Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 1000: Breaking in! Inside the Ark!
When the ball of light that looked like a small sun exploded above the Ark, all the communication channels on the battlefield fell into a brief silence. Countless screens and lights went out, and the battlefield that was originally illuminated as bright as day by the searchlight returned to darkness again.
But the darkness was soon broken by gunfire, and the troops that landed on the Ark were pleasantly surprised to find that after the pulse bomb exploded, all the men in black and the giants stood there like robots that had been cut off from power. The huge pressure that the airborne troops had been under was instantly gone, and the balance between the two warring parties suddenly tilted - no, it should be said that the entire balance had been overturned by this pulse bomb!
The Skadi's reconnaissance drones and external monitors were also affected by the pulse bombs and were temporarily paralyzed. In order to obtain the latest developments on the battlefield, Major General Alexander immediately ordered the bridge to be raised so that he could directly observe the battlefield through the portholes.
Seeing that all the enemies on the battlefield had stopped moving, Alexander excitedly punched the console in front of him and shouted, "Quick! Take this opportunity to drop the third and fourth batches of airborne troops! We must occupy the upper platform before the enemy resumes action!"
"Communications have not been restored yet. We are temporarily unable to contact the various hangars and the transport planes outside!" reported the adjutant.
"Then send the signalman to the hangar! Make sure to convey my order within thirty seconds! Quick!"
Alexander knew very well that these "downtime" enemies had only temporarily lost their ability to move. Soon, they would wake up again and become more difficult to deal with than before.
The electromagnetic pulse only burned the control chips in the brains of these men in black, but did not really kill them. After the control chips were burned, a series of "safety measures" would be unlocked - all kinds of devices that originally restricted the men in black would become ineffective, and the corrosive force in their bodies would get out of control in a very short time, completely transforming this body that originally maintained a human appearance into an inhuman monster... Some of the men in black would even be directly transformed into "Erosion Corpses" and gain various powerful special abilities.
Using electromagnetic pulse bombs is a bit like drinking poison to quench thirst, but it is also the only option for the survivor alliance.
The electromagnetic pulse bomb can buy the airborne troops and Ke Lan and their team a few minutes of time. As long as they can break through the platform and enter the Ark in these few minutes, the pulse bomb will play a positive role.
…
After taking a look at the communication terminal screen on his wrist, which was covered with only black and white snowflakes, Ke Lan took off the headphones that only allowed him to hear the noise of electricity, turned over and jumped off the top of Valentina's mecha. Relying on the spatial power lent to him by Ze Luo, he used brute force to force open the cockpit cover and pulled Valentina out.
The electromagnetic pulse bomb attacked indiscriminately, causing the men in black and the giants to temporarily lose their ability to move, and also destroyed all the tactical mechas in the airborne troops... Even the mechas that had been specially modified to resist EMP could not withstand the electromagnetic pulse bomb of Yaguna Kotor, which was equivalent to 0.03% of the power of the star destroyer.
"What's going on? Is it an EMP attack?" All the screens in the mecha cockpit went out, and all the joysticks, keyboards and pedals lost their response. Although Valentina still had a confused look on her face, she had more or less guessed the cause of the incident.
"Yes, it's EMP." Ke Lan nodded. "Aguna Kator has joined the battle. This EMP can at least paralyze our enemies for a few minutes. We must seize this opportunity and break into the Ark!"
Valentina nodded immediately, opened the equipment box she carried with her, took out a folding submachine gun and unfolded it, then took out several magazines and inserted them into her tactical vest.
"Without the mecha, your mission is over." Ke Lan said to Valentina, "You don't have to go down with us. It's too dangerous. When the third batch of airborne troops arrives, you can take their transport plane back."
However, Valentina shook her head and said calmly: "I can fight without a mecha."
Ke Lan really wanted to say, "Without the mecha, your combat power is nothing," but after thinking about it, it was not much after all, so he just nodded silently.
Due to the outstanding performance of Ke Lan and his team in the battle just now, many of the remaining soldiers from the first and second airborne troops gathered here. Ke Lan roughly counted them and found that there were about eighty people around him. Excluding the seriously injured who could not fight, there were about sixty soldiers who could fight.
The first batch of airborne troops deployed about a thousand elite soldiers, but only a few of them survived, and almost a third of them were on Ke Lan's side. There were less than two hundred people scattered at various angles of the battlefield and could not be gathered together for the time being.
Ke Lan did not have time to gather more troops. It would not be long before these men in black and giants would regain their ability to move again. By that time, the enemies they would face would not be men in black with modern guns, but an army of "Erosion Corpses" of all shapes and sizes with all kinds of bizarre special abilities.
Without exposing themselves and Ze Luo, Ke Lan and his team would have absolutely no chance of winning against such a large number of "Erosion Corpses".
But from a certain perspective, the "Eclipse" cannot be considered an absolute enemy... Just like the electromagnetic pulse bomb that just exploded, the Eclipse's attack does not distinguish between friend and foe.
Generally speaking, some Erosion Corpses that had deep obsessions during their lifetime will retain some fragmented self-consciousness, which will drive them to do things related to their obsessions during their lifetime.
For example, the corpse that led Ke Lan to the Tower of Babel. Although it had lost all its memories, its obsession during its lifetime was related to the Tower of Babel and the things inside the tower. When it sensed danger, it would naturally go to the Tower of Babel to "seek shelter."
But these men in black are different. They have no self-personality when they are alive. Their consciousness is like a blank sheet of paper. They do whatever the control chip tells them to do. They do not have the power of self-selection. When the control chip burns out, the eroded corpses they transform into will naturally not have any "obsessions" and will only act according to their biological instincts.
Of course, the Undead Crew can also implant false memories to make these men in black develop some so-called obsessions, but doing so requires a lot of time and energy, and these mass-produced consumable puppets are not eligible for such treatment.
This was originally a harmless loophole, but in Ke Lan's eyes, it became a rare opportunity.
If this "Erosion Corpse" army is used well, it can actually help Ke Lan and his team break through the Ark.
"Everyone come here, I have something to tell you. Time is tight, so I will only tell you once. So listen carefully!" Ke Lan said to the soldiers around him.
These soldiers did not know Ke Lan's identity, but Ke Lan was wearing a combat uniform with the rank of colonel. The highest-ranking officer in this airborne force was colonel. In the eyes of the soldiers, he naturally became the commander on the battlefield.
Even if the soldiers did not know this "colonel" at all, when their superiors were killed in battle, the battlefield situation was extremely chaotic, and the organizations of many troops were disbanded, their only choice was to obey the orders of the highest-ranking person around them.
What's more, this "colonel" had just demonstrated extremely strong combat power and saved many lives. He was obviously a high-level enhanced human. Having a military rank alone might not be enough to convince the soldiers, but if he also had strong combat power and life-saving grace, these soldiers would definitely be willing to follow Ke Lan through life and death.
Dozens of pairs of eyes looked over, and there was a hint of fatigue in the eyes of these soldiers, but Ke Lan did not see any retreat in the eyes of any of them - when they were selected into the airborne troops, they were all prepared, and these soldiers boarded the transport plane with the determination to die. They knew very well that this battle was crucial, and for human civilization, retreat... was equal to extinction.
"What just exploded was an EMP bomb. The control chip in the enemy's brain has been destroyed, so they will temporarily stop moving." Ke Lan said quickly, "But it won't be long before they wake up again. Although the enemy's leader can no longer control them, their physical strength will also lose its restraint, turning them into outright monsters."
"Many of you should have fought against these monsters before. You should know how terrifying they are. Therefore, we must break into the Ark before the enemy resumes its actions."
"Do we need to set up explosives at the entrance?" asked a soldier wearing heavy armor and carrying a large number of heavy weapons. "Blow up the entrance so that these monsters can't catch up with us."
"No, we can use these monsters... They have no self-awareness and cannot distinguish between friend and foe... They will attack us, our enemies, and even kill each other... To be precise, they will attack anything that moves within their field of vision. We will encounter more and stronger enemies in the future. We cannot break through these enemies' blockades by our own strength alone. We must use this force!" Ke Lan explained quickly, "There is a vertical elevator shaft for helicopters on the west side. I plan to break in from there. In addition, all the seriously injured who cannot fight will be left behind. When the next batch of airborne troops arrives, you will take their planes to leave the battlefield."
After Ke Lan finished speaking, he secretly gave Ze Luo a look. Valentina, who was standing beside him, suddenly fainted without any warning. Ke Lan reached out and caught her in his arms.
"Remember to take her with you. If I let her die here, her father will definitely tear me apart." Ke Lan said to a soldier who was less seriously injured.
Several wounded soldiers nodded solemnly, gave Ke Lan a look that said "leave it to me", took Valentina from Ke Lan's hands, and each of them carried one side on her back.
Ke Lan looked up into the distance. The third batch of transport planes were flying towards here. It was expected that they would reach the gap in the energy shield above in another minute. He turned his head and said to the wounded: "When the transport planes arrive, send them a signal and tell them not to come down. Take you and leave quickly... After these men in black turn into monsters, no matter how many people come down, they are all here to send them off."
"Understood!" A soldier whose arm was blown off and half of his body was dyed reddish-brown with blood shouted, and saluted Ke Lan with his only remaining arm.
At the same time, the wounded took out their weapons, ammunition, and medical supplies and handed them over to the soldiers who would later break into the Ark with Ke Lan. No one said much, and the handover of equipment was carried out silently and quickly .
The third batch of transport planes finally arrived at the gap. A wounded soldier walked to the open space, took out a signal flag and waved it. After seeing the airdrop doors of the transport planes that had just been opened closed again and several of them began to lower their altitude, Ke Lan and more than 60 other soldiers turned around without any reluctance and rushed towards the vertical lift channel to the west.
…
This vertical lift channel is for helicopters and some aircraft with vertical take-off and landing functions like the Osprey. The other end of the channel is connected to a small hangar. This hangar is not owned by the military, but was officially established by the Ark and leased to major financial groups.
All the famous consortiums or big families on the Ark basically have one or two parking spaces in this hangar - this hangar is connected to the Ark's superstructure in a physical sense, and is also connected to the top of the Ark's power hierarchy.
Ke Lan and the soldiers climbed down the ladder used for maintenance on the wall of the passage and entered the hangar. This hangar is called a "small hangar" because it is compared to those large airports. In fact, this hangar covers a large area. Including the stacked platforms, there are more than 800 parking spaces in total, most of which are empty, and less than one-tenth of the parking spaces are parked with aircraft that are obviously worth a lot of money.
Giant trees had also invaded the hangar - one-third of the hangar's space was occupied by pale tree trunks. The ground and ceiling were torn and deformed under the tremendous force. When stepping on the cracked metal floors, one could hear a teeth-grinding creaking sound, as if the ground would collapse at any time.
Many pale roots extended from the trunk, spreading along the walls, floor and ceiling. One soldier curiously wanted to use the barrel of his gun to push away the roots blocking his way, but fortunately he was stopped in time by Ke Lan.
"Be careful! These roots are alive, don't touch them!"
