"Machine spirit, shut down the reactor immediately!"
"Denied, the remote circuit fuse has blown, manual override is required. The emergency disconnect device is located on the reactor platform."
After cursing the Adeptus Mechanicus's unreliability, everyone immediately set off, quickly moving down a nearby path. Soon, everyone arrived next to the explosive reactor. Only up close could Marcus feel the extremely high heat emanating from the reactor.
At the center of the reactor's complex mechanical device, an artificial sun emitting a dazzling blue light was continuously radiating intense energy. Even Marcus's enhanced eyes could not directly look at the dazzling light of the artificial sun. At this time, Tyranid were constantly pouring in from all directions towards the central reactor, covering the artificial sun with their flesh and blood. Although these alien flesh and blood could not last even a second in front of the artificial sun, under the Tyranid's swarm, the reactor was rapidly losing stability.
Under the guidance of the machine spirit, everyone disconnected the four explosive towers maintaining the reactor in sequence. During this time, Tyranid kept attacking, but no venomthrope, lictor, or other special units appeared. Marcus and the others easily cleared out these Tyranid.
Until the last explosive tower was disconnected, the artificial sun in the facility slowly faded its light and radiation, eventually disappearing without a trace. The machine spirit's voice sounded in everyone's ears. "Explosive towers disconnected, reactor is entering entropic decay state, backup generator activated, non-essential systems entering hibernation. Please call Archmagos and above units to restart the reactor."
Although the reactor was shut down in time, the air was still filled with an unbearable stench. That was the foul smell of countless Tyranid being roasted.
"Proceed to the evacuation zone and call a thunderhawk for pickup." Titus said quickly; he could not wait to report the truth of the Aurora project to Captain Acheran.
After leaving the reactor area, everyone took the elevator up to the top platform of the entire Adeptus Mechanicus facility. This was also one of the highest points in this Hive City. At this altitude of ten thousand meters, breaking through the clouds, Marcus could even see the fierce battle between the Imperial Fleet and the Tyranid Fleet in space. And looking down, Marcus could also see various areas of the Hive City that had already fallen into war.
After adjusting his communicator to receive public information, instantly, the Astra Militarum troops' distress calls, the desperate cries of ordinary citizens before death, and the terrifying sounds of Tyranid gorging themselves and devouring biomass, all flooded into Marcus's ears.
After listening for only a few seconds, Marcus could not help but turn off his communicator. Seemingly noticing Marcus's action, Chairon spoke, "This Hive City is about to fall, most of the Imperial Guard are concentrated in the Central Hive."
Not only was Chairon correct, but Imperial forces had even withdrawn most of the defensive power from this Hive City to guard the Central Hive. This was a last resort; facing the Tyranid, dispersing defensive forces was just a dead end. Once this Hive City completely falls, the Imperial forces will likely implement a small-scale exterminatus order on this area, directly blowing up the entire Hive City to eliminate the massive number of Tyranid within it. Of course, this would also incidentally eliminate the Imperial citizens still struggling to survive in the Hive City.
Sighing helplessly, Marcus did not express any opinion on this.
While waiting for the thunderhawk, Marcus opened the system panel. On the system panel, the codex interface already showed the exquisite card representing the Exocrine. This was the first time Marcus had obtained a BOSS-level unit's codex, taking a big step forward towards forming a Tyranid force.
After waiting for more than ten minutes, a thunderhawk gunship appeared above Marcus and the others. And on both sides of its fuselage, two Stormtalon gunships were escorting it. Once everyone boarded the thunderhawk, the cabin door slowly closed. Then the entire thunderhawk began to accelerate, flying towards the Imperial Fleet in space. The few recognized this was the same thunderhawk that had carried them to this Hive City before.
Chairon spoke in the communication channel: "Tech Sergeant, we saw you were almost surrounded by Night Lords, how did you keep the thunderhawk intact?"
"I encountered friendly anti-aircraft fire and the help of two Stormtalon gunships, otherwise you might have had to wait for another thunderhawk to pick you up." The Tech Sergeant's voice came from the cockpit.
As he spoke, the thunderhawk broke through the atmosphere in a bumpy ride, arriving in space, then quickly flew towards the Imperial Fleet.
Titus and the other two were editing the combat report to submit to Captain Acheran for review. Meanwhile, Marcus sat in his seat, pondering his next steps. His main goal now was still the psychic disaster energy source fragments, but that thing was currently under strict guard by those Adeptus Mechanicus guys. If he rashly showed interest in it, there would be no need for the Adeptus Mechanicus to act. Acheran and Leandros would first tie him up with chains, then throw him into a dark room, waiting for the Librarius to read his mind.
According to the original game's plot, after Titus and his group rescue Morias Leuze, the psychic disaster energy source will be sent to the nearby Tomb World Demerium to activate the psychic disaster shockwave. And after the mastermind Imurah lures Leuze to reverse the polarity of the Aurora Facility to enhance the Warp power in the Recidious System, and then psychically kills Leuze, the psychic disaster energy source will fall into Imurah's hands, and finally be crushed again by Titus.
At this stage, Marcus did not want to face a Thousand Sons Sorcerer Lord who could dig into people's deepest fears. Therefore, the best opportunity to access the psychic disaster energy source would be underground on Demerium. At that time, Marcus must seize the chaos to recover it, and then leave the Warhammer Universe as soon as possible. This was also why, so far, Marcus had not made too many changes to the original game's plot. He did not want the plotline to fluctuate and affect his plan to recover the psychic disaster energy source. As for the later plot, that was not something Marcus could worry about now; anyway, with Titus and Calgar, those two demigods, the Imperium would ultimately repel the forces of Chaos.
In thought, the thunderhawk had already arrived in the hangar of the battle barge—the Severian. Everyone exited the thunderhawk's cabin and, led by Titus, rushed onto the elevator heading for the bridge without stopping.
"Lieutenant, what did you see in those Adeptus Mechanicus documents?" On the elevator, Gadriel could not help but ask Titus.
Titus squeezed the steel railing in front of him forcefully, until he left marks on it. "A record of extreme foolishness. The Adeptus Mechanicus must immediately stop the Aurora project, otherwise the entire system will suffer."
Gadriel wanted to continue asking, but was interrupted by Titus. "You can apply to Captain Acheran, Sergeant."
Marcus and Chairon, in the corner of the elevator, exchanged helpless glances; Gadriel and Titus's relationship had worsened a bit.