40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 781 2. Local specialties are very interesting

With a very serious expression, Yago Sevitarion stretched out his right hand, and slowly and carefully grasped a spoon that was a little too small for him, just like holding a knife.

He pinched it with two fingers, inserted it into a mass of white paste-like substance of unknown composition, scooped a full spoonful, and then put it into his mouth to taste it carefully.

Astarte's extraordinary taste system not only allowed him to experience all the flavors of this paste, but also allowed him to analyze some information that ordinary people would never be able to get from this bite.

"How is it?" Khalil asked. "I didn't lie to you, did I? The local nutrient cream is really made from real plants."

Sevatar did not answer, but picked up the plate and put all the remaining paste into his mouth. The steaming nutrient paste disappeared, and was sent into the stomach along the esophagus with the rolling of his throat.

"Two dollars and a half—" Caryl continued, tapping the table with his right hand happily. "—you can buy a big plate like this."

"Although it has no taste, it can provide all the nutrients an adult needs in a day. From this point of view, we must admit that Robert is indeed far superior to all of us in terms of logistics. It has only been less than 20 years since the return of the Ultramarine, and it has already brought so many changes to the people's livelihood in the empire."

Sevatar remained silent, his expression remained unchanged, he just narrowed his eyes slightly. Khalil only needed to take one look at his expression to understand the subtlety.

So he very wisely coughed lightly and did not give any praise to the Lord of Five Hundred Worlds who was not present. Even his constantly twitching fingers stopped.

Just like that, this not-small but still crowded box fell into silence for a while.

It was not until the waiter opened the door and came in with two desserts that the two began to move again, as if they were vampires who had been resurrected after thousands of years.

"It tastes like low-quality chemicals," Sevatar said coldly after taking a bite. "But at least it does taste a bit sweet."

Unlike him, Khalil had no intention of judging the taste of this cheap dessert. He was too busy finishing it to care about anything else.

Thanks to his efforts, the light gray dessert with a slightly pungent smell was completely destroyed in half a minute.

He smiled, put down the spoon, and gestured with great satisfaction.

"It's only three dollars. Do you expect the store to add some real sugar?" he said briskly. "Even if you include the cost of the private room, this meal is less than twenty imperial coins. What's there to complain about? What delicacies do you usually eat in the Chapter, Honorable Chapter Master Yago Sevitarion?"

The legendary figure of the Empire, who was disguised as a servitor, put both hands on the table with a grim face and spoke word by word.

"I eat nutritious porridge every day and have never eaten any so-called delicacies. Besides, shouldn't we get down to business now, great instructor?"

"No hurry." The great instructor raised the collar of his coat and shook his head. "The so-called doctor is still on the run. When she stops running, we will go visit her again."

Sevatar frowned suddenly, but quickly relaxed his brows, crossed his arms, and sneered without warning.

"They would be very disappointed if they knew you were like this."

"They? Who?" Khalil asked. "The Grand Lord? I don't think he cares about it. Kaiul? He has long realized that I am not a character in the book. So, Grand Master Coldsoul? He may be the only exception, but he should accept it soon."

"Where's the hunter?" Sevatar suddenly asked. "You seem to have missed someone."

"Does he need to mention it?" Khalil laughed. "Well, Yago, you know, I am a bit of a mystic, but I have changed. At least I told you the plan, didn't I?"

Sevatar nodded expressionlessly.

"Yes, even my father doesn't have this treatment. It's such a great honor. Should I be grateful for it, instructor?"

"."

There was a pause before Khalil grabbed his hat, put down the money, opened the door of the box and left, followed by his servitor, who had put his hood back on.

A-310-7 Trade Station is a small transitional gathering point located on a world that has long been depleted of resources. This world was originally an agricultural world, then a mining world, then a hive city, and finally a world that was determined to be worthless after being evaluated by the Mechanicus.
Logically speaking, this kind of world should be abandoned, and the people on it would be moved to new places to live, leaving behind an empty shell for the Mechanicus to play with.

They can do whatever they want with it - blow it up, repair it, or simply build a laboratory on it to test weapons data, whatever they want.

However, the local governor's family still had some vision and conscience. They spent a lot of money to enter a higher-level network, and then secured a place in the world they ruled.

And so, fifty years after being determined to be 'not worth maintaining', the Mechanicus' fleet arrived and built the prototype of the current A-310-7 trading station.

In this way, the Governor and his family prospered, and the people of this world whose name had long been forgotten no longer had to embark on a long journey. Instead, they went underground and survived to this day by relying on all kinds of supplies brought by trading stations.

However, this naturally came at a price. Their ancestors were forced to sign an agreement with the governor's family.
Unfair terms, slave indentures, whatever you call them, their essence is so cold.

All people born in this world under the A-310-7 trading station, who have ever drunk a sip of water from the trading station or eaten its nutritional paste, must work for the station and its rulers for twenty years without pay, unless they join the army or become sailors.

Therefore, at this moment, walking on the streets under the night, almost all Caril saw were men and women in retired military uniforms, and sailors who were walking arm in arm in arm in various places.

This is a place for the trade station to spend money. The real common people don't come here, most of them are busy at the other end of this deformed creation. The rich people who call themselves decent people don't come here either - they have better or worse places to go.

From a moral point of view, this is undoubtedly a completely disgusting place, but things have changed since thirty years ago.

The Governor's family followed the trend of the times and the fashion in the circle and sent a pair of children of their generation to study in an official imperial school in a nearby galaxy.

Ten years later, the two children returned from their studies. Five years later, the boy and girl each inherited half of the ruling power and immediately set about overthrowing their ancestral teachings and the various exploitative traditions that would bring great benefits to their family.

Allegedly, they hope to transform the A-310-7 into a true source of high-quality soldiers within a century.

So, what is quality?

Well, in today's official definition of the Empire, the first thing that comes to mind is 'good health and strength'.
In other words, this couple, who have truly pissed off their parents to death, want A-310-7 and everyone in the world below to have enough food to eat first.

It was a remarkable initiative, and Khalil wished them success, although he was not optimistic about the prospects.

He stopped, looked up, and looked at a tall building. The chaotic neon lights, after being refracted and cut by the glass, stabbed his face like countless sharp daggers, breaking it into countless tiny pieces.

Dirty yellow and jumping characters are reflected on his left face, ambiguous pink and some drug trafficking advertisements fall on his chin, and the light source of the orange searchlight is engraved on the bridge of his nose.
Only his eyes remained motionless, unaffected by any color or change.

This pair of dark eyes was staring at the 36th floor of the tall building. There was no reflection, no light, and everything was completely submerged in it, leaving no trace.

After a few seconds, he suddenly twitched his nose like a wild animal, and then smiled warmly. His muscles lifted, and his taut skin deformed along with their movements, revealing his cold fangs behind his lips.

"Found it." He whispered softly. "You go first, Yago. I'll be there soon."

His bodyguard walked forward without saying a word, a similar smile slowly spreading across his hooded face.
-
Balinda Lessorone rushed sweatily into her secret lair, or safe house, or hiding place - in short, she was sure that she was safe for the time being.

But she was still not very reassured, because just an hour ago, the soul-stealing needle that she had personally placed in the body of the stingy and old-fashioned Jaco was taken out.

Not only that, its spirituality also disappeared. This is no small matter. Each soul-stealing needle has undergone a sacrifice to obtain its spirituality.
"That nosy old fellow!"

She couldn't help cursing, and then hurried to a wall. The wall looked ordinary, and she activated the mechanism inside with a few gestures.

With the sound of gears, the wall slowly rose up, revealing several shut-down Thinkers and an old-fashioned communicator that appeared here for unknown reasons. Its surface was full of scratches and mottled, and its waxy yellow color made people feel almost instinctively uncomfortable.

Of course, this was no problem for Balinda herself. She took a deep breath, walked to one of the Thinkers and turned it on, while grabbing the old-fashioned communicator.

A strange scene happened—each of her fingers that were touching the communicator, as well as the skin in the center of her palm, suddenly began to boil.

Green smoke slowly rose up, along with a foul smell. Balinda's face twitched constantly, seemingly in pain, but actually enjoying it.

It wasn't until half a minute later, when the burning sensation disappeared, that she gasped and brought it close to her ear, clamping it between the side of her cheek and her shoulder.

She didn't seem to do anything, but a low voice suddenly came from the communicator.

"what's up?"

"I may have been exposed," the doctor, who has become famous in the local gray area in recent years, replied. "The soul-stealing needle I put into Jaco's body was pulled out."

“What about spirituality?”

"No more."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the communicator before it spoke again: "Did you do anything that might lead to your exposure?"

"Absolutely not."

Balinda answered, her fingers flying on the Thinker's console - the speed was beyond the limit of normal human beings. As she operated, streams of data kept sliding across the Thinker's screen.

Finally, after a certain point, she let out a sigh. The person on the other end of the communicator caught this sigh of relief and asked a question.

"You implemented concealment measures?"

"Of course, my Lord."

A smile appeared on the doctor's face. She raised her hand and patted her face. Her skin suddenly became shriveled and dry.

Then, with a light tap with the fingernails, many pieces of skin peeled off like broken porcelain, revealing an extremely beautiful face inside.

"Well done." The person on the other end of the communicator said. "Don't take any more actions for at least the next three years. Wait for my notification. The plan cannot go wrong."

"I know, dear -" She continued to peel off her old skin, and smiled seductively. "--But at least I can still go to the monthly meeting, right? Don't say you didn't miss me"

"."

"Honey?"

There was no reply from the other end of the communicator, but instead some strange grunting noises. Balinda waited patiently for a moment, but still received no reply.

She couldn't help but feel a little strange, so she stood up, holding the phone, and planned to get some "emergency food" to replenish her energy.
However, when she turned around, she saw a silent giant, who stood behind her silently like a ghost, with his right hand raised, holding a glass bowl in his palm.

It was filled with frozen blood and human tissue such as fingers, eyes and teeth.

At this moment, Balinda Lethoron's veins ran cold.

She subconsciously grabbed the communicator and immediately started running away. Her speed was enough to make her reach the door that had been opened in just two seconds.
There was no sound of footsteps behind her, which made her feel a little happy even though her mind was already overly confused due to the shock.

However, when she truly stepped into the world outside, this joy disappeared in an instant.

Because it was pitch black outside the door, the lights in this building, which were said to never go out, were all turned off for some reason, and the corridor was silent.

A tall, gaunt figure stood in her path, waiting calmly.

At this moment, there was finally a response from the other end of the communicator.

"Forget the regular meeting, come now!" The voice was finally no longer calm, full of passion and anticipation for the upcoming enjoyment. "I'll wait for you at home!"

The thing in the darkness laughed silently, then walked over slowly, took the communicator from the trembling Balinda's hand, and responded softly.

"Okay," he said. "I'll be visiting you soon, please wait a moment."

(End of this chapter)