Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 928 Maginot's Counterattack Plan
"Everyone," Admiral Maginot glanced at the group of anxious staff officers below him and said, "Now that things have come to this, there is no need for me to hide anything from you. Be prepared. We... no, it should be said that the entire human race is facing an unprecedented... big trouble this time."
Admiral Maginot tapped the confirmation item on the screen with his index finger, and the images taken by the drones were immediately projected onto the big screen... When they saw the first photo, their faces turned pale. A younger female staff officer even couldn't help but let out a scream, and then immediately covered her mouth with her hands.
But an expression of extreme shock was revealed in her wide-open eyes.
"General... Is this the Ark? Those... Those things that look like the wreckage of a battleship... I seem to see the flagship of the garrison fleet... And the first cruise fleet..." A staff officer said in a trembling voice, "This... This is not a composite photo, right? Is this some kind of exercise mission?"
"I wish this was really an exercise, but unfortunately, this is what the photos taken by the drone look like." Maginot shook his head solemnly.
"The Ark has fallen? The Garrison Fleet and the First Cruise Fleet have also...that's the strongest fighting force of mankind! How is this possible?!" another young staff officer exclaimed.
"Don't jump to conclusions yet. The situation on the Ark is still unknown." Admiral Maginot said. Although he was panicking, as the highest military commander of the Mukach Fortress, he had to remain calm. "Whether the Ark has been invaded, how many survivors there are, whether they are alive... whether the United Parliament is safe, it is still unknown. Don't forget the insurance measures on the Ark. Even if the outer area is breached, each block can still hold out for a long time under siege, not to mention the core block that is heavily protected."
"But even the Garrison Fleet and the First Cruise Fleet..." The young staff officer wanted to say something, but a hand was placed on his shoulder, signaling him to shut up.
The person holding his shoulder was Colonel Levi, the adjutant who was promoted by Lieutenant General Maginot on the front line when the heretics attacked the Mukach Fortress last time. After the war, he was promoted half a level and became the chief of staff of Maginot's staff.
"The Garrison Fleet and the First Cruiser Fleet must have inflicted heavy damage on the enemy." Levi said, "Don't think about those things, we just need to do what we should do."
"Levi, if you have anything to say, just say it." Admiral Maginot said. Among this group of staff officers, the one he trusted and relied on the most was Levi. In the last battle, Levi had proved that he was a rare command talent, and this time's performance also made Admiral Maginot feel that he had not misjudged him.
The most worrying thing now is to lose our composure... No matter how bad the situation is, we must not panic. Once the morale of the army is shaken, not to mention supporting the Ark, even the Mukach Fortress will be in danger.
"The Mukach Fortress only has one crippled mixed armored division. Although the superiors gave us a reserve force of 2,000 men after the last battle, these 2,000 men are all new recruits with little combat effectiveness. According to the latest statistics, there are only about 5,000 troops in the base that can actually fight. Fortunately, the heretical sect has been destroyed. If we only deal with attacks by indigenous creatures, 2,000 reserves plus 1,000 veterans will be enough. If we add the mercenaries and relic hunters who are temporarily staying in the fortress, then the mobile force we can mobilize is about 4,500 people."
Levi paused and continued, "Four thousand five hundred people are just a drop in the bucket in the face of this kind of incident... The number of monsters hatching in these tumorous hyperplasias alone exceeds one hundred thousand... The gap in combat power is too great. If we attack head-on, we won't even be able to get into ."
"Indeed... Even if we concentrate all of Mukach's forces to fight back to the Ark, we will just be delivering food to those monsters." Maginot nodded in agreement.
"I don't think we can rush now. The next plan is divided into two steps and implemented simultaneously. The first step is to select elite soldiers, mercenaries and relic hunters to form a reconnaissance team to find out the situation on the Ark. If we can sneak into the Ark, that would be the best. If we can't get in, we should at least find out what the fleshy fungal blanket and the monsters hatched on the fungal blanket are, so as to lay a good intelligence foundation for the subsequent counterattack. As for the second step, which will be implemented simultaneously, send out liaison troops to contact other military bases in the wilderness and gather all the troops scattered outside the Ark. Only by gathering all our strength and attacking one point can we have a chance to break through and meet up with the remaining troops in the Ark, and then launch a full-scale counterattack to remove all the fungal blankets attached to the surface of the Ark."
Levi didn't say what would happen if there were no survivors left in the Ark, but in fact this situation didn't need to be considered at all - if the Ark had completely fallen, then it would be difficult for the Mukach Fortress to survive independently in the wilderness for long relying solely on its resources.
This is a fight to the death, they have no way out.
…
Hive city, Cloudtop.
"As for your own secret, I'm sorry, I don't know about the Fool's plan. If you want to unlock those sealed memories, you may have to return to the Ark and return to the Undead Crew." The owner of the hive said to Ke Lan.
"Okay... can you tell me what's going on with Ze Luo? Her power is also to manipulate time and space... Is she also a product of the deification plan?" Ke Lan asked.
Due to the influence of the residual power in the nest city, Ze Luo's consciousness has not yet awakened , which makes Ke Lan a little worried.
"Yes." The master of the nest city gave an affirmative answer. "Zero is the same as the prophet of the heretic sect. He is the product of the failed god-making plan. The only difference between the two is that Zero is the product of the failed god-making plan during the Alpha civilization period, while the prophet of the heretic sect is the product of the failed god-making plan during the Ark civilization period."
"Then what happened to Special Forces Team 776? Why were they teleported to that isolated island? And that Alpha man in the ruins of the blown-up engine... well, it should be a Night Watchman, right? What is the 'symbiote' it mentioned?" Ke Lan poured out a lot of questions like pouring beans. These doubts have troubled him for too long, and this time he finally had a chance to get the answers, so he naturally would not let it go.
"These problems , if traced back to their source, are all related to the God-making Project." The Hive Master replied, "Zeluo is a product of failure, but from another perspective, she is successful. She is an 'indispensable' tool and technology verification body. It is through Zeluo's ability that the Alpha civilization successfully brought the Ark to this time and space. There were tens of thousands of 'tool people' like Zeluo at the beginning, but most of them died after completing their tasks because their power was drained. She is one of the only survivors, but she also fell into a long sleep until she was awakened by the heretic sect using the power of pure energy crystals."
"Toolman...living body transporter?"
"Almost. But their combined power is enough to create a wormhole that the Ark can pass through. The energy required is completely different from those small teleportation devices. The space faults and transmission channels on Alpha are either relics left over from the experiments, or replicas developed later based on their abilities. As for the other question, 'symbionts', you already know the meaning of this term. It is an artificial human bred by embedding the genes of Alpha people into the gene fragments of Ark people. However, this operation will also transfer the imprint of that existence to the symbiont... Symbionts are created only to pass on the technology and heritage of Alpha civilization. It is a stopgap measure and is not the main line of the God-making Plan. You can also regard them as 'tools'... When the God-making Plan is on the right track, or when the Ark civilization completely inherits the legacy of Alpha civilization, these 'tools' will be abandoned."
"It's really... cruel." Ke Lan felt that his complaints were somewhat powerless. The survival of any civilization or race was cruel. After all, this was a world where the fittest survived and the strong preyed on the weak.
"From the perspective of human civilization, this is not cruel, it's just somewhat inhumane. You know, whether in your old era or new era, humans have done many more cruel things than this, and those things are meaningless." The master of the hive said mercilessly.
"I can't refute it. You're right." Ke Lan shrugged. "What about Thirty-three? Do you have a way to make him return to normal? He was dragged into the illusion by Nieto. If this continues, even if I can control him, he will sooner or later become a corpse."
"I can't save him. That illusion was not created by Neto. He just borrowed the power remaining in the hive." said the hive master.
"So there is no way at all?" Ke Lan felt a little uncomfortable. He certainly didn't want to watch a companion turn into a monster. As long as there was a way, even if the probability was very low, it was worth a try.
"He can only rely on his own will. If his will can struggle out of the illusion, he can return to normal. If not, he will sink into the illusion forever until he turns into a corpse and offers his flesh, blood, and soul to that existence."
"...What about the others? Aguna Tor is probably being hunted by the Undead Crew. Although with Aguna Tor's strength, we don't have to worry about the warships built by human civilization, but if the connection between Aguna Tor and I is broken, the Undead Crew seems to have the means to seize control of the warship. What if they send people to risk their lives to launch a surprise attack on the warship? As the civilization that built this warship, you should have some emergency measures, right?"
"You don't have to worry about the situation of Yaguna Tor. I controlled Nieto and used the remaining divine power in the hive to resonate with the nuclear waste beacon. I forcibly guided Yaguna Tor into the territory of the underwater city and hid it in a folded space... But your companions seem to be a little restless."
"What's the matter?" Ke Lan suddenly became nervous when he heard the owner of the nest mentioned the hound and others.
"Originally, if they had just stayed safely inside Yaguna Tor, nothing would have happened. When you left the hive, you could have taken them and the warship back to the Ark... But they wanted to rescue you, so they took the submersible vehicle and left Yaguna Tor."
"They are in the underwater city now?!"
"At first, I wanted to use some Alpha civilization creations that I could control to drive them away, or at least restrict their movements. But I didn't expect that some of your companions trapped in the Gray Fog Forest accidentally triggered the teleportation device and were teleported to the sea over there. They met the people I trapped and took them into the underwater city."
"Are they safe now?"
"They are safe for now... but they were lured by the core brain of the underwater city and have entered the hive." The hive master said, "You know, although I can control Neto, Neto's source code has been rewritten by the previous hive controller. If Neto finds someone breaking into the hive, it will do everything it can to implant the seeds of corruption in them... just like it did to Heruni and others."
"We must stop them from entering the upper city! You are the master of the hive city, you should have a way, right?"
"It's difficult because the control module of the Hive City has been invaded by the core brain of the Undersea City. I have tried my best to slow them down, but the core brain has been letting them pass. Many of the mechanisms that could hinder them have been shut down by it."
"How did the core brain of the underwater city invade the hive city?"
"It was originally the manager of the 451st Hive, a super biological computer codenamed Christine. The Alpha Civilization dug it out of the abandoned Hive, modified it, and placed it in the control center of the underwater city as the core brain... But over the long years, Christine's AI, like Nieto, was eroded by the residual power of that existence... Fortunately, its source code has not been modified and cannot directly harm humans, so it can only deceive your companions, let them enter the Hive, and use Nieto's hands to complete the sacrifice."
"Is it still too late to stop them now?" Ke Lan asked. He was not in a hurry now. After all, in this space, time was stagnant. As long as he did not leave here, the outside world would not change.
