Chapter 111

"A good start." General Droste rubbed his eyes with his bony fingers.

He was 180 years old and had seen countless wars, but the war on Ashford still made him feel exhausted.

If it weren't for Zhou Yun's performance in the Thirteenth District, it would likely be even more exhausting.

"The artillery I arranged on the Fortress Master Ring intercepted the Tyranid reinforcements for a long time, which gave us... and gave you a chance."

General Droste said in a low voice:

"The main force of the Tyranid swarm landed in the hive outskirts, and Lord Zhou Yun led the troops to intercept them... By the time we retreated, the Tyranids only harvested a completely empty district, which gave the swarm a painful lesson."

"In addition, we were assassinated by a Lictor."

Hearing the word "Lictor," Arch-Sister Magda's heart jumped.

She said in a low voice: "It will come again, again and again, constantly assassinating you..."

Arch-Sister Magda had such a Lictor opponent.

Ever since she was a tender sister, it had been constantly hunting her down.

Just now, she had killed it again.

"It won't anymore." Zhou Yun said in a flat tone.

"Won't?" Arch-Sister Magda was stunned for a moment.

She really wanted to tell Zhou Yun that the Lictor could be resurrected again and again,

but then she remembered that this matter was actually told to her by Zhou Yun.

"You... you truly killed a Lictor? Its consciousness didn't return to the Hive Mind?"

Arch-Sister Magda couldn't suppress her shock.

She couldn't imagine how Zhou Yun did it.

Zhou Yun just smiled lightly at this, shaking his head to indicate that this was something only he could do, and there was no possibility for Arch-Sister Magda to replicate it.

Arch-Sister Magda could only let out a sigh.

"We still hold forty percent of the lower hive city and have used this to resist the swarm's first wave of invasion. How about you?" General Droste asked.

Arch-Sister Magda sighed: "Thanks to the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang's grace, it's good overall."

"I persuaded the local nomads, those who do not believe in the Imperial Creed, and the Imperial Creed originally approved that I could purify them when necessary."

"But now I have become their protector. Their giant crawler machines and our Rhino transports formed a convoy, resisting the Tyranid swarm falling from the sky while moving, but there were too many of them... and our artillery fire wasn't that sufficient."

"In the end, my Seraphim squads had to fly into the air with jump packs to engage the Tyranid flying organisms there."

"Fortunately, we barely resisted the invasion in the end and began to retreat toward the starport..."

Speaking of this, Arch-Sister Magda Grace's weather-beaten face revealed a desolate smile:

"It's truly ironic to say it out loud, the scene of me killing the Lictor was seen by the nomads."

"This is exactly the same as the scene in their legend where the Saint kills the Dragon of Change."

"They now call me Saint Grace, Saint Grace the Dragon-Slayer."

Arch-Sister Magda couldn't help but laugh out loud at this ironic situation:

"Do you dare to believe it? Not long ago, they still called me a butcher, insulted, loathed, and suspected me."

"Now they believe in me completely, without a single complaint."

"When I said I hoped they would believe in the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang, they responded frantically. For a long time in the past, I had been trying to break their superstitious beliefs, but I didn't expect it to have an effect at this time."

"This might be the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang's arrangement." Leina suddenly spoke up.

Coincidence; she also created the Ark Gang under the guidance of a series of wonderful coincidences, letting them fight alongside the Astra Militarum in the lower hive now.

These gang members would evacuate the masses, assist in battle, lead the Astra Militarum through complex streets, and point out pipes that might be infiltrated...

"That must be the best arrangement." A smile appeared at the corner of Arch-Sister Magda's mouth: "In any case, I will protect these nomads."

"How about the others? How is their situation?"

Arch-Sister Magda was asking about the status of the garrison on other planets.

General Droste could only shake his head somewhat helplessly: "I don't know."

"I failed to establish communication with the soldiers on other planets."

"On the contrary, Pertita, that Death World..."

General Droste paused, giving Arch-Sister Magda time to recall the information about that Death World. Pertita was the outermost planet of Ashford, a cold Death World, barely having an atmosphere for people to breathe, but its extreme cold could still take away all life.

No residents lived on it, and it was originally a worthless target for the Tyranids.

But Zhou Yun played a little trick; he suggested that General Droste gather the heavy criminals on Ashford and throw them all onto Pertita.

The ravenous swarm would certainly not let go of this delicious biomass, and part of their fleet would be attracted there.

The garrison on other planets could reduce some pressure.

"I received news that the cargo holds loaded with heavy criminals have been dropped onto Pertita." General Droste said.

This meant Zhou Yun's plan had succeeded.

The hurricane, cold as a knife, swept across the dry black stone mountains, piercing Ivanka's body, making him feel as if he were being stabbed by a thousand gang thugs.

He curled up, lying by the wreckage of the cargo hold, preserving his body temperature as much as possible.

"Bastard... exactly which conscience-less thing did this..."

Even though the cold was constantly eroding him, Ivanka still couldn't help but curse out loud:

"Throwing us into this broken place to attract the attention of that group of xenos, truly a damn bastard..."

Ivanka knew what his fate was.

Either die in this cold wind, or become food for that group of xenos invading the Hades System.

Ivanka felt like crying but had no tears.

He was truly an unlucky guy.

Ivanka thought about it; his bad luck could be traced back to the Old Eighth District.

!. Read

He was originally a small leader in a hive city gang, receiving orders from the boss to take a group of people to dig up the buried Old Eighth District.

Who knew that a cultist who looked like a lion and was extremely terrifying would pop out?

Not only did he hijack him through the gang's stronghold, but he also took out a strange golden ring and drilled into the Old Eighth District all at once.

By the time Ivanka hurried to dig open the Old Eighth District and found the PDF stronghold inside... it had already been emptied.

Realizing that the gang boss would absolutely not let him go, Ivanka immediately decided to run away.

He first used his previous connections to find the road to the lower hive, intending to go to the lower hive to escape.

Who knew that before he could even go, the bishop of the Genestealer Cult in the lower hive and the two leaders of the mutants were all killed, and the entire lower hive was in chaos.

Even the old boatman responsible for the pickup was inexplicably killed.

Truly too unlucky!

Ivanka gritted his teeth and could only take a risk to sneak into the upper hive.

As a result, because of some heretical corruption in the Ninth District, the whole place was under martial law, and even the church was demolished.

Ivanka was very unlucky, caught red-handed by a Battle Sister named Ajelade.

Then Ivanka was subjected to extremely painful interrogation, and after being confirmed not to be a heretic, he was thrown into a prison cell that only heavy criminals could enter.

Truly unlucky to the extreme!

Even unluckier was that—

I don't know which wicked thing gave the Astra Militarum General the idea,

that they could pack all these heavy criminals up and throw them onto Pertita, this Death World, to attract the attention of the xenos...

Unlucky beyond measure!

Ivanka gritted his teeth.

He now wished he could strangle those few guys who harmed him.

That cultist who looked like a lion, the guy who killed the Genestealer bishop and mutant leaders, the person who put the Ninth District under martial law, and the one who suggested to the Astra Militarum General to send heavy criminals to Pertita.

These four bastards... Ivanka really wished he could kill them one by one!

Just as Ivanka was cursing, a cold, violent wind blew, stabbing Ivanka's body like ten thousand knives.

Ivanka hurriedly hugged his knees, continuing to shiver and squeeze into the corner of the damaged cargo hold.

Many such cargo holds were thrown onto Pertita.

Some lucky heavy criminals might have cargo holds that were not damaged, still able to isolate the cold wind to a certain extent.

But Ivanka clearly didn't have such good luck.

He had always been inexplicably unlucky like this.

Ivanka tightened his body. He wanted to cry, but the cold wind blew his eyes dry, and he couldn't cry no matter what.

He faintly remembered his father again, that honest hive city worker.

Ivanka's father had long since cut off contact with him; he didn't want to see Ivanka become a gang thug.

Ivanka also didn't want to be a hive city worker sweating in a scorching factory, and then give birth to a child, letting him continue to be a worker.

But if he could choose again, Ivanka would rather be a worker.

In the cold wind, he even began to like the scorching factory in his memory.

He also missed his father a little, that silent but devoutly believing-in-the-Hua Hua Hua Di Huang hive city worker.

That thin and tall father who worked hard for the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang and his family.

Thin and tall.

Ivanka blinked in confusion. He seemed to see a few thin and tall figures appearing in the distance.

They were looming in the cold wind, but their steps were unusually firm, as if the cold wind could not cause any influence on them.

Could it be that these people had anti-cold clothes and equipment?

A look of joy appeared on Ivanka's face.

Did this mean he still had a chance to be saved?

Ivanka hurriedly—fearing that these people wouldn't discover him—

"I'm here! There's someone here!!!"

He waved his arms and shouted, running toward those few figures.

As he approached, those few blurry figures under the dim light gradually became clear.

Ivanka's footsteps stopped.

It was a group of skeletons composed of pale metal, emitting a strange orange-yellow light, draped in human flesh and skin stained with blood.

"Holy shit, truly damn unlucky."

This was the last sentence in Ivanka's life, and a beam of light shot toward him.

(End of chapter)