After she finished speaking, the door of the conference room opened, and two Night Knights in full armor pushed a mobile stasis field generator into the door.

After seeing the ‘thing’ imprisoned in the stasis field, a deliberately suppressed sound of surprise and doubt could be heard in the conference room, and even the clerk could not help but stop transcribing and take a closer look.

It was a large soft-bodied creature with a body length of more than 5 meters and a dark brown color. It looked like an enlarged version of a slug, but at this moment it was tied with chains and locked in a stasis field, unable to move.

“This monster was found and brought back from the underground arsenal in the Heart of the Maykr after the construction team dug up the brass dome. Its destructive power is extremely terrifying, almost to the point of subverting the laws of physics. Seventeen Word Bearers warriors died in order to imprison it, including three Terminator veterans,” said Plumeria.

At this time, Vice Admiral Oguma finally couldn’t help asking, “Is this monster the result of the research of the traitor biologist named Fabius Bayer?”

Plumeria nodded. “This creature is called the ‘Azjan Worm’. It was cloned by Fabius Bile using the biological genetic data recorded in that ancient artifact. However, he only succeeded in cloning this one controllable unit. The other clones are out of control.”

“Fabius Bile seriously overestimated the accuracy of his instrument. He tried to modify the native genes of the Azjan worms. He tried to improve the intelligence of the Azjan worms, so that they could learn tactics and become more perfect war machines, but he failed. The Azjan worms with disordered gene expression went out of control.”

“He also seriously underestimated the destructive power of the Azjan bugs. The ecological park where the clones were imprisoned was easily destroyed by the out-of-control clones. The large number of Azjan bugs that escaped launched indiscriminate destruction on Gormek. The Word Bearers used the Queen of Glory-class battleships to carry out targeted orbital bombardment, and only suppressed the situation after suffering heavy casualties.”

“But after the chaos ended, Kor Phaeron, who went to question the culprit, discovered that Fabius Bile was missing, taking the ancient artifact with him.”

Plumeria picked up the cup of water on the table and moistened her throat, then continued:

“The above is the opinion of Dark Bishop Kor Phaeron, and it is not necessarily the truth. The Word Bearers, blinded by anger, ignored many suspicious details, but we, as bystanders, can see those strange things. For example, I believe that the loss of control of the clones was not an experimental accident, but a deliberate act by Fabius Bile.”

Everyone in the conference room fell silent, waiting for her explanation.

“First of all, although the Azjan worm looks scary, it is not a cruel and ignorant beast. On the contrary, the Azjan worm has a docile personality and possesses the simple intelligence of a 7-year-old human child. Its physical strength is extremely strong and it can be easily tamed into a worker or farmer’s animal that can perform simple heavy physical labor.”

On this basis, any so-called improvements would be completely superfluous. Chaos Astartes are still Astartes, and extreme hatred for aliens is engraved in their genes.

Humans do not reject the use of low-intelligence creatures as livestock for labor, but livestock are not allowed to possess intelligence. Those with intelligence are called aliens.

“I have a question.” Senior Inquisitor Camus suddenly asked, “Where did you get the information about this creature? In the short time just now, the geneticists of the Mechanicus conducted a number of inspections and sampling studies on the ‘Azjan Worm’, but there were no significant results. This is a completely unfamiliar genetic configuration…”

It’s so strange, as if it doesn’t belong to this universe.

Plumeria ignored his interruption and smiled, “The leader told me. I believe you noticed when you were monitoring me that I was carrying a device that could communicate with the Star Bullet over long distances in real time. After reading Kor Phaeron’s memory, I immediately reported everything here to the leader in Faya, and obtained some more specific information about the Azjan bug and the Organic Encyclopedia.”

Camus nodded tactfully without asking any further questions.

It should have been thought of earlier that the “Organic Codex” that the Star-Ballist wanted to obtain was most likely the same ancient artifact in Fabius Bile’s hand that recorded countless genetic mysteries.

As for the rumor that the Star Bullet was an ancient immortal who had survived from the technological dark ages to the present, it now had some very subtle credibility.

Seeing that Camus agreed with her explanation, Plumeria nodded and continued:

“Secondly, Fabius Bile actually complained about the Word Bearers’ surveillance and interference in his affairs. I have reason to suspect that the loss of control over the Azjan worms and the chaos on Gormek were all deliberately planned by him, so that he could use the resources provided by the Word Bearers to complete his research and then escape in the chaos.”

Simply put, Fabius Bile took advantage of the Word Bearers for free and completely screwed them.

But freeloading comes at a price.

“After initially pacifying the chaos on Gormek, the Word Bearers’ Chaplain Erebus led the main fleet to the deeper part of the Maelstrom to hunt down the escaped Fabius Bile. Only less than a company of Word Bearers warriors were left on Gormek to continue clearing out the remaining out-of-control Azjan bugs.”

“When we arrived here, Kor Phaeron had just completed the cleanup of Gormek. They were caught completely off guard by our orbital bombardment.”

As she spoke, Plumeria felt that she could no longer keep the serious expression on her face. Even though the other party was a Chaos traitor who betrayed humanity, she couldn’t help but feel that the Word Bearers were really pitiful.

The clerk’s quill was still rustling as she finished writing down Plumeria’s account, and she made her final remarks while they were still writing.

“The Word Bearers’ main fleet that received the distress signal is about to return to Gormek. We don’t know if they have captured Fabius Bile. This requires special attention.”

Although she felt that there was not much hope.

Chapter 193 The entire army was wiped out

After Kor Phaeron’s death, Plumeria reported the fragmented memories she read from the Dark Bishop’s mind to Russell through the Zero Soul Stone, and then dictated them to the Imperial Secretary for written records. However, when Russell actually heard her voice, it was nearly ten years later.

In the 40th year of the 012th millennium, Russell, who was studying the subspace-related knowledge in Mr. Ma’s psychic class, suddenly received a copy of the memory sent back by Plumeria.

Then he laughed out loud in the study.

“What’s wrong?” A tall, red-skinned giant wearing a scholar’s robe beside the wooden desk looked at the person sitting opposite the desk with his one eye: “Did something happen?”

“You can say that.” Russell smiled and snapped shut the Eldar book in his hand that was filled with obscure syllables. He said, “An expeditionary fleet fought with the Word Bearers in the Maelstrom… No, maybe the battle is over already?”

The 6th Expeditionary Fleet entered the Maelstrom about 10 years ago.

Ten years is enough time to fight a small-scale interstellar war.

Magnus, however, did not join Russell in his joy. Instead, he frowned slightly. “Your thinking has not yet changed, Star-Slinger. You are still observing reality from the perspective of a mortal drifting along the long river of time, and thinking about the vast ocean with linear thinking.”

Russell was stunned for a moment, then he burst out laughing: “My fault, I’m used to it. I have always assumed that I am still a mortal, and I don’t like to be high above and out of touch with the masses.”

“Rulers are destined to be lonely. Cows and sheep travel in herds, but wild beasts walk alone.” Magnus said, “Whether you admit it or not, you are now the uncrowned king of the Far East Star Region. A king should accept his own uniqueness…”

“Stop it.” Russell bluntly shut Magnus up. “Don’t try to instill your political ideas into me. You are just a prisoner with some use value, not the prime minister of a feudal kingdom. I only need your academic knowledge, not your dictates on my ideas.”

You are overstepping your bounds. This is the second half of Russell’s sentence that he did not say.

Magnus opened his mouth, but in the end he did not continue the topic. Instead, he returned to the original question of time and said:

“Ahriman told me that you equipped the 6th Expeditionary Fleet with a superluminal communication device that could communicate with you in real time. If nothing unexpected happens, it is this fleet that encountered the Word Bearers in the Maelstrom… This means that 002 is not ten years ago, but now, at this moment.”

The years 40 and 002 of the 012th millennium are the same year.

Russell nodded. He understood what Magnus said. The Maelstrom Segmentum was an unusual area where reality and the warp overlapped. There, the flow of time was chaotic, with a time difference of dozens or hundreds of years. You might even meet ancient figures who were lost from the Great Crusade ten thousand years ago. When you ask them when the Emperor died, they draw their chainsaw swords and say that the Emperor was preparing to make Horus the Warmaster. If you don’t support Lion El’Jonson, you’ll die.

The 6th Expeditionary Fleet was 10 years behind Faya, which was a very, very small error. After all, they were in Gormek, the demonic world of the Word Bearers.

Leaving the red Magnus at the table to continue organizing the books, Russell left the study alone. He planned to talk to Grey Wind about this matter.

The departure of the expeditionary fleet took away a large number of combatants, and seemed to have also taken away the war itself that had been burning for thousands of years. The dark and chaotic Far East star region ushered in a rare peace and development in the fortieth millennium.

…Peace and development are more precious than gold.

Walking out of the room, Russell came to the balcony covered with tender green vines. Leaning against the snow-white railing, he could see a blue and verdant coastline directly below. That was the west coast of the Farnan continent. A little further south was the once prosperous “Qinxin Estuary”, but now this port is sparsely populated.

“Faya is becoming more and more deserted every year…” Russell murmured softly.

“Yes.”

A soft voice suddenly sounded from behind, and a girl with long silver hair quietly came to Russell’s side, and together with him, they lay on the guardrail and looked at the beautiful blue coast below. The cold wind from high in the sky blew her skirt, making it rustle like a mango tree in a typhoon.

“Since the reconstruction process of the Far East Star Region got on track, the economy that was originally shattered by the war has begun to recover. The trade network with the L-Stargate network as the core has been re-established, and the Faya Galaxy where the terminal export is located has once again become the trade center of the Far East Star Region.”

Gray Wind held his chin with both hands, turned his head to look at Russell’s profile, and said softly, “But the terminal exit star system is not only the planet of Faya. For merchants traveling between stars, the urban planet Embra is a more ideal trade distribution center. The facilities such as the orbital star ring base are also more complete.”

“In the Far East star region where everything is in ruins, only the urban planet of Embra has the most complete industrial capacity and the most high-paying jobs, so the population siphoning phenomenon will naturally occur. Many young people on Faya are attracted by Embra’s high-paying jobs and generous treatment, and have left their hometowns to work hard in the prosperous ideal city…”

The ideal city, which received a large amount of labor and talents, quickly became prosperous and bustling in just ten years. Faya, which had most of its young population siphoned away, became increasingly deserted. This situation further aggravated the outflow of young people, and their families also moved away, forming a closed loop.

Today, the permanent population on Faya is less than one million. This beautiful planet Gaia has become a famous resort in the entire Far East star region and has almost lost all its political status.

“That’s good.” Russell smiled, and habitually stroked the back of Huifeng’s head with his left hand, ruffling her originally smooth hair: “Faya is also my hometown.”

“Hmmm…” Grey Wind squinted her eyes and accepted his touch like a feline whose chin was tickled, making a comfortable purring sound in her throat. It was a pity that she didn’t have a tail on her butt like Coronie’s, otherwise it would have been wagging by now.

“correct.”

“correct……”

Russell was just about to talk to Grey Wind about the 6th Expeditionary Fleet’s encounter with the Word Bearers in the Maelstrom, but Grey Wind suddenly opened her eyes and said the same thing as him. It seemed that she also had something to say to him.

“Um, Marshal, what do you want to say?” Grey Wind tilted his head and looked at Russell with a puzzled look.

“You speak first.” Russell took his left hand away and looked at Gray Wind with a bird’s nest on his head with a smile.

“Okay.” Gray Wind did not restore the messed up hair to its original shape. His originally cheerful tone became somewhat heavy and serious: “But it’s not good news. You have to be mentally prepared.”

“I’m not a child.” Russell was speechless. He felt that Grey Wind looked down on him.

“Okay, I’ll just say it straight.” Gray Wind’s eyebrows drooped in frustration. “Not long ago, the 9th Expeditionary Fleet’s flagship, the Unripe Dream Valkyrie, lost contact with us. The last message the 9th Expeditionary Fleet sent us was that they were about to arrive at Baal.”

Russell’s expression also became solemn. He understood what this meant.

Each Valkyrie-class battleship is equipped with a superluminal communication array based on the principle of quantum entanglement. It will send a message back to the Seekers’ home port every once in a while to report its own status, without fail.

There are not many extreme situations that can cause the Valkyrie to lose contact with its home port. The best case scenario is that the FTL communication array is damaged in the fierce battle and is under repair. The worst case scenario is:

——The 9th Expeditionary Fleet was completely wiped out.

Chapter 194: The Greenskin Migration

The 9th Expeditionary Fleet is an expeditionary force led by the Blood Angels’ Scarlet Upstarts, with the Valkyrie-class battleship Unripened Dream as its flagship.

The Blue Blood Nobles Chapter, leading the 13th Expeditionary Fleet, is heading southwest, with the Ultramar star field as its target.

The Crimson Upstart and the 9th Expeditionary Fleet set out and sailed northeast. They were planning to return to the Blood Angels’ home planet: Baal.

Before setting off, the Crimson Upstarts had already made contact with the Blood Angels Mother Chapter on Baal. Baal said that the Archangel Sanguinius had appeared on Baal and delivered an oracle, predicting the beginning of the Terran Crusade.

The 9th Expeditionary Fleet was allowed to travel to the Blood Angels’ homeworld to receive aid from the Mother Chapter, and in addition, they were allowed to obtain a relic on Baal.

Namely: a feather plucked from the Archangel Sanguinius himself.

This is the supreme honor for the offspring of angels, and also the blessing from the deceased Primarch to his offspring who are embarking on the expedition to Terra.

The last message that the Unripe Dream sent back to its home port was “We are about to arrive at Baal.” After that, there was no news from the entire 9th Expeditionary Fleet, and Grey Wind’s attempt to contact Baal directly through the astropath also failed.

Russell lowered his head and saw that Grey Wind had a worried look on her face. She was really worried about the safety of the 9th Expeditionary Fleet.

It’s not that Grey Wind is so philanthropic and cares about the Imperial Fleet as if it were his own. Russell himself is also quite worried about the 9th Expeditionary Fleet because they are heading to Baal.

Among the coordinates of the three relics provided by Tzeentch to Russell, the Organic Codex is in the Maelstrom Star Region, and the other two are in “Bal” and “Calixis” respectively.

“Marshal, do you think the 9th Expeditionary Fleet might have been ambushed by Chaos? Or did it encounter aliens like orcs or the Eldar? Or… is it related to the relic that was lost in Baal?” Grey Wind’s thoughts had begun to diverge.

Russell did not comment: “We still don’t know what the treasure in Barr is, so don’t speculate.”

Among the three treasures, he only knew that the one that fell into the Maelstrom was the Organic Codex, the one in the Calixis Sector was the “Transcriber”, and Russell didn’t even have time to hear what the one in Baal was – he was planning to unscrew Khorne’s skull at the time, but failed. He only hurriedly unscrewed a helmet and ran.

Compared to Gray Wind who was worried about some big surprise, Russell was not too worried about Baal. The Emperor and the Archangels were in charge of the Terra expedition, and they were more concerned about the future of the Empire than he was. Russell was more willing to focus on managing his own territory, the Far East Star Region.

“There’s no need to be so sad. The Emperor will bless them – I really will.” Russell pinched Gray Wind’s bitter face helplessly and tried to make her smile. “What we need to pay more attention to now is the situation of the clay artists. This is directly related to a race that once started the War in Heaven.”

Gray Wind, who was grinning from being pinched, naturally understood the importance of this. After he let go of his hand, he immediately reported the situation of the 13th Expeditionary Fleet to Russell:

“After poisoning the machine soul to anger the clay artist, a direct armed conflict broke out between the 13th Expedition Fleet and the Antax Mechanical Arts Association and the Necron Freeman Organization.”

“The Blue Blood Nobles suffered heavy losses in this conflict. In the end, less than 120 warships managed to escape from the Vidal Sector, but they also succeeded in inflicting heavy damage on the Antax Mechanical Arts Association and the Freeman Organization – Antax was almost completely wiped out.”

“Now the remnants of the 13th Expeditionary Fleet are rushing to the next target system. They are in urgent need of supplies, repairs and rest.”

Russell nodded after hearing this. Facing the united Necrons and the rebellious oilmen who knew the structural weaknesses of the Imperial warships, the 13th Expeditionary Fleet was actually at a great disadvantage. When he learned about the conflict, he had already prepared for the Blue Blood Nobles to be wiped out and the Dian Ying Heroine to crash. Under such circumstances, the successful evacuation of the expeditionary fleet was indeed a pleasant surprise.

After this battle, although the 13th Expeditionary Fleet suffered heavy losses on the surface, their ships also awakened advanced machine souls with self-awareness, so strictly speaking, it was actually a gain.