harleyscars Page 91
Page 91
He's probably dead.
Lin Qi looked at that person and thought to himself.
Evelyn also deduced that this person was a member of the Dark Mechanicus by the red robe he was wearing.
Lynch was both surprised and unsurprised by the emergence of the Dark Mechanicus. He was surprised because the operation was kept secret, and he didn't believe that Grand Sage Caul would betray the Empire and leak information. He wasn't surprised because although the Dark Mechanicus had betrayed the Mechanicus, the two still shared many common goals, such as their fanaticism for STC, a trait that was consistent between the Empire and Chaos.
Finding this place using unrestricted psychic prophecy within the subspace is not an impossible task.
It's quite obvious that these members of the Dark Mechanicus encountered something that caused them to be utterly defeated, though they shouldn't have been completely wiped out.
"Let's keep going and take a look ahead."
Lin Qi looked at the head of the original casting and spoke.
Yuan Zhuzhi remained silent for three seconds, then nodded.
The group continued their journey deeper into the canyon. Along the way, all they could see were bare rock walls and endless yellow sand. The leader of the Primal Forge even used psionic energy to recreate the scene once again.
This time, they saw members of the Dark Mechanicus running around in a panic, as if some ferocious beast was chasing them.
Lin Qi remained silent, but became increasingly wary of his surroundings.
How far are we from the entrance to the ruins?
Yuan Zhuzhi glanced at the map and then gave his answer.
"One kilometer."
"accelerate."
His pace quickened noticeably, and he covered the kilometer in just two minutes. But here, Lynch saw no "gateway," only bare rock walls and yellow sand.
However, the Forged Leader had clearly anticipated this situation. He glanced at Evelyn and said something to her in the channel. Then, the fighter soldier started operating. It raised its arm, and the machine gun barrel on its back began to rotate. The next moment, a metal storm poured out and slammed hard into the rock wall on the left.
The rocks cracked and broke into countless fragments. The fighter soldiers' destructive actions undoubtedly caused a huge commotion. The remaining three remained on high alert, guarding against any potential danger.
But five minutes later, when the fighter pilots had completed their mission, nothing had happened.
A steel gate appeared before her, and Evelyn immediately walked up to it. She searched for the interface, and after confirming it, she inserted one of her tentacles into it without hesitation.
"password."
A message emerged from the sea of data and entered Evelyn's brain.
"114514."
Evelyn entered the code she had recently deciphered. The sea of data remained silent for a moment, then issued a command.
"Password correct, you can enter."
The steel gate opened, revealing a downward passage. The three exchanged a glance, and ultimately decided to let the fighter pilots lead the way.
The steel gate closed automatically, and the rock walls on both sides began to writhe as if they were alive. Soon, the gaps in the rock walls that had been damaged by the fighter soldiers disappeared, and they looked exactly the same as they had not long ago.
The three of them entered the ruins together, and at this moment, in the void, the great sage Kaul's expression suddenly turned gloomy.
The signal disappeared.
In fact, Kaul was not surprised by the disappearance of the signal. After all, it was a relic of a dark age of technology, and there were things inside that even he could not easily understand.
Now, something else has darkened his expression.
Where did these warships come from?
“Great Sage, according to our judgment, they should only be one day ahead of us, however…”
Before the subordinate in charge of the report could finish speaking, Kaul reached out and interrupted him. He sighed, looking at the void before him and the remnants floating in the void, speechless for a moment.
Shortly after Lynch and his group were sent down, the Explorer King and her escort ships suddenly encountered a fleet that appeared out of nowhere.
This fleet is not particularly strong; in fact, Caul might even describe it as weak. Yet, it is precisely this kind of fleet that has managed to challenge Caul's nerves.
This is a fleet from Chaos, and their old adversary, the Dark Mechanicus.
Inside the Dark Mechanicus, he also saw a strike cruiser that, judging from its attire, belonged to the Black Legion.
Without a doubt, the Dark Mechanicus and the Black Legion, who arrived a day earlier, had already gone down. Although their progress in exploring the ruins was unknown, they would definitely encounter Lynch in the future.
This is very bad. After being reminded of Lin Qi's special nature by the Emperor, Kaul knew what would happen if Lin Qi were truly exposed to the entire galaxy's view.
Almost everyone has their own regrets, and Lynch's abilities are basically capable of resolving these regrets. Toys discarded in childhood, homework abandoned in adolescence, a diary discarded in adulthood…
Even those who should have died, those who never existed.
The galaxy will become lively, with humans, chaos, Eldar, and even the Terrans.
And the green-skinned people will probably come over because of this gathering and get involved in the scheme.
However, given the current situation, we are now on the verge of disaster and have no choice but to act.
Kaul sighed. He wasn't actually that worried about the safety of the three below. A few Dark Mechanicus members and Black Legion veterans were hardly a challenge for a fully armed exploration team.
"Hope everything is alright."
Kaul turned around and whispered.
"You should seek help from outside sources."
One of his servants spoke up, as always.
"Seek help? No."
Kaul looked at the servant and rejected his judgment.
"What we're doing right now is not something to be told to outsiders. If we ask for help now, it would be fine if it's a warband that's on good terms with me, but if it's..."
"What is it? The dark angels who have been hunting down fallen angels here recently?"
"I suggest you don't say that word. The other me."
Kaul sighed, looked at the servant, and said helplessly.
The one controlling the servant's speech at this moment is one of his creations, something absolutely rejected within the current empire. It is called "Degraded Caul," in other words, an AI that imitates Caul's thought process and will provide Caul with advice at certain times.
Some of these suggestions were useful, and some were not, but Kaul didn't care. After all, the purpose of creating and degrading Kaul was to create a mirror for himself, so that he could examine himself and maintain his persona as a genius and a madman.
Kaul walked through the corridor. Unlike the others, Kaul, who walked on the Explorer King, never needed a guide.
As the owner of this mechanical ark, Caul was already very familiar with most of its internal structure. There were only some forbidden areas, and even if he entered them, he would delete the relevant memories after each exit.
Fortunately, that's not necessary today.
The area he was heading to was particularly remote and heavily guarded. Caul traversed several vast, silent halls. He came to an inconspicuous door with a strangely shaped elevator inside: long and round, it resembled Caul's cocoon, half-human, half-insect form. Clamps secured his feet. Gravity stiffened around the elevator, suddenly pushing him downwards. He had the illusion of increased weight.
Then it began to fall.
It was a long descent, three hundred decks flashing by. The reversal of gravity and the subsequent deceleration were brutal. A handful of natural organs remained within their fluid sacs.
A soft chime rang out, signaling that Caul had arrived at his destination.
Another servant appeared, still controlled by the degraded Caul, but this time it didn't speak, just silently followed behind Caul.
The two walked through the corridor and arrived at a large door. The secondary machine spirit in charge of the search spoke, its voice cold and ruthless.
"Provide authentication."
"Belissau Coul".
Kaul placed one hand on the door, and then the secondary machine spirit remained silent for three seconds before speaking again.
"Identification confirmed. Great Sage Belisarius Caul. Prepare for subspace scan. Initiate subspace scan."
A crimson beam of energy flickered around Caul, piercing his flesh and sweeping towards his soul. His own security measures were even more stringent than those he had installed on the Primarch's terminal. Caul was arrogant, but not arrogant enough to believe that his identity was as difficult to conceal as that of a demigod.
But his soul is unique, or rather, everyone's soul is unique.
"Scan successful. Welcome, Sage Caldwell."
The door slid open, revealing 20 glass jars containing 20 carefully selected heads of Star Speakers. With a more empathetic mindset, Caul reassured himself that at least two of them had volunteered for the job.
Kaul stepped forward and started the machine.
The machine roared to life, and the forbidden technology inside began to work. The Star Speaker's brain began to tremble, as if he were under pressure that was not his own.
The next second, a blue light appeared, indicating that the machine had started successfully.
Kaul breathed a sigh of relief, and then gave his orders to the machine.
"I need to contact Terra."
he whispered.
I need to take a day off (not for surgery, I have an exam tomorrow).
I have a linear algebra exam tomorrow morning, so I need to review today.
I'm free tomorrow afternoon, so I'll write 10,000 words a day and catch up on the two days of missed updates.
(It's not even finals week yet and I already have tons of exams... I'm so busy climbing around)
Chapter 117 Hammer and Dungeon
Upon entering the passage, the open door closed automatically and quickly disappeared behind us.
"Communications have been cut off."
“It’s alright, keep going. Caul is very alert. He will help us if necessary.”
".......good."
Time flew by, and the three of them walked through the long corridor. According to the records and prompts from their equipment systems, they had already walked for three Terran hours, but they still hadn't seen the end of the road. If it weren't for the fact that two of the team members possessed powerful psionic abilities, they would have seriously doubted whether they had been cursed by a powerful Chaos Wizard without their knowledge.
Lin Qi strode forward, and in three hours, according to the power armor's system analysis, they had traveled from the surface to a depth of twelve kilometers underground.
However, according to the system's analysis, the road ahead of him, at least three kilometers away, was surrounded by the same environment as what he could see now—bright silver corridors and walls, ceilings inlaid with fluorescent tubes emitting dazzling white light, and nothing more than an endless corridor ahead.
Lynch stopped, took a deep breath, and looked at the Forged Leader and Evelyn beside him, who were also silent. He knew he couldn't continue like this.
They discovered traces of the Dark Mechanicus outside, but saw no members of the Dark Mechanicus. They may have been wiped out for some reason, but there is another possibility.
They solved the problem and, without a password, successfully devised a way to enter the ruins.
If that's the case, then what about those who came in?