Fujimaru Ritsuka and Somni used the teleportation device to board the bridge of the "Lion's Mane", so now, only Conrad Curze is left able to move freely on the "Storm Frontier".
This wonderful fact made Coz laugh a little.
He would say the strategy is stupid and short-sighted. If it were any of his other brothers, or even anyone with basic judgment, they would not be able to make such a decision. He left a Primarch who had rebelled against the Empire, did not regret it, had never truly repented, and was not yet 100% sure of being friendly, and left him alone in his most important headquarters without supervision. No one in their right mind could do such a thing.
However, Fujimaru Ritsuka...sometimes it is indeed difficult to say that she is sane. At least that's what Coates thinks.
As long as there is one more living person on this ship, this thing will not happen. It's just that Coates himself will not refuse such a decision that benefits him, and Somni is not a "living person" in any sense: he may put forward some opinions or suggestions of his own, but when it comes to implementation, He always chooses to follow Fujimaru Ritsuka's orders.
Curze didn't know if this had anything to do with the contract between them, and he didn't care about it. He just moved forward in the corridor according to his own will, like a shadow sliding past, silent and without trace.
The Stormbound was a "different" ship on many levels, a fact Curze had long appreciated. First, and most obviously, it was clearly not made by the Empire. The technology, equipment, overall layout, and even its size, functional settings, and decorative style are all far different from any ship in the history of the empire. Secondly, it's bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside.
Much bigger.
Observed from the outside, this silver-white, simple and smooth boat is very small, with a length of only seventy meters and a width of less than ten meters. By the standards of the Empire, this is a very embarrassing size: it means that it is neither large enough to crush other aircraft that can fight in the atmosphere in an air battle, nor small enough to be flexible enough to prevent enemy attacks. hit. If one day the ship had to be put into actual combat, Curze would bluntly say that he was not optimistic about the combat effectiveness of the Stormbound.
But in fact, this ship was not only used for combat. Judging from the bow collision angle and electromagnetic shield, the Storm Boundary does have certain combat capabilities, but in actual combat over the past few months, it has obviously been used more as a commander to collect intelligence from the rear and provide support. department. When not fighting, the truly incredible aspects of this ship are revealed:
This small ship can be regarded as a troop transport ship in the definition of the empire. It is used for "living".
Personal rooms, canteens, libraries, simulation training rooms, music rooms, small theaters... This ship unusually contains a space that is significantly larger than it appears to be, and contains too many spaces that can only be used. Facilities for life enjoyment. This thing itself is not strange, the same is true for the Nightfall, or most of the ships built by the empire for long-distance voyages are like this - but the problem is that the size of the Stormbound is much smaller than those behemoths.
On the one hand, this design idea is very inconsistent with the concept of "everything must make way for combat efficiency" of the Imperial warship; on the other hand, the Stormbound has indeed successfully accommodated a volume that it should not have been able to accommodate. Just like now: Coz has walked one hundred and fifty meters along the straight corridor of the "dormitory area", but has not yet reached its end. If it were on the outside of the ship, this distance would be enough to walk almost a circle around the entire Storm Boundary.
In a sense, the interior of this ship...is somewhat subspace-like. When he was inside the Stormbound, Konrad Coates could often feel some harmless sense of dissonance, as if a person who was used to living in a square room was suddenly moved into a round room. There is no difference in appearance, but it will still be a bit uncomfortable.
Perhaps it was because of this special feature that Cozzi didn't know yet that Fujimaru Ritsuka dared to leave him alone on the ship. This idea flashed through his mind quickly, and was immediately rejected by himself: he did sometimes feel a sense of disobedience on the Stormbound, but he didn't think there was anything on this ship that could truly Threaten him.
He stopped in front of a door that looked no different from the ones he had passed before. He knew that one of his genetic descendants was locked inside that door.
This may be some kind of ability he shared from Fujimaru Ritsuka through her contract, some kind of control over the "contract". If you put it in words alone, this thing is quite funny: because of a contract, he strengthened his contract-related abilities...
Fine.
Curze didn't succeed in making himself laugh. He just stood quietly in front of the door, quietly feeling the invisible bond between the original body and the legion's descendants, which Fujimaru Ritsuka called the "base contract".
This was a very strange feeling: he had never known or cared about such trivial matters as where his theoretical heir was being held on the ship, what he was doing these days, and how he was doing. But when he started to explore, he would naturally come to the right place, and the corresponding information would flow into his mind without any delay when he wanted to know.
He did not have the ability to let his gaze penetrate building materials, nor was he able to pass through solid objects at will like when he was in the trial illusion. But he just knew that behind the closed door was a room that looked like it had been destroyed by a natural disaster, with one of his genetic descendants looming over it like the eye of a typhoon.
This renegade Astartes, like any prisoner, wore no armor, only a simple mass-produced robe to cover his body. He has pale skin, messy scars, dark pupils and a violent expression, just like any Night Lord should look like. He stayed there quietly, not because he was calm, but because there was really nothing around him that could allow him to continue to destroy. Conrad Coates knew this, for he could also clearly read the unspoken shame and simmering rage in the man's heart.
This person still harbors some kind of revenge, some dark and unflattering weak thoughts. Curze scorned these things, but for this Astartes, they were enough motivation to keep him waiting for the opportunity to move for a long time. As long as he is given even a slight chance, violent winds will blow around the seemingly calm eye of the storm again.
Ten thousand years have passed, and his genetic descendants still have the same virtue. And this was even picked over.
Coates was disenchanted with this. If he wanted to know, he could know the man's name right away, but he didn't want to. He turned his eyes away from the door, but the feeling of the contract was not broken. He continued to move forward silently, but he could still feel the Astartes looking hesitantly at the door in the room that could not be opened by himself, with a bit of unbelievable hope in his eyes - it seemed Through the completely opaque material, you can see Coz himself coming and going quietly in the corridor.
This made Cozz feel a kind of stress-like disgust, and couldn't help but complain in his heart: How could Fujimaru Ritsuka's contract strengthen this thing in both directions.
Then, he chose not to "look" so carefully. He walked around in this small corridor without attracting attention, "observing" all the legion scions he had found so far. Eighteen rooms are neatly arranged in two rows on both sides of the corridor, with nine rooms in each row - considering their current situation, it is difficult to say that nothing has somehow affected this reality.
Some of these people are as irritable as the first one, some are desperate for some reason, some have unrealistic illusions about the future, and some even kneel down to pray for no apparent reason - but no one realizes No one sincerely regrets his past mistakes.
This made Coz feel a little disappointed, but at the same time he was relieved. It's not that he has any vague hopes for his son's character, he just thinks that Fujimaru Ritsuka might be able to do something about it. In theory she could, but apparently, in reality she didn't do anything.
Since she had done nothing, Conrad Coates should have no qualms about taking action when the worst future he foresaw came true.
He saw an omen, which was why he suddenly found the location of his heir on a whim:
He saw that he would soon kill all the Night Lords on the ship. And if necessary, he will do so.
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"So during the Great Crusade, there was an alien civilization that worshiped the blue bird god living on this planet?" Fujimaru Ritsuka struggled to hold the data pad adapted to the Astartes' size, and frowned as he read the history of the Lion's Mane. combat report.
Fortunately, this ship also participated in orbital bombing at that time and was affiliated with the Fire Wing, so a large part of its situation at that time has been preserved. It is difficult to say how helpful the combat operations 10,000 years ago will be in understanding the current situation, but Fujimaru Ritsuka still decided not to miss the slightest detail.
She even felt a little regretful, but it was a pity that neither the STC of the data board nor the Fire Wing organization had been successfully preserved until ten thousand years later.
"Yes." Lan Malok had no way of knowing what she was thinking, so he just dutifully introduced what he knew. "In addition, during the orbital bombing, some ships reported that they detected unreasonable subspace fluctuations."
"Do you still have the waveform diagram from that time?"
"The Dark Angels don't miss out."
The corresponding data is even stored in the attachment on the same data pad. After successfully finding it, Fujimaru Ritsuka only glanced at it and handed the data pad to Somni behind him: "Please fit the data at that time to the subspace fluctuations that can be naturally monitored now. I feel There is a high probability that what is happening now is not an isolated case. By the way, remember to consider the impact of the 'Great Rift' on today's real-life environment. When comparing the data from 10,000 years ago, you can consider the magnification factor."
Somni took the data board: "Analysis is ongoing...but I don't think it will be of any help to the current situation."
"No, it's important to figure out whether this is the first time it's happened or it's happened before. The symbolic meanings are completely different." Fujimaru Ritsuka explained and shrugged indifferently, " It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand, you are a ship in the material world, there is no need to think so clearly about subspace matters.”
...If you think about it clearly, the pressure is really great. Fujimaru Ritsuka, who finally realized that he had stood on the chessboard unknowingly, smiled bitterly.
It can only be said that it's okay, she has been mentally prepared for it - after all, this is why she left Xingju.
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It was almost dusk when lights suddenly came on in the hangar of the cargo terminal.
"Jacob, the parade has been suspended due to security issues." Aelita's voice was calm, and there was no emotional tendency in any sense.
"Didn't I say last night that the whole city was under martial law?" Savita squinted his eyes to adjust his vision blurred by the change in light, and responded with a similar calm tone, "But I thought your reaction would be bigger. Point, you did seem to want to go to the inner city before.”
He didn't look up, still busy with his own business. According to the original itinerary, they were supposed to set off at noon on the ninth day of the celebration, after the scheduled speech by Technical Officer Hastings, leaving the first city and returning to the fourth agricultural production planning area to which they originally belonged. He started checking the condition of the transport vehicles he was responsible for a day in advance and made relevant preparations without any problem.
He doesn't just do the work though.
Sevita waited for a while while doing what she was doing, but did not wait for Aelita's next words. For a girl who is always full of energy and seems to have endless things to say, this is a little unusual.
This kind of abnormality made Sevata bewildered, but he was willing to stop what he was doing, raised his eyes and paid a little attention to the little girl who was always close to him: "What's wrong?"
He asked aloud, and Aelita suddenly woke up as if she had woken up from a trance: "Ah! It's okay. I was just wondering if Ritsuka would be able to find us if we set off back to the fourth area."
Sevita stared at the uneasy little girl for a few more seconds, then turned back to face the mechanical structure at her hand: "Who knows, I can't say. Maybe she will show up before we leave tomorrow, maybe She has great powers and can find where we were originally stationed after we left, or maybe she will never appear again."
"...Don't you know either?" Aelita's tone sounded a little unwilling to give up.
Savita looked over again inexplicably: "Should I know?"
"But you seem to know everything..."
"I don't really know everything. Besides, the questions you asked before were all knowledge-based things."
"Do you really not know what will happen in the future?"
Sevatar stood up abruptly——
...but she...said...is there any problem...?
His mind seemed to be starting to rust, but he didn't even notice it.
