Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 904: The Truth 1
"He is the biologist?" Ke Lan stared at the Sphinx in astonishment. "Then this means... he is one of the survivors of this hive city... 500,000 years ago?"
In a sense, those tunnel dwellers entrenched in Garbage Channel No. 4 could be considered the survivors of the hive city, but the group of tunnel dwellers that Ke Lan and his friends encountered now were obviously the descendants of the first batch of tunnel dwellers. Tunnel dwellers had not been eroded, so naturally it was impossible for them to have a lifespan of 500,000 years.
Then, this monster called "Sphinx" in front of us is likely to be the only person who witnessed the "disaster" 500,000 years ago...
At least he is the only one Ke Lan knows about so far, except for Neto, who is "not considered a human".
"He won't answer any of your questions," Nieto said, "because his memory has been completely wiped out, leaving only his animal instincts."
As soon as Neto finished speaking, the Sphinx suddenly moved - the last second it was still thirty meters away from Ke Lan, and the next second, it was already in front of him, and the huge claws slammed into Ke Lan's chest with a whistling sound!
But Ke Lan did not choose to retreat, but rushed directly towards the pair of claws, allowing the sharp claws to pierce through him. At the same time, he chopped the engineering shovel in his hand into the gap between the two large crystalline shells on the Sphinx's chest.
The Sphinx wanted to expand its claws outward and tear Ke Lan's chest, but the living armor locked the pair of claws directly inside Ke Lan's chest. Instead, Ke Lan used an engineering shovel to pry off the shell on the Sphinx's chest, and in a few strokes, he dug a bloody hole in the Sphinx's chest.
It’s not that Ke Lan likes to use this kind of fighting style of exchanging injuries for injuries and risking his life, it’s because he simply has no better choice - the "time stop" ability allows Ke Lan to see the Sphinx's attack pattern clearly in an instant: the pair of sharp claws are actually a feint, and the real killer move is actually the scorpion tail hidden behind it. If Ke Lan chooses to retreat or dodge, he will most likely be hit by the needles on the scorpion tail.
Instead of gambling on whether the unknown toxin would affect the brain, Ke Lanning could endure real physical trauma with controllable severity.
Even if he was lucky enough to avoid the poison needle, Ke Lan would instantly lose the initiative and fall into the opponent's attack rhythm.
Moreover, by crashing into the opponent's arms, he could not only avoid the attack of the scorpion's tail, but also seize a rare opportunity - the Sphinx's chest had been forcibly pried open by a pair of large hands condensed from the living armor, revealing the powerfully beating heart inside the chest.
Although Ke Lan had many questions to ask the Sphinx, he did not dare to hold back in a fight of this level. The sharp edge of the engineer shovel instantly cut into the heart, which was as big as a basketball. Hot and smelly blood spurted out immediately, covering Ke Lan in a bloody mess.
But the Sphinx did not die. Instead, it lifted Ke Lan up and threw him out with force.
Ke Lan adjusted his body shape in mid-air and landed lightly on the ground. When he stood up, the horrible penetrating wound on his chest had almost healed.
In contrast, the Sphinx's huge heart was cut in half, and extremely high-pressure arterial blood was constantly spurting out from the ventricles and atria - the heart structure of this monster was very similar to that of humans, with two atria and two ventricles on the left and right, but the biggest difference was that this heart was much larger than a human's, and its muscles were extremely strong.
The Sphinx's heart did not heal, but it did not fall down either. Instead, it let out several threatening roars at Ke Lan.
The Sphinx charged at Ke Lan again, but this time Ke Lan was prepared. He dodged and moved to its side. Before the scorpion's tail fell, he had used an engineering shovel and living armor to create several deep wounds on the Sphinx's ribs that could be seen to the bone, and then quickly widened the distance again.
"It has no healing ability...but its heart was damaged but it didn't die, and even its movements were not affected much...so it seems that the heart is not its weak point?" Ke Lan analyzed in his mind. The monster in front of him reminded him of Layton, whom he hadn't seen for a long time - this is not to say that Layton has any similarities with this monster, but because Layton has four hearts installed in his body.
When he was in the glacial ruins, Layton still had only three artificial hearts, but later the God Hunters made a lot of money, and Layton realized that his strength had become a drag, so he underwent three more reconstruction operations, increasing the number of hearts to four.
Two of his four hearts are "real hearts" mass-produced using organ cultivation technology, and the other two are cyborg hearts with a semi-mechanical and semi-biochemical structure. On weekdays, he usually uses one "real heart" and one cyborg heart. In critical moments, he can drive all four hearts at the same time... For the cyborg, these hearts are actually like the reactors of a battleship. The more hearts are activated, the greater the improvement in the various attributes of the body, and the greater the burden on the body...
In addition to strengthening the body, the biggest advantage of multiple hearts is that if one or more hearts are damaged, as long as there is still one heart left that can work normally, the cyborg can survive - otherwise, Layton would have died in the stone chamber in the glacial ruins long ago.
Does the Sphinx have multiple hearts?
Nothing that happens to this kind of "stitched monster" will surprise Ke Lan, not to mention that this is a "stitched monster" that has been eroded.
However, in this "stitched monster", Ke Lan saw the shadow of a fusion body - although there are huge differences between the two, the ideas are consistent. Both are to piece together the strongest parts of various creatures to form a perfect monster with "almost no weaknesses"... It's just that the "Chimera" plan was barely successful in the end due to the power of erosion, and the fusion body is obviously much more complete.
What is the relationship between the Hive Civilization and the Alpha Civilization?
For the people of the Hive City, that existence cannot be considered their belief, because the erosion caused by his power and forbidden knowledge is even called "disaster" by the people of the Hive City... But the situation of the Alpha civilization is completely different. Putting aside the purpose of the Night Watch, at least on the surface, the Alpha civilization extremely respects and worships the existence they call the "Great God."
Moreover, this was not a one-sided worship - at least, judging from the various discoveries in the ruins of the Alpha civilization, the "great god" not only accepted the worship of the Alpha people, but even gave certain "feedback".
The "feedback" here does not refer to forbidden knowledge or mutations caused by erosion, but real "items".
"Blood of God".
The Seed of Erosion is a biological weapon made from the blood of God. Ke Lan has witnessed the power of the original Seed of Erosion, which possesses the "real blood of God", once at the ruins of the Ancient Bronze City. He himself used the drop of "real blood of God" in the body of the original Seed of Erosion to completely activate the living armor and defeated the "God of War Alexander" controlled by the prophet... Ke Lan himself is very clear about the power contained in the blood of God.
Although there are doubts about whether the "great god" has a physical body and whether it has "blood" which is only possessed by animals, there is no doubt that this "blood of god" is indeed given to the Alpha people by that existence... There are similar records in many documents and memory fragments related to the Seed of Corrosion, and the information left by the Night Watch did not refute or explain this point.
Even if it was not the blood of gods, it was undoubtedly a carrier of power that was unimaginable to humans. With the technological level demonstrated by the Alpha civilization, Ke Lan did not think that they could create such a thing.
Therefore, the "great god" was actually not bad to the believers on this planet - although those bloody sacrificial rituals were extremely barbaric and brutal from a modern perspective, the "gift" he gave to the Alpha civilization was completely worthy of these sacrifices, and even far exceeded the value of the sacrifices.
If the Alphas were the descendants of the Hive People...what was the reason that made them go from being terrified of the "disaster" in the beginning, to even sinking the entire hive into the sea to stop the spread of the disaster, to later becoming extremely reverent towards that existence and becoming its most loyal believers?
A guess emerged in Ke Lan's mind...
Whether it is erosion or "disaster", this is probably one of the means used by that existence to expand its own power. He has conquered countless interstellar civilizations using this means... and there are many ways to conquer. Devouring the entire civilization is one, and making the entire civilization become one's believers is also another.
In order to avoid extinction, the Alpha civilization, or the Hive Civilization, had no choice but to submit to Him... As time went on, those who became His believers were inevitably eroded by the "forbidden knowledge". Those who could not adapt died or turned into corpses, while those who could adapt survived and became the Alphas in the eyes of the Ark.
Where there is obedience, there must be resistance... The Night Watch should be an underground resistance organization among the Alphas. They should have inherited the history handed down from the Hive Civilization era and know the truth of everything that happened back then...
Although this guess is exaggerated, logically speaking, there are no obvious loopholes...
According to this statement, the Alpha civilization is the Hive civilization... and the Hive civilization... are the people of Earth?
Alpha people...are they the people from Earth?
Ke Lan had this hypothesis countless times, but he had never dared to draw this conclusion because there was not enough evidence to support it... and now, with the discovery of the Hive Civilization, the outline of this hypothesis has gradually become clear.
Yaguna Kotor is not an alien warship built by another civilization... but a legacy left to the descendants by the ancestors of the Alpha people - the Hive Civilization...
"I guessed correctly..."
Ke Lan murmured. He was originally asking himself, expecting the mysterious "subconscious" to give a right or wrong answer, but he didn't expect that the first person to answer him was Neto.
"Your guesses are basically correct... The Alpha civilization on the ground today is the predecessor of the Hive Civilization." Neto said, "Not every Hive is as stupid as the people in this Hive, who would rather sink their homes into the sea than accept His gift... The strong prey on the weak, and the fittest survive. This is the law of nature... Moreover, He is so kind that He has given believers the greatest degree of freedom, but these people are still not satisfied and try to shake the glory of greatness with the power of ants... Destruction is the inevitable outcome."
Are the Alphas really from Earth?
Ke Lan felt his heartbeat quicken. He had an indescribable feeling. For a moment, he wanted to shout loudly to vent his suppressed emotions. He also wanted to find someone to pour out everything in his mind and let the other person share his shock and excitement. Ke Lan's remaining stubbornness kept telling him that this was impossible, but his reason indicated that there was no problem with the logic of the whole conjecture. The cause and effect of this section could all match up. Even Ke Lan's subconscious mind, which he had always trusted the most, silently told him in the depths of his mind.
That's the truth.
Ke Lan was a beat too slow, and the Sphinx tore off most of his face, revealing the white facial bones underneath. However, he did not care. The bright red living armor instantly filled the gap, forming a half-skull-like mask.
"I have two more questions, can you answer them?" Ke Lan asked - although Neto was an enemy, what it said did not deceive Ke Lan... unless it could manipulate Ke Lan's subconscious mind to mislead her.
"I know what you want to ask... You are very curious about why the humans of the Hive Civilization arrived at Alpha Planet so many years before the Ark. You don't know where they came from, let alone when they set out... In that era, let alone interstellar travel, humans were still at the stage of eating raw meat and drinking blood... And your second question is why the Alpha civilization disappeared from this world..."
With the ability to spy on people's minds, Neto directly read out what was in Ke Lan's mind, but his next sentence made Ke Lan feel disappointed.
"These two questions can basically be considered one question, but I cannot answer you now." Neto said, "Originally, if you promised to offer your body and soul to the great god, I could tell you all the truth... But now, you are just a 'mistake', a 'mistake' that must be erased."
