Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 901: A Better Sacrifice
"Since this is a blasphemy against the great God, why would you allow this guy to ambush me here? Don't tell me you have no way to deal with him." Ke Lan pointed his gun at Wilson who was standing opposite and said.
"The great gods never care about the blasphemy of insects." Neto said, "And for me, if you can really take a step in that direction with the power of the Coffin of Eternal Life... even if it's only half a step, it will be a good thing."
"Good thing?"
"In order to offer a better sacrifice to the great gods," Nieto replied.
"Look, this guy is obsessed with offering me as a sacrifice to that damn god. I suggest you get rid of him first, and then we can sit down and talk slowly." Ke Lan looked at Wilson again and suggested.
"My target is only you. Anything else has nothing to do with me. If the administrator of the hive city is willing to provide me with some help, I don't mind cooperating with him."
"Damn it, I'm afraid that Nieto and Wilson have already reached some kind of tacit understanding..." Ke Lan cursed inwardly, "It seems that there is no hope of sowing discord between them. I can only find a way to get rid of one of them first..."
Neto's biggest limitation is that he has lost most of his control over the hive. Apart from being able to change the weather patterns in the jungle hunting grounds and implant illusions into the invaders' brains through the power of the dome, he has not yet demonstrated any ability to interfere with reality. But once a "Wilson" is added, the situation will be completely different.
Neto can definitely provide Wilson with the maximum help within his ability. Among the three factors of favorable timing, favorable location and favorable people, the other side has already taken advantage of two of them... As for Ke Lan, favorable timing may not be on his side.
"Give up resistance." Wilson said to Ke Lan, "I can at least guarantee that I will bring you back intact."
"What if I say no?"
"I can only bring your brain back as intact as possible."
…
…
City under the sea.
Although the Hounds were very afraid of the "illusionary magnetic field", they still entered the interior of the underwater city.
"As the influence of the 'magic field of illusion' on people continues to deepen, we will observe more and more unreasonable things." Ghost Owl said to the other three people, "Once you realize that you can't distinguish the boundary between reality and illusion, it means that you are very close to the dangerous line of being completely lost..."
"So how did you deal with this kind of situation in the past?" asked the Hound.
"Exit the ruins immediately. If you don't have time, knock yourself out." Ghost Owl answered concisely.
"Knock yourself out... If it's a team action, it's okay, but if it's a lone hunter, what's the difference between that and suicide?" Chi Hanfeng said in astonishment.
"There is a difference," the Hound continued. "Most of the traps in the ruins are triggered. If you really get stuck in the illusion and can't extricate yourself, it's much more dangerous to run around everywhere than to pass out. If you pass out, at least you can hope to be rescued by hunters who come after you. If you run into , I'm afraid your family won't even be able to see your body again."
"Okay...if, I mean if, if I fall into an illusion, everything will be left to you." Chi Hanfeng said, looking at the hound.
"It's useless to tell me. You, me and the Ghost Owl, the three of us have all experienced hallucinations to a certain extent. Only Zhuo Ligetu and Xiaona have not shown any abnormalities so far. If you ask me, the ones who can hold on to the end must be these two." The hound curled his lips.
“That’s not necessarily true.” Ghost Owl shook his head. “Although the influence of the illusionary magnetic field is gradual, there are huge differences between individuals… Some people have various small hallucinations along the way, but they just don’t lose themselves; while some people can’t feel anything before reaching a certain depth, but when hallucinations begin to appear, they will immediately indulge in them… Such examples have happened before.”
"I can probably understand what you mean by the latter type of people. They have weak inspiration and slow brains, but their psychological defenses are extremely fragile... For such people, the threshold for triggering inspiration is higher than that of ordinary people. But once it is triggered, even if it is just a very low-level inspiration, it will cause a huge impact on their minds." The hound nodded, "This type of person is actually not suitable to be a relic hunter."
"For a living, many people have no choice." Ghost Owl sighed, "I have persuaded many newcomers who were not good enough to quit in the training camp, but these newcomers turned around and joined other hunting groups... Only a few lucky ones can live to retire, and the rest of them basically died in the ruins."
"How's your inspiration?" asked the Hound.
"I'm not sure, but I have a keen sense of danger." Ghost Owl said truthfully, "It's hard to say whether this is an ability or luck, but it's thanks to this sense of smell that I've survived until now."
"Ke Lan is also a guy who is extremely sensitive to danger, and so is Asano Akira. People like them seem to be able to predict the future... It's a pity that they are not here now." Hound sighed, "For someone like me who retired from the army, I can fight wars, but I really can't handle dealing with something that can't be understood with common sense."
"Then why do you still want to be a relic hunter?" The ghost owl glanced at the hound, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.
"What you just said was forced by the need to survive."
"In the beginning, you might have been forced to do so to make a living, but later on, the God Hunting Group had already made a lot of money. You could even just sit in the office and leave all the work to your subordinates, and enjoy a life without worries about food and clothing. Why did you still want to take risks?" asked the Ghost Owl.
"You think our life is very comfortable, but in fact only we know that our heads are always tied to the belt." The hound said helplessly, "Ke Lan has caused too many troubles, but we can't help him... After all, he saved our lives. Besides, even the 'favorable conditions' in your eyes were brought to us by him. Without him, I guess I would still be a miserable lone hunter now."
"What kind of person is Ke Lan?" Ghost Owl asked curiously, "Although I have dealt with him several times, I still can't see through him. I always feel that he is hiding a lot of secrets... Even though you have told me a lot of things, in my opinion, these secrets are just the tip of the iceberg."
"What we know... or what Ke Lan knows, is only the tip of the iceberg. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to run to a remote place like the Gray Mist Forest, and we wouldn't have been forced into this situation by the Undead Crew for no reason..."
Just when the hound was about to complain a few more times, Valentina's voice suddenly rang out: "Major, Uncle Nick, I just noticed that the water pressure outside is much lower than before . If you have the diving suits you brought with you, you should be able to leave the submersible and move around."
"Water pressure... Oh, I almost forgot about this!" The Hound slapped his forehead. "When Ke Lan explored this underwater city, he was only wearing a diving suit. Before he slid into the liquid cliff, the pressure resistance was not a problem at all... The depth of this place is not even as deep as the underwater city with the pyramid we saw at the beginning!"
Chi Hanfeng immediately stood up, pulled out a drawer-type container, took out four deep diving suits, handed them to everyone, and said: "This is the only life-saving diving suit used for emergency situations. There are no weapons, no detection equipment, and no self-powered propulsion. The only two additional equipment are the two metal cans on the waist. The blue one is a broad-spectrum biological repellent. When thrown into the water, it can emit a smell that most aquatic native creatures hate. The other red one is a smoke signal canister, which is used to indicate the direction of the rescue aircraft..."
"It's not a big problem if we don't have weapons and thrusters. After all, we still have the Blasphemer mecha and Valentina." Hound took the diving suit and unzipped it. "I just want to know how deep the water pressure is... I remember that Ke Lan was wearing a military-grade tactical diving suit. With the injection of pressurizing agent, the maximum diving depth should be about 1,200 meters."
"We don't have any pressurizing agent on hand. With just this diving suit, we should have no problem reaching a depth of 800 meters." Chi Hanfeng said. He turned to look at the instrument panel inside the submersible, but the instrument panel had been damaged long ago and could not display the current depth at all.
"Valentina, what is our current depth?" he asked.
"...I don't know either. The mecha's depth gauge seems to be broken. The numbers keep jumping between zero and ten thousand without stopping."
"Same." Hound nodded in agreement. "When Ke Lan first entered this area of water, all of his detection equipment failed... In addition to the 'illusionary magnetic field', this area of the sea may also have an interfering magnetic field that can affect electronic equipment."
"Hiss... This is troublesome."
"The problem is actually not difficult to solve. Didn't Xiaona just say that the water pressure has dropped? This means that at least the water pressure can be monitored... We don't have to worry about the actual depth of this place. As long as the water pressure is within the range that the diving suit can withstand, we can get out."
"The water pressure is determined by sensors on the surface of the mecha. If converted, it is about four hundred to five hundred meters deep." Valentina said immediately.
"That's good. Let's go out." Hound quickly put on his diving suit and locked all the airtight rings at the joints. "I don't want to stay in this broken iron ball any longer. If something unexpected happens, I won't be able to escape even if I want to."
"I have a suggestion." Ghost Owl also put on his deep diving suit and said, "I suggest that we split into two teams. This way, we can double the exploration efficiency in the same unit of time. Each team should bring a member who has not experienced hallucinations as 'insurance'. What do you think?"
"Negative." Hound said without thinking, "Have you ever seen those sci-fi horror movies? Usually when the protagonists have to split up, it basically means that someone will die soon... Besides, our only reliable fighting force at the moment is the Blasphemer mecha. What if the team without the mecha encounters a monster?"
"What I mean is that we can search in small areas separately. For example, for each block, one team can search the eastern half, and the other team can search the western half. After searching a block, they can meet up to exchange information and findings." Ghost Owl said, "If we don't split up, I'm afraid that with the oxygen generators we have now, we won't be able to search the entire underwater city."
"I still think what Lao Gou said makes sense." Zhuo Ligetu was the last person to put on a diving suit. He was rather burly, and it was quite difficult for him to put on the heavy diving suit in the narrow space inside the submersible. In the end, he was barely able to put it on with the help of Chi Hanfeng. "Dividing our forces into two groups can double the exploration efficiency, but it also means that the probability of encountering accidents will double... Moreover, the 'revelations' of the three of you appear in three different forms. What if a puzzle appears that requires the information contained in the three 'revelations' to be combined to solve it, what will you do?"
"We won't separate. It's decided." The Hound looked around, and after making sure that all four of them were wearing diving suits, he forcefully turned open the safety valve on the submersible's hatch.
Gulping sounds were heard from all around, as a large amount of seawater poured into the submersible through the reverse pressure relief valve, gradually covering the knees of the four people - this safety valve is used for emergency escape. Before opening the hatch, seawater will first fill the entire submersible to make the pressure inside and outside the submersible reach completely the same.
The water filling process lasted for about fifteen minutes. The Hound raised his wrist and took a look at the pressure gauge of the diving suit. The pointer was still one-third away from the red warning line, which meant that if the water pressure increased by another 50%, the diving suit could withstand it.
The Hound made an OK gesture to the three of them, then pushed open the hatch and swam out.
The three followed him out one after another. Since they had no thrusters, in order to prevent being swept away by the undercurrent, the four of them wore a safety rope around the waist of their diving suits, and the end of the safety rope was tied to the wrist of the Blasphemer mecha.
“Although I just observed this underwater city through the porthole, the feeling is completely different when I actually stepped on the streets of this ruins with my own feet…” Ghost Owl murmured, “When the underwater city was discovered, I thought about organizing an exploration operation, but the draft of the operation was not even completed before this sea area was closed.”
"It's a good thing you wrote the action plan slowly, otherwise you would regret it." The Hound teased, "Oh no, you might not even have the chance to regret it."
