Volume 4: Shadows Under the Neon Lights Chapter 217 Blood and Flesh Purgatory
"Let's talk about this later..." Ke Lan picked up Er Zang's two thermal energy blades - although they could not be turned on to high temperature in Ke Lan's hands, these two blades were made of Nino alloy and were considered rare weapons.
Afterwards, Ke Lan found Huomen's body behind the corner. As expected, there were four booby traps and a remote-controlled bomb installed at the corner alone. There was even a trigger mine hidden on his body. If someone rashly turned over Huomen's body, this trigger mine would detonate all the "stock" on Huomen's body, creating a huge explosion.
"...Do you still want to go up in this state?" Ke Lan dismantled the trigger mine, then collected all the explosives on Huomen, then turned around and asked Victoria.
In her current condition, if she immediately returned to the blockade to receive treatment , she would still have a great chance of survival...but if she decided to climb to the top of the tower, it would mean that she would only have these last few hours to live.
"I...hiss...said it...hiss...this is...my mission." Victoria said in an unquestionable tone.
"..." Ke Lan didn't say anything else. He just looked at her silently and handed over two grenades.
At this time, the strange voice appeared again, but this time it was clearer than any other time before - in the background noise like the waves hitting the rocks, countless different voices were crying... Among them were men and women, old people and children... They seemed to be enduring unspeakable torture ...
Ke Lan could also hear a hint of urgency in these cries... They were telling him in this indescribable way: there was not much time left...
"I heard that voice again..." Ke Lan said.
"Me...hiss...as well." Victoria nodded. "But...hiss...I can only hear...a hissing...sound...like...the...hissing...tide...all...the...hissing...wailing...from before...are...all...disappeared..." Victoria nodded.
The content of this voice is different for each person, and this has been confirmed before. Ke Lan estimates that this should be closely related to the abilities he inherited from the stone tablet.
"I heard the cries of men, women, old people and children..." Ke Lan said, and suddenly felt a chill on his back. "For some reason, I suddenly thought of the brains of the victims that were taken away... I always feel that these cries come from those victims. Their bodies are dead, but their consciousness has not completely disappeared... and they are suffering great pain."
"Hiss...you...look...hiss...around..."
At Victoria's reminder, Ke Lan focused his attention on the surrounding environment - he suddenly discovered that, without realizing it, the entire Arasaka Tower... seemed to be "aging" at an accelerated rate.
In this space, the flow of time seemed to be accelerated... The rotten flesh covering the ground, walls and ceiling was slowly shrinking, the surface of the metal corridor guardrail was gradually covered with a layer of oxide film, and even mottled rust began to appear... And an ornamental potted plant at the end of the corridor, completed the process of withering, drying up, and returning to dust in just a dozen seconds.
"...Corpses! Even the corpses..." Ke Lan lowered his head and found that the biological parts of the three corpses of the Six Warriors had now turned into skeletons. The flesh and blood seemed to have dissolved into the air and disappeared without a trace.
"What is the principle behind this?" Unspeakable fear and horror spread in Ke Lan's heart... He had never heard of anything that could change the speed of time... Unless the Ark was in a wormhole, this would be possible... But the Ark was now parked on the equator of Alpha Star, with no signs of activation at all...
It's impossible that the entire Alpha star was swallowed by the wormhole!
This is even more impossible!
"This is not right..." Ke Lan, who had calmed down a little, soon noticed something was wrong. "Why is the time in our surroundings accelerated, but we are not affected at all?"
If this time acceleration took effect on the two of them, Victoria's body would be the first to collapse. Even if calculated according to the normal flow of time, she would only have a few hours to live.
"It seems... only... hiss... to the top of the tower... hiss... can... hess... get... an explanation." Victoria was as shocked as Ke Lan, but compared to this amazing vision, she had more important things to do.
That was her mission, she was willing to sacrifice her life for it...a mission that had to be completed.
"Walk!"
Ke Lan also knew that Victoria didn’t have much time left, and that “thing” at the top of the tower was leaving them with less and less time.
The internal structure drawings of Arasaka Tower were obtained when Victoria hacked into the elevator control system, and they quickly found the stairs leading to the top floor based on the drawings.
The stairs were also covered with rotten flesh-like biological tissues, but these biological tissues seemed to be gradually dying... They began to become dry and hard, just like the skin of a mummified corpse exposed to the sun, and the "blood vessels" hidden under the rotten flesh no longer moved... Combined with the previous behavior of these tissues transporting substances to the top of the tower, their mission should have been completed at this time... This meant that the "great ceremony" had really entered its final stage.
What is the purpose of the Arasaka Foundation, what is the ritual of the heretical sect... We will soon get the answers...
Rushing up the last step of the stairs, Ke Lan shot open the door leading to the top of the tower.
There was originally a Japanese-style dojo built on the top of Arasaka Tower, but now, what Ke Lan saw was only a purgatory made of flesh and blood.
Ke Lan had a hard time finding any words to describe the scene before her eyes. Under the huge flesh dome, there was an "Iron Maiden" made of an unknown alloy hanging. Countless flesh hoses extended from all directions, drilling into the round holes on the "Iron Maiden" that were supposed to be used to install long spikes, and connecting to the "thing" inside...
Many tubes have fallen off, but those that are still inserted are still continuously transporting substances into the interior of the "Iron Maiden".
A sense of oppression that is almost no different from that of the primitive species is continuously emanating from the cruel torture instruments of this old era.
