Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 1006: Underground Ice Storage Site
The roots inside the power reactor far exceeded those of the same kind Ke Lan had seen before in terms of density and thickness. If the roots in the living area of the Ark were compared with them, they would be nothing compared to the roots... The thinnest root in the power reactor had a diameter of more than one meter, and its strength was so great that even monsters like the Giant Knight could not escape.
Seeing the giant knight who had been so difficult for him just a moment ago being "digested" by these roots in just a few seconds, and the strange armor fell into the depths of the power reactor, an inexplicable chill couldn't help but climb up Ke Lan's back.
"This is what we need to solve..." Ke Lan shifted his gaze away from the roots and couldn't help but sigh.
Although Ke Lan himself was the one who formulated the entire plan, he had no idea whether the plan would work... The only thing he could do was to do his best and leave the rest to fate...
For some reason, Ke Lan always felt very uncomfortable after this sentence popped up in his head. He thought about it and it was probably because in human cognition, the concept of "destiny" is generally equated with the will of God. Since they want to rebel against the existence called God, but have to obey destiny, this sounds a bit ironic.
"The line in Long Aotian's novel, 'My fate is in my own hands, not in the hands of God', is more refreshing." Ke Lan smiled self-deprecatingly, turned around and left the edge of the big hole.
The roots in the power reactor are indeed part of the giant tree's root system, but they are not the main roots. Blowing up all of these roots will at most affect the giant tree's efficiency in absorbing nutrients, but will not cause fatal damage to it.
If the root system of the giant tree is divided into three levels, namely the main root, the secondary main root and the peripheral root system, then the roots in this power reactor can undoubtedly only be regarded as the lowest level of "peripheral root system". As for those scattered roots that have invaded the residential area, they are not even considered "root systems".
The secondary taproots should have occupied the main power furnaces under the Ark - the fuel reserves and total energy conversion there are hundreds of times that of the power furnace in the North District 1. The output of any main power furnace is enough to maintain the daily needs of all residential areas on the Ark.
The giant tree has only one main root, which is its vital point.
"The original plan remains unchanged. We will continue to rush to the ruins of the West District 1 Research Institute." Ke Lan said to Ze Luo, "I hope we can find what we are looking for in the underground ice storage."
The two men returned to the place where the soldiers had died, recovered some usable equipment from the corpses, then sprinkled powdered incendiary agent on the soldiers' corpses and ignited them with fire.
If these corpses are not burned, the nearby roots will soon spread here, and these soldiers who were fighting alongside Ke Lan not long ago will soon become nutrients for the giant tree...even their last remaining consciousness will be absorbed by the giant tree, and they will not be able to rest in peace completely.
For that existence, nourishment at the conscious level is far more important than that at the material level. As the most important carrier in the sacrificial ceremony, this giant tree not only absorbs the flesh and blood of all creatures on Alpha, but also their "souls".
Ke Lan couldn't help but recall the side effects when he just gained the ability to "stop time" - the wails and screams from men, women, old and young were echoing in his head. These people were all victims sacrificed by the Arasaka Group. Their flesh and blood essence was integrated into the "black asphalt". As for their consciousness, it was divided into two parts, one part condensed into the self of the puppet individual, and the other part attached to Ke Lan with the ability of "stop time".
However, after Ke Lan merged with the "body", the consciousness of these victims, who were almost indistinguishable from ghosts, was erased, leaving only pure willpower... just like filtering out impurities in water.
This process is undoubtedly extremely painful for the conscious body. The pain that the physical body can endure has an upper limit to the perception organs, and the brain can even "protect itself" by fainting, but the pain that the conscious body can endure has no upper limit. Moreover, except for being reduced to ashes, the conscious body has no way to put itself into a coma and thus escape this pain.
When merging with the body, Ke Lan personally experienced the process of the consciousness attached to himself being gradually erased. Their pain, despair, madness and other negative emotions condensed into a terrifying force, impacting Ke Lan's heart over and over again... If it were someone with a weaker will, he would probably turn into a madman after the fusion was over.
…
At the same time, on the battlefield outside the Ark.
The third batch of transport planes brought the remnants of the first and second batches of airborne troops back to the Skadi, while those "awakened" Erosion Corpses completely occupied the upper platform of the Ark and began to kill each other.
Major General Alexander's heart trembled as he looked at the crazy scenes in the images sent back by the drone - fortunately, the subsequent batches of airborne troops received the order to retreat, so no greater casualties were caused.
Judging from the combat effectiveness demonstrated by the "monsters" transformed from these men in black, let alone deploying two batches of airborne troops, even if the number of people was increased five times, they would be swallowed up by these monsters in an instant.
The only thing that puzzled Alexander was the person who issued the retreat order... He remembered clearly that the highest-ranking officer in the airborne troops was a colonel, but the command code of the highest command level was used when conducting information docking with the third batch of transport planes. It was for this reason that the third batch of transport planes executed the retreat order without hesitation.
In the survivor alliance, apart from himself and General Maginot, only the top leaders of the God Hunters have the command code of the highest command level. Even Levi, the chief of staff whom General Maginot trusts very much, does not have this authority... Could it be that there are top leaders of the God Hunters in the group of airborne troops just now?
They didn't tell me in order to ensure the secrecy of the operation?
Major General Alexander did not guess any further, nor did he tell his thoughts to the officers around him, but kept the matter quietly in his heart - he certainly knew why the God Hunters did this, let alone them, even the officers under his own command were not 100% confident... The power of the Undead Crew was too strong, and anyone who came out of the Ark could be their hidden player.
The leakage of ordinary combat intelligence would not have any major impact on the war situation, but once such crucial information was intercepted by a spy, it could affect the final outcome of the entire battle.
Without alerting anyone, Major General Alexander secretly retrieved the battle report of the third batch of airborne troops and read it again. According to their report, after the wounded of the first and second batches of airborne troops returned on the transport plane, there were more than 60 people left. After the transport plane took off, these more than 60 people used the vertical passage on the platform to enter the Ark. At this point, the team disappeared from their sight.
In addition, there was an unconscious female pilot among the evacuated personnel. As soon as this female pilot arrived at the Skadi, she was picked up by people sent by the God Hunters.
"Female pilot?" Major General Alexander immediately thought of the tough and quiet girl named "Valentina"... Since she was in the first batch of airborne troops, the person she was escorting must be a very important person...
"Could it be Ke Lan himself?" Alexander was startled, his fingers trembled involuntarily for a few times, and then he subconsciously deleted the combat report submitted by the airborne troops.
…
On the other side of the battlefield, Yagunakotor disappeared into the clouds.
After the electromagnetic pulse bomb was launched, the swarms stopped their attack and all returned to the crown of the giant tree. Yaguna Kator also took this opportunity to quickly leave the battlefield and move to a "relatively safe area" 20 kilometers away from the Ark.
Valentina woke up shortly after being taken back to Yaguna Kotor. She sat up on the hospital bed, looked around blankly, and her eyes finally stopped on Chi Hanfeng, who was sleeping soundly in a chair beside the bed.
"Old Chi hasn't slept for more than thirty hours. Now that you've returned safely, he can finally feel relieved." Ivan walked out from the shadows of the room and said to Valentina.
"Where are Ke and Ke Lan?"
"We successfully entered the Ark. But the communication between them and us has been cut off, and we don't know what the specific situation is inside." Ivan answered truthfully.
"No, I have to go support them!" Valentina said and wanted to jump off the bed, but found that her wrist was tightly grasped by Chi Hanfeng in his sleep, and she couldn't pull it out without some strength.
"Shh, don't wake up Old Chi. This guy just refused to rest even though his eyes were full of bloodshot. I was worried that he might die suddenly. He didn't close his eyes until you came back. He only slept for ten minutes at most... Let him sleep a little longer." Ivan made a gesture to stop him. "Besides, under the current situation, you can't break into the interior of the Ark... The area where you just fought with the men in black has now completely turned into hell."
Ivan said, and handed over the tablet in his hand.
Valentina took the tablet and took a look at it. She could smell a strong smell of blood through the screen into her nose...
What Ivan said was absolutely correct. The high-level platform of the Ark, which was the battlefield of the airborne troops and the men in black just now, has now been occupied by all kinds of indescribable monsters... These monsters are fighting and devouring each other... Broken corpses and bloody limbs can be seen everywhere. The ruins that were already in a mess are now covered with a layer of dark red, symbolizing death.
"No one can break through the blockade of these monsters and enter the Ark. We only have two choices: one, wait for these monsters to kill each other and their numbers to be reduced to a certain extent before sending troops to clean up the mess. Two, use the star destroyer to clear the platform directly and at the same time create a passage to the core area, but the consequence of doing so is to use up our most important trump card." Ivan whispered on the side.
"We...are we completely unable to help him now?" Valentina frowned slightly, and clenched the other hand that was not held by Chi Hanfeng into a fist.
"It's not like we can't help at all... Although the battlefield inside the Ark is more important, we can't let our guard down outside. Given the current situation, maintaining the status quo is the greatest help we can provide him."
“…”
Valentina turned her head again and looked at Chi Hanfeng, who still looked tired even in his sleep, and nodded silently .
…
…
Inside the Ark, the boundary between West Area 1 and North Area 1.
After the airborne troops were wiped out, Ke Lan and Ze Luo's movement speed actually increased a lot. With the dual blessings of high-level enhanced physique and spatial power , the two of them crossed the entire North District 1 in less than ten minutes.
West District One is different from the other three numbered areas. There are no luxurious mansions nor top-notch commercial areas where every inch of land is valuable. Compared with the extravagant atmosphere of the other three districts, West District One gives people a cold, regular and extremely depressing feeling.
"This place is like a huge hospital, or to put it bluntly, a morgue in a hospital." This was the evaluation given by Hound when he first came to West District 1. "Even the streets are filled with a faint stench of corpses."
Ke Lan didn't know whether the hound really smelled the stench of the corpse or it was an exaggerated metaphor... Although there were indeed a large number of corpses used for experiments in the research institute, these corpses were soaked in sealed jars filled with formalin solution, and coupled with the extremely airtight cold storage, the stench of the corpses should not have spread to the street.
Half of the area in West Zone 1 is occupied by the research institute and its several branches responsible for different types of projects, and the other half is experimental site and supporting facilities for researchers and their families to live in.
During the meme infection incident, the entire West District 1 was almost reduced to ruins, and only one in ten people who lived there survived. Although the crisis management department sealed off the entire West District 1 in time and prevented the meme from spreading, the "collections" that escaped from the underground ice storage still caused great damage to the interior of West District 1.
To this day, the reconstruction of West District 1 has not been completely completed.
As for the research institutes, they have been in a state of semi-blockade and semi-banning. Those surviving research institutes can only continue to carry out some "harmless" projects under various restrictions and surveillance. The main building and underground ice storage of the research institute have been taken over by the crisis management department, and even the new director of the research institute is prohibited from entering.
In Ke Lan's memory, the Crisis Management Department later imitated the "sarcophagus" of Chernobyl in the old era and built a huge isolation cover to cover the main building of the institute and the underground ice storage... But now, this huge isolation cover has been broken into countless petals like an eggshell, and the main building of the entire institute has been razed to the ground. A deep cave entrance is exposed nakedly. Looking down from the cave entrance, the messy underground ice storage is in full view.
