Volume 4: Shadows Under the Neon Lights Chapter 223 "Holy Object"
"In other words, I can do whatever I want?" Ke Lan confirmed with the officer again.
"That's about it. We were told not to interfere with your personal freedom and to provide you with assistance as much as possible if you actively request it." The officer paused, then added, "Of course, it is limited to the capabilities of the assisting unit."
"Then the authority given to me is really great. I am almost able to directly command the troops in this camp." Ke Lan said.
"Uh...if you need command authority, I can apply for it on your behalf. If approved..."
"I'm not interested in command, but I want to stay here and watch the separation process of the East 9th District."
"Ah?" The officer was a little surprised.
"What's wrong? Isn't it possible?"
"It's not that we can't... it's just that when the separation operation reaches the third stage, our camp will have to retreat another two kilometers... Now this area will become a dangerous zone, and in principle, no one is allowed to stay here..." The officer said with some embarrassment.
"Then I'll retreat with you." Ke Lan did not insist on staying here. For him, as long as he could see the separation and destruction process of the East 9th District, it would be enough. He did this to confirm whether the "time stop" ability he had just acquired was related to the thing in the Iron Maiden, and whether the ability would disappear after this thing was destroyed by the Ark's main gun.
It is basically certain that this ability was brought to him by the black liquid that seeped into his palms, but Ke Lan had no idea what the relationship was between this black liquid and the things in the Iron Virgin.
But what made him even more surprised was that the effects he had suffered from severe radiation had now all disappeared on their own. Just now when he was on the stretcher, the medical soldier accompanying the team had drawn his blood, and all his physical indicators had returned to normal. The radiation concentration in his blood was almost the same as that of a completely healthy person.
Could it be that the black liquid also has the function of repairing body damage? Ke Lan couldn't help but think of Zi Yan's terrifying recovery ability. Even the blood holes made by bullets could be restored instantly. In comparison, this was not so exaggerated.
"Mr. Ke Lan, we will enter the third phase of the separation operation in about thirty minutes. If you have nothing else to do, you can come with us now. The soldiers who remain will also withdraw from this area after dismantling the camp facilities." The officer said to Ke Lan.
"Okay... But I want to ask, am I the only one who came out of East District 9? Are there other survivors? And... why did the reinforcements not arrive after we fired the flare?"
"You are indeed the only survivor. As for the reinforcements..." The officer showed a strange expression on his face and said, "In fact, after you, three more reconnaissance teams entered the East 9th District, but they also lost contact with the headquarters... Then, after the headquarters observed three orange flares rising deep in the East 9th District, they immediately organized a commando team consisting of 450 elite soldiers of the garrison and 120 senior security agents... But..."
The officer hesitated to speak, as if he was having trouble thinking of a suitable adjective.
"But what?" Ke Lan asked.
"But... they encountered very strange things." The officer thought for a long time and finally chose the word "strange".
"A strange thing ? We thought the reinforcements were blocked."
"There was no ambush... The commandos didn't encounter any enemies the entire time, but they kept circling around the outer areas of East District 9. They couldn't find the way in and couldn't get in." The officer's word order was a little confusing, but at least he made his point clear.
"Lost?" Ke Lan was somewhat stunned. He never thought that the reinforcements had not arrived yet because they were lost. "Even if the electronic navigation failed, you should have a paper map, right? It's too outrageous that a large army of hundreds of people could get lost in such a few blocks!"
"It's not that we're lost!" the officer waved his hands repeatedly, "but we can't find the way in... the outer area of East 9th District... um... how should I put it, probably, probably the spatial structure has changed, the whole block has become like a maze, even if beacons are set up along the way, it's completely useless..."
"Has the spatial structure changed?" Ke Lan repeated what the other party said and couldn't help falling into deep thought.
"Um...you are Chinese, right? I remember there is a word in Chinese slang to describe this phenomenon, it's called...what's it called...yes, 'ghost wall'! That's it! The commandos encountered a 'ghost wall'!" the officer added.
"Ghost wall... According to your description, it seems to be true." Ke Lan nodded, "But why didn't we encounter a ghost wall? Moreover, when I escaped from it, although those blocks were severely damaged, several main roads did not change at all... If the spatial structure really changed, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to get out."
"I don't know about this..." the officer said helplessly, "Maybe when those blocks were damaged, the changed places were restored to their original state, just like the 'array formation' described in ancient military books."
Although this officer is a white man, he seems to be quite knowledgeable about ancient Chinese culture and can even talk about things like battle formations.
The most famous formation of this kind is probably the "Bagua Formation" set up by Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period. But in fact, the formation is not as magical as described in the romance novels. At best, it is just a plan for deploying troops... Even if the "stone formation" in the novel that can trap millions of troops really exists, it is impossible to trap a well-trained army in such a maze when the modern scientific and technological level completely crushes that era.
But if the space structure really changed, then the crushing advantage between technological levels would be reversed - for humans, most of those complex and sophisticated space technologies still only exist on the theoretical level. If the heretical sects really mastered the space technology left over from the Alpha civilization, then for the humans on the Ark, it would definitely be regarded as a "dimensionality reduction attack."
Moreover, if they really mastered this technology, the Ark would have no chance of winning - let alone opening a portal into the core brain, the entire Ark would be paralyzed. How could they fight?
It seems that the technology mastered by the heretic sect is just the tip of the iceberg. It is possible that even they themselves cannot control it...
But there is still a question in the whole matter: Why didn’t Ke Lan and his team encounter similar things?
"By the way, did the commandos hear any strange noises?" Ke Lan asked the officer.
"Strange sound?" This time, it was the officer's turn to be confused.
"It's a sound similar to wailing and sobbing. The recording equipment cannot pick up it, but everyone can hear it, and different people hear completely different things..." Ke Lan described it as detailed as possible.
"No." The officer said in a very affirmative tone, "Although I am not a member of the commando team, many of my soldiers are members of the commando team, and they did not hear any unusual sounds at all."
"No..." Ke Lan pondered. He suddenly felt that no matter whether it was the voice, or the thought in his mind... or the so-called "maze", everything seemed to be verifying one thing: " It" wanted to let him in, but everyone except him was blocked outside...
This "it" does not refer to the people of the heretic sect, nor is it Zi Yan, but the thing in the Iron Maiden. It has a certain self-awareness... and it can spread this awareness and invade the human mind...
The reason why Ke Lan had such a strong desire to "go in and take a look" was entirely because it was inducing Ke Lan subconsciously!
And the purpose of its seduction is to...
Ke Lan couldn't help but look down at his left hand - there was no trace of anything on the palm of his hand now, but when he pressed it gently with his thumb, he found that there seemed to be a hard object like a meat cocoon inside.
This thing didn't exist before, when did it appear?
Could it be that I am being parasitized?
This thought immediately made Ke Lan break out in a cold sweat. He subconsciously reached his left hand into his pocket and grabbed the stone spike.
Nothing happened. Although Ke Lan could feel the callus with her fingers, she did not feel any foreign body sensation, as if the thing was a part of her body.
Ke Lan wanted to find a scalpel to cut open her palm to see what that thing was, but there were so many eyes watching her... If she was really possessed by something, there was no guarantee that these soldiers would take any "emergency measures" for her...
"By the way, do you have CR imaging equipment here? It would be best if it is portable and can be operated by one person." Ke Lan asked the officer.
"Ah? What do you want this for?"
"I feel uncomfortable in my right wrist. I suspect that the bone may be injured. I want to take an X-ray to check it out." Ke Lan moved his right wrist and pretended to be in pain.
"If you just want to take an X-ray, we have it at the medical center here. I'll send someone right away—"
The officer was interrupted by Ke Lan before he could finish his words: "Tell everyone in the computer room to leave. I can complete the operation myself. You are not allowed to come in until I say yes."
“…You do it yourself?”
Although the officer was puzzled by Ke Lan's request, in view of the order issued by his superiors, he still met Ke Lan's request and took all the operators out, leaving only Ke Lan and the machine in the room.
Ke Lan checked every corner of the room, then unplugged the network cables of the computer and the X-ray machine. After setting the corresponding parameters and delay time, he reached his left hand under the machine.
After the scan was completed, Ke Lan returned to the computer and looked at the digital image that appeared on the screen. In the palm of his left hand, there was a crystalline object the size of a grain of rice "parasitizing".
Crystalline objects?
Ke Lan immediately thought of the super-pure crystals discovered from Leviathan's body... Could this be the thing that the heretic sect dissected out of Manstein's stomach and that Arasaka Yui called a "holy object"?
Shouldn't that thing be in that iron coffin? How did it get into my body?
Moreover, judging from Manstein's autopsy report, that thing should have carried extremely strong radiation. Manstein wrapped it with many layers of radiation-isolating materials but was unable to completely block the radiation. But now Ke Lan did not have any protective measures in his hands, so why didn't he feel even a little radiation?
He picked up the Geiger counter hanging on his waist and brought it close to his left hand - the machine did not make a sound, and the reading on the screen did not change at all.
Could it be that during that ritual, the "nature" of this thing had changed? Not only did the radiation disappear, but it also acquired the ability to freeze time?
"Wait a minute!" Ke Lan was suddenly startled. If the "holy object" had been transferred into his body, then would the thing in the iron coffin be just an empty shell?
The undead crew would not hesitate to give up something that would destroy the entire East 9th District, but in fact, it has already happened to them without them realizing it?
If they knew about this, wouldn't it be possible that I would be thrown into low-Earth orbit and hit by a hit from the Ark's main gun?
"This thing is a huge trouble." Ke Lan took a last look at the image on the screen, then deleted all the data and took a picture of his right wrist - he originally wanted to format the computer directly and then destroy the computer and X-ray machine with a grenade, but doing so would easily attract some unnecessary attention. Even Ke Lan himself could not guarantee that the people from the Security Bureau could recover the video records from the pile of wreckage and debris.
He had already decided that after this matter was over, he would find a way to perform an operation to remove the crystal from his palm - even if he would lose the ability to "freeze time", it was better than letting such a strange object of unknown origin remain in his body, not to mention that this thing might bring him death.
Ke Lan printed out the film of his right wrist, then walked out of the computer room with a relaxed look on his face, and said to the officers waiting outside: "It looks like the bones are fine, it should be just muscle damage..."
"That's good." The officer nodded repeatedly, "Mr. Ke Lan, if you have nothing else to do, please retreat with us now. There are only ten minutes left until the third stage."
