Chapter 987 Shadow War (Part 2)
Talos squatted down to check for himself, and sure enough, the two trajectory lines ended at the same time, although the road continued through the jungle inexplicably.
He retraced his steps and passed the other five recruits, their weapons now more focused on the green underworld light.
Taros was still bent over, stroking the depressions in the ground with his hands as he walked.
“The trajectory does not go any deeper.”
He said, looking up at his company.
"But it doesn't seem to be slowing down."
Sabrin said, then glanced at the surrounding environment.
“And there were no signs of weapons being discharged.”
“There were no traces of explosives either.”
Li Lin then added that each of them was eager to impress Talos. Although they had overcome the test and proved that they were qualified to enter the ranks of the Astral Knights, they still had to pass the scout assessment.
"It's like...disappeared."
Bahram looked at the traces on the ground with confusion.
“But dozens of tons of armored personnel carriers will not just disappear without a trace.”
Talos turned his attention back to the track, and then stared out at the dense jungle. .
"Don't be so sure. First of all, you must understand that we are now on a planet filled with the power of subspace. The rules of physics have long been distorted here. You have never seen the truly crazy side of subspace. I have seen people understand Things pushed to their limits, fighting creatures and entities that manifested themselves as man's greatest fears, I've seen massive starships, powered by the warp, burning in the vacuum of void, I've seen them transform into insane beasts before my eyes Soldiers who have seen an infectious disease that killed everyone in the space of a breath, a mass of flesh the size of a planet, and alien technology that made the Mechanicus' greatest achievements look like the invention of the wheel."
Taros stood up and walked towards the leafy trees.
"Can a Chimera disappear out of thin air? It may sound incredible, but of course it can. What I will teach you in this lesson is that nothing is 'impossible' when facing the power of subspace. Yes, before we exhaust all other options, maybe it is somewhere in the jungle, now spread out and search within a radius of two hundred meters."
A few hours later, the sun was destroying the star. Upon reaching the apex, Sabourin's team located the missing Chimera.
It did not disappear, or disappear within the initial search area, but their discovery revealed more questions than it answered.
"It must have been here for decades, even centuries."
Nias said, running a hand along the corrosion layer covering the vehicle's shell.
“Some parts of the machine body are almost rusty.”
“Maybe it’s the chemical composition of rainwater in this world that causes it to rust so quickly?”
Li Lin looked at Chimera and said softly:
"But how could it be so far away from the trail, and what overturned it?"
Soldiers surrounded the damaged personnel carrier, and its original structure was barely visible beneath the dense layer of oxidized metal. number.
There is no sign of how it came to rest more than half a kilometer from where it disappeared, no sign of it being thrown into the air, or of it tumbling across the ground and gouging out the dirt. trace.
It's as if the chimera was pulled out of one place and placed upside down somewhere else.
Talos knelt and dug his fingers into the jungle floor, stretching his arms through the putrid dirt until it came close to touching his elbows, then tearing the dry mud apart to finally find what he was looking for. He took out his hand and held the dirty black water he had just dug out, with a few squirming mudworms between his fingers.
"The degree of corrosion here is not deep, and there is not much smell of oxidized metal, and the humidity here will not accelerate the oxidation process to this extent."
Subsequently, Talos was being Pacing up and down the overturned personnel carrier, his uneasiness was not relieved by the sight of it.
The transport appears to have been abandoned in the jungle for many years, with no evidence of how it came to be that way.
There seems to be another hidden reason behind the disappearance of this team.
"Sabulin, Nias, help me open the hatch."
Talos said, tearing off a bunch of vines wrapped around the back of the Chimera.
Despite the combined efforts of three Space Marines, the rusty door refused to budge.
Eventually, the hinges holding it up broke and the corroded metal plates were tossed aside.
Everyone took a step back as the damp, smelly air surged inside.
But Talos did not flinch and approached the open hatch.
The other members aimed their weapons at the holes, ready to await their commander for whatever might happen within those dank spaces.
The green jungle light shone into the troop transport cabin, casting an ethereal light on the wreckage inside. Guns and ammunition were scattered among them, blocking the clothing that lay scattered in their burial place. Passages between carapace carcasses.
The Seer's vision was as effective as in daylight, and he counted eight corpses, all uniformly dressed in Astra Militarum uniforms.
While the armor retained its integrity, the very thing it was designed to protect did not, the skull staring blankly within the visorless helmet, all remaining flesh long since decayed.
As the tomb reopened to the jungle outside, flies and other insects buzzed into the Chimera, attracted by the smell of the place and the promise of a new breeding ground.
Talos lifted the nearest body buried among its companions and dragged it toward him.
Under the protection of the carapace, the internal organs have been liquefied but not completely decomposed.
Taros opened the collar of his armor, revealing his bony neck, showing what he expected.
Two vertebrae were completely severed, almost certainly broken during the Chimera's mysterious flight and violent landing.
In the 41st Millennium, it is an undeniable fact that service to the God-Emperor of Mankind will almost certainly end in death, and for a Space Marine this outcome is usually glorious, a heroic sacrifice made in the face of insurmountable odds. .
For those followers of the Throne who have not inherited the genetic legacy of the Primarch, such deaths will also occur on the battlefield. They hold on to their weapons and defend a world that is not their own, fighting against seemingly Endless aliens or demons.
But, more likely, death will be in vain, a waste of human life whose potential will never be realized.
For example, in a void battle, the remaining regiments and troop transports were wiped out by collateral damage, and were blown up to nothing by orbital strikes or artillery fire without even having time to foresee, using trickery and destruction as their usual modus operandi. Invisible enemies are poisoned, infected with disease, or slaughtered inside the vehicle as they ride into battle or on supply or reconnaissance missions, with weapons never even firing in response.
November is over! Thank you all for your support this month!
Next month, the second half of the Battle of Pandora will usher in. How will Abaddon respond to the dilemma? What will the Dark Angels discover in the battle? Does the Gray Knight have another purpose? What kind of sparks will the former Eleventh Legion and the Second Legion collide with ten thousand years later? What kind of conspiracy is the ancient demon Madel constructing? Where does the mysterious organization hidden in the afterglow of Dayuanzhu come from? What exactly are the positions of Khayon and Thor? What story will the survivors of the Eighth Legion perform on the battlefield where good and evil collide?
Everything will be updated in December, so stay tuned!
(End of this chapter)