40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 8 8. Lessons Learned Time Bomb
Stay out of the dark.

I must. stay out of the dark.

but why?Darkness protects me.

pain.

am i bleeding
Complicated and chaotic thoughts flashed through his mind, the ghost didn't know if he was still alive, he only felt pain, and another emotion he was not too willing to admit.

He wanted to go back into the darkness, back to the bottom of that mine.It's damp and warm, with rats for food and mud for shelter
He didn't want to endure such torture. He didn't deserve to be treated like that.

However, a voice whispered to him, dissuading him from such an idea.

Stay away from the dark, ghost, that is not your destiny.It says so.

fate?

This uncommon word broke into his already chaotic thoughts, making it even more insane.

Countless phantoms rushed towards his face in the next second, baring their teeth and waving their claws, grabbing him with sharp claws, explaining to the ghosts the truth they believe in.

"You have no choice, boy, you have no choice!"

They roared, the sound was like a bell and thunder, and thunder at midnight.

"A fool's dream! The established facts cannot be changed, you must obey! You are destined to be full of blood and have a notorious reputation. Only in this way can you become—"

become what?
The ghost looked at the distorted scene in bewilderment, and then, there was light.
-
"woke up?"

Ghost suddenly sat up and began to pant heavily.Without thinking about it, he got up from the ground, and with his sense of smell, he returned to the corner he was most familiar with.

After trembling for more than ten seconds, he realized who the greeting was.

and where is here.

Khalil sat in the dark, looking at him blankly: "Are you leaning against the wall, ghost?"

".what?"

"I said, are you leaning against the wall?"

"Yes." Ghost replied tremblingly. "I'm leaning against the wall."

His shoulders were trembling at the moment, and the fear brought by the hallucination still hadn't subsided.He didn't understand what those things were, and he didn't want to.He just wants to forget about them.

"Come here," Khalil said. "Stop leaning against that wall, that position is not good for your injury."

"No, I don't want to—"

Ghost instinctively wanted to refuse, he was unwilling to leave this corner.It was as comfortable to him here as the bottom of the pit.

However, all instinct disappeared the moment he saw Khalil's eyes.

The neon light coming in through the dilapidated door was cut into many irregular broken light spots by the hollow of the wooden door itself, and they hit half of Khalil's face, making his pale face look like a strange one. painting.

His eyes are glowing.

The trembling of the ghost stopped.

"Come here, ghost," Khalil repeated softly. "Don't lean against the wall."

This time, the ghost obeyed.

He bent over and cautiously left the corner.The pain in his back made him unable to walk smoothly, and a sticky feeling slid down his back.

blood, my blood.ghost thought.

He pursed his lips, excruciatingly painful.

"Your injury is serious." Khalil tilted his head, looking a little careless. "They shot you with a hook-line gun, that thing is for hunting, lucky you."

"hunt.?"

"Yeah, there are many people outside the city who couldn't pay and were kicked out. They survived with difficulty, and the price was to become no different from wild animals."

"So the aristocrats invented a new form of entertainment, and the gangs liked to participate, but not with the aristocrats. They called it trending. Fun, right?"

He laughed, but there was no smile in his eyes.

"It's not funny." Ghost whispered. "What's a hook gun?"

"That thing is scary, Ghost." Khalil shook his head with a smile.

"It explodes on impact, and the arrow shatters into a dozen pieces, each with brutal barbs. It grabs the flesh and bone of its prey and extends as far inward as it can. So, you His back is horrible right now."

will i dieGhost asked silently, he didn't speak, but his expression was enough to tell Khalil his doubts.

"No, you won't," Khalil said. "Actually, in a few hours at most, your bleeding wounds will begin to heal over, Ghost."

"."

Ghost didn't answer his words, just sat on the ground silently.He seemed a little downcast, an emotion Khalil didn't miss.

He rarely makes mistakes, in fact, he almost never makes mistakes.

"Are you depressed?" Khalil asked.

Ghost raised his head, glanced at him, and then lowered his head again: "...Is it possible that I can't get the answer to that question?"

"Yes."

"...I forgot to close the window." Ghost said angrily. "They. Respond very quickly."

"Are you trying to justify yourself, Ghost?"

"."

Khalil couldn't help laughing, laughing at the ghost's reaction, but there wasn't much real joy in the smile.

This smile is more like a mockery of himself.

He thought, you were hit by something that can directly tear an adult, fell off the roof of a dozen meters, and was dragged along.

Flesh pulled by the combined power of three bikes—then, you bleed almost a vat of blood in the acid rain.

You are not dead, and you can be called healthy.

Your injury will heal even after a few hours.

You're a horrible monster, ghost, and yet you have a heart only a human can have.

What am I going to do with you?

The smile gradually subsided, Kalil did not continue to speak, he stared at the ghost, his expression became calm little by little.

After a while, he spoke again.

"For a novice, you did well. You bypassed the guards and the sentinel on the roof, you opened the window without making a sound"

"It took you less than a minute to kill those three bosses. Those are all good."

"But don't look at me that way, ghost," Khalil said quietly. "I'm not praising you, you are no longer a novice."

The ghost nodded in dismay, agreeing with Khalil.He didn't argue back because he knew Khalil was right.

Khalil is always right.

He lowered his head again.

"You joined the job six months ago. You're not a rookie, Ghost. You've killed a lot of damn people, and you still haven't learned the most important thing about the job. a little."

"You must be cautious at all times, ghost. Mark my words, be cautious at all times."

"If killing the person in front of you exposes you, don't do it. If the enemy's whereabouts are unknown, wait until they show up. If you don't know what's in the dark...don't go in."

"but--"

"No but, Ghost," Khalil said softly. "Listen, if you don't understand it, write it down, you will understand sooner or later, and you must understand that I don't have much time to go on, and you must learn all this."

Ghost's eyes widened, this was the first time he was so caught off guard.

"What does that mean?" he asked very quickly. "Why don't you have time? Are you leaving?"

"No, I'm not leaving. I don't have time because I'm dying," Khalil replied calmly.

"But you are obviously healthy!"

Ghost said urgently. "I can see, I know a lot, Khalil—you're not going to die, I know that, like I know how long I've been alive! Do you know how long you've been alive?"

Khalil didn't answer the sentence.

The ghost's incoherence made him laugh again, a pale smile.Then he turned to another matter.

"Do you know what a time bomb is, Ghost?"

"It's a funny little thing. Ordinary bombs go off within a few seconds of being triggered. Time bombs don't."

"It will be artificially set to a time, a countdown that keeps jumping. The moment the countdown reaches zero, it will explode."

The ghost watched him uneasily, waiting for his next sentence.

"And I have a countdown," Khalil said. "There are two problems here. First, I don't know when this countdown will end. I can't see the specific numbers, only a vague feeling."

"Second, I'm far more dangerous than a ticking bomb, I can tell—and you too, Ghost, remember? You said the power I wielded was dangerous and yes, it was."

The ghost bared his teeth angrily at his words. His teeth were neat and white, and his face was stained with acid rain and filthy with his own blood.But Khalil could see the truth.

Beneath this filth, Wraith is perfect.

There is no doubt that he is not human.

But now he is angry.

"You said the time bomb was man-made!" Ghost roared. "Countdown? Who set the countdown for you? I will find out, and I will kill him!"

Khalil squinted his eyes in anger, and he felt a palpable threat.

Ghost has no hostility towards him, in fact, Ghost's anger at this moment is to protect him.However, just the aftermath of anger has already begun to make Khalil want to swing the knife.

Perfect, perfect, ghost.You can definitely change the world.

"Relax, Ghost," Khalil said with a smile. "No one set a countdown for me. In fact, if you insist on me finding someone to take responsibility for this, then that person can only be myself."

".what?"

Facing his question, Khalil didn't explain it—or rather, he chose another way to explain it.

"In this world, everything has a price, ghost. Some are obvious, and some are hidden."

"For example, the power I use. It is convenient, quick to respond, and powerful enough not to obey the logic of reality. It can even arouse a dead soul floating in the universe."

"And the price is often linked to these things."

"It's changing me, ghost," Khalil said softly, almost dreamily.

"I can detect this kind of subtle change. According to my experience, the price I need to pay for such a powerful force must be amazing."

The ghost looked at him in bewilderment, unable to comprehend what he was saying.However, this is also good.Khalil didn't want to tell the whole truth in just half an hour.

Some things must be done with actions to make Ghost understand, he is already very wary of this world.But, for a world like Nostramo's, his vigilance wasn't enough.

He was still too naive.

He should be utterly cruel to his enemies, treating them as the most terrifying monsters in the world before he decides to strike.

A person's attitude towards the world should depend on how the world treats him.If the world kisses you bitterly, you don't have to sing back.

But you don't have to burn the world with fire either.

"Keep resting, ghost."

Khalil stood up. "Your first hunt alone wasn't a complete failure, but you didn't succeed either. As for the answer to that question, I will consider it later."

"Where are you going?" Ghost asked.

Khalil turned around with a half-smile: "Where do you think I'm going, return the car? The night in Nostramo never ends, ghost, and your poor hunting obviously needs a finishing touch."

The ghost watched him go silently, the dark corner was not so comfortable for the first time.

(End of this chapter)