Warhammer: Rebuilding the Golden Age Starting with Farming

Chapter 37 Pureblood Chicken Thief

"Creak—"

The small submarine came to a stop with a series of gurgling sounds.

It arrived at a natural shallows of an underground river, with thick, dark green industrial sediment covering the surrounding rock walls.

Andy pushed open the hatch, and a wave of hot air, mixed with the smell of strong acid and decay, rushed in.

"That's enough for now."

Andy glanced back at the driver.

The mutant's hands had long since become fused with the joystick, and now he was staring blankly ahead with his murky eyes.

"Go back and tell Sisyphus and Gamma-9 not to send anyone to me unless I contact them personally."

After Andy finished speaking, he jumped directly onto the muddy shore.

The pilot didn't reply, but just made a gurgling sound in his throat before controlling the submarine to submerge.

As the bubbles surged, the dilapidated iron hull disappeared into the murky, acidic river.

Andy opened the STC's tactical scan interface.

Red radar waves spread across the retina.

This place is less than 100 meters directly below the Helios factory.

The surrounding radiation levels are soaring, a high-energy particle stream being released by the "Matter Molecular Reconstruction Instrument".

Even through the layers of rock and concrete foundation tens of meters thick, the purple energy still caused Andy's sensors to feel a stinging sensation.

But what made Andy even more uneasy was the feedback from the thermal imaging radar.

Previously, when he was above, he only detected a weak but stable red signal source.

But now, the area around that red dot is covered with dense red spots.

The number exceeds fifty.

Moreover, these signals are extremely unstable.

In the few seconds that Andy was staring at the screen, several of the red dots suddenly disappeared.

It's not the kind of gradual cooling and darkening that causes it to disappear; it's an instantaneous return to zero.

It was as if the heat source there had evaporated out of thin air.

Immediately afterwards, several new red dots emerged from the adjacent riverbed, filling the gap.

"What the hell?"

Andy frowned; this signal pattern did not conform to any conventional biological activity patterns.

Unless something is lining up to commit suicide, and dying extremely quickly and cleanly.

Andy activated the stealth mode of the machine, turning off all active light sources and leaving only the passive sensors on.

He followed the huge sewage pipe, groping his way towards the light source.

The further you go, the less moss there is on the pipe walls, replaced by a translucent purple crystal.

The crystals clung to the wall like mold, emitting a faint purple glow in the darkness.

Finally, Andy reached the end of the pipe.

Ahead was a huge underground cavity, which was originally a sedimentation tank used by the factory to discharge cooling water.

At this moment, the place was already brightly lit by that eerie purple light.

Andy hid behind a thick concrete pillar, peeking out half his head.

The next second, even though he was an iron man, his core logic was shaken.

Right in the center of the cavity, below the huge alloy valve that connects to the factory base above.

There was a monster standing there.

It is three meters tall, covered in a deep purple chitinous carapace, with four strong arms hanging down naturally, each hand bearing three claws that are half a meter long.

Its head is streamlined, with the back of its head extending backward.

Its head is bald, its eyes are very small and hidden, it has a big mouth full of fangs, and nostrils used to sense pheromones.

Pureblood gene stealer.

This is something those mixed-race, purple-skinned, bald guys can't compare to.

This is the purest killing weapon of the Tyranids, a master of infiltration warfare, and a top predator capable of tearing apart Terminator armor with its bare hands.

It stood there, like a purple statue of the Grim Reaper.

Around it, a group of bald men with purple skin were gathered.

These miners, who possess hybrid genes of humans and Zerg, are currently in an extremely frenzied state.

Armed with various rudimentary tools—crowbars, picks, and even their bare hands—they were frantically digging at the alloy valves overhead.

The valve itself had been hacked to pieces by the cunning thief, exposing the dense array of sharp crystals behind the door. Clearly, this was the passage leading to the core of the "Matter Molecular Reconstruction Instrument".

However, the purple light leaking from the gap in that valve was deadly in intensity.

Andy witnessed a bald man with purple skin, who was vigorously swinging a pickaxe, suddenly freeze in his tracks.

His skin instantly became transparent, and his blood vessels and muscles underwent a crystallization phase transition within fractions of a second.

"Click."

A crisp sound.

The bald man, still in the stance of swinging a pickaxe, transformed into a purple crystal sculpture.

The body's bio-thermal energy disappears instantly, which is why the red dot on the radar suddenly goes to zero.

This is not over yet.

The moment that bald head turned into crystal.

The pureblood gene stealer who hadn't moved an inch suddenly swung out an arm.

Without the slightest hesitation, and without the slightest pity.

"Bang!"

The worker, who had been transformed into crystal, was shattered by a single claw, turning into a cloud of purple dust.

The pureblooded chicken thief let out a low hissing growl.

The surface of the underground river below burst open with a splash.

Two new bald men with purple skin crawled out of the water, soaking wet, their eyes gleaming with fanaticism.

They immediately rushed forward, stepping over the dust of their companions, picked up the pickaxes from the ground, and continued their work.

Repeatedly.

They are risking their lives to fill that radiation pit, trying to dig a path to the black box by gnawing at bones like ants.

Andy looked at this scene with a bit of confusion.

This is very un-Tyron.

As is widely known, the Tyranids are cosmic locusts whose sole purpose is to devour biomass.

For the hive's will, all organic matter is a valuable resource.

They eat people, animals, and plants, and after they've eaten everything, they even suck the atmosphere away from you.

But they are never interested in metals and machinery.

But that "matter molecular reconstruction instrument," that is, that black box, is a purely inorganic creation.

Moreover, it is currently out of control, turning any nearby organisms into inedible silicate crystals.

For the Zerg, this thing is not only devoid of nutrition, but also a huge threat.

According to normal Zerg logic, they should stay far away from this thing, or try to blow it up.

But now, this purebred cunning scoundrel is actually ordering his subordinates to "die."

It consumes precious biomass in exchange for a path to inorganic matter.

Why?

What's the point?

Could there be something inside that machine that's attracting them?

Or is that black box not just an industrial machine, but also emitting some kind of signal that can interfere with the will of the insect hive?

Andy couldn't understand it.

All he knew was that these insects were behaving extremely abnormally.

An abnormality usually means huge trouble.

Andy's hand slowly reached towards his waist, where twenty specially made "chainsaw explosion beads" hung.

Whatever these bugs are up to, since they're blocking Andy's way to get his equipment, we just have to get rid of them.

Get started first!

Andy was calculating the distance.

Fifty meters.

For that purebred chicken thief, that distance was only about a second of sprint time.

He had to kill the big one or restrain its movements as soon as possible.

Just as Andy locked onto his target and was about to throw the first explosive ball...

The pureblood gene stealer who had been facing away from him suddenly stopped giving instructions.

Its bald, wrinkled head suddenly turned 180 degrees.

Genestealers possess powerful psychic senses, enabling them to detect the slightest disturbances in their surroundings, even the gaze of an enemy.

"hiss--!!!"

A piercing shriek echoed throughout the underground cavity.

The purple-skinned bald man who was working suddenly threw down his tools, turned around, and dozens of pairs of dead fish eyes stared intently at the pillar where Andy was hiding.

exposed!

Without saying a word, Andy jumped out from behind the pillar and fully activated the hydraulics of his right arm.

"Whoosh—!!!"

The chainsaw explosion bead transformed into a black lightning bolt, heading straight for the pureblood chicken thief's face.

"Here you go! This is a New Year's gift!"