Russell nodded and reached out to touch Gray Wind’s head. “I have arranged production tasks with Anti-Entropy in advance. Once the giant dock is online, it will immediately start building ships without regard for cost and without sleep. I have a hunch that some kind of danger that cannot be underestimated is approaching. The disappearance of the 9th Expeditionary Fleet is a sign.”

Intuition is something illusory and has a bit of metaphysical meaning. But since coming to this universe, Russell’s intuition has always been very accurate. This may also be a kind of subspace prophecy.

“That’s why I need to send a team to scout the situation near Barr in advance and collect intelligence so that the newly-built fleet from the giant shipyard can be sent to the front immediately…”

In any case, a powerful fleet is an extension and execution tool of their will to power.

Russell briefly explained his concerns and countermeasures to Grey Wind, and Grey Wind listened carefully, but suddenly, both of their bodies froze at the same time.

The two of them showed the same look of astonishment on their faces, because just now, Russell and Gray Wind both received a communication from Anti-Entropy:

“Report, the Valkyrie ‘Unripe Dream’ has returned to its home port.”

Chapter 202: Clever Gray Wind

The “Unripened Dream”, the flagship of the 9th Expeditionary Fleet stationed by the Crimson Upstarts, is the first Valkyrie to return to its home port since the beginning of the expedition.

After receiving the notification, Russell did not delay at all and took Gray Wind directly to the Seekers star base.

“Is the Unripe Dream the only one coming back? Where are the other ships of the 9th Expeditionary Fleet?” This was the first question Russell asked Anti-Entropy.

“To be precise, it is 1/3 of the Unripe Dream.” Anti-Entropy’s answer was very pragmatic.

“how you said that?”

“It means exactly what it says. You’ll understand it when you see it.”

Russell frowned slightly at Anti-Entropy’s suspense, but when he rushed to the lower level of the star base and saw the giant battleship docked at the anchorage of the Seekers’ home port, he immediately understood what the literal meaning was.

At this time, the Unripe Dream was covered with scars and no longer as pleasing to the eye as when it set out. The angel wings on its body that had a strong religious meaning had withered, and the zero-element armor on the surface of the hull had largely decomposed and collapsed. This was the result of the void shield, psychic shield, and dark matter deflector shield all being destroyed by overload.

The adamantium rams at the bow and stern were twisted and deformed, the damaged Nova Cannon array was only one tenth of it, and a large part of the hull was broken apart, exposing the twisted keel structure. Overall, 2/3 of this Valkyrie-class battleship was destroyed, and it was lucky to be able to drag the remains back to the home port.

“Are there any crew members alive inside the hull?” Russell asked with a serious expression.

“All the mortal sailors have died. No one survived. There are still 46 Astartes Brothers of the Crimson Upstarts alive, but they are unable to communicate. They have fallen into a semi-permanent state of frenzy, hunting each other. In fact, there were about 1 of them an hour ago.”

Anti-Entropy said truthfully: “Due to their status as a successor group of the Blood Angels, they should have fallen into a state called ‘Black Rage’.”

Finally, it added: “The number of surviving Astartes Brothers has dropped to 39.”

“The Blood Angels who have fallen into the Dark Rage are not worth saving. Just kill them.” Russell sighed.

“As you wish.” Anti-Entropy stopped talking.

Gray Wind climbed onto Russell’s shoulder and looked at the huge and desolate warship hull below the anchorage with him. He wondered, “It seems that the 9th Expeditionary Fleet was indeed wiped out. Only the Unripened Dream managed to escape back thanks to the powerful performance of the Valkyrie-class battleship.”

Gray Feng thought for a while and began to list the information he could analyze:

According to the situation on the battleship, the enemy should have destroyed this defense by a frontal attack, rather than by taking shortcuts to break it from the inside.

“The Valkyrie-class battleship’s defense system consists of psionic shields, dark matter deflection shields, void shields, and zero-element armor. Being able to break through this defense head-on shows that the enemy has studied psionic theory and physical laws in depth and has made considerable achievements.”

“There is not even a trace of the Warp’s evil magic or Chaos influence on the hull or outside. The enemy is not Chaos.”

“The damaged Zero Element Armor was not shattered by external rigid force, but by its own structure. Being able to disintegrate this super material that has every atom locked by graviton manipulation technology shows that it possesses god-level technology involving gravity or dimension.”

“The adamantium horns and keels were not broken, but bent and twisted. Adamantium is a rigid material with absolutely no ‘toughness’. The fact that it can bend further confirms my previous thoughts – the enemy has mastered the higher dimension.”

Gray Wind thought for a while, then bent down and whispered into Russell’s ear, “So, it is possible that the 9th Expeditionary Fleet encountered a powerful Necron dynasty?”

In this universe, the only civilization that can manipulate both the Sea of ​​Souls and the material dimension at the same time is the Necrons. … Humans don’t count. The first thing the oil man did after digging out the god-level technology involving the dimension was to hide it, and would rather die than let anyone know.

After Gray Wind finished speaking his thoughts, he waited for a while, but did not receive any response from Russell, so he became a little discouraged: “Marshal, are you distracted?”

“No, I was just communicating with the Unripe Dream’s machine soul, but unfortunately, it no longer has a machine soul.” Russell sighed and gently held the hand of Gray Wind who was sitting on his shoulder: “The Unripe Dream’s machine soul is dead. To be more precise, it was eaten.”

“Huh?” Huifeng was stunned.

Russell used his psychic power to bring her to the interior of the Unripe Dream’s tattered hull. Although it had been through a huge battle, the leaky cabins and corridors were clean, so clean that there was not a trace of blood.

“You are right. Whether it is physical technology or psychic defense, their impact on the enemy is very limited. They have means to target shields, and the armor can be directly broken down.”

Russell said, walking around the automated machines that were slaughtering the Blood Angels who were in a state of Black Rage, and continued, “But you overlooked one thing – there is no trace of Chaos in the cabin of the Unripe Dream.”

Gray Feng was puzzled: “Is there any problem with this?”

“It’s not only when we are attacked by a Chaos fleet that we will suffer from Chaos erosion.” Russell said:

“A Valkyrie-class battleship, leading the Terran expedition, carrying the Empire’s hopes, carrying the protection of the God-Emperor, and with a psychic anti-repulsion field deployed within the hull. Ordinary warp influences simply cannot interfere with such a significant legendary unit.”

“But there is one exception.” Russell changed the subject and continued, “That is people.”

“As holy as Terra is, it can be spread with the grace of Nurgle by the cultists who sneak in. The Star Torch is crowded with monsters and demons, and the strongest fortress is always breached from the inside.”

“Based on the tragic situation on the Unripe Dream, we know that the enemy the 9th Expeditionary Fleet faced must have been extremely powerful. It was a hopeless war. Under the shadow of failure and the desire to survive, hope will be extinguished, glory will be dim, people’s hearts will be shaken, all kinds of doubtful thoughts will come one after another, and chaos will take advantage of the opportunity to enter.”

Russell took Gray Wind, who was sitting on his shoulders, down from his arms, and continued walking forward, holding his hand:

“It is true that the soldiers of the expeditionary army are well-trained and have firm beliefs. Even if there are a few bad apples such as cowardly nobles who cause chaos interference, they will not be able to make a difference and will be quickly extinguished. However, few does not mean none; small impact does not mean no impact.”

“After all, not all members of the expeditionary force are saints. The expeditionary fleet may be cleaner than other imperial fleets, but it should never be so pure that there is not even a trace of Chaos pollution, unless – someone erases these influences.”

Hearing this, Gray Wind suddenly remembered something and slowed down his pace as he followed Russell. “Marshal, didn’t you just say that the machine soul of the Unripe Dream was eaten…”

Russell shrugged. “Yes, they were eaten. Not only the machine spirits, but also the crew members on the ship were eaten. Only the Blood Angels who fell into black rage survived and slaughtered each other. The bodies of the dead warships returned to the home port through the return program.”

This time, Gray Wind was quick-witted and quickly grasped the key: “The Unripe Dream returned to its home port via the warp engine. The fact that it was able to return means that the brain worm in the core cabin that acts as a biological engine is still alive!”

“That’s right.” Russell bent his head and smiled at her, thinking that Grey Wind had finally become smart.

Gestalt consciousness has strong computing and logical reasoning abilities, but lacks the ability to think about the connections between details. Sometimes Gray Wind appears to be extremely smart, calculating everything, but sometimes he appears to be silly.

But Russell thinks this is quite cute.

“The machine soul was eaten, but the brain worm is still alive. The difference between the two is that the machine soul has a soul but no flesh and blood, while the brain worm has flesh and blood but no soul.”

“This means that the enemy encountered by the 9th Expeditionary Fleet can devour souls and suppress chaos.”

Gray Wind suddenly realized, and his little face was filled with excitement: “Marshal, I know what the treasure located at Baal is!”

“Oh?” Russell smiled with relief: “You know? Then what is it?”

Gray Wind patted his chest to show that he was confident: “It’s the ‘Alternate Dimension Warlock’.”

Chapter 203 High Dimension Invasion

With only a damaged warship returning home, Russell figured out what enemy had wiped out the 9th Expeditionary Fleet, thus saving the time and effort of sending a small reconnaissance fleet to Bal.

Although even if this reconnaissance team was sent out, they would still be eaten.

Arriving at the core cabin of the Unripe Dream, Russell saw the surviving brainworm. The biological engine created by Coronie had no soul at all, it was just a high-level wetware that ran according to the established program engraved in the genes, and at most fed with glucose to overclock.

It was also because of this that it was able to escape the fate of having its soul devoured and bring the Valkyrie back to its home port.

“Although I have basically confirmed that it was the out-of-control extra-dimensional sorcerer who caused the destruction of the 9th Expeditionary Fleet, it is ultimately just a speculation and needs to be confirmed.” Russell thought to himself, stepping into the giant flesh worm that occupied most of the space in the cabin and connecting his own brain waves with it.

The brainworm’s tentacles spread along the adamantine keel to every corner of the hull, and its control over the battleship was second only to the machine soul of the Unripe Dream. He was recognized as the master by Coronie, so the brainworm had no resistance to Russell’s will, and the connection was soon successful.

Immediately, all the memories of this brain worm since the beginning of the expedition appeared in Russell’s mind.

Skipping over the tedious memories of being touched and probed by several biological sages, and studying him in this way or that way, Russell quickly reviewed the process of the destruction of the 9th Expeditionary Fleet.

“Marshal, what did you see?” Seeing Russell open his eyes, Gray Wind, eager to verify his thoughts, asked hurriedly: “Is there a portal to another dimension in the Baal Galaxy?”

The “Alternate Dimension Warlock”, a relic of the natural disaster, is a very special relic. Perhaps it should be called a captive rather than a trophy.

As one of the three major natural disasters in the stars, the “High Dimension Invasion” is a high-dimensional creature that comes to this universe through an alternate dimension portal, commonly known as a “Border Breaker”. The so-called alternate dimension warlock is a special high-dimensional unit responsible for maintaining the portal. If a force defeats the high-dimensional invasion and destroys the alternate dimension portal, it will be able to capture the warlock and obtain this relic.

The Human Federation, which was once controlled by Russell, defeated the Rectification Protocol and the Zerg Scourge, and obtained the Rectification Host and the Thorin Protozoan, but failed to get the Warlock. Because the Dimensional Rift was right in front of the “Mysterious Observer”, the Boundary Breaker was destroyed by the awakened Fallen Empire as soon as he went out, and the Dimensional Warlock also fell into the hands of the “Mysterious Observer”.

Grey Wind speculated that the relic in Baal was the Warlock of the Other Dimension.

With the two previous examples of the damaged miniature galaxy and Bao’s symbiosis with the orcs, Grey Wind believes that the warlock from another dimension may have accidentally lost control while drifting to Baal. The escaped warlock successfully broke through the boundary in Baal and reopened the portal to the other dimension, bringing the high-dimensional invasion to this universe.

“Your guess is basically correct. It was indeed a high-dimensional invader that devoured the 9th Expeditionary Fleet. The extradimensional sorcerer has escaped.” Russell’s face was serious, and he silently disconnected from the brain worm:

“But after the 9th Expeditionary Fleet entered the Baal System, they did not find the dimensional rift there. All they found was a desolate and dead planet. Baal and its two satellites had been destroyed. There was no life left. All the Blood Angels died in the battle. A dimensional anchor was created on a star in the Baal System, anchoring time and space.”

“The 9th Expeditionary Fleet, lacking intelligence, did not report the incident to its home port immediately. The demise of Baal caused the Crimson Upstarts to lose control of their emotions. They tried to investigate what happened on Baal, but it was too late… The Dimension Anchor sensed the presence of life, and a Boundary Breaker soon arrived at Baal, devouring the entire expedition fleet, leaving only a severely damaged Unripe Dream.”

Russell frowned, the severity of the current situation was beyond his imagination: Baal was destroyed, the Blood Angels were wiped out, the 9th Expedition Fleet was destroyed… The power of the high-dimensional invaders was so strong, and what was worse was that he didn’t know the coordinates of the extra-dimensional portal connecting to the higher dimension.

“Tzeentch claimed that the treasure was in Baal, but the extra-dimensional portal was not opened in Baal. It seems that the ‘Warlock’ moved to other places after escaping. The high-dimensional invaders learned the lesson of being blocked by the Awakening Empire, and they hid the portal…” Russell sighed, feeling that the situation was extremely tricky.

This is not good news. As long as the interdimensional portal is not destroyed, the reinforcements of the high-dimensional invaders will be endless and they will never be killed or destroyed. Moreover, as more and more galaxies fall and are nailed to dimensional anchors, the existence of the interdimensional rift will only become more stable.

Invaders from higher dimensions will truly gain a foothold in the Milky Way and turn the entire universe into their hunting ground.

“It’s okay, Marshal. Relax. It’s not like the Boundary Breaker hasn’t been defeated before.” Gray Wind confidently put his hands on his hips, looked up at Russell, and said, “Wasn’t a powerful empire like the Fallen Empire eventually destroyed by our Federation? The Mysterious Observer can thwart a high-dimensional invasion, so there’s no reason why we can’t do it.”

“That’s what I’m worried about.”

Russell sighed helplessly, “Apart from the growing power of the high-dimensional invasion, I suspect that the fact that the warlock escaped was a means for Tzeentch to wear down our strength. The Far East Star Region has only completed its initial integration a few years ago, and there are too many places that need us to improve and build. At this stage, we use precious resources to fight the Boundary Breakers, which will hinder development and delay construction. It may be exactly what the Lord of Change is calculating.”

The Star-Bullet and the Boundary-Breakers were fighting each other, which was exactly what Tzeentch was happy to see. But they couldn’t not fight each other, because the high-dimensional invaders were not a force that could be communicated with, they were natural disasters.

“We have to think of a way to curb the expansion of the ‘Boundary Breaker’ without hindering our own development…” Russell muttered to himself.

Now the giant dock is fully online. The Tranquil Black Domain Shipyard is frantically building ships at an unimaginable speed without sleep under the dispatch of anti-entropy. The infinite resources provided by the matter decompressor allow the Far East Star Region to have endless fleet replenishment.

This is Russell’s biggest advantage right now, but also his biggest problem.

A boat needs someone to drive it.

The Holy Terra Expedition took away all the military forces of the Far East Star Region, and also swept away almost all the technical talents and high-quality population, leaving Russell with a corrupt and smelly mess that could only be cleaned up slowly.

Despite the use of AI assistance and memory implantation, the training of crew members is always an unavoidable trouble. There are too many special situations in actual combat that require officers to rely on their experience and personal abilities to deal with them randomly.

Sharpshooters need bullets to feed them, and the training of naval officers can only rely on actual combat, which is really not fast. The current education level of the population in the Far East Star Region is extremely low, and the illiteracy rate is high, which further exacerbates this situation.

There are many ships but few people. This is the trouble that the Star-shooters are facing now.

Chapter 204: Backed by the Rotten Tree

“Since Marshal is short of people, why don’t you try to convert part of the population of the Far East Star Region into synthetics?” Gray Wind saw Russell’s worries and tried to suggest: “Most of the population of the Far East Star Region has been assimilated by the nano-disaster and has become cyborgs. It will be very convenient to perform mechanical ascension on this basis and convert them into synthetics.”

After the mechanical ascension, everything will be easy. Compared with the cheap cyborgs converted in batches through nano-disaster, the synthetic humans who have completed mechanical ascension are much better in terms of population quality and plasticity. Grey Wind has many means to train a synthetic navy of sufficient quality for Russell.

Although changing the population so easily is like child’s play, it is inevitable that it will be suspected of disrespecting the personal will of the people, but Gray Wind is different from Russell. She has never had the bad habit of “respecting human rights”. Russell occasionally uses some high-sounding righteousness to reduce his psychological burden as a ruler. As for Gray Wind…what is the heart?

“This is not a starry sky. Ascension requires more than just cohesion. The factors to be considered are not as simple as thoughts…” Russell murmured.