Whispers of Corrupted Code

Deep in the bowels of the warship named the Pain, time was not a straight line, but an entangled, rotting intestine.

There was no alternation between day and night, only the periodic flashing of the illumination lights shifting from pale white to scarlet.

Every change in the light meant the end of a shift, or the beginning of a ritual called "feeding."

Li Wei huddled in the darkest corner of beast pen D-9, counting his own heartbeat.

Twelve hundred times. Two thousand four hundred times.

He forced himself to count, using this to fight the non-stop data storm raging in his mind.

Ever since that damn Tomb Technician forcibly implanted the Necron knowledge base into him, his brain had not had a single moment of peace.

This wasn't as convenient as acquiring an encyclopedia.

It was more like thousands of cold, emotionless voices carving complex formulas into his cerebral cortex with fingernails.

When he looked at the rusted iron bars in front of him, normal vision told him they were iron rods stained with blood and filth.

Yet the Necron perspective in his brain forcibly overlaid another layer of imagery:

Lattice structure analysis: low-purity refined steel... carbon content 2.4%... microscopic cracks exist in the atomic arrangement...

Weak point coordinates: 33.4 centimeters from the bottom... applying a lateral shear force of only 450 Newtons will cause fracture...

Get out... Li Wei closed his eyes in agony, pressing his hands hard against his temples as his fingernails nearly sank into his flesh.

This feeling of being forced to see through the essence of all things was rapidly draining his mental energy.

He felt like a balloon on the verge of bursting, ready to suffer brain death at any moment from knowing too much.

"Your heart rate is fast, mortal."

A deep voice, like grinding rocks, echoed overhead.

It was the captured Space Marine, Atticus.

This giant from the Iron Hands Chapter was currently curled up in another corner of the cell in an extremely awkward posture.

Most of his power armor had been stripped away, exposing the pale skin and black bio-interfaces beneath.

His left arm—originally a precision mechanical prosthesis—had been brutally removed, leaving only jagged stump raggedness and a few dangling wires dripping with black machine oil.

To the Iron Hands, who revered that the flesh is weak and steel is immortal, having a prosthesis torn off was more humiliating than castration.

"I thought you Space Marines didn't need sleep." Li Wei opened his bloodshot eyes, trying to make his tone sound relaxed even though his stomach was spasming from hunger.

"I am not sleeping." Atticus's single eye flickered with a faint glow in the dark. "I am undergoing battle meditation. I am calculating how many rounds of ammunition I need to clear out the guards outside if you give me a bolter."

"Did you calculate it?"

"Four rounds," Atticus said coldly. "Provided I have a hand."

Li Wei glanced at his empty left shoulder and said nothing.

In this ghost place, sympathy was redundant.

"You are special, mortal." Atticus suddenly turned his head, staring at Li Wei.

"This ship... is alive. It is a creation of the Warp. I can hear the machine spirit screaming, can hear demons whispering within the walls. They are trying to corrode my will every moment."

The giant shifted his body slightly, moving a little closer to Li Wei.

"But when you sit beside me... those sounds become smaller."

"You are like a... silencer."

Li Wei smiled self-deprecatingly.

"My pleasure, my lord. It seems this disgusting constitution of mine finally has some positive use."

"Disgusting?" Atticus shook his head. "No. For me right now, this void is more fragrant than any sacred incense."

"Tell me, what are you thinking in your head? I see you shaking, but it is not from fear."

Li Wei was silent for a moment.

He was weighing his options.

He needed allies.

Even though this Space Marine was crippled, he remained a killing machine.

If he wanted to leave this ship alive, brains alone were not enough; he also needed the sharpest blade.

"I am thinking..." Li Wei raised his head, pointing at the electronic lock on the cell door.

To ordinary people, that was just a keypad glowing with a red light.

Yet in Li Wei's eyes, the Necron knowledge was frantically parsing the lock's structure:

Logic gate sequence: Chaos binary variant... voltage fluctuations in the power supply circuit... creating a 0.3-second short circuit at the input terminal will automatically trigger the backup protocol...

"I am thinking the designer of this ship is an idiot," Li Wei said in a low voice, his tone carrying a technical arrogance inconsistent with his status.

"The grounding wire of that electronic lock is wired backward. As long as there is a copper wire, I can short-circuit it."

Atticus's single eye widened abruptly.

He gave Li Wei a deep look, seeming to re-evaluate this frail mortal.

"Are you an Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priest?"

"No." Li Wei leaned his head against the cold wall, closing his eyes to hide the flash of green data streams deep within his gaze.

"I'm just a... unlucky fellow who has read too many manuals."

The alarm sounded again.

This time it wasn't flashing lights, but a harsh siren wailing like some giant beast.

"Labor... sacrifice... begins..." The voice of the Tech-Priest Dominus Axis came over the broadcast, accompanied by teeth-grating static noise.

The cell door opened.

No miracle of a prison break occurred.

Several tall Skitarii exhaling the stench of rot walked in.

They were no longer the neat half-mechanical soldiers of the Imperium.

Tumors grew all over their metal shells, and animalistic panting came from behind their respirator masks.

Their weapons were not laser guns, but electrified whips and huge iron hooks.

"Out! Meat lumps!" The Skitarii cracked their whips, lashing the prisoners.

Li Wei and Atticus were forced to stand up.

Driven forward, along with dozens of other bizarre prisoners, they walked out of their cages and into the nightmarish corridor.

This was the opportunity Li Wei had been waiting for.

On this strictly hierarchical forge vessel, prisoners were not meant to be kept; they were meant to be consumed.

They were laborers, fuel, parts to be replaced at any time.

The queue marched through the winding tunnels.

Li Wei kept his head down, but the radar in his brain was running frantically.

The Necron knowledge endowed him with superhuman spatial awareness.

He did not need a map.

Through the vibration frequency of the floor beneath his feet, the speed of airflow, and the roar of distant machinery, his brain automatically constructed a three-dimensional model of the ship.

Left wall thickness: 1.2 meters... plasma conduits behind it... ...

Downward vibration source: giant piston array... distance: 450 meters...

Right ventilation duct: connects to the exhaust treatment circulation system...

The structure of the ship gradually became clear in his mind.

This was a labyrinth, but also a precision machine.

As long as it was a machine, it had weaknesses.

"Move! Don't drag your feet!" A Skitarii shoved Li Wei hard.

Li Wei staggered, nearly crashing into the wall.

That wall... was soft.

Li Wei pressed his hand against the wall, feeling it warm and moist, like touching a huge internal organ.

Dark red liquid seeped from the gaps in the metal plates on the wall.

Flesh-metal.

This was the most blasphemous technology of the Dark Mechanicus.

They fused demon flesh with cold steel, giving machines life.

The ship itself was a giant demon.

Li Wei felt a wave of intense nausea.

As a Pariah, he had a natural physiological repulsion toward such machines with souls.

Yet he endured it.

His fingers stealthily wiped the wall, stained a bit of that dark red liquid, and then quietly smeared it on his cuff.

Sample analysis: aggregate of organic compounds and metal ions... extremely unstable... will undergo a violent exothermic reaction upon contact with strong acid... the Necron database in his brain instantly yielded the analysis result.

"Strong acid..." Li Wei's gaze swept the corridor.

He remembered seeing an acid bath used for cleaning servitor parts in a previously passed area.

The procession continued forward.

They were led to a massive recovery hall resembling a volcanic crater.

The temperature here was extremely high, and the air was filled with the smell of sulfur and scorched matter.

In the center of the hall was a huge furnace rolling with green Warp flames.

Suspended above the furnace were countless wrecks—tank fragments recovered from battlefields, warship debris, and even pieces of power armor.

Their task was sorting.

Without any protective gear, they were to throw the scrap metal stained with radiation, toxicity, and demonic curses into the furnace with their bare hands.

"Get to work!" The overseer cracked his whip. "For the glory of Vashtorr! For forging a greater destruction!"

Li Wei was assigned to a conveyor belt.

The belt carried various shattered electronic components and pipes.

He began to mechanically haul items.

His hands were cut by the sharp metal edges, but he paid no mind.

His attention was entirely focused on the garbage on the conveyor belt.

To ordinary people, these were scrap iron. To Li Wei, however, they were treasures.

Damaged logic chip... core architecture intact... rewritable...

Plasma coil... remaining energy 12%... can be used as an explosive...

Servo-skull visual sensor... lens intact...

Like a madman assembling a bomb, while pretending to haul trash, he quietly hid tiny, inconspicuous parts inside his cuffs or stuffed them into the soles of his shoes.

He did not need weapons.

Given enough scrap, he could handcraft a logic virus launcher out of this pile of junk.

"What are you doing?" Atticus beside him noticed Li Wei's small movements.

The Space Marine was single-handedly carrying an armor plate weighing hundreds of kilograms, a weight impossible for a mortal to shake.

"I'm... picking up trash." Li Wei lowered his voice, stuffing a fingernail-sized promethium crystal—extremely flammable—between his teeth.

"I want to prepare a welcome gift for our overseer lord."

Atticus looked at Li Wei.

A trace of complex emotion flashed in his single eye.

"You are a madman, mortal."

"But if it is to destroy these heretics... I will block the view for you."

The giant shifted his massive form slightly, using his broad back to block the overseer's line of sight.

This was a silent tacit understanding.

In this hell, an alliance between a Space Marine and a Soulless was formally forged.

The work lasted for hours.

Li Wei's hands were battered and bloody, but he had gathered enough materials.

Yet he had not found an opportunity.

At that moment, a commotion erupted at the other end of the hall.

"No! I won't go in! I am loyal! I am..." A shrill female voice screamed.

Li Wei jerked his head up.

Above that huge furnace, a suspended iron cage was slowly descending.

Trapped inside the iron cage was Elena.

She looked even worse than before.

Her outer garments were stripped away, and electrodes were stabbed all over her body.

Hovering beside the iron cage was the half-human, half-machine monster—Tech-Priest Dominus Axis.

"What a wonderful... pain frequency." Axis's voice echoed through the amplifier across the entire venue, carrying a perverted obsession.

"Behold, slaves. This is the price of faith."

"I will extract her pain and infuse it into the new demon engine. Her despair shall become the fuel for the machine."

"Damn it!" Li Wei's eyes instantly turned red.

He had not expected Axis to get down to business so quickly.

Atticus also halted what he was doing, clenching his fists as his knuckles popped.

"That is your companion?"

"Yes." Li Wei took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

Rush up?

That was courting death.

There were at least two hundred Skitarii here, and several Heavy Servitors.

He had to use the rules.

Use the laws of physics.

Li Wei looked at the huge crane dangling an iron cage.

It was an old-school machine driven by hydraulics and gears.

And right beside the crane's control box, there was a thick exhaust pipe.

The C'tan Shard's database searched frantically in his mind.

Target: Crane control system...

Structural analysis: Hydraulic drive...

Weakness: Pressure valve...

Environmental factors: The exhaust pipe contained high concentrations of methane and sulfides...

A plan formed instantly.

Simple, crude, fatal.

"Atticus," Li Wei said in a low voice, speaking extremely fast.

"How far can you throw that armor plate?" He pointed to the piece of scrap iron weighing several hundred catties in the giant's hand.

"How far?" Atticus narrowed his eyes. "Who do you want to smash?"

"Not a person." Li Wei pointed to the exhaust pipe interface next to the crane fifty meters away.

"Smash that. Break it."

"That will trigger an explosion." Atticus frowned. "And at that distance, I might be able to hit it, but I can't guarantee..."

"You just have to break the pipe." Li Wei spat out the Promethium Crystal hidden between his teeth.

"Leave the rest to me."

Axis was still up there giving his speech, and Elena's screams were getting weaker and weaker.

He couldn't wait any longer.

"Do it!" Li Wei growled.

Roar! Atticus burst out with an angry roar.

The muscles in his only remaining right arm bulged like a catapult, fiercely hurling that huge armor plate out!

Whoosh—bang! The armor plate carried the whistling wind and accurately smashed into the exhaust pipe.

The dilapidated pipe snapped instantly.

High-pressure, flammable exhaust gas gushed out like a fountain, just enveloping the crane's control box.

"What is th—" The nearby Skitarii hadn't reacted yet.

Li Wei made his move.

He was holding the Promethium Crystal in his hand, and at the same time clutching a high-voltage capacitor picked up from the scrap.

He didn't throw it out.

Using his Pariah trait, he extremely stealthily rushed to a conveyor belt node closest to the gas-spraying point.

"Burn... for me!"

He slammed the capacitor into a short circuit, and the generated electric spark ignited the Promethium Crystal.

Then, he forcefully threw this burning fireball toward the spreading gas cloud.

Boom!!!

The gas exploded.

A huge fireball instantly swallowed the crane's control box.

Although this couldn't blow up those powerful Necrons or demons, for a machine operating on hydraulic oil, it was fatal.

The high temperature instantly detonated the hydraulic oil tank.

Clang!

The crane's boom lost control, and the iron cage hanging Elena plummeted violently.

But it didn't fall into the furnace.

Because the shockwave of the explosion broke the pivot of the cantilever, the cage deviated from its direction and heavily crashed onto the cooling platform at the edge of the furnace.

Crash!

The iron cage deformed, and the door was knocked open.

The whole scene was in chaos.

The Skitarii rushed toward the explosion point in a panic.

Axis roared angrily, waving his tentacles trying to catch the saboteur.

"Who?! Who did this?"

Taking advantage of the chaotic smoke.

Li Wei shuttled through the ruins and shadows like a rat.

He rushed to the cooling platform.

He grabbed the unconscious Elena in his arms.

"Don't die... don't die..." Li Wei patted her face.

Elena was still breathing, but very weakly.

"Atticus!" Li Wei shouted back.

The giant had already rushed over.

Like a chariot, he rammed away the Skitarii blocking the way.

Using his single arm, he scooped up Li Wei and Elena at the same time and tucked them under his armpit.

"Where are we running?!" Atticus roared.

Li Wei's brain was running at full capacity.

The Necron map... no, the structural diagram of this ship... ventilation ducts... connecting to the lower decks... that place is... the waste processing center...

"The sewer!" Li Wei pointed to a dark hole exposed behind the smashed exhaust pipe just now.

"Jump in! That's the only way!"

Atticus didn't hesitate at all.

Carrying two mortals, braving the dense Bolt fire of the Skitarii, he leaped forward, jumping into the dark abyss full of poison and filth.

"Catch them!!" Axis's exasperated roar came from behind.

"I'll peel their skin off to make lampshades!!"

But in the sound of falling wind, Li Wei smiled.

Smiling crazily.

Because just moments ago, the moment he saved Elena.

In his mind, the Necron database suddenly popped up a new prompt:

[High-energy reaction detected.]

[Location: Core of the ship.]

[Identification: Shard... That is... our shard.]

The power source of this Chaos warship.

Turned out to be a C'tan Shard as well.

Or something similar to it.

"So that's how it is..." Li Wei clenched his fists in the dark.

"Axis, you're playing with fire too."

"Since you like playing... then I'll help you fan the flames even hotter."