Chapter 48 The Collapse of Blessing
As the Seagull-class guided missile destroyer gradually approached, Li Mengyan and her party had followed the traces of Ralph and the cultists into a dark corridor. Li Mengyan was very familiar with this corridor. At the end of the channel of the platform is the space ship parking center of the "Eden". There are a large number of airships that can perform extravehicular work in outer space, but their fuel is not enough to leave the mother ship too far away. But as an escape hatch, it's obviously enough.
"They want to take Du Jin out of here!"
Li Mengyan couldn't help but quicken her pace after learning about the followers of the Unity Cult. She could definitely guess that if the cult that had used some unknown method to confuse the top officials of the Federation knew that Du Jin had the power to fight against their holy seals, There was absolutely no possibility of survival, and if Du Jin was taken away, it would be almost impossible to rescue him first.
With the acquiescence of the Federation, the United Church spreads its religion in all the colonies within the Federation ship at an almost terrifying speed. After realizing the immensity of the universe, many people long for their own inner peace in this lonely and dark universe. A destination, religion is indeed their best choice to some extent.
Many people realized some problems after realizing the weird teachings of the Unity Church, but all the protests and resistance on the surface gradually disappeared under the suppression of the security forces and the Interstellar Federation government, and those The person who attempted to secretly assassinate the senior bishop of the Unity Church to dismantle the church never came back, as if he had disappeared from the world.
"Bang-----ah-----"
Just when Li Mengyan was a little panicked, screams and gunshots appeared in front of the corridor. Manuka immediately signaled his team to start vigilance. The unknown changes ahead were too risky, and they had to ensure that they had a chance. If you have the strength to fight, go forward and explore, instead of rushing to "give away people's heads".
But in front of them, there was indeed a bloody massacre. Du Jin's plan was undoubtedly successful. The mental fluctuations he created had not attracted the attention of the blood mark on the ship. Hundreds of corpses transformed. The body attacked the group of cultists who held him hostage from the front. At first, these cultists of the Unity Cult did not panic, because they knew that under the protection of the church, these corpses controlled by the blood seal would not Will take the initiative to attack.
But when these necromorphs rushed in front of their team, they realized something was wrong. According to the speed of these necromorphs, even if they could not attack, the bone blades on their bodies would be destroyed at such a fast speed. They cut the meat into slices.
Some people began to take up arms. Under the threat of death, they still believed in their own intuition instead of the "divine power" and "protection" of the church.
"Fire! They... want to kill us."
I don’t know who shouted something in the channel. The originally hesitant believers also started to raise their guns and start shooting. Laser weapons and electromagnetic weapons started shooting together, and then the leader could only express his dissatisfaction to the holy seal of his faith in his heart. With explanations and appeals, he can be promoted from a basic cultist to the position of dean. His IQ and judgment are naturally not low. If he tells the truth, this dean must be the first to discover the abnormality of this group of necromorphs. people.
"How is it possible? The Holy Seal has never had this kind of problem. Could it be that we were abandoned? Or maybe the Holy Seal on this ship was affected by something, causing it to go out of control? No, I have to leave here quickly, I My glorious life in the church continues, and I cannot die here."
After understanding his dangerous situation, he asked several soldiers holding Ralph, McCas and Du Jin to approach him, and then quickly moved back under the fire cover of the front row soldiers, but they obviously underestimated these The power of the necromorphs, or in other words, they who have been relying on these necromorphs to kill innocent lives for experiments, have no idea of the terror of these monsters.
The firepower of the front row soldiers did faintly suppress the hundreds of necromorphs at the beginning, but this was only temporary. This group of necromorphs was mixed with powerful mutants such as fissioners and leapers. The bone spurs instantly hit the soldiers in the front row. Even the cultists wearing light exoskeletons were almost destroyed by the bone spurs that penetrated into various parts of the body.
Only some of the unfortunate ones were directly hit in the head and died on the spot. Their firepower weakened in an instant, and the necromorphs would not give them the time and opportunity to breathe and revive the team. Those injured were directly killed continuously. Swallowed by the incoming tide of necromorphs, they will die quickly under the dismemberment of the crowded necromorphs behind them, with no chance of escaping.
"Master, the second team can't hold on any longer!"
"Prince, the captain of the second team was also killed. There are too many of them!"
These defeated cultists will turn to the patriarch for help in a longing tone. After all, in a church involving gods, a higher-level "priest" symbolizes greater divine power among ordinary believers. It seems that only their leader can communicate with the Holy Seal to save them.
But the imam who is the "participant" is now too busy to save his own life. How can he have the energy to deceive these low-level believers?
Du Jin's armor had actually slowly regained its power at this time. He was very lucky. The internal system of this suit of armor had been damaged by range of electromagnetic interference before, but this damage was only temporary. The impact of the interference continued with the After time passed, the panel inside Du Jin's helmet had restored its image. He quickly asked the armor to perform a system self-check program:
"Executing retrieval command......
Weapon system failure... Auxiliary combat system failure... Armor repair system damage... Communication system failure...
The life support system is operating normally...the internal temperature control system is intact...the power system has not suffered a fatal failure...
Search results: The armor's combat capability is almost lost, the structure has suffered a serious failure, and 67% of the overall damage has been done. Please replace and maintain components in a timely manner. "
Looking at the results on the panel, Du Jin felt a little relieved. The power system could still be used normally, proving that there was at least a chance to escape. However, this suit of armor already had a great risk of malfunction. In order to avoid being killed by the people around him, When the enemy discovers his intention to escape, he needs to wait for an opportunity. When escaping, he will definitely take everything with McCas. The armor's power system is enough to easily take away McCas, a 200-pound strong man. .
"The internal temperature control system is intact, and the entire armor only has one air-conditioning function that can run perfectly, right? Fortunately, I am escaping instead of chasing..."
Du Jin complained in his mind about this unusually "robust" temperature control system, and then began to look around it to formulate a plan. His goal was very clear, to bring Mai with him before the zombies killed all the cultists. Cass fled backwards, otherwise without the obstruction of these "human shields", being caught up by the zombies would be worse than being killed by these cultists. After all, Du Jin was directly watched by the blood mark at this time, and he didn't know If you are caught by these necromorphs, will you be infected by the blood mark and become irresistible in some way?
The thought of the possibility of turning into some kind of necromorph-like monster made him crawl all over.
The cultists in front of them seemed to have suffered retribution. Their situation was definitely not good. When the commanders began to retreat, their morale had already dropped to a freezing point. During the battle, morale was a very mysterious thing. Mental strength is very important:
The role of morale is to stimulate people's potential energy, physical strength and ability to perform volitional actions. The amount of energy and physical strength an individual exerts in group activities is also directly proportional to the strength of that person's morale. Individuals with strong morale can always expend more energy and physical strength in group activities without getting tired; on the contrary, individuals with weak morale may feel abnormally nervous even if they expend less energy and physical strength in group activities. and fatigue.
Since morale inspires and limits people's level of energy and physical strength, morale will, to a certain extent, affect people's choices in strategies, tactics, strategies, and strategies for behavioral actions. The higher the morale of the group, the better the commander will choose strategies, strategies, etc. The degree of freedom will be greater. For example, the higher the morale of an army in a war, the more suitable it is to undertake ambush, penetration, street fighting, mobile warfare, guerrilla warfare and other tasks that consume a lot of physical energy and energy, and are dangerous or risky. The lower the morale of an army, the more strategic operations it will take. Largely restricted.
But with the zombies constantly coming in, teammates decreasing, and without any backup, this group of thirty people seems to have no actual combat capability. If someone reminds them that there are still people behind them, Other pursuits, the desperation of this kind of flanking attack will drive them into madness and suicide.
Du Jin realized that his opportunity had come. He first looked at the heavy-armed soldier who had been holding him up and started to change orders. But as if he thought it was troublesome to catch Du Jin at this time, he pushed Du Jin to the On the ground, he then raised his head and shot forward, including the soldier who was guarding McCas. McCas had no arm. In the eyes of these cultists, he was no different from a useless person. They threw him directly to the ground. I don't care about the wall anymore.
McCas had obviously woken up. He blinked in the direction of Du Jin. Although the helmet on Du Jin's head was very "tragic", it was first deformed by Ralph's alienated power. Coupled with some attacks from these cultists when they subdued him, the four cool vertical light radiation detectors on the helmet were shattered from the middle, and the appearance became very flat, making it look very unbearable.
Not to mention the cult soldiers escorting the transport, even in McCas's opinion, Du Jin probably didn't have any fighting ability at this time, and Du Jin's perseverance did not make other people's "looks" come true. , when the opportunity came, Du Jin quickly stood up and took the pistol from the waist of the soldier beside him. Since the other party was fiercely exchanging fire with the zombies, he did not notice this move.
Du Jin then placed the pistol on the ground and slid it in the direction of McCas. Obviously, although Du Jin decided to escape with McCas, it did not mean that he was willing to leave with a burden. After all, these Even though the cultists are constantly reducing their numbers, they still have a residual strength of more than ten people. Du Jin is not stupid enough to grab a gun and lead Macas out of the encirclement by himself.
Please, this is not a heroic movie in the beautiful country. I am afraid that the way of showing off will be sieved in an instant. Even if Du Jin is wearing armor at this time, it is impossible to avoid it. McCas looked at the gun sliding to his side, no. He pretended to be frightened and climbed down, then held the handle of the gun with his left hand.
Du Jin looked at the collapsing team on the front line and stretched out three fingers in the direction of McCas. After counting down for three seconds, Du Jin rolled over and tripped the priest next to him, and then took advantage of the opportunity. He didn't react and grabbed the short-range laser submachine gun in his hand. From his observation just now, Du Jin discovered that this firearm with extremely strong instantaneous firepower and was small and easy to operate was the reason why Du Jin could safely leave the leader who was currently the leader. Guaranteed, so Du Jin accepted the "artifact" held by the other party.
"Master Immortal!"
The other guards around them were not vegetarians. The situation of their commander made them immediately turn their guns. However, the disadvantage of the longer predecessor of the rifle was immediately revealed. In terms of the use environment of firearms, submachine guns and rifles have different Obvious differences:
A submachine gun is a combination of an assault rifle and a pistol with bullets. It has relatively fierce firepower and small recoil. The gun body is short, making it easy to hold the gun with one hand without affecting other actions. Rifles have certain shortcomings in this aspect, in terms of power. Needless to say, the rifle's caliber, range, and penetration power need not be mentioned, but due to problems with the butt and barrel, when it needs to quickly adjust the direction of the muzzle in a small environment, its deflection angle must be larger, and it is also difficult to hold the gun with both hands. Because of the decrease in the body's mobility.
This is why when fighting indoors, submachine guns, pistols or short-range assault rifles are generally used. When the guard next to the imam turned around, Du Jin was already standing with a gun on the hijacked imam. After getting up, McCas saw the right opportunity and came to Du Jin's side, controlling the dean together.
"Wait a minute, don't mess around. You have almost killed the third-level bishop of the church. If you kill me again, you will be hunted by the church for the rest of your life!"
Feeling that the muzzle of the gun was very close to him, the famous leader began to threaten him verbally. If the laser weapon hit his head, his brain tissue would be instantly melted like snowflakes. No matter how powerful the medical technology is, It was impossible to kill him, unless the church's VIP reserve plan was used to create a clone with all the memories of his life immediately after his death, but his level was obviously not high enough for the church to prepare a special backup for him.
Du Jin ignored his "threat", and the two of them kept moving backward together. This internal harassment distracted the soldier in front, and a scorpion-shaped jumper suddenly burst into the crowd from the top of the corridor. , its extremely sharp tail spines immediately began to sweep across.
"ah!"
Screams sounded one after another. Even if the jumper's tail sting was not enough to "cut in half" the people around it, it could generate force that could pierce heavy armor and seriously injure all these soldiers. The sudden weakening of firepower made The zombies had a chance, and several scorpion-shaped jumpers appeared on the walls and top of the corridor and began to rush in, instantly tearing a hole in the team of more than a dozen people.
"Damn it! They are already inside us, run away!"
The aura of death coming from the front made these believers lose the courage to fight. Some of them began to turn around and run away, fearing that they would become the dead souls under the sharp blades of these zombies if they ran too slowly.
The first key factor that affects willpower is emotional pain, such as stress, depression, frustration, and anxiety.
The human body has a sense of self-protection. When it encounters a hot stove, it will immediately shrink its hands, which is an instinctive conditioned reflex. Similarly, in order to escape psychological trauma, we will subconsciously withdraw by letting ourselves escape the pain through entertainment and indulgence, alcoholism, snoozing, overeating, and even one-night stands, all the mess comes. Research by psychologists shows that avoiding psychological pain is the main reason why we lose control and seek indulgence. Their comrades were directly dismembered by the Necromorphs in front of their eyes. Even if they did not die immediately but were only injured, they were instantly swallowed up by the ensuing Necromorphs. This feeling of despair caused the inner defenses of these Unity Cult followers to completely collapse.
The second factor that affects willpower is called self-deprivation.
To put it bluntly, it means that you have suppressed your desires for a long time. After suppressing yourself for a long time, your desires will burst out as soon as you have the opportunity. Therefore, we should not put too much hope in willpower and expect it to always defeat our desires. Every once in a while, we should buffer it through a pressure reducing valve. The hierarchy within the Unity Church is very strict, but many people succumb to the control of the church in order to establish their beliefs and support their bodies. Under the constant supervision of the dean just now, even though the soldiers composed of these believers are afraid , in order to "reunify" after their death, they can only stick to the front line and continue to die. But now the people supervising the battle have been hijacked, and the pressure in their hearts is instantly released, and people will have a sense of self-deprivation, and their desire will finally Like a flood, it breaks through the dam of willpower, and escape becomes their only "theme" at the moment.
The third killer that causes willpower to collapse is availability.
That is to say, all the things that weaken your will and arouse your desires are in the environment around you. Du Jin hijacked Zhizhi and their leader, which instantly distracted their command system and attention. When they came to their senses, even if they were distracted for less than a few seconds, these corpse mutants suddenly arrived. On their faces, it was obvious that this scene was no longer a "narrow escape", but a 100% death. Even if they believed that they could become gods after "reunification" after death, the human instinct to survive still made them abandon themselves. Goal, start running for your life just to survive.
The fourth, and most difficult willpower killer to overcome, is self-rationalization and bargaining.
What does that mean? It is when we are preparing for self-indulgence that we usually find various excuses for what we do, exaggerating its rationality and minimizing its adverse consequences: for example, all people who drink and drive will say, "I did it at the dinner table" I was persuaded to drink, and I only had one drink. Or, since the exam is still a month away, it doesn’t matter if I don’t read today. Under the influence of this kind of self-deception and anesthesia, our willpower decreases unconsciously. The principle of self-bargaining is similar. We often pretend to reach an agreement with ourselves, then misinterpret the terms, first enjoy the rights, and then refuse to perform the obligations.
"The Priest has been kidnapped. If we escape now, is it impossible to survive on our own? Even if it doesn't work, the death of the Priest will definitely attract the attention of his god, and the Holy Seal may send down power to protect him. Doesn’t this mean you can survive?”
This kind of mentality began to spread in the hearts of these believers like a plague. Even though these were their own imaginations, as the pressure from the outside world continued to increase, this was the best they could do to escape. explain.
Based on the above four points, these teams with less than ten people left began to turn around and run away frantically. Even the soldiers who had just confronted Du Jin and wanted to rescue the Imam could not resist this kind of inner feeling. "Breaking the defense", he directly ignored his own mission and began to escape with the others, and Du Jin also immediately saw the key from everything in front of him. These cultists had no will to resist, so he and McCas You can leave without taking prisoners.
Du Jin pushed away the priest who was originally holding it in his arms, then raised his gun and aimed at Ralph who was thrown on the ground. Several blue laser beams shot out from the muzzle of the beam gun, instantly killing the still unconscious Ralph. Ralph's head was directly penetrated. Du Jin was sure that even though Ralph's skull was harder than armor, there was absolutely no chance of survival under the attack of such an energy weapon.
Regardless of Ralph's sins of killing thousands of sailors, Du Jin would not be able to let him go just because he knew Du Jin's secret. After solving this hidden danger, Du Jin took McCas directly. He carried it on his body and ran backwards. After all, one of McCas's arms was gone. If he really ran with all his strength, the imbalance of his body would kill McCas. And with the power of the armor, the two hundred kilograms of wheat Cass naturally has no problem. After all, even light armor has a designed load limit of several hundred kilograms.
What Du Jin didn't know was that Ralph was undoubtedly dead after being hit by him, but almost at the same moment, in a huge factory built in an unknown location, an extremely luxurious machine appeared. The breeding cabin slowly slid out from the shelf. Under the control of an old man, the door of the breeding cabin slowly rose, and a naked upper-body man sat up from the breeding cabin.
If Du Jin or Li Mengyan saw this man, they would be shocked to find that he was Ralph.
