Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 852 Mechanical Civilization
"You mean to say that this 'hive' and Yaguna Tor... were built by the same civilization, and that civilization was not the Alpha civilization?" Thirty-Three opened his mouth slightly.
Ke Lan did not respond immediately, but fell into thought.
According to the memories of the "zombies" on the second floor of the Tower of Babel, Yaguna Kotor was most likely built by a group of "fugitive earthlings"... Could it be that the people on that engineering ship not only built Yaguna Kotor, but also built this "hive city" on Alpha?
Ke Lan even began to doubt whether this nest city, the underwater city "City No. 2" outside, and the uninhabited deserted island with an obviously abnormal time flow rate were actually on Alpha Planet...
There is still one question that remains unexplained - what is the relationship between that group of "fugitives" and the Alpha civilization?
Between them and the Alphas, who appeared on this planet first?
Ke Lan knew that it was meaningless to worry about the paradox on the timeline at this time. The timelines of all events were tangled together like a tangled mess. Among the group of "fugitives" or Alpha civilization, at least one person must have experienced "time travel"... Of course, there was another possibility: that the person who had "time traveled" was actually the person on the Ark.
The process of traveling through a wormhole may seem to take only one year, but in normal time and space, perhaps tens of thousands... or even hundreds of millions of years have passed.
At this moment, Ze Luo, who was possessed by Ke Lan, suddenly said, "The language logic of these characters is very close to that of Earth civilization. If you give me some time, I should be able to decipher them."
"Close to the language logic of Earth civilization?!" Ke Lan was shocked, but then nodded in agreement - if this "nest city" and Yaguna Kotor were both created by the crew of the fleeing engineering ship, then it makes perfect sense that the characters "they" use have the shadow of Earth civilization.
This can only be described as "unexpected but reasonable".
"How long will it take to decipher these texts?" Ke Lan asked.
During the time Ze Luo stayed on the Ark, she read so much that even some old scholars with white hair and beards could only look up to her. In order to understand the development of human history and society, especially in terms of language and writing, Ze Luo read almost all the literature that Ke Lan and Zofia could get her. In addition, with her terrifying comprehension and calculation ability, the so-called linguistics and writing experts on the Ark could not decipher a "new writing" as fast as Ze Luo without the help of computers.
"It will take about two hours. I need to compare it with the text library in my memory. This process will take a lot of time." Ze Luo said, "Of course, if I'm lucky, the results can be out in half an hour at the fastest."
"Two hours... OK, let's explore the industrial area of this 'hive city' first. It would be great if we could find some other text information in the process."
For an unknown language, the most difficult part in deciphering it is to figure out its logical patterns and grammar. As long as you can overcome the first hurdle, things will become much smoother afterwards... By that time, the time spent translating a phrase of ten words and translating a document of hundreds or thousands of words will not be much different.
Ke Lan was vaguely excited... If he could decipher this kind of text, he might be able to figure out the secret of those fugitives.
Although humans know very little about the secrets of the Alpha civilization, according to the original exploration process, although the progress is slow, it is at least proceeding step by step. Some reasonable and unreasonable things can be more or less explained from a logical level, even if it is a more far-fetched explanation... But since the appearance of Yagunakotor, since the appearance of this "engineering ship that escaped from the earth", everything has been messed up.
Their existence is like a fatal bug that is extremely conspicuous in an entire line of code. Everyone knows that this is a bug, even programming beginners can see it, and the severity of this bug is enough to cause the entire program to crash... But even in this situation, the program actually runs, and runs very smoothly, as if this bug was an indispensable part of the program.
This is so fucking weird.
"Let's go." Ke Lan was the first to walk down the lift platform. "To be honest, I'm more interested in these people who built Yaguna Kator and this 'hive' than in the Alpha civilization."
In addition, Ke Lan had another question that he wanted to understand: where did the crew members on the engineering ship, or their descendants, go? Did they become extinct during the long interstellar journey, or were they killed by the Alpha civilization... or did they integrate into the Alpha civilization?
"I'm also a little puzzled." Thirty-three followed behind Ke Lan, saying as they walked, "If the civilization that built Yaguna Kotor and the Hive City is the same, then the technological gap is even greater than we originally thought... The technological level of this Hive City, except for the Nino alloy used on the lifting platform, is similar to that of Earth civilization. However, the technology of Yaguna Kotor is so advanced that even the Alpha civilization cannot replicate it. When comparing the two, the word 'chasm' cannot describe the gap between the two."
The two walked forward along one of the eight main streets. Compared with the extremely chaotic situation on the previous floor, this "industrial zone" seemed much more organized - with the central lifting platform as the base point, eight main streets with a width of more than 50 meters and transport tracks on both sides extended radially in all directions, while other secondary channels, like veins on a leaf, radiated from these eight main streets and connected every corner of the entire industrial zone.
The further they went in, the more things they saw, and the stronger their doubts became.
Whether it is processing equipment or transportation vehicles, all of them reflect the technological level of the natives of the hive city - freight trains moving on metal tracks, traction locomotives driven by electromagnetic systems, portable generators driven by chemical fuels... These things are constantly telling the two that the technological level of this hive city is almost the same as that of Earth civilization from the late 20th century to the early 21st century, and in many ways it is not even as good as humans on Earth.
At the beginning of the 21st century, CNC equipment had been basically popularized in the production lines of major industrial countries on the earth, but many mechanical equipment in the factories of this hive city still relied on manpower for operation. Thirty-three even picked up a tool similar to a vernier caliper for adjusting precision.
"A brilliant and splendid mechanical civilization... but I feel like their technology tree is completely off." Thirty-three said to Ke Lan, "We have searched three factories. Have you found any intelligent electronic devices?"
"No." Ke Lan shook her head.
"This doesn't make sense... Every civilization will go through such a stage in its development process. Even the imaginary steampunk world has produced instruments like the difference engine and the analytical engine. How could this civilization not even be able to build a decent computer?" Thirty-three expressed his doubts.
It can't be said that this civilization has experienced an event like the "Omnic Crisis" and so it hates this kind of technology, right?
"No... I don't think so." Ke Lan shook his head again, "Have you ever thought that it might be your thinking as an earthling on the Ark that limits your imagination?"
"Ah? Limiting my imagination?" Thirty-three narrowed his eyes. "Are you referring to the cage of fixed thinking? I seem to have heard of this term, but I'm not really sure what it is."
"If this civilization has not developed intelligent devices like computers, how did my blood activate the lifting platform just now? I don't think a mechanical device composed of gears and transmission rods can do this. No matter how sophisticated its structure is, it can't do it... So I think that behind this mechanical world, there should be something hidden that we can't see... Not only this nest city, but also the ruins of Alpha civilization, those core control hubs that connect countless mechanisms, do you think their structures and principles are similar to computers?"
"Hiss... Now that you mention it, I really feel a little..." Thirty-three took a breath, "What I have always thought was normal is actually the most abnormal... Perhaps we have seen too many things that cannot be explained by the technological level of human civilization, so we think those things are reasonable. Now that you have revealed it, I suddenly feel that the Alpha civilization is not normal either. Their technology tree seems to be leaning towards the field of mysticism to a large extent."
"What we consider mysticism may be what they consider 'science'... It's just that humans cannot see many things, so they attribute them to mysticism." Ke Lan tapped his temple with his finger. "Assuming that the brains of individual creatures of the Alpha civilization and the civilization that built this hive city are extremely developed, with computing speed and accuracy comparable to that of electronic computers, do you think they still need things like computers?"
"Now that you mention it, I suddenly feel... that it's really not necessary." Sanshisan suddenly looked at the "Zeluo" on Ke Lan's body that had transformed into a living armor, "To some extent, Zeluo should also be able to serve as a highly intelligent computer, right?"
"Yes." It was Ze Luo who answered, "I have done tests, and my maximum computing speed is four thousand times that of the previous personal computer in Ke Lan's office."
"Four thousand times? What's the configuration of your machine, Ke Lan?" Thirty-three was a little curious.
"It's a top-of-the-line civilian machine, plus a portion of military encryption modules bought from the black market. However, this thing has no added benefit to the computing speed, so it can be ignored." Ke Lan said. When he equipped this computer, the God Hunter Group already had sufficient funds in its account. In order to maximize his hacking skills, he naturally chose the best accessories available on the market.
"But compared to the Ark's core brain, my computing speed is far from enough." Ze Luo said again.
"Come to think of it, the core brain of the Ark seems to be a biological computer, right?" Thirty-three looked at Ke Lan, "I remember you mentioned it before."
"Biological computers are the most abnormal..." Ke Lan gestured on his head with his palm, "Our human brain is only this big, but it can do such complex thinking. Moreover, the vast majority of human brain cells are still dormant, and only a small part of them can be developed... Then you can imagine: a super brain weighing more than ten tons, with all cells in an activated state, how terrifying its computing power would be."
"..." Sanshisan nodded silently, then took out an energy bar from his jacket pocket and bit off half of it. "I think my brain cells are about to overload if I discuss this kind of problem with you... I really can't imagine that kind of super biological computer."
"Have you heard of the A-063 ruins 'Ring City'?" Ke Lan changed the subject and said.
"Yes, it's a coastal city located on the west coast of Zhonghai. The city is equivalent to four Sao Paulo cities on Earth, but the damage is very serious. More than 90% of the buildings have been completely wiped out. The remaining one-tenth of the city farthest from the coast is basically only a piece of foundation. According to the inference of experts, the 'Ring City' has been hit by at least a hundred tsunamis of more than 100 meters in the past tens of thousands of years. In the face of the power of nature, it is difficult for even the most indestructible city to have anything left."
"Then do you know why this city with nothing left can be rated as an A-level relic?" Ke Lan asked.
"I don't know." Thirty-three shook his head. "My knowledge of the 'Ring City' is limited to what I just said... I am not interested in this relic, so I haven't studied it in depth."
What Thirty-Three just said is the introduction to each ruins on the official website of Ark Ruin Hunter. This information is located just below the name, level and location of the ruins and can be seen at a glance. There is no need to pay. Even an ordinary person without a registered hunter certificate can browse this information in visitor mode.
"The ring-shaped city actually has an underground part. Although it is not deep and the area is not as large as the city ruins on the surface, it is very dangerous. A very powerful lone hunter I once knew died there." Ke Lan said.
"What's under the ground?" Sanshisan's curiosity was immediately aroused.
