Alien Relic Hunter

…

At Ke Lan's request, everyone finally left the battlefield in the Blasphemer mecha. After their figures completely disappeared from the end of the field of vision, Ke Lan turned around and looked at the "God of Machinery-Alexander" a few kilometers away.

As the ultimate mobile weapon of Alpha Civilization, the activation process of Alexander, which has been dormant for tens of thousands of years, is cumbersome and lengthy. Until now, the transformation and reorganization of the body have not been completely completed. The Ark fleet surrounding Alexander has already exhausted all the ammunition it carried when the war began. Although emergency air supply operations are in progress, compared with the huge ammunition gap of the entire fleet, the inventory of these dozen supply ships can only be regarded as A drop in the bucket.

What's more, even if all the warships have completed their supplies, what will happen... Even if the three fleets are full, they will not be able to blast away the energy shield in the core control area of ​​the Ancient Bronze City Ruins, let alone the current state of being at the end of the war. .

At least 30% of the main battleships were seriously damaged and lost their combat effectiveness. Three aircraft carrier battleships were sunk by the terrifying beam. There were countless weapons that were scrapped due to overload and overheating - you can see the ratio of barrage in the air with the naked eye. When the battle first broke out, it was much sparser, and many battleships were even in a state of complete misfire.

Even if the supplies can be completed in time, the firepower of the three fleets will be reduced by at least half-this is still based on conservative estimates.

Moreover, they lost the support of ground troops.

The officers and soldiers on the battleship also know very well that the current battle can only be regarded as "doing their best". It was impossible to win this war with their strength alone... From the moment "Alexander" stood up, the balance of victory and defeat had completely tilted towards the side of the heretical sect.

But as long as they did not receive the order to retreat, they could only continue to fight.

Ke Lan knew that the people of the Immortal Crew were definitely paying attention to this battlefield, but they showed no sign of sending more reinforcements... Perhaps in their view, the human sea tactics alone could not kill this behemoth.

"Are you placing all your bets on me?" Ke Lan asked.

The tipster didn't answer.

"I think so. With the way you act, you must have some back-ups."

The other party remained silent.

"If you don't speak, I'll take it as your acquiescence."

"Alexander's awakening ceremony has come to an end, and we don't have much time left." The information dealer then said.

"Oh, are you anxious now? Then if I suddenly change my mind and no longer plan to gamble my life, what are you going to do?" Ke Lan said, "I think you are not so despicable as to risk the lives of my companions. Threatening?"

"We don't need to do that." The intelligence dealer said, "If Alexander cannot be stopped, the entire Ark will be destroyed... How long do you think humans can survive on this planet without the Ark as a shelter and backing?"

Although what the other person said sounded like moral kidnapping, Ke Lan had to admit that there was nothing wrong with what he said - he didn't dare to bet on whether the crew would be prepared for a backup plan. If the Ark is destroyed, the human living environment will fall into an extremely bad situation.

Many people will die, most likely including the people Ke Lan cares about and the people he cares about.

"I know." Ke Lan took a deep breath, found a solid-looking stone, and sat on it.

"Then don't waste time." The information dealer urged, "In ten minutes at most, Alexander will fully wake up, and no one knows how long your 'ritual' will take."

"Don't rush me." Ke Lan suddenly regained the feeling he had when he was arguing with the intelligence dealer. "If you beep again, do it yourself."

He stretched out his arms and let the living armor completely cover his arms - the gem-like armor did look much better than before, but it gave Ke Lan the illusion of being extremely fragile.

Ruby is a type of corundum, its hardness is second only to diamond, but the materials in front of you only look like rubies, but the material properties of the two are vastly different.

The reason why Ke Lan thought it was "fragile" was probably because the gauntlet looked more like a flawless piece of art than a weapon.

Since it is a work of art, people will naturally have a "handle it with care" mentality, for fear of bumping into it - even an imperceptible scratch will have an immeasurable impact on the value of the work of art itself.

"It's pretty." He stretched out his hand and pinched the protruding corner of the rock. He didn't even exert much force, and the stone in his hand turned into powder.

The living armor in the palm of his hand was still smooth enough to make a human figure shine through.

"If there is the power of gods in this, how can this power be inspired?" Ke Lan asked his hands.

This time, he spoke the language of Alpha Civilization.

As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding scene suddenly turned into black and white - Ke Lan did not activate "Time Stop", but the ability of Time Stop was automatically released. What made him a little uneasy was that he found that he could not get rid of this time-stop state.

In other words, he was not the one who started and stopped.

Ke Lan also did not feel the side effects of the time-stop - the sharp needle-like pain deep in the brain and the various screams and howls... Although he had long been accustomed to these things, when these accustomed "background sounds" "After disappearing, he felt that the environment was a little too quiet.

It was so quiet that one couldn't help but feel a little spooky.

Everything in the whole world was still, including Ke Lan himself...but one thing suddenly moved.

Living armor!

Logically speaking, in addition to the fusion of the living armor and Ke Lan, although it can transform into various things out of the body, no matter what form it takes, the connection with Ke Lan cannot be broken, even after the invasion of the original erosion. When the "eukaryote" was planted, there was still a thin "tube" connected between the living armor and Ke Lan. But now, it completely separated from Ke Lan's body and flowed to the ground like liquid.

The living armor still maintains the crystal clear texture at this time, but due to the flow, it no longer looks like a gem, but closer to some kind of pure gelatin mixed with red pigment.

This ball of "red gelatin" kept squirming, and a human figure gradually stood up from it - just like making a clay sculpture. First, the general torso and limbs were pinched out, then the details were outlined bit by bit, and finally the full face sculpture was completed.

In fact, before the humanoid's facial features were "carved", Ke Lan had already guessed what it looked like.

This is "another self".

This scene is somewhat similar to the scene under the glacier ruins, where the old dog was "copied" by the pieces of meat, but the copy in front of him still maintained the ruby ​​texture of the living armor - through its skin, Ke Lan could Seeing the texture of the bones, organs and every muscle in this humanoid body, there is even fluid like blood flowing in those "blood vessels".

A very strange thought suddenly came to Ke Lan's mind: This "imitation" of his own is just like the "color-through limited edition" produced by those figurine toy manufacturers, obviously eliminating the need for tedious color separation painting. The installation steps are actually much more expensive than the "normal versions" of the original colors.

Just because it has the word "limited" in front of it.

"What a black-hearted profiteer..."

Seeing the "Limited Edition" of himself gradually taking shape in front of him, Ke Lan did not feel fear, but instead felt a kind of... intimacy that is difficult to describe in words?

This person feels to me as if he is his own brother... No, no, even if he is a brother, he will not feel like this. To be precise, it is another self...another Ke Lan.

It is myself... Ke Lan felt that his thoughts were a little confused, and he felt that there were many things that he could not remember. Those memories are sealed in the depths of my mind, separated by a layer of thick fog that cannot be seen through. He knew about their existence, but he didn't even remember a word about them.

"What are you trying to inspire this power for?" Ke Lan of the "Limited Edition of Lottery" suddenly said. It was completely unaffected by the time stop and slowly walked around Ke Lan's unable to move body. The red transparent eyeballs without pupils looked at him carefully.

"To end the war." Although Ke Lan couldn't speak, his mind could still function. After the other party raised this question, his brain directly gave such an answer. At the same time, the other party's footsteps stopped. down.

"Power can only cause wars, but it cannot end wars." The other party said, "Power can lead to jealousy and greed, and jealousy and greed will become the fuse of new wars."

"Then at least I will be the victorious party." Ke Lan replied without hesitation.

Thousands of years of human history have proven one thing. People or organizations that voluntarily give up their power will end up miserable - the nature of this world is that the weak prey on the strong, and the so-called "Mother of the Holy Mother" is just a whitewash of peace and prosperity. Just actual childish thoughts. If the conditions for survival cannot be met, then there is no civilization at all, and then everything is just empty talk.

In a novel, there is a character Ke Lan likes very much. He once said something like, "If you lose your humanity, you will lose a lot; if you lose your animality, you will lose everything."

The "animal nature" in this sentence refers to the minimum needs of human beings for survival.

If Alexander cannot be stopped now, humanity may soon be completely destroyed... No matter what happens in the future, at least for now, we must survive.

"Have you ever considered the price you need to pay to obtain this power?" the other party asked again.

"Since I want to obtain this power, I won't care about the price." Ke Lan answered with consciousness, "These questions of yours are a bit stupid...or are you testing me?"

"If you understand it this way, that's right." The blood-red figure stood directly in front of Ke Lan, "This was originally just an insurance, a dispensable insurance... You should also know that the internal affairs of the Undead Crew Association , there are many people who don’t trust you... They are worried that you will become the second 'prophet'."

"Who are you? What do you know?" Ke Lan couldn't help but ask.

However, the other party ignored him and continued: "But I will not doubt you, I trust you, and I believe your choice is the same as mine..."

"What's the meaning?"

"Because you and I are the same person."

"Who are you...or who am I?" Ke Lan couldn't help but have doubts about his identity.

Could it be that he was really a clone whose memory was later implanted, as the prophet said?

And the "color-through version of Ke Lan" in front of us is another clone? But its manufacturing process is more complicated, and it is made into a living armor?

But before, the living armor showed no sign of self-awareness at all. Why would it suddenly turn into another self and discuss these philosophical issues with itself?

Between Pan and the prophet, one person must have lied to him. Of course, it is more likely that both people are lying.

There is no doubt that he is a chess piece, but his chess piece seems to have lost some control for the chess player.

Including the "other self" in front of him who made Ke Lan feel close to him, he suddenly began to doubt everything... But at the same time, he also knew that maybe the purpose of the other person's doing this was to make him suspicious.

When you think you have discovered a certain truth, you may fall into another trap that has been laid out long ago...

"I know what you are thinking, but I'm sorry, I can't tell you those things." The lottery version of "Ke Lan" stretched out a hand and passed through Ke Lan's chest without any hindrance, "Officially join After the undead crew meeting, you will gain access to those things, and by then, you will naturally know my and your true identities."

"As for now," it continued, "I can help you activate the power in the blood of God."

"How to activate?"

"The power of activating the blood of God is not like you think, without paying any price." The other party said, "You only guessed half of it right. It is indeed different from the black bishop's sacrifice ceremony. It does not require a living body as a sacrifice. Quality. But it requires a strong enough soul as a carrier."

"Soul? Does this thing really exist?"

"It's just a way of saying, you can understand it as a strong enough consciousness." The other party explained, "Your consciousness has been trained far beyond ordinary people, but you are still far from being able to withstand this power. , if activated directly, the greatest possibility is to turn into a monster that has lost its mind and can only rely on instinct to act... just like the original erosion seed."

"What to do?"

"I will be the carrier... After all, I was born for this moment."