The piercing alarm, like the death wail of a dying behemoth, tore through Murmansk's pale sky.
The heavy alloy gates crashed down with the shriek of hydraulic systems, completely sealing off this military fortress.
The cold muzzles of anti-aircraft turrets pointed skyward, and the low hum of charging Macro Cannon arrays made the air tremble.
The city, a fortress built upon a Necron Tomb, instantly transformed into a massive, steel-forged cage.
Alex stood at the center of the sealed welcoming ceremony, his Power Sword's energy field hissing dangerously.
His gaze swept over the terrified, segregated crowds, finally settling on the direction Siddhega pointed—three soldiers and a lieutenant were convulsing and deforming in agony, chitinous carapaces piercing their uniforms, sharp claws tearing through flesh, emitting inhuman shrieks.
The fourth-generation Genestealer's disguise crumbled under the Sisters of Silence's powerful Void Power.
"City-wide lockdown! Level One Purification Protocol initiated!" Alex's voice, amplified by his Power Armor, echoed throughout the entire spaceport: "Sage Ovilia, I need you to immediately access the city's Cogitator network!
Scan all life signals in this city, and establish a database of abnormal biological features!
Focus on screening individuals with abnormal psychic fluctuations or physiological structures deviating more than 15% from human standard values!
Sister Sidera, center yourself and expand an anti-psychic field to its maximum range! Suppress their psychic network!"
"Yes, Governor." Ovilia's mechanically synthesized voice was unperturbed, only the mechanical optical sensors beneath her red hood glowed with a dazzling red light.
She walked to several nearby Cogitators, and the numerous mechanical tentacles behind her, like living entities, precisely inserted themselves into the Cogitator terminals' interfaces.
A massive data stream began to pour into her logic core, and the vital signs, medical records, and surveillance footage of Murmansk's millions of residents were rapidly filtered and analyzed.
While the Imperium might have insufficient control over places like the lower levels of a Hive City, Murmansk, as a former military fortress and current colony, had not existed for a very long time, and its population was limited, so control and monitoring of the city were not impossible.
From the very beginning, Alex had placed great emphasis on such scrutiny and monitoring; all Imperial colonies within the Rostov Sub-Sector had regular genetic testing and health screenings, and the cities were equipped with numerous surveillance devices.
He had initially believed that under such surveillance, no problems would arise, but he never expected Murmansk to still be infected by Genestealers.
This caused Alex great distress and apprehension, fearing even more widespread infection throughout the entire Sub-Sector.
"Establishing biological feature models… Cross-referencing known Genestealer physiological parameters… Psychic fluctuation detection array activated…" Ovilia's voice, with a hint of metallic friction, delivered news that made Alex feel a wave of dizziness: "Warning: Multiple faint but synchronized psychic nodes detected, suspected nascent hive mind network… Contamination level… far exceeds expectations."
He hadn't expected the planet to be so deeply infected! It had only been a few years!
Siddhega, meanwhile, stood like a steadfast rock in front of Alex.
She took a deep breath, no longer suppressing her inherent Void nature.
An invisible, soul-freezing cold force field abruptly expanded from her center!
A silent cracking sound seemed to echo in the air. Among the segregated crowds, dozens of people instantly let out agonizing screams or dull, dazed groans—their psychic illusions were forcibly stripped away!
The exposed features varied: some had unnaturally grayish-purple skin with plate-like protrusions on their foreheads; others were more deformed, with thick knuckles and hunched backs; and even a few seemingly normal officials, under the wash of Void Power, had crudely carved four-armed humanoid saint effigy pendants, hanging from cheap metal chains, slide out from beneath their collars!
Their devout expressions instantly twisted into horrified terror.
"Do you see, Mayor?" Alex's voice was as cold as the ice in the depths of the star sea, directed at the pale-faced, almost collapsed mayor, and also seemingly at all loyal Imperial citizens who could still think: "This is the Genestealer! The most insidious and stubborn 'cockroaches' in the Imperium's domain! Do you think you only found one? No! When you see one, their nest has long since spread underground, their contamination has permeated generations, possibly for centuries!"
He pointed at a fourth-generation Genestealer, forced into its true form by Siddhega's field and being precisely eliminated by Battle Sisters' bolter fire: "Look at them! Fourth-generation hybrids, apart from purple skin and extra bones on their foreheads, they sport the popular Imperial bald head and act more devout and diligent than the most exemplary Imperial citizens!
They pay their tithe in excess, they work tirelessly, they even shout the Emperor's name to fight against Chaos!
What a perfect disguise! What terrifying infiltration!"
Alex's tone was filled with sarcasm and disgust: "But what is all this for? To pave the way for their true 'gods'—the devourers from the depths of the star sea! The psychic network they establish is the lighthouse guiding the Tyranids' arrival!"
Ovilia's data tentacles danced rapidly, and analysis results streamed across the screen like a waterfall: "Initial biological scan complete, cross-referenced with medical record anomalies, contamination model established…
Governor, the situation is extremely severe; the contamination source is not solely single-contact transmission.
Abnormal biological activity residues detected at several nodes in the city's main water supply pipelines…
Highly suspected concentrated secretion samples of the 'Genestealer's Kiss,' they have contaminated the water source."
Ovilia's voice, uncharacteristically, carried a hint of gravity, "This means that the vast majority of the city's population may have unknowingly had 'seeds' implanted through drinking water."
"Seeds?" a water services official, uninfected but responsible for water, repeated in horror.
"Those are what those monsters use to infect us!" Alex explained sharply, his gaze sweeping over all the pale-faced loyalists present, directly using his psychic power to grab a Genestealer's corpse and pry open its mouth: "The Genestealer's disgusting long tongue has an ovipositor at its tip! This thing can infect you just by piercing your skin!
But they have found a more efficient method of infection! They don't need to 'kiss' you directly; they only need to inject 'seeds' containing Tyranids genes into the water, or possibly even mix them into food or medicine, to infect humans! Once infected…"
Alex paused, looking at the fear in everyone's eyes: "The host will forget everything, then be implanted with an irresistible urge: to find someone to reproduce! To give birth to the first generation of severely deformed hybrids!
Then, this monster and its parents will both be connected to the hive mind, revering the original Genestealer as a god!
Generation after generation, until the fourth generation perfectly integrates into the population, until the fifth generation reverts to become a new pureblood source of infection!"
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