The shuttle flew out from the *Victory Dawn* and, after crossing the void, arrived at the *Eternal Flame*.
During this time, the pilot kept trying to call, but received no reply.
Fortunately, they found an open deck entrance.
The shuttle passed through the force field barrier that prevented air loss and slowly entered the empty deck.
"Be careful," Drax ordered. "This place is very likely to have been contaminated by the enemy's evil forces. If you encounter any abnormal situations, you are free to open fire."
"Protect the *Inquisitor*," Little Alpaca also instructed her companions.
"Mission accomplished, boss," Gray Bao'er said.
"What's the most important thing when you go out on a mission?" Meng Zhu shouted.
"Absolutely obey the boss's orders, absolutely execute the boss's orders," Xiao Yu stood ramrod straight.
"You all need to rein it in a bit," Little Alpaca said with a helpless expression.
"OK."
"Absolutely obey the boss."
"Absolutely execute the boss's orders."
"..."
The team began searching the *Eternal Flame*, starting from the boarding deck.
Drax, the *Inquisitor*, discovered some very strange things.
Various systems were still maintaining minimum operation.
Moldy food lay on the crew's dining tables.
Servitors stood silently; their mechanical structures were still running, but their living components had fallen silent.
There were no traces of combat.
"What caused an entire ship of servants loyal to the *Imperium* to mysteriously disappear?"
After finding no useful clues,
Drax, under the protection of his squad, entered the *Eternal Flame*. Here, he made a discovery.
The captain of the *Eternal Flame* had committed suicide here, turning into a mummified corpse.
It seemed that even bacteria quietly lost their life in the Silent Zone.
On the table in front of the captain's mummified corpse lay a suicide note.
The contents of the note resolved the confusion in Drax's mind.
The mission of *Inquisitor* Scarus was to investigate why the *Kalides Combat Group* had lost contact with the *Imperium of Man*.
It should be known that after the development of *Imperium of Man* communication technology, most combat groups could receive real-time messages from *Reality*, enabling coordinated operations.
Under such circumstances, the *Kalides Combat Group* losing contact was a very abnormal event.
*Inquisitor* Scarus, relying on years of experience, found clues and arrived at the planet Rydes.
The *Kalides Combat Group* had previously arrived here, and it was from here that this combat group began to frequently experience abnormal situations.
Here, *Inquisitor* Scarus saw black obelisks standing on the surface and discovered *Necrons* agents who had been monitoring them all along.
They hid in pocket dimensions, using unimaginably powerful scrying devices to observe everything in the real universe.
The concealment of these *Necrons* agents was seamless.
However, they had not anticipated that *Inquisitor* Scarus carried a special spatial artifact, which allowed him to detect hidden pocket dimensions.
For this, he took a small team, used the black obelisk, and entered the pocket dimension, engaging in fierce combat with those *Necrons*.
He failed to defeat those *Necrons* but managed to steal intelligence.
These alien agents were sent by a dark, ancient entity.
*Inquisitor* Scarus, before his death, confirmed the name of this dark entity:
Xerath the Illuminator, an evil and powerful *Necrons*.
The situation of the *Kalides Combat Group* was equally dire.
According to the intelligence stolen by *Inquisitor* Scarus, this *Imperium of Man* force was now deeply surrounded by *Necrons*, suffering heavy losses, but they were still resisting tenaciously.
*Inquisitor* Scarus eventually died in the pocket dimension. The *Eternal Flame* had its communications cut off and was ultimately manipulated by the *Necrons* to unleash a black beam from the black obelisk, wiping out the sanity of all members inside the ship.
The captain, relying on his faith in the *Imperium* and his own will, survived to the end.
He banished all the zombie-like crew members into the void to prevent them from damaging the ship.
After leaving his suicide note, he also shot himself.
"I can clearly feel my soul withering. Perhaps when I pull the trigger, I will not be able to return to the embrace of the *Imperium* but will completely dissipate into nothingness. But I have no regrets."
"If any successor can see this suicide note, please tell the *Imperium* that I have fulfilled my duty and have not failed Him. If possible, please also convey the following words to my child, Andre Lips: 'I love you, Andre. I apologize for the argument before I left. I deeply regret that our last moment before I left this world was an argument, not an embrace.'"
Drax finished reading the suicide note and handed it to the *God Chosen*.
Little Alpaca and the others gathered to read it, but after reading it, they regretted it.
"Holy crap, that's a knife to the heart."
"Damn the plotters."
"Can't they just make a *Long Aotian* plot and a happy ending?"
"They should drag the screenwriters of domestic dramas over."
"Let's not. I'd rather those guys end up with a family reunion plot, where the *Imperium*, the *Primarch*, and the Chaos Gods are all one big loving family."
"It wouldn't be that outrageous, would it?"
"Hard to say..."
...
To be safe, Drax sent people to the ground and indeed found traces of battle.
But those alien agents had already left.
The pocket dimension they were in had also collapsed and closed.
Because he could not use beacon communication, Drax could only ask the *God Chosen* for help.
They could use death to travel to any area of the galaxy through the *God-Emperor*'s domain, even the Silent Zone, they could do this.
Drax decided to continue deeper into the Silent Zone to find the *Kalides Combat Group* trapped in heavy encirclement.
Such a crazy move could very likely cost him his life.
He did not have the special ability of the *God Chosen* to return from death.
Once dead, it was truly dead.
But he still did not hesitate, resolutely making this dangerous decision.
When the players were reborn in the *Imperium of Man* territory with the message,
Alex quickly received the news.
At this time, he had just completed the operation to trap Orikan the Diviner with *Trazyn*.
*Trazyn* knew his old nemesis of many years like the back of his hand.
He released secrets about biotransference, and Orikan came scurrying over, even planning to be a thief.
The outcome was predictable: just as he was about to succeed, a group of players rushed out, punching and kicking, and directly subdued him.
After a thorough beating, Orikan, with a humiliated expression, swore allegiance to *Alex*.
"*Trazyn*, you are truly shameless."
Orikan stared at *Trazyn*, wishing he could melt this guy into molten iron, then shoot him into a black hole with a battleship, letting him forever wander between life and death, suffering the torment of time.
Back then, during the biotransference, it was this guy who tied his hands and feet and threw him into the transference furnace.
After waking up, his memories were messed up, and he even turned around and claimed that he had forced him into biotransference.
There were few people in the entire galaxy as shameless as *Trazyn*.
Of course, Orikan's choice to betray the *Necrons* was not simply out of fear of death.
It was because *Alex* had gained the allegiance of a C'tan.
As Orikan, who had personally experienced the C'tan era, he deeply understood the power and terror of this race.
Perhaps this *Imperium* Saint was the key to the *Necrons* regaining their physical bodies.
Moreover, the other party also promised that future military actions would only target those *Necrons* dynasties hostile to the *Imperium of Man*.
As long as other *Necrons* dynasties were willing to coexist peacefully with humanity, they could have a place.
"Thank you for your compliment, Orikan," *Trazyn* bowed like a gentleman.
"Can't you have some shame?" Orikan clenched his fists, his body trembling with anger at the other party.
*Trazyn* patted his metal face, which clanged, "How can this thing have any more shame?"
"Alright, let's not argue anymore."
*Alex* stopped the two old-timers from continuing their quarrel, "Now, you two need to help me solve the problem of the Soul-Draining Necropolis."