Several weeks have passed since the protoss fleet pursuing Tassadar evacuated the Altera system, and Oasis Town entered the increasingly hot end of March.
Like this uninteresting, sweltering planet with its sky covered in green mist, Oasis Town was once nothing more than a gray town of modular houses and intertwined alleys, where criminals and pirates ran rampant, and every ten people Nine are wanted criminals, drug addicts, parts thieves, smugglers and armed thugs.
Everyone has evil intentions, because innocent and pure people simply cannot survive in this dark world.
The revolutionary army has controlled and managed Oasis Town for nearly a month. Strict and effective administrative measures have gradually brought the town into order. For the people of Oasis Town who are accustomed to crime and fierce armed conflicts, the management of the Revolutionary Army is closer to harsh and high-pressure rule.
Even though Revolutionary Army Marshal Augustus Mengsk announced that he was pardoning those who deserved to be detained for "trivial" crimes, about 20,000 people were arrested for various heinous crimes, about a third of them People were accused of murder, kidnapping, drug smuggling, violence... Thousands of lawsuits were filed in the Oasis Town Court within two weeks.
The people of Oasis Town have become accustomed to a life of intrigue and deception. Many sophisticated criminals have even been hiding here for more than ten years or even longer, and the evidence proclaiming their guilt may be far away in federal territory several light years away or has been be destroyed.
However, Augustus ordered that all Revolutionary Army psykers be involved in the detection of criminal cases, so even crimes that had been hidden for many years could not be unearthed even if high-level psykers worked one-on-one for long periods of time.
After the Nova Squadron, which had many ghost agents, surrendered to Augustus, the number of ghost agents in the Revolutionary Army had reached close to ninety. Sworn to fight for Augustus Mengsk and the New Order, these former Confederate Ghost agents are exceptional assassins and telepathic darlings, with mind-reading abilities that are feared by all Confederate politicians.
Even those drug lords and pirate captains with extraordinary psychological qualities cannot stand the gaze of a human psyker for long, and will always collapse under the pressure of one continuous problem after another. Because the criminal who is hiding his crime does not know how much of his crime the psyker opposite has read, every contradictory statement may expose their flaws.
In addition to the Revolutionary Army, the Terran Federation and the United States of Umoyan will not waste their precious psychics on solving criminal cases, because that is really overkill, and even in those courts that accept political cases, psychics will not be allowed to use them. or intervenes.
The mind-reading abilities of psykers are obviously underestimated, firstly because their numbers are too rare, and secondly because the rulers do not believe in these psykers.
According to the laws of the planet under the rule of the Revolutionary Army, these guilty persons should be immediately sentenced to death or detained in Antiga Prison for decades, but they can choose to redeem their crimes by working in the mines.
At this moment, Augustus was on the top of a ridge in the oasis town. Directly below him was a rugged rift valley. This rift spans sparse deciduous tree forests and exposed natural crystal veins that sparkle with a faint blue light in the sun, and is finally buried in steep mountains filled with high-energy gas springs.
From Augustus's position, he had a panoramic view of the vast rift valley. The mountains in the distance are dotted with geothermal fountains and high-energy gas springs, shrouded in green mist. The sun seems to be setting, and the rays of light burn out the clouds on the horizon.
"Is the ceremony about to begin?" Augustus, who was wearing a long dark blue coat with a square collar, held a pair of telescopes in his hands and looked at the rift valley below from time to time.
"According to what Tassadar said, it should be at sunset." He continued talking without waiting for the people around him to answer: "Tassadar must pass through this hidden place with more than a hundred people at the turn of day and dusk. The Rift of the Dark Templar Masters, the most powerful Dark Templar among them is the Dark Master Zeratul himself."
"It's unbelievable that as a Templar, Tassadar would accept the trial of the Dark Templar. He actually mastered the power of the void in such a short period of time - the last one who mastered Kara at the same time The psionic and void psionic protoss is still the ancient protoss hero Aden.”
Since Tassadar became familiar with Augustus and Zeratul, the leaders of the Protoss Empire Templars, the Dark Templars of Sarcoras, and the Human Revolutionary Army would often sit together and discuss their views on the form of warfare. Views, and later even developed into the humanistic history of protoss and humans.
In many ways, Tassadar and Zeratul can definitely be called Augustus's teachers, and a relationship between them gradually formed as both teachers and friends.
Augustus also witnessed Tassadar asking Zeratul for advice on how to master the energy of the void - Tassadar did not think ignorance and asking for advice were shameful and worthy of shame, as long as the power of the void could help his people, He doesn't care to ask for advice like a student.
It was also at this time that Tassadar discovered that combining the pure blue psychic energy in Kara with the green void energy of the Dark Templar could explode into infinite power like a supernova. He also said more than once that using This might be able to completely kill the Overlord of the Swarm, eliminate the threat of the Zerg forever, and keep the Protoss Spirit Empire intact.
Although Augustus followed Tassadar to observe Zeratul's lessons, he also heard them in a fog. Only Kerrigan, who was allowed to come to the Starshuttle with Augustus, could learn from them. Knowledge.
"Sounds amazing." Renault stood on Augustus' right hand: "Shadow Speed, this is like some kind of ancient tribal custom. The technology of the protoss is quite advanced, but the custom is primitive and ancient. "
Shadowrun, the ancient ritual of the Protoss of Thagurath, is the only way for a young Shadow Apprentice to become a true Dark Templar. They must travel deep into the starless valleys and canyons of Thagurath, and accept other The Dark Templar is tested until he defeats them all or proves his ability to become a warrior.
There is no doubt that such trials are extremely difficult, and the Dark Templar must practice assiduously for centuries. Therefore, all Dark Templars, without exception, are more or less powerful warriors.
"The Protoss is a civilization that was forcibly promoted from the tribal era to the interstellar age by the god Xel'Naga. This is very common among them." Augustus' understanding of the history of the Protoss was also different from before.
"This is the Protoss. They can blow you to smithereens from a few miles away, but they have to use a knife." Kerrigan was on Augustus's left. She was wearing a ghost tights with dense circuits, but she was only small. The sharp curve between her waist and hips was hidden under a gray revolutionary army coat with a long hem.
"Jimmy, where is Tychus." Augustus stared closely at the rift valley below through the telescope in his hand, looking for traces of Tassadar and Zeratul.
This desolate canyon is not deserted. Across the Great Rift Valley is a mine established by the Kaimorians. Rows of factory sheds covered with red dust stand quietly in the wind. In the center of the Rift Valley is a geological survey station of the Revolutionary Army, next to it is a blue crystal tower dozens of feet high.
"'Sheriff Tychus' is busy chasing criminals and rectifying the custom industry in Oasis Town." Renault laughed and said: "This old boy Tychus is really having fun these days. Never let a devil fuck an angel. job."
"Tassadar has appeared," Kerrigan reminded Augustus.
Augustus looked around, and Tassadar and his templars appeared, standing at the foot of the ridge. The Dark Templar warriors in the trial had already retreated into the shadows, waiting for Tassadar to cross this dangerous canyon on foot.
Tassadar is a powerful high templar, so the Dark Templar he faces are many times more powerful than normal Shadowsprint.
"What's going on? Why is Tassadar wearing a blanket? What kind of weird protoss custom is this?" Raynor held up his telescope and said in surprise: "He is almost naked."
"I have to say, this outfit is pretty cool, isn't it?"
In Renault's sight, Tassadar was not really naked, but he was not wearing shiny gold-blue alloy armor like other templars. He was just slung across his right shoulder and crotch. A dark templar-style gray girdle. Not only that, Tassadar was wearing no wrist blades capable of energizing psychic blades.
This means that Tassadar will pass the trials of the Dark Templar using only his own strength, rather than weapons or armor.
"..." Augustus also noticed this, but he said in his heart that they were not peeping, but observing in advance.
"Tassadar's power has become far greater than before. In the past, Zeratul could still have an advantage in the competition with him, but now..." Kerrigan said.
"Jimmy, how far do you think you can go if you take part in the Dark Templar's Shadowrun trial?" Augustus said jokingly.
"Do you want me to compete with more than a hundred world-famous swordsmen with bare hands in my crotchless pants? Man, you will definitely see my shiny butt when I run around." Renault laughed.
At this time, without any order from the leader, the Templars had all retreated to one side of the rift, while Tassadar walked vigorously towards the depths of the rift. For the age of the protoss, Tassadar was not even an old man. He was physically strong, and even in terms of memories of battles, few among the Templars and Dark Templars could match him.
However, in Shadow Rush, the trialist needs both strong strength and wisdom to resolve the crisis. A powerful Dark Templar is by no means a reckless man who only knows how to use brute force, he is better at outsmarting.
"Guys, do you want to give it a try?"
Kerrigan shook her long red hair and turned her head to look behind her.
Originally there were only a platoon or so of Marshal's Guard soldiers behind them, including Corporal Faraday, but now more than twenty ghost agents of the Revolutionary Army suddenly appeared.
There were men and women among them, and most of them were wearing helmets or masks, and no one could see their expressions underneath. The one at the front is a black-haired female ghost with a good figure. She wears a black Umo Yang matte mask. The mask covers her forehead, eyes and nose, leaving only her purple lips exposed.
Charming, mysterious, and dangerous, she is the only 8th-level psyker in Nova Squadron, a powerful psyker named Lagdamen. She hadn't experienced defeat since graduating from the Ghost Academy on Tarsonis.
Removing the psychic suppressor from Ragdaman's brain is an extremely dangerous task. Once it gets out of control, no one in the operating room will survive. Fortunately, the resection surgery was completed without incident.
Ragdaman, the dark-haired beauty with an Asian face, quickly accepted her new identity—in fact, according to Kerrigan, Ragdaman was almost grateful to Augustus.
For Augustus, this was a dangerous statement. It has to be said that female ghost agents are quite charming and dangerous.
Almost all ghost agents hate the Terran Federation and the Ghost Academy immensely, and this hatred eventually turns into a sense of identification and common hatred towards the Revolutionary Army.
"Dark Priest Zeratul once taught us the fighting methods of the Dark Templar." Ragdaman said lukewarmly: "Including but not limited to disrupting the enemy's vision, using the terrain to sneak around and touch the enemy's back. "
"Then he pulled out a light blade."
"You must learn with humility, Ragdaman." Augustus hoped that his psykers could learn useful knowledge and skills from Zeratul, which would be taught to the new generation of human psykers in the future. , to avoid tragedy.
"Zeratul is the most outstanding shadow master, and he can teach you more than this." Augustus said: "You don't want to know how much I spent asking Zeratul to teach you a lesson. .”
"Yes, Marshal." Ragdaman immediately saluted Augustus and said.
"Maybe we can't use the psychic blades of the protoss yet, but we can equip each of you with two long knives from the ancient earth era." Augustus said: "The best among you will be allowed to wear them. The coat of arms of the Mengsk family is on my left and right."
"There are always 'ghosts' around you." Ragdaman said.
As Augustus spoke, the sky gradually darkened. However, even with night vision goggles, Augustus could not actually see what was happening in the canyon.
There were only occasional flashes of green light in the canyon, and there was a burning sound, like two swordsmen clashing their swords in the dark, retreating at the first touch, and the victory or defeat was already decided.
The flash of swords and shadows were getting further and further away, but Tassadar was still moving forward without stopping.
"What can we learn from this?" Augustus asked his loyal followers, looking into the distance.
"We are stronger than ever," Ragdaman replied.
The ghost agents of the Revolutionary Army headed by Ragdaman all wore cloak hoods made of pseudo-light material outside their combat uniforms. Almost everyone carried ancient cold weapons sickles and long knives, and carried C-10 rifles on their shoulders.
