How can a retired savior be considered retired if his price drops to 40,000?

Chapter 310: Speed ​​​​of Life and Death without any tension

Akurdona once again occupied the side observation window of Prototype No. 1, observing the outside world with a tense mind.

The vehicle was moving as fast as possible, with almost no turbulence - because saving energy was not something they had the luxury to consider in the previous items. Santo turned on the anti-gravity engine of Prototype 1 and turned its power output to the maximum regardless of the noise. From a distance, a square iron box was flying at a low altitude of about two meters above the ground.

The scene was strange, but it was inevitable: the sky, like a dirty oil film, was surging uncomfortably, as if it was about to drip from the sky; the originally empty plains were collapsing and shattering, and the harmless rubble scattered in the unchanging scenery had also turned into rugged shapes. The unpredictable changes in the warp ignored the common sense of people who were more accustomed to the rules of the material world, shaping the environment like a ruthless natural disaster in a way beyond their imagination - and the fundamental reason why the legion champions of the Emperor's Children had to be on edge and ready to face the enemy was the blood-red army that continued to pour out from the cracks emitting ominous light on the Broken Plains.

Flesh hounds, bloodletters, bronze bulls, most of them have become cultists with strange shapes. The good news is that Akuldona has not yet confirmed heavy firepower such as brass scorpions or skull cannons, nor has he seen very difficult units such as hell dragons or bloodthirsty demons. The bad news is that first of all, they have been crushed by numbers, and the Khorne demon army pouring out of the cracks seems endless. They have no other wise choice except to escape; secondly, Akuldona deeply doubts whether the escape direction they chose under the random number can really lead to a way out in the end.

The experience of the Webway Wars told Akuldona that this scene, which seemed too supernatural even in a supernatural environment, was obviously because some of their actions angered a powerful being hovering in the High Heaven. But this thought only flashed in his mind for a moment before he threw it into the garbage bin: It was meaningless to know this - is there a time when the Blood God is not angry? At least according to Akuldona's shallow knowledge of the Warp, no.

"If anything happens, just throw me down first." Phoenix's eldest son said generously. He didn't sound like he was ready to sacrifice himself, but rather that he had prepared the food and was about to cook. "Although there are more of them, I think I can at least hold out for two or three minutes. Anyway, even if I die now, I will just be reborn in the Star Torch - but Santo, you can't throw him down now, he still has to drive."

The driver who was named spoke angrily from the driver's seat, as if he was really watching Akurdona approach the kitchen counter. "If I decide to throw you out, it won't be because I need you to snipe the enemy outside. 'Prototype No. 1' is currently operating under the premise of overload. After you leave it, it may run faster."

Prototype No. 1 was an experimental vehicle designed and built to verify virtual number submersion. It was not designed with many practical factors in mind. Santo had to first solve the "whether it can work" part of this problem before considering "whether it is easy to use". Therefore, in terms of the capacity of the vehicle's internal space, the designer had obviously only considered the situation of cramming a maximum of five Astartes (a Iron Hands data collection and verification team) in the cabin.

Based on this, there was no proper load and space redundancy reserved for the Primarch (even if their Gene Father came to check the progress, he would at least wait until they finished the second version, right? That's what Santo thought). Unfortunately, plans can never keep up with changes. A clone of Fulgrim and Rogal Dorn huddled in the cockpit have already filled the space up. Although Akuldona successfully occupied a favorable position on one side of the observation window at the beginning, judging from the current situation, it seems unrealistic to throw him out of the cockpit alone.

"Meaningless quarrels will not help us get out of our current predicament." Judging from the order of boarding, the last huge rock that forced Prototype No. 1 into an overload dilemma (but no one would mention this) said calmly, "We only have four of us now. Each of us is extremely important and should not be abandoned and fall into the hands of the evil god."

"But we really need to think of other ways, otherwise we will be caught sooner or later." The clone expressed a very realistic point of view, "I don't really want to die in such an unknown place without knowing why. If I don't hear any good news before the energy runs out, maybe I will really jump out of the car and do something spectacular in the last period of my life."

"There is indeed good news, but only half of it." Santo's unpleasant voice was filled with anxiety. "While following the wheel tracks and footprints to pick you up - please forgive me, I have no intention of offending you, Lord Dorn - I have successfully completed the data collection and algorithm writing required for imaginary diving under the persistent interference of the noisy Akuldona (Akuldona: Hey!). So in theory, we can disappear directly from here by diving into the imaginary domain."

The unfamiliar terms in this sentence made Dorn frown, but when he spoke again, he still maintained his previous calm tone: "But you chose not to do so, soldier. I demand that you give a specific reason for this."

"Because the errors in the navigation system operating in the new environment have not been corrected, we can't really tell where we will drift to after diving into the imaginary domain. It seems that the energy is not enough for us to jump back into the Astronomican in one go." It was Akuldona who answered this question. "The worst result is that we disappear from here, surface again in a few days, and then have to stare at another group of hostile units that far outnumber us."

"The worst outcome is that we won't be able to float back up to the real number domain, and we will become a kind of 'non-existent ghost' that cannot be observed in the real universe or the subspace." Santo corrected him a little anxiously, and then reminded him amid the beeping of the radar alarm, "Hold on tight, tactical evasion."

The anti-gravity engine roared to resist the inertia of the entire vehicle, and Prototype No. 1 showed a maneuverability in mid-air that was inconsistent with its stupidly square cardboard shape. Akurdona successfully relied on magnetic boots, safety belts, and his core strength to fix himself motionlessly on the edge of the observation window, and at a certain moment he was sure that he saw the tip of a hell dragon's tail. But for the other two passengers in the cockpit, the almost stopped power armor and the tattered ceremonial armor could not help them in this matter - Santo heard a few collisions behind him, but at least no one really complained about it.

The space inside the cabin wasn't actually that crowded, at least in Santo's opinion, there was room for at least two more Fujimaru Ritsukas. But for these creatures, each larger than the other, it was a fact that they would inevitably bump into each other if they moved even slightly.

"I have never heard of this technology." After this stagger, Dorn said so, and it was obvious that he did not mean to blame. "Time is tight, I don't have time to study its principles in depth, but can't we manually calibrate the route during navigation?"

"Although the original technology provided by Chaldea completed all calculations related to the route in a black box, it is not impossible for our current equipment." Santo replied, "The real problem is that there is no navigation mark like the Astronomical Torch in the imaginary number domain. Even if we operate manually, we don't know where we will 'operate' ourselves to." Dorn automatically skipped the several terms that were very unfamiliar to him in this passage and asked directly: "In this case, how should this vehicle calculate the route?"

"Directly locate a point in the real number domain, but it turns out that even if the 'Paper Moon' successfully guides us out of the imaginary number domain, our landing point may still be disturbed by some means." Otherwise, they would not have landed in this damn place and encountered these thrilling things. Santo thought so, but he could not say for sure now "This is really unlucky" (or "We are so lucky").

Following Santo's unconscious body movements, Dorn looked at the Thinker array installed next to the driver's seat. He was sure that this was the first time he had ever heard the word "paper moon", but he did feel a little inexplicably familiar with it. He threw this strange illusion out of his mind and issued an order without hesitation: "Let's do this, we leave here, and then manually correct the course to reach a relatively suitable target location."

There is no doubt that the large number of uncertainties made it a difficult decision to make, but compared to doing nothing and being killed by the massive Khorne army, this hesitant decision was obviously the most correct. If they wanted to leave the battlefield in this way, then taking action immediately when the energy was sufficient would certainly have a higher tolerance rate than waiting until the energy was on the verge of exhaustion and unwillingly diving. After receiving the order, Santo did not hesitate and immediately began to execute the virtual number diving process.

"Let me warn you," the clone said in a somewhat embarrassed voice, "this process is not a very pleasant experience."
-
It must be said that during this subjective period of slightly more than two years, Conrad Curze has achieved initial success in managing his descendants, whose number has been reduced to more than 3,000 due to the war.

Although it would be a bit of a generalization to say that all of his descendants who had been reduced in number disappeared in the war, at least after he issued a "general cleanup" order next to the Nightfall on a whim, within a subjective forty-eight Terra hours, he successfully boarded the hangar of the Nightfall in a Thunderhawk, surrounded by his descendants.

Of course, it is impossible to clean out a Queen of Glory-class battleship within forty-eight hours, but it is still possible to clear out a quiet space for the Primarch to land.

Curze didn't need to go through so much trouble. In the warp environment of the Great Rift, he could easily cross the void and board his former flagship in person - but he just wanted to go through such a big circle to create a so-called "sense of ceremony". Due to his status, no one except Corax expressed actual opposition to this.

Judging from the facts that have happened so far, the Raven Lord did object, but unfortunately the objection was ineffective. The Nightborne who came down from the Thunderhawk joined their colleagues who had boarded the Nightfall via torpedoes, and formed a ceremonial formation that looked very real in the open space of the hangar, ready to welcome their Gene Father and another Primarch aboard.

Because there were no mortals nearby, the "other Primarch" who was greeted by this array also reluctantly revealed his true appearance from the shadows. It can be seen that he has tried his best to make himself look not much different from ten thousand years ago, but even if the weak psychic tides naturally caused by the warp energy gathered around him and the mental oppression brought to others by these psychic tides are excluded, the pair of living black wings behind him and the faint red light underneath still make Corax look a little scary overall.

"We shouldn't waste our time on these useless things." The Lord of Ravens complained clearly, "We still have a whole planet to clean up."

"Have some confidence in your offspring. Shrek can handle the things on the surface of Jiaxu." Koz walked among his well-behaved offspring, looking a little nonchalant. His interest was obviously not as high as when he first made this request. "Besides, how can you define something as meaningful as 'revisiting an old place' as 'useless'?"

The pragmatic Corax's expression became even more unhappy. "You promised me that this action would have meaning beyond providing you with emotional value, so I agreed to follow you. You'd better not be lying again."

"Don't be so anxious, my good brother. I am sure that what I am doing is meaningful, but even I don't know when this 'meaning' will pounce on our faces like a fly chasing the light." Coze pretended to show an "innocent" look, "This is the prophecy. Even if I-"

One of Corax's wings mercilessly hit Curze's pretentious face, causing the latter to stagger.

"I know, so it'd better be true." The Lord of the Raven said with disgust, then quickened his pace, silently passed the former owner of the Nightfall, and led the way towards the door of the hangar that had become scarred over a long period of time.

"It's no use walking so fast!" Koz, who obviously wanted to take the opportunity to feel "domineering" in front of his offspring, shouted unhappily behind him: "Efficiency won't solve the problem here!"

(End of this chapter)