Halo Construct

The Marauder abandoned shooting and grabbed one of the Groot's hands directly, the two immediately locked in a contest of strength.

"Xeno! Surrender!"

The Cold Fusion Core provided powerful energy for the Combat Suit.

But the Ranger's shout only stirred the ferocity of these Kroot.

"Why fight one-on-one? Just kill them! On Imperial soil, these xeno who dare attack humans are already sentenced to death!"

Gao Yi's roar sent a group of Machine Gunners swarming in. Even though the Kroot were strong and sturdy, they couldn't hold out against a crowd of metal brutes.

Soon, they were reduced to scattered gore.

Jie Yi smiled, a radiant smile. She knew she had bet right again—Gao Yi was no down-and-out Rogue Trader; he was a Rogue Trader on the rise.

If they could secure future cooperation, she could almost imagine the leap in her status and wealth!

From the warehouse, now reduced to rubble, came a constant stream of screams.

Damon led two squads of Rangers in a combat formation, advancing and clearing the remaining forces.

Damon noticed that the Rangers who had come to this world with him still preferred using firearms in battle.

But those who joined later in this world seemed especially fond of melee combat...

He even heard someone shouting over the comms: "For the God-Emperor! I am the God-Emperor's Angel of Death!"

Lai De sat on the ground, leaning against a crate, his only remaining right hand clutching a Crystal Grenade tightly.

When he saw Damon and the others appear at the blasted-open gap in the warehouse, he hurled the bomb with all his might.

The casing shattered, and countless sharp crystals spread outward in all directions.

The razor-sharp crystal shards pierced through Combat Suits, instantly felling several Rangers.

"Medic! Emergency aid!"

The Medic assigned to each squad rushed forward immediately, Nanites swiftly repairing both flesh and Combat Suits.

Lai De had thought he could take a few down with him, but when he saw the blasted men stand up again, perfectly fine, not long after, he fell into despair.

Damon began finishing off the pirates who still had breath. Seeing the few Servitors blown to pieces by grenades gave him a chill—he had been cramming knowledge about this enemy during his time on the ship.

He knew the Servitors carried a weapon called a Meltagun; taking a hit from that would leave no chance for rescue.

But battle had no "what-ifs." The Marauder's suppressive fire had blown those Servitors to smithereens before they could even act.

"Commander! The one who offended you has been found—still breathing."

"Drag him out!"

Receiving the order, Damon dragged the severely wounded Lai De out of the ruins like a dead dog.

Gao Yi looked down at Lai De, who lay on the ground staring at him with a glare, and smiled.

"I think you should have expected this outcome when you dared to offend a Rogue Trader, right?"

"Pah... Rogue Trader. You think you'll walk away clean after attacking the Void Concordat?

Just wait for our retaliation. Watch your cargo ships and merchant vessels—they might be swallowed by the void at any moment!"

Lai De was tough, even now showing his vicious side without reserve.

"Everyone heard that. He threatened me—threatened a Rogue Trader granted sacred authority by the God-Emperor!

I now pronounce the death sentence in the name of the Empire. Execute immediately!"

Damon immediately aimed at Lai De and pulled the trigger.

When Lai De's head burst open, it marked the complete end of this operation.

With Lai De's death, many factions in Landing Port were eager to seize the power and wealth left in the Void Concordat's vacuum. They would handle the remaining small fry for Gao Yi.

For a long time to come, Landing Port would sing of Gao Yi's ruthlessness. This time, it wasn't just about promoting goods—it was also telling everyone not to think the newly appointed Rogue Trader was someone to mess with.

Without another glance at the corpse on the ground, Gao Yi walked into the warehouse. According to Jie Yi, this stronghold held plenty of good stuff—and all of it was now his War Spoils.

"Lord Gao Yi, allow me to open their vault for you!"

Jie Yi walked gracefully before Gao Yi and bowed.

"Go ahead. Lead the way, Jie Yi."

Jie Yi entered the warehouse with practiced ease and pushed aside a shelf.

She deftly entered the password on the Control Panel, and the hidden door slid open.

Jie Yi stepped aside tactfully.

"Great Rogue Trader, please inspect your War Spoils!"

Stepping into the room, Gao Yi let out a low whistle.

The nearly thousand-square-meter warehouse was packed with goods—a mix of xeno creations, both those fit for the light and those that weren't, filling the space to the brim.

Gao Yi opened a crate. Inside were Eldar Soul Stones and Wraithbone.

There were even Ark Eldar who would buy such Soul Stones directly from humans—though whether they'd kill the seller right after the purchase was anyone's guess.

These things are quite popular in Imperial noble circles—they like to turn them into artworks. But you need to have the strength to back it up, or else if some extremist Aeldari catch sight of you, you'll be in for it.

Gao Yi gave a cursory check of a few crates; most of the cargo was harmless. But as he pressed deeper, he found his psionic senses stirring.

Following the sensation, Gao Yi walked up to a tightly sealed crate. He shot the lock off with his gun, and inside, nine crystal ornaments radiating a dazzling purple light lay quietly in the box.

"Such a dense Warp presence..."

After opening the box, Gao Yi also noticed that the interior was covered in inscriptions—the box itself was designed to block psionic energy.

He picked up one of the crystals and found that it contained text he could fully recognize. Every single crystal was the same.

He looked at the shipping manifest inside.

"Nomad Port... Mander Commerce..."

Nomad Port was located in the Calixis Sector, similar to a Landing Port, but on a far larger scale.

Gao Yi committed the name of the commerce to memory. These crystals were saturated with Warp energy—one hundred percent not something good.

He directly absorbed the Warp energy inside, netting a full 9,000 Psionic Crystals—an unexpected gain.

Now, Gao Yi could intuitively gauge the depth of a thing's connection to the Warp by the number of crystals it yielded.

"An unexpected windfall... I've got enough crystals for the Heavy Factory too. Looks like I can secretly collect this kind of Warp-touched item from now on."

But Gao Yi hadn't expected the Void Concordat's audacity to stop there.

When he opened the deepest box, Gao Yi immediately recognized its contents from his predecessor's memories.

"A Halo Construct? Holy shit! Damon! Get the Inquisition here—I know they're nearby!"

A Halo Construct wasn't just some ordinary xeno artifact. These things came from the Halo Cluster, a region that had never been fully explored.

Such constructs could extend a person's lifespan, heal all injuries on the wearer, and even let them survive without food or water.

But with such powerful effects came horrifying drawbacks.

These seemingly lifeless objects could subtly possess their wearer over time—one year, two years—the alien soul embedded within would eventually take over everything, turning the wearer into a man-eating monster.

This kind of monster couldn't be killed, couldn't be burned, and would even resurrect.

In the Expansion Zone, several Rogue Trader Dynasties had been completely purged by the Inquisition and the Navy for even associating with such constructs, their family members burned alive at the stake without exception.

It wasn't just humans—even the Aeldari active in the Expansion Zone would kill any creature using a Halo Construct without hesitation.

Gao Yi wanted nothing to do with this stuff. Those Void Concordat bastards really had some nerve...