Volume 5: Bottomless Sinkhole Chapter 280 Rest
Ke Lan and his friends stayed on the shore of the underground lake for two full days.
The seriously injured mercenary died on the first night due to complications caused by wound infection, while Ivan and Asano Akira did not wake up until noon the next day.
Almost the same as Ke Lan's initial guess, Ivan dreamed that he was completely devoured by the Seed of Erosion and turned into an inhuman monster, slaughtering people uncontrollably on the Ark... What frightened him the most was that, although his self-consciousness still remained in his body , he had been assimilated by the tyrannical and bloodthirsty character of the Seed of Erosion, and he was completely unable to curb this impulse... So much so that after waking up from the dream, his mental state was still in a very unstable state.
"I... I can't believe it... That was my own thought... I wanted to kill that person... No, not kill... I wanted to eat him..." Ivan said in a trembling voice, the clothes on his back were completely wet with sweat, his facial muscles twitched involuntarily, that desperate and painful look in his eyes, it would be difficult to erase it from his mind once he looked into their eyes.
"Doctor, cheer up, it was a dream, it was just a dream!" The Hound grabbed Ivan's shoulders, turned his body over, and shook it vigorously a few times, "You just had a nightmare, you are not a monster at all!"
"No... you don't know that feeling..." Ivan said. His expression was very strange, and people couldn't tell whether he was crying or laughing. "That was my own will, the desire hidden in my subconscious... I obviously didn't lose control of my limbs, but I didn't want to stop my atrocities... The blood and flesh tempted me... I killed people and then ate their flesh. I didn't feel disgusted or scared, but instead was filled with a strange pleasure... This pleasure urged me to prey on more..."
He continued: "I don't know if I am still a human being... Maybe I have become a monster..."
"Alright." Ke Lan stood up and interrupted Ivan. "Eating is a human instinct. There's nothing wrong with it."
"But...I..."
Ke Lan turned around and walked away. When he came back, he had a piece of not-so-fresh meat in his hand, which was stained with a lot of dark brown coagulated plasma.
Without saying a word, he walked straight to Ivan and stuffed the piece of meat roughly into Ivan's mouth.
"What is this... um... um...?!"
"The flesh just cut from a dead body." Ke Lan replied calmly.
"Puff! Uwaaa... Ugh..." After hearing Ke Lan's answer, Ivan immediately spat out the contents of his mouth, then knelt on the ground and began to dry heave.
When his throat became hoarse from vomiting, Ke Lan handed him a pot of water and said, "Rinse your mouth."
"I..." Ivan wanted to say something, but finally swallowed all the words. He took a big gulp from the kettle, rinsed his mouth vigorously a few times, and then spat the liquid mixed with filth on the ground.
"He said he wanted to eat humans, but he couldn't even swallow a piece of dead flesh..."
Ivan was shocked all over, raised his head and looked at Ke Lan in surprise.
"Now, do you still think you are a monster?" Ke Lan looked at him with a smile and asked.
"...Thank you." Ivan was silent for a few seconds, raised the back of his hand and wiped the water stains from the corners of his mouth.
Although he looked very embarrassed, his expression was much normal than before, and his eyes had regained their original calmness.
"Ke Lan, you are really something—" the Hound smacked his lips and said , "Tsk, I can't think of such a method."
"From another perspective, the dream you experienced, Ivan, is not real at all... Humans are just containers of the Seed of Corrosion." Ke Lan said, "When the Seed of Corrosion enters the rapid transformation period and the 'core' appears, it has an independent consciousness... As a container, humans are just a shell that provides nutrients to it."
"There is a classic science fiction movie called Alien. You must have seen it, right? Do you think that the monsters that 'break out' from the human body are the human transformed?" Ke Lan glanced at Ivan and continued, "Everything that appears in the dream world is due to your imagination - you think that human self-consciousness can be attached to the mature Corrosion Seed, so you think you have turned into a monster. In reality, you would have been dead by then."
"My imagination... comes from my imagination..." Ivan repeated this sentence softly.
"You think monsters will kill humans wantonly, so when your consciousness attaches to the monster, you will mistakenly think that it is you who is doing the killing... You think you still have control over your body, but in fact, don't you have control over everything?" Ke Lan's tone slowed down a little, "This is just a dream, it's no big deal... When I was playing a certain strategy game, I would often implement a genocide policy... I even processed an entire species into instant canned food... In reality, I didn't become a big devil who kills people without blinking an eye."
"I see." Ivan nodded and said to everyone, "I'm fine now. I'm sorry for making everyone worried."
"What's there to apologize for? It's a good thing that he woke up." The Hound patted Ivan's back hard, but accidentally pulled the wound under his ribs that had just been bandaged. He frowned immediately, "Hiss... Without taking painkillers... It really hurts... But just now, doctor, you almost scared me. I thought you were going crazy."
"Old dog, I suggest you sit still, or even better, lie down... Although I have fixed your broken bones for you, you can't fix them in this position with plaster. If they grow crooked during healing, you'll have to break them off and fix them again... If they accidentally get into your internal organs..."
“Fuck, don’t scare me!” The hound’s eyes widened instantly. “Okay, okay, I won’t move anymore, okay?”
“If the ribs are broken, you can use a chest belt for external fixation and avoid strenuous exercise for about a week. But if a large number of bones are broken, you will need surgery to place a stent in the body for internal fixation.” Ivan said - compared to Ke Lan, the "replacement", he is the full-time doctor in the team.
"Not many, just two were broken, and the soft tissue contusion was quite serious." Ke Lan said.
"Then I can make you a simple chest strap. Just find some elastic fabric and some bandages." Ivan said.
"That's great," the hound said quickly, "Ke Lan likes to scare me, so I don't dare to move."
…
Asano Akira woke up half an hour later than Ivan, but compared to Ivan, he seemed much calmer.
Ke Lan: “Awake?”
Asano Akira: “Yeah.”
Ke Lan: "Having a nightmare?"
Asano Akira: "Well... a dream... I don't like it very much, but I don't know if it can be considered a nightmare."
Ke Lan: "What did you dream about?"
Asano Akira: "I went back to the experimental base and experienced it all over again."
Ke Lan: "And then? Did you go on a killing spree and kill everyone else? Or did you see some indescribable monster and stepped on the Ark and made a hole in it?"
Asano Akira shook his head and said, "Nothing. Everything is exactly the same as before. I am still the last one. Everyone who participated in the experiment is much better than me..."
He paused and continued, "But they are all dead or crazy. I am the only one who survived."
"I actually always knew it was a dream," Asano Akira's voice was emotionless, but Ke Lan could hear a hint of reluctance, "But at least, at that time, I could still see things with my eyes."
"Will you regret it?" Ke Lan couldn't help asking, "For participating in that kind of experiment."
"I don't have the chance to regret, and there's no use regretting," Asano Akira replied.
"Indeed, regret is the most useless thing in the world... So even if I do something wrong, I will only reflect on it instead of regretting it." Ke Lan said with emotion, "Only mediocre people would waste their time on regrets."
"Oh, why are you talking about this? You might as well think about where to have a big meal after you get out. Don't you Chinese have an old saying that goes, 'Food is the first necessity of the people'? Filling your stomach is the most important thing." The hound said while chewing on the compressed dry food that looked like a bar of soap, "I'm really fed up with this pig food. It's either bland or extremely salty, and it also has a fucking greasy smell of synthetic fats..."
"So what do you want to eat?" Ke Lan joked, "Do you want me to cut another piece of meat off that guy so that you, old dog, can have a taste too?"
"Fuck, my nickname is 'Hound', not a real hound, stop talking about such disgusting things." Hound waved his hands and said, "Hey... To be honest, I've always wanted to eat Japanese food. I've heard that there are several very good restaurants in the East 9th District, such as sushi, tempura, teppanyaki, etc. It's a pity that those restaurants and the entire East 9th District module have become fireworks."
As he was talking, the hound suddenly turned his head and looked at Asano Akira: "By the way, Asano, you must know where the Japanese cuisine is delicious, right? Can you recommend a few?"
"I've never eaten Japanese cuisine," replied Asano Akira.
"No way?" The Hound showed a look of astonishment, "You...you are from Japan, and you have never eaten Japanese food?"
"No," said Asano Akira. "When I was a kid, I ate standard nutritious meals for Ark residents. After I finished my compulsory education, I joined the army and started eating in the canteen at the military camp... Oh, and the standard military rations issued when I was on a mission."
The "standard nutritional meals for Ark residents" mentioned by Asano Akira, as the name suggests, its only function is to provide the residents of the Ark with all kinds of nutrients needed to "maintain good health". As for the taste and texture of the food, it has never been within its consideration.
This kind of food is provided free of charge to every Ark resident in the compulsory education stage. Of course, if you don’t like it, you can give it up and spend credit points to buy other food instead.
Ke Lan also ate this standard nutritional meal for a period of time. The outer packaging was a sealed plastic bag with a bag of flour-like substance inside. It was mixed with hot water into a paste for consumption. There were also a few packets of seasonings included to make the paste less unpalatable.
In addition, there are several oral tablets to supplement various vitamins and trace elements that are not in the batter.
This kind of food is probably only slightly better than the cockroach protein blocks distributed to miners by large conglomerates. Even the compressed dry food that the hounds are eating now is not as good as it.
No one would be willing to eat this kind of thing if it weren't for filling their stomach.
"You were also... born in the Human Cultivation Center?" Ke Lan asked subconsciously. Only a child from this kind of background would have an account so clean that there would not be even a single credit point. Children from any family, no matter how poor the economic conditions were, would not eat this stuff for every meal.
"No, I have parents, but they were exiled when I was very young. As for the reason for the exile, I don't know." Asano Akira said, his tone was cold as if he was talking about two people who had nothing to do with him. "I signed an agreement with some people. After completing compulsory education, I must obey the terms of the agreement and join that army. Otherwise, I will be exiled to the wilderness like my parents."
"So that's how it is..." The Hound muttered, "They're implicating children who know nothing about adult crimes... They're forcing children to sign this kind of agreement. They're really bringing shame to us soldiers."
"In fact, Japanese cuisine is not that delicious. Most of it is just a gimmick. It's ridiculous to think that someone can create a 'God of Cooking' just for cooking." Ke Lan calmly changed the subject. "By the way, Ivan, do you have any suggestions?"
"I don't care." Ivan waved his hand, "As long as there's wine to drink, it's fine."
"I think roasted whole lamb is good," Zhuoligetu said, "but the problem is that it's hard to get a whole lamb on the Ark. I've only eaten it once since I was a child."
"How about we go eat hotpot?" Qin Zhao suddenly stood up. "Have you heard of Sichuan hotpot? It was very famous in the old era... I know a very good restaurant. The price is not expensive. You can choose real meat or protein-synthesized meat according to your own conditions. It is really delicious when paired with the boss's special hot sauce!"
"Sichuan hotpot?" Ke Lan was stunned. Although he had heard of it, he had never eaten it. There were not many Chinese people in the area where he lived, and there were only one or two restaurants with Chinese characteristics. "I think I can give it a try."
"Is it spicy? Spicy is good, I like spicy food!" Zhuo Ligetu said, clapping his hands.
"Hot pot... I know, it's the kind where you put ingredients into a pot, blanch them until cooked, then take them out and dip them in sauce, right? I've wanted to try it for a long time. In fact, besides Japanese cuisine, hot pot is my second alternative!" shouted the hound.
"Okay, it's settled. We'll have hotpot after we go out." Ke Lan said, "Then it's time to end the small talk. Everyone, get ready. We're going to start working—"
