I summoned the Fourth Scourge in Warhammer

Chapter 184 Legendary Relic – [Water Tank]

The three sprinted towards the escort ship, the heavy footsteps and the rumble of collapsing buildings close behind. The Hive Tyrant followed closely behind, and along the way, the close-in weapon turrets inside the fortress turned their guns, spitting a deadly rain of bullets at the behemoth. But it only needed to slightly adjust its posture, using its thickest armor to meet the attacks, and those bullets that could easily tear through reinforced concrete could only bounce off helplessly, scattering a series of sparks.

The barrage of hundreds of thousands of bullets only slightly slowed its advance through sheer impact. This negligible disruption resulted in the Hive Tyrant dismantling these obnoxious obstacles into twisted parts during its pursuit.

Whether its actions were accidental or deliberate is hard to say, but the result was that the previously tight anti-aircraft defenses developed a significant vulnerability. The gargoyles, which had been circling in the sky for a long time, finally found their opportunity and swooped down like a massive black rain of death. Meanwhile, the tunnels previously dug by the Ragnaros began to overflow like a tidal wave of Tyranids. At this moment, the war lost all concept of battle lines and entered a meat grinder phase where every inch of space was a battleground.

Meanwhile, the fleeing trio finally reached the boarding gate of the frigate. Watching Pingjie go through complex biometric and password verification to open the heavy hatch, Wick couldn't help but ask, "Are we going to detonate the nuclear reactor on your frigate?"

"Temperature control of nuclear reactors has always been a problem for us during long-distance space travel," Pingjie replied without turning his head, seemingly unrelated to the question. "Although there are indeed many ways to solve this, none of them can be replicated on our star system. The power system of this frigate originally needed to undergo a lot of testing, but due to the emergency situation of the Tyranid invasion, we had to choose the most convenient method, which is a complete black box for us, to control the temperature and allow it to sail smoothly."

The mechanical priest's innate curiosity about the unknown overwhelmed everything else, and Wick couldn't help but ask, "What's the method?"

“In words you can understand,” the heavy hatch slid open with a hiss, and Pingjie quickly slipped inside, followed closely by the other two, who walked briskly down the cold metal corridor of the frigate under his guidance, “it was a sacred object.”

The three quickly reached the end of the corridor, and Pingjie opened the last hatch. Wick stared at the hatch about to open, and then he saw… a water tank?
[Name: Sink]

[Quality: Legend]

[Type: Kitchenware]

[Special Effect: By connecting an extraction device to either side of the water tank, water can be extracted, with an output limit of 2147483674 cubic meters per 0.05 seconds.]

[Usage conditions: None]

[Note: "I remember that afternoon, as usual, I excitedly opened Minecraft, intending to build a nuclear reactor... After three hours of busy work, I decided to download a lazy kitchen and crafted a water tank using five terracotta tiles, three iron ingots, and a bucket, successfully solving the reactor's water shortage problem."]

“This is the core of the entire frigate’s power and energy system.” Pingjie stepped forward and stroked the seemingly square and unremarkable water tank with an almost reverent gesture. “When the water level in the tank changes, it automatically returns to the current level. The generation rate is completely immeasurable, but at least for now, it is enough to supply the entire frigate. Water quality tests show that it is high-purity HO, free of any impurities or microorganisms, and the pH value is stable at 7.0±0.1.”

"Theoretically speaking, if we ignore the transportation problem, it is enough to provide every citizen of the empire with clean drinking water."

Wick was stunned into a daze, his optical lens zooming in and out violently: "Incredible creation... This is simply a miracle of Omnisiah!"

“Yes,” Pingjie turned around, staring at him, and said, word by word, “Now it’s yours, Taren.” These words were like the most powerful logic bomb, instantly shattering Taren Wick’s mental core. His logic circuits overloaded, countless conflicting data streams surged through his mind, leaving him momentarily incoherent: “No… I… this… relic…”

Finally, he mustered all his strength to form a complete sentence: "No! I cannot accept this sacred object! I cannot bear it; it will crush me!"

“It’s not important to us, Taren. It’s too advanced, too advanced for us to comprehend, so it’s practically worthless for research.” Pingjie’s voice was calm and firm. “Besides, Taren, don’t you understand? You must take it with you… because this thing must never fall into the hands of the Tyranids! That means unlimited biomass… that will create a catastrophe far more terrible than all the crises of the past combined!”

Of course, Pingjie was lying here. Even if Wick didn't take the tank with him, they had ways to safely retrieve it. Saying this was just an added incentive to get Wick out of there as quickly as possible.

"Then why don't you take it with you?!" Wick shouted excitedly. "Or we can all go together!"

"Our duty is to gather as much intelligence as possible about the Tarren here!" Pingjie's voice suddenly rose, "to reduce casualties and better secure victory in the upcoming war against the Xenomorphs! This is our duty, Tarren, and duty cannot be shirked!"

“But you’re different. You just came here to conduct geological surveys and then got inexplicably dragged into this. Fighting against Tyran is not your job, Taren!”

"But……"

Just as Wick was about to retort, a piercing metallic tearing sound came from the direction they had come from, interrupting him.

Bonnie, who had been on high alert, immediately shouted, "It's here! That Hive Tyrant is approaching!"

"Let's go, Taren! It'll be too late if we don't leave now!" Pingjie urged. "Take it with us! It can't be fully utilized in our hands anyway, so we must hand it over to someone who can use it to benefit everyone!"

Before the words were even finished, a deafening crash followed as the metal wall of the compartment was ripped open by an immense force. The tattered and grotesque half of the Hive Tyrant burst in, letting out a terrifying shriek.

Bonnie fired the explosives inside his body wildly at the Tyrant's head, trying to buy his comrades a final moment. However, the Tyrant simply opened his gaping maw and swallowed Bonnie whole, weapon and all.

Taking advantage of that brief moment, Pingjie lifted the water tank and pushed it and Wick into a small emergency escape pod next to it, then slammed the shut-off button.

The hatch slammed shut. Wick, clutching the icy water tank, saw through the narrow observation window the last thing he saw—the nuclear reactor core, deprived of its endless water supply for cooling, emitted a devastating light, and a violent nuclear flame erupted, engulfing Pingjie's figure, the Hive Tyrant, and everything in its path.

(End of this chapter)