Volume 8: A Trip to the Sick Village Chapter 375: Breaking the Cocoon
So, are the creatures hatching in these nearly one hundred flesh cocoons all monsters like the servant of God?
The population of the entire "sick village" is only about ten thousand, but only one percent of them can be transformed... Ke Lan suddenly felt that the laboratories in the Ark Research Institute that were studying human mutation and transformation were so weak.
Hundreds of top talents from various fields gathered together, hundreds of millions of dollars were spent every year, and various policies and resource priorities were added together, which was not as good as a "hatching field" built by a monster itself. If those experts saw this scene, some of them would probably be so ashamed that they would commit suicide, right?
These one-meter-tall flesh cocoons were translucent, and Ke Lan could vaguely see human bodies suspended in them. The cocoons seemed to be filled with a thick fluid, just like the amniotic fluid used to protect the embryo in the uterus. As for whether the fluid played a protective role or was used to provide nutrients to the human bodies in the cocoons, Ke Lan had no idea.
He walked around a flesh cocoon at the edge and found that the human body wrapped in the cocoon was penetrated by many flesh tubes of varying thicknesses. These flesh tubes extended to the bottom of the cocoon and connected to the flesh membrane covering the ground.
"Aren't these tubes... the umbilical cord?"
Ke Lan pulled out a thin blade from the micro lock pick he was carrying and gently poked the surface of the meat cocoon. Suddenly, a tiny cut appeared on the meat cocoon, and a fishy-smelling liquid spurted out from the hole.
Ke Lan quickly stepped back to avoid the unknown liquid splashing on her face.
"How can it be so fragile during the incubation process?" He looked at the blade in his hand with some frustration. This blade was used to pick locks. Although it was very thin, the front end was not very sharp. Moreover, he did not use much strength just now. Even if it was a human baby's delicate skin, it would not be punctured by such a light touch.
These calluses with thin skin and large fillings made Ke Lan feel like a balloon whose rubber material was stretched to its limit of expansion and was filled with water. They were also like pimples that had been swollen to the point of bursting on their own after being unpinched for several days - not to mention poking them, even if they were accidentally touched, they would probably explode with a "pop".
But Ke Lan remembered that the fleshy tentacles extending from the body of the servant of God were not so fragile. That thing could even stretch out the armor made of "Schroeder Steel" - although the riveted parts were stretched out, it is conceivable how much force is required to make a six-millimeter thick alloy plate deform to this extent.
If it were the tentacles woven into these flesh cocoons, they would probably be squeezed into a sticky and thick paste, and then seep out from the gaps in the armor.
The spray of unknown liquid lasted only about two seconds, and the surface of the pierced cocoon had already healed.
"Although its physical strength is not that good, its recovery ability is quite good..." Just as Ke Lan was about to continue observing, two meat cocoons on the other side suddenly began to wriggle slightly.
The color of these two cocoons was darker, and the "amniotic fluid" inside the cocoons was not transparent but dark brown. As the peristalsis became more and more intense, a large number of cracks began to appear on the surface of the cocoons, and these cracks soon became cracks as wide as a finger, and the dark brown liquid inside the cocoons flowed out along these cracks.
A faint smell of blood immediately filled the surrounding space. Ke Lan took a few steps back, staring at the two mutated cocoons vigilantly.
"Is this...about to break out of the cocoon?" Ke Lan looked around, but there was no weapon he could use in this place. He had to take out the only piece of clay explosive in his secret bag and insert a micro detonator as thick as a toothpick into it.
With a crisp "swish" sound, the top of a meat cocoon was torn open from the inside by a pair of deformed hands... Perhaps, it is not accurate to describe it with hands. The limb that appeared in Ke Lan's field of vision had been completely transformed into a strangely shaped weapon.
Although the palm and five fingers can still be barely distinguished, there are many sharp, barbed bone spurs on the back of the hand and the knuckles.
The nails on the ends of the ten fingers disappeared, replaced by sharp claws that pierced the skin... Not only the appearance, but also the structure of the bones itself has undergone earth-shaking changes - as we all know, human knuckles cannot bend in the opposite direction, but the nails on these two hands are as flexible as spider limbs, from the farthest knuckles to the end of the torn metacarpal bones, they can move completely unrestricted, they move rapidly, constantly expanding the crack at the top of the flesh cocoon...
Finally, the crack at the top of the meat cocoon was enlarged enough for the creature to drill out, but Ke Lan did not wait for the creature inside the cocoon to stick its head out... More than five minutes passed, and even the pair of deformed hands retracted into the cocoon, but Ke Lan still could not see the true appearance of this thing.
"...No movement?" Ke Lan thought for a moment and shifted his gaze to another cocoon, but that cocoon had not even been torn open... Gradually, a large number of black spots began to appear on the surface of the two cocoons. From a distance, they looked like overripe bananas that had been left on the table for a long time. The sesame-like black spots gradually expanded to the entire body of the cocoon. Before long, the entire cocoon had turned completely black.
The black cocoons quickly shrank and shrank into a dry, hard ball the size of a watermelon... Only then did Ke Lan notice that the spaces between the cocoons were filled with these things.
"Does this mean... evolution has failed?" Ke Lan thought for a moment and came to this conclusion.
But think about it, the success rate of biochemical transformation surgery is so low, let alone this extremely primitive incubation method... If the things inside these nearly a hundred meat cocoons can survive, then with a certain force, the people on the space station would have been able to seize the transport ship by force and then leave this "prison" suspended in low-Earth orbit.
"But we still have to find a weapon, otherwise it would be fun if one of them hatches successfully." The wall of flesh and blood did not show any hostility, but that did not mean that the creatures it hatched would be the same - just from the structure of its hands, it could be determined that this was a creature bred specifically for combat, and was essentially the same as the biological weapons developed by the Alpha civilization.
Ke Lan's sight quickly stopped at a square protrusion on the wall - although Area F had been emptied, some things that were difficult to move and of low value were still left behind, and this protrusion, if Ke Lan guessed correctly, should be an emergency fire cabinet.
He tapped the ground with his toes and floated to the front of the fire extinguisher. He then took out a lock pick and began to cut the membrane covering it with some difficulty.
The toughness of this layer of flesh membrane is much stronger than those flesh calluses, especially the fascia inside. Once cut with a knife, not even a trace will be left. Ke Lan can only use the less than one centimeter long serrations on the back of the lock pick to grind off the fascia bit by bit, and then tear it open with his hands.
The cut flesh membrane did not bleed, only a little substance like egg white seeped out from the cross section. When Ke Lan got closer and smelled it, he immediately smelled the rich fragrance, so much so that his movements slowed down by a beat.
"If this thing can be artificially concocted, I'm afraid there will be several more best-selling drugs on the black market..."
(To prevent censorship, I’ll use English words instead, so everyone will understand.)
After a long struggle, the fire extinguisher cabinet wrapped in the flesh membrane was finally revealed. Through the observation window made of tempered glass, Ke Lan confirmed that everything inside was there - although the process was a bit difficult, at least it was not a waste of effort.
This is the "FC119" air and ship-specific fire cabinet produced by "Yunshang Technology Products Co., Ltd.". It is made of high-temperature resistant and collision-resistant explosion-proof materials. It can be opened with fingerprints or iris passwords. It is for this reason that the things in the fire cabinet were not taken away by the construction team.
The so-called riot-proof material is actually made of several layers of reinforced engineering plastics and aluminum alloy. Even with an electric saw it would take half a day to cut it open, not to mention it is impossible to tear it apart by hand... Fortunately, this type of smart fire cabinet has its own screen and a mini keyboard for maintenance personnel to register relevant data - since there is an input port, Ke Lan has a way to invade the background of the unlocking program.
It has to be said that the quality of products from this old brand "Yunshang" is still very solid. After decades, there is still half a power left in the battery of this fire cabinet. Ke Lan quickly tapped a few times on the keyboard, and the idiot-style registration form originally displayed on the screen disappeared, and was replaced by a compilation interface with black and gray as the main colors.
The encryption program of the fire cabinet is still the old one from decades ago, and this old encryption program has been cracked countless times by various masters on the Internet. By the time Ke Lan is in this era, it has almost fallen to the point where entry-level hackers can handle it. Just enter a few keywords in the search engine and you can find a lot of various cracking tutorials on free websites.
It only took Ke Lan fifteen seconds to complete the unlocking procedure of the fire extinguisher cabinet. The red indicator light next to the cabinet door instantly turned green, and with a slight "click", the lock tongue retracted.
There weren't many things in the cabinet, only two gas masks with built-in oxygen bottles, an insulated cloak, a dry powder fire extinguisher and a special fire axe - these things were not used to put out fires, but to help people escape.
In fact, if a fire really occurs on an airship that is difficult for automatic fire-fighting robots to extinguish, it basically means that the ship has to be abandoned. The role of these things is to allow people to pass through the passage blocked by the fire and get to the escape capsule in time.
"The axe is nice." Ke Lan weighed the heavy fire axe in his hand. This fire axe was very different in shape from ordinary fire axes. On both sides of the axe back, there were two small rocket thrusters, and the axe handle could be stretched to 1.2 meters long. By pressing the button on the axe handle, the four rocket thrusters could be ignited, and it could be swung out for a powerful chop.
Although there was only one chance, the power of this move was enough to split the 30-centimeter-thick metal airtight door on the airship. If used in battle, it could be considered a terrifying killing move.
As for the other things, they were not as useful as this axe. However, the weight of these things could be ignored in a microgravity environment, so Ke Lan simply carried them all with him.
…
At this time, somewhere in the residential area of Area B.
"Something's wrong. Why do I feel like there are several times more eyes staring at us in the dark? Is it an illusion?" Leighton looked around and said to Ivan nervously.
"It's not an illusion." Ivan replied, "In the past five minutes, the number of living targets in the circular area with a radius of 35 meters centered on me has increased from 17 to 55... We are surrounded."
"Such precise data? Did you bring a heart rate sensor?"
"Yeah." Ivan nodded. "Although there is interference, the data is pretty much the same."
"What do they want to do? Are they going to take action?" Layton said, "Look carefully, the locals who were just wandering around have disappeared. They obviously know something is going to happen."
"Yeah. But no matter what, we can't take action first."
"I know, I know. We should try not to cause conflict if possible..." Layton muttered, "But what if they attack us? Will we not fight back?"
As soon as Layton finished speaking, before Ivan even had time to answer him, there was a sudden "whoosh" sound in the darkness, and a blowpipe hit Layton's helmet, scraping out a few sparks, and then fell to the ground.
"Shit! I was hit!" Leighton immediately bent over and put his arms in front of his chest, "Ivan! Someone shot me with an arrow!"
"Don't fight back yet!" Ivan growled, "This attack is not a threat! If we start, the situation will be very difficult to deal with!"
“Swish—swish—ding!”
Two more darts, one hit the outside of Leighton's shoulder armor, and the other pierced the soft rubber protective cover wrapped around the elbow joint.
Layton pulled out the blowpipe that was stuck in the protective cover. This blowpipe was made of a metal pen holder, and the hollow arrow was filled with some light yellow sticky substance. It was obviously a poison arrow.
"Damn it! These guys are using poison arrows. Do they want to kill us? Can't we fight back?" Layton shouted, "I've already opened the safety of my weapon! If these guys dare to shoot another arrow, I will open fire!"
"Calm down! Layton, calm down!" Ivan quickly grabbed Layton's arm. "Whether these arrows are poisonous or not, they can't hurt us, right? Calm down!"
"I haven't pulled the trigger yet. So what do we do now?"
"There must be a reason why these people suddenly attacked us... The most likely reason is that something happened to Ke Lan and Asano Akira. Aren't they equipped with trackers? Can you locate them?"
"It's useless. From the moment the communication equipment failed, the signal of the tracker also disappeared. I can only roughly determine their previous location. But I can't guarantee whether they are still there now!"
"Then let's go there and find Ke Lan and the others first, and then make a decision!" Ivan said in a deep voice.
