40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 494 12. The grudge is over

Slowly, Tujia lowered his gun.

He followed the guidance of those broken images and rushed all the way to the bottom of the mansion. No one stopped him, and the people responsible for this work were all dead.

But this was not the dark dungeon he imagined. It actually had nothing to do with the cage. To be honest, this place is more like a warehouse.

So even though he successfully made it to the mansion's basement, he still didn't know how to react.

Many iron beds with glass covers occupy both ends of this huge warehouse. At the end of each iron bed, there is a cold black cable, extending out, spreading on the floor, and finally connected to a complex machine cluster.

It is located in the middle of the warehouse and has ceased operations. The bloated appearance looked very ugly. Six pipes that looked like heat dissipation stood up high from the back of the machine, and no heat emerged from them.

Tujia couldn't see its specific purpose, but fortunately it was a cluster of machines. He walked around it twice and finally recognized a series of low-cost life-support machines, including nutrient conveyors.

In this way, he guessed its purpose, so more hidden truths came to light, and he suddenly understood what this place was.

Just like people raise Glocks, this is where Chupani Moran raises his children, and this machine is his fully automatic feeding trough.

Tujia slowly raised his head and looked at the huge cogitator screen located in the center of the machine. The kids followed him here. They illuminated the surroundings, allowing the otherwise dark screen to have room for reflection, and Tujia could see his face very clearly.

He began to feel ridiculous, and even had the urge to laugh out loud.

How is this possible? Even if these souls really exist, why do they really illuminate him?

The man on the Thinker's screen moved the corners of his mouth numbly.

After a while, Tujia walked away from the complex machine.

He began to roam aimlessly among the iron beds, stumbling and sweating profusely. This seemingly random selection continued until he almost tripped over an iron bed.

Amidst the still-yet-dissipated collision of boots and the foot of the bed, Tujia bent down and pressed his palms against the solid glass cover. It felt very cold in his hand, and the condensed water drops soaked his hand in a short time.

He rubbed it gently twice, and a sleeping young face appeared in front of him.

It was a boy, probably no older than ten years old.

There were two transparent gel tubes connected under his nose, and some transparent liquid stayed in them and no longer flowed. There was a deep wound on the right side of his forehead. There was no more blood, but a pale skull could be seen through it.

Looking at it, Tujea felt a phantom pain in his mind. He finally understood what the scalpel in the illusion did.

Tujia stared at the boy for a long time, until he was sure that he would no longer breathe, then he straightened up.

He became dizzy again, this time it was more severe and he couldn't even stand steady. He fell to the ground with a crash, hitting the floor tiles like a stone sculpture.

After a while, Tujia slowly stood up holding on to the edge of the iron bed. He gasped for air, his heart filled with burning anger.

He wanted to rush to the ground, bring that damn noble back to life, and then break his teeth one by one.

With this terrible thought in mind, Tujia slowly regained his footing. At this moment, he caught a glimpse of a familiar soul out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and saw the girl again.

She stood in front of him expressionlessly. She said nothing, she just raised her left hand and pointed to a certain bed.

Tujia followed her guidance and walked over slowly.

He was still lucky, hoping that the child lying on this bed would still have vital signs. However, reality is always ten thousand times crueler than the fantasy world.

After he wiped away the condensation on the glass and observed it carefully for a few seconds, he came to a conclusion - the girl lying on the iron bed was also not breathing.

There were drops of water on her face, like tears sliding down from under her pale eyelashes.

"She is resting, no pain, sir, just like a sleep." The girl said lying on the glass cover.

"What?" Tujia asked instinctively, his mind going blank.

"She is my sister. We went to the charity home together."

The girl raised her head and glanced at Tujia. Her pale and unreal face actually showed a strange calmness, as if she no longer had any nostalgia. Tujia looked down and found those illusory hands touching the cold face.

"I promised my parents that I would protect her. So when they were picking someone, I told her to keep quiet."

Tujia let go of his hand holding the iron bed and took a few steps back.

The feeling of dizziness was changing. He had already vomited once, but now he felt a stronger feeling of vomiting.

Anger, disgust, and another strong emotion that he couldn't name were impacting his rational defense line, making everything begin to blur, except for those souls. The fire in their eyes had been extinguished, and they were staring at him with empty sockets. .

Looking at them, Tujia's intuition suddenly started to give warning - almost without thinking, he immediately blurted out a question.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yes." said the girl. "Our revenge is over, thank you, Mr. Investigator."

"But, but, where to go?" Tujia made a voice from deep in his throat with difficulty.

No child answered this question. They just turned around slowly, holding hands and waiting. Only the girl still stood there, looking at Tujia without blinking.

The surrounding temperature suddenly dropped, and the indescribable and terrifying cold invaded from the darkness in an instant, like thousands of sharp knives, cruelly piercing Tujia's body.

He fell to his knees, trembling and shaking his head. He could no longer tell whether this was reality or fiction. The chill did not let him go. Those illusory sharp knives continued to penetrate into his flesh and blood, causing even more cruel pain.

Tujia couldn't help but scream. He didn't understand what happened, and he couldn't understand it at all. The pain became more intense, but at this moment a hand gently placed his shoulder.

"Take a deep breath," Zell said. "Keep calm."

His words seemed to have power - no, not as if, the language he used had power.

It hissed, long and melodious, with a sigh-like tone. Unknowingly, Tujia actually calmed down as he said.

The thousands of sharp knives that penetrated his body began to change at this moment. The cold subsided and was replaced by a warm wave of heat.

They well up from the limbs and bones, and their appearance evokes some intense desire. Tujia lowered his head and made a roaring sound in his throat. An impulse suddenly came over him.

He clenched his fists, and a language he had never learned before was naturally hissed out by him, so softly that it was no different from a whisper.

"The grudge is over."

boom--!

Smoke and dust scattered, raging black flames spread from the other side that was deeper than darkness, an illusory burning door rose out of thin air, and the strong wind full of whispers howled and knocked the door open, creating a gloomy and quiet ruined city. This is how it appears.

The moonlight illuminated it, and a tall black figure wearing a pale crown stood beside the door, waving to the children as if to welcome them.

Zell changed his stance, put one hand on his chest, and lowered his head deeply.

Tujia didn't understand what he was doing, but he couldn't do anything himself. He could only watch the children walk inside. Then, the door closed, the flames dissipated, and everything became invisible, but the warmth still remained.

It took away the coldness, soothed the pain, and gave Tujia his ability to think again. So, ten million questions came roaring in, forcing him to raise his head and look at Zell.

"What on earth is this?" he asked with trembling lips. "Where did they go? Who killed these children?"

Zell looked at him with pity and shook his head.

"This is one of the things you have to face as an avenger. People who have wronged their lives will come to you and you can avenge them, but what happens after that? What are you going to do?"

"Should they return to the world of the dead like this to rest in peace, or should they stay in this world and endure pain?"

"what are you saying?"

"I'm talking about that child." Zell raised his hand and pointed to the darkness beside him.

Tujia turned around and saw that the girl was standing alone, motionless. He took a deep breath and stood up reluctantly, holding on to his knees. He slowly walked up to the girl, knelt down again, and then began to ask.

"Why don't you go, kid?"

Silent, the girl shook her head.

"Speak, child." Zell urged calmly, standing in the darkness with his hands folded.

"I want you to do a favor, sir, can you?" the girl finally said.

Tujia was stunned. He looked at the girl at a loss. It took him a while before he remembered that he had someone he could turn to for help.

So he turned to look into the darkness, only to find that Zell had disappeared. A faint sound came from above his head, and then a word was deliberately thrown down.

"Do things according to your rules, avenger. This is your domain. Remember to go back to the church after handling everything. You still have a lot to do tonight."

Tujia slowly turned around. Looking into those empty eyes, he was speechless.

——

At 2:24:036 local time in Litatra, Zell returned to the small church in District 2. He entered from the bell tower, and to his slight surprise, Horst was actually drinking.

"Finding a successor makes you feel good?" Zell asked meaningfully behind him.

"No." Horst said without turning around.

He was leaning on the pulpit, with his hands folded in front of him. He held a bottle of beer in his hand with two fingers, and the liquid in the bottle was swaying gently.

The emperor statue that had returned to its original state lowered its head in compassion, overlooking the priest who dared to drink in the church, but did not issue any punishment.

Zell raised his head and glanced at Him, then made a gesture of the Sky Eagle Salute. He seemed very insincere, but in fact he expressed his piety very solemnly in his heart.

"Then why do you drink?" He didn't ask the question until he finished the matter.

"Because I think it's not possible? Master Zell, you have too many questions."

Zell chuckled, walked down the steps, and sat down slowly. These ordinary stone materials miraculously withstood his weight without making any sound.

"If you are an interrogator as often as I am, you will have more problems, Lord Horst."

The priest shook his head: "Do we have to have adults come, adults go? If this continues, there will be no end, Master Zell."

"So you know about this, Pastor?" Zell looked at him in surprise.

Horst didn't answer his words anymore, he just raised his head and drank all the wine in the bottle in one breath.

He didn't seem to drink often and couldn't appreciate the beauty of this drink. When he swallowed it, he not only frowned, but also showed an expression of displeasure.

Not only that, the power of alcohol had even begun to hit his thin cheeks.

Seeing this scene, Zell couldn't help but laugh and sigh.

"The first reanimated fragment," he whispered. "It's unbelievable."

Horst put down the bottle expressionlessly, couldn't help but raise his right hand and hit his chest. He couldn't help but burp before answering Zell's words.

"I can't believe this either."

"Have you not seen any signs?" Zell asked, looking very curious. "I mean, anything out of the ordinary?"

"Does it count as a dream?" Horst asked half-jokingly.

"What dream?"

"Nightmare." Horst replied softly. "I saw Litatra engulfed in flames, demons roaming the roads, corpses everywhere. Then his statue began to bleed and weep."

Zell suppressed his smile and nodded calmly: "So that's why you raised the alarm."

"Yes." Horst frowned. "But I'm worried that my actions will make this nightmare come true."

"You don't have the gift of prediction, Horst. The Book of Prophecy also clearly points out one thing. Any prophecy or any illusion is actually just a sideways deduction of the future."

“We can be wary of prophecies, but we must never believe any prophecies—not even those made by Konrad Coates himself.”

"You don't believe that this fragment has regained activity?"

"We believe it, but we have to use some methods to verify this." Zell replied expressionlessly. "The main force is already on the way. Horst and Shen will also come in person. Therefore, you don't have to worry at all."

Horst didn't speak anymore, he nodded silently.