A Handsome Guy from the Dark Hall Passing By

"New recruit."

Augustus watched the departing Zerg, then turned his head to look to the side.

Before he finished speaking, a pair of black nanofiber combat boots appeared from the ashes, followed by a Ghost operative dressed in a black refracting combat suit appearing beside Augustus.

"Marshal, Ghost reporting for duty."

This is a Ghost operative from Alpha Squadron. After Duke pledged allegiance to Augustus, he has now become a member of the Marshal Guard. He has pale skin and melancholic light blue eyes, and is mostly silent.

Alpha Ghost operative's Ghost designation, like his past experiences, was set aside, and his name became a deliberately concealed trace. Augustus still referred to him by his code name in the Ghost operative squad: Recruit.

Ghost operative often choose special nicknames for themselves during operations, such as Sharp Knife, Bone, Stork, Rookie, etc., and these nicknames are related to the agents' abilities or personalities.

The recruit was no longer a recruit or a rookie, and most of those who knew all this, along with his squad members, were already dead.

"What did you sense?" Augustus asked the Ghost operative.

After Kerrigan was ordered to remain on Antiga Prime, this Ghost operative, along with four other Ghosts from Victor V Base and Alpha Squadron, took over the duties that originally belonged to Kerrigan.

The Shadow Guard of Umojan once protected every member of the Mengsk Family, but now Augustus would rather use surrendered Terran Confederacy Ghost operative than entrust the safety of himself and his family to the Umojan again.

The relationship between Korhal and Umojan is still warming up, but Augustus knows this is only because the Revolutionary Army is still significantly weaker than Umojan. Once the Korhal replace the Terran Confederacy, the relationship between these two powerful interstellar political entities will be as fragile as a bubble in the sunlight.

"Pain and sorrow." The Ghost operative's tone was quite dejected. "I know those feelings all too well."

Their childhoods were all distorted, and for a powerful psychic, any negative emotions are very likely to be amplified.

"That should have come from a Zerg Cerebrate, but its Psionics strength is not as strong as that of Sath. When Cerebrate Sars of the Garm Brood, died, its Psionics scream was much louder than this."

The Cerebrate primarily uses its innate Psionics voice. When threatened, its Psionics roar will spread across the land like a terrifying scream in the form of Psionics waveform.

"When Sath died, he was screaming like a banshee. I heard that even people on the ground heard Sath screams. I hope that guy knows how pathetic he was," Raynor said.

"That Cerebrate should be located not far from us," Augustus said to the Ghost operative. "Can you sense where it is?"

To track down powerful Psionics creatures like the Cerebrate, the help of human Psionics is necessary—although their sensitivity to Zerg Psionics is far less than Sarah Kerrigan's.

"Eastern." The Ghost operative's deep breaths came through the breathing visor on his helmet, his voice as distant and faint as a ghost underwater.

"I can confirm it, Marshal."

"That is..." Raynor's mind raced as he listened.

"The Burning Lands," Augustus. "Duke's troops landed there; they might be in trouble."

On the map Mirror Plains, Burning Lands, and Death Valley are three adjacent areas, but this is just an artificial geographical division and there are no treacherous terrain barriers.

Augustus immediately set about contacting Duke's Alpha Squadron, but they knew no more about what was happening than those on this side.

According to Duke, his troops were attacking a Zerg hive on the Marshal's orders when the Zerg in front of the Alpha Squadron suddenly went berserk. Augustus immediately ordered Duke to slow down his advance, search for any dark Protoss ships that might be docked nearby, and send a force to provide backup.

"Jimmy, gather the men. We need the best Vulture Motorcycle riders, a combat company should be enough." Augustus suspected that the Dark Templar was very likely the one who killed the Cerebrate, but he didn't have enough evidence to prove it.

If nothing unexpected happens, the one leading these Dark Templar should be their Archon Zeratul. The elderly Dark Templar left his homeland of Shakuras many years before the Zerg invasion, and has been traveling the universe ever since, searching for relics related to the Xel'Naga and exploring forgotten knowledge.

Only the Dark Templar can sever the mental link between the Cerebrate and the Overmind Swarm, constructed using Void energy, completely cutting off the connection between the Overmind and a particular Cerebrate, thus preventing the Overmind from arbitrarily resurrecting its Cerebrate and ultimately killing it in a true Cerebrate.

"Okay, I'll haul our best Vulture out of the cargo ship right away." Raynor suddenly realized, "You're not thinking of going looking for that Cerebrate's corpse, are you? I reckon all the bugs around here have gone mad; they must be searching for the killer."

"We're looking for the culprit. After killing the Cerebrate, they probably haven't gone far; they're likely observing the Zerg's reaction."

A flurry of thoughts flashed across Augustus's cold, grey eyes. He wondered when he would be able to find those elusive Dark Templar again, "I need them to fight the Zerg."

"But the Cerebrate can't be killed," Raynor sighed.

"But I won't object to any of your orders. I hope we can still make it in time."

At this point, the Psi Disrupter set up by the Revolutionary Army's engineering corps at the landing site began to operate, providing an Zerg barrier to isolate the nearby camps from the Zerg.

"Tychus." Augustus first announced his orders to the officer in charge of defending the landing point, then found Tychus's line on the communications channel. "Retreat. Return to our landing point at Char and stand by."

"Go! Go! Go! What's going on? My heavy machine gun is still hot, the aim is very steady, I just blew the heads off a few Hydralisk monsters!" Tychus didn't doubt Augustus's orders at all.

While in the Confederacy Army, he always tried to shirk his duties and find loopholes in the Confederacy Army's orders. Although he never stopped complaining, he carried out the orders of the Revolutionary Army Marshal in a strict and meticulous manner.

When will the next attack take place?

"Await orders," Augustus said to Tychus. "You are now the supreme commander of the landing site."

"Where are you going?" Tychus asked.

"It will take some time to explain." Augustus spoke, Raynor and his men had already towed out several modified Vulture: "Execute your orders, Finley."

"Those words made me uncomfortable..."

After saying that, Augustus lost patience with Tychus's nonsense. On the battlefield, Tychus always seemed to have endless things to say, even more so than the spirited young man Raynor.

The Vulture prepared for Augustus looked no different from the others, with a long, wedge-shaped body and propellers with curved jet pipes. The Vulture was painted deep red, with gold and gray-white patterns decorating the edges.

However, like many Vulture ' beloved motorcycles, this Vulture had undergone a series of modifications—which, of course, were illegal. Police officers at the Tarsonis Police Force could determine which motorcycles should be fined simply by the roar of their Vulture Motorcycle.

Augustus's Vulture's engine features the Kel-Morian's latest twin-turbocharged design, and its fuel is compressed, refined high-energy gas. If necessary, this Vulture can even reach speeds of 300 miles per hour.

Like other Vulture in the Revolutionary Army, Augustus's vehicle still used fragmentation grenade launchers as weapons. In addition to carrying Spider Mine, its ammunition storage boxes still contained spider detection robots designed by Viktor Kaczynski and named Viktor Destroyer.

This exquisitely designed Vulture was a gift from Augustus's Arcturus, because the man, now in his early thirties, still remembered his younger brother's heartfelt passion for racing. Arcturus's concern for his family only grew stronger after learning that his mother and sister had nearly died at Kerrigan's hands.

As he sat in the Vulture, even Augustus, Revolutionary Army marshal who rarely drove such "dangerous vehicles," couldn't help but recall his time at the Turaxis II recruit training camp.

"Remember that time we drove the Vulture to evade the military police?" Augustus sat down steadily, and the beautiful motorcycle engine immediately emitted a cat-like purring sound.

A dozen or so Revolutionary Army Vulture, all painted in the same gold and red, roared past Augustus and stopped a short distance away. On the ashes and black rocks of Char, engineers were measuring the land and driving SCV to move huge rocks.

Bunker and missile turrets rose from the ground. Revolutionary Army officers and political commissars wearing golden wolf head epaulets stood on the defensive fortification wall, using binoculars to observe the distant Zerg hive and flames. Large numbers of the Revolutionary Army soldiers, lined up in three columns, walked past the officers behind them. Their matte gold-plated masks, painted with fire pandas, looked dull in the sunlight.

"Of course, Kulovsky swears he'll never ride in your car again in his life." Raynor got on his beloved grey-green Vulture: "He still gets shuddering and nauseous at the sight of Vulture."

To this day, Colonel Ilya Kulovsky, the Heaven's Devils, still harbors a deep hatred for the Vulture, and his troops never use hoverbikes as vehicles. It's a curse; Colonel Kulovsky has always emphasized that one must never get on Augustus's vehicle.

"I'm very sorry," Augustus laughed heartily.

"Get in, agent," he said to the Alpha Ghost operative codenamed "Rookie." "Hold on tight and buckle up."

The other party showed a level of hesitation rarely seen in his life, but ultimately his sense of responsibility and his love for the marshal overcame his fear.

"You're a real devil." Raynor was convinced he had discovered the evil side of Augustus, who was said to have even taken the trembling Director on a motorcycle race along the dangerous and Sterling mountain road of Korhal IV during his school days.

Back in Moria, Augustus took the owner of a private operator Kel-Morian Combine on a high-speed drive, and in the end, this tycoon, whose legs were about to give way, had no choice but to agree to all of Augustus's demands.

"But I have to admit, racing Vulture on planets in the Koprulu Sector is an incredibly romantic thing," Raynor said, catching up with Augustus.

Augustus's caravan of Vulture sped across the mirror-like, pale volcanic ash-covered land, passing sparkling cave entrances and rocky hills. The air was thick and foul, filled with the acrid smell of grayish-white ash and choking smoke, like the ashes of burnt foil floating in the air.

In the distance stretched a range of volcanoes and craters billowing thick smoke and scalding steam. Above Augustus's head swirled thick clouds of ash, which gleamed a fiery red in the sunlight.

Even after driving dozens of miles, the surface of Char remains covered in a thick layer of ash. Perhaps Char once had vegetation and a diverse array of life, but now it is all gone.

There are reports that some primitive rodents still live in some relatively stable areas of Char, suggesting that even in a hellish place like Char, there are signs of life.

The road conditions worsened considerably after Augustus left the Mirror Plains, and they sometimes had to navigate around extremely wide lava rivers and massive boulders.

The complex terrain posed a great obstacle to Augustus and his men, much like the seemingly solid but actually fragile ice layers, with molten lava beneath some thick layers of ash.

During the march, one of Raynor's Raynor's Raiders accidentally fell into the lava river, and the twenty-something-year-old Cha Sara disappeared without uttering a sound.

This dealt a blow to the morale of Augustus's troops, but the soldiers remained highly motivated. However, by the time Augustus's forces reached the border between the Burning Lands and the Mirror Plains, they had already lost two brave warriors, and their bodies could not be recovered.

The Burning Lands are a death zone composed of numerous lava lakes and rivers, their surface radiating bright flames that even redden the sky.

Between the lava lakes are rocky islands formed from cooled lava, and towering Zerg organic structures that seem to connect to the sky stand amidst the lava. The lava reflects the Zerg main nests, which are made of dark brown shells, sharp horns, and spikes, in a fiery red, as if firewood is burning brightly in a fireplace.

It's hard to imagine that the Zerg would choose this area as its main nesting site.

In this region where even a single misstep could send you tumbling into lava, it would be impossible for humans to survive, let alone live for even a few minutes.

Augustus met Edmond Duke and his Alpha Squadron on a stable rocky land in the Burning Lands. The area, composed of hardened rock and surrounded by volcanoes, was flat and could withstand the roar of heavy tanks and artillery.

Alpha Squadron built a small, impregnable fortress on this land, using its command center and engineering station as its base. Several Goliath Combat Robot patrolled the fortress, and three flags, representing Alpha Squadron, Duke, and the Mengsk Family respectively, fluttered in the scorching winds of the Burning Lands.

Although no one cared about this, Duke remained loyal to Augustus himself, not the Revolutionary Army.

As soon as the Vulture stopped, Augustus rejoined the Ghost operative had been following him, as well as Raynor and the Alpha Squadron. During this time, the Ghost operative recruits highly praised Marshal Augustus's driving skills, but he eventually vomited all over the place.

Duke looked quite pleased with himself. Clearly, although Duke still didn't understand why the Zerg had become chaotic, he was happy to attribute it to his brilliant leadership.

"Marshal, we just destroyed a secondary hive. The Zerg there were utterly helpless." Duke didn't dare open his helmet to expose his head to the toxic air of the volcanic region, otherwise Augustus would definitely see his incredibly smug face.

"Are the Zerg here still in a frenzy?" Augustus confirmed that more than three hours had passed since he set off. If the Overmind had resurrected the dead Cerebrate, then the Zerg clan that Alpha Squadron was facing should have returned to normal as well.

"Yes, they're still barking like mad dogs, is something wrong?" Duke asked Augustus.

"Idiot, this is definitely not right," Raynor cursed.

"What right do you, a country bumpkin from the margins, have to question a general with such distinguished service? While I was fighting a bloody battle with Kel-Morian, you were still eating mud on a rocky planet." Duke couldn't resist retorting to Raynor, but he didn't dare to raise his voice too much in front of Augustus.

"Have you found any trace of Protoss ships?" Augustus asked Duke.

"Our detection equipment hasn't detected a single Protoss ship here." Duke changed the subject. "But..."

"As the monster screamed, my Ghost operative pinpointed its approximate location." He pointed to a distant volcano spewing thick smoke.

When Augustus looked in that direction, he was astonished to find that the rugged rock face of the volcano was also covered with a layer of Creep. This Creep had undoubtedly adapted to the hot environment of Char, and before this, the most effective way to remove the Creep was to burn it with a strong fire.

"Right near the rock face of the southern volcano, there are now swarms of rabid, Zerg everywhere."

"You sent someone to investigate?" Augustus asked Duke.

"Of course, I sent out two resocialization squads and a Ghost operative, but they're still searching the ledges of that volcano," Duke replied. "Nothing much except a few rubble rocks."

"Speaking of which, the Zerg there are absolutely insane. My people noticed that there are at least three different Zerg fighting each other in an internal battle."

"There are conflicts among the Zerg?" he said sarcastically. "Territory battles or something else. How ridiculous. This is good news; it seems the Zerg aren't a monolithic entity after all."

"I hope it's true." It was rare for Raynor to agree with Duke.

"It's possible that another hive is clearing out those Zerg that have gone out of control after losing their Cerebrate," Augustus.

"Why would they do that?" Raynor asked. "If that Cerebrate can be resurrected in Char, then there's no need for the Zerg to kill those that have already gone out of control."

"It's possible that it has no chance of being resurrected." Augustus's voice became even more serious.

"You think it was done by the people in those black ships?" Raynor guessed what Augustus was thinking. "Even so, the probability of us finding them is no easier than finding a needle in a haystack."

"Unless we have a magnet."

"Let them come looking for us." While Raynor understood what Augustus was saying, Duke on the other side just thought the two of them were speaking in riddles.

"You must have some good ideas."

"Do you remember the Xel'Naga Artifact Fragment we found in Mara Sara?" Augustus looked at Raynor, his eyes sharp.

"Oh," Raynor said thoughtfully, "I do remember that. Back when that dark, murky cube was still buried beneath the Purgatory Corridor, it was almost impossible to use electronic devices in that godforsaken place."

"To this day, Swann and those scientists haven't figured out anything from that thing; it can even block our own communications," Raynor said.

"Okay. I can't think of any connection between that and what we were just discussing," he said honestly.

"It will be useful." No one could see Augustus's expression beneath the Power Armor helmet visor.

"We'll see." Raynor patted his helmet. "So you brought that artifact fragment? That thing is really weird."

The soldiers guarding this Xel'Naga Artifact Fragment often hear indescribable whispers and see dazzling lights clashing in their nightmares. Some interpret these as reflections of their own suffering, while others claim to hear the voices of their deceased family members and vague prophecies.

"How could that be?" Augustus waved his hands and said, "I'd have to be crazy to carry it with me."

As Augustus spoke, a dark shadow drifted across the horizon—it was the APOD-33 transport ship. Swann's research was not without progress; at least the interference intensity of this Xel'Naga Artifact Fragment on the signal could now be controlled to a safe range.

Augustus had laid out this plan before he decided to land at Char.

Although Augustus certain the Xel'Naga Artifact Fragment would actually lure Zeratul out, he held out high hopes. If all else failed, he had no other options.

"Let's go take a look." Augustus led Duke, Raynor, and the others toward the landing site of the transport ship.

The APOD-33 transport ship landed on the platform leveled by the engineers of the Alpha Squadron, and several engineers were carrying boxes containing Xel'Naga Artifact Fragment as they came out.

"What should we do now?" Raynor asked, looking at the black box containing Xel'Naga Artifact Fragment.

"It's simple, just use equipment to amplify the signal from the Xel'Naga Artifact Fragment," Augustus replied. "If they're nearby, they'll definitely be interested in this artifact fragment."

"Hopefully this won't attract any other uninvited guests."

Bonus chapter progress 7/44