As Cain's thunder hammer fell, a crisp system prompt popped up in the ears of all players, signifying that Yarvis, the powerful space marine, had been thoroughly killed.
The tense atmosphere that had enveloped the ruins dissipated, and the players breathed a sigh of relief. Yarvis, as he himself had said, did not engage in any psychic self-detonation or mutual destruction after his death.
However, new questions soon arose from the players: "The boss has been killed by us, so why hasn't the quest reward been settled yet?"
A quick-witted player immediately replied in the regional channel: "You're stupid! The Governor's mansion collapsed, and there are still some tenacious astartes trapped underneath! The enemies aren't all dead, so the quest isn't over, of course."
"Oh my god, how long do we have to wait?"
"At least another week or two, right? Even without food or water, those astartes can last a long time."
"Hard to say, if we're unlucky, it might be a month or two."
"Ah?! That's too long!"
While the players were discussing, Robert and Father Ruidituo walked over. Robert cleared his throat and said loudly: "Don't worry, everyone! When the time comes, we'll get the Servitors to dig this place open with engineering equipment and finish them off one by one! The space marines trapped underneath must have no combat power left anyway!"
The players immediately understood.
"That's right! I almost forgot, this game isn't unable to have scene destruction, just dig it open!"
"Sir Robert is awesome! Clear thinking!"
Meanwhile, Reddito, by Yarvis' corpse, had completed his initial scan and detection, and his tone carried a hint of incredulity: "Incredible..."
Robert walked over and asked, "How is it? There's no risk of this corpse reanimating, right?"
"Not only is there no risk, but his flesh mutation is almost non-existent," Reddito mused, "It's hard to imagine, is this really a space marine who has been corrupted by Chaos for ten thousand years?"
"So, that means," Robert's eyes lit up, and he instinctively asked a question, "his Gene-seed can still be used, right?"
As these words left his mouth, the nearby players, who had been clamoring moments before, instantly fell silent. Hundreds of eyes suddenly turned towards the center of the ruins, or more accurately, towards Reddito.
And Reddito... reacted very strongly to this.
"What are you trying to do!" He suddenly spun around, his voice sharp with an unprecedented tone. He scanned the players with their burning gazes, "What are you trying to do!"
Robert immediately realized he had said the wrong thing. He cleared his throat twice, trying to smooth things over: "Just an abundance of curiosity, a casual question. Magos Reddito, you're overthinking it."
"Whether I'm overthinking it or not... you know in your heart," Reddito said coldly. He activated the anti-gravity device, slowly lifting Yarvis' corpse. "If you're not afraid of death, that's your business. I don't want to die... especially not for something so exposed and utterly without benefit."
Having said that, Reddito left with Yarvis' corpse without looking back.
Robert stood rooted, stroking his chin, and muttered to himself thoughtfully, "So... if there's a way to conceal it, and a great benefit, then it's fine."
...Three days later, within the ruins.
AlphaBravo, Name, and Garry gathered again at the former Governor's mansion, now a colossal ruin. AlphaBravo was walking back and forth across the ruins with his hands behind his back, seemingly using the feel under his feet to ascertain something.
Finally, he stopped and shouted to the Servitors who were operating large engineering machinery not far away: "Hey! Don't dig there yet, come dig here!"
"Sir, my identification number is Zinc J24B5, I am not 'Hey'," the Servitor said in its flat electronic voice, "Excavation work has pre-set safety protocols. Random disruption may unearth a Fallen space marine without Helldivers supervision, leading to uncontrollable risks..."
"We're here, what are you afraid of?" AlphaBravo impatiently interrupted, "When there are no Helldivers watching here, you just stop digging, how simple is that!"
"Sir, according to regulations, I need to report to my superior."
"Damn it, these Servitors are so rigid," AlphaBravo grumbled, "Alright, 9527, hurry up."
"Sir, I am not 9527..."
AlphaBravo ignored it completely and turned to look at Garry and Name.
Garry curiously asked, "Why did you call us here?"
"For the basement we talked about earlier, I guess," Name speculated.
"Oh!" Garry suddenly understood, "That basement didn't collapse?"
"Most likely not," AlphaBravo said excitedly, "According to game common sense, the deeper and harder to reach a place is, the more good stuff will be hidden there!"
The three did not wait long before the engineering machinery, controlled by the Servitors, indeed dug out a dark, gaping hole at the location AlphaBravo had specified.
"Sir..." The Servitor's report had just begun when AlphaBravo immediately cut him off: "Alright, we're going down now."
With that, the three eagerly followed the excavated slope and entered the basement.
The three turned on their tactical flashlights and cautiously made their way in. In the deep tunnel, they heard a faint rustling. AlphaBravo immediately raised his gun and whispered, "Don't move!"
He did not immediately open fire because the system's friend-or-foe identification had no reaction.
"No! Don't shoot! I'm not an enemy!" a panicked voice came from the darkness.
The three focused their flashlight beams and saw the person's appearance. It looked like a nobleman, although his appearance was haggard, his clothes were still well-maintained, clearly indicating a life of comfort.
AlphaBravo already had some guesses about the person's identity, but still asked, "Who are you?"
"I... I am Kilan Perditia, the Governor of this planet." The person calmed down a little when he saw the Aquila emblem on their carapace armor. "You are Imperial soldiers, aren't you? Have the enemies been cleared out?"
"Planetary Governor?" Garry said in surprise, "You're still alive?"
"Yes." Governor Kilan seemed to have regained his usual arrogance. "What's the situation outside? You quickly tell..."
"Governor, sir," Name interrupted Kilan, his tone calm and unruffled, "Where are your family members? Are you the only one here?"
Name's tone seemed to frighten Kilan a little, and he instinctively shrank his neck: "They... they are still in the back room. After hearing the commotion outside, I came out to check the situation myself."
"Then please lead the way," Name said, "Once we confirm the situation of your family, we can decide what to do next, right?"
"The Planetary Governor's entire family is still alive?"
In the command center, upon receiving news of the basement being dug out, Robert quickly gathered the officers from various companies and representatives of the Military Committee, just in case something happened and they needed to react quickly.
Something did happen, but the direction of the incident was not what he had imagined.
"Yes." On the other end of the communicator, AlphaBravo looked at the nine people in front of him and replied.
Among them were Governor Kilan himself, his wife and personal doctor, four daughters, and two sons. Presumably, Governor Kilan had told them something, as the entire family seemed quite relaxed now, even with three soldiers of unknown origin standing before them. The youngest son even yawned as if no one else was present.
"A total of nine people... all seem to be in good spirits," AlphaBravo added, "It seems they've been doing well in the basement during this time."
"Hmm..." Robert finished the report and looked at the officers and representatives sitting before him, "Let's vote on how to deal with them."
"What else can we do? They're the ones who brought that Slaaneshi warband here." Mua'dib shrugged first, "Clearly an act of treason, I recommend executing all of them."
"Perditia's planetary governance system has completely collapsed and can only be rebuilt. Keeping them will only cause us trouble and affect our subsequent administration." Joker pushed up his glasses and said calmly, "I recommend executing all of them."
"That Slaaneshi warband those bastards brought over cost our company a leman russ." The Second Company's representative said through gritted teeth, "I recommend executing all of them."
"Are there any other suggestions?" Robert, seeing no one else follow up, asked again to be safe.
Silence for a long time.
"Alright, then it's settled."
Robert picked up the communicator and said to the other end: "After discussion by the Military Committee, all are sentenced to death. The charge is treason."
In the basement, AlphaBravo, who had received the message, looked up at Kilan Perditia and asked in a confirming tone: "Mr. Kilan, are you sure all your family members are here?"
Kilan did not understand why, but still affirmed: "Of course, I am sure."
"That's good." AlphaBravo nodded and began to give orders, "Doctor, could I ask you to move a little to the right?"
"Mr. Kilan, please stand a little further forward."
"Rosalia, Madam Frigga, please move closer to your mother."
"Hmm..." After everyone had stood as AlphaBravo instructed, he pondered for a moment, "This way, everyone is in my line of sight."
Kilan finally felt a hint of unease. He asked tremblingly, "Excuse me... what is this for?"
AlphaBravo slowly drew the auto-pistol from his waist; the red dot of the muzzle was particularly conspicuous in the dim basement.
"Mr. Kilan, after discussion and decision by the Military Committee of the Perditia Helldivers Legion, you are sentenced to execution by firing squad for treason."
"What did you say?! Say that again?! No, don't! There must be some mistake, I am the Planetary Governor..."
After a dense and brief burst of gunfire, the basement fell into a deathly silence. AlphaBravo stepped expressionlessly into the pool of blood and delivered another shot to the youngest son who was still groaning on the ground.
He knelt down, tore open the corpse's ornate clothing, and a pile of glittering jewels immediately rolled out from the garment's interlining.
AlphaBravo spat disdainfully: "I wondered why he was still breathing after so many shots; turns out he didn't forget to grab these things even when fleeing into the basement."
He stood up and waved to Garry and Name behind him.
"Alright, alright, there's no equipment anyway. Call the Servitors in to clean up the scene, it's really unlucky..."