The once frenzied mass of writhing tendrils gradually lost their vitality, collapsing and piling up into pale mounds of flesh and blood.
After meticulously scanning the area multiple times to confirm there were no surviving alien life signs, Zhang Ge controlled the side of his sword to fish out the two halves of metal that had been cleaved apart from the mountain of flesh. Simultaneously, he used the detector to search for the remains of the Killa Kan.
Upon locating it, the Titan walked over and brushed aside the tendrils surrounding its wreckage. The shattered components, torn armor, and even the main body had been crushed beyond recognition. Perhaps after he had left, the surging tendrils had no interest in the Killa Kan, a mere metal shell.
But even without being actively attacked, simply being caught in the midst of countless crushing masses of flesh was no different from being thrown into a shredder.
Hesitating for a moment, Zhang Ge ultimately decided against moving the remains. He took a few steps back and aimed one of the triple-barreled Laser Destructors mounted on his shoulders downward.
Lowering the output power, three crimson beams gently bathed the wreckage. With a temperature surprisingly gentle for a Titan, the remains slowly glowed red and melted into liquid, merging with the Ceramite ground.
Born for battle, died in battle, and finally buried by one strong enough—perhaps this was a fitting end for a Killa Kan. Let it merge with the ground it had fought upon until the very end. There was no need to disturb it further.
After the brief funeral, Zhang Ge confirmed there were no other loose ends, then withdrew the sword, allowing his consciousness to return to his body. Sheathing Ascalon, he felt a tinge of regret, but he had already prepared himself for this back in the armory. No matter—there would be plenty of other opportunities.
Patting the top of the sword sheath standing at the center of the Titan, Zhang Ge praised, "Olivia, well done."
As his words fell, a holographic projection of the girl appeared. She adjusted her size so that the top of her head was just beneath Zhang Ge's palm, smiling with closed eyes as she accepted the compliment.
Watching her seemingly enjoying the gesture, Zhang Ge asked curiously, "Can you really feel that?"
Olivia nodded earnestly, "Mhm, your hand is very warm."
"Ah, I see."
Warmth—such a rare word in this universe. Initially, Zhang Ge had only felt the sheath was a bit uncomfortable and wanted to withdraw his hand, but he ended up lingering a little longer.
However, this rare moment of peace didn't last long. After all, others were heading in this direction. Reluctantly pulling his hand back under Olivia's longing gaze, Zhang Ge said, "After I leave, just stay still. Whatever those Tech-Priests... the red-robed ones say, don't pay them any mind."
The less response she gave, the more distant she remained, the higher Olivia's status would be. Zhang Ge had no intention of revealing that he had wielded Ascalon to control the Titan. From the perspective of self-preservation alone, it was unwise. If the Mechanicus discovered that the sword was a relic, they wouldn't hesitate to eliminate him as its wielder to prevent any unforeseen complications.
Soon after giving his instructions, Zhang Ge exited the Titan. Outside, Amilia, who had arrived ahead of the others using her jump pack, had been waiting for some time.
After waving his hand to dismiss her intention to fly up and drag him away, Zhang Ge leaped toward a nearby high point on the flesh mound.
Although the piled-up flesh mound was still significantly lower than the Titan's back, it was no longer made of Ceramite ground but rather layers of tendrils, so there was little risk of injury for someone of Zhang Ge's physique.
Mid-air, Zhang Ge fell under the force of gravity and landed, his body sinking halfway into the layered tendrils.
To be honest, setting aside the racial aspect, the texture of these tendrils was quite pleasant to touch.
As Zhang Ge pushed himself out, he felt that the sensation of these things was... aside from the lack of warmth, quite similar to the touch of Amilia's cheek when he had brushed against her in the trench earlier. Moreover, when his body sank into them, there was a just-right softness that enveloped him.
Amilia, who had just flown over, noticed Zhang Ge seemed to be reminiscing about something and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, just looking at that metal block and wondering what's inside," Zhang Ge replied without hesitation, pointing to the two sizable metal blocks nearby, smoothly shifting the focus.
Although her intuition told her it wasn't that simple, Amilia chose to trust Zhang Ge rather than dwell on her gut feeling. She didn't press further and instead said, "Is that so? Then let's take a look."
Zhang Ge naturally nodded in agreement, and the two quickly approached the object.
Upon closer inspection, Zhang Ge realized it wasn't just a metal block but a rectangular, sizable metal chamber with thick walls.
Seeing this, Amilia opened her palm to summon her greatsword into her hand while extending her other arm to block Zhang Ge slightly, giving him a questioning look.
While it would be safer to wait for the Mechanicus vanguard to arrive, taking a small risk to search for potential treasures before the Mechanicus could get to them was also a reasonable option.
After all, if the living couldn't do much to Amilia and Zhang Ge, how could the dead be stronger? The worm-like creatures didn't have a giant figure sitting on a Golden Throne.
Thinking this, Zhang Ge said, "Let's go in first."
Hearing this, Amilia retracted her blocking arm and took a position slightly ahead of Zhang Ge. The two entered the metal chamber one after the other.
After entering, they searched through the various compartments of the chamber but encountered no attacks, which left Zhang Ge slightly disappointed once again.
In the deepest part of the chamber, they found a terminal. Although the operating text on the device itself was incomprehensible, the screen displayed a bilingual transaction log, and the screen itself was touch-sensitive, allowing them to scroll up to earlier logs.
One of the languages was naturally the incomprehensible script, while the other was Imperial Gothic.
The most recent entry was dated three years ago, which was relatively recent, but the earliest dated back hundreds of years—a span of time that, for most nobles, was almost a lifetime.
With so many logs, Zhang Ge wouldn't have time to read them all. He said to Amilia, "Amilia, you take a look and then summarize the important information for me."
She nodded, stepped up to the screen, and began scrolling at a speed far beyond what the human eye could follow, lines of text flashing by rapidly.