As long as you die, you are invincible, but in 40K

"No."

“The mentality changes quite quickly.”

Hearing Zhang Ge's words, Amelia shook her head and said:

"Her mentality hasn't changed. To her, those under her aren't even human beings. They're just tools to maintain her power. Now, all she needs is your dependence. And since she can even see the hope of climbing higher, she can abandon those people without hesitation."

"Clinging to me...it's hard to imagine what happened during this period."

Zhang Ge's last sentence sounded more like a complaint than an exclamation. For ordinary people, climbing to the position of a powerful colonel commander in the Star Army in such a short period of time was a miracle, but for Zhang Ge, it seemed as if nothing went smoothly.

"You deserve that."

Amelia responded calmly as she looked at the flames spreading across the pile of corpses in front of her.

At this time, with the deaths of several leaders and their personal guards, the gang members who were not getting any response from the outside world gradually began to become restless.

But soon, looking at the muzzles of guns sticking out from the fortress and reaching towards them, these people realized that the situation had changed during the silence just now.

Unfortunately, in the falling laser rain, they had no chance to witness what happened next.

In the entire gang's controlled area, after a short period of time for the troops to gather, the war spread everywhere.

With Alfie's reckless investment, the more than 10,000 people under her command madly attacked the surrounding gangs. After being attacked and their leaders died, these gangs were even eaten up by her men in a short period of time at the beginning.

However, as they figured out what was happening, the gangs quickly formed an angry coalition.

With a troop ratio of almost seven to one, even with a certain amount of air support, that support would only be deployed when the enemy had almost no air defense. Once the enemy understood this, they quickly terminated the air support through accompanying air defense positions.

Alfie's area of ​​control was reduced like an avalanche.

After more than twenty Terra hours, the battle line had spread to the ground below. Standing on the outer wall of the fortress, one could even see the positions below being hit one after another. At the same time, shells from various artillery pieces fell on the main body of the fortress like snowflakes.

Zhang Ge was in Alfie's bedroom at this time. He glanced at the time on the clock and said:

"Yes, the most difficult time is over."

At this time, there are less than two thousand people left in Alfie's hands - those gang gunmen will not die with Alfie. The fact that there are still two thousand people left is considered to be her strict control.

But after waiting for a while, it was not support that arrived at the battlefield.

In the sky, dozens of flares suddenly lit up at the same time, casting a crimson light downwards, covering the bodies of both sides who were killing each other with a layer of scarlet.

What came to the battlefield was the artillery preparation.

Amidst the roar of artillery fire, tens of thousands of shells arced through the light curtain cast by the flares and smashed into the ground. Even though only a small number of them were equipped with tracers and left bright trails, they were as dense as a falling rain.

The bombardment that seemed to be about to overturn the gang-controlled areas layer by layer made these thugs witness what war is like in the last moment before their death.

Just the first round of artillery fire forced the fighting between the two sides to come to an end, and the subsequent non-stop attacks that lasted for several hours completely crushed their hopes of survival inch by inch.

And this is just the beginning.

When the three-hour bombardment ended, fifteen tall blue giants, with the cooperation of hundreds of elite soldiers sent into the control area in advance, cleared out the important areas and key figures of the gangs. Most of the gunmen who survived the bombardment had become corpses before they could even see what happened.

By the time hundreds of thousands of regular troops finally entered the scene, all that was left behind were corpses and a spreading sea of ​​fire as the tracks rolled through the streets. The remaining resistance was completely defeated in just a few hours.

Even taking into account the time for the artillery preparation, the troops from Acaulan cleared the gang's controlled area in just seven hours.

But Zhang Ge looked at the battle reports that kept coming back and keenly caught the abnormal part at the end.

The good news seems to end there.

Chapter 169: All the wise men have arrived

When Zhang Ge noticed the abnormal message, he was still in Alfie's bedroom. Realizing the danger, he immediately asked the soldiers of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Regiment to seal off the scene, and then called the Valkyrie to transport himself and a group of people including Alfie to the scene.

However, before even leaving the cabin, Zhang Ge realized that the situation was more serious than he had imagined.

He received news that one of the Space Marines was injured, and what was worse was that even the attacked Space Marine himself was unable to detect who the attacker was.

That was why, when the Valkyrie landed and opened the cabin, it was a Space Marine White Helmet Sergeant blocking the hatch.

The other party went straight to the point and said:

"The current situation is beyond your ability to handle. I've already sent someone to report the information to Captain Calgar. You are responsible for the perimeter security and blockade."

Hearing this almost commanding statement, Zhang Ge did not respond directly, but said:

"Can I see the wounded?"

The sergeant in white helmet did not respond further, but nodded and waved to the side.

Amid the sound of heavy footsteps, a Space Marine with a broken arm entered Zhang Ge's sight.

He didn't say much, just showed the wound to Zhang Ge.

Very...weird.

If one were to give an evaluation of this wound, this would be the answer Zhang Ge could give after seeing it.

Its fracture is very neat. Considering the defensive power of the Space Marine's power armor and his own physical strength, among most common weapons, perhaps melee weapons or melta weapons would be needed to create such a neat fracture.

However, if it's a melee weapon, and the enemy can slice off an arm in close combat before the Marine even has time to react, there's no reason not to pursue.

Even though it was a melta weapon, there were no signs of burning when it was cut.

Just as Zhang Ge was thinking about what else could cause such a wound, the Space Marine suddenly laughed and said to Zhang Ge, who was frowning slightly:

"My arm was cut off by my own sword."

Zhang Ge choked.

Didn't you tell me earlier?

Looking at Zhang Ge's expression at that moment, the Space Marine nodded with a subtle sense of satisfaction before continuing:

"It was at the corner of an underground passage. The moment my gun-holding finger emerged from the corner, it was struck by an unknown weapon. It began to fester from the impact site... No, should we call it decomposition? This decomposition spread at an extremely fast speed, turning everything in its path into dust. I was forced to draw my sword and cut off my arm to prevent it from spreading to my body."

I am so great, the original God of the Galaxy, how could he understand?

Hearing this very familiar description, Zhang Ge further asked:

"Was there a faint green light at the edge of the decomposition area?"

The Space Marine, who was about to describe further, stopped talking and replied with some doubt:

"Yes, you know what that is?"

Zhang Ge thought to himself that he knew it very well, but because he had no reasonable source of information, he couldn't say it directly, so he just said perfunctorily:

“I’ve met him before.”

Located underground, reacts extremely quickly, disassembles weapons, and emits a faint green light.

Apart from the Necrons, Zhang Ge could not think of any other possibilities.

Although this alien creature, which "just appeared" in the 41st millennium, has already had a certain degree of impact on various parts of the Empire, the Empire's information lag is well known. Until now, for the vast majority of people who have not had direct contact with them, the Necrons still seem extremely unfamiliar.

But while thinking about this, Zhang Ge also realized another thing:

It is very likely that Calga is not among these uninformed people. If he can also realize the seriousness of the matter, then when he arrives, what will he have to do with it?

So Zhang Ge quickly continued:

"That is an extremely dangerous alien race, but we must act now."

The White Helmet Sergeant, who had been silent the entire time, interrupted:

"reason?"

Zhang Ge turned his gaze to the other party and replied:

"This alien species has been dormant underground for a long time. If we're lucky enough to stumble upon them awakening or just waking them up, we'll be encountering them at their most vulnerable period. During this time, most of them will be relatively slow or even unconscious due to their long sleep."

Having said this, Zhang Ge paused for a moment before continuing with another possibility:

"If we miss this opportunity, they will quickly enter a state of war, and then the difficulty and sacrifice required to eliminate them will begin to increase exponentially."

After these words, the white-helmeted sergeant fell silent.

The Astra Militarum officer's description was so detailed that it made it less believable... But, if it was really as he described...

Perhaps realizing he didn't have much time to hesitate or wait, or perhaps because he simply couldn't find a clue, the sergeant compromised and said:

"If the situation is really as you said, what kind of response should be adopted?"

"Organize an elite team to conduct an investigation."

"The information is too scarce. I can't let my brothers die for this."

"Yes, so you are responsible for the outer security, and I will lead the people in."

The two men's conversation was almost like connecting to each other's words until Zhang Ge finally revealed his true intentions.

The sergeant seemed to be slightly hesitant in his speech due to the contrast between the words "Astra Militarum" and "Elite":

"you?"

"I."

"How sure are you?"

"The information is too scarce, so I can't make any guarantees for you. But this is exactly what I'm going to do. At least I'll let those who come after me figure out how certain we are."

After answering without hesitation, the sergeant in white helmet placed his palm on the hilt of the sword at his waist, and seemed to think for a moment.

"I still can't let the other brothers die for this, but... I can go with you to scout the situation there."

Now it was Zhang Ge's turn to be silenced.

No, buddy, why are you joining in the fun?

The last big guy who went in had his arm broken. Why don’t you think about this again?

I'm just looking for a reason to go in and die. Can you please not be so serious about it?

Zhang Ge quickly searched for reasonable reasons to reject the other party, but soon discovered sadly that as a space soldier, he really couldn't think of how to reasonably reject the invitation of a Space Marine officer to cooperate in combat.

OK OK.

Forget it, it doesn't matter. All beings are equal under the Necrons' guns. Having more Space Marines is no big deal. If it really doesn't work, I can just go in front and be done with it. I can take a shot before him and the job will be done.

After trying so hard to convince himself, Zhang Ge finally managed to put on a slightly "touched" expression. He walked up to him, patted his arm, and said:

"welcome."

Chapter 170 Blackstone Mine

In order to keep the team as small as possible, the team only included four people, namely Zhang Ge, Amelia, Space Marine Sergeant and Isis. The rest were asked to wait outside or be on guard.

According to the agreement, if the four people did not return to the surface in more than one Terra, they would be deemed to have died. If Calgar had not arrived by then, a second reconnaissance team could be sent out.

During the preparation phase before departure, the Space Marine officer still insisted on questioning Zhang Ge about the source of his information. He could only roughly estimate the time based on the popularity of the Primaris Space Marines and then found a random excuse to deal with it:

"In the defense of Baal..."

Halfway through his words, Zhang Ge suddenly remembered that he shouldn't talk about that matter casually.

To put it simply, they had to compromise temporarily in desperate circumstances, but to put it more broadly, the founding regiment's commander was secretly communicating with aliens. This kind of thing must be kept secret at all costs. Even if a mere Astra Militarum knew about it, they would definitely sign a confidentiality agreement. These various confidentiality measures are also one of the reasons why the Empire's information blockade is so severe.

"...I've encountered it before."

Of course, the other party could hear this obvious and abrupt turn, but combined with his own understanding of the blank spaces in the Battle of Baal, even if Zhang Ge did not say everything, he still revealed a lot of information.

If this is the case, then many things that were mentioned briefly and vaguely can be explained, and there is also a reasonable explanation for why I knew nothing about it.

Sleeping forever and being spread among the stars, these two things alone are enough to be terrifying when you think about them.

If such an alien were to be announced, then for ordinary people and even many of his own colleagues, where would the long-promoted human legitimacy over the galaxy be placed?

This one matter alone has such a significant impact, and there are countless other things involved. Before the top level discusses a suitable plan, not to mention the relevant intelligence, it is likely that even its existence will be kept strictly confidential.