Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 911: Perfect Deception
"Separation?"
Ke Lan seemed to have guessed something vaguely... Could it be that she was the "other half" who came out of the "White Coffin"?
The Undead Crew has always been vague about Ke Lan's origins, but now it seems that the so-called "symbiote" is probably just a half-true and half-false cover.
"You have to use your will to control the power, and not let the power devour your will... But human will is too weak, and almost no one can withstand this kind of power, so the body and soul can only be separated, one part is placed in the Black Coffin, and the other part is released from the White Coffin." The consciousness told Ke Lan, "The Black Coffin and the White Coffin are the highest masterpieces of Alpha Civilization technology. They created this item by analyzing the original composition of 'God'... It is not a low-quality imitation, nor is it a way to strengthen the individual by stealing the power of 'God'... This is a path that represents the possibilities of mankind itself. Unfortunately, after the Alpha civilization completed this masterpiece, they no longer had time to verify this path."
"So... the undead crew members are completing the unfinished business of the Alpha civilization?" Ke Lan asked.
"This is an attempt, but it turns out that there is still a huge gap from the expected goal. The body that the Eternal Life Coffin can create is not perfect. Moreover, even after the two bodies are fused, the consciousness is still incomplete." The consciousness' tone was filled with helplessness. "That existence is too powerful. Only this method can hide from His perception... But because of this, the Eternal Life Coffin can never break through that limit."
"I think I understand what it means... Just like gaining knowledge and power through 'erosion', if the degree of erosion is too low, the less you can gain. If you want to become stronger, you have to risk 'over-erosion'... right?"
"Yes." The other party gave an affirmative answer.
"I have another question. Who are you? Why do you appear in my brain and tell me these things?"
"I am just a sealed memory fragment, but you have never been able to sense my existence. It was not until I was on the verge of death that your will to live awakened me, and I was able to talk to you... You awakened not only this memory fragment, but also successfully resonated with the other half of the deified body in the Black Coffin."
The other half of the deified body... is it "Joker"?
"Then this power that stops time and space also comes from it?"
"I am just a fragment of memory. I don't have any power. I can only provide you with the information I have within a limited scope and guide you... Although this day was brought forward according to the plan, there were no major problems with the entire process. Your willpower has reached a level that is sufficient to bear that kind of power."
“But,” the consciousness existing in the memory suddenly changed the subject, “the two deified bodies have merged together, and their power is already very close to the ‘critical value’. You must use this power with caution - if it attracts the attention of ‘Him’, even if the power of the deified body is amplified a billion times, it will not escape the fate of destruction.”
"How do you determine the critical value? Is it the same as the degree of erosion?" Ke Lan wanted to ask something else, but that thought disappeared completely from his mind like a formatted program.
However, the time stop did not end with the disappearance of that consciousness, and the body called "Joker" was still suspended in the air.
"Use will to control power...power refers to...it?" Ke Lan looked at "Joker". The next second, this body turned into a huge liquid drop, wrapping Ke Lan's remaining body in it.
First, the heart, then the large blood vessels connected to the heart, followed by the bones, muscles, and internal organs... Ke Lan's body returned to its original state in the blink of an eye - no, to be precise, it was stronger than before, much stronger.
But he also deeply understood why that consciousness reminded himself not to let his will be swallowed by power - in the process of reshaping his body, countless messy thoughts and ideas entered Ke Lan's mind. Those were memories that did not belong to Ke Lan at all, but made him feel familiar and unfamiliar... as if he had really experienced those lives.
If Ke Lan cannot break free from these distracting thoughts, his self-awareness will be completely lost in them and he will become a puppet .
Fortunately, Ke Lan had made preparations in advance. If these distracting thoughts were compared to a raging torrent, then his self-consciousness was like a boulder standing still in the middle of the river. No matter how the water hit it, it did not waver at all. Instead, it used its body to split the huge torrent of consciousness into two smaller tributaries.
"Does this count as... a successful fusion?" When all those chaotic memories and distracting thoughts receded like the tide, Ke Lan felt like he was reborn. He could clearly feel the strong heart in his chest beating continuously, pumping blood forcefully to the blood vessels throughout his body... Every muscle and every bone was filled with surging power. Ke Lan even had the illusion that he could jump out of the atmosphere with a light leap.
When reshaping his body, he can choose his own body structure . Among those chaotic memory fragments, there are also fragments of non-human creatures... If affected by those things, the final body that is condensed may very likely be a monster like the Erosion Corpse.
Fortunately, Ke Lan always firmly believed that he was a human being and not something else, so he was not affected by those influences - although even he himself was not sure whether those influences could be considered positive or negative.
Human skin is soft and fragile, far inferior to the common crustacean stratum corneum or even exoskeleton of indigenous creatures. The fingernails covering the ends of the ten fingers and the teeth formed for chewing cannot be used as weapons in battle like the claws of wild beasts... If Ke Lan wants to become stronger, he has countless choices... Any choice will make him more powerful than his current state.
But Ke Lan knew very well that if he really made such a choice for the sake of extreme power, then just as that consciousness said, "the will would be swallowed up by the power"... those chaotic and even inhuman memories would occupy Ke Lan's main personality, and completely transform him into a monster from the inside out.
"Using your own will to control power, this is what it means, right?" Ke Lan glanced at the Sphinx that was still in a frozen state and waved his hand gently. The black and white world instantly returned to color, and time began to flow again - the Sphinx's claws just broke through the shield formed by the living armor and went straight down.
However, Ke Lan was no longer under the shield. When Sphinx realized that his target had already flashed behind him, Ke Lan stretched out his hand to him and made a fist.
“Click.”
A crisp sound was heard inside the Sphinx's body, and the monster's movements froze for a moment... The next moment, its entire chest collapsed and turned into a spherical object with a diameter of less than one centimeter.
"Is it Ze Luo's spatial power? No... It's stronger than Ze Luo's power, easier to use... And it's completely unrestricted..." Ke Lan just thought about the squashed appearance of the Sphinx in his mind, and the monster that had forced him into a desperate situation a dozen seconds ago immediately turned into a flesh membrane as thin as a cicada's wing. When Ke Lan dismissed this idea, the extremely compressed flesh membrane could no longer support the internal power and exploded, creating a huge blood rain in the forest.
"Black Coffin... Why did the power of the Black Coffin appear here?" Neto shouted in a sharp voice, "Who sent the deified body representing 'power' here! Who?!"
"I know what you are!" Neto suddenly changed the subject. Hundreds of drones rose from the forest, and countless weapons of various shapes were aimed at Ke Lan from the air. "You are the new personality nurtured in the 'White Coffin'... I understand, the guy called 'The Fool', he doesn't trust anyone... The only person he can trust is himself. He has tricked everyone, including those members of the Undead Crew... He actually tried to blaspheme the gods with the power of a mortal..."
"Fool..."
Ke Lan silently recited the code name... Although many things were still speculations, he was grasp the thread of the whole matter -
I am a fool, but I am not a fool - this body is more like a container that can be replaced at any time, and what the container carries is the self-consciousness that can remain clear under the impact of the torrent of power.
As for this self-awareness, it should come from the Fool...
"Damn it, the clown is actually me?"
One of the literal translations of Joker is clown. Ke Lan never thought that this phrase, which is often used to make fun of and mock oneself on the Internet, would actually become a reality for her.
But... what was the purpose of the "self" in the past? He clearly didn't trust anyone, but he disappeared for so many years, leaving the Ark and the Undead Crew to be managed by people he didn't trust... Wasn't he afraid that those people would ruin his plan?
Is there another plan... or is it just a last resort?
So, those memory fragments sealed deep in the mind actually have little to do with the stone tablet. They actually belong to the memories of the Fool himself?
"Sealed memory... Split personality... Coffin of immortality... Maintain the status quo... Erosion... Critical point..."
There was a sudden flash of light in his mind. Fortunately, this time Ke Lan did not miss it and quickly realized the key to the problem!
The true bodies of all the undead crew members are sealed in the coffin of immortality, not only for the immortality of the flesh, but more to suppress the degree of their own erosion - as the highest ruling class of the Ark, they are exposed to much more "forbidden knowledge" than others...
The Coffin of Eternal Life is not omnipotent. It can only suppress the deepening of erosion to a certain extent. According to the currently known information, the so-called "erosion" is completely irreversible... The previous "Pope" Chiron turned into a monster like a mountain of flesh because the degree of erosion exceeded the critical value.
Chiron's will was not as firm as Colan's. There was an indelible desire in his heart... In hindsight, it was this desire that led him astray and ultimately to destruction.
Ke Lan probably already knew what was the desire that dominated Chiron's heart... "Curiosity", he longed to know more, he longed to peek into the hearts of others... "Super Eclipse" could be regarded as a way of making wishes that would be granted to all, but the price the wisher had to pay was really too high.
The ability of the "Phoenix" should be dealing with the immortality of the body, and the "Taotie" mentioned by Neto is the desire for "appetite"... These desires are not pure enough, so they are easily mixed with "impurities".
Only the most fundamental desire of "living" can keep the self-consciousness clear when it is impacted - this is what Ke Lan has personally verified when he merged with "Joker" just now.
As for the Fool, he must know more "forbidden knowledge" than Chiron... Maybe, the Fool was already in the "Erosion" state long before Chiron broke through the critical point.
"Erosion" is irreversible, but there is a way to deceive "God" - first abandon the severely alienated body, then split the personality into multiple individuals, each of which only carries a part of the information "within the safety threshold". For safety, this information is sealed up with special means... Finally, find a "body" as a container for each personality...
In this way, a human whose erosion level has exceeded the critical point has been transformed into two, three or even more "amnesiac clones" under this operation...
If you want to deceive "Him", you must first deceive yourself.
How can God believe a lie that even you don’t believe?
