40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 20 20. An old-fashioned water purifier

The biting wind blew past.

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

He ate the dark stuff with an expressionless expression, seemingly indifferent. However, every time he swallowed a mouthful, his throat would roll up and down for a long time.

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

He needs to eat to stay alive.

"."

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

He had to make sure they were really all the way down his throat - if not, he might suddenly vomit after a while.

Khalil didn't want this to happen again, wasting food once was bad enough.

However, the root cause of vomiting is actually not just nausea and nausea. More importantly, it was because his throat and intestines instinctively refused to accept them.

They don't recognize it as food.

Every time he ate, his body's instincts screamed for something other than themselves, and Khalil was unfazed by it.

On Nostramo, only nutritious ointments can be considered normal food within the scope of his knowledge.

It tastes bad, looks bad, smells more like chemicals than food - and yes, it has no merit at all except that it fills you up. But at least it's not made from rats, or stuff from a butcher's shop.

Khalil stood up slowly.

He was sure that he had completed the task of 'eating'. Then, all you need to do next is to do everything step by step.

Standing on the edge of the building, he moved his shoulders. Since he was not wearing a cloak, his robe made of rags was blown by the cold wind. It actually sounded like a strange rhythm.

The corners of his clothes fluttered, and Khalil moved his hands in his sleeves casually. His body temperature was passing away, and his hands were already a little frozen.

However, this is fine. These not-so-good feelings always wake him up.

He needs to wake up.

All the heirs of the Skolevok family have died, along with their representative, the Glory Overseer, in Quintus' lower lair.

This is no small thing, even for Skolywock.

Suffering such heavy losses on the eve of the Great Purge will no doubt make some of them furious.

However, this family is not as loose as Shivertooth, and their discipline is quite strict. No one will act privately without the order of the Earl, the head of the family.

In other words, if the count's personality is more calm, the next step in the plan needs to be changed.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but squint his eyes and shake his head - the Skolywock family can indeed be discussed later, but the person who shook his teeth has not come yet.

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

Khalil preferred the latter, much to his disappointment.

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

By then, the civilians who have left their nests will stay shut in and shivering in shantytowns or dilapidated apartments.

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

During this time period, nobles would not just come and lay down their nests. After the Great Purge, no one with any sense would expect to find the murderer in the chaotic lower nest.

Although Shivertooth is crazy, they are not stupid. And if they don't send someone.

Tsk.

Will they really give up like this?

Khalil didn't have an answer, but he remembered another thing about the Great Purge.

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

When they dress up and converse elegantly at a ball, or exchange bloody interests with each other at some conference table, they will use the word "purification" to describe this cruel thing.

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

Purify.

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

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

This sentence once appeared day and night on a floating billboard near the factory.

Khalil couldn't help but laugh - this matter seemed so ironic to him that it actually felt absurd and ridiculous.

The workers are illiterate at all. Who are they trying to show when they put up such slogans around the factory?

Purify. They do have a sense of humor.

I really hate this sense of humor.

"Khalil!"

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

“I found a water purifier that no one wanted!”

Turning his head, Khalil saw an obvious joy on the ghost's face. He held a heavy machine in his arms. The surface was covered with rust and its shape had also changed.

Apparently, it was thrown away 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?"

"A factory garbage dump in the middle of a new town."

Ghost answered very quickly. "I found it while doing patrol today. It seems to have been there for several days, but no one has picked it up yet!"

You consider yourself lucky, don't you?

Khalil smiled silently.

But you're actually lucky because no one wants a broken old water purifier, Ghost.

This kind of machine is so heavy and heavy that no one except you can hold it with one hand. Moreover, its failure rate is also surprisingly high. It has long since been eliminated.

Most of the old water purifiers were discarded and disappeared somewhere in the city. Over time, they would gradually be covered with mud or corpses.

always like this.

Always buried, always ignored, always forgotten.

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

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

"Really?"

"Yeah. Just 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 followed, slowly dissipating on the top of the high-rise building.

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

".I'm just tapping it."

Khalil replied dumbfounded. "How could I possibly know its current condition just by knocking on it?"

And we don’t have electricity either, Ghost. A rainwater filter works because it's a very crude gadget, so simple that it doesn't even require electricity.

But this big guy you picked up is an electric monster.

"Oh" Ghost nodded disappointedly. "I thought you would know"

"How can I know everything?"

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

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

Those shops that work part-time, or whose main business is black market, basically sell everything.

From machine parts, firearms bullets, internal organs. They cover almost everything. They do everything except compete with butcher shops.

Thinking of this, Khalil couldn't help but paused - they had no money, so parts might be a big problem.

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

Forget it, let’s take a look first.

He calmly continued to wipe the sides of the water purifier with his sleeves, and the dirt was quickly removed. With the help of a neon light that swept over him, 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."

"Ah? Why?"

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

"Its sales were not good, and no one wanted to buy it. Officials and other factory owners had better options, so there were not many of them left. You are 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. Even if the parts of other water purifiers can be replaced, it is unlikely that it will work the same as before."

".I'm sorry, Khalil."

"Um?"

Ghost squatted down in disappointment: "I picked up a useless thing and wasted your time."

"Why do you think so?"

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

Khalil was silent.

A cold wind blew by.

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

Sin is rampant, sin is its foundation, and every corner of Eternal Night Star appears sick, depraved, and insane.

Every second it floated on Nostramo, the ghost could hear countless screams. Countless people died unjustly, but the perpetrators were safe and sound. The so-called 'justice' and 'retribution' never came.

They don't even want to be late.

Then some terrible years later, that ghost became Khalil Lohars.

The ghost lowered his head and sighed.

"Caryl?" 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 survive safely, 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."

"ah?"

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

"Really?"

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

Ghost looked at him, then nodded.

Khalil smiled slightly.

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

At least not yet.

First of all – I don’t cut hair.

Then - no more, I wish you all good health and all the best.