40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 20 20. An Old-fashioned Water Purifier
The cold wind blows past.

Sitting on the edge of the building, Khalil slowly ate the nutritional cream from the plastic dinner plate.

He ate the pitch-black thing with no expression on his face, seemingly indifferent on the surface.However, every time he swallowed, his throat would roll up and down for a long, long time.

He ate it silently and firmly, even though his tongue was numb, his body protested unceasingly.

He needs to eat to keep alive.

"."

After taking the last bite, Kalil put away the plate, then closed his eyes in silence in the cold wind, and waited patiently for a while.

He had to use this to see if they had really rolled all the way down his throat - if not, he'd probably throw up suddenly after a while.

Khalil doesn't want this to happen again, wasting food once is bad enough.

However, the root cause of vomiting is not just nausea and vomiting.What's more, it's because his throat and stomach are instinctively refusing to accept them.

They don't recognize it as food.

Every time he ate, the body's instincts wailed for something other than them, and Khalil did nothing about it.

On Nostramo, only nutrient paste is considered a normal food within his cognition.

It tastes bad, sells poorly, smells more like chemicals than food - and yes, it has absolutely no advantages other than filling you up.But at least it wasn't made of rats, or something from a butcher shop.

Khalil stood up slowly.

He made sure that he had completed the work of 'eating'.Then, it is enough to do everything step by step.

Standing on the edge of the building, he flexed his shoulders.Since he didn't wear a cloak, his robes woven from rags rattled in the cold wind.It sounds like a weird rhythm.

The corners of the clothes fluttered, and Kalil moved his hands in the sleeves carelessly.His body temperature was passing, and his hands were already a little numb.

However, this is also good.These not-so-good feelings always keep him awake.

He needs to wake up.

All the descendants of the Scolewalker family have died, and even the Glory Warlord, their agent in Quintus's nest, has also perished.

This is no small matter, even for Scole Walker.

Such a loss on the eve of the Great Purge would no doubt infuriate some of them.

However, this clan is not as loose as the Shattertooth, and their discipline is quite strict.No one will act without the order of the earl, the head of the family.

In other words, if the earl's personality tends to be calm, the next step of the plan needs to be changed.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help squinting his eyes and shaking his head—it's true that we can talk about the Skelewoke family's affairs later, but the person who chattered his teeth hasn't come yet.

I don't know if they forgot, or simply didn't care about the death of a new servant.

Khalil leaned more towards the latter, much to his disappointment.

After all, there was only one month left before the big purge.

At that time, the civilians who have nested will stay behind closed doors, shivering in shantytowns or dilapidated apartments.

The gangs will start fighting recklessly, and they will abandon all bottom lines and rules to fight for the interests of the nobles behind them.

During this period of time, the nobles would not just come and lay their nests casually.And after the purge, no sane person could hope to find the murderer from the chaotic nest.

Shattertooth are crazy, but they're not stupid.And if they don't send someone.
Gee.

Will they really just give up like this?
Khalil had no answer, but he did remember another incident about the purge.

The Great Cleansing is actually a conventional term.Everyone else on Nostramo would call it that, but nobles are a little different.

When they converse gracefully at balls in their finery, or exchange bloody favors with each other at some council table, they use the word 'purification' to describe this brutal affair.

That's what they call it in all their written documents.

Purification.

What's even more interesting is that they even spread the word about it for a while.

"Purify the environment of the lower hive, and free the people of Nostramo from corruption, poverty, and violence."

This sentence once appeared day and night on the suspended billboards near the factory.

Khalil couldn't help laughing—this incident seemed so ironic to him that it felt absurdly ridiculous.

The workers couldn't read at all, so who were they going to show such slogans around the factory?

Purge. They do have a sense of humor, too.

I really hate this sense of humor.

"Khalil!"

The ghost's voice sounded from behind, with a little joy visible to the naked eye.

"I found a water purifier that no one wanted!"

Turning his head, Khalil saw a kind of obvious joy on the ghost's face.He held a heavy machine in his arms, the surface was full of rust, and its shape had changed.

Obviously, it was discarded because it was broken.

"Can we use it?" Ghost asked expectantly.

"Yes...but it will take a lot of effort to repair it." Khalil nodded noncommittally. "But where did you find it?"

"Factory dump in the middle of New Town."

Ghost spoke very quickly. "I found it on patrol today and it looks like it's been there for days, but it hasn't been picked up yet!"

You consider yourself lucky, don't you?
Khalil smiled silently.

But, you're really lucky because no one wants a broken old water filter, ghost.
This kind of machine is terribly bulky, except for you, I am afraid that no one can hold it with one hand.Moreover, its failure rate is also surprisingly high.It has long since been eliminated.

Most of the old-fashioned water purifiers disappeared somewhere in the city after being discarded. Over time, they will gradually be covered with sludge or corpses.

always like this.

Always buried, always ignored, always forgotten.

Khalil blinked, took a deep breath of the cold air between brief mood swings, and then laughed slowly.

"You're lucky," he said with a smile. "I've never found one before."

"really?"

"Yeah. Put it on the ground, and I'll see if it still works."

Ghost immediately squatted down and carefully placed the water purifier on the ground.

Khalil stepped forward.

He squatted down and tapped the surface of the water purifier with his fingers.A dull sound came later, slowly dissipating from the top of the high-rise building.

"Can it still be used?" Ghost asked expectantly.

"...I just tapped it."

Khalil answered dumbfounded. "How can I know its current condition just by knocking on it?"

And we don't have electricity, ghost.The rainwater filter works because it's such a rudimentary gadget, so rudimentary that it doesn't even need electricity.
But the big guy you picked up is an electric monster.

"Oh" Ghost nodded disappointedly. "I thought you'd know"

"How can I know everything?"

Khalil replied casually, rubbing the side of the water purifier with his sleeve.

There are usually signs of production date and production place here. As long as you understand this, you can find replaceable parts in the corresponding shops in the city in disguise.

Those part-time jobs, or the black market shops whose main business is basically selling everything.

From machine parts, gun bullets, internal organs...they have almost everything.They do everything except not compete with the butcher shop.

Thinking of this, Khalil couldn't help but pause—they don't have money, so parts may be a big problem.

Moreover, there is a prerequisite for replacing parts for old-fashioned water purifiers.

Forget it, let's take a look first.

He quietly continued to wipe the side of the water purifier with his sleeve, and the dirt was quickly removed.With the help of a bit of neon light that swept over, Khalil could clearly see the words engraved on the side of the water purifier.

He looked at it carefully for a moment, then raised his head and shook his head at Ghost: "It seems that it can't be repaired, Ghost."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because the factory that produced it was closed ten years ago, there are many models of this old-fashioned water purifier, and this one you picked up is one of the less effective ones. This is also the reason why the factory closed. s reason."

"It's not selling well, and nobody wants to buy it. Officials and other factory owners have better options, so there aren't many left. You're really lucky to pick it up."

Ghost blinked, and asked with some disappointment: "So, can't we fix it?"

Khalil nodded slightly.

"Can't we replace it with parts from other water purifiers?" Ghost asked persistently.

"The internal structure of the machine is different, and the parts of other water purifiers, even if they can be replaced, are unlikely to make it work as before."

"...I'm sorry, Khalil."

"Ok?"

Ghost squatted down in disappointment: "I picked up a useless thing and came back, wasting your time."

"Why do you think so?"

"Because." Ghost muttered. "Your countdown."

Khalil was silent.

The cold wind blows past.

For the first time, he didn't know how to respond to the innocent monster in front of him.

Involuntarily, he thought of the past.

Long, long ago, in the days when he was a ghost, the skies of Nostramo had been shrouded in darkness.

Evil is rampant, and evil is its foundation, and all corners of Eternal Night Star appear sick, depraved, and crazy.

Every second that wandered on Nostramo, the ghost could hear countless screams.Countless people died unjustly, but the perpetrator was safe and sound.The so-called 'justice' and 'retribution' never came.

They won't even be late.

Then after some terrible years, that ghost became Khalil Rohars.

The ghost lowered his head and sighed.

"Khalil?" the ghost called uneasily. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Khalil replied softly.

"But, your countdown."

Yeah, my countdown.

As long as I don't use that power violently, I can live unharmed, even for a long time.

But I can't, ghost.I have to use it.

I'm the only one who knows what's wrong with Nostramo.

"ghost."

"what?"

"You don't have to worry about me about the countdown." Khalil said calmly. "I'll figure it out."

"really?"

"I didn't lie to you. Besides, let's talk about the next plan?"

Ghost looked at him, then nodded.

Khalil smiled slightly.

"The Great Cleansing is coming in a month. According to the usual practice, the nobles will soon send representatives to give a speech in the center of the new city. This is an exaggerated and meaningless tradition, but it is very beneficial to us."

At least not now.

　First of all - I don't send knives.

　　And then—no, I wish you all good health and all the best.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)