Alien Relic Hunter.

Chapter 545 Memetic Contagion
"Besides, the entire laboratory building is in a state where the AI ​​cannot recognize...so we can basically determine..."

"The whole building has been infected by that 'thing'."

"Yes." Lin Qiming nodded.

"So? What do you want me to do?" Ke Lan asked.

Since the other party didn't pursue his anomalies further, he naturally wouldn't continue to entangle in the topic—obviously, the undead crew would know some secrets that were related to him, but he didn't know anything about it.

Otherwise, it shouldn't be the deputy chief of the crisis management department who came to the door now, but a team of elite agents in full gear.

Although Ke Lan is very interested in these secrets, now is not the time to discuss this. He looked into the other person's eyes and said word by word: "I don't think I can help you with my ability."

"Don't refuse in a hurry, let me finish the matter first." Lin Qiming said, "If it is not the experimental building of the research institute that is polluted, we can launch the entire block into low-earth orbit like the East Ninth District. Then use artillery fire to destroy it... But the plate where the research institute is located involves too many things, it is no exaggeration to say that if we really do this, the level of human science and technology will be set back by at least 30 years."

"Oh." Ke Lan remained expressionless, "It was that Professor Smith who violated the ban, not me, so what's the use of asking me, can I solve the problem?"

"But Professor Smith is dead." Lin Qiming did not feel any dissatisfaction with Ke Lan's attitude, but explained very patiently, "According to the analysis of the research institute, you, as a 'source of infection' in the biological sense 'Matrix', perhaps you're the only one not infected by it."

"Perhaps? Shouldn't scientific research advocate rigor? I wonder, this group of experts and scholars who have the highest salary in the whole Ark, squander a lot of research funds every minute, and can decide the life and death of ordinary people at will, 'maybe 'How did these two words come out of their mouths?" Ke Lan asked in a deep voice.

"All dereliction of duty will be held accountable afterwards." Lin Qiming shook his head, "But right now, you are our last hope."

"The last hope? There are obviously many solutions, why should you pin your hopes on me?"

"Yes... In theory, there are indeed many solutions that are safer, more appropriate, and have a higher success rate, but we have no time."

"No time? Why?" Ke Lan was a little puzzled, "Since the method of infection has been clarified, as long as the way of infection is cut off, the scale of the infected will not expand... As for those who have already been infected, they will die soon anyway. Because of organ failure, you don’t even have to execute them yourself, you just need to destroy the corpses. I don’t believe that the combined forces of the research institute and the security bureau can’t handle even such a small matter.”

"But the problem is that the laboratory building of the biomedical group is contaminated... In the underground icehouse of this building, there are still more than a thousand units of active cells of the seed of erosion, as well as various kinds of cells from the Alpha planet. Indigenous organisms and genetic samples of Alpha civilization biochemical weapons... If these things are swallowed by 'it', 'it' is likely to undergo secondary mutations... At that time, the source of infection may not be as simple as sight contact. "

Lin Qiming paused, and continued: "The experts of the research institute believe that 'it' is just an imperfect and incomplete individual. If it can evolve into a perfect state, the way of transmission of 'it' should not be sight, but should be It's... 'cognition'."

"Cognition..."

"Yes, to put it simply, everyone who knows the existence of 'it' will be infected, and no one will be spared - this also includes you, me... and even members of the crew. At that time, the situation will be It will be completely out of control."

"The moment you know the existence of 'it' is equivalent to being infected by 'it'... Oh, this is the real sense of 'spiritual pollution'... That Professor Smith really created something terrible. What you have.” Ke Lan couldn’t help showing a helpless wry smile.

"The experts of the research institute named it 'meme infection'. The principle of this infection method is currently beyond our knowledge. The only way to fight it is to eliminate the source of 'it'." Lin Qiming said .

"The origin of 'it'... refers to the mass of flesh injected with the cells of the eroding seed?"

"That's what 'it' was like three hours ago... As for what 'it' looks like now, no one knows."

"In addition to 'meme infection', are there other threats to this thing? Such as high temperature, corrosiveness, toxicity, radiation, etc.? Is 'it' actively aggressive?" Ke Lan asked.

"Sorry, we don't know anything about it." Lin Qiming shook his head, "We tried to modify the AI ​​logic of the self-discipline robot to make it enter the biological laboratory building along a pre-established cruising route, in order to obtain more and 'it' Relevant information, but the signals of all the robots that entered the laboratory building disappeared, and it can basically be concluded that they have been destroyed."

"..."

"However, the peripheral infected people did not show aggressiveness. Although the 'eyeball organs' formed on the surface of the infected person will search for nearby infectable targets, they will not drive the host's body to make any activities— There are a large number of examples showing that the infected are conscious before death and have not lost control of their bodies, and they can even use these 'eye-like organs' to gain additional vision." Lin Qiming said, referring to peripheral infected people , It should be people outside the contaminated area who were infected because they accidentally looked directly at the eyes in the video or picture.

There must be many people like this in the early stages of the accident... This kind of infection that is impossible to guard against, even the top management personnel of the Ark, cannot be spared...

Ke Lan was suddenly a little curious as to whether anyone in the Undead Crew Club was "successful"...

"But the 'Origin' and these secondary infected should be completely different, right? Otherwise, you can solve the problem with the self-discipline robot alone." Ke Lan said, "If that thing has a mutation that is not weaker than Type B If you have such a high combat power, I am afraid that if I enter the laboratory building alone, I will also deliver food to the other party, right?"

"The opponent's actual combat power is unknown for the time being, but it can be preliminarily determined that 'it' has a certain degree of self-awareness, and has a very low probability of being intelligent."

"Just tell me to die." Ke Lan couldn't help complaining.

"We will provide you with the most complete logistical support and technical support..." Lin Qiming said.

"These are secondary... The key question is, how can you be sure that I will not be infected by 'it', is it because 'it' comes from my cloned cells?"

"This is the conclusion reached by the experts after research..."

"But wasn't this accident caused by some of these experts?" Ke Lan interrupted the other party, "Let me just ask, is this the request of the Undead Crew?"

"Yes." Lin Qiming replied bluntly, "The crew will designate you to handle the accident. The researchers, the Security Bureau and the Crisis Management Section will provide full assistance. From the moment you take over this task, you will get temporary supreme command authority."

"Then I let you die now, okay?"

"Yes." Lin Qiming took out the pistol without hesitation, put it on his temple, and opened the safety.

Seeing that this guy was about to pull the trigger, Ke Lan directly picked up the electronic calendar on the table and threw it at——

"Bah!"

The gun rang out, but Ke Lan hit him so hard, the bullet didn't penetrate his head, but hit his thigh, and pools of blood gushed out.

It's just that Lin Qiming didn't seem to feel the pain, and the expression on his face hardly changed. Ke Lan even wondered if this guy had undergone some special surgery to block the pain nerve...

"Okay, I believe it... You stop the bleeding first, I have something to ask you, I don't want you to go into shock due to excessive blood loss." Ke Lan said.

Lin Qiming didn't speak, and silently tore open the trousers, inserted two fingers into the bloody wound, and forcibly clamped the lead bullet.

The soft lead-core warhead has been severely deformed, and it is estimated that it hit the hard leg bone after being shot into the leg-the bone strength of the enhanced human being above level three is almost the same as that of steel.

"He's a ruthless person." Seeing the other party throw the deformed bullet into the trash can beside the table without a word, Ke Lan commented.

The other party was not carrying any medical equipment, so Ke Lan simply took out the small first aid kit he was carrying and threw it on the table.

"Thank you." Lin Qiming looked up at Ke Lan, and opened the first aid kit - his technique is very skilled, debridement, disinfection, suturing and bandaging took less than 10 minutes in total.

Fortunately, the shot didn't hit any major arteries. Apart from dyeing the dark gray combat pants black and red, the amount of bleeding was still within a controllable range.

Seeing Lin Qiming's slightly pale face, Ke Lan asked, "How can I be sure that I won't be infected by that thing?"

"There is an encrypted folder on the desktop of the tablet, which contains photos that have not been mosaiced, and the password is 20211224." Lin Qiming replied.

"Heh... This method is really simple and rude." Ke Lan clicked on the folder, and then entered the password.

Just when there was the last digit left in the password, his fingers stopped.

He looked at Lin Qiming and asked, "Why are you still here? If... I mean, if I'm also infected, if you stare at me like this, you will be the next one to suffer."

"If an accident really happened, there must be a detailed report from witnesses, so I will not avoid it." Lin Qiming replied, "If an accident really happened, after I submit the report, my deputy will take over My duty is to clean up the scene."

"That's right, after all, you are not afraid of death." Ke Lan nodded, "But... cleaning up the scene, do you mean destroying both of us?"

"Only including me." Lin Qiming shook his head. "According to the requirements of the crew association, if you are infected, we need to send you to the designated place as soon as possible at all costs."

"The designated place? Where is it?"

"I don't know. Only when that happens will we be told the details of the mission."

"Probably nine out of ten they want to treat me as a precious experimental specimen." Ke Lan smiled indifferently and entered the last digit of the password.

Lin Qiming didn't answer, but stared at Ke Lan seriously.

"I'm going to open the picture file. If you want to change your mind now, there's still time." Ke Lan finally reminded.

Lin Qiming shook his head.

"I regret it now, it's too late." Ke Lan clicked on the picture.

It was a face, and it was vaguely recognizable as the face of a young woman, but apart from her original facial features, this face was completely occupied by densely packed "eyes" - those raised tumors The growths covered the skin layer by layer, and almost half of them had "burst" open, exposing the eyeball wrapped under the skin.

Just seeing this picture is enough to make people feel creepy.

It's no wonder that the researchers in the previous video were so terrified, not to mention, they didn't even know how this woman was infected at that time.

It's just that when Ke Lan felt a little strange, he always felt that these eyeballs seemed to be moving - they were chasing the focus of his sight, no matter where he looked at any corner of the face, these eyeballs were in harmony with himself looking at each other...

Ke Lan took a look at the suffix of the picture file, and it was .JPG instead of .GIF. This is indeed a freeze-frame picture rather than a dynamic picture.

But those eyeballs of different sizes are really moving.

However, Ke Lan didn't bother to ask Lin Qiming after considering the unimaginable way of infection of this thing.

The "information" attached to this photo is equivalent to a "virus", and even the photo file itself has become a dangerous source of infection.

If the "meme contagion" predicted by those unreliable experts really appears, then not only photos... any carrier carrying information related to "it" will become the means and way for "it" to spread ...

Cognition is infection, which is probably the essence of "meme contagion" - and the only way to remove the threat from cognition may be high-intensity "physical brainwashing", which will be related to "meme" All the memories and cognitions of the infected are cleared from the minds of the infected, or they are simply transformed into mental patients whose cognition of the outside world is different from ordinary people... In this way, the risk of meme infection may be avoided .

It's just that after such a round of tossing, this person is basically useless...

"It's been 5 minutes." Lin Qiming said, even if it was him, his tone was unavoidably tense, "Do you feel any discomfort? Such as itchy skin, joint pain, or respiratory distress?"

[PS Thank you book friend 20211201152729343 for the 100 starting coins. 】

[PPS wishes you all a happy Christmas Eve, you don’t have to fight anymore...]

(End of this chapter)