23: Buried in extreme cold, reborn in raging fire.

Pitch black. Narrow. Suffocating.

The ventilation duct's diameter was only sixty centimeters, like an infinitely extending sheet-metal coffin.

The hazmat suit at his knees had long since worn through. With every movement, rusted rivets and iron shards would cruelly scrape across his bloody, mangled skin, bringing a heart-piercing sting. But Karl felt no pain.

His nerves had already been paralyzed by an excess of adrenaline and extreme terror.

Huff.

Huff.

With every breath, his lungs emitted a wheezing hiss like a broken bellows.

What he inhaled wasn't air, but a toxic gas mixed with rust dust, the smell of clotted blood, and that increasingly pungent odor of ozone.

He didn't dare stop.

The vibrations coming from beneath the duct had completely ceased.

The roar of the chainsword that had once made his soul tremble, the roar belonging to the demigod giant, along with the dense explosions of bolt shells—all had fallen into a dead silence in an instant.

This dead silence was more terrifying than the noise.

It meant the battle was over. It meant that the iron wall standing behind them had collapsed.

Fear was like a poisonous centipede, crawling frantically up his spine and gnawing at the nerves called reason.

Tears mixed with the condensation inside his mask flowed into his mouth—salty, bitter, and carrying the metallic tang of rust. But he couldn't even spare a hand to wipe them away.

His hands were deathly gripped around the incredibly heavy cryo-box in his arms.

The shell of the box emitted a bone-chilling cold, freezing the skin on his chest to a necrotic purple through his damaged protective suit. But instead of letting go, he held it tighter, his knuckles stiff as a dead man's bones from the excessive force.

This wasn't just a box.

This was life. This was the kindling that the giant below had traded his life for.

"Don't stop... cough, cough, cough..."

A heart-wrenching cough came from behind him, accompanied by the dull sound of a human body dragging across metal.

That was Private Hark. His left leg had been crushed by collapsing concrete during the evacuation, and the pale leg bone had pierced through the muscle, exposed to the air. At this moment, this tough man could only rely on his two hands to claw at the gaps in the duct, dragging his crippled leg as he crawled through the darkness.

Seven people had gone in. Now, only these two remnants, one in front and one behind, could still make a sound.

"We're almost there... Hark, don't sleep."

Karl's voice was hoarse and harsh, every word sounding as if it were forcibly ground out from sandpaper. "There's light ahead. Even if we have to crawl, we're crawling out."

Suddenly.

A hair-raising silence enveloped the entire duct. Immediately following, a strange sound of air being sucked back in came from the abyss-like depths below.

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

It was a low, thunderous hum, like a sigh coming from the depths of the earth's crust.

BOOM—!!!

The air pressure plummeted.

White frost flowers spread frantically along the inner walls of the duct at a visible speed. The sheet metal groaned and cracked as it rapidly contracted from the cold.

Moisture in the air instantly desublimated into ice crystals, forming a miniature blizzard of death under the flashlight's beam.

The underground core cold storage of Nadvak had been detonated.

That god-like warrior had fulfilled his promise.

He didn't run; at the final moment, he ignited the industrial liquid nitrogen coolant, with reserves totaling thousands of tons.

With the extreme cold of absolute zero, he sealed himself, that wicked xenos nest, and all the pursuers together into an eternal icy hell.

"Run!!"

A distorted cry squeezed out of Karl's throat.

That kind of chill wasn't the cold of winter; it was a dead silence capable of instantly stopping molecular motion.

The frost caught up to Hark's ankles. The wounded man didn't even have time to scream before half his body was instantly covered in a thick layer of white frost, his blood freezing into ice shards within his veins.

"Pull me... up..." Hark's fingers made a piercing screech as they scraped against the metal wall.

Karl spun around and grabbed Hark by the collar. He didn't know where his strength came from—perhaps it was a final burst of life, or some kind of madness born of desperation.

He kicked frantically at the rusted grate above his head.

Once.

Twice.

Bang!

The long-rusted bolts snapped and flew off.

Karl tumbled out along with the box in his arms, slamming heavily onto the scalding, coarse sand.

Immediately after, using his momentum, he gave a violent yank, dragging Hark—whose body was already half-frosted—out from the doorstep of hell.

Pshhh—

A plume of extremely cold white mist erupted from the vent, instantly freezing the air within three meters of the grate.

The white mist let out a piercing hiss as it contacted the high temperatures of the wasteland, sounding like the screams of countless deceased.

The two soot-covered Mortals fell onto the sand dune like dead dogs, gasping for breath and greedily swallowing the parched air.

There was no ecstasy of surviving a disaster, only a hollow exhaustion as if their souls had been drained.

In the distance, the alarms atop Nadvak Fortress were still shrill, but the sounds of battle underground had completely vanished.

The lower half of the entire fortress was emitting a dense cold mist, which collided with the heatwaves of the Caucasus Wasteland to form a localized, man-made blizzard.

Half fire, half ice.

Karl rolled over and lay face-up on the scalding sand dune.

In that instant, an indescribable emotion broke through the dam of reason.

He held up the box glowing with a faint green light toward the murky, sickly sun overhead and let out a roar that didn't sound human.

"Aaaaaaaahhh—!!!"

..."Gasp—!"

Li Cang suddenly "snapped" out of the deep-dive state, jolting upright from his operator's chair.

His lungs spasmed violently as he gulped down the sterile air of reality in large mouthfuls, his chest heaving like a fully drawn bellows.

Cold.

Bone-chilling cold.

The full-sensory neural link of the deep-dive system had brought a severe physiological backlash.

Although his physical body was in a warm server room, his cerebral cortex still retained the memory of the extreme cold beneath Nadvak.

The illusion that his blood was about to freeze and his thoughts were about to halt made his entire body shake uncontrollably.

It was as if the person sealed in liquid nitrogen wasn't Arik, but himself.

"Deduction... complete."

Li Cang grit his teeth, his fingers gripping the metal armrests so hard that the edges of his nails cracked and bled.

He forcibly calmed his chaotic heartbeat and raised his bloodshot eyes.

The holographic screen in front of him was refreshing frantically, with countless streams of crimson data falling like a waterfall, reflecting on his pale face and making him look sinister and cold.

This was a bill carrying the scent of blood.

[Campaign Settlement: Nadvak Genestealer Operation]

[Judgment Result: Strategic Victory (Pyrrhic Victory)]

The inorganic mechanical voice of the Cogitator Array echoed in his mind, beginning to settle the accounts of this gamble item by item:

[Core Objective Acquired] Ur-Khasis Essence Sample: Capture Confirmed.

Status: Excellent Vitality.

Classification: [Relic Grade Material].

Nadvak Genetic Database: Download Progress 12% (Physical data link severed due to core cold storage detonation).

[Battle Damage List] Thunder Legion First Company: Unit Wiped Out.

Arik Taranis: [System Logic Judging...]

[Correction: Faint life signs detected; target is currently in an absolute zero stasis field.]

Current Status: Bio-Stasis / Missing in Action (MIA).

System Note: Recovery is impossible unless Nadvak ruins are re-captured and excavated.

[Mortal Auxiliary Army] 7th Auxiliary Regiment: Casualty Rate 99.9%.

Survivors: Carl, Hark (Critically Wounded/Amputated).

Unit Trait Change: Survivor Carl has gained the trait [The Burdened]—Willpower +5, Fear Immunity against genetic monsters, Loyalty locked to [Fanatic].

Li Cang's gaze lingered on the "MIA" entry for three seconds.

Arik wasn't dead. That stubborn bastard had frozen himself into an ice sculpture and stayed in the enemy's nest, like a time bomb that could go off at any moment.

But for the current Li Cang, this was no different from death.

His current troop count was zero, his ammunition was zero, and aside from those two half-dead survivors, he didn't have a single soldier left.

He simply didn't have the capability to fight his way back into that xenos nest to fish the man out.

If he were an ordinary strategy game player, he might be heartbroken over losing his only legendary hero and might even choose to reload a save.

But there was no reloading here.

"As long as he hasn't turned to ash, there's a chance."

Li Cang took a deep breath. The absolute rationality belonging to a "player" reoccupied the high ground, forcibly suppressing the tremors and sentimentality in his heart.

In this cruel universe, sentimentality was the most useless emotion and the most extravagant waste.

Arik had traded his life for an opportunity. To waste time mourning would be the greatest desecration of the fallen.

He had to make this blood debt valuable.

Li Cang quickly turned his gaze to the earnings column; that was the capital for his comeback.

[Earnings Settlement] Loot Conversion (including rare metals plundered from Nadvak): +2,300 GP.

Ancient Technology Discovery Bonus (Discovery of Ur-Khasis): +1,200 BP.

Special Drops: [Logic Plugin: Low-Temperature Tolerance], [Logic Plugin: Genestealer].

Automatic Deductions: [Emergency Pension/Disability Maintenance]: -500 GP.

[Servitor Recovery Fee]: -200 GP. [Base Power Facility Maintenance]: -1,000 GP.

[Current Net Balance]: 600 GP / 1,600 BP.

Looking at that pathetic "600," a self-deprecating cold smile curled onto Li Cang's lips.

Over two thousand human lives, thirty demigod warriors—and in the end, the cash flow exchanged was a mere 600.

This was the exchange rate of war; human life was cheaper than bullets.

But this money was enough.

As long as there were enough BP (Blueprint Points), everything could be turned around.

He quickly waved his hand, pulling up the [Inventory], and locked his gaze on the icon glowing with a faint green light.

[Item: Ur-Khasis Genetic Progenitor Solution]

[Type: Primitive Biological Material]

[Description: The peak crystallization of human genetic engineering from the Golden Age. It is the foundation for creating the 'Perfect Human,' possessing extremely high genetic stability and rejection resistance.]

Finally, he had it.

With this as the "binder," plus the [Predecessor Gene-Gland Theory] he had spent his entire fortune on... that crazy plan finally had the physical foundation for implementation.

Li Cang's fingers moved rapidly in the void, pulling up the [civilization forge] interface.

Among the countless greyed-out nodes of the tech tree, the [Predecessor Gene-Gland Theory]—which had always been displayed as unavailable—finally sensed the presence of the core raw material and lit up with a cold, eerie green light.

He had no way to create perfect Astartes.

The current tech tree wasn't enough, the medical equipment wasn't enough, and he didn't even have a decent sterile operating table.

But he could create a "dirty" version.

The logic was simple: Thunder Warriors were powerful, but their genes were extremely unstable and prone to self-destruction;

Ur-Khasis, while not as physically strong as the Thunder Warriors, had extremely stable genes.

If he used gene fragments of Ur-Khasis to make a "cage" and lock the violent killing genes of the Thunder Warriors inside... though crude and ugly, it could truly achieve "mass production" and "recycling."

This was the proto-gene-seed.

"System."

Li Cang's voice was as cold as a surgeon's scalpel, filled with an unquestionable decisiveness.

"Open the Genetic Alchemy Workshop."

Hum—

The console let out a dull hum, and the holographic projection constructed a complex double-helix structure operating table in mid-air.

"Load Blueprint: [Predecessor Gene-Gland Theory]."

"Load Primary Material: [Ur-Khasis Genetic Progenitor Solution]."

"Load Secondary Material... Retrieve the final combat physiological data of [Arik Taranis]."

Red warning pop-ups instantly filled his vision.

[Severe Warning: Operation is extremely dangerous.]

[Detected 'Thunder Warrior' data source is too violent, with a 90% rejection reaction with 'Ur-Khasis'. Forced fusion may lead to material scrap.]

[Confirm execution?]

"Confirm."

Without any hesitation, Li Cang pressed the execution button.

"Nothing is not dangerous. In this hellhole, living itself is the greatest danger."

[Deduction and fusion in progress...]

In a microscopic vision that only Li Cang could see, a tragic war was playing out on the genetic level.

The crimson gene chain representing the Thunder Warriors was like a violent fire dragon, frantically biting everything around it.

The eerie green genetic fluid representing Ur-Khasis was like a tough net, wrapping around layer by layer, trying to tame this beast.

The two fought, devoured, and collapsed within the virtual petri dish.

[Warning: Gene chain collapse progress 30%... 50%...]

[Warning: Temperature overload.]

"Suppress it!" Li Cang stared at the data stream, his pupils contracting. "Use a low-temperature environment to forcibly suppress it! Castrate 10% of the Thunder Warrior data, retaining only the core combat instincts!"

He was making a huge gamble, with his only hope of a comeback as the stake.

[Executing forced clipping...]

[Injecting coolant...]

[Collapse stopped. Recombination beginning.]

Following a system prompt, the holographic light on the console gradually stabilized.

The two frantically fighting gene helices were finally kneaded together by external force, forming a strange equilibrium.

[Fusion Complete]

[Output: Unstable Gland Blueprint]

On the holographic screen, a slowly rotating biological tissue model emerged.

It wasn't sacred, clean, and radiating a pearly luster like the gene seeds of the later Space Marines.

This thing looked more like a purple-red tumor covered in blood vessels and black nerve bundles, twitching from time to time.

It was ugly and sinister, pulsating in the virtual solution and exuding an unsettling malice.

This was no god-made object; it was the heart of a stitched-together monster.

Looking at this blasphemous creation, there wasn't a hint of disgust on Li Cang's face; instead, he wore a cold smile that was almost fanatical.

Even if it looked disgusting.

Even if the rejection reaction after implantation might make the host wish for death.

Even if the survival rate might only be fifty percent.

But it could kill.

And it was recyclable.

If one died, dig it out, wash it, and shove it into the next person's chest.

This was the rule of the wasteland; this was the truth of "immortality."

"This is enough."