Chapter 423: Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

The void shield of the Zhelas Space Station went out.

The black oil guys found that the light shield above their heads suddenly disappeared, and then golden light beams connected to the dark void and the streets and buildings around them. The light that blinded their mechanical prosthetic eyes illuminated everything around them, and the roads and houses melted in the light.

Following the light spears came the macro cannon shells.

Explosion, tearing, fragmentation, impact...

The entire space city was like a moldy onion, being peeled off layer by layer, revealing a rotten and corrupt black core. The outer shell of the Zhelas Space Station turned into scattered fragments in the void, glittering under the light of the stars.

No matter how powerful the intelligent control corps is, it cannot withstand the naval guns.

This Forge World eventually became history.

Even if it is rebuilt one day.

It will also be difficult to restore the previous technology and production capacity.

The forges and crucibles triggered a chain reaction of explosions, and the laboratories, production lines and foundries were all reduced to a sea of ​​fire. In such a devastating explosion, no one would notice that a small piece was missing from the black core of the moldy onion.

…

Mechanicus ships are salvaging the wreckage of the city.

Several Astartes Chapters were celebrating their victory.

After a short and simple celebration banquet, the team will return to the forge world of Atal Median.

Fu Qinghai declined the invitations to the banquet from several regiment leaders, and hurriedly boarded the Thunderhawk gunboat and came to the boarding deck of an imperial transport ship. He immediately found the Iron Pagoda Terminators standing there on standby, and asked:

"Where's Joestar?"

"In the transport bay, Khan."

"Take me there."

"OK."

…

In the huge cabin of the Imperial transport ship.

Fu Qinghai found Qiao Shida.

"How's it going, Old Joe?"

The first captain turned around and pointed at the giant "mechanical building" next to him. It was about the height and size of a dozen containers stacked together, and said:

"That's it, Khan."

"What's the STC?"

Fu Qinghai looked up at the trophy and asked casually, although he didn't expect Qiao Shida to know.

Unexpectedly, Qiao Shida said:

"Griffin-type intelligent robot."

"Oh? How did you know?"

Fu Qinghai's eyes lit up.

"All the technical sergeants of the Chapter have participated in the dismantling and transportation of the STC. This is only a small part. Some components and structures are in another transport ship."

Joe Star explained:

"When we attacked the foundry, they were still producing intelligent robots, the kind that looked like mechanical flies. There were actually other STCs in the entire foundry, but they were either heavily guarded and my tactical team couldn't get in, or they were too close to the bombing position of the battleships, so they didn't get close enough for fear of accidentally injuring us. So in the end, we could only pack up and take this STC away."

Of course, there was another reason that Joe Star did not mention: he found that the Chapter Commander was particularly interested in this type of intelligent robot. Since he could not take away all the STCs, he gave priority to the STC for producing the "large mechanical fly".

"Very good. Very good."

Fu Qinghai nodded with satisfaction.

It's simply amazing!

Joestar made the right choice.

The STC of the Vulture-type cybernetic robot is the best harvest. Other STCs are not necessarily STCs that the Mechanicus and the Human Empire do not have. For example, the STC of the Leman Rust tank is available on many forge worlds, and the STC of laser guns and bolt guns is available on many industrial worlds. These STCs cannot be considered rare, let alone unique.

But it is a Vulture-type intelligent robot.

Except for the Dark Mechanicus Forge World in the Eye of Terror, which is still preserved, and there is a high probability that it is the Toxic Furnace occupied by Nurgle, all other loyal Forge Worlds are unable to produce this special type of intelligent robot.

It is too early to form an intelligent control corps. After all, an intelligent control corps cannot have only one type of intelligent control robot.

But with this STC, Phaeton Forge World can produce intelligent robot soldiers, achieving a breakthrough from scratch.

There are Spindle Drones in Blackrock Fortress.

Nurgle's army has Plague Drones.

The Tau Empire has over twenty different types of Drones.

We Space Marines must have it too!

Moreover, intelligent robot soldiers are not quite the same as Titans. In the past history, there has never been a precedent of Space Marines driving Titans. All Titan driving crews belong to the Titan Order. However, there is a precedent of Space Marines equipping and deploying intelligent robot soldiers, and it is a very special example.

During the Battle of Fal, a group of Imperial Fists successfully boarded the Iron Warriors' flagship, the Iron Blood, and almost injured Perturabo. This incident made Perturabo very angry. He felt that his Primarch's Guards were a bunch of useless trash. He disbanded the original Primarch's Guards and then personally built a type of intelligent cybernetic mecha as the Primarch's Guards.

It is the famous "Iron Ring Robot".

Unlike other legions, the Primarch's Guards are composed of the Primarch's most beloved and trusted descendants. Only Boss Pi would use cybernetic robots instead of Space Marines to serve as the Primarch's Guards.

After all, the robot soldiers are not Titans. Even if the Iron Pagoda is equipped with the Greedy Vulture robot soldiers, it will not cause much criticism. Perhaps other regiments will think that these people are a bit strange - we have to be careful and scrimp and save to buy a Thunderhawk gunship, and you actually have spare money to go to the Mechanicus to buy robot soldiers. Too much money to spend?

"Okay, we have made money on this battle."

The Chapter Master concluded cheerfully.

Qingshan Khan doesn't care who breaks through the enemy's defense first, who kills the most enemies, or who kills the enemy's leader in this battle. The tangible benefits he wants have already been obtained from this STC.

Although, it was the Iron Pagoda Regiment that first broke through the enemy's defenses and killed the most enemies, if the casting core of the Zhelas Space Station had not been submerged in the concentrated fire of the naval guns, otherwise, based on the combat effectiveness of the Iron Pagoda, it would most likely be the Iron Pagoda Regiment that would be the first to behead the enemy.

But Fu Qinghai really doesn't care.

They are all false names.

…

The Captain's room on the ship.

The attendant Lin Yu is taking notes.

Post-battle summary of the Zheras Space Station Battle:

Chapter casualties: nine.

Details: One Iron Pagoda Terminator (infiltration operation), five Space Marines (battle with the Cybernetics Corps), and three mortal crew members (space naval battle).

Details of seized materials:

The STC of the Vulture-type intelligent robot.

Heretical book "Rites and Psalms".

Several unknown Dark Mechanicus creations.

…

Several unknown Dark Mechanicus creations.

In an empty cabin, Fu Qinghai looked at the pile of strange mechanical creations in front of him. Although it had been confirmed that there was no remaining psychic energy, the regiment still set aside a cabin to store these items for the sake of caution.

"Go and get Sid Nora."

Fu Qinghai ordered.

"Yes, Khan."

The men took the order and left.

Soon, a middle-aged female inquisitor wearing a cloak and a hood over her power armor came into the cabin.

"Khan."

Sid Nora greeted him:

"Congratulations to the regiment for a great victory."

Fu Qinghai nodded slightly, pointing at the mechanical creations on the table, an object that looked like a breastplate, a long cone-shaped stick, an exquisite crystal device, and the thick leather-bound book "Rituals and Hymns".

"This is what we seized in this battle. You are a senior demon expert of the Holy Hammer Order, so I would like to ask you to identify these things, Ms. Sid Nora."

Fu Qinghai said politely.

Sid Nora raised his eyebrows when he heard this.

These things are obviously the heretical technological creations of the Dark Mechanicus. Is it true as the rumors say that several Astartes Chapters don't take the Mechanicus seriously at all?

As the Grand Inquisitor of the Confraternity of the Holy Hammer, Sid Nora's status is actually no lower than that of the Imperial Guard Marshal and the Sage-ruler. She is also one of the three high-ranking figures in the Iron Belt War Zone, but commanding operations is neither her mission nor her forte. Her main task is to investigate suspected psychic incidents in the Iron Calamity Campaign.

After the battle at the Zheras Space Station, she also heard some rumors that the Mechanicus envoy, Sage Barthalom, and several Astartes Chapters had some disagreements and the two sides were in an unpleasant situation.

But she hadn't expected that just after hearing the rumor, she would turn around and see a bunch of heretical technological creations in the cabin of the Iron Pagoda Regiment's battleship - they had no intention of handing them over to the Mechanicus at all.

Having said that, the conflict between the Space Marines and the Mechanicus had nothing to do with her. As a radical inquisitor, Sid Nora naturally couldn't resist her curiosity. She first picked up the leather book, opened the cover and started reading.

As soon as Sid Nora opened the leather cover, Fu Qinghai stared at her movements closely. When he found that there was nothing unusual about either her or the book, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

In the Warhammer 40K universe, books are dangerous things, especially a book obtained from the Black Oiler. Tzeentch's demons like to use the knowledge in books to spread Chaos beliefs. Perhaps because Sid Nora is a great inquisitor with unfathomable psychic attainments, he dared to flip through this book so directly, but Fu Qinghai didn't dare.

Seemed to have sensed Fu Qinghai's vigilance.

Sid Nora looked up and smiled and said:

"There is no psychic aura in this book. I am sure it is just an ordinary parchment book, but the cover is made of multiple layers of tanned human skin, that's all."

"Yes, ma'am, please continue."

Fu Qinghai nodded and raised his hand.

As Sid Nora flipped through the book, he turned his head to look at the pile of mechanical creations on the table.

Half an hour later.

"I see."

Sid Nora closed the book and said in a deep voice.

"So what are these?"

Fu Qinghai then asked.

"This book, Rituals and Chant, details this group of dark heretic tech-priests who call themselves the Vortex Technicians, and the forbidden technological creations they created through their uncontrolled research into the warp."

Sid Nora explains:

"In particular, it details how the augur machine was used through a complex and sinister ritual of sacrifice, with the images drawn by the device predicting the future."

Sid Nora pointed to an object and said,

"This is the Umbra Mirror. It is recorded in Rites and Psalms that civilians in certain star regions firmly believe in the existence of ghosts. They believe that ghosts have been wandering around the place of death, bound by revenge and unfulfilled wishes, although most technical priests scoff at this statement. However, after research, the Vortex Technicians found that ghosts are real and can still have some impact on the material world. The Umbra Mirror was born."

The Umbra Mirror is a complex crystal device with layer upon layer of circuits arranged outward like petals. Although it is only the size of a hand, it is much heavier than it looks.

"According to Proteus' description, the Umbra Mirror consumes a lot of power. When the device is turned on, accompanied by the sound of energy crackling, crazy illusions formed by psychic particles and inhuman souls of the dead will appear. A sane Vortex technician usually uses this instrument with the help of servitors or subspace barriers, and tries to avoid direct contact."

"The souls that emerge from the Umbra Mirror are not their original selves. They are just empty shells of their souls, filling their interiors with the ripples and malice of the Warp, screaming at the other side of the mirror, creating illusions, or trying to possess the living."

Sid Norah recites the book.

Fu Qinghai only heard one key piece of information:

anyone can see ghosts with the help of the umbra telescope.

This is a very useful device.

In the world of reincarnation, usually only people with psychic mediums, also known as Yin-Yang eyes, can see ghosts. For example, Zhang Yuning is a psychic medium who can see ghosts naturally. But this physique is too rare after all. For technical priests, is it possible that only those with Yin-Yang eyes are qualified to study ghosts? Definitely not. Moreover, many technical priests do not have physical eyes at all. They want to study this phenomenon, so they made the Umbra Speculum.

The supernatural belongs to science.

Fu Qinghai noticed that an unfamiliar noun appeared in Sid Nora's retelling.

"Subspace compartment, what is that?"

"That's it."

Sid Nora pointed to the "breastplate".

"The Warp Space Barrier is essentially a combination of the Zero Point Transmitter and the Cogitator System. It is embedded in armor to provide isolation and protection. Those technological heretics who initially fell into Chaos did not go astray from the beginning. They also understood the importance of protecting themselves from the corruption of the Warp Space."

"After a long ritual and forging, a circular circuit that can be used to isolate the energy of the Warp was created. A special machine spirit slept in it. When it senses the energy of the Warp, it will wake up and emit purple smoke to expel the energy of the Warp. The Order of the Holy Hammer also noticed that the Dark Mechanicus gave the Warp Isolation Technology as a reward to the Chaos Space Marines, and the latter gave them various Dark Technology relics in return, as a common exchange between Chaos forces."

Sid Nora tells the story.

(PS: "Zero-point transmitter", "zero-point force field"... the energy possessed by a particle vibrating at absolute zero is zero-point energy, a physical concept. This term is widely used by GW screenwriters in various descriptions to create a sci-fi feel. In fact, they don't know what it means.)

Fu Qinghai understood.

It doesn't mean that if you surrender to the Four Gods and embrace Chaos, you won't be harmed by Chaos. The Dark Mechanicus and Chaos Space Marines will be harmed by the ever-changing Warp. Moreover, many traitors hate the Empire but don't like Chaos, such as the Night Lords. They stay in the Eye of Terror for a long time, the largest Warp rift in the universe, where the immaterial universe and the material universe meet. They need some way to stop the erosion of Chaos.

Black Oil Man, on the one hand, wants to study the mysteries of the subspace, but on the other hand, he doesn't want to be harmed by the subspace. The subspace partition came into being under this demand.

These vortex technicians are quite something!

Fu Qinghai commented in his mind.

"Then this last stick..."

Fu Qinghai pointed at the stick and asked,

"What is this thing?"

"According to the book, the device is called the 'Betrayal Matrix'. It is a torture device. It is a brain neuroscience instrument of the Mechanicus. It is created by combining the contamination of the subspace energy to create a subspace energy whip that directly whips the mind of the person being tortured. It can root psychic toxins into the person's past beliefs, and then burn the memory of piety through pain, until a person's foundation of faith and spiritual support are completely destroyed."

Fu Qinghai suddenly remembered.

Karamanda said that there were eight bodies of loyalist technical priests under that room. Their deaths were "extremely tragic" and they were suspected to have been "tortured". Protes also called himself a "master of interrogation", and it turned out that he relied on this thing.

This can be given to Kalamanda.

This torture device, which acts directly on the mind, can be used as a special torture tool for fanatical believers and technical priests. It is difficult to pry open the mouths of oil men with traditional interrogation methods because there is not much flesh and blood and pain nerves left in their bodies. At the same time, for those cult members, their religious rituals already contain a lot of self-mutilation and self-abuse, and ordinary pain stimulation is difficult to make them surrender.

The black oil guy knows a lot about interrogation.

Fu Qinghai once again gave a high evaluation.

Space Marines have also invented some special torture instruments, such as the "Gloves of Pain" also called "Nerve Gloves", which were invented by the Imperial Fists. However, they are not used to torture others but to torture themselves, which is related to the special legion culture of the Imperial Fists.

The Glove of Pain is a thin garment made of an electric fiber mesh that covers the entire body except the head. It stimulates the human nerves and causes the most extreme pain without causing any harm to the body. The device also suppresses the reflex nerves that cause fainting to ensure that the user remains awake during the entire process.

In addition to the masochistic Imperial Fists, the Dark Angels' interrogation priests also have many strange and specialized torture instruments to encourage the Fallen Angels to "repent sincerely" and to ensure that the Chapter is "eternally loyal" and "has no secrets."

"Qingshan Khan..."

After figuring out what these things were used for, the Inquisitor looked up at Fu Qinghai and said carefully,

"All of these things are extremely dark and heretical forbidden technological creations. According to regulations, they should all be handed over to the Inquisition and kept by us..."

Fu Qinghai had a blank expression and did not comment.

Just whispered:

"This is the spoils of the Iron Pagoda Regiment."

"But..."

Sid Nora was about to say something else.

But he suddenly realized that three Space Marines had been standing quietly behind him.

Sid Nora had observed the shoulder emblem standards of the Iron Pagoda Chapter. Ordinary Space Marines had company numbers and the chapter logo, while pharmacists and technical sergeants had positive spirals and gear skulls. However, these three Space Marines had their own personal emblems, which were a golden raven, a bat, and a nine-headed sea serpent.

The most important thing is.

Sid Nora clearly felt it.

All three of them are psykers.

"so..."

Sid Nora shook his head and smiled bitterly,

"If I insist on taking these heretical technological creations away, I won't be able to leave this room, right?"

Fu Qinghai smiled and said nothing.

Instead, he answered the question irrelevantly:

"Your Excellency Grand Inquisitor Sid Nora, I feel that our cooperation has been quite pleasant so far."

Sid Nora heard the implicit threat in his gentle tone. He didn't even care about the Mechanicus, so it wouldn't be difficult for him to kill an Inquisitor like me.

Sid Nora nodded and said,

"Qingshan, is it okay for me to call you that? How about this, we both take a step back. I'll take the divination device, it's too dangerous, I don't want it to be out there, and all the other heretical technological creations will belong to the Iron Pagoda Corps. How about that? Neither you nor I will disclose this to anyone else."

Tsk tsk, he is worthy of being a radical inquisitor.

Fu Qinghai sighed in his heart.

Sid Nora was more radical than he had imagined.

She wouldn't want to use a sacrificial ritual to query the augur and find the Chaos traitors within the Empire, would she?

"Okay."

Fu Qinghai nodded and said seriously:

"But I have to remind you, the guy who invented the divination device told me that if I destroy this device rashly, it will create a subspace rift. I don't know if what he said is true or not. No matter how you want to study this thing, don't study it near my battleship. Do you understand?"

"I see."

Sid Nora nodded.

After saying that, he took out a piece of black cloth, covered the divination device completely, then picked up the device and walked out. The hatch slid open automatically, and the three Space Marines turned around to make way and watched the female Inquisitor leave the cabin.

"Ms. Sid Nora."

Fu Qinghai looked at her back and said loudly,

"A poisonous tree cannot bear good fruit. If you are going to use evil and blasphemous means of sacrifice to find the answer to your question, are you sure that the answer will be what you want?"

Sid Nora stopped.

Without looking back, he said in a deep voice,

"I am the Demon Inquisitor of the Demonic Tribunal. I know better than you where corruption comes from, Qingshan."

Then he left without looking back.

I hope so.

Fu Qinghai thought.

I hope you really understand.

After all, aliens are born in the Alien Court, heretics are born in the Heretic Court, and demons are born in the Demon Court. Sometimes...

This is not a joke.

......

(End of this chapter)