Alien Relic Hunter

Chapter 637 Beta Replicant

This is... Zofia Soma's body.

Ke Lan was very familiar with this "thrilling" body.

He had touched every inch of skin on this body. The silk-like touch would be difficult to erase from his memory once he experienced it... Looking at this familiar body, he suddenly felt My mouth felt a little dry, and I couldn't help but feel the urge to step forward and hold her in my arms.

But reason is constantly reminding Ke Lan that these are all false. Whether it is the mountains of gold bars just piled up or the extremely beautiful body now... these are all hallucinations extracted from his memory.

"Is this... tempting me?"

The next second, Zofia's body disappeared, replaced by a huge round table - Ke Lan noticed that on the edge of the round table, there were twenty-two Gothic chairs with towering backs and exquisite carvings. , twenty-one of the chairs were occupied by people. But from Ke Lan's perspective, these "people" all looked vague, not to mention their appearance, even their body shape and clothing were not clear.

Only the chair closest to him was empty.

This was the only empty chair beside the round table, and it was placed backwards, with the chair facing his direction, as if sending a silent invitation to him.

"The position is vacant..."

Ke Lan quickly realized that the twenty-two chairs corresponded to the twenty-two Major Arcana cards from zero to twenty-one... The person sitting next to this round table was none other than the Immortal Crew. Twenty-two members of the association.

The vacant chair should have belonged to the fifth "Pope" Chiron, but now...

"..." Ke Lan stood still and did not move forward. He knew very well what these illusions symbolized...wealth, love (or lust), power...these illusions revealed the most naked desires engraved in the human soul. Everyone has desires, even those otherworldly ones. Saints are no exception.

There are no people in this world who have no desires and desires... Even the most basic desire to survive can be regarded as a desire.

The existence of desire in the heart is not a shady thing. Modern society naturally does not classify normal human negative emotions into the "seven deadly sins" like the ancient Vatican did. In many cases, desire can become a surging driving force - -The reason why human civilization can continue to develop, desire plays an extremely key role in it... A race without any desire cannot create a glorious civilization.

But what Ke Lan couldn't understand was why the images of these things appeared in this space? Are you stepping forward for temptation?

Is this a trap?

However, Ke Lan's reason is sober - not only him, but anyone who is locked up in this strange space can also tell that these things are illusory, and no one with a little brain can be fooled... …What’s more, this space has the ability to reset time, so why do we still need to use low-level methods like baits and traps?

"I do like money, and I also like beauties, and power... naturally the bigger the better... but it's just a matter of liking it, and I don't crave it to the point of losing my mind..." Ke Lan believes that even if these things are The illusion dismantled a Blasphemer mecha and placed it in front of Layton. The machine-loving big man couldn't be stupid enough to believe it. At most, he could only take a few more glances.

As for Ke Lan himself, he suddenly discovered that he really didn't seem to have anything in particular that he wanted...

As if hearing Ke Lan's inner thoughts, the round table disappeared, and the Gothic high-backed chairs and the figures sitting on the chairs also disappeared...

During the transition between light and shadow, Ke Lan saw a drop of bright red blood floating in mid-air, as clear as a gem.

"……Blood?"

Before Ke Lan's brain could react, the blood in his body was already boiling - no, no, it was not his blood that was boiling, but the part mixed in his blood that had not yet condensed into a solid substance. "Living Armor"!

Not only the living armor in the blood, but also the living armor that had been condensed into weapons outside the body began to show signs of instability.

It is restless and yearning... Although the living armor has no self-awareness, Ke Lan can empathize with that impulse...

I really want to... I really want to swallow that drop of blood...

"Why is this happening?" Ke Lan's eyes twitched suddenly, "Could it be... that is a drop of... 'real blood of God'?!"

He tried his best to suppress the impulse coming from his body, and even took back the shield and spear formed by the living armor... He knew that the drop of blood was fake, but the living armor in his body didn't think so.

Ke Lan gritted his teeth, but the viscous red liquid continued to overflow from his nose, ear canals and even the corners of his eyes. A fishy-sweet smell slowly surged up from the depths of his throat... He almost He was using all his strength to fight against the out-of-control living armor.

Just when Ke Lan felt that his whole body was about to be torn apart by the internal power, everything suddenly returned to its original point.

Another seven and a half minute reset... as expected.

Those illusions that symbolized "desire" had disappeared without a trace like burst soap bubbles, but the white light was still suspended there. Ke Lan looked up and saw a tall and thin figure wearing a black robe emerging from the white light. Walked out slowly.

Ke Lan was facing the light in this direction, so he could only see the outline of the figure outlined by the white light, and could not see the other person's face clearly. What's more, he was also wearing an exaggeratedly sized hood with the brim of the hood all the way. It dropped to the tip of the nose.

Unlike the previous Zofia and the members of the Undead Crew, the texture of this figure is more like the real thing. The most important thing is that when he stands in front of the white light, his body blocks most of the light source. , and the previous illusions were all integrated with the white light.

Ke Lan's breathing suddenly quickened - even though the figure in black robes had not yet spoken or shown his face, Ke Lan had vaguely guessed his identity.

"You are indeed in this tower." Ke Lan said solemnly, "You mean...your true body."

"Bah bang bang." The tall and thin figure in black robe suddenly clapped his hands, "To be honest, this raid by the Undead Crew Association really exceeded my expectations... It's just a pity that you are still too slow. step."

"So, the entire Ancient Bronze City ruins are actually a trap... Through the hijacking incident, you deliberately exposed this stronghold to Ark's sight and used your true body as bait... Could it be that you were just trying to trap and kill these dozen people?" Soldiers from Wan's field force?" Ke Lan asked.

"What is my purpose...you will know soon." The prophet shook his head, "But now, taking advantage of this rare opportunity, I have a few words to talk to you."

"Talk to me?" Ke Lan suddenly felt wary, "You still want to persuade me to join you, right?"

"That's right, you and I are essentially the same kind of people." The prophet took two steps forward and stretched his arms to both sides. "We are all lucky and great evolvers... But those who hide behind Those in the shadows only see us as guinea pigs in a laboratory experiment."

He paused and continued: "You should also know how the mice that survived the experiment are treated in the laboratory, right? Even if there are lucky ones who survive in the end, they will be fully injected at the end of the experiment. Amount of cyanide... I just don’t want to be called a heretic after being drained of value and sent to the incinerator. Don’t you think it’s funny? The practices of the Crew Association are different from those of the ignorant and greedy people in the Middle Ages. What difference does it make to the Holy See?”

"Based on what you and your men have done, I don't think the name Heretic Sect is an injustice to you." Ke Lan retorted with contempt.

"What did I do? I just gave them strength... You should know that if you want to survive in the wilderness of this planet, strength is the most important thing, right? Ask those who have died due to hunger, disease, or serious injury As for the dying exiles, will they choose to be crushed into dust like ants, or will they give everything they have in exchange for more powerful power? The so-called human nature is just the fragility of human civilization. It’s nothing more than a fig leaf... The thinking of most people has actually always stayed on that damn earth, but the only way to survive in this vast universe is to become stronger."

"So? You implant the larvae of monsters into the bodies of living people and let them become your weapons... Don't think that I am so easy to deceive. Why are the exiles who are dying of hunger and disease, the kind of weak people, simply You cannot be a container for the seeds of erosion, you are not saving people, so don’t make your behavior so noble." Ke Lan retorted.

"I have never said that I am saving people, I just want to become a better creature... I need to conduct a lot of experiments to get closer to the goal called 'perfect' little by little. But I will not look at them Be guinea pigs in a laboratory, but think of them as martyrs, martyrs who died for the truth.”

"It seems that after being a so-called prophet for so many years, you have practiced your eloquence well, but I don't want to quarrel with you at all." Ke Lan said, "To me, you are an enemy, and this will never change. ...If I hadn't been lucky, I would have been killed several times by you, right? I am...a very vengeful person."

"Then are you willing to be a pawn of the Undead Crew?"

"At least they don't want my life now."

"Have you ever thought about it, when they handed the living armor to you, no one knew whether you could successfully fuse with it... They were completely experimenting on you. If they failed, you should be able to guess the result. ?" The prophet suddenly sneered, "You don't really think they are helping you, do you?"

"But if it's a comparison between bad and bad, I would rather stand on the side of the Ark." Ke Lan said, "At least, the undead crew will not let the residents on the Ark eat people."

"It seems that you still don't know your life experience, poor guy." The prophet said word by word, "From the moment you were born, the experimental subject with you as the core has already started to operate. Everything I experienced was arranged by the script..."

"Where's the evidence?" Ke Lan stared at the other party's figure closely - although he held a dismissive view of every word spoken by the prophet, he still had to admit that the other party's statement was exactly in line with A guess in his heart coincided with that.

My life...maybe it is really controlled...otherwise, it would be impossible for so many coincidences to come together, and there would be no reasonable explanation for many things.

"Not only you, but most of the people on the Ark, their scripts are also carefully arranged by the crew...except for a little improvisation by the 'actors', everyone is led by threads The puppets... For these poor puppets, when they are born, they can already see the day of their death."

"Speak humanly." Ke Lan said expressionlessly, "I don't like dealing with the Riddler."

"Do you know why the population on the Ark has always remained at 50 million? So many people die every year, and the population that is 'consumed' is far greater than the new population, but there has never been a population on the Ark. Is it a crisis? Even if babies born in public breeding centers can make up for part of the gap, have you really carefully calculated the gap between the number of deaths and the number of newborns every year?"

"..."

"If you don't talk about others, let's talk about you -" the prophet changed the subject, "Ke Lan, do you still remember what you experienced when you were a child? Do you still remember those classmates who went to compulsory education institutions with you? ?”

"Have you tried entering the names in your memory into the archives of the Security Bureau... Are the people you found based on their names really the people you remember?"

"Have you ever noticed that many of your memories before you were sixteen are very vague, and there are some details that you just can't recall no matter how hard you think about them... Have you ever doubted whether your memories are true or false... …”

"Do you know something called a beta replicant?

Their embryos only need 20 days to develop into the state of a human being at sixteen years old. Memory, emotions, and life skills can all be implanted into the brain through external devices...

In just one month, a young man who has just graduated from a compulsory education institution can integrate into human society...

Like any 'legal citizen of Ark', there will be no loopholes in his identity...

The only flaw is that most of them don't live past forty. After all, there is a fatal flaw in the replicator's mitochondria, a problem that the crew members have not yet solved.

But it doesn't matter. Anyway, these people are born as consumables. When a clone is forty years old, the cost of cultivation has already been recovered. "