Chapter 172 The Price and the Return

Chapter 172 The Price and the Return

Thought of the Day: Happiness is fleeting, but suffering is long-lasting.

"It would be difficult for me to completely correct the mutation in him. That would be no different from killing him directly."

Calvin said to Elvis while helping him onto the automatic surgical instrument table.

He secretly looked at the time and space constraints on his soul with some distress - just because of this, he had at least advanced the timeline of his return by one thousandth.

"There is no hope at all? Well, maybe this is his life." Elvis operated the robotic arm on the operating table to completely cut open his breastplate, while observing various parameters in the instrument. Prepare yourself for a dangerous surgery.

General anesthesia is not possible, only local anesthesia. Because both the caster and the recipient are himself.

Under this kind of closed repair surgery involving the entire thoracoabdominal cavity, it is undoubtedly a dangerous self-challenge.

Calvin had no ability to help the pharmacist in this regard, and could only use his own expertise to boost Elvis's little remaining will to survive as much as possible.

"It's not all hopeless, but the outcome may not be what you think..." Galvin said.

The white gauntlet reaching for the operating arm stopped hearing the sound. Elvis, who was lying on the bed, turned his head to look at Calvin but did not dare to speak.

He couldn't take any more blows. This young man who took off his helmet but looked like he was in his 20s had experienced too much pain and failure in a short period of time.

He didn't even dare to ask, he could only lock his eyes with a little hope on the white-haired man in front of him. I hope that this man named Primarch, like his fathers and brothers active in myths and epics, can change the impossible in despair.

"I can give him a chance to undergo the Holy Blood Trial."

Calvin said looking at the young pharmacist.

"Use my own blood to try to cover the broken genetic chain in his body. But don't be too optimistic!"

He raised his hand to stop Elvis from sitting up, and then said to him seriously:

"First, the success rate cannot be guaranteed. I can only tell you that the original Gray Knights are from the Sons of the Legion just like you. They have all experienced such genetic modification, replacing the original gene seeds and ushering in their own new life.

Second, even if he could withstand the genetic replacement in his body, it would no longer be your chapter leader who wakes up. From now on he will be, and can only be, a Gray Knight. "

"I have no objection."

Elvis listened carefully to Calvin's words and then gave his decision:

"It makes no difference which Chapter you belong to if you survive and continue to serve the Emperor."

"There is a difference."

Calvin wanted to indulge his good intentions, but there were some things he had to say clearly enough to handle the matter from beginning to end without leaving any regrets.

"There is a difference. You may have heard of us, but you will never understand our existence, right?"

Elvis blinked to indicate he was listening.

He looked at the solemn-looking Calvin in front of him, knowing that this kind of rescue would come at a price; but when this price was actually spoken by Calvin, his heart felt as heavy and dark as falling into an invisible abyss. …

"Our army was founded by the Emperor himself, and our gene-seed comes directly from the Emperor himself.

This is a great honor and a great mission!

We have only one responsibility in our lives, which is to fight an eternal war against Chaos on behalf of the entire human race!

As a warrior competing against Chaos, he cannot have any human weaknesses, and naturally he cannot have any memories of the mortal era.

Therefore, everyone who becomes a Gray Knight will give up all their memories and past as a mortal and become a new, clean soul. "

The medical room suddenly became quiet.

Elvis blinked violently, and finally simply closed his eyes tightly to persuade himself to accept the reality of what he heard.

Calvin had finished speaking most of his words, but in order not to leave any regrets, he had to turn his voice into the sharpest sword and stab the young man in front of him who had just gained a little hope.

"Like him, you will accept my memory cleansing. From now on, he will always forget you and your brother; and you will never know that he existed in your life."

"Stop talking! Please! Stop talking!"

Elvis' closed eyes did not open, but crystal tears could not stop falling from the corners of his eyes.

"go a head."

After waiting for a long time, Calvin finally heard his voice from Elvis' mouth.

He saw the young child looking aimlessly at the lead-gray ceiling of the medical room, and then gently waved his hand to Calvin.

Calvin nodded, turned around and walked out. Elvis's voice could still be faintly heard behind him.

"I've already lost him anyway, haven't I..."

Outside the medical room separated by a wall is the battlefield where several people just fought.

Calvin looked at the strong man in front of him who had just regained consciousness and repeated the conversation he had just had with Elvis.

"I can still live to fight, right?"

Gabriel's experience as a Chapter Leader made him much more aware of the cruel reality.

He did not ask for more conditions, but asked straightforwardly about his core demands.

"Yes, if you can survive the risk of genetic recombination, you can stand up completely and continue fighting." Calvin affirmed.

"You promised that the seeds of the chapter would be purified by you, and that the flag of the Fire Eagle would be handed over to Elvis for continued existence?" Gabriel asked again.

This was his last wish. He hoped that the Chapter that would stand up and fight under the Emperor's banner again would be the one he was familiar with, and not just the holster of a certain Chapter.

"I promise and will always promise." Calvin replied affirmatively again.

He had no intention of usurping the quotas of other war groups, as that was not in line with his creed.

In Calvin's eyes, interests like this correspond to the old saying in his hometown: You can only get what you want directly, not what you want.

Under the temptation of power, position and interests, if you give in to your principles once, you will only have to give in countless times.

This kind of corruption of the soul is not as severe as the destruction of personality as desire, but it is more hidden and difficult to prevent.

All Gray Knights clearly know this truth. As the Primarch of the Gray Knights, Calvin naturally understands this truth thoroughly through his rich experience in two lives, and takes it as a warning and vigilance throughout his life.

Moreover, taking a step back, the Gray Knights themselves have a special significance in the imperial armed order, and have not been within the jurisdiction of the infamous "Astartes Codex" from the beginning.

The High Lords Council only has the basic right to know about their existence other than cooperation.

Therefore, in terms of actual legion quota, Calvin only thinks that his own warriors are too few, and as for other war groups, he has no desire to invade them.

"Then let's get started..."

Gabriel did not go into the inner room to say goodbye to Elvis. He knew that such behavior would be meaningless in the years of forgetfulness.

So he randomly found a room in the medical room, and under the supervision of medical equipment, he and Calvin began this cruel trial of transcending the gentle evolution of gene seeds and directly bearing the blood of the original body.

Transformation begins with the infusion of Calvin's blood.

The dose of this tube is not large, but it is obviously different from Calvin's usual blood with gold mixed in. It is a manifestation of his latest cell evolution.

Under the watchful eyes of the two men, this tube of blood was injected into Gabriel's heart by the mechanical arm.

Then as expected, a violent erosion reaction occurred quickly, and Gabriel fell into a coma before his body temperature rose for the first time.

"It depends on yourself." Calvin said in his heart.

His psychic energy was suppressing the reaction in Gabriel's body throughout the process. Whether it was Calvin's own cells or Gabriel's cells that were devoured and covered, their activity was reduced to a minimum under his deliberate suppression.

This is all he can do for Gabriel, the rest can only depend on his own will to survive.

Put the unconscious Gabriel into the prepared life-support capsule. There are not many supplies left around, but it is enough for him alone.

Calvin also took the time to leave and go to Elvis's room to move him into the life-support capsule.

While using psychic energy to erase the memory of this comatose young man, he inadvertently saw transparent water in the light green nutrient solution flowing out of the corners of his eyes, and was immediately assimilated into the green ocean...

Five days flew by.

Gabriel was the first to crawl through the dangerous process of transformation under Calvin's spiritual care. The cells in his body tried countless times to fight back against the genetic erasure by outsiders.

But under the cover of Calvin's genes obtained from the Emperor himself, all their attempts were within the divine gene map and were effectively resolved one by one.

His own will acted as a flame in the process. While insisting on his own existence, he also bought enough time for the first batch of his own cells to be reborn under the catalysis of the "Holy Blood".

The former Gabriel, Chapter Master of the Fire Eagles.

Now named Alan Janus by Calvin.

The first half of his name symbolizes his fate as a lonely man; the second half of his surname is derived from the name of the Gray Knight's first supreme mentor, symbolizing the transformation he and that mentor have experienced.

Later, Elvis also regained consciousness.

His injury healed very quickly under surgical treatment. The reason why it took five days was mostly due to the time it took for his memory to be cleaned and reorganized.

His memories of the Chapter had been permanently altered in his mind, and his Chapter Master had died in the initial rebellion. And Calvin and his entourage were the ones who saved his life.

The monitoring equipment outside the life-support cabin was whistling softly, which was a sign that brain waves and heart rate were fluctuating.

Calvin and the newly born Gray Knight stood outside the life-sustaining capsule and watched the green amniotic fluid in the tank slowly fade away.

Elvis's pale body, which had been soaked in liquid for a long time, was falling weakly. When he struggled to walk out of the amniotic fluid-like life-support capsule, he instinctively looked at the silent man standing behind Calvin at the first glance. figure.

"Who are you……"

Elvis hesitated, wondering where he had seen this Gray Knight. But the memory loss finally made him forget the existence of this person.

"Let's go, everything here is temporarily sealed. Until you can control them again." Calvin said to Elvis.

The three of them silently collected the bodies of the Astartes in the battleship.

After all the corpses were disposed of, and the damaged and intact power armors were recovered and stored, they walked to the bridge, and under the authority and control of Elvis, the last member of the battle group, the main power source of the entire battle barge was Slow closing.

The ever-burning lights on the battleship began to go out one by one, except for the bright lights hanging at the feet of the emperor's icon in the church.

The servos went silent, the loop system was reduced to minimum power, and only the most basic maintenance functions were retained.

It was exactly 7 days since Calvin arrived. The three people left the battleship and walked towards the direction from which they came, led by Calvin.

The temporary camp more than ten kilometers away was quiet at this time. The steady presence of First Adjutant Mars was the final guarantee for the morale of the soldiers in the camp.

But he was not as calm as he appeared.

This is the last day that Calvin has agreed to return, and it is also the last day of his inner defense.

After today, he could only lead the team back according to Calvin's order. But what to do after returning, he was at a loss.

The scale of the tribe is no longer what it used to be. The huge staff and the population in the ruled area are swallowing up massive resources at every moment.

Relying on the same operating mechanism as the legions left by Calvin, Mars knew that this behemoth could still operate on its own based on inertia.

But the premise of all this is that no accidents can happen.

Whenever a large-scale event occurs outside of the registration process, Mars and other high-ranking holders will be unable to control this unprecedentedly large steel behemoth.

There are very few intellectuals in the tribe, so the management uniforms are relatively simple and crude. As for the statistics and classification of central data, this is something only Calvin can do.

He has popularized primary education in response to this situation, but the talent cultivation cycle is fixed.

Before the new generation completely takes over the management of the tribe, the grassroots level is simply not capable of processing data.

The model of central core data processing and then feedback to local governments is a last resort. This is something that only Calvin can do.

The sun in the sky has tilted, and there is still no echo from the distant woodland.

Mars sat firmly in the main tent in the center and remained motionless, but his son, Little Mal, could already read some kind of panic from his father's breathing rate.

This was further proven by the sweat stains on old Mars' temples when he brought the water in later.

"The leader's safety is threatened!" Moved by his thoughts, Little Mal's movements couldn't help but stiffen:

The veins on the back of his hands, which he had practiced martial arts for many years, bulged out, but he suppressed them with force. Just when he packed up the cups and was about to stand up and leave, Old Mars held down the back of his hand.

Little Mal raised his neck stiffly, and the eyes of father and son collided in the quiet tent.

Mars, who knew that the fate of the entire Northland population depended on him, could not care less. At this moment, he only had one thought in his mind:

"The morale of the military must not be disrupted! The Northland must not be disrupted!"

Silent murderous intent emanated from Mars, and the nearest Mal was the first to notice it.

He looked at his father's narrowed eyes and the knife handle clenched in his hand, and read a clear and murderous threat:

"Little brat, watch your mouth. If you dare to mess with our military morale, please know that I recognize you, but not the sword!"

Cold sweat flowed from Mal's temples and slid down his cheeks. The itchy skin made him want to scratch it, but at this moment, he dared not move.

Others don't know it, but he knows his father too well. This man who had great ambitions since he was a child was described by Mal's grandfather as a typical man with high ambitions and low abilities, but since he started following the leader, his whole person seemed to have been sublimated.

In the eyes of outsiders, the leader of the guards and the first adjutant, who was always behind the leader and never left his side, had an old-fashioned character and a serious smile.

In his eyes, the man he called his father was really impressed by Calvin's strategy and pattern, and he no longer considered himself a human being from the bottom of his heart.

But under the leadership of the leader Sulu, the wolves are in charge and bear the fate of countless people in the entire Northland.

His father really dared to kill his son to establish his authority for military and national affairs!

Just when the atmosphere in the main tent was so anxious that Mal was about to close his eyes and die, Calvin's long-lost voice made Mal feel like he had found a treasure. The murderous intention in the entire tent also disappeared and melted in an understatement.

His figure appeared in the main tent again, ignoring the two extra people behind him. While Calvin's appearance saved little Mal, it also calmed the worried heart of Mars for the past few days:

"Hey! I haven't seen you in seven days, Mars, you've made great progress. Come and tell me, which play are you singing in?"

Two in one, update please vote.