Alien Relic Hunter

But in just five minutes, all the red eyes were extinguished, and with a burst of footsteps, the clown walked out of the darkness - Soap and Noir noticed that although the smell of blood in the air was so strong that it could make people He vomited, but the clown's body was very clean, not even a speck of blood stained on him.

"Just...what was that?" Soap asked immediately.

"It seems to be a mutated rat living in the pipeline." The clown said, "This kind of thing is very common in this place."

"Mutated rats living in the pipes?" Soap repeated these words. "In other words, the monsters in the underground labyrinth in those folk stories are real?"

"Existence." The clown nodded. "Part of the maze is connected to the experimental site of the institute. Occasionally, experimental creatures that have escaped from the restraints will enter the maze. Although the undead crew members have the ability to control the Ark, they can find these at any time. Escaped creatures and killed them. But perhaps for observation purposes, they did not do this."

"The purpose of observation?" Soap's cheek twitched twice, "What do you mean?"

"This underground labyrinth itself can be regarded as a huge testing ground, and it is a high-quality testing ground that can simulate lack of food, harsh environment, complex terrain and ecosystem. Put these creatures inside, survive the fittest, and let them survive on their own. Evolutionary mutation is much more efficient than in an ecological box with an artificial environment." The clown said, "In addition, the protective partitions in the areas adjacent to the main reactor and the maze have been secretly removed. Under the influence, the radiation concentration in those areas will remain at a very high level... Creatures that can survive in that environment will have stronger vitality, and will also have mutations that cannot be observed in the laboratory. ."

In the biology laboratory of the institute, the research team often irradiates experimental organisms with radiation lamps or feeds them feed mixed with radioactive substances to induce mutations in these experimental organisms. However, this experimental method is very inefficient. So much so that later on, researchers often "released" large numbers of experimental organisms directly into high-radiation areas in the wilderness - the mission that Thirty-three once performed in the Prismatic Basin was one such experiment.

But most people would never have imagined that the institute and the undead crew would go so crazy that they directly ignored the safety of the residents of the Ark and transformed the underground labyrinth sandwiched within the Ark's structural layer into a large-scale mutation testing ground.

"That is to say... we will encounter more monsters next?" Soap bit his back teeth hard, stood up with his hands on the ground, and directed his tactics deep into the pipe. ——The ground and the walls of the pipe were stained with a lot of blood that had not yet dried, but not a single corpse of the mutated rats that the clown was talking about was seen.

"Eh? Where are the corpses of those monsters? Are they not dead? They ran away again?!" Soap raised the muzzle of his gun vigilantly and pointed it at the depths of the pipe.

"They have become nutrients." The clown whispered. "Although these rats cannot provide soul-level supplies compared to humans, their flesh and blood have enough energy to make up for the consumption along the way."

"Supply at the soul level?" Noir raised his head and looked at the clown, "Can you tell us what this means?"

"Actually, the four soldiers I killed were not dead," the clown said. "Absorbing their flesh and blood is only secondary. My main purpose is to absorb their souls."

"Soul? Are you kidding?" Soap narrowed his eyes, "Do people really have that kind of thing? To be honest... I don't believe it. Even if I have seen so many strange and chaotic things, I don't believe there is anything in this world. There is such a thing as a soul. This is too superstitious. When a person dies, he is dead. There is no difference between body and soul!"

"Soul... is just an adjective that I found as appropriate as possible in the human vocabulary. You can also understand it as thinking, consciousness... But after thinking about it, I still feel that the word soul is the closest to it. Meaning." The clown said.

"Aren't thoughts and consciousness electric currents generated in the human brain?" Noir said immediately, "Logically speaking, after brain death, all human thoughts and consciousness will dissipate immediately. Even if there is such a thing as a soul, there is no relationship between the soul and the body. It cannot be separated - the body is the carrier of the soul, and the soul without the carrier cannot exist independently."

"Thousands of years of human research, there are still many mysteries in the brain field that have not been solved." The clown seemed to become very patient and explained in detail, "If you have ever met someone who survived that experimental project, 豼You will find that the power of human thoughts can actually be materialized and embodied... If the power of thoughts is strong to a certain extent, it can even be said to be 'all your wishes come true'... Of course, in my understanding, it can truly That's probably the only one who can make 'all your wishes come true'."

"What are you talking about? Why can't I understand it at all?" Suap interjected, "Don't discuss things like soul and body. I only care about one thing. You said those four soldiers are not dead. Isn’t this pure nonsense? I watched them die before my eyes.”

"Their souls, or in other words, consciousness... have merged with me." The clown said, "You can think that it is the intelligence dealer nicknamed the clown who is talking to you now, or you can think that it is the common intelligence of the five of us. Consciousness is communicating with you. It’s just that in this common consciousness, the original clown occupies the dominant position.”

After listening to the clown's explanation, although Soap was still a little confused, he still had a chilling feeling... Absorbing other people's souls and merging into one body sounded like something done by demons in fairy tales.

"Why are you doing this? Can you give us a reason?" Noir asked again, "I suspect that you took us two with you because you planned to use us as backup 'nourishment'... I guessed it right. Bar?"

"I will indeed do that if I have to," the clown said truthfully, "but at least not now."

"What's the use of absorbing souls? Absorbing flesh and blood can at least allow your body to gain energy... What about souls? What's the use of this kind of thing to you?"

"I have been eroded, irreversibly eroded." The clown said slowly, his voice was low and hoarse, like a rough rope net dragging on the decaying wooden deck. Both Noir and Soap felt an inexplicable feeling. chill……

"This kind of erosion will be reflected on both the physical body and the soul level. Physical erosion is mutation, and I will become the monster you call me... But physical erosion will not be fatal in a short period of time, or even It will give me great power, as you can see.”

The clown paused for a moment and continued: "The most troublesome thing is the erosion of the soul. It will gradually change my perception and make me forget that I am a 'human being'. It will transform my thinking into a period of time without self-awareness." Program, this program will control me to perform those things that 'should be done'...and in the final stage of erosion, my soul will gradually be assimilated by Him, abandoning this weak body, and blending with Him. "

Both Soap and Noir held their breath, waiting for the Joker to continue.

"If you compare this degree of erosion to a progress bar, when the progress bar reaches the end, I will lose myself, completely abandon my humanity... and become a 'monster' in the true sense." The clown said, "Including Zeus , those people, their souls have fallen. Although on the surface they seem to still have reason, what drives them is no longer their original will. They want to sacrifice all human civilization on the Ark to that existence , so it led to this disaster.”

"I wanted to stop them, but I was too late. I could only place my hope on another 'person'. As for myself, I could only remedy the situation as much as possible."

"But my erosion level is also in danger. In order to delay time, I have to absorb the souls of those four people..."

"But," Noir said softly, interrupting the clown, "you just said that this 'erosion' is irreversible. Since it is irreversible, how can we delay it..."

"If erosion is compared to a progress bar, I really can't push back the progress, but I can 'extend' the length of the entire progress bar... absorb and fuse those souls with low erosion levels or even those that have not been eroded before. It can increase the overall 'quality' of the soul... Judging from the current situation, I should still have three days left to wake up."

"After three days, if the problem is not solved or new means of delay are found, you will 'eat' us, right?" Noir tried his best to suppress the fear in his heart and asked in as calm a voice as possible.

The clown didn't answer, just nodded silently.

"What will happen if we fail?"

"Everyone will die, or, perhaps, become His food." The clown murmured, "Our bodies will work for Him until the last moment, until the oil runs out, and our souls will be wiped out of themselves. Consciousness, traveling through countless dimensions, is drawn to Him and becomes one with Him.”

Noir: "So, in fact, your 'eating' of humans is no different from him, except that his appetite is much larger."

"If you understand it this way, that's right." The clown suddenly let out a self-deprecating chuckle, "After all, I was modeled after him... It's just that the difference between human civilization and that existence During the period, the gap is so big that it cannot be described in words.”

"Well, to be honest, the rhetoric you just said always feels very familiar to me." Zao Yao said, "It's the one where consciousness and soul are integrated into one... I have participated in many combat operations to exterminate heretical sects, those lunatics I have also come into contact with many, and there seems to be such a thing in their teachings. Pious people sacrifice their bodies and souls to the 'great god', and they can merge with the 'great god' and obtain eternal life... From this point of view, the people who confuse these believers should be, as you said, corroders who have lost their own will, right?"

"Almost." The clown said, "The prophet of the heretic sect should be considered the closest individual to that existence among human beings, except for another person. But the more truths you know, the higher the level of power you are exposed to, the more you recognize Knowledge becomes more easily distorted..."

"Do you know that prophet?" Noir asked, "I heard that he was killed by the field army during the battle at the ruins of the Ancient Bronze City."

"I have known him for a long time. He was once a person who regarded the survival of human civilization as the highest goal... But it didn't take long for him to fall into madness. He killed half of the people who were guarding him and sent the other half to him. The man was transformed into something like a puppet. He escaped from the holding facility we arranged for him and hid in the residential area of ​​​​Ark..."

"That should be easy to detect, right?" Noir wondered. "At the time when the prophet appeared, the resident identity registration system on the Ark was already very complete. He didn't even have a legal identity, even if he was hiding in a slum. , should be able to be found, right?”

"Someone within the Immortal Crew has also suffered corruption, perhaps Zeus, or perhaps others. With their secret help, the Prophet's whereabouts were erased, and thousands of Security Agency agents searched in various areas of the Ark. For six months, there was no harvest... During this period, the organization that we later called the 'heretical sect' gradually grew.

"You should all know what happened next."

After the Battle of the Ancient Copper City Ruins, a lot of information about the heretical sect was lifted - including the report of the Prophet manipulating a batch of Corrosion Seeds to raid the Security Bureau stronghold and then successfully escape from the Ark. In fact, with the control ability of the Ark at that time, it was completely possible to strangle the prophet inside the Ark... Even if the number of erosion seeds he controlled doubled, even if the Security Bureau and the Guards Corps did not have the ability to "active ammunition" at that time, To restrain the Seeds of Corrosion, heavy firepower and human sea tactics alone could kill the Prophet and those Seeds of Corrosion, but in the end they still let him go.

"Before that, I already knew that there were traitors in the Undead Crew...and there was more than one," the clown said.

"Have you ever been a member of that undead crew association?" Soap couldn't help but ask, "In other words, the ones General Maginot refers to... the big shots who can be contacted using the 'black card'?"

"So be it." The clown nodded, "For some reasons, I had to leave that organization...but I left behind a plan, a plan that basically has no loopholes. As long as the Undead Crew Union does not completely fall apart, this plan It will continue to be implemented.”

"what's the plan?"