40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 229 54. Khalil’s sense of humor is very special

Van Cleef let out a rare long sigh, and his continuous sighs finally attracted Morets' attention. The adjutant looked at his company commander in confusion and handed him a short knife.

Van Cleef reached out to take it and threw the dagger away with a sigh. It drew a fatal arc and accurately hit a training target.

Molec's expression finally changed a bit.

"Company commander, are you throwing a combat knife at the target?" The adjutant raised his hands in shock. "This doesn't seem like something you would do."

Van Cleef looked at him silently, with an expression that looked like he was being punched in the diaphragm with a power fist.

The look in his eyes was so complicated that Moratz could hardly understand it. After a few seconds of silence, Van Cleef shook his head.

"You won't understand." He raised his head and pulled out the bolter from his waist at lightning speed. Without looking at the target, he raised his hand and fired three times.

The first shot hit the target and shook it. The second shot hit the edge of the target, causing the shaking to stop abruptly. The third shot hit the edge of the place where the combat dagger was, just in time for it to spin back and land at the adjutant's feet.

Molec bent down to pick it up, but his expression was not very good.

"How can I understand if you don't tell me?" Molec asked angrily, and inserted the short knife back into his armor belt.

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe it," Van Cleef said sadly. "Who would have thought of such a thing? My Majesty the Emperor."

Molec turned away angrily. He didn't understand what was wrong with his company commander and why he was so depressed on the day when the new blood was being selected.

Staring at his retreating back, Van Cleef's eyes were very melancholy.

The first company commander lowered his head bitterly, removed the magazine of the bolter, picked up an oilcloth, and began to maintain his weapon.

At the same time, he also entered meditation. Meditation is something that is highly valued by many Astartes for its ability to maintain concentration. Van Cleef mechanically disassembles the parts, wipes the surfaces, oils them, and assembles the parts.

He does it without even looking. But the more he did it, the calmer his mind became. He inevitably recalled what happened in the secret room again.

——

"I'm five years old," Conrad Coates said with a smile. He looked at the dumbfounded expressions of the company commanders with satisfaction, his smile never changing at all. "What? Is there a problem?"

"How long have you been here?" Sixth Company Commander Yarod asked.

"What do you think?" Cozz asked, answering the question skillfully. "How long do you think I've been here, Yarod?"

".I have no idea."

"Take a guess," Coates said with a smile. "It's nothing, it's better than you guys constantly guessing my age in private."

"We -" Feier leaned on his sword and spoke loudly in an almost mechanical tone. "-No guessing your age!"

"Then what are you doing?" Coz raised his eyebrows. "I just listened to the whole thing word for word. Are you saying that there is something wrong with my hearing? By the way, Feier, the way you looked when you angrily accused the first company commander of being a loser was quite interesting."

"Uh, thank you?" Fair said dazedly. Beside him, Van Cleef raised his head in despair.

"Ah, ah, don't be like this, First Company Commander." Kurtz looked at him softly. "To be honest, your two guesses are already the closest to the correct answer. In other words, you are indeed a winner. So why are you frowning? The winner should smile."

Van Cleef tried to smile, and his face at this moment made Enric Barbatos reveal an expression of shock and awe.

"To be honest, I originally thought your bet was about other things." Coz sighed, crossed his hands and shook his head. "But I didn't expect you would care so much about my age. Does it really matter to you?"

"Honestly, Primarch, it's actually not very important." Second Captain Dar Vanolarus replied honestly.

"Really? Then why did you roar the loudest just now?"

".Well, it's actually kind of important."

"A bit?"

"It's important," Dar Vanolarus said darkly.

"So, you have now got the correct answer," the Lord of the Night said.

There was a smile on his lips again. He had been taught so well that Khalil, who was still in the dark, couldn't see his true emotions now - this thing was rare, but it was worth it. commemorate.

Khalil silently memorized this expression and continued to wait for the next development.

"So, why don't you celebrate with a round of applause?" Kurtz gently persuaded. "Isn't this a moment of consolation?"

"."

The company commanders looked at each other, and no one responded - but in fact, someone slowly raised their hands and began to echo the original body's words involuntarily. Although he was quickly stopped, Curze did not ignore him.

"Ah, isn't this my fourth company commander Karl Drasok?" The Lord of the Night waved to him happily. "Do you want to applaud me?"

"I"

"Um?"

Kal Drasok lowered his chainsword in despair and clapped. Neither slow nor fast, neither light nor heavy. It's the kind of standard applause that can be used in social situations.

Cozz smiled and nodded at him: "Thank you, thank you so much. So, let's talk about business now, shall we?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Coz's expression changed instantly. The smile disappeared, leaving only pure seriousness. He frowned and lightly tapped his left arm with the fingers of his right hand.

"During this period of time, a total of 14,321 new blood have joined us." The Lord of the Night spoke slowly. "That's a lot more than I expected, and I salute you, Raquel."

The Seventh Company Captain nodded unnaturally when his name was called. His name was Rakel Zalorek - yes, he was one of those unlucky ones who stayed behind in Nostramo.

"The eight companies can take the lead in selecting new blood, but I do not intend to cancel the hunting squad. Our tactics are inherently flexible, and the existence of the squad can make the penetration tactics run better."

"We still have the last two years to prepare. Thanks to Torakor, the new bloods have completed their transformation, but this does not mean that they are qualified warriors."

"During this period, you must test as many of them as possible - by any means, in any way. If anyone fails to pass these tests and develops psychological problems, report the list to me as soon as possible."

"They won't, Primarch," Raqul Zalorek said softly. "As early as the moment they took the oath, they had already passed the most difficult hurdle."

Other than that, it's just death. Raquel whispered in her heart.

The Lord of Night nodded slightly, still remaining serious.

"The recruitment of new recruits can continue. After the Great Crusade begins, we will come back every eight natural months to replenish the supply of troops. In addition, a Mechanicum fleet from Mars is heading towards Nostramo. Some of us are fighting with them. Have you ever had any contact?"

The company commanders looked at one of them - that was the fifth company commander Tolan Catorifik. He had the most technical sergeants under his command. This has something to do with his own personality. He has always been interested in machinery.

Especially those capable of causing violent explosions.

"Tolan?" Curze looked at him. "how?"

"Primarch, I'm not sure if I can have good communication with them." The fifth company commander replied cautiously.

"There are many factions within the Mechanicus, and there may be countless differences between the Tech-Priests who come from the same Forge World. You said they are from Mars, but I can't guarantee whether any of the people who come will happen to have trained me. The priest of the technical sergeant under his command.”

"fine."

Curze smiled reassuringly at him, then immediately handed the matter over to him.

"You will be solely responsible for this matter and report the progress to me at any time. Don't worry, Tolan, they will work hard to learn Nostramo even for the sake of adamantine."

"Uh-" The fifth company commander reluctantly nodded as if he had been punched in the chin. "—As you command, Primarch."

"Then, the business is over." The Lord of Night smiled again. "Is there anything else you want to say to me?"

The company commanders looked at each other again.

Cozz looked at this scene, deliberately showing a disappointed expression and sighed: "Well, it seems that age is an issue after all."

"No, it's not what you think, Primarch." Fehr said quickly. "Age is just a false illusion to the Primarch. It means nothing. You have proven yourself many times."

"So you bet privately, open the market, and even bet on both sides, just for fun?" Conrad Coates asked lightly.

Fer Zalos closed his mouth with a pale face, and the company commanders glanced at him dangerously.

"No one refutes? Okay. Van Cleef."

The first company commander whose name was called was so serious that he responded to his original body as if he was receiving orders from the front of the battle formation: "Yes, I am here, the original body."

"What do you usually use to place bets?"

"."

"Um?"

"The person who loses his time on duty must divide his time on duty among the winners."

"Ah, great. So, where do you usually do this entertainment? Do the recruits also participate?"

"Usually at the second artillery position on the bottom deck, there are a dozen empty rooms behind it. The recruits did not participate. They did not know about it."

"Thanks, Van Cleef." Conrad Coates said sincerely. "Then now, you can continue the duel."

In front of the company commanders, he opened the door to the secret room with a smile and walked out. The room fell into a dead silence for a moment.

The company commanders looked at each other hesitantly. Some were ready to continue the duel, while others wondered if there was something wrong with their brains just now, why the words they said sounded so stupid.

They communicated in silence, but did not notice that a tall shadow was gradually rising up in the darkness.

"Cough." Khalil coughed lightly, breaking the dead silence. "Good evening, everyone?"

He was wearing a rather serious suit, with his hands behind his back and a very serious expression.

The company commanders looked at him, their expressions changing from shocked to calm. Felzalost even laughed suddenly after an awkward silence.

"Haha, were you here just now? But it's nine o'clock in the morning on Terra," Feier asked dryly.

"Yes." Khalil nodded. "I know it's nine o'clock in the morning in Terra, and this is the first joke I prepared. In addition, I came much earlier than Conrad."

Fell looked at him and closed his mouth dully.

"In other words, you watched the whole process?" Yarod asked with difficulty.

"More or less." Khalil said. "You have failed the daily anti-submarine assessment again, but this time it is excusable. After all, you have no extra attention to allocate to this matter from beginning to end. Well, I have a few jokes, do you want to hear them?"

"Laugh, joke?" Enrique Barbatos opened his mouth hesitantly. "Is this some kind of hint, instructor?"

"What? No, of course not. I have been preparing jokes just to tell them on this occasion. If you don't believe me, you can ask Jairzinho." Khalil frowned and began to explain patiently.

"I know you will probably fall into this situation, so I prepared a few jokes to liven up the atmosphere. Conrad will not be angry with your behavior. In fact, I think he even appreciates your gambling. Have I said too much? Well, anyway, I'm going to start." He coughed lightly and was silent for a few seconds. The eight captains had different thoughts in these few seconds, and only Van Cleef really realized one thing-the jokes prepared by their instructors would probably not be very funny. Because he just explained to them why he wanted to tell jokes. "Okay, the first joke-Jack is a novice killer. He likes to use a shroud as his disguise, but his face rotted quickly. Why is that?" "Because the shroud he uses is used by dead people!" Khalil smiled and raised his finger. "How is it?" The captains used the applause that Carl Drassok had demonstrated to them before with difficulty. "Thank you, thank you." Khalil nodded happily to them. "Now the second one, ahem - a killer, a murderer, and a surgeon stayed in the same hotel. While waiting for the food to be served in the hotel's dining room, they talked to each other." —— Van Cleef slowly raised his hand and covered his face. He couldn't think about it anymore, absolutely not. He didn't want to recall those embarrassing jokes again. What's more embarrassing than embarrassing jokes is that the joke teller doesn't realize it. Not only did Khalil not realize it, he even told more than a dozen of them with great interest before stopping. Frankly speaking, Van Cleef would rather listen to Siani laughing for two hours than think of a single word of those jokes. After all, what kind of joke would spend six hundred words to tell you the difference between the knife-holding techniques of a killer, a murderer, and a surgeon? What exactly do these three things have to do with jokes? The captain of the first company sighed with a deathly look on his face, turned his head, and saw his adjutant also walking over with a deathly look on his face. "Company, Captain." Moletz said with trembling lips. "The Primarch, the Primarch--"

"--I know." Van Cleef smiled gently. "It's okay, Morets, hey, I have a few jokes, do you want to hear them?"

Updated, these two chapters are relatively lighthearted. I did it on purpose.