Alien Relic Hunter

"I have always been like this." Ze Luo looked directly at Ke Lan and said, "Maybe it was because I was too quiet during the period of dormancy, which caused your impression of me to be biased in comparison."

"Skip this topic for now..." Ke Lan looked at Yaguna Kotor in the distance. He noticed that the surface of Yaguna Kotor was covered with a strange "coating". This coating was glowing. The dim stream of light was like an energy shield with a severely insufficient energy supply.

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

"It sounds a bit like a small dark room of the Security Bureau." Ke Lan whispered, 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 " The interior space of this kind of small dark room is so small that the people locked in it cannot even bend down or squat down. The door and three walls of the small dark room are made of one-way viewing 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. People outside can clearly see the movements and expressions of the people inside...

In this environment, detainees will be under tremendous psychological pressure. Coupled with a drug that can keep people awake and unable to sleep, almost no one can persist in a small dark room for more than a week and cooperate with others. Security Bureau agents use other torture methods to pry open even the toughest of mouths.

When mentioning this one-way space barrier, Ke Lan thought of Mo Jue - when she was being eroded, he had also used a one-way space barrier to block her... Unfortunately, she was still an ordinary person after all. As a person, from the moment her body begins to mutate, her final outcome is already doomed.

"The master of the nest told me that the Tower of Babel has a control center that can open all the space channels connected to the Tower of Babel." Ke Lan said to Ze Luo, "I can't use my abilities easily... you can find It?"

"I'll try." Ze Luo closed her eyes. At this moment, Ke Lan could feel countless tentacles of thoughts extending in all directions with her as the center.

Compared to Asano Akira's mental tentacles, Zeluo's exploration radius was several kilometers away, covering almost the entire altar.

"Found it." Ze Luo opened his eyes and said, "Looking ahead, on the right side of the altar, there is the 850th step, in the middle."

The shape of this altar is very similar to the flat-top pyramid of the Mayan civilization, except that the volume is many times larger than the Kukulkan Pyramid on Earth. The height of each "step" is more than ten meters... It It seems to be built by a group of giants with a height of more than 100 meters. The height of the "temple" at the top is two hundred meters high.

However, compared with Yagunaktor in the distance, this altar seems a bit "petite" - the space at the top of the Tongtian Tower is very vast, and Ke Lan can't see the boundaries of the space inside the tower with his naked eyes. Looking into the distance, there is only a vast expanse of white. This kind of space technology is completely unimaginable for the Ark civilization.

Ke Lan quickly arrived at the location that Ze Luo found. On the flat steps, there was a sentence written in Alpha text: "What is the mission of the Night Watch?"

"Is it a question?" Ke Lan's fingers stroked the inscriptions of these words. It was obvious that this was a test left by the night watchman. Only those who passed the test could gain control of the control center of the Tower of Babel.

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

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

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

He didn't know how many opportunities he had to answer, but he didn't intend to try the "options" that just came to mind... He sat down cross-legged on the steps, tilted his head, put one hand on his knee, and the other Hold your chin in your hand.

"Night Watcher..." Ze Luo squatted next to Ke Lan and murmured, "I seem to... know this group of people..."

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

"Am I considered a member of the Night's Watch?"

"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..."

Ke Lan paused, 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."

"What is the mission of the Night Watch?" Ze Luo asked.

The problem has circled back to its original point.

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

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

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

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

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

A substance with a texture close to mercury poured out from the gaps in the carvings, gradually filling the words... Then, a hole about three meters wide opened in the originally seamless steps, and a man was suspended in mid-air. A ball of light appeared in front of Ke Lan.

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

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

"I want to be a being like you." Ze Luo said without hesitation, "When my consciousness was still in chaos, I could actually feel the things around me... For that Alpha civilization , I actually retained 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."

Ze Luo recalled: "I longed for that kind of life 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 completely awakened, they had disappeared for a long time, and were replaced by you who are extremely similar to them."

"Is that why you want to integrate into this world as a human being?"

"I...I'm not sure." A trace of confusion flashed in Ze Luo's eyes and he shook his head, "I just think it should be this way."

"Do you remember Mo Jue?"

"Remember."

"Do you remember what she looked like at the end?"

"Remember."

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

"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 in the books you have read that it is called "One 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. ."

"I don't know if the dead have souls. I'm an atheist. I don't believe in such supernatural concepts. Even if they are 'gods', I would think that they are powerful enough high-dimensional beings." It's just a living body." Ke Lan continued, "But if a person dies, he will leave behind his obsession, the thought of 'unwillingness', the thought of wanting to fight to the end until everything is really over... Then I think I seem to feel it.”

The light ball slowly floated towards Ke Lan. Ke Lan felt warmth at first, but soon, the warmth turned into scorching heat... He put his hands into the inside of the light ball. Although his skin did not change at all, But Ke Lan felt as if he had put his hands into burning molten iron. The heart-breaking pain and burning sensation stimulated every nerve in him - this feeling instantly transferred from his hands to the center of his eyebrows. , Ke Lan seemed to hear someone shouting in his mind, heavy drums beat, the earth trembled and cracked, fire rain fell from the sky, magma rushed from the ground to the sky, tearing open the dim sky...

Countless figures were staggering forward in this apocalyptic scene. Although the rain of fire and lava illuminated the surroundings very brightly, these figures still held their torches high and trudged one foot deeper than the other.

Every moment, someone was hit by the rain of fire, or fell into the sudden abyss...A magma hundreds of meters high rushed up, scattering the crowd, and blazing torches fell to the ground... ...The strange thing is that Ke Lan's ears were filled with the loud sound of earth shattering, but he could clearly hear the crackling sound of the burning torch.

The entire torch is burning, not only the head wrapped with guncotton, but also the wooden handle. Rather than being a torch, it is more like a firewood at this time, a firewood that is about to turn into ashes. Firewood.

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

The figure bent down and picked up the burning torch. The flames licked his palms, and the skin and muscles turned into charcoal... But as if he couldn't feel the pain, he raised the torch high above his head and pointed towards the distance. Others who went to catch up.

The torch was quickly extinguished, and the man was buried by the bursting rocks, and no longer lived... But when Ke Lan looked into the distance, he discovered that in this world that was heading towards destruction, the number of torches was actually It has not decreased at all...and has even become more.

More people joined the team, holding torches high and marching in silence.

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

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

They seemed to be marching towards the end of the world.

Someone was dying every second, but someone was joining them every second... It took a lot of effort for Ke Lan to see clearly that the new figures crawled out from the cracks in the earth. , they began to lie on all fours, and slowly, they began to straighten their upper bodies, walking stooped like apes, and from time to time they had to use their hands to support the ground. In the end, they finally stood up completely and walked upright like a human being.

Some of them picked up the torches dropped by their predecessors, while others tore off twigs from dead trees and bushes, lit them with the flames that could be seen everywhere, and then eagerly joined the large army. .

…

When Ke Lan struggled out of the illusion, he found that his whole body was wet with sweat. The spare clothes he had just put on not long ago had absorbed the sweat and clung heavily to his body.

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 instantly appeared on the steps in different postures.

Ivan, who was in ragged clothes, still kept running. His face was scratched with blood from branches and bushes, and even one eye socket was torn, but his hands did not protect his face. Instead, he tightly held the damaged mechanical prosthetic limb - Ke Lan noticed that many of the slots used to insert stalagmite fragments on the prosthetic limb were damaged. Thanks to Ivan's fingers, those stalagmite fragments were blocked. 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 motion... and the war blade he valued so much was actually covered with large and small gaps. A crack spread in the middle of the blade. If the crack extended another half inch, the knife would break into two pieces.