My Life as A Death Guard

Tn: I think Korklan is a Magos, so for now, I’m going to refer to him as one.

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Hades held a small vehicle in his hands. Its relatively simple mechanical structure was fully visible within its hollow framework.

Without an emergency feedback system, the vehicle’s wheels continued to spin, attempting to move in its predetermined direction.

Hades extended a finger to stop the vehicle’s wheels.

Instantly, a faint yet tangible force feedback traveled through his fingertips.

This wasn’t a particularly sophisticated piece of machinery. Hades infiltrated its system, discovering only a basic remote-controlled command structure.

Hades was, at the moment, full of questions, but fortunately, someone came over to clear up his doubts.

“Lord Hades, are you examining Exploration Object No. 82?”

The squad leader of the escorting Skitarii, Yad-783, walked over to Hades.

Although her appearance made it impossible to discern her gender, she claimed her biological sex to be female.

“What is… this?”

Hades fiddled with the small vehicle in his hand.

“This is one of the remaining agricultural machines on this planet. Even after humans disappeared, these machines have continued to function along their preset paths, performing tasks like sowing, fertilizing, transporting, and harvesting.”

“Their structure is simple yet ingenious, allowing them to continue working long after humans vanished.”

“The anti-aging technology collected earlier by the Magos was derived from Exploration Object No. 82.”

“I see.”

Hades blinked and then put the small vehicle down.

He even thoughtfully placed the fruit he had taken from it back on the vehicle.

The small vehicle stalled briefly before resuming its journey, blending back into the flow of carts that tirelessly worked away, seemingly to no purpose.

“So, humanity has disappeared from this planet, yet the machines continue to work?”

Hades watched as the vehicle slowly rolled away, murmuring to himself.

“Indeed, my lord. Flesh is inherently weak, while precise and coordinated mechanical structures are the true choice of universal truth.”

Yad believed this Techmarine had grasped the greatness of the Omnissiah and offered her own reflections.

A civilization may perish, but machines endure.

Unfortunately, Hades followed up with the next statement:

“But where does all that food end up? Dumped in warehouses to rot? Surely, they can’t keep up indefinitely.”

Yad silently swallowed the mechanical litany she was about to recite. The Magos she’d followed in the past would usually start reciting at this point.

“My lord, there’s a storage site for food nearby. I can lead you there if you’d like.”

“Alright.”

The flow of vehicles converged on a high ground in the village.

Hades was now lying on the ground with little regard for his dignity, staring into a small hole with one eye.

Several small vehicles gathered around him, futilely trying to dump food into the hole, but Hades blocked them. They could only stutter along, bumping against him.

“Stop bumping into me.”

Hades casually shoved the vehicles aside and continued peering into the hole.

The hole was too deep to see anything clearly.

Failing to scan anything, Hades had no choice but to stand up, watching as the vehicles poured fruit into the pit.

On this open ground, there were countless densely packed pits. The food carried by the massive vehicle flow was ultimately dumped into these holes.

“According to sonic scans, below is a large food storage facility,” Yad’s voice rang out.

“However, due to a lack of consumption, the spoiled food is processed by this agricultural system into liquid fertilizer and reapplied to the forest.”

Near the neatly arranged pits, there were indeed some pipes emitting a putrid yellow-green liquid.

Thick moss and fungi had climbed over the pipe openings.

Specific machines would arrive to collect the liquid before heading back into the forest.

“You’ve thoroughly scanned this, right?”

“Yes, my lord. Several similar food collection points exist around the village and city. We conducted sampling from five of them. These are indeed filled with food, but due to storage system failures, most of the contents have decayed into a semi-liquid state.”

Hades blinked. It seemed he was overthinking things.

It would have been great if simple and effective little machines like these existed back on Barbarus.

However, it’s highly likely that the toxic gases would have corroded these little vehicles, making it impossible for them to last this long!

Even so, Hades quietly took note of the structure of these machines and once again restrained himself from taking off his helmet to take a bite of the fruit.

Not far from this platform was an open circular stage. With the mindset of “since I’m already here,” Hades decisively strolled over.

Simple geometric vine carvings adorned the white stone pillars, and layered outdoor seating surrounded the stage. In the very center of the circular platform stood a steep podium, decorated with carvings of thorns and vines.

At the very heart of the podium was a symbol of hands holding up the sun, carved from wood. One of the hands was entwined with vines.

“This seems to have been a place where humans gave speeches or conducted educational activities,” Yad’s dutiful voice sounded from behind Hades, who was staring at the podium.

Suddenly, he jumped, landing directly on the podium. The massive frame of the Space Marine made the podium feel a bit cramped.

But Hades paid no mind; his left hemisphere had detected a signal of electronic equipment nearby.

Using the plasma cutter on his back at its lowest power, he carefully carved into the podium—

A backup device?

Hades hesitated before plugging the backup device into the isolation chamber reader of his power armor.

[Record No. 126: Speech]

[Speaker: Raibo]

The image of a girl with white hair draped over her shoulders appeared. She was likely Raibo, wearing clothing similar to a scientist’s white coat, with a badge of three intertwined vines pinned to it.

Her face exuded detachment and rationality, mixed with rebellion.

However, even through an electronic image, a sense of disdain was palpable—

An Untouchable?

Hades instinctively furrowed his brow and continued browsing the content.

“We choose to believe in science.”

“Ancient religions must be overthrown.”

“They demanded we endure suffering, compelled us to worship those eerie black edifices.”

“Here, I want to say this: There are no gods in this world. We must explain everything through technology.”

The record abruptly ended there, followed by fragments of technological discussions.

Hades flipped through the content, but it felt less like technological research and more like a guide on how to use psychic energy step-by-step.

Are you seriously categorizing using human blood to power psychic abilities as “scientific research”?

Although blasphemies such as using infant blood to power war machines existed during the Dark Age of Technology…

Hades reviewed it again, but the brief information and his limited knowledge of psychic phenomena prevented him from discerning the true nature of this “research.”

Psychic abilities, religious black edifices… Hades suddenly remembered that strange dream.

The bishop in the black priestly robes.

“Help me… kill… her.”

“Her?”

Hades stared at the white-haired girl displayed on the reader.

What on earth was going on?

Hades suddenly realized that this planet’s situation was far more complicated than simply having all its humans wiped out.

Taking a deep breath, Hades thought to himself: When you sense something’s off, what’s the first thing you do?

He opened the communication channel to Magos Korklan.

“Magos, is the ship currently able to leave this planet safely?”

“Oh! Lord Hades, I was just about to report on this.”

“Just now, the planet’s atmosphere experienced abnormal weather conditions, making it unsuitable for launch.”

“But don’t worry, you should still be able to rendezvous with the fleet heading to the Forge World.”

Hades took another deep breath. If he had merely been speculating before, his alarm bells were now ringing at full volume.

His scalp tingled.

“Magos, send out a distress signal.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t ask questions. Just do it. Now. Immediately.”

Hades blinked.

“If it turns out to be nothing, I’ll handle the negotiations with the rescue team myself.”

“But for now, just send the distress signal.”

Hades gritted his teeth as he spoke.

<+>

Aboard the Endurance, Unknown Location

“Recently, Calas Typhon has been acting strangely, frequently heading toward Untouchable zones.”

Fernando subtly shifted. Now? At this moment?

And why would a psyker wander into Untouchable areas?

“I’ll go take a look.”