Warhammer Survival Guide

Chapter 40 Fortune Lies in Peril

"Wh...what?"

"I said, ram it," Rowe repeated. "Father Alpha gave our truck 'new teeth,' and now it's time to feed it."

The Chimera troop carrier at the head of the convoy suddenly accelerated.

The roar of the engine drowned out the buzzing of the flies.

The bio-armor plates of the "Wall of Gluttony" seemed to sense the impending feast.

The purplish-red granulation tissue on the surface began to throb wildly.

Several thick metal barbs spread out like a Venus flytrap.

Before the zombies' dulled senses could react to the storm of steel, they were smashed into a shower of flying pieces of flesh by the violent impact.

"Bang!"

A dull, loud bang.

The front of the chimera crashed violently into the horde of zombies.

At that moment, there was no crisp sound of metal striking flesh.

Instead, it was a chewing sound that sent chills down your spine.

Lo Wei's vision was very clear.

The black pus and blood that splattered onto the front armor were quickly absorbed by the biometal, like water seeping into a sponge.

Several barbs precisely pierced a bloated zombie blocking the road, hanging it on the front of the car like a piece of cured meat.

The zombie was still struggling.

However, the highly acidic digestive fluid secreted from the armor plating quickly enveloped it.

In just a few seconds, the virus-filled body quickly shriveled up, turning into a pool of black liquid that nourished the metallic patterns on the armor plate, making the dark luster even deeper.

Inside the vehicle, several new recruits, seeing such a scene for the first time, turned pale, and some couldn't help but gag.

"Watch it." Rowe's voice echoed through the communication channel, cold and rational. "This is how you survive on this planet. Either eat people, or be eaten. If you don't want to become part of that black water, hold your guns tight."

The convoy rolled over the wreckage, its tracks covered in sticky biomass, and continued toward the gray horizon.

……

An hour later, the outline of the fourth grain depot came into view.

It was less a granary and more a massive industrial graveyard.

Dozens of spherical oil storage tanks, some hundreds of meters high, stand on the barren land.

They were originally supposed to be painted bright red as a warning, to indicate danger.

But now, most of the cans are covered with grayish-green mold.

Some of them are already broken.

The black chromium flowed down the walls of the tank, pooling on the ground to form highly toxic lakes.

It's so quiet here.

It lacks the cacophony characteristic of filthy creatures—

There was no buzzing of flies.

There was no howling of the walkers.

Even the whistling of the wind through the ruins sounded hollow.

This silence made Lowe uneasy.

He subconsciously touched the lead box on his chest; the amulet fragments inside were only slightly warm, not as scalding as when he encountered a large group of demons.

"Attention all units, stop your vehicles and disperse in defensive formation."

Lowe gave the order.

The convoy stopped on a high ground about 500 meters from the oil tank area.

Five modified trucks quickly turned around, concealing the vulnerable tanker truck bed on the inside.

The two Chimeras, positioned on the left and right, formed the support points for the crossfire.

"Buck, take two squads and come with me to scout. The rest of you stay put and keep watch. Father Alpha, you'll monitor the radar."

Lowe jumped out of the car, his boots sinking into the soft, humus-covered soil.

He tightened his trench coat and carried a bomb pistol in his hand, which had been "blessed" by Father Alpha.

Dozens of new recruits followed behind him, trembling with fear.

They wore ill-fitting shell armor, looking like skinny monkeys trapped in shells.

Only the laser rifles in their hands could provide them with a meager sense of security.

"Listen up, all of you." Luo Wei said in a deep voice, his gaze sweeping over the rookies. "I don't expect you to hit the bullseye every time; that's for veterans."

"If we encounter the enemy, you only need to do one thing: form a wall of light. Dozens of guns firing at once, even if they're blind, will scald the enemy. Anyone who dares to run away, I'll stuff them into the armored truck's front and use them as fertilizer."

The recruits swallowed hard and nodded earnestly.

Using the abandoned pipes as cover, the group made their way toward the nearest oil storage tank.

The closer you get to the core area, the more unsettling the quiet becomes.

Traces of battle were visible everywhere on the ground.

It was obviously left behind by the garrison a few days ago.

The Sentinel mech, corroded to the point of being nothing but a skeleton.

Charred sandbags.

There were also laser gun batteries scattered all over the ground.

Strangely, however, there weren't many corpses here.

Both the garrison and the filthy walking corpses were nowhere to be seen.

"Advisor, look at this," Buck said nervously, crouching in front of a valve.

Luo Wei walked over, his expression hardening.

A head.

They are carriers of the Negroid plague.

These low-level demons possess exceptionally strong vitality.

Even if half of its body is blown off by a bomb, the remaining rotten flesh can still continue to attack.

However, the head in front of me was completely dead.

Its cut is incredibly smooth.

It's like being instantly severed by some extremely hot single-molecule blade.

As a result, not much fluid flowed out of the wound.

The cut surface has a strange, charred appearance.

This wound was not caused by a laser gun, which would leave a burned pit.

It's not a bomb either, as bombs would blast the target to pieces.

"Too clean," Buck said in a low voice, a hint of fear flashing in his one eye. "Like it was cut with a scalpel."

Luo Wei stood up and looked around.

He discovered these traces everywhere.

On the thick, fine gold pipe, there were several deep claw marks, and the cuts gleamed with a bluish light from the fatigue of the metal.

On the wreckage of an overturned Leman Russ main battle tank, a large hole was neatly cut through the side armor.

The crew members inside had vanished without a trace, leaving only an empty cockpit.

"Case," Rowe called softly, opening the communicator.

"I'm here, advisor."

"Rescan for that unknown signal."

"The signal source is right beneath your feet, about thirty meters underground in the pipe network layer," Case's server reported. "The waveform characteristics are clearer than before. It's a bio-pulse, with a very 'sharp' frequency."

Sharp biological pulses.

Several entries from the Empire's "Alien Threat Manual" flashed quickly through Rowe's mind.

It is not chaos.

Filth is decay and rebirth.

Khorne is rage and bloodshed.

Treachery is about change and transformation.

Slaanesh is an overload of the senses.

This style is ruthless, efficient, secretive, and enjoys hunting in the shadows...

Gene thieves!

It could also be a pioneer species of some kind of Tyranid.

They lurk in the shadows of the ruins, like patient miners, digging and infiltrating little by little until they devour the entire planet.

"Damn it," Rowe cursed inwardly.

This is even more troublesome than encountering a nest of filthy zombies.

Although the filthy forces are disgusting, they are slow, noisy, and easily suppressed by heavy firepower.

Gene stealers are natural assassins, moving so fast they are difficult to detect with the naked eye.

"Advisor, should we withdraw?"

Buck seemed to sense something was wrong, and gripped the bomb gun with some tension.

"Withdraw? Where to?" Luo Wei sneered. "Going back empty-handed means certain death in a couple of days."

"Since they didn't attack us immediately, it means there aren't many of them yet, or they might be busy with something else."

Lovi looked at the giant oil storage tank.

The level gauge above indicates that there are at least 300 tons of chromium remaining inside.

Fortune favors the bold.

Lowe made a quick decision.

"Buck, have the recruits set up a perimeter around the pump station. Turn on all the searchlights, leave no blind spots. These things like shadows."

"Alfa, connect the oil pump. Forget the complicated filtration process, just pump! As long as it burns, it's fine! I need to fill five trucks in twenty minutes!"

"Yes, ma'am."

At Luo Wei's command, the once quiet ruins instantly became noisy.

High-powered searchlights pierced the dim fog, illuminating the area around the pumping station as if it were daytime.

The new recruits stood back to back in a circle, nervously staring at the dark pipe openings around them.

Father Alpha moved with astonishing speed.

Several thick oil pipes were forcibly inserted into the interface of the oil storage tank.

With the hum of an overloaded motor, black liquid gold began to gush into the truck's fuel tank.

One minute.

five minutes.

ten minutes.

Every second seemed to stretch on forever.

Rowe kept staring at the pocket watch in his hand, while his other hand gripped the explosive pistol tightly.

"Advisor, the first vehicle is full."

"Change cars, and do it quickly!"

Just as the second vehicle was connected to the fuel line, something unexpected happened.

Clang!

A crisp metallic clanging sound came from the left side of the defensive line.

A new recruit cried out in terror, "Who? Who's there?"

All the searchlights instantly focused on it.

However, there was nothing there.

There was only one suspended pipe that was still swaying slightly.

"Don't panic!" Buck yelled. "Keep formation!"

"laugh."

A dark shadow fell from the sky without warning.

It was so fast, as fast as a purple lightning bolt.

A new recruit on the outskirts was tackled to the ground by the dark figure before he could even scream.

Then came the sound of bones cracking.

The recruit's head was crushed instantly by an arm with four sharp claws, just like a rotten watermelon.

Blood splattered on the face of his comrade next to him.

"Aaaaaah, monster!"

Fear spread rapidly.

The recruits instinctively pulled the triggers.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle".

Dozens of red laser beams danced wildly in the darkness, most of them hitting the open ground, with only a few grazing the monster's body.

With the help of the laser beam, Lowe was able to see the monster's true form.

Similar to the upright human torso.

The skin has a sickly pale purple, shell-like appearance.

It has a hunched back and four arms.

At the ends of the two upper arms are sharp, sickle-shaped claws.

The two below have human-like hands and are grabbing the headless corpse, dragging it into the shadows.

The monster had no nose, only a pair of emotionless, pitch-black compound eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth.

Purebred gene stealer!