The next day, dawn still had not arrived.
The sky over Cadia remained gloomy.
Everyone in the camp was awakened by a deafening sound and a blinding white light striking down from the sky.
No one knew what it was; the soldiers could only whisper among themselves and make guesses.
David saw more drop pods falling from the sky, and they were becoming more scattered, landing across every part of the planet Cadia.
Chaos Space Marines had begun to participate in the war with increasing frequency.
The Word Bearers Legion was planning to destroy the famous Blackstone structures on Cadia;
The Iron Warriors began bringing their siege engines to attack other Bastions.
And then there were the Slaaneshi Defiler warbands... Chaos was appearing on this land more and more often.
In the soldier rest area built by David, two soldiers climbed onto a matchbox and sat side by side.
"Hey, did you see that thing this morning?"
"Yeah, it made a huge racket; half the camp was startled awake."
"The direction that beam of light appeared... wasn't that where the Vartok Bastion is?"
"I heard it's some kind of terrifying weapon from Great Despoiler's side..."
"Will they survive?"
Neither of them answered, for they both knew the truth in their hearts.
"At least we still have good food. What was this called again? Roasted potato, right?"
One soldier picked up a roasted potato he had received from Bailey that morning.
"Right, and this beast milk." The other soldier took a large gulp to steady his nerves.
Five hundred meters deep beneath the camp.
The project was progressing smoothly; with the power of the blueprint, such ease was only natural.
David only needed to follow the surveyors' requirements to first build a small section of this massive tunnel.
Then it was just copy and paste, with the rest being minor adjustments.
Unfortunately, the spaces displaced by the blueprint didn't drop blocks, so David's plan to use it for mining fell through.
"How many times do I have to say it? It won't collapse. It's absolutely impossible for it to collapse."
This was already the 102nd time since morning that David had said this to the group of surveyors.
The surveyors remained relentless, holding paper blueprints and rulers, muttering professional terms like stress analysis and geological profiles.
David rolled his eyes and acted as if he hadn't heard a thing.
He stopped using the blueprint, finally yielding to the surveyors' wishes.
This group of surveyors was very professional—perhaps a bit too professional.
For every kilometer the tunnel extended, they recorded every inch of data on their drawings to ensure there wasn't the slightest error in direction.
According to them, this tunnel would play a major role in future battles and couldn't be handled with even the slightest carelessness.
They also set up defensive measures every 500 meters along the tunnel and assigned soldiers to stand guard.
This was to prevent other enemies from occupying the tunnel, and to allow soldiers to resist and buy time if enemies followed during a retreat.
David felt they were right, so he didn't say anything more.
Fine, if they wanted to do inspections, let them; it wouldn't take much time anyway.
It just so happened that Sergeant Victor mentioned the 23rd Regiment had arrived, so he'd use this time to take a look.
"Then I'll head up first. You guys take your time with the drawings."
"Alright, Sir David," the surveyors replied without looking up, chirping away in intense discussion.
"Look here, we could lay down a rail subway and build a massive underground support network. Cadia's defenses would truly be invincible."
"That won't be necessary," David countered upon hearing this. "The Nether Express is much faster than any subway."
The surveyors wanted to ask what the Nether Express was, but David had already reached the side of the tunnel. His figure blurred as he flew straight ahead.
"Your mission is to head forward fifteen hundred meters. There's a newly established sentry post there."
At the tunnel entrance, an NCO was assigning tasks to the newly transferred soldiers.
The new soldiers walked down the gentle slope, their mouths hanging open in shock at the sight of the tunnel.
The NCO assigning the tasks patted his shoulder understandingly. "You'll get used to it."
"Wait a moment, sir," the New Recruit asked stutteringly.
"Those things like small boats placed along the side of the tunnel every so often—what are they for?"
Before he could finish, he saw a figure flash onto a small boat in the tunnel at the edge of his vision.
Then the figure appeared on another boat a few meters ahead, then another flash, and another... with a few flickers, it flew across the long tunnel, heading straight for the entrance.
"What's wrong now? You look like you've seen a ghost." The NCO had just finished tying his shoelaces when he looked up and saw the New Recruit's dumbfounded expression.
"It's nothing. I think I really did see a ghost just now."
Of course, it wasn't a ghost; it was David. He had placed a boat in the tunnel at regular intervals.
This way, he only needed to keep right-clicking to quickly fly out of the tunnel, which was also to save time.
Soon, David reached the start of the tunnel. There was a massive slope leading to the surface, designed to allow Leman Russ Tanks to pass through.
Many people were walking up and down the slope in scattered groups, handing over work.
David didn't take the slope. He went to a wooden door on the side and pushed it open to find a small single room.
Looking up, there were several Signs, and above them was water. This was a simple Water Elevator.
David bent his knees slightly and jumped upward.
Supported by the water current, his body surged upward. The light brightened rapidly; he was nearing the surface.
Bang!
David felt his head collide with a fluffy, ball-shaped object.
Caught off guard, David was pushed down a bit by the counterforce. He choked on some water and paddled a bit before steadying himself again.
Something was blocking the exit. Could something have happened in the camp?
David switched to his shield and looked up.
The mysterious ball-shaped mass above him was also startled and moved to the side. A familiar cry came from it:
"Moo."
"Otis?" David was stunned and lowered his shield. "How did you get as fat as a ball?"
Otis was turning its head, though its neck was almost invisible.
Ever since the miraculous effects of the beast milk had spread, Otis's status in the camp had skyrocketed.
The soldiers were grateful for the life-saving milk it provided and couldn't help but feed it whatever treats they had.
Combined with the fact that no one dared to order or disturb this hero, Otis spent its whole day doing nothing but eating and sleeping.
The ball-shaped Otis seemed to recognize David. It moved its short legs, which were encased in fat, and rolled toward him.
Seeing Otis rushing toward him, David resolutely raised his shield.
Otis slammed into the shield, its fat compressing before it bounced off like a rubber ball with a bang, tumbling a few times on the ground.
Then, because it was too fat, it couldn't flip back over. Its limbs flailed wildly as it tried to right itself.
It's time to lose weight, David thought as he looked at the ball-shaped Otis. I should give you some intense high-altitude cardio.
He asked around the camp and found a Lead.
Then he placed a wooden Fence on a floating block and used the Lead to tether Otis in mid-air.
That day, everyone in the camp saw a cow soaring in the sky.