Hilda's Proper Use

The residence arranged for them by the Mechanicus was under the close surveillance of the Diet Guard, clearly indicating that the Grand Sage Drakris was extremely wary of Valshius's sudden arrival.

This isn't too surprising.

Tucker led the first batch of Spartan Squad members around the perimeter several times to confirm all the hidden sentries and monitoring equipment before returning to report.

"They're keeping a close eye on it, but it's not like there's no way to stop them."

Despite being a formidable figure in Catachan, Tucker still managed to find a sliver of opportunity amidst the tight security. "I can try to infiltrate the pipes. The Diet Guard and surveillance equipment barely patrol this area; this is the only loophole."

Genius!

What a coincidence! The Genestealer think the same thing!

Alvin gave a thumbs up. "No, please don't! Going into the pipes would probably be even more risky than being directly exposed."

"Why?" Tucker asked, puzzled.

"The ground beneath our feet has likely already been taken over by the Genestealer." Alvin pointed downwards and shook his head. "The Gene-infected dug out this intricate network of tunnels just to wait for the right moment to take over the Celerus Hive. Going in there would be suicide."

"Then forget it."

Tucker's lips twitched, clearly indicating he was aware of his own limitations.

Even though he's been enhanced, he's still no match for Genestealer —two fists can't fight four hands, especially four hands in the literal sense.

"So what do you plan to do?" Tucker frowned. If he wouldn't let them take the risk, who would rescue the target?

Alvin hadn't told anyone about Hilda except Elsa and Carroll, so Tucker was unaware that there was another person involved.

Don't worry, we don't need to handle this.

Alvin deliberately kept everyone in suspense, then steered the conversation elsewhere. "I have other plans for rescuing the target. Our purpose here is simply to draw fire and, incidentally, purchase small Energy Shield, nothing more."

"Tsk, I thought I'd get some exercise." Tucker was slightly disappointed. He was practically rusting on the ship. He finally had a mission and thought he could really show his skills, but in the end, he was still idle.

"My thoughts are different from yours."

Alvin stood up, gazing out the window at the sky above the nest area, obscured by a large amount of mineral waste. His mood was slightly heavy. "If possible, I hope that this time... nothing unexpected happens."

Hilda's prophecy made him extremely uneasy.

Therefore, if possible, after rescuing Rosales and purchasing the small Shield Device, he hoped to leave Celerus as soon as possible.

Seemingly sensing a somber mood on his face, Tucker's smile faded, and he said seriously, "Don't worry, unless I'm dead... I won't let anyone harm a single hair on your head!"

Don't talk nonsense.

Alvin glared at him, then laughed and scolded, "None of us will get hurt, I promise."

Then, Tucker went out on patrol.

Alvin dialed the communication line and waited quietly for a reply. Soon, Rosales's projection appeared.

In just two days, he looked even more miserable.

The Servitor Skull in his shoulder area was severely damaged, and the several mechanized infantrymen following him were almost on the verge of being scrapped. He himself was also damaged in many places. If it weren't for the high degree of modification, he would probably have become scrap metal by now.

"You, you finally contacted me!"

Rosales felt like he'd seen a savior, and tears almost welled up in his eyes—provided, of course, that he actually possessed the item.

"Hiss... Lord Rosales, what's wrong with you?"

Alvin's eyes widened in shock. "How did you change so much in just two days?"

"Don't even mention it..." Rosales said with a heartbroken expression, recounting his experiences over the past few days.

To escape the pursuit of the Diet Guard, he was forced to flee into the outskirts of the city, but the area had already been taken over by the Genestealer. Those infected by the Tyran genes mistook him for a member of the Mechanicus and relentlessly pursued him!

The problem is, he can't explain it. He can't exactly teach the Genestealer how to distinguish between the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Dark Mechanicum, can he?

So Rosales barely escaped Promethium clutches of Tyrannosaurus by the Genestealer, using all his strength to hide in a section of abandoned Tyran pipe.

Fortunately, this Promethium pipeline was a product of the Great Crusade. Because it had been abandoned for so long, the Genestealer were too lazy to come and investigate, which allowed him to barely survive.

Seeing Alvin again now, I was so happy I cried tears of joy.

"Lord Alvin, have you arrived in Celerus?" Rosales's face was filled with hope and pleading; he truly couldn't hold on any longer!

If he had known earlier that Alert Star was so dangerous, he would have at least brought a Diet Guard with him, and at least he wouldn't have ended up being bullied by Genestealer.

"Your Excellency Rosales, I have bad news and even worse news. Which would you like to hear first?" Alvin paused to consider his words before speaking, otherwise it would be too unseemly to just blurt it out.

"What do you mean? You're raising prices?"

Rosales, being incredibly shrewd, saw right through the young man's scheme and was instantly furious, his mind practically churning with rage. "Lord Alvin, we've already made an agreement; you should uphold the spirit of the contract!"

"Hey, Lord Rosales, it's not that I don't want to uphold the spirit of the contract, nor that I want to raise prices." Alvin sneered inwardly. They're both seasoned foxes; what kind of charlatanry is this?

So he began to complain, "You have no idea, as soon as I came in, I was placed under close surveillance by Drakris and wasn't even allowed to leave the residential area. How do you think I can get rescued?"

"It's that bastard again!"

Rosales gritted his teeth in anger. "Drakris, I'll remember him! If it weren't for his betrayal, I wouldn't be being hunted down!!"

"Oh? Tell me more!" Alvin immediately became interested.

"Drakris and Lord Amos had a secret deal, and I was the middleman responsible for the transport. But who knew he would suddenly renege on the deal, which exposed my identity and led to me being hunted down by the Diet Guard!" Rosales's tone was full of resentment.

Clearly, they harbor deep resentment towards Drakris, who keeps changing his mind.

"Getting back to the point, that's only one aspect of the difficulty." Alvin sighed, then added, "My people in the hive have detected a large number of Genestealer, Lord Rosales. Now you understand?"

After a brief pause, he shook his head regretfully. "I've assessed the situation, and the risks of rescuing you are far too great, exceeding my bottom line. So... I'm sorry, Mr. Rosales, it seems our deal is off."

His tactic of retreating in order to advance actually led to Rosales's death.

He can run, but can Rosales run?

Sure enough, Rosales panicked when he heard that Rosaros wanted to cancel the deal. He had been waiting anxiously for his savior, only to have him back out now?

No, absolutely not!

"Lord Alvin, please forgive my rudeness just now!"

Rosales instantly regained his senses, realizing his life was in their hands. He pleaded humbly, "I beg you, you must save me, for Omnissiah's sake, and besides, I have the Gene Seed you need!"

"Lord Rosales, from my personal perspective, I would be happy to rescue you." Alvin's face was full of regret, as if he were heartbroken. "But, behind me is Valshius. I cannot risk being labeled a heretic by the Styx Eight and the Imperium, and burying the honor of my family!"

Rosales was dumbfounded. It seemed the other party genuinely... intended to abandon the rescue, rather than just putting on a show to extort more money from him?

"Lord Rosales, may the Omnissiah bless you." With that, Alvin abruptly ended the call.

"Young Master, is doing this... really the right thing to do?"

Elsa asked with some concern.

"Which aspect are you referring to?" Alvin turned to look at Elsa and chuckled, "Don't worry, he'll call again, because... no one else can help him except us. It's in danger that people truly understand the value of their lives."

Sure enough, just half a minute later, Rosales called again. This time he seemed somewhat haggard, and his words carried a hint of caution. "Lord Alvin, I won't waste any more words. What would it take for you to save me?"

"Difficult, difficult, difficult."

Alvin did not answer directly, but instead said "difficult" three times in a row, and then fell silent.

It's completely different for him to ask for something and for the other party to bring it up themselves. So what he needs to do now is be patient and wait!

Rosales pondered for a long time, a full few minutes—equivalent to centuries for a Grand Sage —before finally making up his mind. "Lord Alvin, I don't know if your family has prepared Power Armor for Space Marine, but I'm willing to offer you fifty sets of MK7 Aquila Power Armor to compensate for your loss!"

Alvin's face showed a hint of interest, but after a long silence and contemplation, he seemed to be weighing whether it was worth it.

Seeing that he was tempted, Rosales gritted his teeth and added another bargaining chip, "Lord Alvin, at most I can give you one more piece of information about the relics of the Dark Age of Technology. This is the maximum price I can pay!"

Alvin had only intended to stall a bit to avoid looking too greedy, unexpectedly gained something unexpected. "Are you sure... it's news about relics from the Dark Age of Technology humanity?"

"Yes, I'm absolutely certain!"

Rosales nodded, gritting his teeth, "This information was found by the Dark Mechanicum. Even if it's not a relic from the Dark Age of Technology of humanity, it must be a high-tech product of some Xenos. I swear to Omnissiah on that!"

"Okay, it's settled then."

Alvin slammed his hand on the table, his expression righteous and indignant. "We're friends, how can I stand by and watch a friend fall into dire straits? Rest assured, I will immediately organize a rescue operation for you, Your Excellency Rosales!"

Friends? Forget it... I can't afford it, it's too expensive.

Rosales was too exhausted to even complain. He just wanted to be rescued as soon as possible and never come back to this wretched place, Alert Star, again!

After hanging up, Elsa couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Young master, you're really something. You were the one who wanted to raise the price, but he ended up raising it for you on his own initiative."

"Because he had no choice."

Alvin said calmly, "From now on, I'll leave it to Hilda. I hope everything goes smoothly and we can leave here as soon as possible."

"Unfortunately, there's no Webway here."

He couldn't help but sigh. If the Webway were available, it wouldn't be so troublesome, and Hilda wouldn't have to run back and forth.

The Celerus Hive does not contain a "Webway Portal". Although the Aeldari inherited the legacy of the Old Ones, they cannot independently create a "Webway Portal". However, the Aeldari are better off than the Imperium of Man in that, while they do not know how to create a "portal", they know how to seal one.

The Webway left by the Old Ones is extensive and interconnected, but not every path is safe.

Many of these Webway lead to dangerous areas, and the Aeldari rangers will seal off any dangerous entrances they discover. By using the maps they've drawn, the Aeldari can minimize the risks.

"It's a pity, if only I had a mobile Webway portal!"

Alvin couldn't help but fantasize, but unfortunately, even the Aeldari didn't have this, so it was even less likely for him.

Unless, by sheer luck, one day encounters technology left over from humanity 'Dark Age of Technology, it might actually be possible to achieve this.

Or, he could wait for the Navigator System to take him to some high-tech world like StarCraft, Halo, or Aquila, and then just bring the interstellar portal over. The Emperor Lord would probably be able to "come back to life" then.

Fragmented and dappled sunlight streamed through the radiant cracks in the clouds. In the abandoned outlying city, traces of fierce battles could still be faintly seen on the collapsed buildings and abandoned machinery.

On the scorching, burnt earth, twisted remains still remain, and among the rubble buried by the ruins, a transport pipe several meters in diameter is faintly visible.

The crimson rust and dust on the steel wall surface indicated that this section of pipe had been abandoned for a long time. Even Genestealer would rarely care about such long-abandoned pipes.

Hilda used Aeldari technology to stealthily infiltrate the outer lair.

"So dirty."

A look of disgust crossed her delicate face.

Celerus's main city is a crucial area of Styx Eight, filled with reconnaissance arrays. Even with Aeldari technology, it would be difficult to infiltrate undetected, unless under special circumstances.

Therefore, she was forced to separate from Alvin temporarily, but she still had two missions.

On the one hand, they monitored the movements of the "Poor Prince" cult from the outside, and Alvin in advance if there were any major developments.

On the other hand, they awaited Alvin's orders to locate Rosales.

The reason Alvin judged that Rosales was in the abandoned edge of the nest area was simple: the main city was full of the Diet Guard. With the capabilities of the Styx Eight, digging three feet into the ground would be considered lenient. If he hid in the main nest area, he would be courting death!

Want to play the "blind spot" game?

The Tech-priest's cutting-edge technology will show you what cruelty truly means.

For the Martian Mechanicus, heresy, Xenos, and even Chaos are not entirely nonexistent; there is absolutely no possibility of negotiation.

However, the Martian Mechanicus cannot tolerate even a little bit of heresy!

Aside from the abandoned edge of the nesting area by Styx Eight, Rosales has virtually no other options.

Although the current outlying nest areas are now largely occupied by Genestealer, it's still better than being hunted down by the Diet Guard, right?

The only one who suffered Hilda, who had a slight case of mysophobia and hated dirty and messy environments. Unfortunately, the outer nest area had all the necessary elements, and if Alvin hadn't repeatedly promised her, she wouldn't have wanted to come to this wretched place.

Aeldari communication methods often rely more on Psychic Power, which differs slightly from the technology of ordinary humans.

After sensing the Warp communication, Hilda immersed her consciousness into it and heard Alvin's voice. "Target at the edge of the hive, area B-32. Don't forget you need to see the goods first."

To put it bluntly, the concern was that Rosales might be scheming, which was one of the reasons Hilda was sent.

After all, the outspoken Hilda wouldn't tolerate that cunning Tech-priest.

"Something disgusting is coming." Suddenly, Hilda's gaze fell on a certain spot, her expression of disgust deepening.

Her figure vanished once more, as if merging into the surrounding air.

An almost imperceptible Psychic Power fluctuation swept through the air; it was the reconnaissance ability used by the Tyran Genestealer, but unfortunately, it was useless against her.

Ordered to search for the Tyran infected in this area, he strained to smell the pungent "engine oil" odor in the air.

Not long ago, the great "Revered Ancestor Dragon" announced that the day of his ascension would arrive ahead of schedule. Then a Tech-Priest barged in. The "four-armed angels" in the church were worried that the Mechanicus was trying to stop them from embracing the great Four-Armed Emperor!

As a result, the infected began a thorough search of the abandoned area and gradually approached Rosales.

The one leading them was the one the infected called "Angel," who was different from those who had just been infected.

Four pale arms, his body covered with a chitinous carapace, sharp nails that can easily cut through steel, and an extremely resilient body that allows him to crawl anywhere at great speed.

"I can smell it... that smell is up ahead!"

The "angel" is named Pal. Within the Commoner Prince Cult, he is considered one of the most deeply infected individuals, and consequently wields considerable power.

This time, Pal took the initiative to accept the mission, hoping to impress the great "Revered Ancestor Dragon" and gain control of a larger army.

Suddenly, his gleaming green eyes locked onto an abandoned Promethium pipe, barely noticeable because it was buried under the rubble. "Found you... Get him!"

With a simple command, the infected Genestealer rushed toward the pipe like madmen.

However, just as they were getting close...

The deafening roar, carrying a torrent of bullets, shot out directly from the depths of the pipe, engulfing the brave vanguard and turning them into mincemeat!

But the biggest advantage of Genestealer is that they don't care about death at all, and their numbers are overwhelmingly superior.

The ever-infected humans grabbed whatever they could find, weapons seemingly salvaged from a garbage dump, and desperately retaliated against the pipes.

Every now and then someone would throw bombs inside. Rosales was miserable; he hadn't expected that he would be discovered by those damned bugs so soon after hanging up the phone!

He tried several times to break out and move to a different position.

Unfortunately, there were too many of them, and they desperately blocked him in the pipe, clearly intending to wear him down, which made him even more anxious.

A sinister grin spread across Pal's horrified, mutated face as he roared into the pipes, "Damn heretics, it's you... who are hindering the great Emperor from embracing his people!"

"What kind of bullshit Emperor?"

At that moment, a figure appeared silently.

Pal was completely unaware that a shadow had appeared behind him; he only felt a slight pain in his neck.

Swish!

A sharp, cold glint flashed.

Almost instantly, the repulsive Pal's neck was severed by a sword, and his head rolled off with a thud.

Then, the figure vanished again, like a ghost, flickering across the battlefield. Each time it appeared, Tyran Infected's head was severed!

With the help of outsiders, Rosales quickly wiped out the leaderless infected.

"That's disgusting."

Hilda's eyes were filled with disgust; she clearly hated Tyran.

If she had to create a list of the most hated races in her mind, then aside from the perennial Slaanesh and the eternally second-place Dark Eldar, the Tyranid Swarm would definitely be at the top of the list, even more hated than those Orks mushrooms!

She immediately swung her arm, splattering blood from the blade, then turned her cold gaze to the pipe. "I'll give you ten seconds. If you don't get out of there, I'll make sure you stay in there forever."

What a boastful tone!

Rosales was a little angry, but his actions betrayed him. Since the other party could help him kill all the infected, they must be the people sent by Alvin to rescue him.

Since they paid for it, the delivery was really fast!

Despite harboring some resentment, Rosales decided to forgive Alvin, considering the speed at which he had moved. After all, a mere few dozen Aquila Power Armor were not as precious as his life!

Rosales emerged from the pipe quickly, but upon recognizing the other party, the mind array nearly overheated. "A... Eldar?!"

He considered many possibilities, but he never expected that Alvin would send Aeldari to rescue him!

Omnissiah above...

Rosales suddenly realized that, compared to his identity as a Dark Mechanicum, Alvin was the real "heretic."

"You have a problem with the Aeldari?" Hilda felt an instinctive disgust for the Tech-priest in front of her and couldn't help but tighten her grip on the Eldar Warrior Blade.

"No, no, no, I have no objection whatsoever, Your Aeldari!" Noticing the Aeldari's subtle movement, Rosales hurriedly interjected, "Please do not equate me with the Martian Mechanicus. We, the Dark Mechanicum, have always held the Aeldari in high esteem!"

Of course, whether it was genuine respect or not remains to be seen.

Where is the stuff?

Hilda stared coldly at him and demanded directly, "Alvin said, cash on delivery."

"..."

Rosales took a deep breath and decided to retract his earlier emotion.

He tugged at the corner of his mouth, saying helplessly, "Lady Aeldari, the item isn't on me right now. Could you please rescue me first, and then I'll give it to you?"

I'll keep an eye on you!

Hilda stared at him for a few seconds and said, "If you dare to lie to me, I'll put you on the Dark Eldar's bounty list!"

"No, it's really not that bad."

Rosales was on the verge of tears. Where on earth did Alvin find such a terrifying Aeldari?

He didn't want to be targeted by those lunatics who would put people on the Dark Eldar's bounty list at the drop of a hat, and he certainly didn't want to exchange modification experiences with Bloodbrides!

Thank you so much, my dear sir, for the generous donation! As usual, it's another 10,000 yuan today!