Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 93 You've Finally Arrived
Doom put on the gauntlets. Although he didn't feel any discomfort in the vacuum, wearing armor was still a form of protection.

They ran wildly at a ninety-degree angle on the Heavenly Pillar, and the further they escaped Nur's gravitational influence, the faster they went.

To prevent accidents, Doom connected Harlan with a thin fiber rope to ensure the two had a foothold in the space environment.

The master and servant ran on the track, and to speed things up, Doom sometimes carried Haran along.

In a weightless environment, Doom is like an accelerating meteorite, rapidly moving along its orbit.

"We'll be at the defense platform soon." Harlan was being carried by Doom as he flipped through the data on outer space.

At a distance of 20,000 kilometers from Tianzhu, far from the planetary defense system, there are numerous automated defense platforms.

"I saw."

Doom had already seen the faint glow of the device's outline lights flickering against the dark backdrop of space.

"Can we avoid it?" he asked in a low voice, stepping on the outer wall of the Heavenly Pillar and stopping temporarily.

“I’m afraid that won’t work.” Harlan shook his head and raised his hand to show Doum the ancient records: “Automatic defense platforms are spread along the entire Tianzhu, covering a distance of 20,000 to 30,000 kilometers, with no blind spots.”

Doom lowered his head in deep thought. The 10,000-kilometer journey was a deadly road riddled with gunfire.

You've succeeded if you get through this place.

The Ring of Nur is now silent, and the defensive firepower of the ring is also ineffective, so there is no problem.

“I have a plan.” Harlan offered a suggestion for Doom’s consideration as he saw that Doom was about to force his way in: “We can use weapons to carve a hole in the wall and bypass the automated fire platform from inside the Heavenly Pillar.”

“No.” Doom thought for a moment, then shook his head and rejected the suggestion.

Entering the Heavenly Pillar and returning to the gravity environment greatly reduces the speed of movement, and the dangers are no less.

A kilometer-thick alloy wall is no small feat to excavate.

"Charge!"

Seeing that he had made up his mind, Harlan said nothing more and silently activated the defense system.

Doom grabbed Harlan and instead of leaping forward, he used his magnetic boots to gain mobility by stepping on solid ground.

He shut down the internal power armor's boost and unleashed his full power, but the system couldn't keep up with Doom's speed and might even have the opposite effect.

"go!"

With a low shout, Doom dashed out like a bolt of lightning.

In a weightless environment, his body, running at supersonic speed through the planet's atmosphere, bursts forth with incredible speed!

Three thousand meters per second! And it keeps increasing.

Harlan stared at the real-time speed displayed on his helmet, completely numb. Luckily, he was in space, or he would be a pile of rotten flesh inside the armor right now.

Doom, carrying Harlan, kept accelerating and dodging.

This isn't his limit; it's the limit of the magnetic shoe circuit breaker. Any faster and the circuit breaker will malfunction, and the power armor's crotch area will wear out rapidly.

The automated defense platform, suspended in mid-air, quickly scanned and detected the intruder, emitting a red glow.

Lasers, live ammunition, plasma. A barrage of firepower descended, forming a vibrant web of firepower that enveloped the silent space.

Doom moved through the network of fire, his body instinctively sending warning signals. His brain raced, trying to find a loophole in the firepower.

Like an incredibly slippery fish, his body abruptly stopped and snapped before being locked on, heading towards the next safe point.

Harlan tensed up, watching the laser glide past his armor, the intense heat of the plasma penetrating through it.

If I had tried to go there myself, I probably would have died eight hundred times over.

He calmed his breathing, not daring to disturb Doom's train of thought, and remained as stiff as a corpse.

"Don't be nervous!" Doom, now relaxed, moved with ease after mastering the weapon's firing pattern.

How can I not be nervous?

Harlan's tone was stiff, and he dared not move. Through his goggles, he could see the bullet trajectories right in front of him, and the alarm kept going off.

He couldn't imagine that Doom could maintain a calm mindset while carrying him through a long period of intense dodging.

Harlan spent two hours in tense silence before being taken away from the fire net of the automated defense platform.

"We need to take a break."

A voice came through the communicator, and Harlan felt a little relieved. So Doom could get tired too?
But the next sentence made his lips twitch.

Doom lifted his foot; the sole of his boot was already red and radiating heat. "Walk a little slower and wait for the heat from the magnetic boots to dissipate."

The magnetic shoe circuit breaker has reached its limit with hundreds of switching operations per second.

The heat inside the armor reached its peak, overwhelming the cooling system, which needed to cool down.

The two waited for their equipment to cool down, then leaped forward at breakneck speed, their pace increasing rather than decreasing. As they approached the ring, gravity began to reverse, pulling them downwards.

"The Ring of Nur! Here I come!"

Harlan roared with excitement, his body accelerating under the influence of gravity, which only made him more excited.

“Let’s go there!” Doom pointed to one side, where there was a large oasis, a ring-shaped ecological zone.

The two tensed up, bracing themselves for the impact of the still-functioning shield, but nothing happened.

"Why?" Harlan asked, puzzled, as his body encountered no obstruction.

Doom drew his sword from his waist, lit the blade, and fired upwards. The dimensional-cutting beam struck the translucent dimensional shield and immediately disappeared.

"Entry is permitted, but exit is not!" Harlan's face darkened; he immediately realized that there was a problem with the Ring of Nur.

"Prepare to slow down!"

"understand!"

Harlan thrust the Dark Light into the wall, adjusting the weapon's sharpness to his liking and using friction to slow it down.

Doom braced himself against the wall with one hand, and when the height was about right, he chose a spot and jumped.

His figure crashed to the ground, finally stepping onto the Ring of Nur.

Looking up, the buildings on the surface of the ring are lifeless; the highly automated giant ring factory is silent and dim.

"What's going on here?"

Harlan stood guard with his spear in hand. He no longer felt the excitement of stepping onto the ring; his eyes were filled with only doubt.

“Let’s go that way.” Doom opened the map and pointed south to the ring, where there was an oasis, which was on the only way to the main control room.

The two of them could resupply along the way and also check if there were any survivors around the oasis.

The Ring of Nur was once home to a large population, so it's impossible that it disappeared without a trace.

"I never imagined it would be like this."

Harlan shook his head in disappointment as he walked among the geometric buildings. Only the wind and deathly silence filled the wide steel streets. He cursed angrily, "Were they all killed by machines?"

They walked hundreds of kilometers, passing through various regions, without seeing any people or machines along the way.

Doom shook his head, disagreeing with Harlan's guess. There were no signs of fighting on the ring, and the disappearance of the people did not seem to be a massacre.

"Follow me!" As they approached the oasis and the view opened up, Doom called out and hurried forward.

Harlan's eyes lit up; he knew Doom must have discovered something. He was tall and had amazing eyesight.

Doom discovered a square plantation by the lake in the oasis, and there were indeed signs of human activity.

Harlan grabbed a handful of plants; the golden crop was full of grains, and he exclaimed with delight, "High-energy wheat!"

He picked up the Dark Light and looked around warily, searching for the owner of the wheat planter.

Harlan is now uncertain whether the inhabitants of the ring are friend or foe after thousands of years of separation.

"Come out!" Doom called out to the buildings at the edge of the oasis, his voice both authoritative and basicly friendly.

Harlan immediately looked over there, and at Doom's stern rebuke, several humans emerged from the shadows of a building; they appeared to be a family.

Tears streamed down their faces as they knelt, pressing their knees together, repeatedly crying out, "Noble Rulers! You have finally come!"

Doom and Harlan exchanged a glance, both with a hint of joy in their eyes.

In ancient times, the Nuerjin people were noble "rulers," and the surrounding inhabitants worked for them and accepted their leadership.

Clearly, Doom's towering figure led the residents of the Ring to believe he was the ruler.

Doom stepped forward and helped up the people who were prostrating themselves on the ground. He noticed that they were dressed plainly and were thin, and seemed to be living in poverty.

Doom knelt down in front of them, adjusting his tone to be as gentle as possible while conveying both authority and friendliness, and asked softly, "What happened here?"

"The main control AI is blocking Nur, blocking the ring channel." The leader was agitated, his speech stammering as if he hadn't spoken in a long time: "We are locked on the surface, waiting for slow extinction."

"Are all the people dead?"

Doom removed his helmet, his brow furrowed in dissatisfaction with the outcome, and asked a series of questions: "Are you the only ones left?"

Where did the stone man go?

"Are there still Iron Men?"

Do intelligent machines exist?

(End of this chapter)