Chapter 14: Rod’s Strategy—A Battle of Wits and Courage Against the Tyran Zerg

Page (1/3)

Upon hearing that the beautiful medical sister wanted to help, Rod did not feel even the slightest bit of excitement; instead, he was filled with dread. After all, this little medical sister had just tried to send his soul straight to the Golden Throne! Previously, when chatting with the secretary sister, she had casually revealed some information to build rapport. This made Rod realize just how dark and grim the Warhammer universe truly was. Damn it, without doing anything at all, his life was already in danger.

Rod was deeply worried that if he came within a certain distance, this little sister would suddenly jab him with a needle and send him off to meet the Emperor.

“Instead of thinking about these dirty things, why don’t you think about how to survive next? Honestly, what goes on in your young mind?” Rod turned around and sternly reprimanded the medical sister.

“I-I am very loyal to the Emperor!” she stammered.

“Did the great Emperor teach you to do such things? In your medical order, which rule permits this? Besides, don’t you think such matters should be consensual? Young sister, you should repent for your actions,” Rod said firmly.

“It seems there really isn’t such a rule! No, no, such matters shouldn’t be recorded in the scriptures, but! I am trying to preserve the pure human gene pool!” The little sister’s eyes welled up with tears, insisting she had made a great sacrifice—she was even willing to do it with you.

“But what? The continuation of humanity is not something for you to worry about. Don’t the High Lords care? What about the planetary governors of various worlds? Or the wandering merchant dynasties? What you should be doing now is devout repentance, not thinking about other things. Right now your mind is full of filthy, sordid thoughts, which will give the enemies of Chaos an opening.

You go over there and reflect properly, and recite the order’s commandments a hundred times,” Rod instructed.

“Ah! You’re right. I—I must not waver in my faith, nor give the enemies of Chaos any chance,” the young medical sister, Elena, nodded, then knelt down and began devout prayer.

Page (2/3)

However, the little sister had not stopped to think why a civilian would even know about the enemies of Chaos. Information about the Warp’s Chaos demons was strictly classified by the Imperium; ordinary civilians were not supposed to know such things.

The Chaos Warmaster Abaddon’s more than ten Black Crusades and the damage caused by Chaos demons were described merely as invasions by alien heretics or traitors opposing the Imperium.

Seeing this, Rod breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally fooled this naive girl! Young girls were easy to deceive! If it had been that secretary sister earlier, his ruse would not have worked.

The medical sister was still praying devoutly nearby, while Rod observed the condition of Red King. By now, Red King had undergone two enhancements—one in tonnage, one in height—and had revived twice at full health, dealing tremendous pressure to the Tyranid forces.

The situation was still grim. Rod’s system gold coins were enough for two more 2,000-point enhancements, but subsequent upgrades would require 3,000 gold coins each.

His system gold coins had now risen above 7,000. Over two hours had passed, and Red King’s combat had become even more frenzied, with his efficiency in slaughtering the Tyranids greatly improved.

Under these circumstances, Rod began to consider his next move.

The Tyranids were not mindless fools; on the contrary, they were very intelligent. Humanity had already discovered that Red King absorbed the corpses of Tyranids to heal and grow stronger.

There was no way the Tyranids hadn’t noticed this by now. Rod suspected they were testing Red King.

If Red King continued to kill Tyranids relentlessly, growing stronger and healing himself with such a monstrous ability, the Tyranids would likely reconsider their strategy, possibly even abandoning the attack. Because continuing to attack wouldn’t weaken the enemy but would only make it stronger. This was something the Tyranid hive mind did not want.

This was exactly the outcome Rod wanted: to make the Tyranids temporarily abandon their assault or even withdraw from the planet.

The Tyranids would then have to gather more fleets to deal with Red King, by which time Rod would have already slipped away.

After all, Red King’s enhancements were limited; before reaching his limit, Rod had to bluff the Tyranids.

Red King had to appear overwhelmingly strong, ready to fight the Tyranids to the death and continue evolving through slaughter.

Page (3/3)

If this plan failed, Rod would have to take the second option: seize the escape pod.

He already knew clearly that the two sisters could leave aboard the escape pod. When his system gold coin upgrades reached their limit, it would be time to evacuate.

At that time, Rod could remotely recall Red King through the system and use the monster’s enhanced strength.

He could then have Red King cause a small incident, and come to the rescue heroically, escaping with the medical sister aboard the pod.

He might also choose to leave both the medical and secretary sisters behind and escape alone in the pod.

However, this escape pod did not have Warp travel capability; it could only hide passively and wait for the human fleet to arrive for rescue.

Once rescued, Rod’s identity would be difficult to explain, so bringing along a medical sister would be beneficial. As for the secretary sister, her mind was too sharp and difficult to fool, so better to abandon her.

Time quietly slipped by, and the Tyranid assault remained fierce.

Red King pounded his chest, taking cover behind a mountain, continuously eating rocks from the mountain and spitting them out as ranged attacks.

In the distance, the Tyranid forces had summoned giant psychic units—brain bugs—using psychic lightning and other ranged attacks against Red King.

Under Rod’s command, Red King hid behind the mountain, occasionally poking his head out to retaliate against the brain bugs with rocks from his mouth.

There was no other ranged attack; the close-combat expert Red King’s only ranged method was this.

Dawn was just breaking. Under Red King’s slaughter, the regular Tyranid forces suffered heavy losses.

The late-night killing spree also brought Rod’s system gold coins to over 10,000 points.

How would he spend this ten thousand system gold coins next?