Boom!
The door closed slowly behind them with a dull rumble.
The expeditionary force, composed of Caelan, Magnus, and the nine Masters, embarked on their unknown journey, heading westward in the faint light of dawn.
It wasn't the first time some of the Masters had left the protection of Tizca; they had conducted trials and explorations outside the city before.
But previously, their activities were limited to within five kilometers of the city.
This time, however, they didn't even know the destination. There was a good chance they wouldn't return.
Amon lowered his voice. "Where should we look?"
Magnus said, "We must search first. Then we'll find clues."
Prospero's wilderness was very barren, but never lacked for life.
Dense forests flourished, with vines, shrubs, and weeds growing wildly, covering long-abandoned roads.
In just a few decades, traces of human civilization had been gradually consumed.
These lush plants were unharmed in Prospero's disaster. The Psychneuein had no interest in them.
The Psychneuein's favorite food was psykers, followed by intelligent life.
This was exactly like the Primordial Annihilators; both feed on emotions and minds.
The forest wasn't silent. Although large beasts had long vanished, insects chirped and birds sang.
When the wind brushed through the treetops, it made a rustling sound.
Insects and birds were too small for the Psychneuein to bother with.
The lush vitality of the wilderness slightly eased the expedition's taut nerves, but their vigilance remained undiminished.
They had left Tizca. Without the protection of the psychic arrays, it felt as if the Psychneuein could spring from the forest's shadows at any moment.
Although the Prosperines were on the brink of extinction due to the Psychneuein's rampage, their understanding of these terrifying creatures was pitifully small.
Beyond knowing they fed on humans, they knew almost nothing about their habits.
The only thing they were sure of was that they were safe behind those walls.
Protected by the psychic arrays, they had suffered no casualties for decades.
But the price was that the arrays had to draw on the power of psykers to function, which was extremely harmful to them.
The Tizca Commune was very democratic and wouldn't exhaust resources.
All psykers, including the nine Masters, took turns acting as batteries for the arrays, to prevent anyone from dying of exhaustion.
They traveled along the abandoned roads. After trekking 230 kilometers, they finally reached another large city.
Amon stared at the city's silhouette in the dusk, his eyes a complex mix of emotions.
"Negada. This was the last city we had contact with."
Twenty years ago, contact with Negada suddenly ceased.
No one knew what happened there. The Tizcans hadn't dared send reinforcements, fearing rash action would invite catastrophe.
What if they saved people but accidentally led the Psychneuein back?
Back then, Amon was just a child, but the memory was indelible.
He could still clearly recall the fear and silence that permeated the council when they discussed Negada's distress signal.
Everyone remained silent. Tizca followed the democratic decision.
They stayed silent.
Even today, the city still retained traces of its former glory.
Its walls were intact, towering majestically.
Towers reached into the clouds. Palaces and squares were still magnificent. The city was orderly.
Apart from the lack of people, nothing seemed to have changed. But the broken windows revealed the fate of Negada's people to the expedition.
There were no bodies, not even bones. Everything had been consumed by the Psychneuein.
Magnus said, "We'll rest here tonight. Although this city has long been abandoned, if we can find the Cogitators, we might reconstruct the truth of that disaster from the remaining records."
Mephia asked, "Should we split up to search?"
Caelan shooked his head, "No splitting up. No one should be alone. We don't lack that much time."
Although Negada had been destroyed long ago, and Psychneuein wouldn't remain in these ruins, it was better to be safe.
Knowing the danger and still splitting up would be incredibly foolish.
If someone encountered danger, the others wouldn't have time to save them. They wouldn't even know how they died.
Every city on Prospero used a magnificent pyramid as a landmark. Each city was governed by a completely independent commune.
Government institutions were housed in the pyramid. Negada's database must be there too.
Relying on their knowledge of Tizca, they chose the largest pyramid to explore.
Dried bloodstains remained on the corridors, already integrated with the mottled walls. Perhaps Negadans had hidden here, trying to evade the Psychneuein.
But even if they survived the first wave, they would eventually have to risk going outside for food and water.
The Psychneuein wouldn't leave immediately either. They would patrol the city until they had killed all prey.
Hiding could prolong their suffering, but wouldn't save them.
"What if we had sent reinforcements back then? Would the outcome have been different?"
The speaker was Vennakar, the most learned and oldest Master.
Twenty years ago, at that meeting, he had been a Master already.
And like everyone else, he had remained silent.
Magnus said, "With your strength, you couldn't have saved anyone. You would only have led the Psychneuein back to Tizca."
"Even if you had successfully rescued people, they might have already been parasitized. Saving them would have brought disaster to Tizca."
That was the cruel truth.
No matter what Tizca chose, it was wrong. Not saving meant guilt.
Saving them would only drag Tizca into the abyss, preventing them from even lasting until Magnus's arrival.
The silence at that meeting twenty years ago might have been cruel, but that cold reason saved many.
Acts of heroism are certainly heroic, but they couldn't be heroes. They couldn't swim. Jumping in to save someone would only drown themselves or more.
If the Tizca Council had chosen to send reinforcements twenty years ago,
The best outcome would have been the reinforcements wiped out, none returning to Tizca.
The worst outcome would have been parasitized reinforcements fleeing back to Tizca, allowing the Psychneuein to bypass the psychic arrays and feast.
If that had happened, when Magnus landed, even if the Psychneuein had long left, he would have had to survive alone in the wilderness.
This was completely different from his brothers. Although his brothers had survived in the wilderness, at least there were people on Caliban.
Click!
Caelan used his psychic power to pry open the lock. The long-sealed door slowly opened.
His movement was light, yet in the silence, it still made a loud sound.
The door panel knocked against a mummy huddled in the shadows, a skeleton maintaining a pose with arms wrapped around its knees.
It hadn't taken a single step out of this room, not parasitized by Psychneuein, but had simply starved to death.
Magnus walked to the control console. The control panel was still lit.
Even after twenty years, the power system and reactor were undamaged, and the Cogitator was still running.
This wasn't hard to understand. Psychneuein wouldn't deliberately destroy such facilities; they only hunted.
With enough power, even without maintenance, it wasn't strange for them to run for twenty years.
For twenty years, the Cogitator had faithfully performed its duty, recording all collected data.
But this data was meaningless. Magnus directly accessed the logs and data from just before the disaster twenty years ago.
[July 2nd]
[The Council had a routine contact with Tizca. We have lost contact with all other cities. We are now the only survivors.]
[Tizca and Negada are only 230 kilometers apart, but we have never seen each other.]
[Psychneuein infest the wilderness. Any physical connection has been severed.]
[The satellite communication network is still operating. These beasts have no interest in human technology; they only know how to hunt.]
[But communicating with Tizca still lets us know we are not alone. Are there more survivors out there?]
[July 19th]
[The Council passed Councilor Ralph's resolution. We will send exploration teams to five surrounding cities to search for survivors and collect legacies.]
[Councilor Ralph is right. We shouldn't be the only survivors. We must save others!]
[August 17th]
[The exploration teams successfully reached the cities.]
[As we guessed, Psychneuein do not linger in cities for long. These ruined cities hold no attraction for them.]
[August 25th]
[After a week of searching, none of the teams found any survivors. It seems they are indeed dead.]
[Is Prospero really down to just us?]
[September 3rd]
[Three exploration teams were wiped out by Psychneuein attacks. The Council ordered the remaining two teams to return to Negada immediately.]
[If the cities they explored have no survivors, others won't either. We cannot afford more losses.]
[September 9th]
[Although the exploration teams encountered Psychneuein attacks, fortunately everyone is safe. They returned to Negada.]
[A heartening thing happened: Councilor Ralph killed three Psychneuein! Our people are safe!]
[September 10th]
[It's over. All over. Psychneuein have invaded Negada. The exploration teams brought them back to our city!]
[We must warn Tizca: these creatures can parasitize inside people!]
[Can you hear us, Tizca? We are finished. You must survive. Continue our civilization.]
[Do not explore! Do not explore!]
[September 13th]
[I'm dying. Starving to death is so painful. At least it's almost over.]
[Tizca, forgive me, I can barely hear you anymore. Did you send a rescue team? It's better if you didn't.]
[If you have already set out, promise me. Let them die out there.]
[This is my last contact with you, Tizca. You must survive. Survive until civilization ends.]
The log ended here.
But Negada's final log was never sent. The writer was already dizzy with hunger and failed to establish contact with Tizca.
From the Psychneuein invasion to the city's destruction took only one day.
The Negadans didn't die within a single day, but their civilization and order had collapsed.
Many were already parasitized. Even if someone could organize others to take shelter or counterattack, new Psychneuein would be born from those parasitized individuals, making defense impossible. Naturally, there were no survivors.
In the following days, people just cowered in fear, dragging out their existence in the ruins.
Vennakar's heart was filled with a lingering fear after reading the Cogitator's logs.
Tizca had nearly made the same mistake as Negada. If they had actually rescued Negadans,
There probably wouldn't be a Tizca now!
Magnus looked at the dried corpse. "Bury him."
"I will personally erect a stele for him," Vennakar said, his voice hoarse, as he moved to pick up the body.
He was glad he had made the right choice back then, yet also ashamed of it.
He was a coward, but he could help the brave find peaceful rest.
"Not now. Remember what I said? No one should be alone."
Magnus was still reviewing the Cogitator's logs, learning about Negada's past.
This wasn't the disaster's origin, but Negada's logs were still highly valuable for exploring other cities.
The exploration teams had brought back records from other cities, detailing what happened there before the disaster struck.
This would save Magnus a lot of time; he wouldn't need to explore those cities again.
Only by quickly finding the disaster's origin could he end this calamity that had tormented Prosperines for nearly a century.
The disaster first broke out 81 years ago. Negada survived for 61 years.
Witnesses to the disaster were now elderly, few remaining.
Yet those who remained had not become walking corpses in despair. They still clung to hope, constantly exploring outward, searching for survivors.
This persistence was truly unusual.
Tizca now faced the same difficulty. The younger generation no longer believed in the Psychneuein's existence.
They had never seen a Psychneuein. Looking out from the city walls, all they saw was lush forest, nothing like an apocalypse.
Having never encountered them, they simply couldn't understand what the older generation feared.
Magnus said, "The hydroponic farms are still running. At least we don't have to worry about food shortages. Apart from the lack of people, this city is intact."
Amon said, "Mephia and I will take turns keeping watch tonight. You all rest."
"My father and I will take turns. Your psychic perception is too dull. By the time you sense Psychneuein, it will likely be too late."
The air froze. Amon and the other Masters instinctively exchanged glances, their expressions becoming very awkward.
In Tizca, they were respected Masters.
But in Magnus's eyes, their use of psychic powers was as naive and ignorant as a child using a rifle as a bludgeon.
They didn't know how to load it, where the trigger was, or how to change the magazine.
After negotiations, the nine Masters joined the watch in shifts.
Even if their psychic perception was unhelpful, at least they could help take hits.
Because the disaster struck suddenly, the residents were completely unprepared.
Many rooms had their windows broken by Psychneuein. Floors were thick with dust. Walls were covered in dark bloodstains.
"Father."
Magnus gazed at the deepening twilight outside the window. "I can feel it. There's something there attracting me."
The direction he was looking was west, the same direction they were heading.
This was no coincidence. There are no coincidences in this world. Everything is fate at work.
He had a premonition: whatever was attracting him was related to the Psychneuein invasion.
Perhaps it was even the cause of it.
This filled Magnus with immense urgency. He didn't understand what it was, why it attracted him, or if it was a trap.
If it was a trap, should he face it, or avoid it?
There are no coincidences.
His premonition was likely correct.
If that thing really was connected to the Psychneuein invasion, and he had to save Prospero,
Then he had to put himself in the game.
If he couldn't escape it, he had to dismantle the trap.
Caelan reassured him, "Don't worry, Little Mag. Whatever it is, I will face it with you."
Magnus smiled. "Just as you faced things with my brothers?"
"I treat you all equally. I have faced countless difficulties with them, and I am naturally prepared to face the waves of fate with you, even if all we see before us is conspiracy."
Tzeentch had had his eye on Magnus from the very beginning, and probably hadn't given up now.
The primarchs all have Warp essences, but these essences are not directly related, nor even similar.
Among these essences, their compatibility with the four Gods certainly varies.
Magnus is the only innate psyker among the primarchs, and his psychic level is second only to the Emperor.
It was inevitable that Tzeentch would target him.
Since the Emperor stole the primarchs' Warp essences from the Warp, even if the four Gods aren't the original owners, they certainly still covet the corresponding authority.
They would love to take all the primarchs for themselves, but that would definitely provoke the other three to attack together.
The best outcome would be a split, either all have the same number, or none have any.
In 40K, the affiliations of the nine Primarchs were also a balance.
Each of the four Gods had one. One was conflicted, belonging to no God. One was a mess, belonging to all four. One was mad, trusting none. One was mysterious, fate unknown. And one was killed by his own father.
In the end, it was just another father-son battle.
He is the God of Hope, and also the God of Schemes.
The hope He gives may be a conspiracy, but the conspiracy He gives may also be hope.
Even if He has set a trap waiting for Magnus to step into, there may still be change that can reverse it.
Everything changes; everything is possible.
"And I won't let you share the danger with me, Father."
Caelan shook his head. "If 'coincidences' truly exist, do you think I can avoid them?"
If Tzeentch wants to scheme against someone, the scheme may not succeed, but the scheme will definitely succeed.
.....
30 Chapters [email protected]/DaoistJinzu