Chapter 352: The Road to Expedition: The White-Haired Soldiers

The golden wheat ears floated with the breeze under the bright sunshine. The tentacles on the heads of the golden wheat ears standing on the ground collided with each other in the wind, and the wind moved from the fields. As it blew by, this golden ocean also swayed.

In the undulating golden sea, a man wearing a jacket with cuffs cut off to expose his thick arm muscles stood up. He stood among the swaying ears of the wheat field and raised his hand to wipe himself. Beads of sweat on the forehead due to busy work.

His dark skin has become deep and strong under the years of sunlight. The man put a hoe welded together with a long iron rod and armor fragments on his shoulders. His brown eyes looked around. Looking at the surrounding wheat fields and the buildings on the edge of the fields.

Those buildings made of wood or iron and metal shine in the bright sunshine, especially those double-story steel buildings. Their roofs are like pieces of mirrors under the irradiation and reflection of the sun, making the entire small town Everywhere in the town was illuminated by the sun.

The man raised his head and looked at the towering metal wall in the distance. It was the tall barrier of the Emperor's Dream. It seemed to be sleeping on the ground. The towering ship itself stood not far away like a wall of the world. There, clouds and mist filled the surroundings of its armor, floating on the huge energy hoses connected to the body of the battleship and hanging down from high places.

Light clouds and mist float on the tubes that shine with little bits of energy. Each section of their tubes flashes an energy indicator light to detect and display whether the energy transmission inside them is stable.

The slightly older man looked at the mist-filled energy pipes with brown eyes, like energy pipes hanging down from the fairyland. For decades, the pipes had been containing the Emperor's Dream and the still surging quantum reactor. The energy generated is continuously extracted from it and transported to the settlement at the foot of the sleeping giant ship.

He looked up at the thick energy tube, and Old Adams looked at the side of the giant ship in the distance. The golden and white walls stood there. If it were placed on a backward feudal planet, such as before Adams joined the Great Crusade, On his homeland, that feudal agricultural planet, Adams would definitely regard the scenery he saw in the distance as the wall of the gods that separated the divine world from the human world.

One of the man's calloused hands gently held up an ear of wheat. On his slightly old face, which was covered with fine wrinkles, his still energetic brown eyes looked at the ear of wheat in his hand.

From all angles, he looks like an ordinary farmer, the kind who grabs a lot in the agricultural world of the empire, but he still has one feature that is significantly different from ordinary farmers, and that is the farmer hanging on his waist. The pistol, the holster branded with the lightning logo, was always hanging on his waist, and he never took it off even when he went to work in the fields.

The man uses this to remind himself, to remind himself that he is not a farmer. In the past, now and in the future when he is buried in the grave, he is a soldier, a soldier on the Great Expedition.

"Stevenson, straighten the scarecrow, it's almost here, don't let me tell you what to do!" The old man put down the wheat ears in his hands, raised his head and shouted to the eldest son at the edge of the field. , his tall and strong eldest son Stevenson put down the sickle in his hand, and he looked up at his father.

"Just let him lean. That thing is old and heavy. It will fall down again in two days anyway." "A lazy person cannot receive the Emperor's blessing. The Emperor wants us to perform our duties and fulfill our duties loyally. Only Only then will he protect you! So move now! Don’t let me come over and kick you!”

The old man yelled and waved his fist, while Stevenson sighed helplessly. He inserted the sharp sickle polished from metal fragments into the ground, waved to the brother on the other side, and the two walked away together. Arriving at the giant scarecrow in the middle of the field.

The scarecrow, which is supported by a thick steel bar and stands in the golden field, looks very unique. It is different from the common scarecrows, which are made of straw, hemp rope and stone. This scarecrow is made of steel from top to bottom. The torso of the body is made of several pieces of iron sheets welded together, and several broken optical power generation panels are embedded in the outstretched arms.

The sparkling optical plate reflects strong light in the sun, which allows birds in the sky to see it from a long distance away and be too scared to rely on it. However, the disadvantage is that it is very heavy, and each piece of optical reflective plate is made of light. It's solid, and with the rest of the worn metal all over it, its weight is self-evident.

"And Dad, stop yelling about the emperor. You might as well consider that our irrigation system has problems again." Stevenson said, putting his strong shoulders on the scarecrow, his voice also Because he pushed hard against the metal thing in front of him, he was pressed very low and for a long time.

"Yes, Dad, you have believed in your emperor for so many years, and we haven't seen him come to help us harvest rice or repair the broken irrigation system." On the other side of Stevenson, there was a man with brown-black hair. Gavin, the haired brother, said this. He put his hands over his brother's bent head and firmly supported the wide metal bar in front of him.

They worked together to push the thing up. Gavin's hands were sore from pressing against the narrow edges of the metal steel bars. He continued to complain, "It would be great if he came to help us lift this damn thing up." "

"Shut up, you two lazy guys! Believe in the Emperor and follow the Emperor, so that he will protect you and save us. But you two brats have nothing to do with piety! You still want the Emperor's blessing? What a dream !”

The old farmer standing aside shouted loudly. He supported his waist and looked at his two sons who were pushing the scarecrow hard. Stevenson used his shoulders to push the metal steel bars at the end of the scarecrow. He adjusted the position of his shoulders and continued to work hard. The ground started to push, but the mouth could not stop.

"But didn't Old Vitus say that the Emperor is not a god? He doesn't need our worship or anything." "Anyway, I don't want to worship someone I've never seen. I haven't even seen him since I was born. Saw it."

The two brothers Stevenson and Gavin echoed each other, while the old father frowned angrily. He grabbed a stone from the ground and threw it on Gavin's shoulder. He was beaten so hard that he screamed, and then He hid behind the steel bar and stuck his head out to look at his father, who was still standing there angrily.

"That preacher knows nothing! I still remember the day when the Emperor came to my home world, which will also be your home world. I single-handedly solved the famine and plague on the entire planet. What is this if not a god?" The old guy Yelling loudly, he watched his two sons wave their arms, then grabbed a stone and smashed it on the erected steel bar in front of them.

"Stand up that damn thing for me, you lazy guys! Otherwise, I will teach you the consequences of slacking off on behalf of the Emperor!"

Stevenson and Gavin hurriedly continued their work. They pushed the metal scarecrow on hand to push it upright. The old father put his hands on his hips and looked at his youngest son Arthur who was looking at the book in his hand by the side of the field. go.

"Arthur! Don't read that shabby book that Vertus gave you! You are really his good student, come down and help me with the work!" Old Adams shouted, he had been sitting on the side of the field, in a building The younger son Arthur, who was reading a book on the exterior wall of the building with a brown-red roof, raised his head.

When he glanced at the book in his hand, the wall next to his ear was suddenly hit by a stone. He was so surprised that he closed the book in his hand and carried a hoe leaning against the wall along the edge of the field. After walking on the main road, he came to Old Adams from the pavement made of broken rocks.

"Dad, we have never met the Emperor. We don't know him at all. Even if you tell those stories ten thousand times, we will feel the same. We don't believe in the Emperor because we don't understand or know him at all. , you can’t ask people to believe in an imaginary great man, can you?”

"Stop using the nonsense from the preacher you listen to. You haven't seen him, I have! And as long as you take a look at him, you will know that he is worthy of your trust and follow." Old Adams knocked. After tapping his son's head, he turned around and looked at the huge scarecrow standing in front of him.

"Like a scarecrow, he disperses the darkness in the universe and drives away all the crows and locusts. He wears that shining golden battle armor and uses a light that shines brighter than this tattered scarecrow to drive away the darkest places in the galaxy. Light up!”

Adams spoke passionately, although his eloquence was very poor, but you can't have too high expectations for an ordinary person who was recruited from an agricultural feudal planet to work as an ordinary infantryman on a ship, right?

While Adams continued to preach the majestic image of the emperor in a loud voice like the preacher he despised, the metal gate behind him slowly opened. The entrance to the town, the heavy metal gate beside the golden rice fields, was rumbling. The door slowly opened, and Arthur turned his head to look. He looked at the Sun Auxiliary Army on the inside of the door. After they poked their heads out and took a look outside, they all immediately stood at attention on both sides.

Arthur looked in that direction in surprise, completely ignoring his old father Adams who was still talking endlessly. He waved his arms and said loudly, "He has a majestic figure, a sacred face, and a shining golden head!" "

"Halo?" "Ah, yes, it seems like you still remember what I said sometimes, Arthur? What are you looking at? Isn't it Peter and the others who are back?"

As he spoke, Adams turned to look at his son, who looked surprised and seemed to be looking at something incredible. He also turned around with his hands on his hips and looked over. When his head slowly turned over, he saw the tall man standing on the road beside him. When the giant hit, Adams' hands slipped from his waist.

He looked at the shining golden power armor, the huge power claw hanging at his side, the lifelike Phoenix Blade hilt shining in the sun, the tall figure standing on the side of the field, the raised road He looked down at them, his face illuminated by a sun disk shining like the sun behind his head.

Adams looked at him. In an instant, countless memories broke through the blur of years and flooded into his mind. The two sons behind him who had just helped the scarecrow up also saw the tall giant. They stared at him dumbfounded and stood sluggishly. In the golden fields.

"That's the Emperor?" Stevenson asked in surprise, while his father Adams, who was a few steps away, shook his head. He looked up at that face. Even if he turned to gray, he would never see that face. The face that would be forgotten, it was one of the only two people he swore allegiance to in his life, one of them was the Emperor himself, and the other was.

"Marshal Vito?" Adams asked in disbelief. He couldn't believe his eyes at all. He looked up at Vito on the road. He looked at Adams with his head high in the power armor.

"It's nice to see you again, Adams. It seems that you are back to your old job, farmer. It really suits you." Vito said, looking around the vast golden field in front of him. In the golden field, there was a harvester converted from an armored vehicle. The heavy machine gun at the front was removed and replaced by a harvest gate composed of three pairs of wide sickles.

"It seems that you have taken good care of this place, just like in your hometown, right? You used to take care of such a vast wheat field and feed a whole village." Vito looked at the golden ocean swaying gently in the breeze. He raised his head slightly and looked at the Emperor Fantasy in the distance. He was like a white and gold high wall, standing at the end of the street.

"That's right, Marshal. I'm responsible for cultivating and managing this field and providing rations for the entire ship." Adams stood at attention immediately. He stood in the field like a real soldier, looking at Vito with his head held high, while the latter still had a smile on his face.

He looked at the excited Adams in front of him, his eyes trembling with excitement. Vito then raised his head and looked at his two sons behind him. The two young men who were just casual almost stood up unconsciously in Vito's eyes. Now they knew why their father said that when you see the emperor, you will follow him involuntarily.

This was reflected vividly in Vito. They looked at Vito with their heads held high, and they didn't move at all, just like the scarecrow beside them. Vito smiled at them.

"You have a good group of helpers, Adams." "I'll do my best, Marshal. It's a great honor for me and the Emperor's Light to see you again! We welcome you!"

"I'll do my best, Adams. Thank you for your dedication over the years." Vito said, raising one hand to salute Adams. The latter was so excited that his heart almost jumped out. He put his legs together and saluted Vito.

"For the Empire and the Truth!"

The Empire and the Truth? Vito was silent for a moment after listening to those two words. He had forgotten how many years he hadn't heard these two words. The Imperial Truth really seemed to have returned to the past.

Vito sighed deeply. After smiling at Adams, he looked at the main road ahead. It was a long, straight and wide road. At the end of the street was the huge landing deck of the Emperor's Dream.

The magnificent landing bridge has been lowered, its wide and long bridge deck hanging on the ground, and behind it is the entire tall ship body that looks like the wall of the world. Its towering body is decorated with platinum and bright gold statues and patterns. The huge reliefs and gold-rimmed armor make it look like a temple on a secluded planet.

The long bridge connects to the ship's gate, and on both sides of it, on both sides of the door frame and the bridge stand two tall angel statues. The two hooded angels with closed wings pointing to holy swords are like two golden giant soldiers, guarding both sides of the magnificent gate.

The sun shines on their beautiful faces and the golden armor they wear. The glittering light shines on them. They guard the magnificent ship that fell on the earth, and have been guarding it faithfully for decades.

Like them, under the warship, on both sides of the road in front of the landing gate, there are many buildings. Many people are walking between those wooden or iron buildings. These veterans of the Great Expedition live here and have been guarding the warships behind them for decades.

Vito took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and walked onto the street. Peter and his party followed him. Lilith naturally walked beside Vito and walked with him in the front. At the end of the team, Magnus looked at Arthur as he passed over the field.

The latter also looked at him, at the red Cyclops. The tall Magnus stared at Arthur, and his eyes saw the book in his hand. The title of the book was written on the cover of the brown-red book, a book that is now an absolutely banned book in the empire, "On Gods".

Magnus raised his head slightly, looked up at Arthur and nodded to him. After Arthur nodded politely in response, Magnus walked forward and followed Vito into the direction of the main road.

Vito walked into the intersection at the edge of the town. After passing through the vast fields on both sides and the artificially dug irrigation canals flowing between them, Vito walked into the outermost part of the town. He raised his head and looked at the first building that came into view at the entrance of the town. It was a small house made of steel, with a large number of cables and hoses hanging on its outside.

Those dense ropes extended from high above, hanging on the walls and the extended support poles. There were also many electric towers standing on the open space around the building. Their tops were covered with several layers of Tesla electric coils, and the ground between them was connected to countless crisscrossing energy pipelines.

Vito stood on the street on one side of the building and looked at the densely packed exterior wall that looked like a spider web. Peter came up with a gun on his back. He stood beside Vito and looked at the complex exterior wall with him.

"What is this, the Iron Sheet Pansidong Limited Edition?" Vito asked with a wry smile, and Peter beside him shrugged his shoulders, holding the gun belt and adjusting the blaster on his shoulder.

"No, it's an energy relay station. We gather the energy output from the reactor on the Emperor's Dream here, convert it here, and then transport it to various places in the settlement."

"Relay station? The one on the ship can't be used? We have to build a hand-made version here. It looks like something the greenskins waggggggge made. It won't explode, right?" Vito smiled bitterly and put his hands on his hips, looking at the relay station in front of him. The orange Tesla coil flashed with lightning, and it looked like it would explode at any time.

"The energy control system on the ship can't be used. After we manually started the reactor, we found that the energy without automatic adjustment by the system was too large. If it was used directly, it would explode into a nuclear bomb, so we built this relay station on the ground here to adjust and divert the surging energy."

Peter said, Vito lowered his head and glanced at Peter, and then he raised his head to look at the Emperor's Dream in the distance. It was like a dragon in the oriental mythology lying in the mountains, and its existence itself was like this world.

Vito looked up at the warship, which was covered with mist. He looked at the energy tubes hanging from the height and was silent for a moment. "There is trouble on the ship, right? That's why you are trapped here."

"Yes, Marshal." Peter replied softly, and Vito smiled slightly. He lowered his head and looked at the complex group of electric towers in front of him. "It doesn't matter. I will solve the problem and take you away."

Peter looked at Vito, just like when he heard that before, he would regard the speaker as an idiot who got drunk in the bar, but when Vito said this, Peter had no doubt at all. He believed in Vito, unreservedly and unconditionally.

Peter nodded. He looked towards the power tower with Vito, holding his gun. Lightning shot up between the dense power towers that looked like magnetic storm weapons. To be honest, it was a miracle that the power station here didn't explode. Since such a fake relay station had been used for decades and was still in good condition, Vito couldn't help but start to wonder if humans also had wagggggggge energy or something.

"Although it looks dangerous, it has indeed been operating normally for decades. We have to thank its builder and commander." "Molar."

Vito said the name that Peter hadn't said yet. He smiled at the operating table under the dense cables hanging in the relay station. In front of the terminal screen at the end of the spider-web-like pipe stood two Mechanicus priests. They were all wearing red robes, and their mechanical arms stretched out from under the red robes, operating the instruments in front of them in an orderly manner.

When Vito looked over, one of the priests also noticed Vito. He raised the upper half of his face that had not yet been transformed into a machine, and his iron-gray eyes looked at Vito in astonishment, revealing a trace of human surprise in the absolute rationality and even cold calculation program of the Mechanicus.

"Scott-2, you interrupted the operation, why?" The technical priest who was still burying his head and operating the terminal in front of him asked, and Scott-2 beside him spoke in a strange tone of surprise and calmness.

"If Ohm Messiah blesses me, my sensory system and memory matching system have not failed, I believe there is an 80% chance that it is Marshal Vito Constantine himself."

"100%" Vito smiled and leaned forward. He stepped behind the buried technical priest Moral, who stood up and turned his face, which had still completed the mechanical transformation of half of his face. His left face was still flesh and blood, and his right face was still completely transformed into a machine.

Moral looked up at Vito behind him. His mechanical eyes clicked and locked onto Vito in front of him. Then he looked down at Peter who followed behind Vito. "Colonel Peter, please help verify my calculation results. Is the person in front of me Marshal Vito Constantine himself?"

"Yes, Moral, you don't need to calculate to guess. The marshal is standing in front of you, alive." Peter laughed jokingly, and Vito beside him also smiled and folded his arms. "Yes, I'm still so handsome, right? And you are exactly the same as I remember."

"Our Mechanicus teaches that the human body modification part can withstand the damage of time. My appearance can match your memory data cognition."

"Yes, I can see it."

Vito smiled and looked at Moral in front of him. His appearance has not changed at all. It seems that the passage of fifty years or even longer has not caused any impact on his mechanical body. His face, voice and habits are still exactly the same as he remembers.

Vito took a deep breath, then slowly popped out and looked at the priest in front of him with great joy, "It's nice to see you again, Moral, Om Messiah bless you."

"Om Messiah bless you too, Marshal, but my system calculation results show that there is only a 30% chance that we can meet again, so my conclusion is that we will never meet in this life."

"Wow, it's not bad to make a mistake once in a while, right?" Vito smiled and pressed Moral's shoulder. The latter's semi-mechanical face looked up at Vito's face. He was silent for a moment, and the eyes on the mechanical side flashed, but soon Moral's only remaining human part showed a smile.

"I think so, Marshal, Om Messiah bless you."

Vito looked at Moral's smile, and he also smiled happily and gently patted his shoulder with his iron fist, "I'm really glad to see you again, my friend."

Vito said and turned around and walked towards the inner side of the town. Peter stood behind Vito with a gun on his back and looked at the marshal's back with a smile. He then turned to look at Moral, "Tell everyone that the marshal is back."

"Understood." Moral nodded and said. After watching Peter follow Vito and leave, he lowered his head slightly. A string of data flashed across his mechanical eyeballs quickly. A string of data that he thought he would never Unused code data.

"The Supreme Marshal has returned to his legion." This sentence quickly spread throughout the entire Mechanicus network through the torrent of information. In the blink of an eye, the entire settlement knew the news.

Vito walked onto the main road. Everyone under the eaves on both sides of him and walking on the street immediately noticed Vito. All the veterans saw Vito coming. They were stunned for a while at first. , they looked at the golden armor, as if falling into some kind of nihilistic dream, and when they saw Vito's face, almost out of instinct, everyone stood at attention and saluted him.

"Marshal." In front of Vito, the hunter, who was carrying a sniper rifle and carrying a unique local small game in his other hand, raised his arm and saluted Vito without hesitation. He took a few steps back and gave way. Go aside.

"Soles." Vito smiled and saluted him, and then looked at the veterans standing up from their chairs under the eaves. They were all wearing navy blue uniforms. The three of them immediately jumped up from their chairs and immediately Stand at attention and salute Vito.

"Mervin, Laval and Storu, it's nice to see you, really." "We are too, Marshal, it's nice to see you again."

After Vito turned to salute the three of them, he continued to walk along the road in front of him. He did not need to lower his arms at all. All the expedition veterans around him were standing on both sides of the road. They were either alone or in groups of three. Five groups lined up on both sides, everyone raised their arms and stared intently at Vito who was approaching.

Vito came to a bar. Outside the two-story building with corrugated wood, a piece of iron was used to carve the shape of a wine glass. Vito stopped and looked at the several energy hoses plugged into the outer wall jokingly. There are also many buildings with cables tied together climbing out of the roof.

The double doors of the bar were immediately pushed open, and the veterans who heard the commotion and shouting rushed out of the bar. They all held guns, as if they thought they were being attacked, but when they saw standing on the street outside the door, When Vito looked at him with a smile on his face, everyone lowered their guns in stunned silence.

"Marshal? I'm not drunk, am I?" the veteran who took the lead and rushed out with an energy pistol in his hand and a mustache said in surprise. His accent was weird and high-pitched, which sounded funny and fun.

Vito smiled as he looked up at the bar behind him and saw the drinks on the wall filled with various glasses. "I don't think you have, Ezio. It seems that you can finally develop your skills of moonshining in an honest way."

Vito spoke in that unique ancient Terran Latin accent, and Ezio understood immediately. He was not drunk. He still hadn't heard this familiar accent in many years, and in this galaxy, there were only A person can speak with this accent.

"Mamma Mia! The Emperor!" Ezio said, immediately inserting the pistol in his holster, and then slapped down the hand of a young man holding a gun next to him, and he waved himself He gestured and shouted to the veterans and young people around him.

"Put down your guns! It's the marshal!" Ezio said, immediately kicking his legs and standing at attention under the eaves of the bar to salute and look at Vito. The soldiers around him, big and small, all stood at attention and saluted at the same time.

"Lieutenant Ezio Florence is reporting to you, Marshal." "Hello, Ezio, it seems that the moonshine water you were chased by the law enforcement team and ran all over the ship is now legal, and you can hang it upright. Out."

Vito said, pointing to the wine shelf behind Ezio, who laughed, and the mustache on his mouth twitched, "Yes, I spent a lot of time convincing the Chief of Law Enforcement Oleg. , and Captain Reina, we can't keep our nerves serious all day long when the ship cannot fly and is on standby, otherwise we will lose morale. "

"And it seems that you convinced them." Vito said with a smile. He looked at Ezio who was also smiling in front of him. "Yes, sir, it took a lot of effort, but it was finally successful."

"How is the morale? Is it still high?" Vito looked at the row of veterans standing in front of him. They all stood under the eaves with their chests raised and their heads raised, like soldiers undergoing review, standing in the middle. The same goes for Ezio, who stood up straight and held his head high.

"The morale of the entire ship is high, and we are always ready for your orders, sir!"

"Very good, let's continue to keep everyone's morale up. We will do the same after we leave here. I will have to come for a drink later." Vito said, patting Ezio's arm gently with his iron fist, and then walked towards At the end of the street, Ezio and the veteran beside him looked at each other, then stepped down the steps of the bar two or three times, and came to the street to look at Vito.

"Marshal, do you want us to leave here?" "That's right, so get ready to pack up these drinks and take them away! I haven't had a sip yet."

Vito smiled and waved his hand in the distance. He spoke lightly of the morale-boosting news. He would take them, all of them, out of the webway and return to the embrace of the Empire.

Ezio laughed out loud. He stood at attention on the street and saluted Vito's back. Then he playfully flicked his finger in the air, "Yes, Marshal, get ready!"

Vito continued to walk on the street. On both sides of him, veterans and their children gathered from all over the place saluted and greeted Vito, and Vito turned to them one by one without hesitation.

He was really saluting, saluting these soldiers who had been trapped in the webway for more than 50 years and had never taken off their uniforms, laid down their weapons, and were disciplined and proud as the Imperial Expeditionary Force.

The old soldiers who pushed open the door and strode out of the buildings on both sides of the street walked down the porch quickly. As they walked, they buttoned up their uniforms and stood on the street in front of the eaves. They raised their arms and looked at Vito who was walking across the street. The title of "Marshal" rang in their ears one after another.

Vito looked at these men and women. Their uniforms, the navy blue uniforms had turned into light blue or even gray after countless washings and wearings. The worn uniforms were full of patches, but they never took off the uniforms. The men and women here were still just as Vito remembered. He was right. Even though the faces of these soldiers were full of wrinkles and old looks in the vicissitudes of life, he could still recognize them from their uniforms.

Vito walked past the buildings that were spliced ​​and built with the wreckage stripped from the warships. Those steel houses were welded together in a very funny way, looking like a bad puzzle. Vito looked at those buildings and laughed, but there was nothing strange about it. After all, they were all his former subordinates, and they faithfully inherited Vito's minimalist and pragmatic aesthetics.

But when Vito looked up at the imperial eagle flag flying on the roof, the flying golden eagle flag seemed to turn those iron buildings into the most magnificent palaces. Nothing in the world could compare to the buildings in the webway.

Vito looked up at the flag and smiled. He stood in front of the building and stopped for a long time. Peter behind him also looked up and smiled at the fluttering flag, which had never fallen in the webway for decades.

"Marshal?" An old voice came from the side. Vito was stunned for a moment after hearing the voice and turned his head slightly. He saw the old man coming from another wooden building behind him with the imperial flag flying. He was very old, very old, and the years made him unable to straighten his back.

The old man was wearing a white preacher's robe. He was leaning on a cane and could only come out with the help of a young preacher who was also wearing a robe. The old man was hunched over and walked with difficulty and effort. He walked over as fast as possible, leaning on a cane as if he was a monk going to a worship meeting that was too late.

Vito turned around immediately, strode forward and knelt on one knee in front of the old man. He supported the old man in front of him and looked at the old man's old face through the wide collar of the power armor. His face was full of wrinkles, almost like a piece of parchment that had been squeezed countless times. "Virtus? Is it you?"

"It's me, Marshal, it's me. I'm too old, right? So old that you don't recognize me." Virtus raised his skinny hand and touched Vito's face, as if to make sure that the person in front of him was not an illusion.

Vito knelt on the ground, letting his wrinkled and dry hands touch his face. Tears welled up in the old man's eyes. He threw away his crutches and touched Vito's face with both hands. "It's really you, Vito, you are here. I have been waiting for you for a long time."

"It's me, old friend, I am here. I have kept you waiting for a long time." Vito also sobbed and pressed Virtus's shoulders. He still remembered when he first met Virtus. It was during the Terra Unification War. He was one of many people who could be called true old friends of Vito.

No, it was also the last one. When Vito met Virtus, he was still very young. He remembered his young and passionate face at that time. He vowed to preach the truth of the empire to the whole galaxy until the end of his life. He did it and he lived up to his oath.

"I have kept the flame of the truth of the empire for us, your and the Emperor's will, our dream. Now I can finally give that flame back to you."

"Virtus, don't say that, you." "I'm dying, Vito, I'm the last preacher on the ship, let me return the seed of the truth of the empire to you, let me fulfill my last duty."

Vito looked at the old man in front of him who was like a candle in the wind and was about to burn out. There was still the last flame in his eyes. Vito raised his head and looked at the building behind Virtus. The beautiful wooden building was painted and hung with beautiful flower decorations.

There were many younger children around the gate. They seemed to be Peter's grandchildren and their children's children. They gathered at the door, at the door of the classroom with countless desks and books, looking at Vito and Virtus.

Vito took a deep breath and leaned his forehead against Virtus'. "You have finally become a teacher, my old friend. You have taught countless generations. You have done everything you promised. Now, take a good rest. I will pass on this seed for you."

"Thank you, Vito, thank you, I can finally go to see the Emperor," Virtus said in an old voice. Behind Vito, Magnus looked at him quietly, looking at this old man who was burning the last bit of fire in his life, preserving and continuing the fire of civilization and knowledge.

Magnus looked at him, and in an instant, many things flashed through his mind, respect, respect and more things. Magnus looked up at the fluttering imperial flag and the dancing eagle on it, "You liar, how can there be so many respectable people who burn their lives for you?"

Magnus didn't understand. He didn't understand why these people were infinitely loyal to the Emperor and his so-called imperial truth, that ridiculous lie, and were even willing to spend their lives to continue burning it. Magnus didn't know that for many people like Virtus, their loyalty was never to the Emperor.

They are loyal and willing to devote their lives to human civilization. They preserve the seeds of civilization and the history books of the years, pass it on and continue to burn. This is what they, the preachers, have been fighting for all their lives.

Peter walked to Vito's side. He held the marshal's shoulder armor with a gun on his back, and then turned his head to look at the landing deck of the Emperor Fantasy, which was already in front of him. Above the huge gate bridge was the magnificent giant gate.

Vito also looked up at the gate between the two angel statues, shining in the sun. Peter stood beside Vito and looked at the gate with him.

"Come on, she is waiting for you. He has been waiting for you for fifty or sixty years, just like all of us."