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Chapter 317: The Governor's Total Collapse
🕑 Added 2025-09-23 13:40:57 +0000 UTCChapter 317: The Governor's Total Collapse
As the various forces within the bunker were being summoned, Kerrigan's team had already arrived outside the main hall.
Norris observed the situation inside. "It looks like the governor here is planning to run. Should we move in and capture him now? The PDF here are not a problem. The only ones who are a bit troublesome are those psykers around him... Tsk, tsk. He probably skimmed them from the tithes meant for the Black Ships. That's a capital crime."
"Those psykers are not high-level. I can destroy them easily," Kerrigan said. "But we still haven't drawn out the Genestealer Patriarch. I do not think we should expose ourselves. It would be too easy to startle our true prey. We can simply wait for the Patriarch to show himself. If Augus tries to run, his brother will certainly move to stop him. Father said that Augus's life is not important. It doesn't matter if the Patriarch successfully kills him. His value will have been fulfilled just by drawing him out. Zeratul, do you think these psykers can sense your presence?"
Kerrigan turned to Zeratul.
"Their mastery of the Void's energies is weak. They cannot detect us," Zeratul replied. "I agree with Kerrigan's proposal. We can simply follow this group from behind and wait for our prey to appear."
The three quickly reached a consensus. They would wait for Augus to make his move.
Inside the great hall, the debauched nobles were carried away by the guards. Precious flowerbeds were ruthlessly trampled by the incoming troops. These natural plants could have been sold for a sky-high price on the outside, but for Augus, these worldly possessions no longer held any meaning.
Augus gathered his most elite soldiers around him. Thirty unsanctioned combat-psykers also arrived at his command. Explosive control-collars had been implanted in their bodies to ensure they would obey his orders. Looking at the soldiers and the psykers around him, Augus finally felt a sliver of security.
"Tiberius! You monster! You will never kill me! I will escape this cursed fate!" Augus snarled. He had had enough of this life of constant fear. He knew the terror of the "Cryptus Worm." To continue hiding in this hall was no different from waiting for death. And Augus would never build a fortress for himself that had no escape route; that would be no different from a tomb.
"Barnes! Have the soldiers protect me! We are moving to the emergency passage, immediately!" Augus ordered his most trusted guard captain.
"I will arrange it at once!"
The nobles who were still in a daze were abandoned. Some of them begged Augus to take them with him, but they were all ruthlessly refused. Some of them were even his own blood relatives, but right now, all Augus wanted was to save his own life.
A force of 3,000 elite PDF troops began to escort Augus as he left the hall. A portion of the remaining PDF was left behind to delay and block any enemies. Another portion was split into several different groups and sent down various false passages to hide his true movements.
However, a small number of people in Augus's own escort had a strange look in their eyes. As the group moved out, they continuously left special, secret markers. They were also carrying special signal transponders. Augus's movements were being broadcast for all to see. The decoy teams were now a complete joke.
Augus was completely unaware of this.
In a hidden tunnel, the Patriarch known as the Cryptus Worm received the intelligence from his followers. Just as Kerrigan and the others had thought, he would absolutely not sit by and watch Augus leave. At that moment, he was surrounded by a large number of Purestrain Genestealers, all clinging quietly to the pipes, awaiting Tiberius's command.
The Genestealer Patriarch, Tiberius, seemed to be smiling mockingly. He could have pounced on Augus's location at any time; he had more than enough strength. But he chose instead to first let Augus experience true despair.
Tiberius stood up, stretching his body. He was not as massive as the Patriarch Lucan had encountered on Agathos, but he was just as deadly, and his eyes were far more cunning.
As Tiberius's command was relayed through the cult's telepathic network to every single member, the Genestealers no longer hid themselves. The seemingly impregnable bunker still had many hidden ducts. Many of the workers who had built this bunker had been cultists. It could be said that Tiberius knew this bunker even better than Augus himself.
Through the secret passages they had left for themselves, one after another, tattered cultists crawled out of the hidden pipes, and a large number of the more lethal Purestrains launched their attack. In an instant, the sound of gunfire erupted throughout the entire bunker. The various defensive fortifications within were breached almost instantly.
The threat was not just from the outside. Their seemingly close comrades-in-arms also revealed their true faces. Shouting slogans for the "Four-Armed Emperor," they attacked their former companions.
Augus's group, which was still in the passage, heard the gunfire from a distance.
"My Lord! The three decoy teams have been annihilated! We've lost contact with the rearguard!" Barnes reported to Augus, panicked, as he listened to the reports on his vox.
"It's him... it's Tiberius! That monster has come for me!" Augus shrieked. "But how did they get past my bunker's defenses?!" He was already starting to speak incoherently. He could feel death approaching, and his mental defenses were beginning to crumble.
"Wait! Governor! An emergency communication is coming through from one of the soldiers!"
"What does it say?!"
"He says... he says to be careful of the soldiers in our own team! There are traitors!"
"What did you say?! Traitors?!"
Augus whipped his head around, staring at the soldiers surrounding him. The hair on his body stood on end. The PDF in this bunker had all been screened. And these soldiers, whom he had believed to be loyal, had actually turned to Tiberius and wanted to kill him?
Looking at their governor's gaze, most of the soldiers were just confused. Only a few had a sinister look in their eyes, but Augus was too panicked to notice.
"Get away! All of you, get away! Stay away from me!!"
At this moment, Augus felt he could trust no one. He screamed at the soldiers who were approaching him. In his eyes, every one of these soldiers, who were supposed to be protecting him, now looked like they wanted to kill him.
"Governor! What's wrong? Calm down!" Barnes couldn't help but step forward, but even he was shoved away.
In Augus's eyes, the only people he could trust now were the psykers who were completely under his control.
Just as he was about to flee with only his psykers, the hidden cultists in his own PDF escort finally made their move. Several las-beams shot out, aimed not at Augus, but at the psykers surrounding him. The governor's life had to be left for the Patriarch.
Although the las-beams were blocked by the psykers' shields, the sudden attack completely shattered Augus's sanity.
"Traitors! You are all traitors!" he shrieked, now completely unhinged. "Kill them all for me! Kill them! Kill everyone!!"
