Years from now, someone may ask, who was the first person to die?
The Harcossians had no answer, and the Nostramos also had no answer. Most speculation would laughably name some important names, such as the three leaders of the Fire Chamber of Commerce.
They will say that these people should have died at the hands of the Eighth Legion, the Midnight Blades. Such speculations are unreasonable and absurd. The leaders of the Chamber of Commerce died, but of course they were not the first to die, and not all were killed by the Midnight Blades.
In fact, the first fatality was a soldier aboard Harkossus 1. His name was Torak, and he was once a strong man. Sadly, before he died, his muscles had been wrapped in loose fat.
He has a well-trimmed mustache, and his gray uniform is kept neatly by his wife at home. He is on duty at monitoring station A-1 and is responsible for the security at the entrance to the third passage.
This is a dispensable position, and yes, as you might have guessed, all dispensable positions are actually comfort jobs.
Torak has a good salary, plenty of rest time and a happy family. Fifteen minutes before he died, he was even thinking about what food his wife would give him when he got home from get off work tonight.
And fifteen minutes later, he would lose this opportunity forever.
An ancient mechanism in the monitoring station was artificially activated while he was thinking, and Torak did not notice it. Not because he was stupid, but because he didn't know the true appearance of the A-1 monitoring station where he was from the beginning.
It took nine minutes for the mechanism to fully warm up. Nine minutes later, the white light above Torak's head turned into a ferocious red, flashing in staggered patterns so fast that it made people instinctively panic.
Torak, of course, didn't understand what was going on, so he began reporting the incident to his superiors and asking for help. But his superior just said one sentence, something Torak couldn't understand at all.
That sentence did not belong to High Gothic, nor was it one of the eighteen native languages of Harkossus. It was a completely foreign language, belonging to another race.
His superior said, "Our service is over."
Six minutes later, destruction came. The A-1 monitoring station exploded in the cold vacuum. The entrance to the third passage was immediately engulfed in flames, and the soldier Torak was gone.
The A-1 monitoring station turned into a violent flash of fire in the universe, and was immediately captured by a huge ship not far from it. It was called the Nightfall and belonged to the Human Empire.
It will conquer Harkossus I, just as its siblings Resolve and Macragge's Glory did against Harkossus II and III, but with some differences. , it comes alone.
——
Conrad Coates stared at the huge fire through the observation window, silent. Khalil stood beside him, slowly moving his shoulders. The same was true on the bridge, everyone maintained absolute silence.
The crew members who have worked with the Eighth Legion for a long time will not speak at this time. This is a precious tacit understanding.
However, it is worth mentioning that while everyone is fully armed, Khalil Lohars still does not wear armor.
Two minutes later, a specific mapping report was sent to the data pad in Conrad Coates' hand. It was provided courtesy of Roboute Guilliman and is the latest model.
He lowered his head, raised his head dozens of seconds later, and gestured to the instructor of the Eighth Legion: "It exploded on its own."
Khalil nodded calmly.
It blew itself up, of course, but not by any self-destructive device. At the moment when the flames exploded in the vacuum, Khalil felt the fluctuations of spiritual energy. It was so slight that he almost missed it because of the distance. But it does exist.
A satellite-like organization that was blown up by psychic energy. What is its intention?
Khalil didn't have an answer, and he wasn't prepared to think carefully enough to find one.
The source of all problems is right before our eyes.
There is no longer any obstacle between Harkossus I and Nightfall, and judging from the evidence provided by senior traders, the Eighth Legion believes that they can even initially take over the planet within six hours.
Conrad Coates's voice came again a few seconds later, like a sigh. Khalil turned his head and saw the pale side face of the Lord of the Eighth Legion, as well as an extreme concentration.
"There are so many mysteries," Coates said. "I'm beginning to doubt the so-called federation of Harkossus, Khalil. It even has exactly three scattered planets."
"There are a lot of coincidences," Khalil said. "Even enough that one suspects it's a trap."
"Do you think it is?" Kurtz turned his head and looked at him, without any flinching in his eyes.
Khalil nodded calmly.
There are always things waiting hungrily in the darkness, and their hunger will never be satisfied, no matter how much they devour. There is no bottom line or so-called moderation, just pure malice.
He was warned before setting out, but if you are going to solve a problem, you must meet the problem first. And once you see the problem itself, they succeed.
Conspiracy?
He sneered, and Konrad Curze was startled - he had not seen such a smile on Khalil Lohars' face for a long time.
This is not a smile that belongs to an 'Instructor of the Eighth Legion'. He had seen this smile on many dark nights, but at some point, it disappeared, as if it had been actively abandoned by Khalil.
And now, Conrad Coates knows, it never went away.
"Maybe it's a trap, maybe it's not. Conspiracy is really disgusting, isn't it, Conrad? You need to worry about the trap, the possible consequences of stepping into it, and the possible chain reactions that may result. "
He smiled and lowered his head, sighing in the darkness. The cold light of psychic energy flashed away, and something clung to him in an instant from his shadow.
The dead white and pitch black wrapped around and covered the clothes in the next second. A ferocious skeleton replaced the face, shining coldly under the hood. The shadow-black cloak safely blocked most of the details, leaving only a tiny blue light. Seen through the cracks.
"So, we might as well destroy the trap together." Khalil said in his terrifying voice at the moment.
——Twenty minutes later, fire rain fell from the sky and landed on Harkossus One.
There will be a big chapter in this section next.
(End of chapter)
