Warhammer: Saving Humanity Begins with the Resurrection of Horus

Page 114

This event is also recorded in the development history of the Eighth Army Corps.

Lynch let out a long breath as he looked at the scene before him. The more than 20,000 boys who had set out were either traveling alone or in groups. They were walking through the scorching desert, enduring the blazing sun, and moving forward as their bodies continued to lose moisture.

Ryan merely pointed out a direction, without mentioning distance or time; he simply provided a direction to move forward. This was undoubtedly challenging for those directly involved in the selection process—after all, it meant moving forward on a path without a goal, with the unknown pressure constantly weighing on their nerves until, in the end, it became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Is it scary? Maybe.

For some of the participants in the selection process, failure is more terrifying than the unknown.

A hot wind blew across his cheeks as the young Caesar pressed on alone through the yellow sand.

Above him was a cloudless sky, and below him lay the yellow desert. The monotonous colors constituted the world Caesar found himself in. At first, the scenery might have seemed somewhat magnificent, but after a while, all that remained was a sense of dullness and monotony.

Caesar stopped, feeling weary. He picked up the pocket watch his father had given him before leaving, and did a quick calculation, realizing he had unknowingly walked for a full four Terra hours.

For a fourteen-year-old whose body is not yet fully developed, the burden of such strenuous exercise is almost unbearable.

But for some reason, after shedding some fatigue, Caesar was able to feel some inexplicable sensations.

The sensation was strange, like someone whispering in my ear, while a faint, nonexistent, chilly breeze occasionally blew against my back...

This strange phenomenon occurred after I had a very strange dream that day.

Well, looking at it now, this might actually be a good thing.

Caesar shook his head slightly. He looked around and soon discovered a large rock, about the height of a person, not far from him, and a rare and precious shadow beneath it in this desert.

The boy inwardly cheered, feeling exhilarated by his discovery. He walked over, sat down in the shadows, opened his backpack, took out the food and water he had been given, and began to eat and drink in small sips.

The food was the kind of cube that keeps well, but biting into it felt like chewing wax; it tasted terrible.

However, it was very filling; even a small amount was enough to give Caesar a strong feeling of fullness.

After taking a sip of water to replenish his fluids, Caesar leaned against the rock, closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

He felt his consciousness begin to plummet, as if he were falling off a cliff. It was a strange feeling; he had never seen a cliff before and had no idea what it looked like, yet at this moment, the concept was crystal clear in his mind…

Time passed slowly, and the stars completely set, plunging the entire desert into the black night. A cold wind blew by, and Caesar suddenly awoke. He opened his eyes abruptly and found his back covered in cold sweat for some reason.

This is........

A cold glint reflected the moonlight, causing him to squint.

At this moment, Caesar noticed a figure that had appeared in front of him at some point. The figure looked to be about the same height as him and should also be one of those who had joined the selection process. However, when he looked at the other person's hand, Caesar couldn't help but gasp inwardly and instinctively tried to move his body.

"do not move!"

The figure spoke in a deep voice, simultaneously twisting his wrist. A dagger, the length of an adult's palm, was fully revealed. The figure flicked his wrist sharply, sending the dagger slicing through the air and flying straight towards Caesar.

Caesar closed his eyes. He had wondered if someone would steal other people's water and food to increase their chances of passing, but he didn't expect to encounter it so soon, and that someone would try to kill him right away.

tear.

This is the sound a sharp blade makes when it tears through flesh.

But Caesar did not feel any pain, nor did he feel his blood slowly flowing out.

Footsteps sounded beside him, and Caesar cautiously opened his eyes. A boy about his age slowly walked towards him, with long black hair and emerald green eyes. His youthful face inexplicably revealed a profound maturity that should have appeared on an adult.

The boy knelt down beside Caesar and pulled his dagger from the ground.

Caesar looked over and saw the headless carcass of a snake. The snake's head was slightly open, revealing sharp teeth that gleamed faintly in the darkness.

That snake just now probably tried to attack me, and it looked like it was highly venomous...

Caesar broke out in a cold sweat again. He swallowed hard and watched the boy begin to dispose of the snake carcass with a dagger before cautiously speaking.

"Thank you so much..."

The boy glanced at Caesar but ignored him. Instead, he took out a flint and a few pieces of firewood from his backpack, lit them, and made a simple campfire.

The skinned snakeskin was placed over the fire to roast, and a faint aroma of meat began to waft through the air. Caesar swallowed hard, but still kindly offered a reminder.

"What you're doing... could attract those large, ferocious beasts."

“No, that won’t happen,” the boy said calmly. “Those large, ferocious beasts won’t appear; I can guarantee that.”

"why?"

Caesar asked, puzzled. Before the selection began, his father had warned him to be wary of the wild beasts in the desert, especially the large ones. These creatures were extremely dangerous, and when they traveled in packs, they could even threaten caravans moving between the various settlements.

But now, someone tells Caesar that he need not worry about the greatest danger in this desert.

"It's very simple."

The boy spoke, took a piece of bone about the length of a forearm from his backpack, and tossed it to Caesar.

"These are the bones of a wild beast, very fresh, obviously killed recently."

Caesar caught the bone and examined it carefully. Just as the boy had said, the bone was very new, and one could even faintly smell blood on it.

"They didn't intend for us to suffer any casualties."

Do you mean the angels?

The snake meat was roasted, and the aroma of the fat filled the air. Caesar swallowed again. The boy noticed his action, smiled slightly, tore off a small piece with his dagger, and handed it to him.

With the meat right in front of him, Caesar suddenly felt embarrassed.

"This is your prey..."

"Eat up, don't be shy. Maybe we'll be brothers in arms someday." The boy waved the meat in his hand, letting its aroma waft into Caesar's nose. "The food the angels give us is awful. Eat this; it'll be better for your stomach. Also, my name is Lancelot. What's yours?"

After hearing the boy's words, Caesar no longer had any concerns. He took the snake meat offered to him and, without hesitation, stuffed it into his mouth.

"My name is Caesar."

Because he was chewing food, Caesar's voice was slightly muffled.

"Lancelot...what a nice name."

Lancelot did not respond, but began to slowly eat the remaining snake meat in his hand. He ate very slowly and methodically, but his movements were not elegant, and even revealed a strong sense of roughness.

Soon, only a few scattered bones remained of the snake.

Lancelot wiped his mouth, then sat down next to Caesar, leaning against the large rock behind him without any awkwardness.

Caesar was stunned for a moment, not understanding the other party's behavior.

Lancelot raised an eyebrow, looked at Caesar, and calmly spoke.

"You don't think I'm giving you snake meat for free, do you? That's for lodging. I'm spending the night under this rock too. Move over there, I don't have enough room."

Caesar remained silent, then shifted his position slightly.

The two boys, back to back, gradually fell asleep in the silence. The servo skull in the sky concealed its form with an invisibility field, and the scanner recorded the scene below, transmitting it as an electronic signal back to the distant Thorn Royal Court.

Lin Qi looked at the screen and saw that the number of candidates had plummeted to 23,482 after a day, and sighed slightly.

On the first day, four thousand people will be eliminated from the selection process for various reasons, and will be found by the search teams and sent back to their original nests.

There are still ten days left until the end of the assessment.

"Hoffmann".

Lynch put on the helmet, then spoke softly, calling out to his AI assistant.

A humanoid figure formed from points of light appeared before him—in the past two months, Lynch wasn't the only one whose abilities had improved; Hoffman had also successfully evolved during the process of assisting with office work, becoming a qualified... iron man of document processing.

There's no way around it; with his incredible thinking speed and powerful memory storage, it would be a waste not to use it for city planning and management.

This is why, without Horus's help, Lynch was able to manage his territory quite well in the initial period.

"Master Lynch."

Hoffman spoke, and his voice was not a cold, electronic one, but a calm, natural, and not stiff male voice.

"If there's anything you need, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me within three minutes. I'm currently handling 381 planetary matters within the Badab system simultaneously, and as you know, these matters involve..."

"Alright, alright," Lin Qi quickly said. "How's the preparation for building the military academy that I asked you to do last time?"

"Everything is ready. Once you return to your office and sign off, the project can officially begin. It is expected that in a year, these children who were eliminated during the selection process will successfully join the project as the first batch of students."

"That's good."

Lynch nodded and then took off his helmet.

Yes, Lynch, you're going to start a military academy.

Military academies cater to a wide range of people, with two main categories. The first category includes eligible children, youths, and even adults. Based on their age, they will enroll in preparatory classes, preschool classes, junior classes, youth classes, and finally, accelerated classes through compulsory education, examinations, and training.

After graduating from the youth class and accelerated training program, graduates will be assigned to the former mortal auxiliary forces located in the Badab star system, currently the 1st to 20th regiments of the Badab Star Force, serving as elite soldiers and junior officers, based on their grades.

The second source of students for military academies, and the first batch of cadets, are these children who failed the selection process and were not qualified to become Astartes.

However, it is envisioned that the number of students in the second type will decrease in the future. This is because the age range for the military academy's junior program is twelve to fifteen years old, which is the most suitable age for Astartes training.

In other words, military academies will also become a reserve source of soldiers for Star Claw in the future, providing Star Claw with a sufficient number of people of suitable age for modification when necessary.

This is a powerful model, and its strength was personally verified by Primarch Guilliman, the Thirteenth Primarch, during the Great Rebellion ten thousand years ago. The ability to regroup hundreds of thousands of Astartes within just a few years, directly threatening the Horus rebels, was due to the ample manpower and large reserve of personnel under the sound system of the 500th World.

Of course, Lin Qi couldn't possibly establish a Five Hundred Worlds in a short time, nor did he have such a large territory. The Great Vortex also couldn't compare to the prosperous Five Hundred Worlds.

However, he can still use this system. As long as it achieves one-tenth or even one-hundredth of the effect of Guilliman's system back then, the improvement in the strength of the entire warband would be enormous and unimaginable.

They're getting more and more ambitious, but there's no other way; it's all for humanity.

Lin Qi sighed as he looked at the screen in front of him. In the darkness of night, most of the candidates had entered a state of rest, with only a small number continuing to walk towards the edge of the desert under the stars and moon.

Asford strode up and whispered a few words in Lynch's ear.

Lynch's eyes lit up, and he stood up, handing over the next part of the assessment to Leo and Ryan.

"Remember to keep an eye on those promising young talents."

The company commander and the hermit nodded, indicating that they understood the matter.

Asford quickly led Lynch away. They crossed the corridor, entered the tower, took the elevator, and finally arrived at the magnificent, gilded reception room on the thirteenth floor.

A woman in a trench coat sat on the sofa in the conference room. When she saw Lin Qi walking in, her eyes flashed with shock, but in the end, she still gave a proper salute and politely greeted him.

"Long time no see, Lord Lynch."

"It's been a long time, Judge Eleanor."

Lin Qi nodded to Elena, and the two then took their seats. Without much small talk, Lin Qi got straight to the point.

“Aline, now that you’ve come here, it means that our agreement has made progress.”