Warhammer 40,000: Mortal Gods

…

Espando is an agricultural world.

Most of the planet's surface is wilderness, with most of the population living in cities on the western continent, and the rest living in large and small farms.

Thanks to the fact that rationality still exists in the Five Hundred Worlds, people on this planet live a relatively good life, with the average life span being about twenty-five years old.

This is not twenty-five years in Terran years, but about sixty or seventy years in Terran years, so life is quite long for people here.

In taverns in cities in the western continent, farmers who have finished their busy farming days will drive here to drink and chat. Recently, everyone is discussing a rumor.

"Have you heard about the raid on the border of Five Hundred Worlds?"

"It's just a rumor. Are there many rumors like this? I've heard this rumor a hundred times since I was a child, but none of it has come true."

"Who knows, the war probably won't reach us anyway."

"..."

People were talking about it, but only one person in the corner knew that the rumors were true.

"The war will soon reach here, and we will all be dead."

A man dressed as a mercenary stood up from the corner of the tavern and shouted desperate words to everyone.

When they heard this sentence, everyone was stunned at first, and then laughed sarcastically.

Even if the war reaches this point, Espando will not be over, because the flames of war often cannot burn Espando. Who would focus on a useless agricultural world?

If Espandor was a hive city and a fortress world, then being invaded would make sense.

"I just returned to the Five Hundred World, and I know what's happening outside!"

The mercenary continued shouting.

He told his origins, stating that he had been hired by a rogue trader and encountered enemies spreading the plague on the edge of the Five Hundred Worlds. Those people had just occupied a galaxy.

The mercenary also said that the rogue trader he was loyal to was called to the enemy commander. The enemy commander expressed his willingness to let the rogue go, but the rogue must spread the news that the plague army was about to arrive in the Five Hundred Worlds, and they clearly told Aspan More will be the first target.

After listening to this series of words, the people in the tavern gradually became serious.

This mercenary doesn't look like he's telling lies, and if the rumors are true, Five Hundred Worlds is probably still investigating.

Things involving war tend not to come to a quick conclusion.

It often happens that the defender only gets the news after the attacker has captured two or three systems.

The efficiency of the Five Hundred Worlds is already quite high, especially now that the Four Heroes and the Astartes have begun to manage the Five Hundred Worlds again, but the problem is that the Astropaths are not always that efficient, and the messenger ships based on the Dimension Engine The system is just beginning to be established.

But seriously, people are not willing to believe that Espando will become the enemy's first target.

In terms of military value, there are many worlds with military value near Espandor.

"Believe me, brothers and sisters, our world is definitely the primary target!" the mercenary continued to yell, "The Rogue Trader who hired me has already reported to the Governor."

"We must be vigilant."

"For the sake of Five Hundred Worlds, we should organize defense immediately."

"Those who live on the farm, you should bring your families to the city immediately!"

"..."

The mercenary yelled to persuade everyone, and some people left the tavern one after another.

Until finally, a group of Ultramar auxiliary troops rushed into the tavern, interrupting the roar of the mercenaries.

"Shut up!"

"Everyone sit back down!"

The auxiliary soldiers pointed their guns at everyone present, forcing these civilians to lie on the ground immediately as if they were forcing the enemy.

This was an unusual attitude, these soldiers simply treated everyone as an enemy.

After everyone was lying on the ground, an officer came out and said, "I'm sorry, but we have to do this. As long as you have completed the inspection, you can leave."

"What happened?" asked the mercenary who persuaded everyone to leave immediately.

A drone with the Tyron Sector logo detached from the pylon behind an Auxiliary soldier and flew around everyone, projecting a green beam to scan everyone.

When it was the mercenary's turn to be scanned, the officer raised his gun and aimed at the next person waiting to be scanned while answering the mercenary's question: "The Rogue Traders brought the virus to our world. The Governor's Mansion is now filled with zombies of the plague." !”

As soon as he finished speaking, the Tyrone drone paused in front of the mercenaries, and then continued to scan the remaining people.

Finally, the drone released an augmented reality image, and all people suspected of being infected in the tavern were marked in red.

The mercenary, as well as those who sat near him or were splashed by his saliva when he spoke loudly, were marked as infected.

The soldiers immediately pointed their guns at the infected people.

The mercenary was stunned for a second, and then suddenly drew his gun.

The soldiers thought the mercenaries were trying to resist, but when they were about to open fire they heard a loud gunshot.

The mercenary put the muzzle of the gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger, shattering half of his head.

This mercenary was obviously a good man. He ran to the tavern and persuaded everyone in this crowded place to be aware of the coming danger, and persuaded the people scattered in the farm to come to the city, because this was his home planet.

Even though the Rogue Trader warned him that he was not allowed to publicize what they had encountered before he met with the governor, the mercenary still came to do so at the risk of execution.

The mercenary drew his gun and committed suicide the moment he learned that he was infected. He did not want the soldiers to hesitate to kill him.

But this move brought greater trouble.

The mercenary with half his brain knocked out lay on the ground. His body twitched a few times and then stood up again.

Mosquitoes surrounded his body, and the mercenary who had turned into a plague zombie howled and pounced on the nearest person.

The soldiers immediately opened fire. The bullets broke the mercenary's hands and feet and penetrated his organs, but they did not curb his behavior at all.

Just as the zombie was about to bite the first person it caught, an Anglican priest in the tavern stood up and crushed the mercenary's head with his scepter.

The sacred object exerted far more power on the zombie than bullets, and the zombie was knocked down and motionless.

The soldiers did not immediately eliminate the remaining infected people, but only took the uninfected civilians out of the tavern.

"Go and support the soldiers on the road leading to the Governor's Palace, they will shoot you!"

"For the sake of Five Hundred Worlds and Macragge, we Espandos must defend this place before reinforcements arrive!"

At the officer's order, everyone ran towards the road leading to the Governor's Palace, where the guards in the city had gathered to defend themselves against the zombies of the plague.

After everyone left, the officer looked at the remaining infected people in the tavern, slowly backed away, and threw an incendiary bomb.