Malus Hive City No. 9, in the residential area adjacent to the upper-level industrial control hub.
There was a faint silver flash, and Calvin's figure appeared in the uninhabited house.
After instinctively distributing his feelings to the surroundings, Calvin unexpectedly did not receive any characteristics of life.
From the decoration in the room and the quality of daily items, we can know that their owners belong to the middle class of the hive city.
This part of the population is mainly composed of technocrats and administrative clerks.
Unlike those top-level nobles who sit on the merits of their ancestors, they are the core productive forces that keep this huge city alive.
Their personal status may be insignificant, but in the eyes of any ruler with a strategic vision, these populations are one of the core wealth of the planet.
Even in wartime, their value will not depreciate.
Compared with the local upper class who are not engaged in production or joining the army, they are the most worthy of spending energy to protect.
Of course, the population here was evacuated early in the invasion.
But the scale and development of the war exceeded the highest expectations of the rulers here.
Except for a few lucky ones who were truly qualified to board the escape ship, most people, like their fathers and brothers in their families, were helplessly thrown into the armed resistance in the increasingly worsening war that followed.
"Huh?"
Calvin made a noncommittal sound from his nose.
He followed his perception and saw a child in military uniform a few hundred meters away in what used to be a neighborhood shopping mall.
This little guy has obviously been separated from the army for a long time.
Her uniform, which was not the right size, was pulled up and down again and again, forming a bloated ball at the ends of her limbs.
The laser gun, which is as high as the body, is strapped to the back, becoming a heavy but necessary burden.
"A human female cub." Such an idea appeared in Calvin's mind, making him laugh and cry when he reacted.
Has it been too long since I saw real human civilians?
Or does it mean that he no longer regards himself as a human being?
He walked towards the child, and the cub happened to walk out of the main entrance of the mall.
This was clearly a rewarding adventure.
It can be seen just from the girl's happy steps and the bags full of food in her hands.
But this was another bad trip.
The girl's little face was covered with dirt and dust, and her original appearance was not visible, but from the frightened look in her eyes when she first saw Calvin, it was clear that she had remembered many not-so-good memories.
"You..." Calvin raised his hand to greet this little guy who was just as high as his knees.
But before he could finish his words, a bullet from further away hit him at a high speed that made him alert and eerily quiet in comparison.
Tsk!
Calvin took a step back for an instant and looked at the angle from which the bullet came, but there was nothing to gain except vague fluctuations in the shadow.
"Interesting."
Calvin turned his head and looked in the direction just now. The girl had already run a block away.
That's you.
Anyway, he wanted a local person to understand the situation. Since there was a better option delivered to his door, he had no intention of pursuing the child.
Calvin turned around and walked towards the place where he had just shot.
This was obviously not a premeditated attack. You can tell from the way the opponent missed a single hit and then ran away.
Calvin, who came to the sniper position, looked at the scene carefully:
The other party's details were perfect. Except for the faint smell of gunpowder that was still in the air, he didn't even leave a rubbing of a bullet casing for Calvin.
But having this taste is actually enough.
Calvin remembered this distinctive sour taste very clearly.
In addition to the standard burst bombs commonly used by the Astartes, the primer of the Kraken armor-piercing bomb also happens to use this substance.
Compared with ordinary gunpowder, its characteristics are high deflagration and high volatility, as well as high intensity.
This characteristic makes it very expensive to passivate it and turn it into a stable military product for large-scale deployment. Even the Astartes cannot afford it.
In Calvin's impression, apart from the Kraken-type armor-piercing bullets that have extremely heavy warheads, only sniper rifle bullets that are also owned by the Astartes but are not commonly used forcefully require its characteristics.
Well, the Assassin Court also has this technology, but they obviously prefer alien technology, so it is rarely used.
Feeling the faint strangeness within a hundred meters around him, Calvin couldn't help but smile for his "good luck":
"The scion of Corax! The Reviled Chapter? Which of you is in charge? I want to see him!"
As his voice came out, the obscure fluctuations in the air became stagnant.
After a few suffocating seconds, the several Astartes in stealth state around him finally revealed themselves from different angles.
This is a different power from the Night Lords that Calvin encountered before:
In addition to the basic visual deception of light and darkness, Calvin also found some tricks similar to the psychic stealth he used himself.
One, two, three, four, five.
Calvin remained calm as he counted the iron-gray warriors occupying favorable attack points in front and behind.
Well, there are two more, no, or three, maintaining a sniper stance from a distance.
But based on their behavior, this should not be all, and there are still back-ups beyond his perception.
The Astartes in front of them did not move, maintaining the attitude of rising up at any time.
The power claws on their hands were obviously longer and narrower than the standard model, and the dark and sharp claw blades made Calvin miss his own thing and at the same time recognize their model - Black Crow Claw.
A particularly tall figure walked out from the center of them and stood 30 meters away from Calvin.
These former elites of the Raven Guard were obviously the extermination troops who followed the aftermath of his psychic powers.
Knowing that Calvin had psychic qualities, they cautiously kept their distance from him.
"Who is you?"
The scolder's team commander, Sergeant Shar, asked him.
Following his questions, the silent warriors were silently fine-tuning the position of their center of gravity.
A more dangerous intuition was stimulating Calvin's nerves. He could even smell in the wind that the sniper in the distance had his finger in front of the trigger.
"Inquisition, Order of the Holy Hammer, High-level Gray Knight, Calvin."
Facing the group of Astartes warriors and the weapons in their hands, he calmly said to the sergeant...
——
"So, which satellite did you come from?"
Next to the track leading from the middle level of the hive to the industrial area of the outer city, Shar, who was still leading the team, asked Calvin beside him.
"And you met our brothers?"
He continued to ask. The road ahead became very dark. Behind him, the former Raven Guards were silently merging with the shadows.
"Yes." Calvin answered in the affirmative.
After listening to Calvin's words, Shar was silent for a moment, and then said:
"That was a member of our fifth team, and it was also the first batch of combat operations to save the planetary defense system. Unfortunately, it failed."
"You tried your best."
Calvin gave a considerable degree of approval. He ignored the strange feeling that only he and Shar were left beside him, and continued the topic just now.
"So, how is Walder doing now? Is he okay?" Shar asked seemingly casually.
"It's Valk, he's fine now." Calvin replied, correcting the Master Chief's mistake "kindly".
The conversation between the two suddenly stopped, and Calvin looked back firmly in the face of Shar's scrutinizing gaze.
"Ha! I remembered it wrong! Valk, although we belong to the same company, we rarely cooperate with each other."
Shar said he was careless, but his men were not idle.
Following his gesture, the Astartes who had quietly occupied the surprise position under the cover of shadow dispersed again.
If it weren't for Calvin's spiritual power and genetic induction, he wouldn't be able to detect the details.
He laughed at it and didn't pursue it further.
Anyone who has been fighting fiercely on a planet for ten years with the Night Lord who is good at raids and Alres who is good at conspiracy, if he can believe Calvin just because of a few code words of the Inquisition, then he has seen the devil.
.
The doubts and temptations of these scolding warriors were already within his expectations. In addition to proving the rationality of these warriors, the situation in front of him was really not an extreme temptation.
"So, what's your reason for coming?" Shar clearly relaxed after the test, but he still pointed out their bottom line:
"Let's talk first. Our current strength is very weak and we don't have any extra troops to cooperate with the orders of the Tribunal. Regardless of your status, we will give priority to carrying out our tasks."
"Understandable." Calvin nodded in agreement and added:
"I arrived here due to an accidental teleportation. I have no orders at the moment. I just want to join your battle sequence."
"No problem, but what's the use of you alone?" Shar asked.
As if he was afraid that Calvin would not understand, he selectively described the information he knew to Calvin as an explanation to him:
"Our combat mode is special, and I don't think you can cooperate with us.
And we have missions on this trip, and we don’t have the ability to send you back to the company headquarters, so you may have to decide whether to stay or go on your own, sorry."
"No no no"
Calvin denied Shar's first sentence and explained seriously to the Astartes veteran:
"As you can see, every emperor's gold coin has its own use. I will not interfere with your battle rhythm. But if necessary, I can still deal with enemies that you are not good at facing."