Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 1002: The Roots of the Giant Tree (Part 2)
Ke Lan turned his head to look at Ze Luo, who nodded to him and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "There is indeed no trace of living things nearby, but..."
"But what?" Ke Lan asked.
"The traces of that power are very obvious, and it is very close to the third level of the hive."
"Could it be that a disaster has befallen the Ark in the past few days?" Ke Lan asked doubtfully, "But if a disaster has really befallen the Ark, then the existence of all of us should have been known to Him... That means that all our efforts have been in vain..."
"No, that's not right!" Ke Lan immediately denied his own idea. "If the undead crew members could successfully bring down the 'disaster', there would probably be quite a few people in the survivors' alliance whose erosion level has exceeded the critical point... But the current situation is that without being exposed to excessive 'forbidden knowledge', the people in the survivors' alliance have not shown any signs of excessive erosion.
"The remaining power on the Ark should be just a 'pseudo-disaster', just like the third layer of the Hive City - the remaining power of that existence was all concentrated on the top of the cloud and did not escape at all. As for the 'disaster power' of the other layers, it completely disappeared the moment the last erosion corpse completely decayed.
“Otherwise, any ordinary human who enters the hive will have their erosion level exceed the critical threshold in an instant and be transformed into a corroded corpse in a very short time.
"As for Heruni and the others becoming corpses, it was entirely because they were exposed to a large amount of 'forbidden knowledge'. The difference between the two is like the difference between a chronic disease and an acute disease. The former can still allow a person to survive for a period of time, while the latter will cause death immediately when it strikes.
"The dome on the third floor of the hive that 'cannot be looked at directly' is actually a 'test product' created by Neto with the help of the power of the cloud top. Even Neto himself cannot fully control the dome.
"The Undead Crew must have used some objects with the power of 'Him' to create a 'man-made disaster'... Although this 'man-made disaster' will transform a large number of residents on the Ark into corpses, it will not attract the attention of 'Him'."
But there was still one question that Ke Lan couldn't explain - since the undead crew had the ability to create a 'pseudo-disaster', why didn't they do it while he was still on the Ark? They could just wipe out the God Hunters in one fell swoop, and even Agunaktor would not be able to escape.
From Ke Lan's perspective, the Undead Crew seemed to have missed the best opportunity.
…
The team continued to advance and soon left the ruined commercial area and entered the North District 1.
North District One used to be the district with the largest number of rich people on the Ark, but compared to the high-rise buildings in North District Two and North District Three, North District One does not have many high-rise buildings. At first glance, the structure and building distribution of the entire North District One are very similar to the third floor of the Hive City. The land is divided into many large manors or courtyards, and gorgeous villas or castles of various styles are facing each other. Most of the decorative buildings are made in antique style. The only thing with a modern atmosphere is the main highway and its branches that run through the entire North District One.
North District One is a no-fly zone on the Ark. Not only are all kinds of aircraft prohibited from entering North District One, even aerial tracks have not been built. There are only three types of transportation that can be used: hovercraft, legs, and those expensive horses.
The dome of the North First District is a super-large screen with no visible seams to the naked eye. It can simulate various weather conditions. Except for the lack of a forest used as a hunting ground, the style of the North First District is exactly the same as that of the third floor of the hive city.
However, the entire dome screen had gone out, revealing its original black color. Pale white roots covered the Doric or Baroque retro buildings. The beautiful hover sports car was entangled by the roots, lifted high, and twisted into a pile of scrap metal in mid-air. It seemed that there had been a person sitting in the cockpit of the luxury car. With Ke Lan's eyesight, he could even see the seat belt buckled on the seat through the car window. However, the driver who was originally fixed to the seat by the seat belt had disappeared, and there was not even a trace of blood left.
"Everyone, be careful." Ke Lan said softly, "I always feel that... there seems to be something troublesome here."
There are indeed some troublesome things here, but this is not what Ke Lan felt, but what Ze Luo told him - in the magnificent marble castle at the twelve o'clock direction of the team, there is a corpse whose strength should not be underestimated.
Moreover, that corpse has a very special ability... Although Ze Luo can sense that it has special abilities, he has no way of knowing what those abilities are.
"Its body seems to be covered by a layer of mist, a layer of mist at the consciousness level, which can block the detection of other creatures." Ze Luo said in Ke Lan's ear, "I can only sense a strong heart... If calculated according to the level of enhanced humans, it is no less than level 14."
The fourteenth-level enhancement level... that is already stronger than the "Sita-class mutant" in the hive. Under the premise of not being able to use the power of the body and not exposing Ze Luo's true combat power, the only outcome for this team when encountering this monster is that they will be completely wiped out.
"The front team changes direction and goes around the castle in front of us," Ke Lan ordered, "and keeps a safe distance of at least 300 meters from the castle."
The soldiers had no doubts about Ke Lan's order. The heavy infantryman walking in front immediately jumped off the road, crossed a lawn, and walked towards another road that did not pass in front of the castle.
The others followed the heavy infantry and entered the lawn. Only a few soldiers were left behind in the rearguard group. They lay on the road, holding sniper rifles and staring at the movements in the castle.
But just when half of the people left the main road, Ze Luo suddenly tugged at Ke Lan's sleeve and whispered, "It moved."
"Tsk... It seems that this guy has already discovered us. Because we were originally heading towards its location, it did not attack us in advance. Now that it sees that we have changed its route, it can't sit still..." Ke Lan thought to himself. He was just about to speak to let everyone be on combat readiness, but a sniper in the rearguard group immediately stood up and turned around.
"Lot, have you found anything?" another soldier who was familiar with the sniper asked subconsciously, but what answered him was a 0.5-inch caliber anti-material sniper bullet.
Attacked by anti-material weapons at such a close distance, the body of the soldier who was asking the question exploded into a ball of flesh. A blood mist burst out, dyeing the entire body of the sniper who fired the shot red.
Ke Lan noticed that the sniper's eyes were lifeless and his face was dull, but his hands' movements were not affected at all. After shooting his teammate dead, he immediately turned his gun and aimed at the retreating force.
"He's been controlled!"
Ke Lan did not have time to give any orders to other soldiers. He snatched the shield from a heavily armed soldier and rushed out. Before he landed in mid-air, Ke Lan had already activated the energy shield generator on the shield. A two-meter square energy shield instantly appeared ten centimeters away from the surface of the shield. At the same time, the second shot of the controlled sniper was fired.
The bullet, which was thicker than a thumb, turned into a stream of hot iron the moment it hit the energy shield, splashing in all directions along the surface of the shield. Ke Lan, who was in mid-air with nowhere to gain support, was hit by the bullet and flew backwards for more than ten meters. He only stopped his retreat when his feet touched the ground.
Without waiting for Ke Lan to say anything, the other soldiers immediately raised their guns and opened fire, shooting the controlled sniper into a sieve.
"Colonel, what's going on?" a soldier asked in fear. He seemed to know the controlled sniper. "Lotte can't be a traitor. Why would he shoot at his own people?!"
"I know he is not a traitor. His consciousness has just been controlled... The thing that controls him is in that castle—"
Before he could say the word "inside that castle", the soldier's face suddenly became extremely distorted. He pulled out a dagger and stabbed it towards Ke Lan's vital parts. Fortunately, Ke Lan reacted as soon as the soldier's expression changed. He grabbed the opponent's wrist and twisted it to dislocate it. The sharp dagger also slipped out of his hand and fell to the ground.
However, the soldier who had lost his weapon and had his hands restrained did not give up the attack. He let out a beast-like growl from his throat, opened his mouth and bit towards Ke Lan's throat, completely ignoring the fact that his chin hit the edge of Ke Lan's shoulder armor heavily, tearing off a large piece of bloody flesh.
"What a troublesome enemy..." Ke Lan pulled out his pistol and shoved the handle of the pistol directly into the soldier's mouth. With a strong sweep, he knocked out all his teeth. Then he dislocated both of his ankles in the same way, and finally gave him a slash on the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious.
Picking up the unconscious soldier, Ke Lan looked around. The team that had originally been in neat formation was now in chaos. Many soldiers were killing each other. In just a few seconds, more than a dozen people had fallen on the lawn.
"Everyone retreat! Anyone who can hear the order, give up the fight immediately and retreat quickly! In the direction away from the castle!" Ke Lan knocked out two controlled soldiers and shouted loudly.
There were less than twenty people who followed Ke Lan to retreat. The dozen or so soldiers who were under control stopped after chasing for about two hundred meters, and confronted Ke Lan and his group across a road about ten meters wide.
"The situation is not optimistic." Ke Lan muttered to himself, "The things in the castle haven't even appeared, but they have directly caused the loss of two-thirds of our troops..."
In the chaos just now, more than 20 soldiers died at the hands of their comrades, and a similar number of soldiers were controlled... and Ke Lan and his men didn't even see the appearance of the enemy.
The soldiers who escaped from the surrounding areas all had looks of fear on their faces. They were gasping for breath, but they did not dare to let their guard down at all.
The roadbed of this highway is more than one meter high, which is a good cover. Both sides were shooting at each other, and the situation was temporarily in a stalemate.
"The other party has the ability to control a group of people. Currently, it is known that it can control a maximum of about 20 people at a time." Ke Lan analyzed in his mind, "The maximum distance of remote control should be around 500 meters."
The reason for the 500-meter figure is that the other side of the road is exactly 500 meters away from the castle. The monster does not care about the life or death of the controlled people, so there is no need to let the controlled soldiers shoot at Ke Lan and others across the roadbed. It can just let these controlled soldiers rush up fearlessly. After all, if they die, it can still control others.
The reason why it didn't do so was probably because the current location of Ke Lan and the others was beyond its maximum control distance.
It was very simple to verify this. Ke Lan threw the soldier in his hand to the ground, took out the kettle and poured the cold water directly on his face.
The soldier who was knocked unconscious woke up immediately, turned his head in confusion, and asked, "What happened? Why did I faint...hiss!"
Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by the sharp pain in his chin, wrists and ankles. Big beads of sweat suddenly appeared on his forehead... Ke Lan glanced at him, helped him put his dislocated wrist and ankle back in place, then bandaged his chin and gave him an injection of painkiller.
"Huh... Huh... Colonel? What happened just now? Who are we exchanging fire with now?" The soldier, who had recovered, couldn't help but ask .
"You were just controlled by something in the castle, and it wanted to stab me to death with a dagger." Ke Lan said, "But I knocked you out and carried you all the way here... This place seems to be beyond the control of that guy, so your control state is lifted."
"I... I'm being controlled?" The soldier's eyes widened. "Then... who is exchanging fire with us now ?"
"Yes, it's the other people who are controlled." Ke Lan nodded, "This road is the boundary of the other party's control area. As long as we can pull those people over here, they return to normal."
However, Ke Lan was not in a hurry to do so. In the current situation, there were no casualties on either side. He might as well take advantage of this opportunity to investigate the other party's control ability.
"Did you feel anything strange when you were controlled just now?" Ke Lan asked the soldier.
"Strange feeling? No... not at all." The soldier looked confused. "I only remember that I was talking to you in the last second, and the next second, my eyes went black and I passed out. When I regained consciousness, I was already here. I didn't even know that I was controlled..."
