StarCraft: Tyranid Empire

The entire Lightbringer transport ship (Lightbringer) was filled with medical personnel from the Imperial Navy's medical team, and a large number of medical boxes with the logo of the Red Cross and the Imperial Ministry of Health were stacked in the back cabin. The cabin of the spacecraft was filled with the smell of disinfectant, and people were obviously nervous and tired. They were either dozing with their eyes slightly closed, or whispering about all kinds of disturbing news.

After a turbulence, the crew of the Lightbringer transport announced that they were entering Chazington's orbit around the Earth, and the passengers could feel that they were being captured by the planet's strong gravity. This beautiful planet is just like an emerald scattered in the gravel of the Milky Way, swirling in the starry background of the universe.

Dr. Ariel Hansen temporarily boarded the spacecraft in her personal capacity as a Zerg physiology consultant and doctor. As the daughter of the Governor of Agria, she did not do this for fame or money, her starting point was just to treat illnesses and save people.

Dr. Hansen is also a dignified and beautiful mature woman, with long dark brown hair elegantly combed behind her back. Even though she is only wearing a white uniform that is the same as anyone else, her unique temperament cannot be concealed.

Imperial military representative Lieutenant Layna Nikara is sitting opposite Dr. Hansen, wearing a huge white medic armor. Just like other female medical soldiers who joined the army at this age, Lieutenant Nikala is young, energetic, has a gentle voice, and is undoubtedly an angel on the battlefield.

Hansen didn't know if he would have the chance to meet Lieutenant Nikala after this trip to Chalcedon. He heard that in Ayr, the average time a Marine survived on the battlefield would not exceed one minute. The situation of the medical soldiers will not be much better. Most of them are the targets of the enemy's attention.

Seeing Dr. Hansen looking at her, Nikala also nodded in greeting. Whether it was knowledge or character, the former deserved her respect. Since the Second Total War, Ariel Hansen and Agria behind her have been committed to providing food, medical and other support to other imperial worlds, winning the respect of the imperial people and even the military.

"Chasiton's explosive infection sample shows that this is a new hyper-evolved virus strain that spreads extremely fast, ten times that of the Galban strain." Nikala apparently got a new mission briefing.

"How is the situation now?" Hansen asked.

"The new virus has swept through everything. When a dead person falls, the disease immediately attaches itself to everyone around him like a ghost. In the largest cities on Chalcedon, people had to use trains to send piles of corpses But even if all the cremators are operating at full capacity, it is not enough. The local government can only hire people at a high price to first use water-soaked quicklime to centrally dispose of the corpses of the deceased." Nikala replied: "Otherwise the deceased will be killed. It will rise from the ground and bite the throats of the living."

"Too many people have died, and many things can only be put aside temporarily, and only the most important work can be done. Now only the army can be dispatched to maintain order, but even imperial soldiers will get sick."

"This is so fast. It's only been less than a week since we received the news." Hansen was surprised.

"Death always comes quickly, madam. Sometimes it is a bullet, sometimes it is endless pain." Nikala said: "I think this cannot be overly blamed for the incompetence of Governor Chasi's government. In fact, before this They have contained the spread of the Swarm virus twice. But this time, even though the Chasitonians were fully prepared, the disaster spread far faster than their original worst estimates."

“When the new virus first appeared, the Chasidon government established a complete administrative system to control the epidemic, requiring everyone to undergo regular physical examinations, recruiting medical teams to disinfect all parts of the city many times, and quarantining infected people as soon as they were found. At the same time, militiamen were dispatched to search for possible sources of virophage infection around the city, and water sources were closely monitored."

"Textbook epidemic prevention measures but they are of little use."

"As soon as my team and I get the new sample, we will immediately start developing an antidote." Hansen knew that she had never really succeeded in this matter.

These words were more like comforting Nikala and herself. Disease claimed far more lives than those on the battlefield.

"A kind-hearted person. Maybe we once placed hope on the antidote you mentioned, but that is what happened in the past." Nikala sighed, but his tone seemed to be mocking himself: "Except for our army, there is no one else. How many people are willing to come here is different now than it was at Meinhof."

"We all know that there is no cure for the zerg supervirus, and once you are infected, you are hopeless. The zerg viruses evolve much faster than we can develop antidotes, and there are too many types of them. Yes. I heard someone say that some nest colonies will also lay parasites and eggs in the bodies of infected people. Once the host dies, swarms of nest worms will break out."

In the past, the Tyranid Empire once controlled the spread of infection with the help of the Duram Protoss. The Protoss' nano-serum also saved countless infected people, but the arrival of the Doomsday War changed everything.

The Doomsday War is worthy of its name. Amon instructs his minions and slaves to wage war, plot subversion, spread disease, cause killing, and spread death and fear in the Koprulu sector.

The overwhelming hatred of the dark god Amon is still spreading in the void. His power is breaking through the boundaries between the void and reality, distorting time and space, and creating all kinds of strange and terrifying cosmic phenomena. That would not only change the geological structure of the planet, trigger thunder and fire, but even take away the glory of a planet, bringing about eternal darkness and extremely cold blizzards.

When a portal to the void opens in the universe, Amon will grant his most fanatical servants unimaginable spiritual power, allowing them to be upgraded to otherworldly realms. Even ordinary mortals can unleash terrifying powers. Psychic storm.

The essence of the void will also change the laws of physics, triggering incredible and unconventional drastic changes, allowing the servants of darkness who died in battle to be reborn in the void-shaped bodies given to them. Even a brood insect has the opportunity to be upgraded to a shadow of the void hybrid.

However, Amon is not a generous god. All gifts have their price. The reborn must repay the grace of resurrection with endless eternal battles until the end of the cycle of the universe and the arrival of the death of all things.

At this time, the Lightbringer transport ship entered Chasidon's atmosphere.

Looking down from an altitude of hundreds of miles, the planet is in a thrilling arc. One magnificent horizon after another unfolds before Hansen's eyes, and the vast continents and oceans are separated by clearly visible coastlines. But the night side of Chasidon looked extremely eerie and terrifying at the moment, as countless terrifying monsters seemed to be hidden in the boundless darkness.

The capital of Chalcedon, Chalcedon City, is located on a huge ridge. From the air, you can still see the great ruins like the whale skeleton of the old federal colonial mothership. Now it has been occupied by administrative centers, residential areas, Replaced by large complexes of commercial and industrial areas, unique domed high-rise buildings and boxy factories gleam silver-gray in the sun.

At its peak, the city of Chalcedon had a population of more than 10 million. The high-energy gas consumed every day in the industrial area shrouded the long mountains in the light of civilization.

But now, even the busiest neighborhoods in the past are now sparsely populated. Only medical personnel wrapped in thick protective suits and armored Imperial soldiers can be seen.

Earlier, special correspondents from major imperial media were still active in the streets of Chalcedon City, but now even these people are sick.

The area that is still under construction in the city is the fortification area built by the Imperial Engineering Corps. Heavy firepower and large land combat mechas are frequently seen in various traffic arteries. Generally speaking, when a hyper-evolved virus begins to spread on a planet, a real insect swarm army is not far away.

However, the mountains around the city are still a lively scene. It is the early spring, and goose-yellow buds and purple flowers are crawling all over the mountains. Beyond these mountains, there is endless green space, a pure land that has not yet been developed.

Diseases are designed to kill humans but have no effect on nature.

This scene couldn't help but remind Hansen of his hometown Agria, as well as the equally beautiful Hellsain and Haven.

Agria is now one of the most powerful worlds in the Tyranid Empire. The combination of modern biotechnology and superior natural environment has made this planet the most important exporter of agricultural and medical products in the empire.

But even if Agria's technology and medical level are much higher than Chasidon, Hansen doesn't think they can resist this most terrifying swarm virus in history by themselves.

When the transport ship landed at the central airport of Chalcedon City, this huge interstellar port was already filled with imperial troop transport ships, and thousands of marines, marauders and medical soldiers were lining up waiting for dispatch. You can even see the Thor Mecha here, which shows that the situation is worse than Hansen expected.

"I'm so glad you're finally here. We are short of manpower and supplies are very difficult." Lieutenant Colonel Lily Preston came to greet Dr. Hansen in person.

Lily was once a member of the Renault Rangers, and she also wore the rattlesnake symbol that symbolized the veteran, which meant that she had at least participated in the battles in Char, El, and Sagulath, and had fought with the Emperor through life and death several times.

The imperial soldier behind her is also wearing the standard Reno Ranger blue armor. This was originally just the color of the Mar Sara militia, but now it has become a symbol of the elite force.

"I only brought a medical team and a few spaceships. I'm afraid I can't help you much." Hansen deeply regretted that he could not provide more help.

"You are the only rescue force that arrived during this period. The merchants in this area are complete cowards and will not come close to Chasidon no matter what." Lily smiled: "But it's okay to come. It’s one of our own, not a swarm of insects or something else more scary.”

"We asked Augustgrad for support, but they had better send a fleet, otherwise even if they finally arrive, they will just come to collect the corpses."

In this star field, sometimes the rescuers may not only be the Imperial Navy, but also the Purifier Protoss, and the latter has become the self-cleaning program in the Koprulu Star Sector. They are even more keen on using fire to get rid of pests. and infections, purifying the stars with high-temperature sterilization, like heating a stack of glass marbles in a microwave.

The Swarm Virus is almost impossible to infect ordinary protoss, and mechanical protoss do not get sick at all, so they never worry about being able to cure the infection. Only the flames can cleanse the zerg infection, this is the consensus of almost all protoss.

But in this situation, the people of Chalcedon hope that the Purifier Protoss can arrive in time and use fire to purify the infection.

Despite their inability to empathize with humans, the Purifiers remain the Terran Empire's most ardent neighbors. It's just that if your house catches fire, your cool neighbor with a strong sense of justice will usually just burn the house to the ground, and then help you build a super cool new home, pat the shoulder and say that you are happy, little brother.

"Chasidon is the last city still under our control. The rest of the cities have been reduced to dead cities." Lily said to Hansen: "We should have evacuated everyone when the virus first appeared. No Of course people won’t be infected, but it’s too late.”

"Now, those urban buildings infected by the zerg colony have evolved into a breeding ground for the infection. My people are already struggling just to defend the city of Chalcedon, and there is no time to burn down the infected buildings." She Said: "In this city now, the number of people who have died and are about to die far exceeds those who are still alive."

"Are there any zerg here?" Hansen realized that there must be other more terrifying things here.

"There are at least millions of humans infected by the virus. Those people were not Chasidonians originally, but the zerg infected these people and transported them from other places - using some kind of infected transport ship ." Lily replied:

"There are a lot of scary things here. Infected siege tanks, Sidewinder chariots and Banshees appear like swarms of zerg."

"Fortunately, these monsters are afraid of the strong ultraviolet rays of Qianzha Sidon, so they lurk underground during the day."

"Where is the nearest laboratory? I need to start research on the new strain immediately, hoping to at least find a way to slow the spread of the virus." Hansen knew that he could not delay any longer.

"The locals are calling this new strain the Black Death - I hope that's what happened at Chasidon. Dr. Stetman has sent a new email saying that this virus is apparently specific to the human genome. The design is a powerful dose of special effects." Lily said while leading the way.

"Which Doctor Steitmann?" asked Nikala, who was following behind.

"Egon Stetman, the emperor's chief scientific advisor and technical officer, the popular man in front of the throne." Hansen answered for Lily: "As far as I know, Dr. Stetman is also an outstanding zerg physiologist. He is also a protoss technology consultant, he is knowledgeable and has a wide range of hobbies, and of course he is also a part-time doctor."

"But that's not important." Hansen paused and asked:

"What else did he find?"

"The blood in the bodies of victims infected by this virus has extremely strong hallucinogenic ingredients, capable of driving even the most powerful warriors into hysterical madness... This brings about the impact of alienated mutant creatures that should be staggering and slow in action. Their incredible agility makes them amazingly fast beasts in the dark." Lily said:

"I think that's why infected people are still running fast after death."

"You'll see them soon, Doctor." She looked at the sun that was setting.

"For the night is coming." (End of chapter)