Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 564 Intentional Guidance
However, deathly silence is not eternal.

Just as the team ventured deeper into this mechanical graveyard, an unexpected change occurred!

"Weak energy signal detected on the upper left!" A Deathwatch warrior's growl broke the silence.

Almost simultaneously, a sensor on the head of a scorpion-shaped defensive unit embedded in a crack in the metal structure above its head suddenly lit up!
It wasn't a stable red light that started up, but rather a faint, intermittent, and extremely weak scarlet flicker, like a final burst of light before death!

Accompanying this flickering sound was a teeth-grinding "hiss...hiss...click..." friction sound emanating from the joints.

Its rusty, ice-covered chelicerae and the short, thick energy cannon at its tail began to rise and turn with extreme difficulty, in an extremely stiff and slow manner, like a rusty wind-up toy. A faint, almost negligible orange-yellow light condensed deep inside the cannon.

This is not an isolated case!
"Right front wall! Three o'clock!"

"Something's moving behind us!"

Like a malfunctioning machine being awakened, scattered throughout this silent graveyard, more and more scarlet, dying "eyes" began to light up.

The hoarse friction sounds and intermittent energy hums rose and fell.

More wreckage began to "revive": a multi-legged crawler missing half its body futilely clawed at the ground with its remaining legs; a fixed gun emplacement embedded in the wall, its cannon barrel like a rusty lever, aimed at the troops at an extremely slow speed of a few centimeters per minute.

Their stiff movements, slow speed, and weak weapon charging all demonstrate their death throes under the complete depletion of energy.

"Fire! Eliminate the threat!" Felus's voice remained as cold as ever, but the order was given faster than ever before.

The deafening roar of the bombs and the whirring of the incendiary guns instantly shattered the deathly silence!
The Deathwatch and the Battle Sisters reacted swiftly, their precise shots like surgical interventions.

Those dying defensive units were extremely fragile; the explosive shells easily tore apart their corroded outer shells, and the high temperature of the incinerator instantly melted them into twisted scrap metal.

Their counterattacks were weak and laughable; the scattered energy beams they fired were either extremely inaccurate or had already exhausted their energy and dissipated before hitting the power armor, leaving only a few fleeting wisps of burnt smell in the air.

Although the threat level was extremely low, the sight of "coming back to life" and the surrounding death struggles created a huge psychological impact in the oppressive environment.

Watching those rusty machines stubbornly carry out the killing orders set millions of years ago despite being at a complete disadvantage, a chilling feeling that went straight to the bone gripped everyone.

Aurejana's servo arm scanned the scorpion-shaped unit that had just been destroyed, her synthesized voice carrying an unprecedented solemnity: "Analyzing the activity patterns of the wreckage... there are signs of non-random coordination. The energy signal transmission path... points to an unknown node deep within the ruins."

Logical deduction: There exists a unified, albeit extremely weak, control system attempting to activate these remaining units. We are being monitored and hindered by a dying… 'will'.

Leaving the mechanical graveyard, they stepped into a chilling corridor.

The walls on both sides are covered with dense, honeycomb-shaped energy nodes, resembling a giant heat dissipation array.

These nodes, which should have been the cornerstones of a deadly energy barrier, are now a desolate, dark forest.

Most of the nodes went completely out, covered in a thick layer of dust.

However, not all nodes have found peace.

Some nodes cracked in their outer shells, exposing the energy conduits inside, which were wrapped with electric arcs.

These very breaches became the source of the disaster. Unstable electric arcs, like the short-circuit sparks of a dying engine, shot wildly from the rupture, not continuously stable, but rather like a swarm of raging snakes, randomly roaming and lashing within the passage!
The high-energy particle beams, in shades of purple-white and blue-green, are like invisible whips of death, each strike leaving a scorching ionization trail and a piercing explosion in the air.

The ground and walls were covered with charred whip marks, and in some places, shallow pits were even melted out.

The air was thick with a strong smell of ozone and the pungent odor of molten metal.

Crossing through here is a meticulously crafted ballet of death.

The team compressed its formation and remained on high alert.

Oregana's sensor array operates at high speed, constantly predicting the trajectory and intensity of the next energy turbulence.

"Left front, Theta-7 node leak point! High-energy arc is expected to sweep across the middle of the channel in 3 seconds!" Her warning was like a precise timer.

The group immediately stopped advancing and moved close to the relatively safe wall.

A thick, twisting, leaping arc of purple-white electricity tore through the air with a "crack," sweeping across the spot where they had just stood with destructive energy, instantly melting a protruding metal structure on the opposite wall into molten iron.

"Center of the passage ahead! Particle turbulence beam, continuous spray! Knight Maria!"

"Received!" Maria's "Radiant Sentinel" knight mech steadily raised one arm, its equipped small laser cannon precisely aiming.

A thin but highly focused red beam shot out, precisely hitting a key, about-to-explode energy vortex inside the leak node.

Sizzle—Boom! A small but violent energy explosion occurred inside the node, temporarily "sealing" the leak and bringing the raging particle stream to an abrupt halt.

More often than not, they can only rely on experience and agility to circumvent the situation.

The trajectory of the energy whip was completely irregular.

In a near-death experience, an arc of electricity suddenly shot out from a ceiling node and nearly struck the helmet of a combat nun. She dodged it by leaning back with lightning speed, and the scorching air instantly fogged up her breathing mask.

Just as the team was struggling to advance to the latter half of the corridor and was about to be cornered by several energy turbulences attacking from different directions at the same time, another change occurred!

Aurejana's urgent voice rang out: "Warning! Energy readings for the Kappa node cluster ahead are abnormally high! A large-scale cross turbulence eruption is predicted! Evasion may be necessary—"

Her warning abruptly ceased, replaced by a rare hint of confusion: "...Energy readings...are decaying on their own? Inside the target node...a signal of artificial energy diversion detected? Source...unknown...pointing towards the core of the ruins."

As if an invisible hand had pressed a switch, the violent energy vortexes inside those nodes that were about to erupt with deadly turbulence were forcibly suppressed, the churning electric arcs instantly weakened, and finally retreated back into the rupture.

A previously blocked, relatively safe route has been revealed.

"The energy turbulence... has been actively suppressed." Aurejana's conclusion carried a chilling shock: "Combining the previous abnormal coordination of the autonomous defense units with the current phenomenon... it is highly certain that there is a self-aware control system at the core of the ruins."

It is in an extremely weakened state, unable to fully control the ruins' defenses, but... it is consciously reducing the resistance to our progress... it is guiding us towards the core.

(End of this chapter)