Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

An oval metal ball with a silver base and hollowed out with gold threads rotates in the air, dividing the dark yellow light falling from top to bottom into swirling dazzling spots.

The dozen or so bright gold coins contained in the ball collided with each other until they fell into the palm of a hand wrapped in black cloth. The remnants of the crisp sound still echoed in the empty and dark hall.

Morse opened his eyes and put down the metal ball, letting the hollow part of the smooth sphere become a flat surface that could help it stand firmly on the ground.

"I have good news here, and bad news..." Halfway through his words, there was a burst of chaotic footsteps outside the hall.

A pair of hard-soled boots of small size stepped on the iron courtyard gate that had not been repaired since it was kicked down by Conrad Coates.

An annoying echo came from the center of the hollow rusty iron, mixed with the patter of water on the ground. The two main noises rushed into the abandoned building together.

Perturabo also opened his eyes and cut off the long-range electromagnetic wave contact with a group of airships parked in the orbit of Nostramo.

Confused footsteps stopped at the door.

In the dark night, the fair faces of five children appeared against the background of clouds and dense buildings. Their eyes and hair colors were different, but their lips were uniformly pale.

The fabric of their clothes doesn't look like coarse rags from the outside, but they fit exceptionally well; if you look closely, you can see that the lining inside the coat is soft and comfortable.

Such fabric, just one meter long, can buy a large family in the slums as slaves for the same price.

If we use the slave labor in the mine to calculate, it is impossible to calculate - this has to be discussed with the owner of the slave labor, and then we have to consider identity comparison, status crossover, and face-to-face transactions; but objectively speaking, the slave labor itself, In Nostramo there is no price other than labor value.

Perturabo sat on the cushions and turned half of his mechanical body. Electricity hissed through the cables, driving his arm to wave towards the door.

"Come in," said the Iron Lord. "What's the matter?"

"That ball is me..." the first child stumbled into the room and said against the wall.

The second child quickly covered the first child's mouth and looked at the mechanical giant with fear on his face: "We picked it up on the street! So...can you give it back to us?"

Morse put his palm down, and the silver ball automatically flew into his palm. He placed the sphere on the wooden table and gently pressed the corners of the paper documents spread across the table.

"One of you," he said, "broke our window with this toy ball."

The children looked frantically toward the windows.

"Oh, don't look at it, I've already fixed it." Morse shrugged, "You can also step on the carpet, who cares about these little things?"

Several children trembled and stepped on the luxurious woven carpet with their shoes, obviously concerned about the dirty water on their shoes staining the carpet.

Perturabo observed these details without saying a word.

Based on his trust in Konrad Coze, his protection of Nostramo's independence, and his mentality of knowing that it would be useless to take care of it, Perturabo turned a blind eye to the undercurrent of Nostramo these days— —

Well, the field of view of the Nostramo orbital ship is enough to clearly see the explosions and fires occurring in various places.

He just took in all the luxury furniture that Conrad Coates sent back to this abandoned building every few days, and immersed himself in the list of items he took the initiative from Coates.

"Take away your toy ball." Perturabo said solemnly, "I don't care where you come from or what your background is. Now, go back to your own world."

Morse moved his fingers and threw the silver ball easily; the ball flew out from the cone-shaped range of light and landed accurately on the chest of the child who originally opened the mouth. The child hurriedly caught his toy and turned to leave.

The third child suddenly stopped the turning child and raised his neck boldly: "If you haven't eaten yet today, can you give us two or three bites of the dishes?"

Morse looked at the shrewdness hidden in the child's micro-expression and casually snapped his fingers toward the door. A brown wooden door appeared out of thin air, blocking the children who had entered the room.

He stepped out of the light, bent down, put his hands wrapped in black cloth on his knees, and cast his shadow on several children.

A lock of black hair swayed forward from the back of his head and hung down on his face, deepening the shadows on his face.

"We have indeed not eaten yet..." Morse's voice lingered softly above the children, "If you are willing to contribute a portion of blood food, of course we can share a few plates of fresh meat..."

Several children were so frightened that their whole bodies trembled.

Then, the third child reached out decisively and pushed the first child forward. The latter stumbled: "You can eat him! He usually moves a lot and is in better physical condition!"

Morse turned the laughter that escaped his lips into a cough.

Perturabo's pen hovered over the paper for a moment. Compared to Morse, he was indeed more concerned about the hidden meaning behind these children's words.

The children who came out of Nostramo's old aristocratic family did not have even a trace of doubt and directly believed that Morse's words were true conditions, not his unique meaningless threats.

Have you seen it or practiced it?

"No," after finishing his laugh, Morse stood up straight, turned around and returned to the light range, lazily half-lying into the high-backed soft chair that Coates had shipped from the warehouse of an unknown family.

"Your blood is not clean enough. Moreover, Konrad Coze is chasing you, right? The Night Ghost is behind you." He stretched out his middle finger and index finger, pressed them on the table and raised them alternately, pretending to be a hunter who jumped quickly. legs, "Three, two, one... Bang! The door will be broken in immediately! What kind of midnight evil spirit have you brought behind you?"

"You..." the third child gritted his teeth and his facial muscles bulged slightly, "Judging from the furniture here, you also had a coat of arms and a surname, right? The order outside has collapsed, but you are living in peace. So... Dear friends, our family can be an ally on the same front, and we ask for your protection!"

Morse glanced out into the eternal night.

Nostramo also has long nights, but compared to Gemo, this territory owned by humans leaves them with too much free time.

Therefore, the two of them still have a lot of time to kill.

"Well...relax, children." A ray of spiritual energy joined his words, making his cold voice particularly soft and elegant, "It was just a few jokes. We have eaten dinner tonight, but we haven't tasted the supper yet. . If you don’t mind, you can use it.”

From the blind spot behind the table, Morse took out five white porcelain gold-inlaid plates with elegant geometric patterns on the edges, placed them on a low table that appeared without warning, and waved to several children.

On each porcelain plate, there is a roasted squab exuding an alluring aroma.

Its surface shows a uniform caramel color, and the crispy skin wraps the tender meat. The light spices and the unique smoke and rosemary seasoning during the roasting process almost immediately make children salivate.

Their hungry stomachs curled up in their abdominal cavities, and they felt as if they were in an illusion, which was so wonderful.

Morse wiped no trace of doubt from their minds. He couldn't remember the last time he had been so enthusiastic: "We can't handle that many late-night snacks, kids."

"Excuse me, are there no tableware?" the fourth child asked politely but stubbornly.

"No, there is none," Perturabo answered him. The Lord of Iron also took some of his energy away from his own work to pay attention to this little night game.

The third child raised his slender eyebrows, wiped his palms on the side of his pants, and reluctantly took the initiative to pick up his midnight snack with his bare hands.

The steaming food quickly took away his complaints. He devoured his roasted pigeon, tearing off the thin and crispy skin and biting into the plump, juicy and rich-tasting meat. He wanted to eat the whole meat. The leather straps were stuffed into his empty and fragile stomach in one breath.

With his guidance, the remaining children were immediately immersed in the delicious food. For a moment, the only sounds in the room were the sounds of swallowing and chewing.

Perturabo looked twice and looked away.

"How's it going?" Morse slowed down his voice kindly, "How's it going?"

"Thank you, sir!" The third child hurriedly put down the food temporarily. He can always distinguish between priorities and choices. "You saved some of us!"

"Those words are too strong, young gentlemen, I just did a few... things that meet the requirements of my own moral character."

"Tell us about how you ended up living on the streets, children of noble blood."

"You know, that monster who calls himself Konrad Curze," the third child said, a flash of disgust flashing across his face at the mere mention of his name. "He shouts something like 'In the name of the Emperor' every day." , killing people everywhere without any rules! Not only does it demean our blood, but it is also ridiculous to say that we are all born with sin and must repay the debt of sin we were born with! "

"Did he mention what you were going to do to atone for your sins?" Morse asked softly, with a hint of naughty curiosity.

"The debt of labor, the debt of war," the child said angrily, "and the debt of blood. He doesn't even accept money! What about working in a factory, participating in military conscription, and drinking his blood potion? These are all for them What we did is now all our turn!”

"Does a kid like you count?"

"Forget it!" he said angrily, "We don't talk about our universal laws at all! He also allocated actual bonds to each of our families one by one, saying that if you can't atone for your sins, you can only die to pay the debt, so we were assigned a Of course my father doesn’t want to repay such an inexplicable debt..."

He shivered violently all over, and the fear hidden in his heart almost overwhelmingly overshadowed his anger.

Morse replenished his psychic aura at the right time and comforted him: "Relax, kid. Even if your father is really skinned and hung on the top of the tower, at least when the bloody flag is fluttering in the wind, it will look better than when your father was alive. He looks better when he's handsome, right?"

The third child's expression changed erratically, from daze to fear to annoyance.

Finally, his expression settled on mean contempt.

"Every one of his subordinates is just a man who hides his head and lacks grace. Even if he is unusually tall, they all cover their faces with iron masks. These people can't even trace our whereabouts, so how can they have the right to demand debts from us? ?”

"Okay, calm down, kid." Morse said, "Don't be angry about our Blood Marquis. After all, your anger will not help, right?"

He looked around and said, "Let's not talk about Coz anymore. I see that you guys are eating about the same and chatting about some light topics after dinner. You got here by accident, right? Guess where this is, kids. ”

"Your temporary home...?" the fifth child said hesitantly.

"Yes and no," Morse said. "Our home is..."

He pointed towards the location of Olympia in the starry sky.

The children looked understanding: "My condolences to your family, my lord."

"My family does not need to mourn." Perturabo interjected casually to show that he was listening. "You guys continue."

The first child thought of the copper door plate that had fallen to the ground and was half sunken into the soil when he just arrived, and replied: "This is an abandoned mental hospital in the old city?"

"Oh, you don't have to go back that far. Come closer, kids. Are there any other answers?" Morse asked in a persuasive way.

The five children shook their heads in turn.

"This is my current residence." Cozz violently removed Morse's unlocked wooden door. The door made of psychic energy turned into ashes the moment the door frame was broken.

He took off his long black tarp cloak at the door and hung it on a metal stand. Behind him, six remains squeezed into the hall from the door, using their iron masks and the faces hanging on their waists to stare at the five children silently.

"Good evening, Conrad," Perturabo said flatly.

Morse snapped his fingers a second time, and the psychic effect immediately faded. The children woke up from their dreams and fell to the ground in various postures in horror, holding the carpet with their bloody hands.

Beside them, the devoured rat skeletons were scattered in the center of the carpet.

Curze nodded slightly to the remains of the servants. Each of the five remains captured a child, and the remaining one removed the stained carpet and replaced it with a brand new dark blue clean rug.

The operation to capture the escaped noble children is over. Curze, like Perturabo, sat on the floor on a clean blanket.

"I hope you can understand why I want to distribute the debt equally to these heirs with dirty blood." Coz had a dark look in his eyes, "Or do you want to condemn me for my lack of kindness?"

"Society is a chaotic model that cannot be summarized simply by a single law." Perturabo said, "I would not do this in Olympia, but I have no intention of questioning your actions in Nostramo. I believe Your indulgence...has a rationale for its existence."

"I just have one question. If you kill all the people who can control the operation of high-rise buildings, who will manage Nostramo?"

"In this mud, there are always new shoots sprouting. Until then, I can complete it all by myself." Coze snorted, "I don't want to ignore the sins of anyone just because he can do it."

"You don't have enough experience."

"Will you help me?" Curze asked.

A slight smile appeared on Perturabo's lips. "You asked for help, so, of course."

Kurtz clasped his hands together, looking a little excited.

"Then let me first introduce the auxiliary army I am going to get from the prison. You can listen to what the problem is. I have built a new reward and punishment system for them. Oh, now they are called Nostramo Chemical Dogs..."

Morse smacked his lips next to him: "I didn't finish what I said before. I have good news and bad news. Seriously, does anyone want to hear it?"

"Tell me the good news first?" Perturabo looked at Morse.

"I contacted the Empire's signal."

Perturabo moved his mechanical bones and asked eagerly: "Where's the bad news?"

"I don't want to talk about it now." Morse smiled, "But it's not a big deal. Someone will report it separately later. Let's talk about the good news first... I contacted three Primarchs at the same time, Fu Grim, Ferrus Manus, and Rogal Dorn, whom Perturabo is familiar with. Anyone want to meet them?"