Volume 8: A Trip to the Sick Village Chapter 372: God's Abode
According to the exploration records of the "Sick Village" by previous groups of people, except for Area A which serves as the control center of the space station and Areas B and C which are residential areas, the other three areas are "completely unsuitable for human survival."
Due to the disrepair of life support facilities, there is no oxygen or electricity in these three areas, and the temperature control system has been completely scrapped. When the space station runs to the sunlight area facing the sun, the temperature of these three areas can rise to nearly 100 degrees Celsius, and when the space station moves into the shadow of Alpha, its temperature will drop sharply to more than minus 60 degrees Celsius.
The temperature difference between day and night is far more exaggerated than that in the desert area on Alpha.
However, this group of people seemed to be from Area E. Even if the servant of God wearing power armor could survive in such an environment, the followers under its command could not withstand it.
It seems that the situation in Area E is not as bad as imagined...
Could it be that these people have repaired the life support facilities in these districts?
Ke Lan thought about it and felt that the possibility of this guess was very low.
Life support facilities are not easy to repair. This job is not as difficult as randomly pulling and connecting wires between scaffolding. It must be done by professional engineers and technicians with corresponding licenses, and a lot of replacement parts that can only be manufactured on the Ark are needed. Otherwise, the construction team would not have repaired only the three areas of ABC.
How could these people, who had to rely on supplies regularly delivered by transport ships for their meals, possibly have the ability to repair the life support systems in the remaining three districts?
Just when Ke Lan was wondering whether these people would suddenly take out a few space suits from somewhere, the end of the passage appeared in his sight.
The servant of God said nothing and walked straight towards the rusty iron door at the end. The followers standing next to Ke Lan had no intention of wearing protective gear at all.
During this period of time... the space station should be in the shadow of Alpha. Could it be that this group of people intend to use their bodies to withstand the low temperature and oxygen-deficient environment of minus 60 degrees Celsius?
Are you irradiated mutants or Space Marines Astartes?
Ke Lan subconsciously put his arms in front of him and held his breath... However, when the servant of God pushed the door open, not only did he not feel the biting cold sweeping through the entire passage, but he also felt that the temperature around him seemed to have risen slightly.
"Did I remember the time wrong? The space station has just entered the sunlight area? That's impossible. It takes ninety minutes for the space station to orbit Alpha. I can't have remembered it wrong..." Ke Lan muttered to himself, put down his arms, and looked outside the passage.
This is a dark red world!
Almost all places within the field of vision are covered with dark red flesh membranes. The thickness of these flesh membranes is only about one finger, and they look very similar to the infamous hemophilic bacterial mats. However, compared to the fungal mats covered with tumorous cysts, the surface of this flesh membrane is much smoother and flatter.
Ke Lan looked further away, but could not find any gaps at all. These flesh membranes seemed to be a whole, not composed of countless individuals like fungi.
At the top of Area E, there are several slender fleshy tentacles hanging down every few meters. The end of these fleshy tentacles is wrapped with a fist-sized luminous body, emitting a soft light through the pink and white fascia.
"Is this... a street light?" Ke Lan was very surprised. If this layer of flesh membrane was some kind of living creature, it would not need any lighting as it had no eyes. These fleshy tentacles and light-emitting bodies seemed to be "organs" grown specifically for humans living on the space station.
Ke Lan couldn't help but think of a creature on Earth called "anglerfish". This fish usually lives in the dark deep sea. On the top of its head, it has a light-emitting organ shaped like a lantern... From a physical structure perspective , it is somewhat similar to these "street lights".
In the dark deep sea, light is an extremely rare thing. With the help of this luminous organ , the anglerfish can attract small fish and shrimps that are attracted to light to its side and prey on them... Thinking of this, Ke Lan suddenly felt that this area E covered by the flesh membrane was like the mouth of some giant creature, and these luminous organs were the baits it set to attract prey.
"Will I be eaten up by these flesh membranes once I step into them?"
At this time, the servant of God in front moved. He took a step forward, crossed the iron gate, and stepped on the dark red flesh membrane.
The membrane seemed to wriggle slightly, but did not show any aggression.
"This... is the residence of the 'great god'!" The servant said with his back to Ke Lan, but what should have been a pious and fanatical sentence was read out like an academic paper with its electronic synthesized voice.
Seeing that the other followers also followed the servant of God and entered the area covered by the flesh membrane, Ke Lan walked forward cautiously.
As he walked forward, he had already stopped holding his breath and tried to take a breath - the air diffused from Area E not only contained a lot of oxygen, but was much higher than the 20% oxygen content on Alpha and Earth.
An environment with high oxygen content can easily give birth to some huge creatures. For example, in the Mesozoic era on Earth, the oxygen content in the air was about 40%, which was almost twice that of the Cenozoic era. Large creatures like dinosaurs evolved in such a high oxygen environment.
Ke Lan had to admit that this high oxygen environment was indeed very suitable for the so-called "training". It seemed that the reason why those "second-generation people" had such a high survival rate must be related to this place.
What surprised Ke Lan even more was that the air here did not have the rusty or fishy smell as he had expected. When , a refreshing fragrance instantly rushed into his nostrils, scaring him so much that he quickly held his breath again.
Things with fragrance are not necessarily harmless. As far as he knows, many toxic gases contain hydrocarbons, many of which are aromatic hydrocarbons with fragrance.
The most famous of these is the "S28 military special poison" used by field forces to eliminate large numbers of indigenous creatures. This poison evaporates into the air and reacts with oxygen to produce a "sweet fragrance." But when the human olfactory system smells this smell, it is actually too late to rescue. The toxin will quickly penetrate the respiratory mucosa and then enter the blood...
"I don't seem to feel dizzy or nauseous..."
He tried to take another sip, but still showed no signs of poisoning. Instead, he felt refreshed, and even his mind became clearer.
There is something wrong with this smell! Ke Lan knew that this was definitely not a psychological effect, this feeling was real, and what frightened him the most was that after experiencing this feeling, his body couldn't help but want to continue breathing... This fragrance was like that kind of banned drug, it was extremely addictive!
Ke Lan stopped where he was, and his followers also stopped and looked back at him.
"What's wrong?" The servant turned around and asked.
"I'm just... a little surprised. I've never seen anything like this before." Ke Lan pretended to be so surprised that he stuttered, but what he said was the truth - even in the ruins of the Alpha civilization, this kind of strange sight was extremely rare.
"Don't use...'thing' to describe...the great gods." said the servant of God.
"What?!" Ke Lan's eyelids twitched involuntarily, "This... this is... the great god?!"
"Yes. What you see is a part of His body." The servant of God replied.
The Great God is a layer of flesh covering the inner wall of the space station? No... No, this is just a part extending from its body. As for its main body, it should not be in this state...
Then its main body...is it deep in this E area, or is it in the farther F area?
Could the temperature and oxygen here also be the work of this "great god"? Ke Lan suddenly understood the "residents" living in the sick village. A creature like this that could protect them from extreme cold and high temperatures, produce a lot of oxygen, and not show hostility to them would indeed easily win the favor of the locals.
Considering that this substance is addictive after just one puff, it doesn't seem surprising that these people worship it.
The heretical sects on the ground have the means to use dream date incense to control their believers, and the power of this thing is much stronger than dream dates.
As Ke Lan thought about it, he took half a step towards the ground covered by the flesh membrane... However, just as he was about to step down, his foot hovered in mid-air.
"Um... My Lord Servant of God... stepping on the body of the great God, is that considered a great disrespect to Him?" Ke Lan asked tentatively.
"This is a gift from the great god to his people. You don't have to worry." The servant paused and continued, "Moreover, when our life journey reaches its end, we will also merge with him... What's under our feet is not only the body of the great god, but also the bodies of our former compatriots... And in the future, you and I will also become a part of it."
"..." Ke Lan silently glanced at the flesh membrane on the ground. It seems that this "great god" not only has the functions of an air conditioner and an oxygen generator, but is also equivalent to an organic matter recovery furnace? And these flesh membranes covering every corner should be transformed from the bodies of the dead people on the space station.
For some reason, Ke Lan's fear suddenly faded a lot, and was replaced by a strong curiosity.
His foot finally stepped on the flesh membrane - he was not mistaken, the flesh membrane did move slightly the moment he stepped on it.
These membranes are alive, not dead like the stratum corneum.
Ke Lan could feel that the flesh membrane under his feet seemed to become harder, supporting his weight and preventing the surface from collapsing.
"When you enter the abode of God, the great God will be able to sense your presence." The servant of God looked at Ke Lan as he stepped both feet into the area covered by the flesh membrane and said, "If you are like the heretic just now, a filthy thing from the ground, then the moment He senses you, you will be dead."
"Fortunately, I'm not." Ke Lan thought to himself. If the person who just won was the missionary, entering the place would be tantamount to walking into a trap - even a servant of God could easily kill the Seed of Erosion in seconds. Ke Lan had no doubt that this "great god" had the ability to kill the missionary instantly.
Perhaps, the seeds of corrosion in the missionary's body will not even have the chance to enter a period of rapid change.
However, Ke Lan also realized one thing. If things change and Ivan and Layton's support is needed, then Ivan must not be allowed to enter Area E unless it is absolutely necessary. There are also some cells in his body that are infected by the Seed of Erosion. Although these cells have not yet generated a "nucleus" and although these cells have been suppressed by the implanted stalagmite fragments, there is no guarantee that they will not be discovered by this "great god".
The servant led them deeper into the space. Along the way, Ke Lan used his time-stopping skills to record the scene in this area frame by frame, just like taking a photo. Then he analyzed it in his mind. He found that although this E area was completely covered by the flesh membrane, the internal space was extremely empty. Almost all the equipment in the space station had been moved out. It was unknown whether it was moved out by the original construction team or by the locals.
Of course, there are some things that cannot be moved away - such as those giant glass columns that are as thick as four or five people hugging together and connected to the ceiling, walls and floor... However, these glass columns are also covered with thick flesh membranes, making it impossible to see the inside of the columns.
This space station was originally built for scientific research, and the research projects naturally included biological experiments. In that old design drawing, the large biological laboratory was built in Area E.
Those glass columns are not just glass, but huge culture dishes. When the researchers at the institute captured the native creatures of Alpha Star on the ground, they would send some of them to the space station to observe the changes of these creatures in the space environment...
Could this "great god" have escaped from the biological laboratory in the space station?
