Chapter 107: Tomb Robbery
"Uh, I didn't do anything. I just made him study benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness."
"These are all my treasured texts~."
Francis shrugged, thinking his treatment plan should be fine.
He continued, "Kairos, how is the daemon of Khorne inside you? Has he tempted you with anything?"
"Can you let him out to chat with us? Maybe if he's willing to leave, we'll kindly let him go."
Francis looked at Kairos with a smile, making the Lord of Change shudder. Even though his body was on fire, he still felt cold.
"He's hidden somewhere. Ever since I was released, he hasn't appeared again."
Kairos frowned slightly, finding it strange himself.
"Then can he be released?" Sanguinius also asked hesitantly.
Hearing his Primarch plead, Kairos's eyes immediately lit up, and he looked at Francis hopefully.
Francis was silent for a moment, considering the daemon's condition. He needed to adjust his treatment method promptly.
"Read these things several times! See if there are any changes."
"To let you out, you need to be more... mature."
Francis took out a data device, plugged it into the containment unit, then pulled Sanguinius out.
"What are you going to show him now?"
"Nothing much. Just some stories about souls swapping bodies, falling in love, and something called 'Brokeback Mountain.'"
"Brokeback Mountain? Falling in love?" Sanguinius looked confused, then seemed to understand, turning to rush back suddenly.
However, he was immediately stopped by Francis.
"You can't go now. As long as he hasn't conquered the daemon, he can't come out."
"Otherwise, it can only be humane destruction."
Sanguinius hesitated. The battleship vibrated violently.
The two quickly went to the command room, not expecting to arrive at their destination so soon, Planet Amontep II.
The planet's surface was covered in thick dust, with vast deserts and ruins interwoven into a scene of deathly silence.
What might once have been the ruins of some advanced civilization was now consumed by time and storms.
Distant mountains were blurred, like fossils left by time, with huge cracks spanning the entire surface.
In some places, ancient abandoned facilities were faintly visible, like the bones of a past civilization, standing silently in the wasteland, exuding an unknown sense of mystery.
Their exteriors were dilapidated, with abandoned conduits, decaying metal, and unfathomable cracks...
"Is this the destination you mentioned? The entire surface doesn't have a single black stone visible. Are you sure it's here?"
Facing Sanguinius's question, Francis said nothing.
After all, this was also the result of his own guesswork!
However, soon, energy fluctuations began to emerge from somewhere underground.
On the battleship's monitoring system, the energy fluctuation readings gradually rose, and the crew's instruments began to alarm. Such fluctuations did not come from any known natural phenomena.
"Look! Isn't it there!"
Francis smiled, his face beaming.
"Let's go! To dig for treasure!"
As the reconnaissance vessel successfully landed and began ground exploration, it slowly delved deep underground.
As they went deeper, the air became increasingly stuffy, and the temperature gradually dropped. The dust covering the ground seemed to tell of the area's ancientness and death silently.
Tap, tap, tap~
Their footsteps echoed in the empty tunnel.
"I feel the psychic energy becoming more active here. And why do I have a bad premonition?"
Sanguinius frowned, feeling more and more uneasy the deeper they went.
"Don't worry. Haven't I prepared the medicine? Watch my signal later, take the medicine when it's time!"
"No matter what we encounter, follow my command. No one else speaks!"
Francis gave him a firm look, but Sanguinius always felt something was off.
Before departure, Francis hadn't let them bring any heavy weapons; instead, they were allowed a power pickaxe and a power shovel each, plus a backpack.
The semi-circular shovel was slender and very good at digging tunnels. He saw Francis skillfully insert the shovel and remove lots of sand and gravel.
This thing was developed by Francis himself, the nuclear-powered Luoyang shovel!
Sanguinius had also asked about the meaning of the name, but Francis just smiled and said nothing.
Finally, they broke through a thick rock layer, and the sight before them stunned everyone.
An incredibly vast crypt, seemingly endlessly extending, with a ceiling covered by huge carved stone slabs, each inscribed with incomprehensible symbols and totems.
The walls were adorned with decaying metal, broken stone pillars, and countless metallic skeletons and cracked tombs.
Suddenly, cracks in the floor began to expand, runes on the walls flickered, and countless tiny mechanical creatures poured out.
These Canoptek Scarabs were like a black tide, their carapaces emitting a cold metallic sheen, each equipped with deadly scythe-like forelimbs and spiral-shaped sharp drills.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss~~~"
Their eyes were green points of light, carrying endless killing intent.
Thousands of Scarabs swarmed out of the cracks, densely covering the entire floor, even spreading to the walls and ceiling.
When a Blood Angel threw out an alloy shield, the shield was completely devoured in the blink of an eye.
Everyone immediately wanted to draw their weapons and attack.
But they were stopped by Francis. Under their puzzled gazes, Francis directly took out insect repellent and led the Soul Drinkers in, cutting through the crypt as if entering an uninhabited land!
"Waaaaaaagh~"
"Waaaaaaagh~"
"..."
Countless green gases sprayed from the cans. Any Scarabs that came into contact with the gas immediately died on the spot, as if poisoned. If other insects consumed them, they would also be poisoned and die.
The dead insects fell to the ground with a crackling sound!
Sanguinius: "..."
Blood Angels: "..."
"Primarch, is this scientific? This isn't what the Imperial Truth says, is it?" The Blood Angels watched numbly, feeling that something was very wrong!
"Uh... maybe his insect repellent is special~."
Clearly, they were not convinced by this answer.
After the "great battle" ended, Francis whispered, "Now, everyone, no loud talking, and no questions."
"See these black walls, floor tiles, and coffin lids?"
"Dig them all up!"
"Remember, don't be reckless, and don't touch those mechanical skeletons."
He raised the power pickaxe in his hand and began to cut the glowing blackstone blocks. The blackstone was unusually heavy, and each cut fragment emitted a faint glow.
At first, everyone felt very nervous, but as they dug, a sense of excitement kept welling up, like doing something bad right under someone's nose.
"Francis, isn't what we're doing a bit... wrong?" Sanguinius scratched his head.
"Hey~ They're not dead! Maybe they'll come back to life someday. We're just borrowing it, since they're all sleeping now."
"Besides, they're all xenos! How can dealing with xenos be called wrong?"
"We've already been very benevolent and righteous by not taking advantage of the situation to wipe out their lair."
Francis said, his hands not stopping as he tried to pull out the pillar at the entrance.
Screech~
Francis suddenly stopped, raising his hand to signal the others to halt. The entire tomb was dead silent, with only the sound of tools hitting rock echoing in the ruins.
The others stopped their work, held their breath, and listened intently.
A cold aura permeated the air, and a mechanical hum came from afar, as if some ancient mechanism had begun to operate.
Francis slowly walked alone toward the source of the sound until he reached a damaged tomb emitting a faint, eerie green glow. A Cryptek lay silently on a stone slab, its body made of material that shimmered with metallic luster.
Although its form resembled a humanoid, it was full of mechanical features, slender, rigid limbs covered with intricate runes, and a pulsating energy core embedded in its central chest, from which faint green light flickered.
Its head was shaped like a cold mask, and its eyes were two points of eerie green light, though extinguished, they seemed ready to rekindle at any moment.
Embedded in one of its arms was a complex multi-functional tool. This was the most representative symbol of a Cryptek, a tech-arm containing cutting, repairing, and even combat functions, with the edges of each tool shimmering with imperceptible energy pulses.
On the other hand, it held a high-tech staff, the tip of which was a complex runic core, emitting faint energy fluctuations.
And the sound came from the mechanical structure beneath the stone slab. Those seemingly inactive conduits suddenly lit up, and green energy flow began to converge on the slab.
Plop~
Francis, with a quick motion, pulled out all those pipes. The startup sequence was interrupted with a mechanical wheeze.
The Cryptek, which had been gradually brightening, slowly dimmed again.
"Phew~ That was close!"
More mechanical hums came from all around!
Francis quickly ran to the tombs that were making noise and, without thinking twice, pulled out the pipes beneath them. Each severed connection released a hiss of pressurized gas.
[End of Chapter]
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