Invincible after death, but in Warhammer 40K

Shortly after that statement, the vehicle entered a polluted zone that seemed to demarcate the boundary between light and darkness.

This was the industrial exhaust pollution area, a toxic region formed by the emission of industrial waste from the hive city. The lighter components of the exhaust rose upward, gathering to such an extent that they obscured most of the sunlight, while the heavier components settled toward the ground, infiltrating the lungs of anyone attempting to breathe unprotected in such an environment.

After traveling through this environment for some time, something immense appeared in the distance—something so grand that it seemed less like a human creation and more like a marvel wrought by some natural force.

It resembled a mountain range, towering so high that its peak was invisible, connecting the heavens and the earth.

Due to its sheer enormity, it even blurred the boundaries of distance, making it difficult to gauge how far away it was based on its size. The moment it appeared as a massive, barely discernible silhouette in the low light, it already felt like a towering black wall standing right before one's eyes.

This was the "Hive City."

Hive cities are the collective term for megacities. Some of them may be located in remote colonies, with smaller ones housing only a million people. However, on typical Imperial planets, a hive city can have a population ranging from hundreds of millions to tens of billions. The largest parts of these cities, their spires, can even reach into the atmosphere.

As for planets that can be called hive worlds, the smaller ones host thousands of such hive cities, while the larger ones are entirely covered by a jungle of adamantium and plasteel.

From population to industrial output, these marvels continuously supply the Empire with an unending stream of resources. Their massive forms, visible even from low orbit, are the pillars that keep the decaying giant of the Empire from collapsing.

"It seems the war hasn't reached Hive Acoran yet," said Amilia, gazing at the distant megastructure. After glancing at Zhang Ge, who was trying but failing to discern anything, she activated the targeting scope originally used for heavy bolter fire.

Through the optical imaging of the scope, tiny black dots could finally be seen rushing into the hive city from all directions at high speed.

These were usually the intra-atmospheric ships of nobles, transport convoys, or merchant fleets, along with some massive transport aircraft.

Upon closer observation, one could also spot smaller, faster points of light—the exhaust glows of fighter jets or personal aircraft.

The fact that they could enter the hive city at such high speeds indicated one thing: the hive city's void shields were not yet activated. Otherwise, the void shields, designed to intercept high-energy, high-velocity objects, would not distinguish between them and artillery shells.

This, of course, meant that the war had not yet reached Hive Acoran, at least for now. It remained a safe gathering point.

However, judging by the unusually high frequency of fighter jets entering the hive, it was clear that Zhang Ge and his companions were not the only ones who had realized this.

Of course, these were not immediate concerns for Zhang Ge. In fact, the more dangerous the situation, the better.

After finally entering the outskirts of the hive city, the vehicle had to slow down significantly due to the abundance of garbage from the hive's interior and the remnants of ruins from who-knows-what era. A single misstep could easily result in a collision.

Suddenly, after rounding a corner formed by abandoned ferrocrete structures, a makeshift barricade assembled from various pieces of junk came into Zhang Ge's view.

The barricade was flanked by two watchtowers that looked as though they might collapse at any moment, despite their somewhat formal appearance.

In front of the barricade stood two guards.

Clad in dirty, grayish-white robes and wearing filters over their faces, each guard held an autogun in one hand and made a halting gesture with the other.

It wasn't unusual to find people in the outskirts, but the fact that these individuals had access to standardized clothing and filters was somewhat surprising. After all, most people in the outskirts didn't live long enough for the toxic air to kill them, so they had little awareness of the need for protection.

"Do you know who they are?"

This time, it was Zhang Ge who was unsure of the identity of the people before him, so he turned to Amelia for answers.

After carefully examining the patterns on their clothing, Amelia could only hesitantly conclude:

"Hmm... they seem to be some kind of offshoot of the Ecclesiarchy?"

The term "offshoot of the Ecclesiarchy" didn't narrow things down much more than simply calling them an organization. Those who dared to openly declare themselves heretics had long been eradicated, and many Chaos cults initially disguised themselves as branches of the Ecclesiarchy.

At that moment, Dominica, sitting in the back seat, leaned forward and timidly said:

"I think they're called... the Dawnbreak Cult?"

Out of caution, Zhang Ge followed their signal and stopped the car. Without sufficient intelligence and unsure whether the other side had laid traps like landmines or might pull out some dark-age-tech cannon from the rubble, charging through recklessly was certainly not the highest priority in terms of operational logic.

Watching the two guards approaching after the car stopped, Zhang Ge asked Dominica:

"How did you know about this?"

"Some of the other novice sisters mentioned it before bed. They encountered it while on a mission with Sister Gota. I overheard it, so I remembered."

Bedtime stories, huh.

Zhang Ge thought about it. Having some rumors was better than being completely in the dark, so he continued asking:

"Tell me what you know."

"Hmm..."

Dominica frowned slightly, thinking for a moment before speaking:

"They seem to believe the universe is a small black sphere surrounded by a large sphere of light. They think that one day, a deity will emerge from the large sphere of light, break through the barrier between the two, and allow everyone to enjoy endless light and heat. I'm not sure about their numbers, but they're widely spread."

"So that's basically saying nothing at all."

"Sorry!"

As they spoke, one guard had already reached the window, while the other stood at the front side of the car. Though he didn't appear to be holding a gun, a closer look revealed his finger resting on the trigger, ready to fire at the window at any moment.

The guard by the window knocked on the one-way bulletproof glass, which was opaque from the inside, and spoke in a muffled voice through the filter and the window:

"Pass."

Zhang Ge rolled the window down slightly.

A Star Guard captain wearing carapace armor, with what looked like a plasma pistol at his waist.

A Battle Sister clad in power armor, towering like a small giant, holding a massive sword glowing with a milky white light.

And a bolter protruding from the slightly lowered rear window, its dark muzzle pointed directly at him.

"What pass?"

"Uh, never mind, you can go. The Order welcomes you."

Hearing the guard's voice, now clear and unobstructed since the window was rolled down, Zhang Ge couldn't help but feel a bit of relief.

It seems not everyone in the outskirts is bad. They're quite friendly, aren't they?

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