The Bizarre Adventure of the Warhammer Guard

In the central control room of Area A, the core area of ​​the Hive, a piercing alarm suddenly sounded, and a display screen lit up with several lines of red text: "The Hive has detected an unauthorized intrusion. Number of targets: three, danger level: low."

Suddenly, the red text distorted, and new text appeared: "Unknown creature/person/machine detected, danger level: unknown, action suggestion: release all Hive biological weapons, eliminate the intruder, and protect company property."

The red text gradually disappeared, several red indicator lights in the room turned green, and then the entire room fell silent again.

-

In the dimly lit corridor, Leon and Ada were panting heavily in front of a monster's corpse.

"After you've dealt with these heretical creatures, remember," Elpis said, nodding slightly as if to acknowledge their presence, "to burn these filthy things to ashes with holy flames."

Leon found some gasoline, poured it on the monster, and set it on fire. The raging flames instantly engulfed the monster's corpse. The firelight illuminated Leon's face; he was pale and struggling to breathe.

"Leon, are you alright?" Ada asked, checking on Leon's injuries.

"I'm fine, I feel like I broke a few ribs." Perhaps it was the return of adrenaline, but Leon sat down slowly with a pained expression. "That monster was really strong."

"This." Elpis pulled out a vial of pale golden liquid. "Find a syringe, draw up one milliliter, and inject it into Leon."

"What is this?" Ida asked hesitantly.

"Therapeutic drugs."

Seeing Leon nod slightly, Ada retrieved a syringe and, as Elpis had instructed, injected the pale golden liquid into Leon's body. After a few breaths, Leon's pale face quickly regained its color, and he slowly stood up.

"This stuff works so well." Leon stretched his body and carefully examined himself. "My injuries have all healed, and now I feel full of strength."

"To uphold justice, power is required," Elpis said, seeing the surprised Leon.

"Sir," Lyon said earnestly, looking at Elpis, "may I be able to do what you do?"

"You have the opportunity to become stronger," Elpis replied, "but it comes at a price. You might fall in some forgotten corner, or you might do something against your will."

"I'm not afraid!" Leon replied firmly. "As long as we can protect them and people can live happily, that's enough."

Elpis nodded and continued walking towards Sector B. Soon, they came to a tightly closed door made of a special alloy that could not be destroyed by ordinary guns.

"Looks like we need to find the key card," Leon said helplessly as he looked at the card reader by the door.

No sooner had he finished speaking than Elpis punched through the door. Then, several more punches followed, creating a large hole in the middle of the door, through which Elpis passed, leaving Leon and Ada speechless.

"Looks like we don't need that, handsome," Ada teased Leon, then walked over as well.

"Okay, this is fine." Leon shook his head, muttering to himself, and followed behind Ada.

Area B is significantly different from Area A. It resembles a huge biochemical experimental base, with various danger signs visible everywhere, as well as numerous culture chambers.

Most of the culture chambers were empty, with only seven containing Tyrants, their liquids constantly bubbling.

"Be careful," Elpis warned the other two.

As soon as he finished speaking, the seven tyrants opened their eyes, smashed the glass of the incubation chamber, and rushed out, attacking Elpis.

Leon and Ada stood back to back, each aiming their guns, wary of the tyrants around them. Elpis, his face calm, removed his cloak and charged towards the tyrant.

In the blink of an eye, as easily as cutting melons and vegetables, all the tyrants were killed by Elpis, their heads cut off and their hearts left empty.

Leon and Ada were already used to it; Elpis's various actions along the way had already overturned their understanding, and now they felt that there really was an alien civilization called the "Human Empire".

After cleaning up the scene, the three of them continued searching the entire B area. Eventually, they found a T-virus sample and also identified the entrance to the A area.

Elpis did the same, hammering open the door to reveal a long, smooth, and bright corridor.

"There must be a trap here," Ada warned.

Elpis walked straight in, and the laser traps inside were immediately activated. He ignored the lasers and continued forward. The lasers struck Elpis's armor, but left not a mark; they couldn't damage his armor at all.

At the end, Elpis destroyed the laser emitter and waved for Leon and Ada to follow.

They eventually arrived at the central control room in Area A, where a large red "Warning" sign was displayed on the screen. Elpis went to the computer interface, took out a device, and roughly plugged the connector on it into the incompatible computer interface.

"Machine Soul, extract and store all data," Elpis commanded the device in his hand.

This automated system, composed of organic and mechanical parts, faithfully carried out commands. The screen in the monitoring room was instantly covered with countless characters composed of "0" and "1". Then, the machine soul took over all the networked devices in the entire hive.

"All data has been extracted and stored," the machine spirit's voice came through the loudspeaker in the monitoring room. "Core code is detected launching a counterattack. Destroy it?"

"Destroy it," Elpis commanded. "Is there anything else of importance in the hive?"

"Executing..." The machine spirit was silent for a moment, "All hostile core code has been destroyed. The Hive core confidential sample 'Progenitor Virus' safe has been opened."

The floor in the center of the control room opened, and a platform rose up from it, on which was a safe containing a sample of the progenitor virus.

Elpis retrieved the equipment, picked up the safe, and saw Leon hesitating beside him.

"What do we need to do next?" Leon finally asked.

"You can follow me." Elpis felt the energy within his body could continue to circulate, clearly the cooldown period was over. "I'm preparing to form a small team. You can gain power and witness various things in the universe, but you will also have responsibilities to bear."

"I agree," Lyon said first.

"I think I have no choice but to agree, right?" Ada was a little worried. Elpis had mentioned her special status before, so if she didn't agree now, he would force her to leave.

Elpis didn't answer, which seemed like an admission. He then looked at Leon and said, "I just saw your former companion. You can contact her."

"Claire?" Leon was very happy and contacted Claire using the equipment in the control room. They exchanged a few words and hung up after confirming that everyone was safe.

Then, Elpis and his two companions stood together, and a portal enveloped them, instantly swallowing them whole. The control room returned to its previous silence, as if no one had ever been there.