Alien Relic Hunter

"You want to know why I haven't broken through the critical point of erosion, right?" Ke Lan responded, "Just in time, I also have a lot of things I want to ask you. You see, we both have the information the other wants, so we We can definitely make an exchange... To be honest, I know that you are not hostile to my friend, so I don't want to treat you as an enemy. There is no need for the communication between us to be conducted in the form of an interrogation. "

"You...you are not human...seriously...polluted...you...you must not...go...to...the Ark..." The skeleton said intermittently. It struggled in vain, and its eyes were not on Ke Lan from beginning to end. Moved away.

"To be honest, under such circumstances, you can still care about the safety of human civilization. I sincerely respect you." Ke Lan did not wear a hat. He could only put on the breathing mask and then take it off. He bowed slightly to the corpse that was pressed to the ground.

His actions were completely sincere.

"You... you... who are you... what are you...?" Ke Lan's bow failed to move the corpse, and the other party was still struggling, "You... what kind of monster are you?! "

"To be honest, being called a monster by something that looks more like a monster than me makes me a little frustrated." Ke Lan squatted down, "But I have to admit, what you said is not wrong... I am indeed It’s a monster.”

"But I am also a human being." Ke Lan said immediately.

"No...you are just...a disguised...body..." said the corpse with some difficulty.

Body?

Why does it also mention the body?

This is not the first time Ke Lan has heard this statement. The last time, it was at the bottom of the underground icehouse of the institute... The monster cloned with its own cells, "Seraph", also used the word "body" to describe myself.

This is no coincidence.

Ke Lan always believes that there is no coincidence in anything in this world... The so-called coincidence is just that people are unwilling to trace the reasons in depth.

Even if what they say is true and I am really a body, then what is inside my body?

A soul with both human and Alpha blood?

But this is no different from the current situation... Ke Lan had long known that Alpha human gene fragments had been inserted into his genetic sequence, otherwise he would not have been called a "symbiote" by the undead crew.

But he always felt that this matter would not be so simple.

Especially those memory fragments that were sealed deep in his mind, that he could feel but could never touch... This was not something that could be created simply by gene editing.

They're just too fishy.

Ke Lan initially thought that these sealed memory fragments came from the broken stone tablet in the glacier ruins, but as he came into contact with more and more events and obtained more and more information, he became more and more aware of this idea. it is wrong.

That stone tablet is not an artifact used to store information, but a "key"... Its function is to activate the connection between Ke Lan and these memory fragments... And these memory fragments, in Ke Lan Becoming a relic hunter was already in his head.

"Why do you think I am a 'body'?" Ke Lan looked at the corpse, "Where did you get this information?"

"You...you are...His...minions..."

"Can we still communicate well? I think you are very hostile to me?" Ke Lan sighed helplessly, "If you are worried that I will be contaminated and refuse to tell me the truth, then I think it is unnecessary. , you also said that my level of contamination is much higher than yours, I have not mutated, and the part of 'forbidden knowledge' you know is just a piece of cake for me."

Seeing that the other party still refused to let go, Ke Lan could only continue to persuade: "To tell you the truth, I came from the Ark. If I really wanted to do something harmful to mankind, I would have already done it. Why do you come here to argue with you?"

"Your... purpose... is... the... things in the nest..." Erosion still didn't believe Ke Lan's words, but his words unexpectedly revealed something about Ke Lan's past. Information that no one knows.

"The Nest City?" Ke Lan immediately asked, "You mean that there is no 'engine wreckage site' mentioned in your mission description in the core area of ​​the Gray Mist Forest, but a place called the 'Hive City'. Right? Can you tell us in detail? Everything about that hive...and how did you discover it? Have you ever left the wreckage of the 'Genoa'? Have Hruni and Mo Zhuorui ever been here? Hive?"

Ke Lan asked a series of questions in one breath, and he couldn't help but get excited - after going around in circles for so long, the incident finally made a substantial breakthrough. As long as he can continue to investigate along this line, Gray Fog Forest The truth in the core area is about to come out——

But just when Ke Lan was about to use some unconventional means to interrogate, the face of the corpse showed an expression of extreme pain. The asphalt-like black gel came from its nose, mouth, corners of the eyes, and ear canals. And all the damaged places on the skin flowed out - Ke Lan noticed that when these black colloids were in a solid state, they could coexist peacefully with the original skin of the corpse, but when they turned into a liquid state, they instantly It is extremely corrosive, and wherever it passes, all the skin it touches will be peeled off and corroded away.

The corpse roared in agony, and it said intermittently: "I can't...let you...return to...the Ark...you must...stay...here forever!"

"This guy is dead a long time ago. What drives it is just a ray of obsession. You can't convince it." Ze Luo's voice rang in Ke Lan's ears, "It is just a body that relies on the remaining energy in its body to move. The Walking Dead is completely different from Hrunny..."

"You mean, the Hruni we saw on the bridge of the 'Shaojiang Kai' frigate is alive?" Ke Lan raised his eyebrows, "A monster like Erosion...is there a difference between life and death?"

"What I mean by life and death is just the part of them that belongs to humans." Zeluo explained, "But if you can still see Hruni, he should have become like this."

"So, Hruni was really dead at that time?"

"Well, not long after you came into contact with him, the human part of him completely died. After that, you can use 'it' to refer to the remaining remains... If you want to use human vocabulary To describe 'this part', I think the word 'humanity' in human language is the most appropriate from all aspects. It has to be said that it is a miracle that Hruni's humanity can persist under his erosion for so long."

"So it seems that I killed him?" Ke Lan was a little helpless, "If I hadn't woken him up, he would have been able to hold on longer, right?"

"His 'humanity' can indeed survive longer in a dormant state, but this is actually meaningless. Nightmares have been eroding his consciousness. Even if you don't wake him up, his remaining 'humanity' will remain there. The sleep gradually wore away... You at least allowed him to have a moment of clarity at the last moment. For him, this ending is not too bad."

"……well."

Here Ke Lan is still "whispering" to Ze Luo. On the other side, the skeleton pressed to the ground by the force of space has completed its "transformation" - if its original appearance is like a dried mummy , then it is now a mummy fished out of an asphalt barrel.

"Its power has increased by about three times, and the physical strength of its body has increased by about five times... and it is still getting stronger." Ze Luo said.

However, with her spatial ability, even if the power of the corpse is increased a hundred times, she still can't break free.

"Is there any way to force it to speak and reveal information related to the 'Hive'?" Ke Lan asked.

"It is difficult to achieve this goal through normal communication methods." Ze Luo replied.

"Then can you read its memory? I remember, you have read my memory before, right?" Ke Lan said.

When they first met, Ze Luo's first human form was a white-haired lolita. That was entirely because she read relevant things from Ke Lan's memory - the two-dimensional aphrodisiacs collected in this guy's computer. In the picture, more than 90% of the heroines have one thing in common: white hair.

"I can try to read its memory, but I need to be attached to its body... The thinking mode of the corpse is completely different from that of humans. Every corpse is connected to it. If I rashly invade There is a high probability that the corroded mind will be watched by Him..."

"Forget it, the risk is too great." Before Ze Luo finished speaking, Ke Lan rejected the idea.

"But this is the only way." Ze Luo continued, "I can find a way to separate a copy and let the copy perform this task. Even if it attracts His attention, only one copy will be destroyed. That’s all.”

"Does the loss of a clone have any impact on you?"

"Yes, but it's not serious. It will take up to three months to recover." Ze Luo answered truthfully.

"It still doesn't work. In the Gray Mist Forest, your combat power must be protected first... not to mention that we have to go to the place called the 'hive' next. In addition, if He is setting his sights on If you glance to the side while making a clone, none of us can escape." Ke Lan shook his head, "There is another thing you said wrong, this is not the only way."

"Huh? Why?" Ze Luo asked confused, "I know that in Ark's research institute, there are some devices that can forcibly read human memories. But these devices are only targeted at humans with basically sound brain functions. The brain has been severely atrophied and has lost all functions, and those devices will not have any effect on it... What's more, it is impossible to bring out a device that covers an area of ​​hundreds of square meters."

"No, I'm not talking about the equipment invented by humans, but the creation of Alpha Civilization." Ke Lan explained, "But the premise is that we must find Valentina first."

"Are you talking about the Blasphemer Mecha?"

"Yes." Ke Lan nodded, "Didn't I mention before that when Valentina and I were piloting the Blasphemer mecha, our consciousnesses were connected to each other through the body and entered into a kind of 'consciousness sharing' state? In fact, what is shared is not only consciousness, but also each other's memories. I can see Valentina's past memories, and she can also see mine...but most of my memories are those of the undead crew. The false memories entered..."

Ke Lan paused and continued: "During a battle, it is very dangerous to indulge in the opponent's memory, but if the Blasphemer mecha is just used as an interrogation tool, I don't think so. question."

Although Ke Lan is not sure whether the neural connection of the Blasphemer mecha can be used on Corruption... After all, not only has Corruption's brain shrunk, but the nervous system in the body has basically been scrapped, even if those fleshy tentacles can pierce The tough body of the corpse is probably unable to connect to the nervous system of the corpse.

But the brief "synchronization state" before gave Ke Lan a wonderful feeling: the connection between him and Valentina did not come from the tentacles connected to the spinal nerves... After all, these tentacles connected It's just the spine, and it doesn't go deep into the brains of the two people. Logically speaking, what can be synchronized between them is just the various signals sent by the brain to the body. It is impossible for something as outrageous as reading each other's memories to happen.

This magical synchronization function seems to come from another function of the Blasphemer mecha... Obviously, neither Ke Lan nor the Undead Crew Association have yet to completely analyze this machine. As for those " "Mass-produced Fallen Angel" is just a poor imitation.

Ke Lan suddenly felt that... the name "blasphemer" didn't just sound domineering, it seemed to have another layer of meaning.

Regardless, it's at least worth a try.

"Isn't it more dangerous to synchronize the consciousness with the corpse?" Ze Luo said, "As His sacrifice, every corpse should be under His surveillance. If your consciousness is synchronized with the corpse, isn't it? Is this equivalent to actively exposing myself to His sight? Is this any different from my method?"

"My reason tells me that you are right, but my intuition tells me that the Blasphemer Mecha can allow me to successfully achieve this goal... In more concrete terms, my subconscious has always believed that... the Blasphemer Mecha It can block His gaze to a certain extent."

The subconscious mind that Ke Lan was talking about was actually some fragmentary information leaked from those sealed memory fragments... He found that the more "forbidden knowledge" he accepted, the deeper the erosion was. These memories The seal becomes looser.

The closer he gets to the critical point of super-eclipse, the closer he gets to the truth.