Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 912 Christine
Just as Ke Lan was thinking, he found that his body was gradually disintegrating. His originally fair skin seemed to be scorched, turning black and hard, and finally turned into flying ashes... Faintly, he seemed to feel a gaze falling on him.
“Critical point!”
The power after integrating with "Joker" has exceeded the critical point, and attracted the attention of "Him"!
What should I do? In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Ke Lan's mind, but in the end he did not take any action and let his body completely turn into ashes.
Only Ze Luo, who was in a sleeping state, fell to the ground with a muffled sound.
The sight disappeared, and the ashes gradually gathered together to form the appearance of Ke Lan.
This disintegration phenomenon is not the power of "Him", but a self-protection method of this body... In a sense, it can be understood as "playing dead".
But Ke Lan also knew that if he pretended to be dead too many times, he might not be able to fool that existence... Although the power of "Joker" was strong, every time he used it, it was like gambling.
I bet His gaze just swept across without lingering for a moment.
…
…
The underwater city, inside the "core hub".
"You...are you talking to us?" The hound straightened his back and asked loudly to the giant brain in the tank.
"Y...E...S..." Chi Hanfeng closed his eyes and quickly wrote three letters on the paper.
(For your convenience, all subsequent conversations are converted into Chinese.)
"Do you know the Earth?" Zhuo Ligetu couldn't help asking.
"I know." The other party's answer was simple but direct.
"Don't ask these useless questions first..." The Hound thought for a moment, then asked, "Why did you lead us here? Do you want to use us to help you do something?"
"I didn't lead you here. You found yourself here." The giant brain in the jar replied, "But I do have something I want you to do."
"Then why did we get separated from Yaguna Kator? And what about those monsters we encountered in the sea? Can you give us a reasonable explanation? If we can't establish the most basic trust between us, we won't help you do anything."
"Aguna Kator cannot enter this sea area. As for the monster you encountered, it is the 93rd Epsilon-class mutant. This mutant is not very aggressive and will not cause any harm to you."
"It won't cause any harm to us?" The hound's voice suddenly rose several degrees, "You're farting!"
"It's just curious about unfamiliar things. You can recall whether it has taken the initiative to approach you."
"Ah..." The hound was speechless. Zhuoligetu patted him on the shoulder and whispered, "Indeed, we were the first to strike. Even so, the monster did not fight back... To be honest, I had this feeling when I was 'fighting' with it before... With its speed, it could have directly entangled the submersible, but it kept a distance from us... It seemed like it was just observing us."
"It seems... that's the case." Ghost Owl also said, "The damage to the submersible was actually caused by the torpedoes we detonated ourselves..."
"You two, are you on my side or the opposite side? Why are you always speaking for that piece of brain?" The Hound glared at the two of them angrily.
"It's just stating the facts." Zhuoligetu sighed, "At least so far , this thing is telling the truth."
"Okay, I won't pursue this matter for now. First of all, you have to tell us, what are you?"
"The manager of Hive City No. 451, a super biological computer, codenamed Christine." The giant brain in the tank replied, "The Alpha civilization brought me here from the destroyed Hive City to serve as the control center of this underwater city."
"Christine... isn't this an English name? Or... is it a translation?" The Hound hesitated for a moment, then continued, "What is the purpose of this underwater city? If you can tell us, we will believe you once... Oh, and the origin and activities of the fusion in the Abyss Hatchery, we also need to know."
"Isn't this a bit too greedy..." The ghost owl whispered in the hound's ear, "What if we piss this thing off? We are still in its territory."
"I can't even figure out the origin of that monster, how can I trust this thing?"
But the giant brain in the tank... or rather, Christine did not reject the hound's question. Chi Hanfeng only paused for a moment, then continued to write on the paper with a pen -
"This underwater city is actually a biological weapons research institute. The fusion in the Abyss Hatchery you mentioned is one of the main research projects of this institute. As for its activity habits, it never leaves the Abyss Hatchery on its own initiative... Because the hatchery is equipped with an induction device, every once in a while, it will lead the creatures that stray into this sea area to the abyss, so that the fusion can prey on them and absorb their gene fragments."
"That induction device...will humans also be affected?"
"Yes, the signals released by the induction device can affect human brain waves, causing them to yearn for the Abyss Hatchery without realizing it. This yearning is hard to resist, and people who are attracted to it generally believe that this is their true inner thoughts, rather than an inducement from the outside world."
Hound and Zhuoligetu looked at each other, and a fear rose in their hearts... If they approached the Abyss Hatchery before finding Christine, they might also be attracted by the induction device...
Looking back, Ke Lan's original decision to break into the Abyss Hatchery was probably not just to look for flesh-eating worms. This induction device should have also played an important role in secret.
The Hound glanced at the piece of paper that Chi Hanfeng was holding with the edge of his palm. There were already hundreds of letters overlapping on the paper, and the handwriting in many places had penetrated the back of the paper. The Hound silently changed a piece of paper for him, and then said to Christine: "The last question, this is really the last question, what does the phrase 'leave the bed' mean?"
Christine was not impatient with the Hound's inconsistency, but she did not answer the question directly. "This question involves the most fundamental secrets. With my authority, I cannot explain it to you. Otherwise, the self-destruct system will determine that I have betrayed you and activate it automatically."
"...Okay. Can you tell me what you want us to do?"
"You should be familiar with this person."
Chi Hanfeng had just finished writing this sentence when a holographic shadow was suddenly projected in front of the breeding tank. In the shadow, there was a blood-red human figure fighting with a monster with an extremely exaggerated shape.
Although most of the figure's body was covered in blood-red armor, the hound recognized him immediately: "Ke Lan?!"
"He is now inside Hive City No. 97, an abandoned hive city. However, due to the influence of the residual power of the 'Great God', the Alpha Civilization's multiple explorations into the hive city have all ended in failure."
"Where is this nest No. 97? Tell me!" The hound asked immediately.
"It's under this underwater city."
As soon as these words were spoken, Hound and the others fell into a brief silence.
"You mean... Ke Lan... he is right under our feet now?" The Hound frowned and shook his head. "Impossible... he should still be in the Gray Mist Forest, in the high tower in the center of the forest. How could he be at the bottom of the sea?"
"I am just relaying the truth."
"Okay...well, then what is your purpose in doing this? Do you want us to rescue him? Since when did the artificial intelligence of the Alpha civilization become so kind?" The Hound asked suspiciously.
"He is a very special individual. The unfinished work of Alpha Civilization has the possibility of continuing through him. As one of the instructions written in my source code, I must ensure the safety of this individual."
"Then why don't you go and rescue him yourself?"
"Hive No. 97 is affected by the residual power of the Great God. No Alpha person or technological creation of the Alpha civilization can enter there... Only you humans can, because you have never been watched by Him."
"Hoo...Hoo..." The Hound exhaled twice in a row, and then said in a tone as calm as possible, "It's not impossible for us to help you rescue people, but this abandoned hive is full of dangers... If you want us to succeed, then you should tell us everything you know about Hive No. 97. Isn't that reasonable?"
"Makes sense." Christine responded, "The structure of the hives on Alpha is roughly the same, divided into four parts: the bottom hive, the lower city, the upper city, and the cloud top. However, the order is exactly the opposite of what you know. The bottom hive is located at the top of the hive and is also a barrier to entering the hive, while the cloud top is located at the bottom of the hive."
Chi Hanfeng's body was shaking constantly. It was obvious that the high-intensity "revelation" had put an unbearable burden on his body, but he still wrote letter after letter on the paper without saying a word.
Instead, Hound was the first to notice Chi Hanfeng's abnormality. Thinking of the "magnetic field of illusion" that would drive people crazy, he immediately pressed Chi Hanfeng's shoulder to stop him from continuing to write, and then shouted to Christine: "Since you can use the projection screen to tell us that Ke Lan is in that damn nest, why can't you show us the structure diagram of the nest? Do you want to kill Old Chi?"
Chi Hanfeng uttered a muffled groan, then forcibly broke free from the hound's hand and wrote: "Nest City No. 97 has been severely eroded. If the real scene of the hive is projected, the degree of erosion of all of you will exceed the critical point in an instant..."
"Then can't you express it in words? Just like what you are doing now by controlling Lao Chi!"
"I don't understand the writing and language of your Earth civilization. If I need to learn, I might just destroy the brain of one of you... I can guarantee that I will try my best to minimize the side effects."
"Damn it!" The hound couldn't help but curse.
"Old dog, it's okay, I can still hold on... Four people or one person, which side should I bet on in this deal? You should know better than me, right?"
“Damn it, damn it…” The Hound stamped his feet angrily. “Don’t die here, old man. Otherwise, I don’t know how I’m going to explain to Xiaona!”
"Don't worry, I'm very strong and I won't die."
After the brief interlude, Christine continued to manipulate Chi Hanfeng to write on the paper: "The bottom nest is equivalent to the 'slums' in your understanding, and the lower city is the 'industrial zone', which bears most of the industrial needs of the entire nest city. The danger level of these two layers is almost zero, but in the upper city, His remaining power is very terrifying."
"Remember, never look up at the dome directly above you, even if it's reflected or refracted, or even at pictures or scenes taken with electronic equipment," Christine continued.
"I can't see the dome... Is it something like ?" The Hound muttered in a low voice. He still remembered the extremely weird meme infection time - if it weren't for the existence of Ke Lan, I'm afraid all mankind would have abandoned the ship and fled.
"By the way, what about Yunding? Why don't you continue talking?"
"I know nothing about the situation at Cloudtop." Christine said honestly, "More than 90% of the remaining power of the great god is concentrated in Cloudtop. I can't even spy on that place."
"Tsk..." The Hound smacked his lips. "Where is that guy Ke Lan now?"
"In the jungle hunting ground in the central area of the upper city. He is currently facing the strongest mutant in the abandoned hive city and is in a tough fight. Regardless of whether he wins or loses the battle, he will inevitably die. So, you must stop him."
Christine's words were not difficult to understand. If he was killed by a monster, then there would be no need to say more. But if Ke Lan killed the monster, then given his personality, he would probably go directly to "Cloud Top"... The Hound didn't want to think about what the concept of 90% of the power of God was, nor did he dare to think about it.
