden knowledge”, but this “forbidden knowledge” can only be divided into “several portions” and preserved by different members relying on their own memories.
If the crew members share this "forbidden knowledge" with each other, the risk of "super erosion" will increase exponentially - the entire crew will likely be turned into "eclipsed corpses" overnight.
Thinking of this, Ke Lan couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
Given this risk, why are Demeter and the others so persistent in having all crew members share information...Aren't they worried that their level of erosion will exceed that critical point?
Or...is this their original purpose?
Are Demeter and his group the real "traitors" in the crew?
No... that's not right. If that's the case, then their plan would be too easy to see through... The members of the Undead Crew are all elites picked from thousands of people. They are not fools. They can think of the same things that I can think of... Even if they have to share information, they should have the means to avoid the occurrence of "super eclipse".
According to the memories that flowed into Ke Lan's brain, after the erosion rate of an individual exceeds the critical point, the so-called "soul" will be assimilated by the great god, or in a more understandable way, "ascend to the divine realm", and the remaining body will become a monster called "Erosion Corpse" by the Alpha civilization...
This statement sounds full of religious flavor, but based on the current level of human cognition, stories about high-dimensional creatures like "great gods" do sound no different from religious stories that cannot be explained by science.
In Ke Lan's understanding, the so-called "soul" should be something similar to mental power and willpower... But if we want to delve into the origin of this power, it is not something that can be explained clearly with the current level .
In these memory fragments, it is also mentioned that "over-erosion" is divided into two types - one is called "chronic over-erosion"; the other is called "acute over-erosion". For example, the previous generation "Pope" Chiron's situation belongs to chronic over-erosion. His body gradually mutated into a monster like a mountain of flesh, but his mental ability was constantly increasing... Now that he thinks about it, his ability to read other people's thoughts and memories is probably a part of the ability lent to him by the "great god" in the state of chronic over-erosion.
The person in front of me is most likely suffering from "acute super erosion".
What Ke Lan was most concerned about was... what kind of "forbidden knowledge" had this person come into contact with before, which led to him becoming like this...
According to Demeter, there is no quantitative standard for the critical point of the degree of erosion. It does not mean that the stronger a person is, the stronger his resistance to erosion is. A level nine enhanced person may only know a few things about "Him" and instantly turn into a rotting and festering monster, but a weak person who is powerless or even terminally ill may also be able to withstand a large amount of "forbidden knowledge" without turning into a "corroded corpse".
Ke Lan obviously belongs to the latter. Of course, this may be closely related to his identity as a "symbiote"... Judging from various clues, the "anti-corrosion ability" of the Alpha people is obviously much stronger than that of the earthlings.
If it were a "pure" Earthling, it would have probably been "over-eroded" by the time the glacial ruins were forcibly instilled with memories by the stone tablet.
In the Gray Mist Forest, there is apparently "forbidden knowledge" that is enough to make people break through the critical point - the person in front of him has become a monster because of this "forbidden knowledge", and it is also because of this "forbidden knowledge" that Mo Jue's father formed a "lumberjack" team and explored the Gray Mist Forest again and again.
The secrets hidden in this forest are probably far more than just the remains of an engine wreckage.
Ke Lan's brain was still thinking rapidly, but the corpse that had fallen to the ground had already struggled to stand up. Its cloudy eyes stared straight at Ke Lan, and its lips, which were cracked worse than a cleft lip, kept opening and closing, uttering unclear syllables.
It spoke the language of the Alpha civilization, but it was full of meaningless words, just like the mumbling of a human in an unconscious state.
"Can you... understand what I'm saying?" Ke Lan first said it in Chinese, and then repeated it in the language of the Alpha civilization... Although "Eclipse" is a body without a soul, he still decided to try to communicate with this body.
After all, in the eyes of humans, there is no such thing as a soul... As long as the brain can function normally, then the "Erosion Corpse" should have normal thinking and communication abilities.
"You... who are you?" The Erosion Corpse tilted its head and an unclear voice came out of its throat.
We can communicate!
The villain in Ke Lan waved his fist excitedly. Moreover, the other party's answer was in Chinese, which means that this corpse really still retains its memory as a human being!
Ke Lan turned around and looked at Asano Showa Sanjusan, and said, "You two should go out first and wait for me in the corridor."
"This monster...can you handle it?" Sanshisan stared at Shihai with some concern and said in a deep voice.
"If I need your help, I'll call for it... Besides, I'm not alone. The strongest fighting force in the team is now 'wearing' on me."
"That's right. If Ze Luo can't deal with the enemy, it's useless for the two of us to go up." Sanshisan nodded. "Then be careful. We'll wait for you at the door."
After saying that, Sanjusan and Asano Akira quickly left the bridge.
With a thought, Ke Lan closed the airtight door again and used a layer of space barrier to surround the space where he and Erosion were, to prevent the subsequent communication from being heard by Asano Akira.
It's not that he doesn't trust Asano Akira, but the forbidden knowledge involving the "great gods" will corrode the human body and consciousness even if it is just heard by accident - Asano Akira is not a symbiote, and his resistance to erosion is far less than Ke Lan himself.
"You... you are... human?" Erosion first asked Ke Lan in Chinese. The next second, its throat moved a few times and a strange whisper flowed out from its lips.
The second sentence is in the language of the Alpha civilization: "Are you... an Alpha... person?"
Ke Lan's pupils shrank slightly - it was obvious that the other party had probably seen through the body of his "symbiont".
"I am a human." Ke Lan answered in Chinese, "I am from the search and rescue team sent by the Ark."
"Search...rescue...team?" Shi Hai's shoulder blades twitched, and he fell back to sit on the ground. He looked up at Ke Lan who was not far ahead, and there seemed to be a hint of resentment in his eyes. "You...are...lying...it's...been...several decades...there can't be...a search...rescue..."
"The Ark has never given up the search and rescue operation for you for decades." Ke Lan said calmly, "Over the past few decades, countless people have died in this forest. It was not until today that my team successfully walked here and found you and this battleship."
"You... are... here to see... me? Who... are you?" Shi Hai's brain didn't seem to be very smart. After just a few sentences of conversation, Ke Lan always felt that the person in front of him seemed to be a patient with late-stage Alzheimer's disease.
"I am a search and rescue personnel sent by the Ark... Please tell me your identity and what happened to this Shaojiang Kai after it crashed."
"My identity ... I am... I am..." Erosion suddenly covered his head with his hands and howled in pain. Then, he began to bang his head against the ground violently, and his forehead immediately became a bloody mess.
However, its body also possessed the same terrifying recovery ability as Ke Lan. The wound on its forehead healed in less than two seconds, but the healing was not particularly perfect, leaving behind a series of raised scars like earthworms.
"I am... I am... I just remember..." Xie Hai stopped banging his head against the ground and muttered, "I just remember... someone once called me... Captain."
Could this eroded corpse be the captain of the "Shaojiang modified" frigate?
A series of files related to this person suddenly flashed through Ke Lan's mind... Although the facial features of the Erosion Corpse in front of him had been severely distorted and its facial bones had undergone tremendous changes, its height was consistent with the captain's file, almost 180 cm.
"Are you Heruni Yang? Captain of the Shaojiang modified frigate?"
“Hruni Yang?... No, Hruni Yang is dead... I... I am dead.” The Eclipse stood up and faced Ke Lan. Suddenly, its words became less ambiguous. “I have accepted the gift from Him. I have become a part of Him. Hruni Yang no longer exists in this world, and I will live forever... I am Him, and He is me!”
"Calm down. What became a part of 'Him' was only the soul of Heruni Yang, and you are just a shed body." Ke Lan said.
“But I am not lying. I am Heruni Yang… But you are lying. You are not human.” Shi Hai stared at Ke Lan, his voice becoming deeper and deeper. “You are one of the traitors… But even so, He is willing to accept you and grant you eternal life and truth.”
"Traitor?" Ke Lan's eyes twitched involuntarily. "You mean... the Alphas? The Alphas betrayed the great god they believed in?"
No wonder... No wonder the mecha created by the Alpha civilization was named "Blasphemer"... It turns out that this civilization is full of traitors? !
"You have no choice." Shi Hai walked slowly towards Ke Lan, "I will send your soul back to Him... You will enter His temple, and you will gain eternity..."
"Please allow me to refuse." Ke Lan kicked the Eclipse Corpse away fiercely. "Life has been heading towards death since its birth. Personally, I don't expect immortality at all... Not only that, I think immortality is an extremely horrible torture for humans."
"..." The IQ of the Erosion Corpse was obviously not very high, and it did not make any response to Ke Lan's remarks.
"Well, since you want me to accept His gift, that means you want me to become what you are now, right? Then as a necessary condition for 'Super Eclipse', shouldn't you share those 'forbidden knowledge' with me?" Ke Lan said to Eclipse sincerely, "Well, in order for me to achieve 'Super Eclipse', tell me everything you have discovered in this forest."
"Forbidden knowledge... Why do you... know those... those things?" The expression on the corpse's face suddenly became ferocious. Although the face with disordered features looked terrifying, Ke Lan still saw some clues from its details: the other party's consciousness seemed to be in a state of fierce struggle.
"Hurry... run... get out of here..." Xie Hai suddenly changed his tone, "Forget everything you saw and heard... and never come back!"
