Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 942: Is it a trap?
After checking and making sure there was nothing unusual in the basement, the team leader left a few soldiers to guard the first floor and led the rest of the people into the basement.
To be precise, the parts above the ground are all dispensable camouflage, and the underground part is the real body of the safe house.
There is no camouflage on the underground part. The iron-black metal walls are shining coldly, but the floor is covered with a thick layer of silicone mat, which is non-slip and can minimize the sound of footsteps - even if someone is dancing in there, the neighbors around the safe house will definitely not hear any unusual noise.
On both sides of the end of the passage are weapon cabinets with various light weapons hanging in them. When the drawers at the bottom of the cabinets are opened, there are boxes of neatly stacked ammunition. There are even a few small refrigerators with biohazard labels printed on them. Team members know what is inside without even having to open them.
"Wow, there is actually such a thing." Soap carefully took out several things that looked similar to detonators from a cabinet. Through the tube wall made of high-strength transparent resin, one could see that the tube was filled with something similar to clay, and the surface and inside of the clay were embedded with dark green crystals the size of fingernails.
The composite crystal energy bomb uses clay explosives as a fuse. Multiple low-level energy crystals can produce extremely terrifying "resonance" after being detonated... Just the few "plastic tubes" held in Soap's hand, tied together, are enough to flatten the entire part of this safe house above the ground.
This thing is of course forbidden to be used on the Ark. The equivalent of this thing has seriously exceeded the standard value set in the "Regulations on Prohibited Weapons in the Ark". No matter where it is used, it may cause serious damage to the internal structure of the Ark. If these things are thrown into a reactor, it will be enough to cause a disaster that people don't want to imagine... Generally speaking, this kind of thing should be stored in a special warehouse, heavily guarded, and whether it is inspection, transportation or use, it must be approved by multiple departments and multiple leaders with different functions. And the people from the Security Bureau actually threw them in this unattended safe house?
If this kind of thing happened in the army, there would be no need to bring the person who did it to a military court. They could just be shot on the spot.
"Do the people in the Security Bureau have so much power?" When the team leader saw the crystal bomb in Soap's hand, his eyelids twitched uncontrollably. "Be careful, are there any crystal bombs in the cabinet? Take them all out."
"There are still twelve." Soap said, "Counting the five here, there are seventeen in total... If these seventeen are detonated at the same time... Tsk..."
The biggest difference between crystal energy bombs and ordinary explosives is "resonance". The more crystal energy bombs are detonated at the same time, the more exponentially the explosive power will increase. Even the Mukach Fortress may not be able to produce seventeen crystal energy bombs.
"Is this really a DAS safe house?" a Ruins Hunter muttered, "Is this a secret weapons depot?"
"Wait a minute, there's a note under the crystal energy bomb." Soap reached into the cabinet again and pulled out the note.
"What's written on it?" The giraffe stretched his neck and moved closer, asking impatiently.
"Well, it's a transfer order for confidential items... Strange, this batch of crystal energy bombs was delivered here three days ago." Soap handed the note to the team leader, "But the documents on it are not complete. A large part of the official seals of various departments and the personal signatures of the leadership are missing. In addition, this black signature that takes up several boxes seems to be in Latin? Anyway, I don't recognize it... Do any of you know it?"
Before becoming a mercenary, Soap had served in the field corps, so he was familiar with these cumbersome procedures. As far as he knew, when the battle was fierce, some equipment could be specially allocated through the "emergency response procedure". In this case, there was no need to go through all the original processes in order to save time and prevent a department from losing contact, which would cause much-needed supplies to be stuck in one of the transfer links.
At this time, a leader with sufficient power is generally needed to make the final decision and be responsible, and sign his or her name in the blanks of the missing review departments.
"This is not Latin..." The transport plane pilot took a look at the signature, "It's Greek. The name is pronounced 'Demeter'. In Greek mythology, she is the goddess in charge of agriculture, grain, and harvest. She is one of the twelve gods of Olympus."
"Demeter? Is there such a person in the United Parliament?" Soap tried hard to recall, but only then did he realize that he knew too little about the current affairs of the Ark. He couldn't even name a few of the current members of the parliament.
"No." The transport pilot shook his head. "There is no member named Demeter in the United Parliament."
"Wait." Simon suddenly said, "Demeter is one of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology, so Zeus should also be... What is the relationship between Demeter and Zeus in mythology?"
"Demeter is Zeus' wife," the transport pilot said. "One of them."
"Good fellow, so this means that Demeter must be related to that big man called 'Zeus'?" Soap said, "In this case, it's not surprising that she can call upon crystal energy bombs with her authority."
"The key point is not the authority, but the time." The transport plane pilot said, "Three days ago, the communication between Mukach Base and Ark was interrupted..."
"There's one more thing I didn't have time to say just now." Simon began to speak. "Before I contacted Zeus, I used the public communication terminal to log into the major portal websites of the Ark. I originally wanted to look for some clues in the media news, but I found that all the websites stopped updating three days ago. I didn't find any clues related to those invading creatures... and the strangest thing is that the network inside the Ark has been in normal condition, and the servers of those websites are still running. Anyone with a mobile phone can post online. Even if the relevant topic is banned from discussion, it shouldn't be that the entire network has become a 'no man's land' in an instant!"
"It seems that these invading creatures may have broken into the Ark in a very short period of time, so that people were killed without even having a chance to react... or they mutated into those monsters..." the team leader muttered to himself.
"No, as long as there are survivors, there will always be..." When the transport plane pilot said this, his face suddenly turned very pale. He turned his head to look at Simon, took several deep breaths in succession, and then continued -
"I have an idea, or rather, a guess. It may not be accurate, but I don't think it can be ruled out..." the transport plane pilot said word by word.
"Don't keep us in suspense. Just tell us directly," the giraffe urged.
"Just say it directly." The team leader also nodded to the transport plane pilot.
"Is it possible that the invaders have already taken control of the network on the Ark, and what Simon saw was a 'false image' created by them..."
"So, the conversation between me and Zeus has been monitored by them?! And the location of this safe house has been exposed?!" Simon's eyes widened and his hand subconsciously rested on the submachine gun hanging on his chest.
"No, there is a worse possibility... The one talking to you is not 'Zeus', but them." The transport plane pilot said something shocking. His words immediately made the atmosphere inside tense. Many people picked up their weapons and looked around vigilantly.
"If that's the case, then this 'safe house' must be a trap." The team leader was quite calm. He walked to the table, picked up a piece of soap and looked at the crystal bomb on the table carefully. "If they want to use this trap to bury us, they don't have to go through so much trouble. They just need to detonate these crystal bombs when we enter the safe house. We can't escape."
"It is for this reason that I feel we still have a glimmer of hope." The transport plane pilot seemed to remember something, walked quickly to a computer and turned on the power.
In order to ensure that there will be no intrusion, the computers in the safe house need permission verification to connect to the external network. Looking at the password box on the screen and the constantly flashing cursor in the box, the transport plane driver couldn't help but feel a headache. He turned around and looked at the others: "Among you... is there anyone who has hacking skills? The kind that can crack the security system of the Security Bureau."
"Try this." Simon came up and took out the black card. "I noticed there is a card slot on the side of this computer. Maybe it can work."
"We can only try our best." The transport plane pilot nodded and inserted the black card into the slot.
The password verification interface disappeared instantly. Not only that, all permissions of this computer have been opened - just like a woman who was wrapped tightly in the previous second, and was stripped naked in the next second...even using a knife to cut open her chest and abdomen, revealing her internal organs in front of you.
"It seems that the authority of this black card is really very high." Simon sighed, "I don't know where General Maginot got this thing from. With this thing, he can even browse the internal network of the Security Bureau at will."
The Security Bureau and the military have never gotten along . If the military had this kind of power, the Security Bureau would never be able to stand up to the military and would instead become an institution that is "independent in form but a department under the military in reality."
"Can we find the transportation records and reasons for this batch of crystal energy bombs?" asked the team leader.
The transport plane pilot sitting in front of the computer shook his head solemnly: "All records and information updates are also stuck in the same time period three days ago."
"Damn it! How the hell could this happen?" Soap couldn't help but curse. "I can understand that ordinary people are blocked from the news, but if even the people from the Security Bureau can't intervene, who can be sent to solve the problem? The Ark has been invaded by those monsters to such an extent, and there is no record of it in the Security Bureau's intranet and archives. This doesn't make sense at all!"
"No..." The captain seemed to remember something and shook his head slowly. "If, if it is true as that 'clown' said, the mutation transmission route is 'meme', then the Ark's top management blocked all the information on the Internet, perhaps as a way to protect the survivors."
"What exactly are memes? It's time for you to tell us, right?" Soap asked. "By the way, where is the Joker?"
"He just went upstairs with the people from Group B to find a sniper position." Simon responded.
"Even that clown knows what memes are, so I guess it's okay for us to know, right?" said the giraffe. "The Ark has been destroyed, and humans are going extinct, so what's the point of a non-disclosure agreement?"
"Okay, since you want to know, I'll tell you..." The team leader sighed and told everyone the information related to the "meme". Although all the information added up to only a few short sentences, after listening to it, everyone in the team fell into silence.
After nearly half a minute, Soap was the first to break the silence: "You mean, that kind of thing, it's possible... to be infected by just one look? Even if you see the 'meme' through photos or videos, you will be infected by it?!"
"Then why didn't we get infected when we saw those monsters?" asked the giraffe.
"There are many types of memes, and visual contagion is just one of them... According to the intelligence at the time, the meme contagion that broke out in the research institute was only a primary meme. The most advanced memes can achieve cognitive transmission. In other words, when you know that this thing exists, you have already been infected."
"...So, what we are facing now should also be a primary meme, right? Otherwise, our team should have been wiped out." Soap took a breath and said.
"Yes, the things on the Internet were deleted so cleanly. They must be worried that this kind of 'meme' would spread through the Internet." The transport plane pilot said, "There was a joke before that the Internet could spread viruses that could infect the human body. I didn't expect that this joke would actually become a reality."
"Oh, right, check the Ark's shopping website and take a look at the purchase records and prices of supplies." As if he had remembered something, Soap suddenly said to the transport pilot, "Prices are the most sensitive thing. If a major accident really happened on the Ark three days ago, the prices of those supplies would definitely change. Especially in the early stages, before those invading creatures occupied most of the Ark."
"That makes sense." The transport plane pilot nodded and entered the URLs of several shopping websites, but the results were disappointing.
The order records and post-purchase reviews are all from three days ago. There are no obvious abnormalities in the comments, prices or purchase quantities. You can even place orders now, but the merchant may never ship the products again.
The last login time for all merchant accounts, including the shopping website’s customer service, was three days ago.
What happened on the Ark? Are there any survivors?
And who is this "Zeus" whom they contacted through the black card?
