Alien Relic Hunter

Chapter 641 History
"You talk so much to me just to prove that the residents on the ark are all those type β clones?" Ke Lan didn't show any surprise on his face, "Then how do you explain it, now What about the people who lived on the Ark who were over 40 years old?"

"Not everyone is cloned in batches." The Prophet said, "The clones are just a means to fill the gap in the population. Most of the clones are used as consumables and put into the frontline battles." The military, and high-risk jobs like miners and ship maintenance personnel. These jobs are highly mobile, and few people work in the same position for more than three years. Because of this, others are very It is difficult to realize the true identity of these replicants, and the aftermath of their 'use period' expires can also be carried out extremely secretly."

"Do you know why the undead crew would rather choose the unethical means of cloning and duplicating humans, rather than using robots to fill those vacant positions?" the Prophet asked again.

"Because of the cost?"

"No... If the answer is this, it would be too simple." The Prophet shook his head, "The reason why they chose clones is simply to deceive themselves and others... You may not know that the human beings on the Ark are in an impossible situation. Reversed towards extinction."

"What do you mean?"

"The β-type replicator was successfully developed in 750 of the new era, but at that time, it was in the period of high incidence of riots in the ship, and the members of the Undead Crew Club were worried that the announcement of this technology would stimulate more people's emotions and cause fire. The effect of oil... So, this technology was sealed up as a taboo, and the scientists involved in this project also signed the strictest seal order."

"Of course, even if they signed the gag order, many of them died in various 'accidents' in the next few years, until the new era 762, the last biologist Mary who participated in the β clone Gelante, also in a family conflict, was stabbed to death by her husband 'accidentally' with a fruit knife. After her death, the only people who knew about this project were the members of the Undead Crew Club."

"Did you come here just to tell me these stories?" Ke Lan couldn't help asking.

He always felt that the other party was trying to delay the time, but he had nothing to do with the other party.

"I'm just stalling for time, and I'm just telling you a story by the way." The Prophet said, "This space can only limit you for a while, but for me, this time is enough."

"..."

"Let's go back to the original topic - in the more than 100 years after Mary Gerante's death, this technology has been silent like countless waste cases in the research institute. It was not until 840 in the new era that the Ark detected The location of Alpha Star."

The Prophet paused for a moment, and then continued: "In 875 of the New Era, amidst much anticipation, the Ark finally arrived at the Alpha Star solar system, and entered Alpha Star's low-earth orbit the following year."

"In the same year, Ark sent an advance team to explore Star Alpha; in 880 New Era, the high-level officials of Ark decided to land Ark on Star Alpha. After 20 years of preparatory work, Ark successfully broke through the atmosphere in January 900 New Era , and landed on the equator of Alpha Planet—these things you mentioned are all the test points for compulsory history courses in the compulsory education stage, and anyone on the street can recite them." Ke Lan said.

"Then you should also know that in the first few years when the Ark landed on Planet Alpha, the Field Corps...ah no, it probably wasn't called that name at that time...suffered unbearable losses, and it was precisely because of the shocking The number of casualties allowed the body modification bill, which had been resisted, to be passed."

"……what do you want to say in the end?"

"A proposal to restart the β-type clone project was passed along with the body modification bill... It's just that this proposal was not proposed in the joint parliament, but was voted on within the Undead Crew Association. ’ said the Prophet.

"How do you know these things? To be honest, I doubt the authenticity of every word you say."

"It doesn't matter how I know these things, it doesn't matter whether you believe what I say, you just need to listen to me continue to talk-in the beginning, the β-type clones were only used to fill the number of cannon fodder troops The gap... In the year 903 of the new era, the β-type replicators only 'manufactured' less than 100,000 people in total, accounting for only 910% of the total population of the Ark. But in 50, this proportion had already risen to Seven percent...then do you know, among the [-] million population of the Ark, what percentage of beta-type replicators are there?"

"How many?"

"30.00%." ​​The Prophet shrugged, "The residents on the Ark, there are 5 million people who are secretly cloned clones, they can only live to about 40 years old, and they will die from various mitochondrial breakdowns. And the diseases caused by it——Of course, these data will not be released officially... The promoted cells of these clones are very low in activity, even if they combine with normal humans, it is difficult to conceive the next generation... You should also notice In recent years, there are more and more specialized hospitals and clinics treating infertility, right?"

"..."

"But even with the current medical level of human beings, the only way to solve this 'disease' is gene editing surgery...or simply borrow someone else's promoted cells to make a test-tube baby. But the problem is, isn't it Everyone has enough money to do this kind of surgery."

"..."

"It stands to reason that the undead crew members should have realized that this is a vicious circle with serious consequences. But for some reason, their attitude is still very negative... At the same time, in order to prevent panic, they have never revealed the truth. Make it public. The only method they have taken is to 'create' more beta-type replicants to fill the gap caused by the decline in the number of natural births."

"That's why the proportion of replicants increases year by year. Is that what you want to say?"

"Do you remember what happened 20 years ago?" The Prophet suddenly changed the subject.

"20 years ago?" Ke Lan was stunned for a moment, if he insisted on saying something big happened 20 years ago...then only "that incident".

The meme crisis not long ago was the second "ship blockade" order in Ark's history, and this first time happened just 20 years ago.

That year, a kind of indigenous creature called "Iron Skeleton Flying Insect" broke through the fleet's defense line and directly rushed into the interior of the ark through several airports that had not yet been closed-even though the upper level of the ark promptly implemented the order to block the entire ship , but still more than 1 million people died in this tragedy.

"Yes, that's the thing." The Prophet seemed to have guessed his thoughts through Ke Lan's expression, "Actually, the invasion of the iron skeleton flying insects was completely led by the undead crew, and the actual damage caused by these insects It's not that big either."

"That is to say..."

"That's right, 20 years ago, it happened to be the end of the first batch of β-type replicants' service life." The Prophet nodded.

When the β-type replicators are "manufactured", they are already adults of about 20 years old. Although they can "live to 40 years old", their actual life span is only about 20 years. If there are a large number of "40 years old" "years old" residents died at similar times, even if their causes of death are different, it will lead to speculation and suspicion... But if they died of a "natural disaster", then everything becomes very reasonable .

"Now you know why the undead crew is so eager to start a war?" The Prophet let out a strange chuckle, "After all, the second '20 years'... is coming soon."

The second 20 years, that is, the deadline for the second batch of "β-type clones"... No one knows how many new robots the undead crew will invest in to resume production after the invasion of iron skeleton flying insects. Duplicants... But like this kind of duplicators invested in large quantities at one time, their "dying days" are basically the same...

If what the Prophet said is true... Ke Lan doesn't dare to think about it anymore...

"Even so, are you still unwilling to join me?" The Prophet spread his hands towards Ke Lan, "Or to use a more appropriate word... How do you feel about turning away from darkness to light?"

"How do you want me to believe your one-sided words?"

"Is it true that what the undead crew members will say to you is not a one-sided statement?"

"Even if what you said is true, I will not join a heretical sect... This is not considered turning from the dark to the light at all. If you don't know how to use idioms, don't use them indiscriminately."

"There are still many things I haven't told you... Not only the Ark, but even this Alpha star and the lost Alpha civilization hide many secrets. If you know these secrets, I believe you will change your mind. ’” said the Prophet without haste.

"Then you might as well tell me these secrets. Just let me tell you and let me listen. As for whether I believe it or not, whether I will change my mind or not is another matter."

"Then I'm afraid you won't be able to fulfill your wish. This space will disappear soon... and my ceremony will soon come to an end." The figure of the prophet took a step back and disappeared into the white light.

"What ceremony? You should make it clear!"

Vaguely, Ke Lan seemed to hear what the other party was saying, but before he could hear clearly, the surrounding environment began to change—the thin layer of water on the ground suddenly gathered from all directions, and in just a few seconds A huge waterspout was generated inside.

Ke Lan happened to be in the center of this waterspout. Seeing the water curtain getting closer and closer to him, he could only try to turn the living armor into an anchor and drive it into the ground...but the next second, the ground also disappeared .

Ke Lan, who lost his focus, was immediately carried into the air by the waterspout.

"Damn it." Ke Lan couldn't help cursing a curse in his heart, he simply followed the appearance of the reformed person before, turning the living armor into an egg-shaped shell, covering the whole body.

He didn't know how long he had been dangling in the turbulent water. When he realized that everything had stopped, his position had changed from the mysterious reset space to the platform on the top of the core tower.

It's just that at this moment, the area of ​​this platform has expanded dozens of times, and it is almost the same size as the core control area below.

In addition to Ke Lan, Asano Akira, Layton and others, as well as the soldiers of the mobile unit who entered the tower, also appeared on this platform.

In the middle of the platform, a prophet wearing a black robe stood on a copper pillar about two meters high. Almost endless viscous blood poured out from the notch at the bottom of the copper pillar and spread on the platform. Come.

"The goal has been achieved." The prophet glanced at Ke Lan and said, "I would like to thank the crew for providing me with so many sacrifices, otherwise, I really couldn't fill this 'relic' in a short time ' Appetite."

"What are you going to do?" Ke Lan asked the prophet loudly.

"You will see it with your own eyes soon." After speaking, the Prophet slowly raised his arms and recited obscure prayers in the Alpha language.

no!Ke Lan knew that his eyelids were twitching wildly, and a strange sense of fear suddenly occupied his whole heart—"His ceremony must be interrupted!" He shouted to the others, "Even if it causes a storm in time and space! Otherwise, when the ceremony is completed, it will be too late!"

"What ceremony? What is this guy doing?" Layton asked.

"Don't ask this for now! Just kill him!" Ke Lan didn't bother to explain, and directly condensed the living armor into a three-meter-long, high-speed rotating drill, and rushed towards the prophet——

"Bang!!"

A loud noise exploded on the platform, and Ke Lan flew upside down, while around the prophet, there appeared a circle of solid energy arcs that seemed solid.

"It's a reactive energy shield!" Layton exclaimed.

The reactive energy shield is also a creation of the Alpha civilization, but due to the particularity of the mechanism, this type of energy shield is difficult to miniaturize, and it is even difficult to carry it on a battleship.This type of energy shield is basically applied to the defense engineering of large ruins. Up to now, the Ark has discovered no more than ten reactive energy shield generators.

The biggest difference between this type of energy shield and ordinary energy shields is that it has the ability to fight back. Any external attack will cause a powerful one-way explosion, which is very similar to the reactive armor invented by humans. Will be dubbed "Reactive Energy Shield".

If it weren't for the living armor that instantly protected Ke Lan's whole body when he caused the explosion just now, his body would have been torn apart by the shock wave generated by the explosion.

Even a light armored vehicle that was a little closer was overturned to the ground by the aftermath.

(End of this chapter)