Chapter 20: Warhammer: What Do You Mean You Conquered the Bug Race

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

When the assault happened, Lin En was still pretending to be asleep in bed.

Days of high tension and anxiety, after confirming Lena was "temporarily" safe, let exhaustion surge over him like a tide.

But he still stared fixedly at the system interface, then, without warning.

"Ugh!"

Lin En bolted upright from bed in a start, cold sweat instantly soaking his pajamas.

He saw Lena's status plummeting at extreme speed, his consciousness-extending network shrinking at light speed (Bug Swarm self-destruct).

His brain seemed to have a flash of inspiration.

"This afternoon, weren't there three Sons of Medusa who never showed up."

His heart seemed to be gripped by an ice-cold hand, then beating wildly, striking his chest, almost jumping out.

Blood rushed to his head, his ears ringing.

A thought like lightning split into his mind: "Lena's in trouble! Cassius!"

A huge sense of panic like substantial ice water poured over him from head to toe, his limbs instantly turning ice-cold.

He didn't even have time to think, his body reacting before his consciousness.

He threw off the quilt, almost rolling off the bed, frantically grabbing the clothes thrown on the chair to put on, his fingers buttoning wrong several times from trembling.

He stumbled toward the nightstand, pulled open the drawer, to feel for the laser pistol and encrypted communicator hidden inside.

"I have to go help her!"

This thought crazily occupied his brain.

If Lena was gone, his greatest reliance would be gone.

His Bug Race galgame, his Warhammer Survival Journey, all his schemes and struggles, would instantly turn to nothing!

He couldn't lose Lena! Absolutely couldn't!

Just as he grabbed the pistol, barefoot about to rush toward the doorway.

The remaining, last trace of reason, like a straw grasped by a drowning man, fiercely restrained his impulse.

"Can't go! Might be a trap! Calm down! Lin En! You fucking calm down for me!"

He bit hard on his own lower lip, a bloody taste quickly spreading in his mouth.

Violent breathing was clearly audible in the quiet apartment.

He leaned against the cold metal door, slowly sliding down to sit on the floor, the gun in his hand weakly drooping.

His eyes bloodshot from congestion and fear, staring fixedly at the void ahead, as if able to penetrate walls, to see the tragedy happening in the distant nest.

That feeling was terrible.

Just like clearly knowing his childhood sweetheart girlfriend was being "besieged" by over a dozen tough men.

And himself as the "boyfriend" could only hide in a safe corner, powerless, not even having the courage to go take a look, repeatedly struggling.

Just like an "incompetent husband".......

A ridiculous and self-mocking thought flashed through, making him almost want to laugh, yet uglier than crying.

He just sat like that on the cold floor, his body trembling slightly nonstop from lingering fear and tension.

Listening to his thunderous heartbeat, spending the longest few minutes of his life.

Until.

"Hiss!!!"

The system interface in his mind transmitted a familiar message.

Not Lena's direct consciousness, but through some relay node.

Very likely a message sent by a snake bug that had long hidden underground:

System Translation: 【Nest……attacked……destroyed……severe injury……escape……Deep Fault……coordinate……concealment……】

The message cut off abruptly, Lena's signal completely disappeared.

But it was enough.

Lena was still alive! She had escaped!

Although severely injured, although the nest was destroyed, she had escaped!

A huge, survivor's exhaustion instantly swept over Lin En.

He let out a long, trembling breath, his whole body going limp on the floor, forehead pressed against the cold metal door panel, closing his eyes.

As long as she was alive, that was good.

That night, he did not close his eyes again.

When Cassius Squad returned to the outpost, the Mechanical Priest had already completed the final analysis of all monitoring data of Lin En during and after the assault.

The report was cold, detailed, and indisputable:

One, time highly correlated: at the key node when the Veteran Squad launched the assault, broke through the nest's outer defense, and triggered the violent internal explosion of the nest.

Lin En's physiological monitoring data (heart rate, blood pressure, adrenaline level, brain wave) all appeared synchronous, violent abnormal fluctuations.

Two, behavioral abnormality evidence: immediately following the physiological abnormality, monitoring showed Lin En waking in shock from a suspected sleep state.

Appearing instinctive actions under extreme panic, then forcibly suppressing himself within a short time, falling into a long-term anxious stillness state.

This behavior pattern closely matches the psychological behavior model of "learning that a close associate has suffered a sudden assault."

Three, signal recaptured: shortly after the assault ended and the target escaped, the Biological Detector deployed outside Lin En's Apartment.

It captured that familiar "Insect Race Signal" appearing with a brief fluctuation, then rapidly weakening and retreating into the distance.

At this time, Lin En's physiological data showed a second fluctuation, manifesting as him relaxing from a tense state.

The final conclusion of the report was marked by the Mechanical Priest in bold Binary Code:

It can be determined that the monitored target Lin En Ke'er Wa Na has some kind of unknown connection with the code-named "Abnormal Insect Race Individual Alpha."

Recommend immediate arrest, isolation, and Deep Interrogation and Purification Assessment.

Early morning the next day.

Lin En, whose face was as pale as paper, with sunken eye sockets and eyes full of spiderweb-like bloodshot veins, got up from bed.

He forced himself to swallow the tasteless Nutrient Paste, tidied his Patrol Officer Uniform, and tried to maintain a trace of his usual, slightly fatigued seriousness on his face.

Before he had finished washing up, an emergency notification from the Son of Medusa came from outside the door.

He knew he could not escape, calmly put on his clothes, and followed the staff member to the Son of Medusa's Outpost.

When he walked into the Outpost Hall, he found the atmosphere even more stagnant than before.

Ordinary Workers and Low-ranking Officers all kept their distance from the Core Area, their gazes shifting.

An ice cold, oppressive feeling of an impending storm permeated the air.

A Medusa's Son Warrior stopped him, saying in a voice without any inflection:

"The Officer is waiting for you in the Warehouse."

Lin En's Expression was blank.

What was coming would always come.

He nodded, following the Warrior toward that familiar, spacious and ice cold Warehouse.

The Warehouse Gate closed heavily behind him, isolating all Sound from the External World.

Under the pale Industrial Light, Cassius had his back to him, standing in the center of the Warehouse.

This time he was not wearing a Helmet; his Bald Head, covered with fine scars and embedded with three dim Service Nails, gleamed with a cold hardness like Steel under the light.

Lin En's footsteps paused at the Doorway, feeling as if all the blood in his body was about to Freeze at this moment.

Cassius Slowly Turned Around.

His pair of gray eyes were like two Stubborn Stones tempered in Cold Space, without any Temperature, without any Emotion, directly and without obstruction piercing toward Lin En.

The Gaze was sharp as if it wanted to peel away his Skin, Muscle, and Bone.

As if it wanted to directly examine the Fear and Secret hidden in his Inner Heart.

The Warehouse was filled with Silence.

Only the regular Humming of the Ceiling Fan rotating on the Ceiling, like the Second Hand of a countdown, struck against Lin En's tense Nerves.

A few Seconds of silence, long as a century.

Then Cassius spoke.

His voice was still steady and low, but this time carried a trace of bone-piercing Coldness:

"Dear Inspector Lin,"

He Paused, his deep blue Eyeballs locking onto Lin En's somewhat Pale Face.

"When do you plan to hide it from us?"