Alien Relic Hunter.

"I've always been like this." Ze Luo looked directly at Ke Lan and said, "It may be that I was too quiet during the period of sleep, which caused your impression of me to be biased by comparison."

"Skip this topic first..." Ke Lan looked at Yagunaktor in the distance, and he noticed that the surface of Yagunaktor was covered with a strange "coating", which glowed The dim streamer is like an energy shield that is seriously insufficient in energy supply.

"That's a one-way space barrier." Ze Luo said behind Ke Lan, "We can see Yaguna Ketor, but the people on Yaguna Ketor look out, they can only see the setting What the space barrier wants them to see... maybe they still think they are in the deep sea."

"It sounds a bit like the small dark room of the Security Bureau." Ke Lan said in a low voice, but a trace of regret flashed in his eyes - the Security Bureau has a kind of 'interrogation room' specially used to detain suspects, which is called "interrogation room". "Small black room", the interior space of this kind of small black room is very small, and the people locked in it can't even bend or squat.The door and three walls of the small black room are made of one-way peep glass. If the lights are turned on, the people inside can only see themselves in the mirror. If the lights are not turned on, it will be pitch black.The people outside can clearly see the movements and expressions of the people inside...

In this environment, the detainees will be under tremendous psychological pressure, coupled with a drug that can keep people awake and unable to fall asleep, almost no one can persist in the small dark room for more than a week. No matter how tough the mouth is, it can be pried open by the other torture methods used by the agents of the Security Bureau.

When mentioning this one-way space barrier, Ke Lan thought of Mo Jue—when she was being corroded, he had imprisoned her with a one-way space barrier... It's a pity that she is still an ordinary girl after all. A human being, from the moment her body begins to mutate, her final outcome is already doomed.

"The master of the hive capital told me that the Tongtian Tower has a control center that can open all the space passages connected to the Tongtian Tower." Ke Lan said to Ze Luo, "I can't use my ability easily...you can find Is it?"

"Let me try." Ze Luo closed her eyes. At this moment, Ke Lan could feel countless tentacles of thought spreading out in all directions centered on her.

Compared with Akira Asano's mind tentacles, Ze Luo's detection radius is several kilometers away, covering almost the entire altar.

"I found it." Ze Luo opened his eyes and said, "Front with us, on the right side of the altar, the 850th step, in the middle."

The problem went back to the original point.

"What is the mission of the Night's Watch?" Zelo asked.

The ball of light slowly floated towards Ke Lan. Ke Lan felt the warmth at first, but soon, the warmth turned into scorching heat... He put his hands into the ball of light. Although there was no change in his skin, his But Ke Lan felt as if he had put his hand into the burning molten iron. The piercing pain and burning sensation stimulated every nerve in him-this feeling was transferred from his hands to the center of his eyebrows in an instant , Ke Lan seemed to hear someone shouting in his mind, heavy drums beating, the earth trembled and cracked, fire rained from the sky, and magma rushed from the ground to the sky, tearing apart the dark sky...

The shape of this altar is very similar to the flat-topped pyramids of the Mayan civilization, but it is many times larger than the Kukulkan Pyramid on Earth, and the height of each "step" is more than ten meters... It It seems that it was built by a group of giants with a height of more than 200 meters. The "temple" at the top has a gate height of [-] meters.

"Yes..." That answer came to Ke Lan's lips several times, but Ke Lan just couldn't say it.

A substance with a texture close to mercury gushed out from the gaps in the lettering, gradually filling the words... Immediately afterwards, a hole about three meters wide was split from the original seamless steps, and a hole was suspended in mid-air. A ball of light appeared in front of Ke Lan.

"You used to be an object without independent personality and consciousness, so it shouldn't be counted." Ke Lan said, "But now, since you regard yourself as a human being, then I think..."

"Yes."

"...This is the dignity of being a human being. Dignity may seem ridiculous in the face of absolute strength, but it is because of this that we can ignite the courage to resist. There is a saying in China, I don't know Have you ever mentioned it in the books you’ve read, it’s called “a breath of life”... No matter how big the gap between Him and us is, even if all our efforts seem so insignificant... It can still be proved that we have not surrendered .”

"Do you remember Mo Jue?"

Logically, it seems that these answers are correct, but Ke Lan subconsciously feels that there should be more accurate answers.

"What does it mean to live as a human being?" Zelo asked curiously.

The crackling and burning sounds gathered together, seeming to be able to cover up the deafening explosions.Time seemed to freeze at this moment, those burning meteorites were frozen in the mid-air, and the soaring magma solidified into bright sky pillars, only the torches were still dancing, making an incomparably clear crackling sound.

Countless figures staggered forward in this doomsday-like scene. Although the fire rain and magma illuminated the surroundings very brightly, these figures still held the torches high and trudged forward.

Ke Lan soon arrived at the location Ze Luo found. On the flat steps, there was a sentence written in Alpha characters: "What is the mission of the night watchman?"

"That's why you want to integrate into this world as a human being?"

However, compared with Yagunaktor in the distance, this altar seems to be a bit "petite" - the space on the top of Tongtian Tower is very vast, and Ke Lan can't see the boundary of the space inside the tower with the naked eye. From a distance, there is only a vast expanse of whiteness. This kind of space technology is completely unimaginable for the Ark civilization.

Subconsciously, he felt that he had found the correct answer, but his rationality reminded him over and over again that this "question" could not be so simple.

This is like an extremely difficult high-level mathematics test paper. The final question at the end of the test paper is "1+1=?", which makes people wonder whether this is a trap.

The whole torch is burning, not only the head wrapped with gun cotton, but even the wooden handle is also burning. It is not so much a torch, it is more like a firewood at this time, a firewood that is about to be turned into ashes Firewood.

The figure bent down and picked up the whole burning torch. The flames licked his palms, and his skin and muscles turned into coke... But he seemed to feel no pain, and raised the torch above his head, toward the already far away The others who went chased after him.

"Do you remember her last look?"

"remember."

A vague figure stumbled over. Although Ke Lan couldn't see his face clearly, he could feel his emotions... There was no sadness or joy, and no fear at all. He only had one thought in his mind: pick up the torch Get up, then, keep going.

"Then am I a member of the Night's Watch?"

Some of them went to pick up the torches dropped by their predecessors, and some of them tore off a branch from a dead tree or bush, lit it with the flames that could be seen everywhere, and then eagerly joined the large army .

"I don't know if a dead person has such a thing as a soul. I am an atheist. I didn't believe in such supernatural concepts. Even if it is a 'god', I would think that they are high-dimensional with sufficient strength It's just a living body." Ke Lan continued, "But if a person leaves obsessions after death, the idea of ​​'unreconciled', the idea of ​​wanting to fight to the end until everything really ends... Then I think, I seem to feel it."

But the hive master didn't tell Ke Lan about the existence of this test, let alone what the answer was.

He didn't know how many times he had the opportunity to answer, but he didn't intend to try the "options" that just popped into his mind... He sat down on the steps cross-legged, with his head tilted, one hand resting on his knee, the other Hand rests on chin.

"The mission of the night watchman...is...to live as a human being; or to die as a human being."

The torches were quickly extinguished, and the man was buried by the cracked rocks, and there was no longer any life... But when Ke Lan looked into the distance, he found that in this world that was going to be destroyed, the number of torches was surprisingly large. It didn't decrease at all...even, it became more.

"Night watchman..." Ze Luo squatted beside Ke Lan, muttering, "I seem to know this group of people..."

"Is it a question?" Ke Lan's fingers caressed the notch of these words. Obviously, this is the test left by the night watchman. Only those who pass the test can gain control of the control center of Tongtian Tower.

Every now and then, people were hit by the fire rain, or fell into the abyss that suddenly appeared...A magma hundreds of meters high rushed up, scattered the crowd, and the flaming torches fell to the ground... ...The strange thing is that Ke Lan's ears are full of loud noises, but he can clearly hear the crackling sound of the torch burning.

More people joined the procession, and they marched in silence, holding their torches high.

They seem to be marching toward the end of the world.

"Of course you know, because you were created by them." Ke Lan replied casually.

"The mission of the night watchman..." Ke Lan couldn't help but fell into deep thought, "Is it to fight against that existence's god-making plan? Is it the fire to continue civilization? Or to pass on the 'space-time baton' in his hand?"

"I... I don't know very well." A trace of confusion flashed in Ze Luo's eyes, and he shook his head, "I just think it should be like this."

"I want to be like you." Zelo said without hesitation, "When my consciousness was still in chaos, I could already feel the things around me...for that Alpha civilization , I actually retain some impressions. From the perspective of you Ark people, their appearance may be a bit scary...but their daily life is actually very similar to yours."

"remember."

Ze Luo recalled: "I yearned for that kind of life very much at that time, and I really wanted to be one of them... But at that time, I could only feel everything like an outsider, but I couldn't think or communicate... …Until later, after my consciousness was completely awakened, they had disappeared for a long time, and they were replaced by you who are very similar to them.”

"To put it bluntly, it's actually very simple... You are a life created by the Alpha civilization. In the eyes of most people, you may be the crystallization of the technology of the Alpha civilization; you may also be a powerful super weapon; or a terrifying monster... …but it’s about who you think you are.”

There is no road under these people's feet, and there is no place in front of them that can be used as a target... The people who lead the way are constantly changing, but the direction of the entire team has never changed.

People are dying every second, but people are joining them every second... It took Ke Lan a lot of effort to see clearly that those newly joined figures crawled out of the cracks in the ground At first, they landed on all fours, and slowly, they began to straighten their upper body, walking hunched like an ape, and sometimes they used their hands to support the ground. In the end, they finally stood up completely and walked upright like a human being.

"Then do you think she died as a human being?"

"Have you already guessed the answer?" Ze Luo looked at the question engraved on the steps, and then at Ke Lan.

Ke Lan paused, he thought for a few seconds, and then said: "You should have the right to choose. But if you choose to become a member of the Night Watch, you must bear the corresponding responsibilities, and... and mission."

……

When Ke Lan struggled out of the illusion, he found that his whole body was already drenched with sweat, and the spare clothes he had put on not long ago had soaked up the sweat and stuck to his body heavily.

The ball of light had disappeared, but Ke Lan found that he had an invisible connection with this space. With a thought in his mind, several people appeared on the steps in different postures in an instant.

Ivan, who was dressed in rags, was still running. His face was scratched with blood by branches and bushes, and even one side of his eye socket was torn, but he didn't protect his face with his hands. Instead, he tightly held the damaged mechanical prosthetic limb—Ke Lan noticed that many of the slots on the prosthetic limb used to inlay stalagmite fragments had been damaged. It didn't fall out.

On the other side, Asano Akira's condition was not much better. He was holding a knife in both hands, and was making a slashing movement... and his war blade, which he valued so much, was actually covered with gaps, large and small. A crack spread in the middle of the blade, if the crack was extended by half an inch, the blade would be broken into two pieces.