Chapter 69: Bio-Mass Pool? Tyranids?

In the thick bio-mass pool,

a savage behemoth larger than the Gene-Thief Chieftain stretched its body, four razor-sharp claws slicing through the viscous fluid,

surrounding biomass slowly coalescing into its body and chitinous carapace, making the beast’s form grow ever larger and more robust.

Beside the behemoth floated countless smaller embryonic sacs,

each containing smaller insects,

some smaller than humans, armed with razor claws or living firearms,

others slender and elongated, blades sharp, legs muscular, adept at leaping,

some with wings, venomous glands, and bio-rifles in hand,

others shouldering bio-beast cannons, possessing three long legs.

These insects, soaking in the bio-mass pool and slowly being born,

looked just like—

Mong shuddered,

this looked exactly like the soulless swarms the Angels had shown him during the Fall of Asford.

“Layne Rus, you fucking bastard, you won’t believe what I’m seeing.”

Mong’s voice trembled, transmitted to Zhou Yun’s ear through the vibration of the small insect beside his ear.

Hearing Mong’s description of the scene, Zhou Yun on the other end of the comm remained unusually silent for several seconds,

Mong couldn’t help thinking: Of course—even Layne Rus didn’t anticipate this.

Then—

“So it’s really like this,” Zhou Yun’s voice echoed in Mong’s ear.

Mong’s expression twisted violently,

“You already suspected this might be the case?”

Mong gritted his teeth and demanded:

“Why didn’t you tell me? You knew my plan was doomed from the start!”

The Gene-Thief Chieftain never intended to infect these people with corrupted genes,

it merely tricked them here, dissolving them into bio-mass slurry to breed and feed the insects in the pool!

Without even touching the Gene-Thief Chieftain’s body, Mong had no way to corrupt it in return,

Mong’s plan was doomed from the very beginning!

“I only just thought of this possibility recently—it’s only a guess.”

“Besides, if you hadn’t gone in, how could I confirm my theory?”

Listening to Zhou Yun’s voice in his ear, Mong barely restrained himself from cursing aloud.

Bastard, this guy’s a total schemer—if I survive this, Mong will never cooperate with him again.

On the streets of District One,

although Zhou Yun spoke casually, the slight twitch in his corner of the eye betrayed his inner fury,

he never expected the Great Devourer would actually do this!

Beneath the Administrative Building was a bio-mass pool—a bio-mass pool for cultivating Tyranid lifeforms,

presumably the Great Devourer had somehow enabled the Gene-Thief Chieftain to breed partial Tyranid organisms,

but how exactly, and by what means, Zhou Yun had no clue,

yet without a Tyranid Hive Fleet, without a Broodmother, with only a single Gene-Thief Chieftain and a bio-mass pool to breed Tyranids,

this must be extremely inefficient and wasteful of bio-mass,

and most Tyranid organisms, without Hive Mind control, were merely beasts,

the most likely explanation was that the Gene-Thieves’ hive-mind network replaced the Hive Mind to exert control,

but Gene-Thieves possessed far greater autonomy than Tyranids, and there were documented cases of Gene-Thieves betraying the Great Devourer,

yet the Great Devourer still took this risk—even though most of the Tyranids produced were low-tier,

those smaller than humans, armed with guns or blades, were likely Gunners and Blade-Worms,

slender, agile leapers with razor claws were probably Fenn Ryn Jumpers,

those with wings, venom glands, and bio-rifles were likely Gargoyles,

all relatively low-tier Tyranid organisms,

what troubled Zhou Yun most was the identity of that behemoth larger than the Chieftain,

Mong only said it was huge, with four razor claws.

Shit. Could it possibly be a Norn-Envoy or Norn-Ascendant? No way…

Zhou Yun’s eye twitched, and he quickly shook his head, dismissing the possibility,

Norn-Envoys and Norn-Ascendants were among the highest-tier units in the Tyranid swarm, requiring massive bio-mass and time to produce,

they couldn’t possibly be the ones capable of slaying Imperial Guard, their size rivaling Imperial Knights.

Likewise, Hive Tyrants and Swarm Lords were unlikely—both were ultra-high-tier units, impossible to breed without a Broodmother.

Could it be an Executioner or one of its subspecies?

Regardless of what it was, the Great Devourer had clearly invested heavily,

was it really that desperate to consume Saint Guilliman’s genetic sequence?

The Underworld Shield Galaxy was the gateway to the Bal System,

and on Bal rested Saint Guilliman’s remains,

the Great Devourer, disregarding bio-mass consumption and even having Gene-Thieves produce Tyranids prematurely,

must have been aiming solely to consume Saint Guilliman’s genetic sequence and forge stronger, deadlier Tyranids.

Zhou Yun rubbed his temples, his thoughts growing increasingly tangled,

Tyranids—even low-tier ones—were no match for Asford’s PDFs,

now that a large population had gathered in District One, if they were all dissolved into bio-mass, the Gene-Thieves could mass-produce Tyranids, unleashing a tidal wave of swarms from the Underhive,

before nearby Astra Militarum or Adeptus Astartes arrived, Asford would be entirely consumed.

At that point, the Empire would face a pincer attack from two Tyranid forces—one within the hive, one among the stars—completely altering the original course of history.

He had to find a way to stop the Gene-Thief Chieftain from producing more Tyranids.

But how?

Suddenly, a small hand rested on Zhou Yun’s arm,

Rina, pale-faced and drenched in sweat, stared at him,

“The warp engine.”

Rina’s voice was hoarse—she had clearly used her precognition to perceive the situation beneath the Administrative Building:

“The key is the warp engine!”

“The warp engine is beneath the Administrative Building.”

“The Hive Mind transmits Tyranid genetic information to the Gene-Thief Chieftain through the warp engine.”

Zhou Yun rubbed Rina’s hair,

So it was the warp engine.

No wonder the Gene-Thief Chieftain had taken root in District One.

Producing Tyranids was a genetic programming task—the Broodmother was the programmer,

now the warp engine acted as a relay, allowing the Hive Mind to remotely command the Gene-Thief Chieftain to produce Tyranids,

inefficient, wasteful, risky—but the Great Devourer was desperate to consume Saint Guilliman’s genes.

If they removed the warp engine, Tyranid production by the Gene-Thieves would cease.

But—

Zhou Yun glanced at Rina, who had awakened at the critical moment with this vital information,

such perfect timing—it must be someone’s doing.

Zhou Yun suddenly felt a toothache.

Mong’s plan had failed, and the Gene-Thief Chieftain remained at full strength,

the only good news was that Zhou Yun had never trusted Mong—he’d already prepared for this scenario.

But the success rate… Zhou Yun took a deep breath,

he reached into his fourth-dimensional pocket and pulled out a stack of crude playing cards.

He decided to use a mystical method to divinate whether he could successfully sever the warp engine.

“Draw one.”

Zhou Yun shuffled the seventy-eight low-quality Emperor Tarot cards bought from the Underhive and offered them to Rina.

“Didn’t you say you didn’t believe in this last time?” the winged figure in Bai Guang scoffed.

Rina gently extended her small hand and drew one card.

Zhou Yun looked at the card.

The image depicted a corpse, browned by age, blackened by death.

Tomorrow’s release!





(End of chapter)