40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 723 15. Catching the Eagle (Part )

Shouzhu knew that he had probably lived for more than a thousand years.

This conclusion came from his conjecture. After all, Kaul had never revealed his exact age to him, but Shouzhu was very observant.

Although he spent most of his time sleeping in stasis fields or cold nutrient tanks, he still caught some details from Cawl - the changes in his red robes, his face getting older, and a few more pairs of appendages on his back.
In addition, there is the huge laboratory on Sosa, located deep in the mountains. At first, it was not what it was later, and many places were relatively primitive. Caul only placed some of his experimental instruments.

The change happened suddenly. Shouzhu just fell asleep a few more times, and when he woke up, he found that everything was completely turned upside down.

He has no real sense of the passage of time, but still thinks that age is a very important thing, if for no other reason than that it is included in the huge and realistic framework of "how a person should view himself".

So, yes, he was probably a thousand years old, but he was also clueless, almost helpless, about the burning, cracking, shaking inferno that lay before him.

After realizing this, the First Cast found that he was calm. He was not angry, nor did he have the complicated emotions described in the book provided by Cawl after the "superiority of the Astartes" was exposed. He was still calm and clear-headed.

He understood better than anyone else what he needed to do now.

The First Cast stood up from his temporary resting place - a not particularly large rock - then leaped up and began to move.

The world beneath his feet was far from the prosperous and peaceful world a few hours ago. There was no laughter or blue sky here, only endless fire and heat, exploding smoke and cracked ground. A strong wind blew up from it, not cold, but with an indescribable high temperature, as if it really came from hell to destroy the world.

The Firstforge forced himself to look away from the horrific sight and focus on what he was about to do. He leaped, sometimes ran, or climbed, displaying an agility that was almost frightening.

Soon, he came to a larger fragment, which was probably a square or something similar in the past, and the ground was paved with white stone bricks. The hot and unreasonably thick smoke with a choking smell was escaping everywhere, and was constantly flying because of the movement of the First Casting.

He had already adapted to them. His physiological structure allowed him to be safe after just a few coughs when faced with such choking smoke. In this way, he rushed out of the smoke and came to the other end of the square, which was already crowded with people.

The distinctions between people were no longer clear, whether they were nobles, tourists, commoners or merchants a few hours ago, it no longer mattered. Most of them just hugged each other in fear, crying or screaming like animals acting only on instinct.

But there are still people here who are trying to keep calm and maintain order. The former are standing in the crowd to persuade each other to regain their sanity, while the latter are wearing special armor-coated shells unique to the Ministry of Justice and are comforting people under the leadership of a Ministry of Justice inspector.

There wasn't much they could do, but the style they displayed was very different from the usual style of the Ministry of Justice that Shouzhu had read about in books. They were not rude and were even taking simple medical measures for the injured.

The Inspector even raised his arms and shouted, announcing that the Emperor's Children and auxiliary troops on the Eagle's Wings would reach the ground within ten minutes, and they only needed to remain calm and they would be safe in the glory of the Emperor.
Shouzhu lost his patience after listening for a while. He could see that the inspector didn't believe what he said and only said it to calm people's hearts. However, he didn't think it was a good idea to stay on this fragment for too long.

So he made his voice heard.

"Inspector!" he cried.

The senior legal officer and his team turned quickly and were startled.

Shouzhu understood them. As he approached, he raised his hands to show that he was unarmed and said, "Excuse me, but stopping here and waiting for rescue is no different from waiting to die—"

He stopped suddenly.

Shouzhu saw a very obvious alertness on the inspector's face. It was only then that he realized that his image at the moment was probably not going to look very good.

His appearance was not friendly at all. His pale face, dark eyes and corpse-like purplish lips were very different from those of a normal person. Not to mention that he was covered in blood and there was smoke under his feet.

"Who are you?" the Overseer growled, gesturing to his squad. Half of his team turned around to continue maintaining order, while the other half raised their shotguns at the Firstcast.

They had no intention of opening fire, and many of them were even shaken by this incident. Their mouths exposed under the half-covered masks were tightly pursed.

Shouzhu saw these details, so he continued to raise his hands and calmly told a half-truth. He did not use a pseudonym, but said that he was a bodyguard of a nobleman, and that he was temporarily separated from the nobleman.
Shouzhu had never told any lies in the past, but he had already mastered the most advanced technique in this art - half-truth and half-lie - without any instruction.

Soon, the Inspector raised his hand again, asking his team members to put down their guns, and he slowly walked forward to the First Cast. He seemed to regard the First Cast's abnormal height as the effect of a transformation operation, and did not associate it with Astartes.

He finally stopped a few meters in front of Shouzhu. His posture had become more relaxed, but his right hand was still in a position ready to draw his gun and shoot at any time.

"I am Overseer Clay Goldun. By the Emperor, you are very tall. Where did you have your transformation surgery?"

"The Mechanicus," said the First Forge. "I have a small connection."

The Inspector smiled. This smile was drowned in sweat and fatigue, and seemed a little weak, but it was still a genuine smile.

"Everyone has connections these days, Anazion, but there aren't many people with connections as strong as yours. Forget it, I won't ask you how much you paid to have those red robes perform this level of transformation surgery on you. Anyway, on behalf of Chemos's Legal Department, I offer you a new job contract. Are you willing to accept it?"

"I will serve for free." "Excellent!" the Inspector praised. "You are more loyal than most people - wait, what are you going to do?"

His smile came to an abrupt end as Shouzhu's sudden run forward caught him off guard.

He had not expected that this big guy who suddenly appeared would have such a swift explosive power. That speed was beyond the scope of ordinary modified people, but he was able to draw his gun, turn around, and aim at the giant who was rushing towards his team and the crowd like a chariot with his years of training.
He wanted to shoot, at least he was ready to shoot, his finger was on the trigger of the grenade launcher - but he didn't shoot, even after the First Forge reached out and snatched up two heavy riot shields as he ran.

In the final analysis, there were similarities between him and Shouzhu. They both had sharp observation skills far beyond that of ordinary people. This ability allowed Shouzhu to see the movement of the huge vines before everyone else, and also made the Inspector change color in horror.

Along with the splashing juice, the scalding stench and the dark green mist, the surface of the vines was split open with countless dark holes. The sound was crisp and natural, no different from the creaking sound of trees growing, but it made everyone present instinctively feel a chill in their hearts.
And the chill soon turned into fear.

In front of everyone, countless dead people - former Chemos people - crawled out groaning from the vines that were as thick as stone pillars reaching the sky.

No one could tell what they had experienced, but no one wanted to talk about it, at least not the Inspector, who only wanted to order his squad to open fire.

He had never seen these things in person, but he knew exactly what they were.
Four and a half centuries ago, a battle between two Primarchs broke out at the edge of the Chemos Sector. The battle ended with the Empire's victory, and detailed information and battle conditions were distributed one by one, and even taught as a reference experience in major loyal academies and Imperial military departments within the sector.

The Inspector remembered how he felt when he read about the bloated dead, and he felt exactly the same now—his hair stood on end, his spine itched, his heart seemed to stop beating.
"Fire! All fire! Cover him!" the Overseer roared. "Evacuate the civilians! Get them to the back!"

Shouzhu heard this sentence clearly, just as he expected. The situation just now was too critical to allow for any explanation, so he had to put his life on the same gambling table with the professionalism of this inspector.

Now it seems that he has won the bet, so it is time to collect the money.

He stopped suddenly, his boots and the stone slabs on his feet all shattered in an instant. He stopped at the edge of the platform, standing between the people and the huge vines, raised the two riot shields in his hands high, and then dropped them heavily.
Gunshots rang out, and the legal officers demonstrated their professionalism. Each bullet accurately passed over the body of the First Cast and shot at the group of pale, swollen and terrifying corpses.

People began to run backwards, and the First Caster could hear their fearful gasps. His world slowed down again, everything did. And his two hearts were beating faster than ever before. They sounded like thunder, driving blood through his veins, causing a tsunami-like wave.

Shouzhu suddenly had a feeling that he was born for this moment - killing and saving, both going hand in hand and doing both.

Did Belisarius Cawl have the same idea as him? Was he created for this purpose?
The First Cast didn't know the answer, he just raised his shield again, forming a temporarily insurmountable line of defense, blocking all people and monsters.
-
Saul Tarvitz raised his head and looked toward the sky.

The thick smoke from the explosion still existed, even blackening the clouds, making the originally azure sky of Chemos look eerie and terrifying. But this did not prevent the gunboats and transport planes from breaking through the clouds and landing in front of them.
A voice came from behind him: "Report! The new suspension platform has been successfully connected, and the firepower position you requested has been deployed! My troops can be deployed at any time!"

He turned around and nodded to the young face. The latter didn't say much, just saluted again, and trotted away, his back soon blending into the similar colors.

As he said, his troops are indeed ready to go into battle at any time, but there are still many people here who cannot fight and they need to leave.
Tarvitz raised his head again and looked at the transport planes loaded with disaster victims. He did not look away until their shadows completely disappeared in the clouds.

"I still don't think sending the victims to Eagle Wings is a good idea." Jairzinho Guzman walked slowly towards them and said so.

"This is the best plan we can implement right now, Nightblade." Sol Tarvitz replied calmly. "In the past, we would never have used the floating platforms to connect to each other and turned them into temporary positions and refugee camps like we are doing now."

Guzman shook his head.

"It's one thing to connect the platforms that were originally used to provide hovercraft with energy, but it's another thing to get the victims to the huge fortress. Look at those vines, Tarvitz, they are still growing. You can hear the sound, can't you?"

"They won't last long." The Justifier bared his teeth and said word by word. "I have given the order that the orbital weapon array and Eagle Wing will attack these things together."

Guzman closed his mouth, not ready to say anything more, and turned to look at the huge vines surrounding the platform. Their surfaces were full of wriggling protrusions, and sticky juice was slowly oozing out.

He held an unchangeable pessimism, which told him that the vines must have other horrors ready to inflict on the world, but he knew that he could not convince Saul Tarvitz.

So he ended this brief argument and silently looked at the medical tent nearby, where many injured people were in urgent need of treatment.

If I can save one, I will save one. He thought, and started walking. However, he only took two steps before he suddenly stopped.

"Tavitz." He called calmly, his back turned to the Avenger. "Did you hear me?"

"I heard you," Saul Tarvitz replied coldly.

Yes, they all heard that buzzing sound. It came faintly from the vines surrounding the suspended platform, so dense that it was almost distorted.
Saul Tarvitz gave a genuinely grim smile.

"Fire," he said.

(End of this chapter)