Chapter 570

"According to the previous plan, Delta, go along the opposite passage to the generator set."

"Beta, Alpha, come with us to the fifth basement level, find the master control room, and shut down the site's anti-intrusion system."

"Omega, you and I continue to ascend to the fourth basement level."

"Is everyone clear?"

"Understood," everyone said in unison.

"For the Emperor!" Everyone struck their chest armor simultaneously, performed a military salute, and then split up.

The captain looked at Omega: "We continue to push upward."

They went all the way up along the stairs, but before they had gone far, the stairs connected to the ceiling, and there was no way up.

"The ceiling shouldn't be in that position," Omega frowned, walked a few steps, and knocked on the ceiling, but a metallic sound came.

"What is this—"

"Emergency lockdown order," the captain recognized what it was. "All entrances have been sealed with heavy steel plates. Let's take a look first."

Something must have happened here...

The two looked at each other and nodded, having a certain guess about the past of this site.

Subsequently, they turned and left, beginning to investigate separately.

Not long after, the captain had a harvest.

"I take back what I said before; not all entrances—there's a big hole in the wall, it looks like it was caused by an explosion."

"The other side? I'll be there right away—" Omega responded.

Before he could turn around and move toward the area where the captain was, he heard him give a low shout:

"Alert!"

"What happened?"

"There's something inside; if I'm not mistaken, this is the creature that attacked the previous team."

The captain's tone was serious; it wasn't hard to hear the disgust in it, just like seeing an extra duck neck in a dish, or half a cockroach in the soup base.

Although for the Astartes' powerful digestive system, these were all edible food.

He added: "A group of disgusting heretics."

Omega slowed his pace, came to the captain's side, and through the hole, saw the group of monsters.

"More than one," Omega's tone was serious. "Annihilate them?"

The captain looked at the profane appearance of the monsters, trying hard to suppress his surging anger.

Without a doubt, they were the product of humans being distorted by heretics.

Even though they were innocent in themselves, letting them continue to exist in the world made the captain feel uncomfortable inside.

"Don't disturb them, go this way." The captain lowered the bolter in his hand and continued forward.

"Biohazard experimental area?" Omega looked at the instruments in front and asked.

"Judging from the instruments placed... yes," the captain said. "What was being studied here before?"

Just then, Delta's communication came:

"Captain, I have reached the location of the site's generator set; there are four generators, and there are no signs of human sabotage."

"I might be able to try starting one of them to restore partial power."

"Received, Delta."

The captain nodded; being able to restore power was naturally good, but it was full of threats; no one knew if this group of aliens was sensitive to light.

"But don't forget the swarms of creatures outside; they have long since adapted to the dark environment, and I'm not sure what will happen when the lights turn on."

Delta was confused: "Captain?"

"Stand by."

Ending the communication, the captain and Omega continued forward; just as they turned a corner, the bodies of the two Astartes shook in unison.

Omega even shouted:

"Emperor above, what happened here?"

The captain adjusted the position of the camera:

"Command, can you receive the image?"

As the captain spoke, the image shifted.

In the image, the two Astartes were located in an oval room, with walls full of scratches and dried dark bloodstains.

In the center of the room stood a cylindrical container.

Through the glass observation window on the surface, dark yellow biological tissue attached to the inner wall could be seen.

"Received, the image is very clear," Dr. Bright replied.

"I've reached the monitoring room, there are no abnormal creatures around," Beta's voice sounded. "Delta, can you restore the power here? The room number is B5-017."

"Received, I'm turning it on."

The captain moved his attention away from the profane container in front of him and cared about the possible discoveries in the monitoring room:

"What do you see, Beta?"

"These creatures seem to be performing a play by themselves."

"A play?"

"Look at them, they seem to have a clear division of labor, just like actors who have received a script and are familiarizing themselves with positions and movements, without any communication between them."

Beta looked at the surveillance screen, his expression solemn.

Those aliens were mimicking Foundation employees, currently sitting at desks, with distorted hands on keyboards, seemingly working.

"The strangest thing is that all of this is happening in complete darkness."

Yes, the entire site, except for the monitoring room, had no power supply at all.

Seeing such a strange scene, the audience felt even more panic in their hearts.

"No way, these monsters, they have their own civilization?"

"Doesn't look like it, I think they are just purely mimicking, or, before they became monsters, they were employees corresponding to their positions."

"In addition, there are some other discoveries,"

Beta's voice continued.

"CCTV uses batteries as a backup power source, and it recorded some images when the site's main power supply stopped."

"In the ten months after the facility lost contact, these creatures woke up, ate, worked, held meetings, slept, and occasionally had small gatherings, as if they were trapped in a predicament without knowing it."

"Everything was the same as when we were there, before the site encountered the accident. By the way, I also observed mating and reproductive behavior."

Alpha's tone was very surprised.

"In the site... the aliens who were previously human evolved a social model?"

"It's not that there isn't such a possibility," Beta said.

"This reminds me of a swarm, hive mind. Each individual in the hive is integrated into a huge core consciousness, sharing information, with a clear division of labor."

"I don't know where their energy supply comes from, but there is no doubt that this facility has indeed stagnated in dead silence for a thousand years."

"This is impossible!" Delta's roar came from the channel.

"But it just happened, didn't it?" Alpha was very calm, having no ripples about this.

They were just aliens, after all.

Even if they weren't purified today, tomorrow, the day after... or a more distant day.

The flames of purification would eventually burn the profanity to ashes.

Dr. Bright suddenly interrupted their discussion:

"Sorry to interrupt, but the fog concentration outside is rising; to avoid too many uncertain factors, the mission needs to be terminated."

"But we are underground," Beta retorted. "We could have—"

"Received," the captain responded.

He looked at the container in front of him again, as well as the profane symbols all over the wall, and the finger resting on the trigger finally moved away.

"Everyone, follow the instructions; we will gather outside the stairwell on the sixth basement level, and then return." **CHAPTER 572**