Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 918: Deep Diving Capsule
Ke Lan could never figure out what was hidden in the starry sky...
He had to admit that the boundless sea of stars was indeed fascinating, but if there was one thing he desired most in his consciousness, it was definitely not to explore the endless universe, but...
But...
Ke Lan himself was a little stunned. He couldn't think of what he desired most for a while.
Power? Status? Wealth? Beauty? A stable life and like-minded partners?
It seems...neither.
Ke Lan suddenly realized that it seemed that his subconscious mind was driving him along the way... Whether it was seeking those secrets or constantly exploring dangerous ruins... But when he wanted to delve deeper into the mysteries, that strange desire would evaporate quickly like water stains under the scorching sun, leaving no trace.
It was like the "sage moment", with only an empty brain left. The feeling of confusion even made Ke Lan have a strong sense of unreality, as if he was half asleep and half awake, and all his thoughts were so chaotic and illogical.
But if he doesn't focus on this, this subconscious desire will drive him... to do things that he would never do...
Ke Lan suddenly felt like a puppet, as if someone was controlling her.
This kind of manipulation is more like a subtle psychological suggestion. Even if Ke Lan has realized that something is wrong, it is difficult for him to break free from it.
He suddenly understood why the monster who called himself "Seraphim" called himself a shell... It seemed that there was another person sealed in his subconscious...
Although Ke Lan is an atheist, he prefers to use words like "consciousness" and "intention" to describe that kind of thing instead of the word "soul", but he now feels that the word "soul" is irreplaceable in this place.
"It seems that there is another person's soul sealed in his subconscious."
…
Ke Lan really wanted to pull this person's "soul" out of her mind...but this thing is like the "inspiration" that creators often talk about. When you don't think about it, it's like a shadow following behind a person, looming, but when you want to catch it, your brain will instantly become blank, and the more you think about it, the more confused you become.
Ke Lan had no choice but to give up.
On the other hand, Sanshisan's desires and fears are easy to understand... He envied Ke Lan, envied Ke Lan's power and companions... Sanshisan once had these things. At that time, as the captain of the Velociraptor Squad, he had the strength to be proud of among many elite troops. The Velociraptor Squad's mission completion rate and member survival rate had been firmly at the top of the special forces of the Field Corps for many years.
He still has subordinates and brothers who trust him. He once believed that as long as the people of the Velociraptor Squad gathered together, there would be no mission that could not be accomplished. It was not until the last mission when the entire Velociraptor Squad was almost wiped out that Thirty-Three realized that his previous idea was just a beautiful fantasy.
While he was longing for power and truth, he also missed his deceased comrades... At this time, Ke Lan and the God Hunter Group appeared in front of him, and he naturally transferred this emotion to Ke Lan.
When faced with Ke Lan's power, in addition to envy, deep in his heart, there is also a trace of fear that is difficult to remove - Sanshisan himself, as a "power user", knows very well that the power Ke Lan possesses is not something that humans can control... Although Ke Lan is not an enemy, he has thought more than once about what would happen if he and Ke Lan stood on opposite sides.
What he saw in the dome... was Ke Lan, just a "monster version" of Ke Lan that was abstracted by his inner emotions.
It is precisely because of this that he launched an attack on Ke Lan at the cost of his life - he knew very well that the person in front of him was Ke Lan who had walked here with him, but his distorted cognition kept conveying a message to Sanshisan: Ke Lan must be killed, otherwise it would lead to an unimaginable ending.
Sanshisan didn’t know what this unimaginable ending was… The subconscious mind never gave people a concrete concept, but it could guide people emotionally. Even if Sanshisan knew nothing about it, he would extremely resist the arrival of that “ending”.
"It seems that as long as the mind is firm enough, the impact of the dome will be weakened to the greatest extent... No, that's not right. No matter how firm the mind is, it will be useless. The dome can change people's cognition from the root. A firm mind will become a side effect. Just like Thirty-three, his mind cannot be said to be unfirm, but after being affected by the dome, it has become 'firmly determined to kill me'..." Ke Lan analyzed secretly in his heart.
"Your idea is not wrong." Neto said. Even in this state, it can still peek into Ke Lan's thoughts. "Only the simplest people can be unaffected by the dome."
"simple?"
"Literally, it means people who are like a blank sheet of paper, with no desires or fears in their hearts... People who can truly be 'calm' and not have any emotional fluctuations about anything... When they look at the dome, they will only see the dome as it is," Neto explained.
"For example... a newborn baby, or someone with intellectual disabilities?"
"Almost... but even babies can be afraid of things, and mentally retarded people can have joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness... so they are not immune," said Neto.
"So... it can only be artificial intelligence. The reason why you are not affected by the dome is because your emotions are simulated by the personality module, right?"
"right."
"Okay, thank you for your answer. I'm going down now. If I can come back, I'd like to talk to you again." After Ke Lan finished speaking, he walked towards the metal cylinder.
"Are you lying to me?!" Neto's voice became sharp and piercing. "No, that's not right. I have been monitoring your thoughts. Everything you said just now is consistent with your inner thoughts... You have clearly given up on entering Genting. Why? Why did you suddenly change your mind?"
"Because I know you can spy on my thoughts... There's a saying that goes, if you want others to believe your lies, you have to fool yourself first." Ke Lan pulled the corners of his mouth and revealed a somewhat unnatural smile, "To be honest, it's a bit difficult to fool yourself... But it seems to work well."
Nieto: "...How did you manage to hide your true thoughts? Theoretically, this is impossible..."
"Just tell me how to open this passage, and I'll tell you how I did it." Ke Lan said, "I promise I won't break my promise."
"Impossible." Nieto refused. "I'm warning you one last time. Entering Cloudtop will cause an unforeseen disaster... It's the same for both you and the Hive."
"Then you are useless. I think I should just kill you... Although it may waste some time, I have plenty of time now."
"Wait," Nieto felt Ke Lan's true murderous intent and knew that this sentence was not just a verbal threat, "I... I can agree to your conditions. You can enter Yunding, but you have to promise me one thing."
"Tell me about it. If it makes sense, I can consider it." Ke Lan nodded.
"After entering the Cloud Top, never try to modify history," Nieto said, "especially those space fragments that are still stuck in time 500,000 years ago... Any interference you make with them may trigger a butterfly effect."
"Okay, I can promise you this. Those space fragments that stopped at 500,000 years ago are inherently dangerous. I will try my best to avoid them if I can, but if I accidentally crash into them, there's nothing I can do... As for how I hide my true thoughts, it's very simple-" Ke Lan pointed to his head, "There is an area in my head that I can't even see, and I don't think you can see what's there. I just need to 'store' a small part of my thoughts there, and then follow the guidance of my subconscious mind, just like a robot with a pre-set route of action. I don't need to think, I just need to accept instructions from my subconscious mind. Okay, it's your turn to answer how to open this channel."
As soon as Ke Lan finished speaking, the metal cylinder in front of him split into two halves, revealing a "transparent capsule" hidden inside. The size of this capsule was just right to accommodate an adult man. Ke Lan thought about it and reached out his hand.
The outer shell of the capsule was a layer that looked like silicone, but felt like soap bubbles. Ke Lan's hand passed through the outer shell of the capsule without any hindrance and entered the interior of the capsule.
The inside of the capsule was filled with a sticky liquid. Ke Lan absorbed a small amount of this liquid through the living armor and found that its composition was very similar to LCL "Water of Life", a substance that can be used to maintain the breathing and nutrient supply of organisms.
After making sure there was no mechanism, Ke Lan stepped into the capsule. When his whole body was immersed in the liquid inside the capsule, the outer shell of the capsule quickly hardened and turned into a real silicone-like texture, wrapping Ke Lan inside.
"If you want to enter the Cloudtop, you must use the Deep Diving Capsule." Neto said, "This is the last Deep Diving Capsule in the Hive City. I'm confirming with you one last time, you..."
Before Nieto could finish his words, Ke Lan interrupted him: "I won't change my mind. Don't waste your breath. Don't think that wasting the last capsule can stop me from entering Yunding. The living armor can completely simulate this kind of capsule."
Neto didn't say anything else. The baffle at the bottom of the metal cylinder opened, and a deep passage appeared under Ke Lan's feet. A lubricant began to secrete from the surface of the deep-diving capsule. The next second, the entire capsule quickly slid into the passage and slid towards the depths.
The passage was almost vertical, but the walls were neither like rock nor metal... Instead, they looked like some kind of elastic biological tissue, and even had a certain temperature... Sliding in such a passage, Ke Lan felt like he was swallowed by a giant beast. This passage was the beast's esophagus, and at the end of the esophagus...
"I hope it's not a digestive organ filled with strong acid." Ke Lan joked to himself.
The descent lasted for a full half hour. At this descent speed, the depth of the cloud top was estimated to be more than 30,000 meters, which is deeper than the distance from the thickest part of the Ark from the top to the bottom... If it was on Earth, this nest city might have drilled through the crust, broke through the "Mohorovich Discontinuity", and reached the depth of the mantle.
Ke Lan finally understood why a deep-diving capsule was needed to enter Genting... As the depth continued to increase, the pressure in the passage was also rising sharply... Although it had not yet reached the terrifying pressure of the deep sea, for humans, this pressure was enough to be fatal.
Ke Lan could feel the channel beginning to contract and wriggle rhythmically. Because the deep-diving capsule was no longer sliding down, the channel could only push the entire capsule downward in this way. Ke Lan suddenly felt that his analogy was wrong. This channel should not be compared to the esophagus of a giant beast, but to the excretory tract. This capsule was like a rice field stuck in the rectum, constantly approaching the steel door under the peristalsis of the intestine.
With a crisp "pop" sound, the deep diving capsule was spit out from the X-eye... No, it was spit out from the exit. The silicone shell that wrapped Ke Lan's body quickly degraded and evaporated. As for the liquid inside, it flowed directly onto the ground after losing its "container"...
Ke Lan looked around. He was standing on an "island" with a diameter of no more than ten meters. There were many similar "islands" several meters to tens of meters away from this "island".
There is no water between the islands, and there is an abyss that you can't see the bottom of at a glance - it would be more appropriate to call it a "plum blossom pile" rather than an island.
"Disordered time and space?" Ke Lan muttered in his heart, "Does it mean these isolated islands? Each island... is a fragment of separated space?"
"Hello, Neto, can you hear me?" Ke Lan tried to call Neto, but got no response.
This place is too far from the upper city... Moreover, whether it is because of the remaining power of the "god" or the original rules of the nest city, Nieto has no right to enter the cloud top...
Although Neto had always wanted to kill Ke Lan, Ke Lan had to admit that Neto had given her a lot of help during the trip to the Nest City... although all this help was obtained through coercion and inducement...
Without Nieto, it means that he has lost all sources of information and once again entered the stage of "crossing the river by feeling the stones".
