Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 825: Betrayal
The core area of the Ark, the secret room.
In the darkness, only the holographic projection of Zeus was still emitting a faint glow.
He looked around and suddenly sighed imperceptibly.
“I’m sorry, I have no choice.” Zeus’ tone was completely different from his previous angry tone. He seemed to be a different person at this moment. “I must complete the plan set by the Fool before my last bit of sanity is devoured… I don’t have much time left. If I continue to drag it out as you think, it will only lead to failure… Only by accelerating towards that goal can human civilization avoid the fate of extinction.”
He continued to talk to himself, "The Fool has proven that the compromise approach does not work. Too many resources and time have been wasted. Whether it is the Ark, human civilization or this planet, there is no chance for a second try."
After saying that, his holographic projection disappeared.
At the same time, in a room in the core area, the lid of a coffin of eternal life slid down, and a human figure with its surface covered with strangely shaped hyperplastic tissues and even the tubes in its body buried tightly by floc-like flesh sat up.
"He" sat quietly for half a minute, then opened his mouth and nose and took a deep breath.
In an instant, the data on the life support devices placed around the Coffin of Eternal Life began to jump around, and harsh and chaotic alarms sounded.
"Huff..." The human figure slowly exhaled the air it had inhaled, and the equipment that had been ringing non-stop just a second ago suddenly fell silent - except that the display numbers that were originally used to represent various vital signs now turned into "zero", and the wavy lines on the electrocardiogram turned into smooth straight lines.
If you look at these data alone, anyone with a little medical knowledge would think that the person these devices were connected to is dead - or in other words, the devices have been removed. But the "person" who sat up from the coffin of eternal life did not unplug tear off the electrode patches that had been deeply embedded in the proliferating tissue for too long.
"He" was breathing heavily, like a drowning man who had just been pulled out of the water.
However, the equipment and instruments that symbolized the Ark's highest level of medical technology could no longer monitor any vital signs of this body, not even the heartbeat and breathing rate.
He stretched out his hands with some difficulty, holding onto the edge of the coffin of eternal life, and stood up little by little. His movements were very clumsy, and it seemed that this body had not been "used" for a long time.
The moment "he" stood up straight, the ugly, disgusting and even horrifying proliferation of tissue on his body shrank at an incredible speed... Not long after, the monster covered with tumors disappeared, and in its place was a middle-aged man who looked as normal as could be.
That face was almost identical to Zeus' virtual projection, the only difference being that there was no hair at all. The top of the head, brow arches, lips and chin were all smooth, as if there were no pores at all.
"Cough cough..." Zeus coughed softly, and after coughing for a long time, he spit out a large ball of dark brown gel from his mouth that looked like phlegm but was not phlegm. This was the highly concentrated LCL liquid after being further compressed. Its original function was to fill the respiratory tract and lungs of the "Sleeper", allowing oxygen to be absorbed into the alveoli without breathing... But now, Zeus obviously no longer needed this thing.
"The feeling of being able to breathe on my own... I miss it so much..." Zeus whispered, and began to reach out to pull out the tubes inserted into his body. Every time a tube was pulled out, the wound left behind would quickly heal, without even the slightest scar left, the only difference being that the new skin would be slightly lighter than the surrounding area.
This terrifying self-recovery ability is no less than Ke Lan's.
"It's still a long way from being a semi-deified being, but it's good enough." Zeus clenched his fists tightly. "Since the Fool failed, let me complete his unfinished work."
"How can you be sure that the Fool has failed?" Aphrodite's voice rang out in the room. "You know, we haven't even figured out what's going on with that completely deified body yet."
"Since it is complete deification, it means failure." Zeus said firmly, "Human will is simply unable to contend with Him... Even if humans can retain self-awareness after being completely deified, this body will become a beacon, an eye of Him... or to put it more bluntly, it is a part of His body. Rather than accept endless slavery, I would rather choose destruction."
"But aren't you now heading towards an ending that you don't like?" Aphrodite asked.
"As long as we can control that critical point, we can 'steal' as much power as possible without being assimilated." Zeus shook his head. "This is the original intention of the 'demigodization' plan. If humans want to evolve at the fastest speed, this is a risk they must take."
"This level of power is very strong for humans, but it is just a drop in the ocean for Him... You are too naive to want to fight Him by stealing power from Him?" Aphrodite continued to ask.
"Then why didn't you think that the fool was naive?" Zeus's originally calm face flashed with a trace of displeasure. "I never thought of relying on this power to fight against that existence... We can't stay on this planet any longer... Humans must evolve and then move to a wider star field, where we may still find a glimmer of hope. But we don't have enough time. Even if it is a way to quench thirst with poison, it is better than sitting and waiting for death."
"You have already been branded with His mark. Do you think that by escaping this 'cage' you can avoid His gaze?"
"We can enter the subspace through a wormhole to avoid his sight, but first, we must have the ability to survive in the subspace." Zeus said.
"You are taking a huge gamble with the survival of human civilization."
"Even if it's a big gamble, at least I took action. It's better than some people who just want to maintain the status quo but pretend to turn a blind eye to the approaching abyss." Zeus said in a sarcastic tone.
"On the contrary, I think that you will lead everyone into the abyss of destruction." Aphrodite's tone suddenly became tough.
"It seems... the talks have broken down?" Zeus snorted with some disdain, stepped out of the coffin of eternal life, and stepped onto the metal floor.
There seemed to be a sensor device under the floor. The moment he stepped on it, the ceiling opposite the floor lit up, and a beam of light with a very clear edge enveloped him. Then, one piece of ceiling after another was lit up, and the cold light projected extended forward from where Zeus was standing, all the way to the only door in the room.
Zeus walked forward along this "path of light", and with every step he took, the lights behind him would go out... and the lights on those devices had all disappeared when he stepped out of the coffin of eternal life. The all-consuming darkness spread rapidly behind him, but it could never pass him.
When Zeus walked to the front of the door, the heavy metal door opened automatically, and a burst of dense gunfire rang out!
Both sides of the corridor outside the door were filled with fully armed robot soldiers. The moment the door was opened, these robot soldiers began to pour fire at Zeus... However, when these tens of millions of bullets were only an inch away from Zeus, they seemed to have lost all kinetic energy and began to fall vertically, landing on the metal floor with a clanging sound.
Zeus's pace remained unchanged. There seemed to be an invisible barrier in front of him, pushing away all the bullets fired at him. With every step he took, many electric sparks would appear on the bodies of the robot soldiers passing by him, and they would collapse to the ground after a burst of uncontrolled convulsions, without exception.
If someone picked up the remains of these robots and examined them carefully at this time, they would find that not only were the core control chips of these robots completely melted, but even the spinal joints forged from pure Nino alloy were twisted into a pretzel shape - you know, as the most important transmission and load-bearing components, the spinal joints of these robot soldiers are the hardest parts of the whole body. Even if they were directly hit by a tactical nuclear bomb, the spine would not become like this.
During the entire process, Zeus did not even lift a finger.
He quickly walked through the corridor and came to the next door. Behind him, the wreckage of hundreds of robots were piled on the ground. Some of them were even moving, but they couldn't get up.
"You're not so naive as to think you can stop me with something like this, are you?" Zeus seemed to be talking to someone or to himself, "It seems that you still don't have a deep understanding of this kind of power."
"At least they slowed you down for two seconds, that's enough."
Just as he finished speaking, the second door in front of Zeus suddenly opened, and the biochemical form of Themis, the eleventh seat of the Undead Crew, "Justice", appeared behind the door. She held two long swords with amazing arcs in her hands , and pounced on Zeus at a speed that was difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.
"Themis, don't you think it's ridiculous that you hide in the coffin of eternal life, relying on those drugs and equipment to suppress your true power, and yet use such a weak toy to try to fight me?"
Zeus stretched out his hand and grasped Themis' right wrist with great precision. He squeezed it hard, and with a crisp sound that made one's teeth ache, the alloy shell of the biochemical body's wrist shattered instantly. Liquid like plasma spurted out from the broken part, and the long sword also slipped from between the five fingers that had lost their grip.
Zeus took the knife in his backhand, swung it from bottom to top, and cut off Themis' other arm cleanly and efficiently.
"There is an insurmountable gap between the technology of human civilization and that of Alpha civilization." Zeus stepped on the chest of Themis's bio-body and pinned her to the ground.
"And there are countless insurmountable gaps between the Alpha civilization and existence at that level." Zeus' ten fingers penetrated the alloy armor, bionic skin and muscles on Themis' legs, grabbed two leg skeletons equipped with hydraulic transmission devices and ciliary-level neural sensors, and pulled the legs of Themis' biochemical body off the pelvis.
Themis let out a scream immediately.
The senses of the biochemical body and the consciousness of the members of the Undead Crew are interconnected, so that the Undead Crew members who lie in the coffin of immortality can experience the life of normal people through the biochemical body. Of course, this sensory connection can be blocked, especially in combat, and it can even be done while retaining a highly sensitive sense of touch and completely disconnecting the pain nerves - when rushing towards Zeus, Themis had also blocked these senses, but when this biochemical body was caught by Zeus, she was horrified to find that these blocked senses were all restored.
Moreover, there is no way to block it again through the control terminal, even if you want to disconnect the consciousness connection with the biochemical body.
The pain endured by the biochemical body was transmitted verbatim to Themis' brain.
The pain of her wrists being crushed, her shoulders being chopped, and her legs being torn from her torso almost caused her consciousness to collapse.
"Trust me, we can do what the Alphas couldn't."
After saying this, Zeus placed his palm on the top of Themis' bio-body's head and "gently" squeezed it.
Themis' vision suddenly fell into endless darkness.
"This kind of power... is really fascinating." Zeus looked at his hands stained with the biochemical "blood" and a twisted smile appeared on his face, but soon the smile disappeared.
"No...I shouldn't indulge in power...I have...more important things to do."
