Chapter 69: Biomass Pool? Tyranids?

In the thick biomass pool,

a savage beast far larger than the gene-thief patriarch stretched its body, four sharp claws slicing through the viscous current,

the surrounding biomass bit by bit assembling into its body and chitinous carapace, making the beast's form ever more massive and powerful.

And beside the beast floated many, many smaller embryo sacs,

inside the sacs were numerous smaller bugs,

some smaller than a human, bearing sharp claws or living firearms,

some slender and long, blades sharp, legs sturdy, adept at leaping,

some born with wings, long venom glands, wielding bio-rifles,

others shouldered bio-beast cannons, born with three long legs

these bugs soaking in the biomass pool, being born bit by bit,

looked just like, just like—

Monger gave a shudder,

this looked just like the soulless swarms the angels had shown him descending at Ashford's end-times.

"Lane. Russ, you won't fucking believe what I'm seeing."

Monger said in a trembling voice, his words transmitted through the vibration of the little bug at his ear to Zhou Yun's ear.

Listening to Monger's description of the scene before him, Zhou Yun on the other end of the comms fell uncommonly silent for a few seconds,

Monger couldn't help thinking: sure enough, even Lane. Russ hadn't anticipated this situation.

Then

"It really is like that." Zhou Yun's sighing voice rang in Monger's ear.

Monger's expression suddenly twisted,

"You already guessed it might be like this?"

Monger demanded through gritted teeth:

"Why didn't you tell me? You clearly knew my plan wouldn't work!"

The gene-thief patriarch had never intended to inject corrupted genes into these people at all,

it had simply tricked people into coming here, broken them down into thick biomass fluid, used to manufacture and feed the bugs in the pool!

Without even making physical contact with the gene-thief patriarch, Monger had no way to corrupt it in return,

Monger's plan could never have succeeded from the very start!

"I only thought of this possibility not long ago myself, it was only a guess."

"Besides, if you didn't go in, how could I verify my own conjecture?"

Listening to Zhou Yun's voice in his ear, Monger held back with great effort and didn't curse out loud.

Bastard, this guy is a schemer through and through; if he could get out alive, Monger would never cooperate with him again in his life.

On the streets of Sector One,

although Zhou Yun's mouth was casual, the slight twitch at the corner of his eye betrayed that his heart was actually just as messed up,

he hadn't expected the Great Devourer to actually do this!

Beneath the government building was a biomass pool, a biomass pool used to cultivate Tyranid organisms,

presumably the Great Devourer had through some means allowed the gene-thief patriarch to cultivate a portion of Tyranid organisms,

as for exactly what method, how it was done, Zhou Yun still had no clue,

but without a Tyranid hive ship, without a Norn-Queen, with only a single gene-thief patriarch and a biomass pool to cultivate Tyranid organisms,

this was presumably extremely inefficient and wasteful of biomass,

and most Tyranid organisms without a Hive Mind controlling them were just beasts,

the most likely scenario was using the gestalt consciousness formed by the gene-thieves to replace the Hive Mind's control,

but the gene-thieves' autonomy was far higher than Tyranid organisms, and there were cases of gene-thieves betraying the Great Devourer in return

the Great Devourer taking this risk—although most of the manufactured Tyranid organisms were relatively low-grade,

those smaller than humans, bearing firearms or blades, should be Gunners and Warriors,

those with slender bodies, adept at leaping and bearing sharp claws, should be Von Ryan's Leapers,

those with wings, venom glands, and bio-rifles, should be Gargoyles,

these were all relatively low-grade Tyranid organisms,

what Zhou Yun cared about most was still what that Tyranid beast larger than the patriarch was,

Monger had only said the thing was very large, with four sharp claws.

Hiss. It couldn't fucking be a Norn Emissary or Norn Assimilator, could it? Surely not.

The corner of Zhou Yun's eye twitched slightly, he hurriedly shook his head and denied this possibility,

Norn Emissaries and Norn Assimilators were the top-tier units in the Tyranid swarm, their production and manufacture required consuming massive amounts of biomass and time,

it couldn't be those two big daddies that could cut down Custodian Guard and match Imperial Knights in size.

By the same logic, Hive Tyrants and Swarm Tyrants were also unlikely, these two were also extremely high-grade units, absolutely impossible to cultivate without a Norn-Queen.

Could it be an Executioner or a subspecies of Executioner?

Regardless of which, the Great Devourer had gone all-in this time,

did it want the gene-seed of the Great Angel Sanguinius that badly?

The Shield of Hades system was the gateway to the Baal system,

and on Baal were stored the remains of Sanguinius,

the Great Devourer disregarded biomass consumption, even had the gene-thieves manufacture Tyranid organisms in advance,

They likely just wanted to take a bite of Saint-Genesius's gene sequence to create even stronger and more formidable Tyranid creatures.

Zhou Yun couldn't help but rub his brow, his thoughts growing increasingly chaotic.

The Tyranid Swarm, even the lower-level Tyranids, were beyond what Asford's PDF could handle.

Now, a massive population had gathered in the First District; if they were all broken down into biomass, the Genestealers would be able to mass-produce Tyranid creatures, allowing the vast swarm to pour out from the Underhive.

Before the nearby Astral Realm Guard or Astartes could arrive, the entire city of Asford would likely be devoured completely.

By then, the Imperium would face a pincer attack from two Tyranid forces—one within the Hive City and one among the stars—completely diverging from the original historical trajectory.

He must find a way to stop the Genestealer Patriarch from continuing to produce Tyranid creatures.

But how exactly could he stop them?

Suddenly, a small hand was placed on Zhou Yun's arm.

Jeanne, her face pale and covered in sweat, looked at Zhou Yun.

"The Warp Engine."

Jeanne spoke with a somewhat hoarse voice; she had obviously learned of the situation beneath the Administrative Building through her own precognitive abilities.

"The key is the Warp Engine!"

"The Warp Engine is located beneath the Administrative Building."

"The Hive Mind transmits the genetic material information of Tyranid creatures to the Genestealer Patriarch via the Warp Engine."

Zhou Yun ruffled Jeanne's hair.

So it was the Warp Engine.

No wonder the Genestealer Patriarch had entrenched himself in the First District.

Producing Tyranid creatures is a genetic programming task; the Brood Mother is essentially the programmer.

And now, the Warp Engine acts as a relay, allowing the Hive Mind to remotely command the Genestealer Patriarch to produce Tyranid creatures.

The efficiency is poor, the losses are great, and there is a certain danger, but the Great Devourer, desperate to take a bite of Saint-Genesius, has gone all in.

As long as that Warp Engine is taken, the birth of Tyranid creatures in the hands of the Genestealers can be stopped.

But...

Zhou Yun glanced at Jeanne, who had awakened at this critical moment and brought this crucial information.

Such a coincidence; it seems someone has begun to exert their influence.

Zhou Yun immediately felt a toothache.

Mong's plan had failed, and that Genestealer Patriarch was still at full strength.

The only good news was that Zhou Yun had never pinned his hopes on Mong from the start; he had prepared in advance for this very situation.

As for the success rate... Zhou Yun took a deep breath.

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

He decided to use a metaphysical method to divinate whether he could successfully sever the Warp Engine.

"Draw one."

Zhou Yun shuffled the cards and handed the seventy-eight low-quality Emperor Tarot cards, purchased from the Underhive, to Jeanne.

"Didn't you say you didn't believe in it last time?" the winged figure in the Bai Guang retorted.

Jeanne gently extended her small hand and drew one from the deck.

Zhou Yun looked at that Tarot card.

The Pai Mian Shang Yin depicted a corpse, browned by age and blackened by death.

Tomorrow, it goes on sale! Tomorrow, it goes on sale!

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(End of Chapter)