Volume 8: A Trip to the Sick Village Chapter 366 God's Sacrifice
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On the other side, Layton and Ivan, who were "wandering" in the outer area of Zone B, also heard the broadcast.
Compared to Ke Lan, who taught himself more than a dozen unpopular languages when he was bored, Layton only knew two languages, Chinese, the official language of the Ark, and his own native English. However, the content of this broadcast did not include these two languages, which made him confused.
"Doctor, what...what's on the radio? At first I thought it was German, but it doesn't seem quite like...I, I didn't understand a word of it." Leighton thought for a long time before deciding to ask Ivan for help.
Ivan knows many more languages than Layton. In addition to the official language Chinese and his native Russian, he also knows seven or eight languages, including French, German, Korean, and Japanese. But the reason why he learned so many languages was simply to facilitate the reading of relevant academic papers. The languages that Ivan knew, including those that he had dabbled in, were basically the most widely used languages on the Ark.
This obscure prayer even contains several extremely rare languages that are almost no longer used in daily life and are only preserved in databases as cultural heritage... No one knows where the residents living in the "sick village" learned these languages.
They shouldn't have permission to access the space station database, right?
"I didn't understand it completely either," Ivan replied. "I can only understand less than half of its meaning... It seems to be a prayer, but to be honest, the word order is messed up. Even if it can be translated into Chinese, it is difficult to form a few complete sentences."
"Prayers... Tsk, when I heard this I felt that we're going to have a lot of trouble this time." Layton muttered in frustration, "Do you think that all the people on this space station are members of a heretical sect or a cult?"
"I'm not sure. Anyway, it's better to be careful." Ivan shook his head. "If the situation changes, contact the Greca immediately. Finding people is secondary. Our priority is to ensure the safety of Ke Lan, Asano Akira and others. By the way, it has been eight hours since the last communication with the Greca. They should have entered the planned orbit now. Contact them again."
"With a perverted master like Asano Akira here, no one should be able to threaten them, right?" Layton said, "Okay, I'll check the communication equipment again. If you ask me, doctor, you're just too cautious--"
The word "慎" in "慎" got stuck in Layton's mouth and he couldn't utter it for a long time, and the expression on his face gradually became ugly.
"What's going on?" Ivan noticed something was wrong with Leighton and turned around.
"Damn it... I don't know where the electromagnetic interference comes from... I can't contact the Greek. Please wait a moment, I'll try again..."
"How many times have you tried?" Ivan asked immediately.
"Six times... now it's seven times. Oh, it's really weird. When we just got off the transport ship, there was some interference, but it was not as severe as it is now. This thing is the most powerful portable radio I can get. If this thing can't contact the Greece, then we can only use laser communication." Leighton said.
"But there can't be any obstruction between the two sides of the laser communication... In other words, our communication with the Greek has been completely cut off, right?"
"It's also possible that it was affected by something else. You know, the interference factors in space are no less than those on the ground. Maybe a meteorite containing a large amount of metal minerals or a strong electromagnetic field just happened to float to the nearby area, causing the communication to be interfered. Maybe it will be fine after a while." Leighton said, scratching his head through the helmet.
"We can't put our hopes on probabilistic events. From now on, we have to be prepared for no external support - there will be no landing craft, no fully armed Marines, and we are the only backup for Ke Lan and the others." Ivan said seriously.
"That's enough." Layton confidently patted the missile launcher on the side of the shoulder armor. "With these sick guys, I feel that my firepower alone is enough to destroy the entire space station."
"Using Ke Lan's words, you are setting a flag for yourself." Ivan complained expressionlessly, "Based on the current population density of Area B, the entire 'Sick Village' is probably home to tens of thousands of residents. Our ammunition is limited. Even if they line up for you to kill, you can't kill all of them... What's more, there are a large number of radiation mutants among them. The power they unleash in battle is not much weaker than your biochemical mutants."
"Only idiots fight with their bodies, while smart people use weapons." Layton teased, "The reason I chose to transform my body is just to be able to use more powerful weapons."
"Let's not talk about this for now." Ivan interrupted, "Ke Lan and the others have been taken in for almost an hour. We can't continue to waste time here. We have to do something."
"What? Should we find someone to find out what the broadcast just now meant?" Layton suggested. "I saw that many local residents walked deeper into the residential area after hearing the broadcast."
"Why are you asking? These people don't want to contact us at all... Are you planning to use violence?" Ivan asked puzzled.
"Hey, doctor, have you forgotten those cans of food in our backpacks?" Layton said with a smile, "Money talks. Especially for these guys who rely on cockroach protein blocks to fill their stomachs all day long, this stuff must be very tempting to them."
"Then go ahead and give it a try," Ivan said. "Based on the records of previous explorations, although they might open their mouths because of this, it will still be very difficult to get anything useful out of them."
"That depends on one's ability."
"No matter whether you can get information or not, remember not to conflict with the locals. Even if you want to break up with them, the decision must be made by Ke Lan and his side," Ivan warned.
"Don't worry, my temper is much better than the old dog's - he is just a stone in the toilet, smelly and hard." Layton reached into his backpack and took out a can of black pepper beef tenderloin.
This was produced by the factory under the Quartermaster Department of the Ark Field Forces, and was officially distributed military supplies. Of course, this stuff could also be bought on the black market, not only at an affordable price, but also in large quantities. For the lower-class people in the Ark, it was the only choice to improve their daily meals.
Many soldiers in the field would sell the canned food they were given but didn't finish. After all, the fresh food in the army cafeteria is always better than canned food.
Basically 80% of the canned food on the black market comes from this way. As for the source of the remaining 20%, you have to ask the managers of the munitions department and processing plants.
This cheap canned black pepper beef tenderloin is naturally not made with real beef. The main ingredient is synthetic protein meat plus minced chicken scraps, mixed with meat glue and a large amount of additives and seasonings. Even the pepper in it is just a "pepper-flavored" chemical seasoning.
Of course, only real foodies would care about these things, but for people who rarely eat real meat on a daily basis, such food is already a delicacy.
The target chosen by Layton was an elderly man sitting under a scaffold. The old man looked to be in his sixties or seventies, with almost all his hair and teeth falling out, and his hunched body was as thin as a skeleton. Of course, it might also be the torture of illness that made him look so old. But no matter whether he was really in his sixties or seventies, or was actually only in his fifties, he could be considered one of the oldest people in this residential area.
As a doctor, Ivan's first concern was the patient's condition: on the man's arms and neck, there were large amounts of ulcerated and festering psoriasis, but his symptoms seemed to be limited to the surface of the skin. It seemed that he had only mild radiation sickness, otherwise, he would not have lived to this age.
"All the hair and teeth have fallen out; he is severely malnourished; there is obvious jaundice on his face, chest and abdomen, and his liver function is suspected to be seriously damaged; the skin on the back of his neck and the outside of his arms is severely ulcerated, and he is suspected to be in the middle stage of skin cancer..."
While Ivan was analyzing the man's condition, Layton was already squatting in front of him with a can in his hand.
The reason why he chose this target was very simple. Someone as old as this old man must have lived in the space station for a long time, so he must know more. Secondly, this guy was so weak that he couldn't even walk. He could only sit on the ground holding on to the scaffolding. Even if he wanted to avoid Layton, he had no way to move his body.
"Hey, old man, can you hear me?" Layton picked up the can and waved it in front of the old man.
The other person's cloudy eyes slowly turned, and finally locked onto the can in Layton's hand, and he subconsciously made a swallowing motion in his throat.
"I want to ask you something." Leighton continued to him.
The other party just looked at the can and didn't respond.
"If you are sure you can answer my question, here, the can, see it? This is for you." Layton moved the can up a little bit.
"...Give it to me." The old man finally spoke . He stretched out his hand with some difficulty and grabbed the can handed over by Layton.
Just tearing open the aluminum lid on the can took almost all of his strength . Then, regardless of the risk of being cut by the sharp edge of the can, he used his fingers to scoop out the beef tenderloin frozen in the grease and soup and quickly stuffed it into his mouth.
He had no teeth and could not chew these artificial meat products at all. He could only use his bare gums to squeeze the food, mash it as much as possible, and then swallow the whole piece of meat like swallowing a whole apple.
Even Ivan, who was standing at the back and watching coldly, couldn't help but worry whether this way of eating would choke the patient to death - according to nursing requirements, patients like this can only be given liquid food, and there are very strict requirements as to the specific nutritional ratio and sanitary conditions.
However, in the sick village, even filling one's stomach has become a luxury, let alone no one cares about these things.
"Hey, old man, stop eating and answer my question." Layton tapped the floor next to the old man with his knuckles in dissatisfaction. "What's the meaning of the broadcast just now?"
The old man swallowed the food in his mouth with great effort, then wrapped the remaining half of the can with a dirty rag . Only after he had done all this did he raise his head and look at Layton with a somewhat dull look.
He stared at Layton for more than ten seconds before pointing at the can wrapped in cloth and saying, "One, not enough..."
"Fuck! You're greedy, aren't you?" Layton said angrily, but when he thought of Ivan's instructions, he tried his best to suppress his anger and asked patiently, "Then tell me, how many more cans do you want before you can answer my question?"
"Two... give me two more... I... I will tell you." The old man stretched out two skinny fingers and spoke intermittently.
His lungs and trachea seemed to have been diseased. After just saying these few words, his chest began to rise and fall violently, as if he would die at any moment.
"The last two. If you dare to play tricks on me again, I will reach my hand down your throat and dig out everything you, old bastard, just ate!" Layton said viciously, and took out two cans from his backpack and threw them to the old man.
The old man caught the can, looked around cautiously, then carefully hid the can behind him, and then said to Layton: "Just now... that was... the oracle."
"Oracle? What does oracle mean?"
"They... need to select... warriors... and... sacrifices."
