Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 986 Giant Tree
"Don't these people have their own goals?" Makino frowned. "Like the prophet of the heretic sect, isn't his goal to become a god? I don't believe they would be so willing to work for that being without any selfish desires."
"You can understand it as that his subconscious cognition has been rewritten by that existence... Just like eating and reproduction, dedicating everything to that existence will also become the instinct of these invaded people." Ke Lan said.
"To be honest, without experiencing it myself, it's hard for me to imagine what it feels like..." Levi, who was standing nearby, whispered, "So what is the purpose of this giant tree? Is it some kind of sacrificial ritual or a weapon used against us?"
"I don't know, but I feel like it looks familiar." Ke Lan couldn't help but recall the "trial" she had undergone under the bottomless tiankeng.
In the second stage of the trial, Ke Lan's task is to operate the Blasphemer mecha to blow up the giant alien plant "Crown of Ashes" on an asteroid called "Ashes".
According to the mission description, the Crown of Ashes can directly draw energy from the core of the asteroid, and can also interfere with the asteroid's magnetic field and gravity to control the asteroid's trajectory, thereby colliding with the asteroid and swallowing other celestial bodies to provide more nutrients for the Crown of Ashes.
Although the giant tree on the screen is very different from the Crown of Ashes in shape and color, Ke Lan's subconscious mind keeps telling him that this giant tree and the Crown of Ashes are the same thing.
Since the mission of the Crown of Ashes can be recorded in the trial program, it means that the Alpha civilization should have resolved the crisis of the "Ashes" asteroid hitting Alpha... Then, there is a high probability that the genetic sequence of the Crown of Ashes is stored in the ruins of an Alpha civilization.
That the undead crew would be able to obtain the genes of the Crown of Ashes and create similar plants... It makes perfect sense logically!
"I understand." Ke Lan's expression froze for a moment. "The undead crew would like to sacrifice not only the entire human civilization, but the entire Alpha Planet... or even the entire galaxy where Alpha Planet is located!"
"What?!" This time, not only General Maginot was stunned, even the hound, who was accustomed to such things, couldn't help but exclaimed.
"Let's not talk about the entire galaxy for now, just Alpha, or the Earth in this time and space... How do they plan to sacrifice such a big planet? Just rely on this... tree?" The Hound asked incoherently.
"You'll have to ask the Undead Crew..." Ke Lan shook her head. "Since this plan can be implemented, it means that the entire Undead Crew should have been corrupted. Even if there are rebels, they should have been killed."
The meaning of Ke Lan's words could not be clearer: the survivor alliance can only rely on its own strength now, and there is no need to hope for any internal support from within the Ark.
"But no matter what the function of this tree is, it should be the key to the undead crew's plan. As long as we can destroy this tree, we should be able to ruin their plan." Levi said.
"Everyone knows that this tree is the key. What you said is pure nonsense." The Hound rolled his eyes at Levi and continued, "The guys from the Undead Crew still dared to release this giant tree in front of us, which means they are confident enough that we can't destroy it."
"You can try long-range attacks." Levi said, "I have a plan. Although it has not been carefully calculated, I think this plan is feasible. "
"Tell me about it." Ke Lan nodded to him.
"I have watched the video of the Skadi fire reconnaissance Ark many times, and I can basically confirm that the Ark's original anti-aircraft weapons, except for the protective shield, have basically been scrapped. As a result, the Ark has completely lost the ability to intercept long-range ballistic missiles. And now the fleshy fungus blanket has completely shrunk, and the last obstacle has disappeared." Levi said, "It just so happens that the Mukach Fortress has three launch bases for long-range ballistic missiles, as well as forty tactical nuclear warheads with a TNT equivalent of 10,000 tons and two strategic-level nuclear warheads with a TNT equivalent of 14 million tons. As long as the security program in the locking device is cracked with hacking technology, the Ark can be set as a missile target."
The long-range ballistic missiles equipped in the Mukach Fortress are "Apocalypse III", with a cruising speed of Mach 28, which is 28 times the speed of sound. At this speed, even if the air defense system on the Ark is still in good condition, it would not be able to react at all - the only thing that can truly intercept the ballistic missiles is the seemingly weak but actually extremely strong super energy shield.
"In the first phase of the operation, I thought about using long-range ballistic missiles to launch a nuclear strike on the Ark, but I didn't bring it up at that time because of two factors." Levi continued, "First, there may be survivors on the Ark. Nuclear strikes do not distinguish between enemies and friends. It is even possible that we fail to kill the enemy leader and instead kill a large number of survivors by mistake. Second, with the existence of the energy shield, it is difficult for a nuclear strike to cause a fatal blow to the Ark, especially the core area with the most stringent protection measures."
The core area is where the physical bodies of the Undead Crew members are located. In addition to the outermost layer of super shield, the core area has at least four to five layers of energy shields and as many as a dozen layers of physical defense, which can directly withstand the attack of strategic nuclear weapons.
"But now," Levi changed the subject, "the height of the 'giant tree' that suddenly appeared has exceeded 20,000 meters. The energy shield of the Ark cannot protect it - we don't even need to attack the Ark below, we can just set this 'giant tree' as a missile target."
"This method seems to really work!" Maginot clenched his right fist and slammed it into the palm of his left hand, saying excitedly, "To activate the missile launcher, we need the certification of the Undead Crew. Although the Undead Crew is our enemy, we still have Ke Lan here!"
The network connection between the Mukach Fortress and the Ark had been disconnected long ago, so the database of the missile launcher had not been updated. Even if the undead crew would now erase all of Ke Lan's permissions, this command would never be delivered to the missile launcher of the Mukach Fortress.
"No... I think we should keep the nuclear warheads. They can be used for crucial purposes, but not now." Ke Lan shook his head and rejected the proposal.
"If not now, when?" Maginot was stunned for a moment, and a Chinese proverb popped up in his mouth, "The tree is in its growth stage now. When it is fully grown, I am afraid we will not have the chance to destroy it!"
"Attacking the tree trunk and crown may be useless." Ke Lan said slowly, "Do you remember the ruins of the bottomless cenote?"
"Remember." Maginot and the Hound nodded together.
At that time, according to the order of the Undead Crew, Maginot, as Ke Lan's contact, actually assumed the role of a monitor. Maginot did not dare to say that he knew all of Ke Lan's movements after she returned from the Underwater City, but at least he knew most of it. It was not until after the trip to the Sick Village that Maginot was transferred to the Mukach Base and ended this "mission".
As for the hound, he is a relic hunter who walked out of the bottomless tiankeng with Ke Lan. He is also a close friend to whom Ke Lan can entrust his life. He knows exactly what happened at the bottom of the tiankeng.
"You mean, the trial mission?" The Hound quickly recalled and whispered, "Do you think this 'giant tree' and the Crown of Ashes are the same thing?!"
"That's right." Ke Lan nodded.
"What trial mission? What Crown of Ashes?" Makino looked at the hound blankly, then at Ke Lan, "Why can't I understand what you are talking about at all?"
Ke Lan made a long story short and repeated his experience in the bottomless cenote to Makino and Levi, who then fell into a brief silence.
"Well, now you know how tricky this thing is?" said the hound.
"An annihilation bomb made of antimatter... Although I don't know the exact equivalent, judging from the description, the power is probably much greater than our strategic nuclear warheads..." Levi muttered to himself, "But even this kind of weapon of mass destruction must be placed deep underground at the root of the Crown of Ashes in order to destroy it... No wonder you said that attacking the crown and trunk would have no effect..."
Ke Lan did not tell them about the existence of "Subject No. 1197". He only said that the trial program was terminated . Even he did not know what the roots of the Crown of Ashes looked like, and whether detonating the annihilation bomb could kill it.
"What a pity." Ke Lan said in his heart.
There were two things he regretted - the first was that the trial process was aborted and he was unable to obtain more information. The second was that "Experimental Subject No. 1197".
Ke Lan once thought that it was a kind of existence similar to the primitive species, but now it seems that the No. 1197 experimental subject probably came from a clan that believed in "alien gods" and was in a hostile relationship with the Alpha civilization that believed in "that existence" at that time.
However, with its strength, it would not be difficult for it to destroy the entire Alpha civilization on its own... This clan may have already escaped the level of "cannon fodder" as mentioned by the hive master.
The reason why the Alpha civilization was able to capture it was most likely that they took advantage of the opportunity on the edge of the battle zone between the two clan civilizations.
"Subject No. 1197" did not show much hostility towards Ke Lan, perhaps because Ke Lan was not branded as "that existence" at the time. In religious language, this was a "person without faith or sect."
Religious people generally regard heretics and pagans as enemies, but they maintain a subtle neutral attitude towards people who do not believe in anything. Perhaps this is also the reason why the "No. 1197" experiment subject did not destroy the Ark after escaping.
People without faith are often regarded as potential development targets by believers... and the current Ark civilization is too weak for "Experimental Subject No. 1197" and is not worth "developing" at all. Just like that existence kept the Alpha civilization in captivity and let it "develop on its own", perhaps when the Ark civilization becomes strong enough, Experimental Subject No. 1197 will appear again and pull the Ark civilization into the camp of that alien god.
For a civilization that poses no threat at the moment but could potentially be an ally in the future, Subject No. 1197 maintained a minimum level of goodwill... Not only did it chat with Ke Lan for a while, it also removed the safety facilities left by the Alphas in the bottomless pit, allowing Ke Lan and his companions to escape by elevator.
From Ke Lan's point of view, Subject No. 1197 is not an enemy, at least not for the time being.
But for the undead crew that have been corrupted, the situation is different.
"The enemy of my enemy is my ally." If Subject No. 1197 was still on Alpha or in the nearby universe, and discovered that the undead crew had completely surrendered to that existence, he might have come back to destroy the Ark...
From its standpoint, it was impossible for it to watch helplessly as the undead crew would sacrifice their entire civilization and the entire planet together to become the power of that being.
"What a pity... What a pity." Ke Lan sighed madly in his heart, "If only this guy hadn't escaped at that time, then if we release it now, all the problems will be solved."
Just when Ke Lan was frustrated about the missed opportunity to get a powerful combat power for free, Levi came up with a new idea: "By the way, is the Blasphemer mecha operated by Miss Valentina equipped with weapons like annihilation bombs?"
"No." Valentina, who was leaning against the door, answered immediately.
"The annihilation bomb was specially prepared for the mission of blowing up the Crown of Ashes. It should not be considered as the regular weapon of the Blasphemer mecha." Ke Lan replied, "This thing is too dangerous. If you are not careful, it can destroy the entire Mukah base."
"Are there any existing annihilation bombs on Alpha? Are there any in stock in those undeveloped ruins? Perhaps we can replicate the operation of the Alpha civilization to blow up the Crown of Ashes?"
"I'm afraid I'll have to ask the Hive Master... But if I go back now, I might not be in time." Ke Lan sighed, "In addition to the annihilation bomb, I also have a lot of things I want to ask him about the Crown of Ashes... At that time, I had already forgotten about the Crown of Ashes, but I didn't expect the Undead Crew to do this now. It's too late to regret it now."
It is easier to get out than to get in to the space where the master of the nest is. If Ke Lan had not been lucky enough to directly run into that special time node the first time, he would probably have to stay in there for a long time before he could find the will of the master of the nest.
In those fragments of time and space where the flow of time is synchronized with the outside world, the amount of time he spends is equal to the amount of time that passes in the outside world... By that time, the giant tree growing on the Ark would probably have already "bloomed and borne fruit"...
