Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 768 08.767: "The Grinning Hunter Hiding in the Dark"

A transport ship was floating in the cold void, the plasma engine at its stern flickering, and it was obviously unable to continuously output stable power, and was thrown behind the fleet.

The side of the hull was riddled with holes, and the numerous puncture holes were shocking to the eye. Tongues of fire would occasionally burst out from the belly of the hull, licking the bone-chilling coldness of the void.

This is an extremely common Imperial transport ship, equipped with a parallel plasma engine and a light macro cannon for defense at the bow. Its armor is only average, belonging to the standard level of Imperial civilian void ships, but it has a huge cargo hold and a satisfactory carrying capacity.

In the human empire, thousands of such standard transport ships together form the lifeline of the human empire.

They are responsible for supplying supplies for billions of lives, transporting bullets for billions of glories, and feeding raw materials for billions of factories.

The success or failure of the war on the front lines, the stability of the human empire's rule on various planets, and even the fate of mankind are all closely related to them.

At this moment, inside the transport ship, the broken cables were crackling wildly on the dim ceiling, and the generated electricity instantly illuminated the dim sky above the ship like lightning, and then quickly returned to darkness.

The emergency lights flashed frequently, emitting dark red light. The light made the bloodstains on the ground appear black, as if they were old stains, telling of the tragedy that had occurred here.

Captain Charter struggled to get up slowly from the deck covered with broken glass. His originally gorgeous captain's uniform was now covered with wrinkles and dust, and became extremely dirty.

His fingers were ruthlessly cut by the broken glass, and blood gushed out, quickly staining the originally smooth and soft shirt red.

"What attacked us? Torpedoes? It doesn't look like a conventional weapon. There wasn't a big explosion, but the engine output is inexplicably decreasing. It's so strange." He was terrified and asked his crew members in a trembling voice, but it sounded more like he was mumbling to himself.

It was a miserable scene on the bridge.

Many people fell to the ground groaning in pain, and blood continued to gather and form a lake.

The miserable sound echoed in the empty cabin for a long time.

The charter captain trotted in a panic to the power operating console and pushed the third mate's body away.

The corpse was extremely horrifying, with half of its head cut off by metal fragments and the entire skull shattered by the sharp iron sheet, exposing its pale brain. When it fell to the ground, it was like a broken wine glass, spilling liquid on the deck and emitting a disgusting smell.

"Warning: Power function is impaired." The electronic prompt sounded coldly.

The captain quickly pressed the self-check button.

"The energy supply pipeline is normal."

The captain was puzzled by the contradictory prompts.

Since the power supply pipeline is normal, why is the power function impaired?
He had no idea what was going on, and was completely unaware that the transport ship's plasma engine, which had been hit, was now tightly stuck by a mass of black, sticky substance.

This substance looks like a black blood-sucking leech, clinging tightly to the energy supply pipeline. No matter how much energy the plasma pump transmits to the engine, it will be ruthlessly absorbed by this "black leech" as if it were sucked into a black hole.

With the energy supply cut off, the plasma engine could only flash a faint light intermittently, which became dimmer and dimmer, as if it would go out at any time.

"They are coming! Ah!" A shrill scream suddenly came from the depths of the corridor leading to the bridge, followed by a strange and terrifying evaporation sound in the corridor.

This sound is not an ordinary steaming sound, but rather a gurgling sound similar to that of some liquid boiling, which is creepy.

The captain's hands trembled as he took out the pistol from his waist, his eyes full of fear and despair.

The two crew members rushed out of the stairs in panic, trying to run to the safest place in their hearts, but almost instantly, they were knocked down by an unknown force.

The captain quickly huddled behind the bunker in panic, his eyes widened in horror as he looked at the crew members lying on the cold deck.

The blood under the crewman's skin began to boil visibly, like boiled filtered water. Bubbles kept surging, forming large lumps on the skin, and then burst with a "pop", flowing out orange boiling fluid mixed with melted flesh and bones.

This scene frightened the captain to death.

He quickly retreated back into cover, and with trembling hands he checked the energy battery of his laser pistol, trying to find a sense of security from it.

Boom, boom.

The light yet chilling sound of footsteps echoed on the empty deck.

Every sound seemed to strike the captain's heart.

"God bless you, God bless you!" The captain was sweating profusely, with beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. He kept muttering to himself and praying devoutly to the saint on the golden throne. Dong, da!
The footsteps stopped without warning.

The captain trembled slightly and carefully stuck his head out to observe the surrounding situation.

There was no living creature standing on the deck except for the dead bodies lying all over the place.

He breathed a sigh of relief, his tense nerves relaxed a little, and he retreated back into the shelter, looked up at the ceiling, closed his eyes, and tried to calm himself down.

However, when he opened his eyes again, a long, grinning face suddenly appeared in front of him, with the face leaning back 280 degrees in a strange jutsu posture, staring at him with a sinister smile.

The face had sickly pale skin, completely devoid of blood, and its long pointed ears stood erect, as if showing off its alien identity.

The hair on both sides of this head is shaved cleanly, except for the Dark Eldar's iconic pigtails, which represent cunning and cruelty just like the great traitor Abaddon.

"Ah!!!!" An extremely painful scream instantly resounded throughout the bridge, followed by the horrifying sound of skinning.
-
In front of the standard transport ship that was left far behind was a large fleet.

Every ship in the fleet is painted with a unified totem emblem.

This emblem is similar to the Imperial Navy's rudder emblem, but without the wings, and is the unique symbol of the charter fleet.

As part of the three major components of the huge "Imperial Fleet", the Imperial Charter Fleet is responsible for the ultra-long-distance transportation of bulk cargo.

These routes frequently shuttle back and forth between fixed warp channels, transporting supplies as important as blood to the empire's major hubs and military fronts in an orderly and unyielding manner.

The process of opening a channel for a charter fleet is extremely complicated and requires strict approval at various levels.

These include the exploration suggestions of the Rogue Merchant Vanguard, the Imperial Navy's assessment of the route risks, the Ministry of the Interior's evaluation of the route's value, the Ministry of Military Affairs' considerations on supply priority needs, and many other complex processes.

It often takes hundreds of years to go through the entire process before a charter fleet route is opened.

The opening of these routes is not a one-time solution.

The route of a chartered fleet is often surrounded by dangers and various dangerous pirate groups.

Among them are human pirates, who are greedy by nature; green-skinned pirates, who are cruel by nature; Eldar pirates, who are cunning and deceitful; Chaos pirates, who are crazy and evil, and even more unpredictable cosmic threats.

If a large-scale war were to occur, even more powerful threats would emerge, such as the Tau sabotage fleet and Chaos attack fleet, which would seriously affect the safety of the routes and transportation efficiency.

Therefore, how to ensure that the Empire's supplies can be delivered safely to the residents of the hive cities and the officers and soldiers on the front lines has become the unshirkable responsibility of the Imperial Navy.

It is worth noting that the coat of arms features the family crest of the fleet's sponsor in the center, bearing the distinctive mark of a wandering merchant, which is a distinctive symbol of the von Valancius dynasty.

In the middle of the fleet is an extremely large Universe-Class Mass Conveyor.

Her name, Snow Wind Thunder, was prominently painted on her side in High Gothic.

This huge void ship is 12 kilometers long and has an empty weight of an astonishing 6000 million tons. It can carry 20 to 50 passengers as well as a huge amount of supplies.

This kind of giant transport ship, which is comparable in size to an Emperor-class battleship, is extremely rare and can only be successfully built in some large-scale and well-equipped void dry docks that can build battleships, with some extremely generous sponsorship and abundant material supplies.

Various data show that the carrying capacity of the Cosmic-class has not been surpassed by any new transport ship since the Great Crusade, making it a true Whale of the Void.

But at this moment, everyone on this giant transport ship, from passengers to crew members, was in deep fear.

"Captain! The 'Vegato'..." The communicator was terrified and pale. He turned on the sound array implanted in his back.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!" heart-wrenching screams and the wet, chilling sound of skin peeling were heard instantly, making all the crew members on the bridge shiver deeply.

"Captain! Some escape pods are requesting that we open the docking port!"

"No! The aliens are hiding where we can't see them and waiting for an opportunity to strike! If we open the docking port, we must sail at a constant speed, which will increase the probability of us being hit!" the first mate refuted.

On the command bridge, almost all the crew members were trembling in fear, and their eyes were all turned to a tall and fat man.

The tall and fat man wore a plain pair of round-framed glasses and his lips were tightly pursed. His name was written on the nameplate, a somewhat rare name - "Kudo".

(End of this chapter)