Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 799: Tower of Babel
"So, this is my only way to rescue my companions?" Ke Lan asked the tile.
"Yes." The other party gave an affirmative answer.
"What's in the Tower of Babel?" Ke Lan asked again.
The tiles are silent.
"You can't tell me, or your database doesn't have the relevant data?"
"Without the relevant data, I cannot give an answer." Dizhui was quite cooperative this time, but I don't know whether it was true or false.
It’s no joke that artificial intelligence can lie... let alone the artificial intelligence developed by the Alpha civilization.
The other party must have concealed some crucial information from him, but unfortunately the principles of the Alpha civilization's intelligent devices are completely different from those of human civilization. No matter how advanced Ke Lan's hacking skills are, he can't hack into this floor tile to find out the truth.
"So is letting me into the Tower of Babel also part of the Night's Watch's plan?"
“…” The floor tiles remained silent.
"If you don't answer me, I'll take it as your consent." Ke Lan said.
The floor tiles were selected by default.
According to the logic of this "Narrator Type III Fully Automatic Archive Storage Device", any information related to the Night Watch Project cannot be revealed to Ke Lan, the "symbiont". However, the contradiction is that this plan must have the cooperation of Ke Lan, the "symbiont" to proceed. Moreover, for many things, even if Dizhu chooses not to answer, Ke Lan can already guess the answer.
Ke Lan knew that if she continued to ask about this matter, Di Zhuan would only choose to respond with silence. Instead of guessing about things that seemed far away now, it would be better to focus on the present.
"Is there any danger in the Tower of Babel? Will I be killed if I go in?"
"There are eight trial procedures in the Tower of Babel. If the symbiote can pass these eight trials, its strength and character will be recognized, and control of the Tower of Babel and the Gray Mist Forest will be transferred to the symbiote. The next stage of the Night Watch plan will also be launched at the same time." The tile replied.
"What if I can't pass these eight tests?"
"That means the symbiote is unqualified and needs to be re-forged."
"Re-forge? How do you do it?"
"Put it into the organic matter decomposition furnace and start breeding again from the embryo stage."
Ke Lan pursed her lips. This really was a literal "retraining"...
As if worried that Ke Lan would back down, Dizhu suddenly threw out another heavy "bait": "If the symbiont successfully passes the eight trials, when the next phase of the Night Watch plan begins, the symbiont will automatically be absorbed as a member of the Night Watch and gain the same authority as all other Night Watchers."
"In other words, if I can pass these eight trials, those restrictions will be lifted, and the truth of the entire plan will be revealed to me?" Ke Lan was stunned. He had to admit that this bait was very attractive... But with the previous experience of the Undead Crew, it was hard for him not to wonder if this was a trap set by the Alphas for himself.
"Yes. If you pass the eight tests, it proves that you are not in danger of being over-eclipsed for the time being and can be trusted."
It seems that the content of the trial should be related to the degree of one's own erosion, which aroused Ke Lan's interest - for him, the degree of his own erosion and the critical value have always been an elusive mystery. Many times, he was just about to cross the line, but in the end "nothing happened".
This is certainly not a bad thing, but it is definitely not a normal thing.
"What does the night watchman's authority include?" Ke Lan asked again.
Now that I have decided to try this Tower of Babel, I still need to figure out what the "final reward" is... I don't want to climb to the top of the tower desperately, only to find out that the so-called authority is just a word game, which would be a bit...
"The information cannot be opened to you until you get approval," Tile replied.
Then I'll change the way I ask, Ke Lan muttered to himself, and used characters to piece together a new question: "In the past, how many Night Watchmen were there in the Alpha civilization? I can always tell you, right?"
"The historical peak number of Night's Watch members was 14,475," the Brick replied.
So many? Ke Lan was stunned. Compared to the Undead Crew, which only had more than 20 members, the number of people in the Night Watch organization was almost equivalent to a reinforced division of the Field Corps.
"Is this the maximum number of people existing at the same time, or the total number of people who have joined the Night's Watch in history?" Ke Lan confirmed with the slate.
"There is a maximum number of people at the same time. The Night Watch has always maintained a size of more than 10,000 people." Dizhuan explained to Ke Lan, "But due to the existence of erosion, the average remaining survival time of each Night Watcher after joining the organization is only two to three years. Every ten days, the Night Watchers need to measure the degree of erosion. Night Watchers who are on the verge of the danger threshold will be immediately disposed of through a series of 'safety procedures'... Even if some Night Watchers have a very low degree of erosion, the maximum number of years they can be a Night Watcher cannot exceed ten years."
“What happens over ten years?”
“Erosion levels are considered to be approaching dangerous thresholds.”
Ke Lan suddenly understood why there were so many Night Watchmen... These people seemed to have higher authority than other Alphas, but they were actually a group of consumables destined to be sacrificed.
In order to prevent the "great god" from spying on the Night Watch's plan, they are guarding the secret in a way that sounds quite tragic.
When an Alpha is chosen as a Night Watchman, it means that its life has begun to count down.
"But some Night Watchmen have survived for more than ten years, right?" Ke Lan couldn't help but think of the Alpha man that the 776 Special Forces Team encountered in the wreckage of Engine No. 92. If it was a Night Watchman, then it should have stayed in that haunted place for a long time, right?
Apart from anything else, it must have been at least a dozen years... At least after the Ark landed on Alpha, humans have never observed any trace of Alpha people's activities on the surface of the planet. If there was a handover ceremony between the Night Watchmen, whether there were Alpha people coming out of the engine wreckage or someone from outside going in, the Ark's drone should have been able to find some clues.
At least one thing is certain, there should be only one Alpha in the ruins, and it has been there before the Ark landed on Alpha Star.
"Due to some special reasons, there are indeed Night Watchmen who have exceeded their lifespan." Dizhu replied, "But these Night Watchmen will not be recognized by the Night Watch Organization, and their authority will be revoked. Once discovered, the forces under the Night Watch Organization will immediately execute the elimination procedure on them."
"If you survive for ten years, even if there is no 'super eclipse', you must die. Not dying would be considered a betrayal... Is this how I understand it?"
"Can."
Ke Lan took a deep breath. He originally thought that the Night Watch organization and the Undead Crew were very similar in nature, but now it seems that the natures of the two are completely opposite.
The Undead Crew wants to firmly control the power of the entire human civilization in the hands of the twenty or so immortal people, while the Night Watch organization is more like a group of martyrs, trudging forward in the swamp at night... People keep falling and being swallowed by the quagmire, but new members keep joining...
The Night's Watchmen who are marching forward hold high the torches that are the only light that can shine in the darkness. Whenever the old Night's Watchmen fall, they will pass the torches in their hands to the new ones who join...
A picture suddenly appeared in front of Ke Lan's eyes: countless people wearing black robes and black hoods were lined up in a crooked queue, and the road ahead was full of people lying around...but these people were not corpses, but people who were sleeping soundly.
The night watchmen in black robes held high torches, driving away the darkness around them and the things hidden in the darkness, but their energy seemed to be consumed quickly, and they would fall to the ground after walking a few steps, unable to move... But as they fell, some of the sleepers kept waking up, picking up or taking over the torches, and continuing to move forward.
It seems like they have been walking this road for tens of thousands of years and will continue to do so.
No one can see where the end is, maybe... there is no end at all.
"Are the status and authority of every Night Watchman equal? Is there a leader in the Night Watch organization?" Ke Lan asked again.
"Every Night Watchman has equal status and authority, and there is no leader in the Night Watch organization." The tile replied.
"With more than 10,000 Night Watchmen, won't there be differences of opinion?" Ke Lan was a little confused. The Undead Crew, such a small organization with only more than 20 people, had factional struggles within it. In his opinion, it was almost impossible to get every one of the more than 10,000 Night Watchmen to work together.
"There is no corresponding information in the database, so this question cannot be answered."
Just when Ke Lan was about to ask something, a beam of light suddenly lit up from the floor tile, enveloping him completely - not only the tile under his feet, but also the tile that Ze Luo and Sanshisan were standing on lit up as well.
"What's going on?" Thirty-three looked around vigilantly. Hundreds of black flying blades flew out from the secret pockets on his body and surrounded him.
"It's teleportation." Ze Luo said, "The space around us is distorting."
"Ke Lan, where is this thing going to teleport us to? Should we hide from it?" Thirty-three asked loudly.
"It's best not to act rashly." Ze Luo said, "This teleportation device may be activated at any time. If half of your body is within the teleportation range and half is outside the teleportation range at that time..."
"What will happen?"
"Only teleport half of the people to the target location, and leave the other half where they are."
"Where are you planning to teleport us? In that Tower of Babel?" Before the teleportation device started, Ke Lan quickly moved the characters on the floor tiles.
"Yes, the stored energy is about to be exhausted, and the transmission must be completed before the energy is sufficient to activate the transmission device." The floor tile replied.
Ke Lan turned his head and looked at the Tower of Babel in the center of the square. The tower had no doors or windows. Apart from teleportation, there seemed to be no other way to enter the tower.
Before Ke Lan could ask the next question, the scene around her suddenly changed.
The three of them seemed to be teleported to a mirror that was so huge that it had almost no edges. The mirror under their feet reflected the reflections of the three people, as well as a "moon" hanging in the air, emitting a cold white light?
"Where is this?" Thirty-three stood on the mirror, not daring to move at all.
"Inside that tower." Ke Lan replied.
"Tower? The tower in the center of the square?" Thirty-three was stunned for a moment. "I didn't expect the scene inside to be like this... By the way, what did you say to that floor tile just now? Why did you suddenly teleport us in?"
"The tile said that I need to pass eight trials. If I pass, I can gain control of this tower and the Gray Mist Forest, release Asano Akira and the others, and it can also tell me the biggest secret of the Alpha civilization... Of course, I don't know whether what it said is true or false. As for you... Although it didn't mention it, I think the trial process probably doesn't prohibit bringing assistants, right?"
"But if you want to rescue the others, you can only believe it, right?" Thirty-three shrugged helplessly, "By the way, what if you can't pass these eight tests? What will happen?"
"Humane destruction."
"...Actually, I've almost guessed it. There's no way back." Sanshisan spat forcefully on the ground, but just as the saliva touched the mirror, the saliva from the reflection in the mirror strangely passed through the mirror from bottom to top and headed straight for Sanshisan's door.
Before Thirty-Three could even react to what was happening, his fighting instinct had already made him control a black flying blade to block in front of him, intercepting the saliva.
"What is that?" Thirty-three was obviously startled. "The saliva I just spit out bounced back from the floor?!"
"It wasn't bounced back." Ze Luo pointed to Sanshisan's feet. The saliva he had just spit out was still on the mirror-like ground.
"The spit that attacked you was spit out by 'it'." Ke Lan looked at the reflection of Thirty-Three in the mirror.
"My shadow?" Thirty-three looked at his reflection in the mirror with suspicion, while the reflection in the mirror also looked at him with the same "suspicion".
"Zeluo, I'm going to do an experiment and I need your help." Sanshisan pulled out the gun from his waist and pointed the muzzle at the reflection.
And the reflection also pulled out a gun and pointed it at Thirty-Three.
"If, after I fire my gun, a bullet flies out of the mirror, please help me block it, can you do it?" Thirty-three said.
Ze Luo nodded.
