Chapter 526 I Come to Save the Star, and only Do Three Things
From any angle, Redemption is not a pleasing world. It is like the Milky Way standing in front of the Empire and the Great Crusade, showing the desolation and decay after the catastrophe in detail.
It is not as good as Holy Terra, nor as good as Macragge, and even less than Avalon, which is so rich that Morgan never dared to mention it in front of his blood relatives: even compared with Caliban or Nostramo, which are notorious on the outside but have hidden treasures on the inside, Redemption is far from being comparable.
But this does not mean that this remote planet has no advantages: at least, when the senses of the Lord of Avalon finally escaped from the cage of the warp with the Emperor's Dream and returned to the stable real universe again, the corner of her eye just locked onto the dim light on the divination instrument that symbolized Redemption, but she had already breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.
The reason is simple.
No matter how bad the black carbon ball of Redemption Star hanging alone in the void is, it doesn't matter to the current Lord of Avalon: after spending hundreds of hours alone with her beloved Gene Father in the Sea of Souls, Morgan only feels that even if Catachan or even Barbarus is waiting for her ahead, she will be happy.
Such words may be seen as an ignorant and arrogant statement by others. Morgan is also very clear that there are many "filial sons" among the Primarchs who are willing to spend all their priceless treasures to exchange for these hundreds of hours, because the reverence, worship, and even admiration for the Emperor are the mainstream thoughts of the Primarchs and the Empire.
But the Spider Queen has always been contrary to the mainstream thinking, and has nothing to do with fanaticism, stubbornness, blind loyalty or any extreme words. In other words, among the nine sons of the Lord of Mankind, the Gene Mother of the Dawnbreaker is more like a "normal person" who is inclined to mortals: such means, such thinking, not to mention values.
From a normal person's perspective, Morgan was indeed suffering along the way.
After all, if there is anything more unbearable than spending hundreds of hours face to face with a lonely old otaku who is over 30,000 years old, it is probably that while spending hundreds of hours face to face with this lonely old otaku who is over 30,000 years old, he has to endure his weird and unheard-of "good ideas" in his mind to bombard your brain nerves one after another.
Admittedly, these good ideas are definitely not bad ideas. Most of them are even so ingenious that Morgan pondered: After all, the Lord of Mankind is a living history book that records the entire history of civilization. Even if he is a mediocre person with extremely dull talent, after tens of thousands of years of experience and knowledge, he is destined not to be stupid just based on what he has seen and eaten, let alone the emperor who is so talented that no one can match him?
Even though Morgan's gene father had not brought his talent to the political field for a long time, he only needed to sit there, sort out the redundancies in his mind, put on the table the ruling systems or political events that had impressed him in the past tens of thousands of years, pick out those time-tested advantages, eliminate those delusions that had failed many times, and piece together the remaining essences a little bit, and the result would not be too bad after all.
...
In theory, it is true.
The Lord of Avalon pinched her eyebrows with a headache, and then she instinctively put her five fingers together and stroked her hair upwards, but she stopped halfway: because there were suddenly a few strands of slightly withered silver hair between her fingers.
[...]
Morgan looked at the fallen hair in her palm and fell into silence.
Before this, she had lost her hair before. In fact, she had lost her hair quite a few times: she had lost her hair once when she was mediating the relationship between Dorn and Perturabo not long ago; she had lost a lot of hair when she just started to teach Conrad; and when the Far East Frontier was initially established and everything was in ruins, she not only lost her hair, but also suffered from insomnia, nausea, and unreasonable irritability.
If we go back further, to when she and Jonson fought side by side...
Hmm...
That's too many times to count.
In her heart, Morgan mourned a little for her past.
But the Primarch knew from the bottom of his heart that compared with the tragic experiences in the past, the time she spent with the Emperor was more unbearable for her: because whether it was assisting Jonson, educating Conrad, or the early days of the Far East Frontier, although Morgan suffered mentally, they also gave the Primarch rich feedback in terms of material.
It is true that Jonson would squander her efforts on the battlefield, but he would also turn every squandering into a butcher knife facing the aliens. The good news flying like snowflakes and the battle lines that are constantly advancing on the star map are enough to make people feel relieved.
The same is true for Conrad and the Far Eastern Frontier. Although they gave the Primarch a splitting headache, Conrad's character has indeed improved visibly, and the prosperity and development of the Far Eastern Frontier has made the powerful countries like the Five Hundred Worlds pale in comparison. Such a beautiful result is enough for Morgan to learn to find joy in suffering.
But compared with them, the Lord of Mankind is particularly embarrassed, because the Emperor's style of doing things is exactly what Morgan hates the most: arbitrary and tyrannical, he does things his own way, not only taking into account recklessness and hesitation at the same time, but also loving a lot of repeated deductions like marking time. Any of these points can make Morgan's high blood pressure as red as Magnus's butt.
Unfortunately, during the long period of time when the fleet of the Emperor and the Primarch sailed from the Great Whirlpool in the center of the Milky Way to the southernmost tip of the Storm Segmentum, what awaited Morgan was such "killing time", and she had no chance to refuse.
Except for the guards of the Imperial Guards who occasionally came to receive orders and then took the words of the Primarch back to appease the Dawnbreakers, Morgan had to face a galactic star map that repeatedly performed the "building is about to collapse" drama for hundreds of hours, as well as the Emperor's real face that was enough to make people think deeply, and the repetitive and meaningless mental work that she hated.
The only comforting thing was that the Lord of Mankind still had some emotional intelligence: those guards of the Imperial Guards who came to receive the words of the Primarch and were sent to appease the Dawnbreakers were obviously carefully selected. In the short communication with them, the Primarch could actually feel the caution, restraint and friendliness from these guards, as well as genuine respect.
At first glance, these guards seemed to be no different from the original Dark Angels. After witnessing Morgan's ability and the close relationship with their master, they changed from indifference to respect, but the Spider Queen knew that this was not the case: because during the short interval when the door was opened, she could still see the same vigilance and contempt in the guards who stayed outside.
It seems that even the Lord of Mankind is very clear that if a [gentle and easy-going] guard like Diocletian is sent to conduct diplomatic work with the Dawnbreakers, it will definitely cause unnecessary non-combat casualties.
Morgan is confident in this conclusion. Although she admits that Diocletian is indeed the best among the guards and is a level stronger than most of her descendants, if she wants to. She can think of the names of fifty Dawnbreakers in the first moment: each of these names can chop off Diocletian's head, but the price to pay is different.
But such a small victory could not cover up the madness of the whole journey. Even in the later stage of the journey, this face-to-face killing time has become a double torture for the Emperor and the Primarch.
When the initial false courtesy and mutual ridicule finally diluted the false and beautiful impression that the noble father and daughter had cast on each other because of the long separation, the confrontation between the Emperor and Morgan finally lost the only buffer zone. Instead, with the increasingly in-depth and extreme discussions, they became a pair of enemies in terms of words.
In the end, the Emperor even had to give the Lord of Avalon more than a minute to relax before calling the Imperial Guards to meet him. Otherwise, even if the best-tempered Imperial Guards accidentally heard a few words from the Primarch at the moment of entering the door, even the Lord of Mankind himself would not be able to stop the Imperial Guards from decisively drawing their swords and defending the dignity of the Lord with his own life.
It can only be said that fortunately, such a crazy journey has finally ended.
Once again, the Lord of Avalon breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, and when she reacted, she had left the cage where she had been imprisoned for hundreds of hours, and followed her gene father all the way to the cabin on the lower deck of the Emperor's Dream. She could see that her offspring were allowed to stay here, and their faces were a little distorted because of the long excitement and a moment of peace of mind.
But that was all. The Dawnbreakers were not allowed to enter the inner layer of the cabin. They were stopped outside by the Imperial Guards and the Sisters of Silence, and the Primarch had to continue to follow her father: Although until this moment, Morgan still had no idea how the Emperor would meet and talk with Corax, and the Lord of Mankind had never mentioned it to her in the previous hundreds of hours.
Instead, he was concerned about those trivial things that were insignificant in Morgan's eyes.
+ Can the body still bear it? +
The Emperor stopped in front of a solitary shuttle. This machine looked no different from the ordinary models used by mortal soldiers. There were no accompanying guards or members of the Mechanicum who were taking care of it. There was not even a single golden and magnificent atmosphere light that the Emperor often used: everything seemed too simple, even a little deliberate.
However, the Lord of Mankind adapted very well to this. Not only did he start the machine himself, but while waiting for the shuttle to be fully operational, he turned his head and looked at his still confused daughter. The tone of his words was no different from that of an ordinary father, which made Morgan frown even deeper.
[Of course... yes. ]
The Primarch hesitated a little.
[After all, working for hundreds of hours in a row is not a new experience for me. What's more, before leaving, didn't you use psychic energy to clean me up? At least in terms of my mind, my thinking state is currently at its peak. 】
+The rest brought by psychic energy is false after all. Even I can only restore your energy temporarily, but cannot erase the fatigue in your body: After finishing the work here, you still need some rest. +
The Lord of Mankind turned around. It was not known whether it was due to the light, but his face and even the outline of his entire body became increasingly blurred in Morgan's eyes. When the Primarch blinked his eyes somewhat woodenly and responded to the words of the Gene Father, Morgan suddenly reacted. She had just looked at the Emperor who turned his head, but now she could no longer remember the Emperor's face at that time.
[……]
The Primarch opened her mouth, but she did not dare to say anything in the end. Instead, the Emperor stood in front of the shuttle that was slowly starting up, as if to kill time, and as if to hint at something in his words, he once again asked his daughter a new question.
+ Don't you have anything to ask? +
[Hmm...]
The Primarch looked around.
[Where is Perturabo? Isn't he going with us? ]
+ He will go down later. I have contacted him before: he is still a little short of finishing the work on hand, and he is also preparing a gift for your blood relatives in the name of both of you, which is not yet fully prepared. +
【？】
Before the Spider Queen could appreciate the Lord of Steel's thoughtfulness, she realized another problem: When did the Emperor talk to Perturabo? He had been talking to her face to face. Even if the Lord of Mankind used the psychic power in his mind to talk, she, as the top psychic in the galaxy, would be able to detect clues.
+This is my ship, Morgan. +
Before the Primarch could speak, her Gene Father had already answered the puzzlement.
+Not to mention... +
The words paused for a while, as if deliberately mocking the Primarch's arrogance.
+You don't really think that your attainments in psychic power are on the same level as mine, my daughter: I remember that you have never been an arrogant person? +
It's more like a question than a rhetorical question.
[...Of course not, father. ]
The Primarch coughed lightly and deleted the question from his mind.
[So, where are the Imperial Guards who went down with you? ]
+Imperial Guards? +
The Emperor laughed again.
+Morgan, did I bring the Custodians with me when we first met? +
[But you brought Malcador with you? ]
+Don't I bring one with me now? +
[...]
Damn it, she actually thought that sentence sounded a little pleasant.
Morgan pursed his lips.
[So, you plan to meet Corax like this: just the two of us walk out of the shuttle, stand in front of him, and ask him to abandon his home planet and join us in another war far away in the sky? ]
+He won't refuse. +
Morgan could feel that her Gene Father closed his eyes, as if sighing.
+Do you remember? In the countless possibilities we saw, in the countless disasters we deduced, Corax might hesitate, resist, feel dissatisfied or even hate from the bottom of his heart, but he never really refused to leave his home planet with me: he knew that only the Milky Way and the Great Expedition were the places where he could complete his mission. +
[I dare not deny this. 】
The Primarch snorted and finally regained some confidence. After all, the countless possibilities mentioned by the Emperor were also built by Morgan herself, and she also remembered every detail of it clearly.
+Not to mention... +
The Emperor paused.
+In fact, most of your brothers met me in this more low-key atmosphere: welcoming and pledging loyalty in public are rare. More often, I prefer to get along with them in private, welcoming them back as a father rather than a monarch. +
[Is there any measurement indicator in this? ]
+Based on my feeling. +
The Emperor stretched out his finger and entered the password and fingerprint. The shuttle in front of him had reached the last round of startup. This old machine gradually revealed its appearance: it was indeed narrow enough to accommodate only the Emperor and the Primarch. Even one more guard could not fit in.
[It should be...more than that? ]
+... +
[And the actual situation of the Primarchs, right? 】
Behind the Emperor, the Lord of Avalon, who finally came back from his astonishment, thought carefully about the Emperor's words and keenly grasped the loopholes in them. When Morgan laughed, she could clearly see that the Emperor's movements had become inconspicuously stiff.
This made Morgan's next sentence seem so complacent.
[After all, if it is in the public eye of the Guards of the Imperial Guards, in the eyes of countless people attracted by this huge battle, some things are naturally not easy to mention: so when facing those Primarchs who may make you unhappy when you first meet, or even attack you in disguise, a scene can make them choose to shut up wisely and avoid possible embarrassing situations. 】
[I think Lorgar, Sanguinius and Conrad are all in this situation: the former's enthusiasm makes you not know how to be alone with him, and the latter two may not say anything shocking, so the reunion in the public eye is naturally the most appropriate, after all, the personalities of the latter two determine that they will not make things too stiff in public. 】
[And those Primarchs who you have made up your mind not to or dare not have too fierce a confrontation with you can be arranged to meet in this more private atmosphere: for example, Ferrus, Vulkan, the past me, and now Corax are all like this, right? ]
[You are confident that you can grasp the rhythm and answer every question we ask. Even before departure, you have already understood our temperament and nature clearly: in this case, an expected father-son conversation is always more intimate than a high-sounding one. ]
+…+
The Emperor silently operated the machine.
+ Do you know, my daughter, one of the few things you are far inferior to the Sigillite is that you can't learn to shut up: being too ostentatious is never a good thing, and it is particularly inappropriate for you. +
[Listen to the teachings, father. ]
The Primarch lowered his head slightly and quickly withdrew from the Emperor's firepower range.
[So, how do you plan to communicate with Corax? ]
+ I have one night to try every way of communication. +
The Emperor retracted his finger. They still need to wait for the last minute.
+After all, you know that your dark brother is a very [unstable] existence. I must understand every detail of his soul through a long communication to determine his final direction: although he is not the most important one, if possible, he will be a reassuring one. +
[I don't agree with this view. ]
Morgan blinked, and her laughter made the Emperor frown.
[In fact, I think Conrad is the most "reassuring" one. ]
[You know, father. ]
+...+
The Emperor did not reply. This time, he let Morgan laugh.
Because she was not wrong.
[Who would have thought, father? We played so many cards: Tarot cards, God's Blessing cards, poker cards, Rune cards, and any mottled paper with ancient runes and crazy prophecies: we used these black and white words countless times to deduce even the worst case scenario, but until the end, we found that even in the worst case scenario we could imagine...】
【That madman from Nostramo did not fall into Chaos in the end. 】
The Primarch licked the tip of her lips, and her voice could not be said to be happy or emotional.
【He always died so timely: when his blood relatives turned to various gods for various reasons and finally met various tragic endings, he could always spit on the salvation that was at his fingertips and end his miserable life cleanly before everything became too embarrassing. 】
【Although this is just another degree of self-deception, compared with those individuals who embraced Chaos, as time went by, this clean and neat self-destruction actually maintained the last dignity and made his figure a little decent. 】
【As for Corax... um...】
When her gene father walked into the shuttle first, the Lord of Avalon bit his lip, pondered for a moment, shook his head helplessly, and then walked straight into the shuttle.
【He is indeed a likable person in most cases, but when he becomes a little disgraceful, his ending is also quite disgraceful...】
【Are you worried about this, father? 】
＋... Not entirely. ＋
The Emperor closed his eyes and rested. At the moment before the heavy door of the shuttle completely closed, his voice took the opportunity to slip out of the steel cage, quietly echoing in the empty cabin, and dissipated in the whistle of the shuttle's departure.
＋But you are right about one thing, my smart daughter. ＋
＋This time, you have only one task: that is to teach your brother... ＋
……
＋Decent. ＋
＋Decent. ＋
＋……＋
＋Still...decent. ＋
……
【Then how many shots can I fire, father? 】
＋Use up all your bullets. ＋
＋Don't worry about the rest. ＋