Chapter 2693: Sacrifice

　　The Unchaotic Valley in the fog was like a physics nightmare.

　　Pale flames flickered in the debris that collapsed hundreds of years earlier, staring at the scouts as if the eyes of countless ghosts that were still alive.

　　The remains of battle puppets, crystal tanks, and starships were all over the place. Most of them were left hundreds of years previously and therefore were rusty and moldy. At first look, they looked like the rotting internal organs of a behemoth that were emitting a disgusting spell.

　　Even crystal tanks and crystal suits could not prevent the smell. Or maybe… that was fear.

　　Sitting at the center of a reconnaissance car, Gao Huan put a dark cold cover on his head and detected the unusual changes deep inside the fog with the talents of a Supersensitive Agent.

　　“How about it, Drunk Cat?”

　　Surprisingly, the captain did not roar but asked in a low voice, “Is the dog nose in your head as sharp as before?”

　　“Of course.”

　　Narrowing his eyes, Gao Huan mumbled as if he were in a different place. “Something is seriously wrong with this place. There’s a regular burst of magnetic waves every once in a while. It does not seem natural but more like some kind of… signal, and the fog around is meant to cover it.

　　“That’s weird. This signal is too powerful. It’s like a pillar rising to the sky in my senses. Even the fog is covering it. The fleets on the orbit of the planet should’ve detected it a long time ago.”

　　“Ha. What a coincidence.”

　　The captain said, “The commander of the orbit troops happens to be ‘a rebel from the four families’. He was arrested a week ago, and a purge was conducted within the orbit troops. Who has the time to study some insignificant signals when their own life is at risk?

　　“Forget it. None of it helps right now. Tell me, where is the source of the signal?”

　　“It should be…”

　　Holding back the excruciating pain in his head, Gao Huan tried to locate the source of the signal.

　　Right before he found it out, somebody suddenly said in the communication channel, “Boss, Black Freckle stepped on a landmine!”

　　When the captain and Gao Huan reached the front of the team, the atmosphere was still quite relaxed. Black Freckle, the poor victim, was still smiling and mocking back at his companions.

　　Every part of the planet had been planted with landmines before the Covenant Alliance retreated, but the landmines were not very powerful. Besides, the soldiers of this team had the protection of crystal suits and enough experience in dealing with landmines. They could dismantle 99% of the landmines safely. Even if they couldn’t, they would not wail as if it were the end of the world since they would only lose a foot or a leg.

　　At this moment, a soldier was studying the landmine below Black Freckle’s foot. He prudently dug the ground, revealing the rusty shell of the landmine. It seemed to be an old Heavenly Rainbow I, which was powerful but not difficult to be removed.

　　However, as a Supersensitive Agent, Gao Huan smelled something unusual.

　　It was also the reason why the captain brought him here.

　　“Wait, this landmine does not smell right.”

　　Gao Huan stopped the soldier’s work. “It looks like the components of Heavenly Rainbow III in the shell of Heavenly Rainbow I.”

　　Everybody gasped hard and stepped back, activating their spiritual shields to the highest intensity.

　　Black Freckle, who had been grimacing, was dumbfounded as if he had been hit by lightning.

　　“It’s… It’s really Heavenly Rainbow III!”

　　Reminded by Gao Huan, the soldier carefully examined the landmine. His face turned pale as he declared Black Freckle’s death sentence.

　　Heavenly Rainbow III was an anti-infantry landmine. Or rather, it was designed to deal with crystal suits. Once it was detonated, an area of hundred meters around it would be destroyed, and the standard crystal suits of the bottom-level infantrymen of the Imperium could not resist the storm of shards at all!

　　“Soldier, come back! Black Freckle, stay there!”

　　The captain couldn’t have looked more awful. Staring at Black Freckle, he gritted his teeth. “You’ve hit the jackpot. You know the power of Heavenly Rainbow III very well. We don’t have enough technologies or tools to remove the landmine. But as long as your heartbeat changes slightly, the landmine will explode. There’s nothing we can do.”

　　“F*ck!”

　　The muscles on Black Freckle’s face were twitching. “F*ck! F*ck! F*ck! F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!”

　　“Unfortunately, you have to die before us, but not now.”

　　The captain said, “You have to wait until your brothers are safe and away from you, and you must die a hero’s death, do you understand?”

　　“I… I…”

　　Black Freckle’s face was twisted.

　　“Look at me and listen to me. It’s hopeless now. We all know it very well. But you have your wife and children in your hometown. You have to leave something for them. I can delete some of the battle videos that our crystal suits record, but I cannot fabricate any because it will be detected.”

　　The captain said patiently, “So, you have to die heroically. The new emperor is about to be coronated. He’s going to need war heroes, and he will be generous with their families. If you become a war hero, your wife and your children will live a better life, won’t they?”

　　“F*ck war hero! F*ck the emperor!”

　　Black Freckle was shivering. “How would I look like a hero? F*ck!”

　　“Don’t shiver, and don’t wail like a wuss!”

　　The captain roared, “Hold your head high and say something like long live His Majesty. No, don’t say ‘long live the reformists’. We don’t know yet if they will win in the end! If you dare not do it, I can give you a hand. Rest assured, I’ll help you. On the count of three, alright? There won’t be any pain. I promise. Come on, one…”

　　“What is this s*it all about?”

　　Black Freckle said, his voice shivering, “Long live His Majesty! Long live the Imperium! Is that—”

　　Before he finished, the captain suddenly drew his gun and blew up Black Freckle’s head.

　　Hardly had the headless body fallen when a spring of colorful light dashed from his foot and covered hundreds of square meters nearby.

　　Thankfully, all the soldiers had retreated a hundred meters away and protected themselves. They suffered no greater losses except their weakened spiritual shields.

　　Black Freckle was completely gone. Only the spots of blood on the ground proved that he was once alive.

　　“It was painless, was it not?”

　　Gloomily, the captain asked the soldiers around him.

　　“Yes, it was.”

　　The soldiers all nodded their heads after a brief silence.

　　“It seems that we’ve found the right place.”

　　The captain looked at Gao Huan and said, “Heaven Rainbow III is too advanced to be planted for common soldiers like us. Something of paramount importance must’ve been hidden behind the landmines. Let’s remove the landmines and be ready for battle!”

　　BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

　　The tanks rained a storm of bullets on the landmines, triggering them and raising a splendid fireworks show.

　　Before the fire above the landmines died down yet, the team had started pressing deeper.

　　The loss of their companion did not depress them but made the soldiers even angrier than before.

　　After half a year’s rest, Gao Huan seemed to have found the instincts of a Supersensitive Agent again. He keenly sensed the unusual waves in the air and adjusted their directions accordingly, locking onto the source of the signal at the center of the fog.

　　At this moment, strong signals were still being released from there like a burning torch.

　　Gao Huan even felt that the source of the signal was so blatant that it did not care about being noticed anymore.

　　Navigated by him, the team finally arrived at their destination, only to be shocked by what they saw.

　　Deep inside the valley was a narrow, long chasm. A certain type of piton-shaped magic equipment was protruding into the sky from a hundred meters deep in the chasm. The four pitons on the magic equipment formed an array, with dazzling electric arcs dancing among them!

　　Even more dreadfully, deep inside the chasm, below the weird array whose purpose was unknown, countless hibernation capsules were densely placed like bug eggs. Inside each hibernation capsule was a person of the Covenant Alliance. Many of them had been woken up, and the rest were also opening their emotionless eyes under the glass cover.

　　A secret base of the Covenant Alliance had been buried on the planet that the Imperium had reclaimed and occupied for three years!