Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 924: Redemption Across Time and Space
"What do you think the clan's strength level is?" Ke Lan couldn't help but ask.
"What do you think of the strength of the prehistoric species?"
"The primitive species... are they the clan?" Ke Lan was stunned. As soon as he asked the question, he felt that his guess must be wrong.
"For the clan, the primitive species can only be regarded as pets, and they are pets that only the weakest clans keep." The owner of the nest said, "As for the 'blood of God' collected by the Alpha civilization, it is actually just the life essence purified from the captured primitive species, and it has little to do with that existence. If there is real blood of God... I even doubt whether the universe we live in can accommodate such a thing."
Listening to the description of the hive master, Ke Lan inexplicably felt a suffocating despair... Come to think of it, the despair felt by the Alpha civilization back then would be even more severe than this, the fate of the entire civilization destined to become nutrient for higher-dimensional creatures, the feeling of powerlessness that nothing could be done... It's simply too pale to describe it in words.
For the people on Earth, this kind of thing might not matter - by the time the entire civilization is destroyed, their own bones would have long since turned to ashes... But it's different for the Alphas, each and every one of them has been eroded, and even if they die, their consciousness will be assimilated by that existence... This may seem like a gift, but in fact it is an endless torture.
This kind of torture sends chills down one's spine just thinking about it.
"Can you tell me... about the Alpha civilization?" At this time, Ke Lan was no longer in a hurry to ask why the Alpha civilization pulled the Ark to this time and space... Instead, he was more curious about what the Alpha civilization experienced later.
"I can see that you are very special." The Hive Master's tone was mixed with a hint of appreciation. "This information, due to the residual power of that existence, can be regarded as taboo knowledge, and it is also of a relatively high level of danger. But until now your body has not shown any abnormal changes, your cognition has not been distorted, and your mind is very clear... This gives me a glimmer of hope."
"My body has actually already..." As Ke Lan said this, the bright red that oozed from his pores instantly condensed into a large group of tentacles that looked almost exactly like the Seed of Corrosion, and then in the blink of an eye it turned into a red skeleton lying on his back. "It's just that I prefer to maintain the appearance of a human... This way I can always remind myself that I am a human being, not a monster."
"This is the key point." The master of the hive said, "If humans have something that can contend with that kind of power, it is will. As long as you believe that you are human and your thoughts are not shaken at all, the impact of erosion on you will be greatly weakened... Of the three criteria I mentioned, the last two are actually the most important. As for the first point, it can be ignored in front of the last two."
The three criteria mentioned by the other party naturally refer to "body", "cognition" and "mind"... As for the latter two criteria, only outsiders are qualified to judge. As for Ke Lan himself, it is difficult for him to realize that his cognition is distorted - after all, a madman will never think of himself as a madman.
"Most people in the Alpha civilization have become loyal believers of that being. They firmly believe that as long as they are devout enough, they will be able to merge with that being after death and gain eternal life in body and soul... As for those who know the truth and remain awake, they have gathered together and established an organization..."
"Night Watch?"
"Yes, it was the Night Watch." The Hive Master said, "They thought that the existence was making war weapons, so they tried to capture many primitive species and conduct research... Although they paid a heavy price, they at least achieved certain results. The fusion you saw in the Abyss Hatchery in the Undersea City is one of the results."
"There are also seeds of primordial erosion." Ke Lan added.
"In terms of strength, the fusion and the original corrosion species are very close to the primitive species. It is not wrong to call them artificial primitive species... But I have said before that the primitive species that can be contacted by the Alpha civilization are just pets raised by the weakest clans, or biological weapons made at random. These things alone cannot resist that existence."
"..." Ke Lan couldn't help but admire the will of those night watchmen - they had already seen the gap that was like a chasm, but they were still thinking about resisting... This spirit was even more tenacious than Yugong moving the mountains. Yugong at least had endless descendants, but even if the Alpha civilization gave them 100 million years, even if they did not become extinct due to erosion, they would at most only be able to touch the threshold of their clan... They actually still wanted to resist that existence.
Is this tenacity... or stupidity?
"In addition to this, the Night Watchmen have also made various efforts... The ruins you see on Alpha are basically the remains of these projects. To keep it secret, a large number of mechanisms have been set up in the core areas of these ruins, and only members of the Night Watch can pass through them safely."
"Then what happened later that led to..." Ke Lan hesitated for a moment, but continued to ask, "What led to the Night Watchman deciding to bring the humans from our time and space here?"
"Because there is no time." The master of the hive said, "The erosion of the entire Alpha civilization is rapidly deepening. Although everyone has turned into a monster with a human upper body and a lower body made of tentacles, the mutation is still deepening under the influence of that existence... More and more people are turning into creatures that are difficult to describe in words... If the erosion is regarded as a plague, then the period of disaster is before the acute outbreak, and the Alphas are the survivors who have survived the acute outbreak... But this does not mean that the 'disease' in their bodies has been cured, but has entered a chronic progressive stage. No one can escape this fate. Even newborns have undergone large-scale mutations."
The master of the hive paused for a moment and continued, "This is the influence of the remaining power of that existence... As long as the Alpha civilization has not reached the qualifications to become a Familia, that influence will continue to transform their bodies and cognition. The fittest will survive and the unfit will be eliminated... According to the progress at that time, the entire Alpha civilization will eventually be eliminated."
"So, the Night's Watch finally gave up resistance and accepted their fate?"
"You can say they gave up, or you can say they didn't give up. It depends on how you understand it." The Hive Master gave an ambiguous answer, "Alpha Civilization is doomed, but humans in other time and space may still be saved."
"Humans from other time and space...are you referring to us?" Ke Lan sat down cross-legged, raised his head, and stared intently at a light source on the ceiling, as if it was the other person's eyes.
"It could be you, or a human from another parallel universe. But no matter who it is, in the first half of history, your experiences are similar to those of the Alpha Civilization. If the Ark continues to sail in the universe, it will most likely become a 'dead ship'... Compared with an entire drifting planet, an interstellar colony ship that can only accommodate tens of millions of people has too low risk resistance. Moreover, after observation and calculation, the Alpha Civilization discovered a despairing fact - most areas in the universe suitable for the survival of intelligent life have actually been polluted by the power of that existence. They even made a bold guess that the sudden accelerated decay of the sun may be caused by the consciousness of that existence invading the solar system."
"In other words, even if humans did not leave the solar system and were not swallowed by the decaying sun, the final outcome would be the same? And even if the Ark found a planet in the universe suitable as a home, there is a high probability that that planet is under the control of that existence?" For some reason, a line that often appeared in ancient costume dramas in the old era suddenly popped up in Ke Lan's mind.
"All under heaven is the king's territory; all the people in the world are his subjects."
The only difference is that the world here has become the "universe", the king has become a "god", and the king's ministers have become "family members".
"The Night Watchmen don't want human civilizations in other time and space to repeat the same mistakes. After careful calculations, they came up with a solution that might work."
"What is a 'possible' solution?"
"Bringing human civilization from another time and space to this time and space will cause a time and space paradox, causing the vast majority of Alpha people to disappear. But it is this paradox that gives the Night Watcher room to operate - that existence only left a thought in this universe. It will not pay attention to this universe all the time, nor will it always stare at Alpha. Therefore, when you, the humans from another time and space, come here, you can just fill the gap left by the disappeared Alpha civilization."
"Let us replace the Alpha civilization...but what's the point of doing this?" Ke Lan frowned. No matter how he thought about it, he felt that this was a practice that would harm both others and oneself...Not only would the Alpha civilization disappear, but the Ark civilization would also be dragged into this quagmire. If the Ark civilization was allowed to drift in the universe, it might be able to survive for a long time.
"Because the Ark civilization has not been 'branded' by that existence... and the Alpha civilization, whose members have been corroded and mutated, has an indelible 'brand' on their bodies and souls. Even if the Alpha people flee to the ends of the earth, they cannot escape this fate. But the Ark people who have not been 'branded' still have a future and hope. Relying on the legacy left to them by the Alpha civilization and their own circumstances, they may have a chance to escape this fate..."
"You mean, the Alpha civilization is using its own demise to buy us a chance to escape?"
"You can think of it this way." The Hive Master said, "In order to ensure that the Ark can successfully pass through the wormhole and sail to the space where Alpha is located, the Night Watch passed on all kinds of knowledge to the humans on the Ark through the projection of consciousness across time and space. Those technological breakthroughs that can be called miracles during the voyage of the Ark were actually taught to you by the Night Watch in this way... It is precisely because of this knowledge that the Undead Crew was indirectly promoted to be established."
"No wonder... before the Ark landed on Alpha, the Undead Crew had already mastered the technology related to the Coffin of Eternal Life... Wait, wait a minute!" Ke Lan suddenly widened his eyes, "You said that those technological breakthroughs that were called miracles were all because the Night Watchmen taught the Ark people through the method of consciousness projection... Then, the predecessor of Alpha civilization, the people on Earth at that time, were able to overcome the technical difficulties of re-fusion in just a few years. Was it because..."
"You are very smart. You found the problem so quickly." The host of the hive praised, "Yes, we are not the first human civilization to have this idea and put it into action. In another time and space, there is another desperate human civilization. They passed this knowledge to us, hoping that we can escape our fate... Unfortunately, we failed, so we can only pass this baton to you."
"..." Ke Lan was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a long time... He was just comparing the Alpha civilization and the Night Watchmen with Yugong moving the mountains. He didn't expect that this really was a Yugong moving the mountains across time and space... It's just that the ones moving the mountains were not Yugong's descendants, but human civilizations from different time and space.
Countless human civilizations were destroyed by the power of that existence, but they accumulated and passed on their knowledge bit by bit, giving it to their selves in another time and space, trying to change their fate...
And now, the baton is in the hands of the Ark people.
"I... I think I understand... but I need to slow down." Ke Lan took several deep breaths and closed her eyes tightly, trying to sort out the information in her brain one by one, and then digest and absorb it one by one.
About ten minutes later—of course, in this space fragment, time was frozen, so these ten minutes should be considered as the ten minutes Ke Lan felt—he opened his eyes, looked at the light source on the ceiling again, and asked, "So... what role do I play in this story?"
"You give me a very familiar feeling. The Alpha civilization once came into contact with an Ark human. That person was you, but not you." said the host of the hive.
"Fool?"
"After he joined the Undead Crew, his code name was indeed 'The Fool'." The Hive Master gave an affirmative answer. "Although his sequence is zero, he is actually the last person to join the Undead Crew besides you."
"The latest?" Ke Lan was stunned. He originally thought that the Fool would be the founder of the Undead Crew.
