Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 965: D-Class Personnel
"Joker, do you have a way to get in touch with the core brain?" Soap turned to look at the Joker and asked, "As long as we can figure out the changing rules of the underground maze, we will have a way to put all these powerful mutant creatures on the ground."
"Yes, as long as there is a public communication terminal, I can use the backdoor I left in the core brain to directly read the data." The Joker said, "But the consequence of doing so is that the moment we connect to the core brain, our location will be locked by Zeus, and my identity will be exposed. If Zeus knows that I have also sneaked into the Ark, it will not be just those minions who come to hunt us down."
"That Zeus... is he afraid of you?" Soap made a "tsk" sound and continued to ask, "Do you have a trump card that can kill him?"
"If there was such a thing, I would have used it long ago." The Joker said, "It's just that Zeus is a cautious person and has a strong desire for control. He hates any uncontrollable factors in his plan... and in his eyes, I am one of the few 'uncontrollable factors'. So as long as he finds my location, he will eliminate me as an 'uncontrollable factor' at all costs."
"That would be troublesome..." Soap's tone was full of regret. "If we can really let these monsters out, it will definitely give Zeus a big surprise. Doesn't he hate uncontrollable factors the most? If these monsters run to the ground, the Ark will be full of 'uncontrollable factors'. Let's see how uncomfortable he is!"
Just when Soap was imagining that his "Monster Allies" plan could be carried out smoothly, the clown walking in front suddenly stopped.
"What happened?" The distracted Soap almost bumped into the clown's back, but fortunately the tentacle connected to his protective suit tightened in time, so he did not lose his balance and fall to the ground.
"Are there any dangerous mutant creatures nearby?" Nouval immediately became alert, raised his gun, and looked around nervously.
They are still moving on the waste pipe plank road. It is not ideal to fight with mutant creatures in such a place, not only because the space is narrow and there is no room to dodge, but the more terrible thing is that if the aftermath of the battle wakes up the giant moth above their heads, Soap and Noir will be killed by the super strong radiation released by the giant moth, and they will not even have a chance to escape.
"No, it's a person, a human." For the first time, a doubtful tone appeared in the clown's words, "and it's a human...who has not been corrupted."
"Humans? How could there be humans here?" Soap was stunned, then whispered, "Could it be someone sent by Zeus? Has he discovered our whereabouts?"
"No, if it was someone sent by Zeus , there would be no way that there would be no signs of erosion." The clown shook his head and denied it.
"Can you sense that person's location?" Noir asked.
"It's eighty meters directly below us."
"Can other information be sensed? For example, the person's condition, vital signs, etc...."
"I can only sense a general location and the extent of the corrosion in his body. Other information is unknown." The Joker said, "But at least one thing is certain, he is still alive."
Noir hesitated for half a second and asked, "Shall we go over and take a look too?"
"He's blocking our way. Even if we don't want to run into him, there's no way to avoid him." Soap curled his lips, pulled the bolt, and pushed a bullet into the chamber. "Don't forget, we can't stop or turn back on the road we're on now."
"I think we can try to contact humans who have not been corrupted." The clown nodded, "Don't let your guard down... This person who suddenly appeared is also an 'unplanned and uncontrollable factor' for me. If we have a conflict with him, I may not be able to guarantee your safety."
"It's okay. We have guns in our hands." Soap replied, "As long as you are sure that it is a human and not a monster, there is nothing to be afraid of."
"Speaking of which, don't the Undead Crew have all the information about the underground maze?" Noir asked again, "Have you ever found traces of human activities in the underground maze before?"
"Never before." The Joker said, "This person either entered the underground maze recently, or he is very familiar with the underground maze and can avoid the routes of those detection robots every time."
"Extremely familiar with the underground maze?" After hearing this key word, Soap became excited all of a sudden. "Isn't our plan just missing such a person? Isn't it just like a pillow is handed to me just when I feel sleepy?!"
"Don't be too happy yet. We don't know if the other party is a friend or an enemy." Noir seemed calmer. "Even if that person is familiar with the underground maze, he may not be willing to help us."
"Let's go and take a look first." The Joker made a decision.
The three men slowed down their movement slightly and moved down silently. As for the "person" sensed by the clown, he stayed in the same place without moving.
After walking around the waste pipe again, the three of them stopped and looked at each other silently - they all knew that if they walked a little further forward, they would be able to see that person, and at the same time, they would be exposed to each other's sight.
There was no cover on this plank road, so it was impossible to sneak up on him, unless the clown used his tentacles to hang himself on the edge of the road and hang directly from above.
However, this kind of "sudden appearance" could easily cause excessive stimulation to the other party, leading to misunderstandings - if the other party identified the three of them as enemies, then things would be troublesome.
The primary goal of the three was to negotiate - after all, that person might be someone familiar with the underground maze environment, and such a person would be of great help to their next actions. Whether it was to implement Soap's "Monster Ally" plan or to follow the Joker's original plan to go through the underground maze and sneak directly into the core area of the Ark, if there was a "guide", the difficulty of the action would instantly be reduced by several levels.
"I'll go out first." Noir mouthed to the Joker and Soap. He took off his weapon and other equipment and handed them to Soap. He took a deep breath and walked out as slowly as possible.
A thin human figure appeared in Noir's field of vision. He was leaning against a waste column, holding a dead and an irregular piece of metal in his right hand, cutting open the flying squirrel's abdominal cavity.
This should be a male human, but he has no hair on his body, his skin is pale, and his skin is strangely smooth. The pores cannot be seen with the naked eye... It is as if some creatures with powerful self-healing abilities have been severely burned, the scabs have fallen off, and new skin has grown again.
The man's face was like a skeleton, with bloodless skin stretched tightly over his skull, revealing the outline of his bones. His eye sockets were deep, and his upper and lower lips were thin and short, unable to cover his sharp teeth. His teeth were completely different from those of normal humans. There were no incisors, canines, or molars. His entire mouth was full of fangs like those of wild animals. Noir even felt that even without the metal sheet in his hand, he could chew and swallow the flying squirrel with just his fangs.
Nouval took two more steps forward, but the other party seemed not to notice him at all, concentrating on dealing with the flying squirrel corpse in his hand - he skillfully cut the fur and muscles, pulled out the flying squirrel's intestines, and stuffed them into a dirty little bag. During this process, he would occasionally scrape some fat-like substances from the removed internal organs and stuff them into his mouth.
He seemed very hungry, but he still maintained his rationality as a human being... This was just like the humans in primitive society. Although they ate raw meat and drank blood, they would not pounce on the prey and eat it directly after killing it... The difference in eating behavior is one of the biggest differences between humans and beasts.
The man was wearing a very worn off-white suit with worn-out cuffs and trouser legs. There seemed to be some black text printed on the armbands and on the back, but now these marks were fragmented and peeled off in large areas, making it impossible to tell what was printed on them.
But Nouval knew very well that the clothes on the other person had absolutely no protective effect.
Even if there was, the clothes were so damaged that they had lost most of their function, not to mention that the man was not wearing a helmet or gloves, and even his feet were bare.
"Why is this person not affected by radiation?" A question mark popped up in Nouar's mind.
He had seen many miners who unfortunately suffered from radiation sickness due to mining in the radiation zone. The most obvious symptoms of acute radiation sickness were skin ulcers, muscle dissolution, and extensive bleeding throughout the body. Chronic radiation sickness was similar to malignant tumors, except that compared to tumors growing inside the body, patients with chronic radiation sickness would also have many disgusting-looking growths on their body surface. Most of these patients would be sent to a place called "Sick Village."
But the man in front of him, although he looked very strange, did not meet the symptoms of acute radiation sickness nor chronic radiation sickness - apart from malnutrition and poor hygiene, his physical condition did not seem to be bad.
Flying squirrels fly very fast, as Nouval has just seen. Since this man can hunt a flying squirrel, it means that his skills must be very good, which is not something a radiation sickness patient can do.
"Hello, how are you?" Noir took a step closer and took the initiative to greet the other party.
The moment Nouvel spoke, the man jumped up from the ground as if he was scalded by the floor, picked up the flying squirrel corpse that had not been processed yet, and ran away in the opposite direction.
"Oh no! This guy is trying to escape!" At this time, Soap also rushed out. Seeing that the other party was about to disappear around the corner, he hurriedly shouted, "Clown! Quick! Stop him!"
In fact, there was no need for Soap to say much, the clown had already taken action - two tentacles shot out, wrapped around the man's ankles, directly pulled him, and then forcibly dragged him back.
"This guy clearly didn't react when he saw me show up. I thought he didn't care, but he ran away as soon as I said hello..." Noir said.
"He didn't see you. After living in the underground maze for a long time, his eyesight has completely deteriorated, but his hearing has become very sharp." said the clown.
"The hearing isn't that sharp... It's only twenty meters away. If it were some would have been alarmed by our footsteps long ago." Soap questioned.
"He was just leaning against a waste pipe with strong radiation. The radiation released by the waste pipe will affect the human auditory center, so it is normal that he didn't hear our footsteps. Maybe in his opinion, this area is the territory of the giant moth, and there will be no invasion by other powerful mutant creatures. It is a 'safe zone', so he relaxed his vigilance." said the Joker.
"By the way, who is this person? He looks just like a ghoul from a horror story..." Soap said as he looked at the man who was subdued by the tentacles but was still struggling. "By the way, how can this guy survive in such a high-intensity radiation environment? Won't he die of radiation sickness?"
"He and I have both mutated," the Joker said, "but my mutation came from erosion, while his was a true mutation... to be precise, 'evolution'. As a human, he should have died in the underground maze, but his strong instinct for survival caused his body to evolve on its own, and he developed a physique that can survive in a radiation environment. The probability of this happening is very low, but not completely zero."
Noir pursed his lips and moved his gaze from the man to the clown: "From your tone, it seems that you already know his identity?"
"This should be a 'D-class personnel' who was sent into the underground maze for experiments. The off-white jumpsuit he's wearing is specially prepared by the institute for 'D-class personnel'. However, the locator and vital signs monitoring devices on it have been removed... It is estimated that in the institute's files, this 'D-class personnel' has been declared dead, but no one expected that he could create a miracle of life in such a desperate situation." Even the Joker, who usually does not show his emotions, had a hint of emotion in his tone at this time.
"Who...are...you...?" After struggling in vain, the D-class personnel uttered these few words with great difficulty - his voice was dry and hoarse, and his pronunciation was very strange and difficult to understand. It was obvious that he had not spoken to anyone for a long time, which caused a certain degree of degeneration of his vocal system and language center.
