Chapter 30: Warhammer: What Do You Mean You Conquered the Bug Race

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

The battle with the "Bishop" was over.

The large Genestealer outpost deep in the Fault Zone had now become a ruin of steel and flesh still smoking with charred fumes.

Cassius stood on a "high ground" piled from collapsed alloy beams and solidified Bug Race carapace remains, relatively higher than the surroundings.

The surface of his Iron Knight Terminator Armor was covered with new traces left by battle.

Several deep Bone Blade scratches, large patches of discoloration corroded by acidic bodily fluids, and charring burned by energy weapons.

The white markings of the Magra Clan on his shoulder armor were still conspicuous, though the edges were stained with green blood.

He did not leave as usual, but was thinking about something atop the ruins.

This brief, almost "trance-like" state was extremely rare for Cassius.

Since that night in the warehouse, when he had that absurd conversation with Lin En that made him nauseous.

And after that overbearing mysterious power forcibly invaded his consciousness.

He felt that something had changed.

Not a physical change.

The Power Armor's self-check system and the accompanying Mechanical Priest's scans confirmed that his physiological indicators, neural reactions, and even his Gene-seed condition were all normal.

The change occurred in a deeper place—his "consciousness."

His "thought patterns," honed by three hundred years of harsh training and the Iron Hands Creed into something like a precision instrument.

Some long-forgotten, deliberately suppressed "emotion fragments," deemed "inefficient" and "harmful."

Like ancient giant beasts sealed deep in glaciers, under the impact of that external force.

Began to quietly thaw and revive.

At this moment, standing atop the ruins, a trace of extreme faintness, a weariness that should not belong to an Astartes warrior.

Like cold fine rain, brushed across his consciousness.

Not physical weariness, but some deeper "weariness"?

Immediately afterward, several blurry, dim "memory images" flashed without warning in the depths of his mind.

That seemed to be from very long ago, when he was still a mortal.

"She"...

The image stopped abruptly.

Like a precise firewall being triggered.

The cold will of centuries of creed indoctrination, thought admonition, and self-shaping from the Iron Hands War Group.

Instantly crushed those "weak" fragments into powder, re-sealing them into the deepest layer of consciousness.

Under Cassius's helmet, his deep blue eyes regained absolute coldness and clarity.

But a crack almost imperceptible had already been left on that steel-like mental fortress.

He began to think, using his logic-processor-like brain, to coldly analyze all recent abnormalities.

"Lin En's recent behavior is somewhat abnormal."

In fact, when Cassius linked together the cleanup reports of recent small Genestealer dens, pheromone flow analysis, and psychic background fluctuation data.

And finally precisely located this "Bishop" hideout, he had already guessed.

This was probably Lin En's deliberate guidance.

That mortal was not omnipotent and omniscient; the intelligence he provided always carried a "just enough" precision.

As if carefully controlling the dosage and direction of information.

This "following the vine to find the melon" was too smooth, instead carrying a deliberate flavor.

But the contradiction was that Lin En himself was currently busy investigating that Chaos Cult, appearing engaged and "harried."

He no longer deliberately avoided contact with Medusa's Sons Squad as in the early days of cooperation.

Instead began to "openly" recover the Xenos remains left behind after their battles.

Although most were still as usual converted into "money" through smuggling means.

This "broken pot, broken smash" frankness formed a sharp contrast with the earlier caution of walking on thin ice.

"What exactly does this person want to do?"

Cassius's thoughts turned to another key point.

"Abnormal Node Alpha."

About three Standard Days ago, their tracking signal for Alpha completely disappeared.

Not death, but as if completely merged into background noise, or entered some Deep Concealment State.

The Mechanical Priest's most sensitive detector could not capture any effective traces.

A mortal could establish a stable "cooperation relationship" with the Tyranids, the "mortal enemy of all life," theoretically completely unable to communicate.

Only possessing instincts of devouring and destruction.

This itself challenged all Imperial biology, xenology, and common sense.

Cassius had to link this with the "mysterious power" on Lin En.

That power was absolutely not any known form of psychic power.

It had no nauseating Corruption Aura of the Warp, nor did it resemble the pure God Emperor Holy Power.

Could some new Evil God of peculiar nature have been gestating in the depths of the Warp?

The thought made Cassius himself feel a trace of absurdity.

But he tried to record down everything about Lin En, about that power, and about the inescapable Binding Sensation and strange emotions in his own consciousness.

He even tried to hint at a trace of it to the accompanying Mechanical Priest or the squad members.

Yet he could not.

Whenever such a thought arose, that Pink Power lurking in the depths of his consciousness would quietly surge.

Forming an invisible Mental Shackle, forcibly suppressing his urge to express himself.

Disrupting his logic organization, and even making related memory fragments become blurry and unclear.

It did not allow him to "leak."

He had also considered whether he should report everything that happened here, especially Lin En, this extremely dangerous Variable, to the Children of Medusa Sub-chapter Headquarters, or even to the Iron Hand War Group.

But recently the Warp Turbulence near Necromunda was abnormally active.

Message transmission was extremely difficult, and reports sent to the War Group Headquarters all ended in failure.

Time also seemed to be on Lin En's side.

All thoughts flashed through Cassius's mind, but in reality only zero point several seconds had passed.

He abruptly raised his head, his gaze beneath the helmet sharp as a Blade, sweeping over the members conducting Battlefield Assessment and Sample Collection in an orderly manner in the Ruins.

There was no time to waste on meaningless Confusion.

The threat must be eliminated, the Quest must continue!

"Collect all valuable Biological Samples, mark Psychic Residue areas, prepare to evacuate."

His voice came out through the Amplifier, steady, ice cold, beyond question.

Lin En also naturally keenly noticed Cassius's deepening suspicion.

Through the system's subtle link, and his observation of this Side-route Capture Target's behavior patterns.

He could sense the strange emotions beneath that Bald Officer's calm surface.

That guy must now be madly analyzing, trying to figure out exactly what Medicine was being sold in his Gourd.

But Lin En believed Cassius absolutely could not imagine that his own plan would be so mad.

But Lin En believed Cassius absolutely never imagined his own plan would be so mad.