90: Chapter 90 Whether the Nest City is in chaos or not, the bottom Nest has the final say.

"At 3:00 AM, the Third Armory was attacked! An entire garrison company was wiped out. 300,000 Lasguns, 5,000 crates of Bolt shells, and 200 Heavy artillery pieces in stock—all plundered!"

Fu Haoran grabbed the data slate and reviewed the surveillance footage.

On the screen, several dark shadows flashed by. The guarding Servitors were torn to shreds before they could even react.

Immediately after, a tide of figures surged from the darkness, braving the fire net of the wolf spider sentry turrets and tearing the turrets apart by brute force.

Then, countless hunched figures scurried through the warehouse, silently moving weapon crates.

Occasionally, a figure would look up, revealing mouths split to the ears and four twisted arms.

"Purestrain Grave-Thieves!"

Father Karen asked in confusion, "My Lord, there is no relevant record in my database. I cannot calculate their threat level."

Knowing it was now 30K, Fu Haoran had to patiently explain: "Genestealers reproduce by infecting human hosts. First-generation Hybrids have obvious xenos traits and can only hide in the shadows."

"The second and third generations gradually take on human forms. By the Fourth Generation, except for slightly purple skin and a slightly bulging forehead, they are almost indistinguishable from ordinary people. Their most prominent feature is being hairless."

"This generation of Grave-Thieves will infiltrate all levels of society, seizing power, resources, and intelligence."

"The Fifth Generation of Genestealers will exhibit atavism, turning back into Purestrain Genestealers and starting a new cycle of infection. In other words, Grave-Thieves have been rooted in the Underhive for over twenty years.

"For a population to raise so many Purestrains, the number of Hybrids at the bottom must be at least dozens of times their number."

Fu Haoran's mind calculated rapidly.

At least a hundred Purestrains appeared in the surveillance.

Dozens of times that—that's hundreds of thousands! Maybe even millions!

More lethally, no one could guarantee that this was their total number.

The entire Underhive had been infiltrated like a sieve.

But Fu Haoran's biggest doubt wasn't the number of Grave-Thieves, but—

"How did they know the location of the Third Armory?"

This armory was secretly renovated by him and completed less than a week ago. It was filled with heavy weapons prepared for clearing the Underhive.

Those who knew the specific coordinates and completion time, besides his core guard, were only the few Hive City noble merchants who transferred the warehouse and the liaison from the Adeptus Arbites.

"There's a mole."

Fu Haoran gritted his teeth, countless faces flashing through his mind.

The noble merchants who transferred the warehouse were the primary suspects, but Grave-Thieves were best at infiltration.

Who could guarantee that there wouldn't be Fourth Generation Hybrids lurking within the Adeptus Arbites or the core guard?

He suddenly remembered the death of Judge Horn.

"Horn didn't die earlier or later, but died exactly at this time. Did he find something? Or was he silenced because he knew some insider information?"

"No matter how I look at it, the nobles are the most suspicious. Those vermin, I shouldn't have kept them in the first place."

But now was not the time to track down the mole.

300,000 firearms were enough to arm hundreds of thousands of people.

Even if the remaining Grave-Thieves didn't get guns, the claws grown from their mutations were still deadly trouble.

The higher the degree of mutation, the more agile they were.

Moreover, Grave-Thieves weren't fools.

They knew his side was about to start a purge, so they struck first and directly took out his armory.

That terrifying number and suicidal fighting style—Fu Haoran felt a moment of hesitation.

"If all else fails, I'll just run to the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar and follow the Thirteenth Prince. At least my life would be secure. After all, his fleet is always 9 hours away from Terra."

But this thought only appeared for an instant before he extinguished it.

Asking himself, having come this far, Fu Haoran simply couldn't abandon this foundation.

Half an hour later, in the war room.

A holographic map floated in the center of the conference table. The dense tunnels of the Underhive spread out like a spider web, with seventeen entrances to the surface marked one by one with red circles.

Wade pointed at the map and introduced: "My Lord, the biggest problem now is the shortage of weapons."

"All 300,000 rifles are lost. Although it won't break our back, we simply can't assemble enough purging forces in a short time."

"Additionally, following your orders, we are conducting a full-scale genetic screening of the entire army. So far, over two hundred people have been screened out. Among them are three veterans who have served for five years.

Fu Haoran's eyelids twitched.

—

Five years.

This meant that Grave-Thieves had begun infiltrating his guard at least five years ago.

Wade didn't continue, but everyone in the war room was aware of the fatal risks involved.

In the short term, the guard simply couldn't be deployed on a large scale.

As soon as the main force moved, the unscreened Hybrids would immediately report back. Whether it was an ambush midway, blowing up supply lines, or attacking the surface while the Hive City was empty, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Not to mention, as long as the Grave-Thieves planted bombs in the tunnels the army had to pass through, a full-force deployment would be like sending sitting targets to the xenos.

Fu Haoran stared at the crisscrossing tunnels on the map, his mind racing. Suddenly, he had a very Warhammer-esque tactic.

"Since the Underhive is too large and the tunnels are too complex, we have no idea which exit the Grave-Thieves will rush out from. Splitting our forces for a purge will only result in us being picked off one by one."

"So, we will blow up all the entrances to the Underhive, leaving only one main tunnel."

Wade was stunned for a moment: "Blow them up? If they're all sealed off and the Grave-Thieves hide in the Underhive without coming out, how will we purge them?"

"We don't need to clear them all." Fu Haoran shook his head, his fingertip tapping heavily on the darkest area at the bottom of the map. "As long as we kill the original Pureblood Genestealers Patriarch, the entire population will become a disorganized mess."

"The Patriarch is the neural center of the Grave-Thieves, unifying the entire group through psionic links. Once it dies, the psionic link will break immediately, and the remaining Hybrids will instantly lose order and become disorganized."

The Tech-Priest Father Karen agreed: "This plan has the highest success rate. We can announce to the public that we are using virus bombs to completely kill the xenos in the Underhive."

"Correct." Fu Haoran nodded. "Wade, you take the army and garrison at the entrance to build a heavy firepower defense line. Set up all the Anti-aircraft guns and Auto-turrets, putting on a posture as if we're going to fight the Grave-Thieves to the death here."

"I will lead a Decapitation squad of about 100 people and infiltrate through other entrances."

"My Lord, that's too risky!" Wade was the first to stand up in opposition.

"The Underhive tunnels are intricate; it's extremely easy to get lost. Once surrounded, there won't even be a route for retreat!"

"I suggest taking three hundred elite Assault troops in Powered Armor, with three echelons of cover. Even if surrounded, they can tear open a retreat path for you!"

Fu Haoran did not back down: "No, the Hive Lord has extremely strong Psionic perception. The more people there are, the greater the biological and psionic fluctuations, making it easier to be discovered and thus more dangerous. A squad of under a hundred people has the weakest psionic signature and is easiest to conceal."

"Furthermore, the three thousand Assault troops are the only trump card I can trust. If they move, even without a mole reporting, countless eyes in the Hive City will be watching. The news will definitely leak to the Grave-Thieves' ears, and the Hive Lord will just flee in advance, turning the decapitation into a suicide mission."

"Most importantly, the widest parts of the abandoned tunnels in the Underhive can only accommodate seven or eight people abreast. Dozens of people fighting simultaneously is already the limit. Any more and we won't be able to maneuver; we'll just be squeezed into sitting targets."

Father Karen suddenly spoke: "My Lord, if you want to locate the Hive Lord, I can help."

Everyone looked at him.

"According to my analysis, as long as we can capture a Pureblood Genestealers and use a Psionic scanner to track it in reverse, we can lock onto the Hive Lord's approximate location."

Fu Haoran's eyes lit up.

"Margin of error?"

"The error might be—within three kilometers."

Fu Haoran was silent for two seconds.

"Good enough. It's better than wandering blindly."

Finally, at Fu Haoran's insistence, the Decapitation squad was ultimately composed of thirty elite veterans, fifty Ogryns,

Political Commissar Ling Shuang, as well as twenty Servo-skulls and thirty Servitors responsible for logistics.

After assigning the combat tasks, Fu Haoran followed Father Karen to the workshop.

Father Karen stood expressionlessly in the center of the workshop, pushing forward something that looked less like a weapon and more like a construction site hazard.

Right, this was something salvaged from a 2K-era construction site Rock cutter.

"The engineering weapon you requested has been modified." Father Karen's tone sounded like he was reciting an elegy, feeling as if this modification, which desecrated the Omnissiah, had made him unclean.

As if he had stepped onto a path of heresy.

"Lord Governor, I'll confirm one last time. Do you really want to use this thing—to fight xenos?"

Fu Haoran walked over and reached out to grab the handle, which was modified from a tank control lever.

The 800-kilogram—Chain-disc. For an ordinary mortal, let alone holding it, even moving it would be impossible.

Fu Haoran muttered to himself and opened the system attribute panel.

[Host: Fu Haoran]

[Attributes: Strength 35, Agility 30, Constitution 60, Spirit 15]

[Available Free Attribute Points: 17]

He hadn't been able to bring himself to use the achievement rewards he had saved up during this time. Now, it was time to cash them in.

Fu Haoran took a deep breath and, without any hesitation, dumped all 17 free attribute points into Strength.

[Strength: 35→52]

A surge of scalding heat instantly flooded his entire body. Muscle fibers tightened, and his bones made slight clicking sounds. The originally heavy circular saw instantly became as light as a wooden stick in his hand.

For an ordinary Space Marine not wearing Powered Armor, the base strength is 50, and veteran-level is 55—60. Fu Haoran's current strength of 52 was already comparable to a newly initiated Astartes, far exceeding the limits of a mortal.

As for the Drukhari Succubus Laelith, she was an elite transcendent unit. Not only was an ordinary Space Marine no match for her, but even a typical Chapter Master might not be her match.

Fu Haoran picked up the 800-kilogram circular saw with one hand, weighed it twice, and nodded with satisfaction: "Not bad, just a bit light."

Looking at him lifting the giant saw with one hand, Father Karen's mechanical bionic eye almost popped out.

Just then, the system popped up again to join the fun:

[Triggered Main Quest: Hive Decapitation]

[Quest Requirement: Enter the core area of the Underhive and kill the Genestealer Hive Lord within 72 hours]

[Quest Reward: 100,000 Universal Points, 5 Free Attribute Points, Gene Mimic (One-time use item)]

[Item Effect: After killing the Hive Lord, the user can simulate its appearance and psionic fluctuations, becoming a Junior Leader. During this period, the user can attempt to control the population. Control authority is linked to the host's Spirit attribute. When behavior seriously deviates from the population's instincts, the disguise will be seen through.]

[PS: Kill that big bug, and you can become the new boss]

Fu Haoran curled his lip. The Universal Points given by the system this time were more than ever before. Any fool could see the danger level of the quest.

Closing the system panel, Fu Haoran shouldered the still-humming circular saw and walked out of the workshop.

In the direction of the training ground, Tychus was shouldering a modified heavy Stubber, staring blankly toward the Underhive.

Seeing Fu Haoran come out, he grinned, revealing a mouth full of yellow teeth.

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