Standard Terran Calendar,
Storm Star Territory, Stardust Corridor, Vera 3
Soshyan stood in front of the podium with his arms crossed, staring motionlessly ahead, with no expression on his face.
It has been 8 years since the Feast of Blades. During this time, he has basically been dealing with the affairs of the Chapter, including the transformation and training of new recruits, and also participated in several eliminations of gene stealers.
But he did not give up on another, more important job.
It is to find the planet in Talos' prophecy.
He commissioned many expeditions to search for worlds with similar characteristics, and found several, but each time he went there they returned without success.
It's easy to be discouraged by such a result, but he is not a defeatist, and Soshyan remains patient.
He even released Kayon's spy Sorge, on the one hand to fulfill his promise, and on the other hand to take advantage of the other party's unique "talent".
Soshyan packaged Sorge as a rogue trader and gave him sufficient start-up capital. On the one hand, he could use him to deal with certain difficult "goods", and on the other hand, he asked him to inquire about the world.
Sorge was reluctant at first because it was not entirely consistent with the freedom he longed for, but when Soshyan told him that his master was not really dead, Sorge obeyed - he knew very well that Kayan The revenge was so horrific that he was unwilling to face it no matter what.
Of course, oppression alone makes it difficult for people to do things sincerely. Soshyan also promised that he would never let Kayan know where Sorge was, let alone let him be retaliated against.
"Chapter Master."
The Lord of Chasing suddenly called:
"The navigator reported that we had reached our destination and she advised us not to go any further."
"very good."
Soshyan nodded and replied:
"Then slow down first."
Suddenly, an object as big as a mountain passed dozens of kilometers in front of the Unbound Soul.
The Stardust Corridor is located in the northwest of the Storm Star Domain and is marked as an asteroid belt with unusual density. As soon as the battleship's sensors left the subspace, they detected dozens of targets in the surrounding area that were huge enough to crash the battleship.
These are not accumulated remnants, nor ice and dust, but rocks and metals.
Soshyan deduced that something huge should have passed through here.
What kind of giant thing is it?
This idea was inexplicable and came from his mood. What he saw was debris. Something had been destroyed here.
What destroyed it?
On the starboard side of the battleship is a dark brown planet, like a satellite, with a very eccentric orbit, forming a very steep angle with the orbit of Planet Vera III.
During its orbit, it only passes through the asteroid belt for a short period of time. Because of this process, many craters are formed on the planet's surface due to impacts, and the thin atmosphere is filled with dust formed by recent impacts.
Planetary collisions destroyed what was here before, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
A huge disaster once occurred here, the cause of which is unknown.
The reason why Soshyan came here was of course not to see these asteroid belts. He came here with a message——
Sorge declared that this world might meet Soshyan's requirements.
Rainforest, green skin, traces of civilization, and vague historical records.
"Keep the battleship approaching orbit at low speed."
After saying this, Soshyan returned to the tactical command platform on the bridge, and Talos leaned on the command throne as always.
Soshyan directly clicked on the imaging device, and from it he could see Vera III, a former human colony. However, when the meteorite containing green-skinned spores landed five hundred years ago, there were no living people here.
The empire was liquidated once, but because the world was really meaningless and the environment was quite harsh, it finally gave up colonizing it again.
There are probably only some primitive greenskins left on the planet now who are still active.
"Does this world match your vision?"
Soshyan turned to look at Talos.
The prophet glanced and yawned.
"The outline is similar, but I can't tell you anything else, because that's all I can see... No matter how long I stare at your face, I won't get any more answers."
Soshyan stared at the planet instead.
"Is this normal?"
"I can't tell, Chapter Master. After all, our father just glanced at his brothers and already foresaw their ending. But I can't do it, and I can't see your ending."
"There's no sign of civilization here."
Gradually, the Unbound Soul anchored at the upper level of the planet's orbit. Looking down from here, there are no city lights on the planet's surface, only blue oceans and green land.
Everything below is unmistakably pristine, and that vast expanse of green can only mean one thing: a disorderly, chaotic mess of organic life.
After staring at the planet for a long time, Soshyan sighed.
"Hopefully, I'll gain something. Get ready for airborne landing."
Half an hour later, several Thunderhawks swept out from the flight deck of the battleship and headed straight for the planet's surface.
"I hate grass."
As soon as they landed, they faced a green hell.
The jungle was so dense that they had to use chain swords to cut down the dense vegetation. Sometimes the traces on the ground were completely covered by vegetation, so they had to use flamethrowers to create them.
The vines and moss hit by the flames burned quickly, but due to the high humidity, the fire was extinguished within a short time.
This time Soshyan brought a company and a hundred soldiers to the ground, established a small stronghold directly in the landing zone, and built complete defenses.
After that, he personally led thirty soldiers to explore deep into the jungle, because they had previously detected a large target in orbit with a strong metal signal, which was likely to be a colonial relic left by former humans.
Talos chafed at the slow advance, he hated any slow march, but the only enemy for now was the stripped vegetation.
The rest of the reconnaissance force had disappeared in front of them, the silvery gray disappearing into the emerald darkness - the line of sight in the jungle was less than a few dozen meters.
The moss layer is so thick that it is as soft as walking on snow.
Suddenly, a sound came from Soshyan's communicator, which was the voice of First Company Commander Mark.
"The road ahead is clear, but the auspex shows multiple large targets ahead."
"Wait for my arrival."
When Soshyan arrived, Mark and his team were already waiting for him in front. The path over there had opened up an open space, and other sergeants had dispersed to both sides.
"What's the goal?"
"in front of."
Under Mark's guidance, Soshyan came to a clearing, about a circle with a diameter of one kilometer, with a small stream running through it.
As he walked through the road ahead, he saw a large group of creatures gathering not far away. It was estimated that there were about a hundred of them. Their shoulder height was about three meters, their length was about twice as long as their height, their skin was dark green, and their heads were oval. They have a huge mouth, sharp teeth, and long tusks. Their tails hover slightly above the ground. There are two bone hammers at the back end. Rows of forward-curving spikes cover their backs. The limbs are thick and powerful.
But their senses didn't seem to be sharp, and they didn't notice the Space Marines not far away.
"Native creatures?"
Soshyan frowned, but Talos beside him said softly:
"No, these are green-skinned beasts. I have encountered them in the past. Some people call them giant squigs."
