Chapter 45

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

"It hurts so much."

Unknown how long passed before Lin En slowly awoke from the intense pain.

Every bone in his body felt as if it had been taken apart and reassembled, every breath bringing a heart-piercing ache.

The blood traces remaining in his seven orifices had long since dried, forming dark blood scabs.

The only thing that gave him a trace of safety was the rending claw he gripped tightly in his hand.

The icy, hard touch allowed his confused consciousness to become slightly clearer.

He opened his eyes with difficulty, his vision still blurry; after a long while, his pupils barely managed to focus.

It was only then that he discovered what he held was actually just an empty shell of a rending claw.

"Lena!" Lin En's heart tightened, and anxiously he wanted to struggle to his feet to search for her.

But his body would not obey; the moment he moved, a wave of intense pain came, making him suck in a sharp breath.

Just then, a dark shadow slowly descended from above, landing before him.

It was Lena.

Seeing who had come, Lin En lay back down, no longer struggling to rise.

At this moment, Lena's body had recovered considerably, the cracks on her body basically healed.

New carapace was slowly growing, and psyker fluctuations had become stable once more.

After killing Cassius, she too had fallen into a short sleep due to her injuries.

But the recovery ability of a mid-tier Bug Race individual far surpassed that of humans, and she woke before Lin En.

Upon waking, she saw Lin En clutching his old rending claw tightly, refusing to let go.

Unwilling to disturb his sleep, she actively shed her damaged old claw, leaving it in place to keep Lin En company.

She herself first went to devour the remaining Bug Race, Space Marine wreckage, and other high-quality biomass in the incubation pool to quickly replenish energy and repair her body.

"Have those Astartes gene-seeds been dealt with?"

Lin En recovered for a while, then asked, his voice hoarse and dry.

Lena nodded slightly, a trace of complex light flashing in her eyes, transmitting information to Lin En via spirit link:

【Cannot be directly absorbed; its gene sequence contains divinity factors, exceeding my current analytical ability.

Temporarily stored within my body by special means, awaiting subsequent evolution; once possessing analytical ability,

it can be edited, its gene fragments fused, to cultivate stronger combat units.】

Lin En nodded, understanding clearly in his heart.

Medusa's Sons, as a sub-regiment of the Iron Hand, had gene-seeds containing gene fragments of Primarch Marus Ferrus.

For the Bug Race, powerful evolution material often came with high analytical difficulty; it could only be left for later.

Lena extended her intact rending claw, carefully helping Lin En up, her movements gentle to a degree utterly mismatched with her hideous appearance.

Lin En relied on Lena's body, barely steadying his footsteps, and looked around.

The entire Abyss Incubation Pool was a scene of devastation.

Charred fungal carpet, shattered power armor, Bug Race remains, collapsed metal supports, and the smell of smoke still lingered in the air.

He took a deep breath, clearly knowing that although this battle had ended,

the trouble was far from over.

Leaning against Lena, his brain operated quickly as he began to sort out the current situation.

Inferring in reverse whether Cassius's side had left any hidden dangers.

First, it could be affirmed that the system's secret had absolutely not been exposed.

He had tried more than once before to record matters related to the system, or to inform others.

But each time the system forcibly corrected his actions; when recording, his hands would not obey, and words on the tip of his tongue could not be spoken, and so on.

It was fundamentally impossible to reveal any information related to the system to the external world.

Cassius also absolutely could not know the truth of the system; at most he would attribute it to some strange ability from the Warp.

And certainly, like him, he could not inform the external world of the system's existence.

Second, regarding whether Cassius had transmitted information about him and Lena to the external world, Lin En's judgment was "no."

After Lena's evolution, her perception ability of the Warp had greatly increased.

Previously, she had also observed the phenomenon of Warp turbulence around this planet.

Communication between Medusa's Sons Squad and headquarters would inevitably be interfered with.

The entire squad, from ambush to near death, had not even had time to record anything.

And after the temporary outpost was wiped out, no one could report the situation here.

Even if headquarters truly sent people afterward, they probably wouldn't find him in a short while.

Medusa's Sons headquarters probably still believed Cassius Squad was carrying out a mission.

They probably still did not know Cassius Squad had been wiped out.

After all, for a hive world not yet fully invaded by Tyranids, the threat to Space Marines was not great.

As for the Tribunal, Lin En was not worried either.

As a member of the Son of Medusa, Cassius considered sheltering a Heretic an unforgivable blasphemy.

Even if he were still alive, he would never voluntarily reveal a single word to the Tribunal, let alone now that he was dead.

Besides, anyone with sense knew the Tribunal were pure double-standard dogs; it was best not to provoke them unless necessary.

So the Tribunal would not notice the abnormality here in the short term, nor would they turn their sights on themselves.

Finally, there was the Necromunda local government.

Officials of the Legal Affairs Department and the checkpoints were either bribed or silenced, and the Lower Hive Citizen assault ended with all members sacrificed, leaving no evidence.

Even if the government really grew suspicious of this matter, he could find a way to stall them first.

His weight in the Lower Hive was not as simple as merely being an Investigator.

If anyone really dared to come to the Lower Hive to investigate him, then he would not be blamed for being impolite.

Although the most urgent crisis had been resolved, Lin En's heart felt not the slightest relaxation.

Any one of the several things he was doing now was enough to have him bound to a Penitent Engine for the rest of his life.

Sheltering Xenos, illegal smuggling, intentional murder of a Space Marine, inciting the crowd to launch a large-scale assault.

The target of the assault was a Space Marine Outpost.

Of course, the most serious was that the Xenos he sheltered nearly wiped out an entire Space Marine Squad (9-0, record verifiable).

Before long, the Son of Medusa headquarters would notice the abnormality and dispatch an investigation squad to Necromunda.

Once the investigation squad discovered the traces here, they would surely launch a mad revenge.

They might even directly request the Empire issue an Extermination Order to completely destroy this Planet, clearing the threat of Heretics and Xenos.

Moreover, even without the Son of Medusa's revenge, the arrival of the Bug Race was only a matter of time.

The very existence of the Abyss Incubation Pool meant the Bug Race had already taken root on this Planet.

Even if Cassius and them had struck many Bug Race Outposts, they could not stop the Bug Race's Spread.

Before long, this Planet would be completely Devoured by the Bug Race and become a dead Silence Planet.

Lin En looked up at the hole in the top of the Incubation Pool; outside the hole it remained dim and lightless.

He clenched his Fist and made a decision in his heart.

Running away had to be put on the agenda.

He had to take Lena away from Necromunda before the Son of Medusa's revenge arrived or the Bug Race Fleet descended.

Find a new hiding place; otherwise, all that awaited them was Destruction.