Chapter 423 Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

Chapter 423 Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

The void shields of Zerath Space Station went out.

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

Following the light spear came macrocannon shells.

Explosion, tearing, fragmentation, impact...

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

No matter how strong the Intelligent Control Corps is, it cannot withstand naval cannons.

This forge world finally 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 of explosions, and the laboratories, production lines and foundries were all reduced to a sea of ​​flames. In such a devastating explosion, no one would notice that a small piece of the black core of the moldy onion was missing. piece.

…

Adeptus Mechanicus ships are salvaging the remains of the city.

Several Astartes Chapters were celebrating their victory.

After the short and simple celebration banquet, the entire team will be assembled and returned to the forging world of Atal Meridian.

Fu Qinghai declined invitations to banquets from several chapter leaders and hurriedly boarded the Thunderhawk gunboat and arrived at the boarding deck of an imperial transport ship. He immediately found the Iron Buddha Terminators standing here waiting for a few people and asked him directly road:

"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 company commander turned around, raised his hand and pointed at the giant "mechanical building" beside him, which was almost the height and size of a dozen containers stacked together, and said:

"That's it, Khan."

"What is STC?"

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

Unexpectedly, Qiao Shida said:

"The greedy eagle-type intelligent control robot."

"Oh? How did you know?"

Fu Qinghai's eyes lit up.

"All the technical sergeants of the battle group participated in the dismantling and transportation of the STC. Here is only a small part. There are also some components and structures in another transport ship."

Qiao Shida explained:

"When we broke into this foundry, they were still producing a steady stream of intelligent control robots, which are the kind of intelligent control robots that are like mechanical flies. There are actually other STCs in the entire foundry, but either It was heavily guarded, and my tactical team couldn't attack it, or it was too close to the battleship bombing position, and we didn't get close for fear of accidental damage. So in the end, we had to pack up and take away the STC."

Of course, there was another reason that Joe Star didn't say: he found that the chapter leader was particularly interested in this intelligent control robot. When he couldn't take away all the STCs, he gave priority to the STCs that produced the "large mechanical flies".

"very good."

Fu Qinghai nodded with satisfaction.

Simply awesome!

Joestar made the right choice.

The STC of the Greedy Eagle-type intelligent control mecha is the best harvest. Other STCs are not necessarily STCs that the Mechanicum and the Human Empire do not have. For example, the STC of Leman Russ tanks is available in many foundry worlds. Another example is the STC of laser guns and bolters, which are available in many industrial worlds. These STCs cannot be considered rare, let alone unique.

But the Greedy Eagle-type intelligent control robot.

Except for the Dark Mechanicum forge world in the Eye of Terror, which still has reservations, and which is most likely still the poisonous furnace occupied by Nurgle, all other loyal forge worlds are unable to produce this special type of intelligent control robot.

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

But with this STC, Phaeton Forge World can produce intelligent control robots and achieve breakthroughs from scratch.

Blackstone Fortress has Spindle Drones.

Nurgle's army has plague drones.

There are over twenty different drones in the Tau Empire.

We Space Marines must have it too!

Moreover, intelligent control robots are different from Titans. In the past history, there has never been a precedent for Space Marines to pilot Titans. All Titan pilot crews belong to the Titan Order, but Space Marine equipment deploys intelligent control robots. There is precedent for this, and it is a very special example.

During the Battle of Farr, a group of Imperial Fists successfully jumped to the aid of the Iron Warriors' flagship, the Ironblood, and almost injured Perturabo. This incident made Perturabo very angry. He felt that his original bodyguards They were just a bunch of useless trash. He disbanded the original bodyguards and then personally built an intelligent robot as the bodyguards.

It is the famous "Iron Ring Robot".

In other legions, the Primarch Guards are composed of the most loved and trusted descendants of the Primarch. Intelligent robots are used to replace Space Marines as the Primarch Guards. Only Boss Pi can do this kind of thing. .

After all, the intelligent control robots are not Titans. Even if the Iron Buddha Chapter equips the Greedy Eagle-type intelligent control robots openly, it will not cause much criticism. Maybe other Chapters will find this group of people a bit strange - we all have to be very careful when buying a Thunderhawk gunship, but you actually have spare money to go to the Adeptus Mechanicus to buy intelligent robots, and you have too much money to spend?

"Okay, I've already made money from this battle."

The Chapter Leader concluded happily.

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

Although the Iron Buddha Chapter was the first to break through the enemy's defenses, and it was also the Iron Buddha Chapter that killed the most enemies. If the foundry core of the Zelas Space Station had not been submerged in the concentrated fire of naval guns, otherwise according to the Iron Buddha Chapter With the fighting power of the Pagoda, there is a high probability that the first one to behead the enemy will be the Iron Pagoda Battle Group.

But Fu Qinghai really doesn't care.

They are all false names.

…

Su Zheng, captain's room.

Attendant Lin Yu is taking notes.

Post-war summary of the Battle of Zerath Space Station:

Chapter killed: nine.

Details: One Iron Buddha Terminator (infiltration operation), five Space Marines (battle against the Intelligent Control Legion), and three mortal crew members (space naval battle bombardment).

Details of seized materials:

The STC of the Greedy Eagle-type intelligent control robot.

The heretical book "Rituals and Psalms".

There are several creations of the unknown Dark Mechanicus.

…

There are several creations of the unknown Dark Mechanicus.

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

"Go get Sid Nora over."

Fu Qinghai ordered.

"Okay, Khan."

The men took the order and left.

Soon, a middle-aged female inquisitor wearing a cape and a hood outside the power armor came to this cabin.

"Khan."

Sid Nora said hello:

"Congratulations to the Chapter on a great victory."

Fu Qinghai nodded slightly and pointed at the mechanical creations on the table, a breastplate-like object, a long cone-shaped rod, an exquisite crystal device, and the thick leather-bound book "Rituals and Psalms" .

"This is what we captured 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. Sure enough, as the rumors say, several Astartes war groups don't take the Mechanicus seriously at all?

As the Grand Inquisitor of the Holy Hammer Order, Sid Nora's status is actually no lower than that of the Marshal of the Imperial Guard and the Sage of Command. She is also one of the three senior figures in the Iron Ring War Zone, but she only directs operations. It's not her mission, and it's not what she's good at. Her main mission is to investigate suspected psychic events during the Iron Scourge campaign.

After the battle at the Zerath space station, she also heard some rumors. It was said that the special envoy of the Mechanicus, Basaromu Sage, had some differences with several Astartes war groups, and the two sides were very unhappy.

But she didn't expect that when she heard this rumor, she turned around and saw a bunch of heretical technological artifacts in the battleship cabin of the Iron Buddha Chapter - they had no intention of handing them over to the Mechanicus.

Having said that, the conflict between the Space Marines and the Mechanicus was none of her business. As a radical inquisitor, Sid Nora naturally couldn't hold back this curiosity. He first picked up the leather book, opened the cover and started reading. .

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

In the Warhammer 40K universe, books are a dangerous thing, especially a book obtained from a black machine oil man. The demons of Tzeentch like to use the knowledge in books to spread the belief of Chaos. Perhaps it was because Sid Nora was a great inquisitor with profound spiritual attainments that he dared to read this book so directly, but Fu Qinghai did not dare.

It seemed that Fu Qinghai was aware of his vigilance.

Sid Nora looked up and said with a smile:

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

"Okay, ma'am, please continue."

Fu Qinghai nodded and raised his hand.

While Sid Nora was flipping through the book, he turned 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 Hymns" introduces in detail this dark heretical group of technology priests, who call themselves the 'Vortex Technicians' sect, and the forbidden technological creations they created through unrestrained research on subspace."

Sid Nora explained:

"In particular, it details how to use the fortune teller through a complex and evil sacrificial ritual, and the picture painted by this device to indicate the future direction."

Sid Nora pointed at an object:

"This is the Umbra Looking Glass. It is recorded in "Rituals and Hymns": Civilians in certain sectors believe very strongly in the existence of ghosts. They believe that ghosts are always lingering in the place where they died, bound by revenge and unfulfilled wishes. Although they are absolutely Most Tech-Priests sneered at this statement. However, after research by the Vortex Technicians, they discovered that ghosts are real and can still have some impact on the material world, and the Umbra Looking Glass was born."

The Umbrascope is a complex crystal device, with circuits arranged one after another like petals. Although it is about the size of one hand, it weighs much more than it looks.

"According to Proteus' description: The Umbra Looking Glass is very power-consuming. When the device is turned on, with the snapping sound of energy, crazy illusions formed by psychic particles and the non-human souls of the dead will appear. Normal vortex technicians usually use this instrument with the help of machine slaves or subspace barriers, and try to avoid direct contact."

"The souls that appear from the Umbra Looking Glass are not their original appearance. They are just empty shells of souls. They fill up the inside with the ripples and malice of the warp, scream at the other side of the mirror, create illusions, or try to occupy life. By."

Sid Nora retells the book.

Fu Qinghai only heard one key message:

Anyone can see ghosts with the help of an umbral speculum.

This is quite a useful device.

In the world of reincarnation, usually only people with psychic qualities, the so-called yin and yang eyes, can see ghosts. For example, Zhang Yuning has a psychic quality and is born with the ability to see ghosts. But this kind of physique is too rare after all. For technical priests, is it possible that only a yin-yang-eyed machine oil guy is qualified to study ghosts? Definitely not. Moreover, many Tech-priests did not have naked eyes at all. They wanted to study this phenomenon, so they made the umbra speculum.

Science is magical.

Fu Qinghai noticed that an unfamiliar noun appeared in what Sid Nora retold.

"The subspace barrier, what is that?"

"This is it."

Sid Nora pointed to the "breastplate."

"The subspace barrier is essentially a combination of the Zero Point Launcher and the Meditator System, which is used to be embedded in the armor for isolation and protection. Those technical heretics who first fell into Chaos did not go crazy at the beginning. Also understands the importance of protecting oneself from the corruption of the Warp."

"After a long ceremony and forging, a circular circuit that can be used to isolate subspace energy was created. A special machine soul slept in it. When it senses subspace energy, it will wake up and spit out purple smoke. Drain the subspace energy. The Order of the Holy Hammer also noticed that the Dark Mechanicum gave subspace isolation technology as a reward to the Chaos Space Marines, and the latter rewarded them with various dark technological relics, as a common thing among Chaos forces. An act of exchange.”

Sid Nora reveals the secret.

(PS: "Zero point emitter", "zero point force field"... The energy possessed by particles vibrating at absolute zero is zero point energy, a physical concept. This term is widely used by GW screenwriters in various descriptions. Use To exaggerate the feeling of science fiction, in fact, they don’t know what it means.)

Fu Qinghai understood.

This does not mean that those who embrace Chaos will not be harmed by Chaos. The Dark Mechanicus and the Chaos Space Marines will be harmed by the vagaries of the subspace. Moreover, although many traitors hate the Empire, they do not like Chaos, such as the Night Lords. Waiting for a long time at the Eye of Terror, the largest subspace rift in the universe, where the non-material universe and the material universe meet, they need some way to stop the erosion of chaos.

The black machine oil guy, on the one hand, wants to study the secrets of subspace, but on the other hand, he doesn't want to be harmed by subspace. The subspace barrier came into being under this need.

These vortex technicians have something special!

Fu Qinghai commented in his heart.

"Then this last stick..."

Fu Qinghai pointed to the stick and asked:

"What is it again?"

"According to this book, the device is called the 'Betrayal Matrix', which is a kind of torture instrument. It is a brain neuroscience instrument of the Mechanicum, combined with subspace energy pollution to create a subspace energy whip, which can directly Beating the mind of the person being tortured can ingrain psychic toxins into the past beliefs, and then burn the memories of piety through pain, until the foundation of a person's beliefs and spiritual support are completely destroyed."

Fu Qinghai suddenly remembered.

Kalamanda said that under that room, there were eight corpses of loyalist technical priests. Their deaths were "extremely tragic" and they were suspected of being "tortured". Proteus also claimed to be the "Master of Interrogation", so it turned out that he relied on this stuff.

You can give this to Kalamanda.

This torture instrument that directly acts 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 the oil guys 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 include a lot of self-mutilation and self-abuse behaviors, and it is difficult for them to succumb to ordinary painful stimuli.

The black machine oil guy knows how to interrogate well.

Fu Qinghai once again gave a high evaluation.

The Space Marines also invented some special torture instruments, such as the "Pain Gloves" also called "Neural Gloves", invented by the Imperial Fists, but they were not used to torture people but to torture themselves. This is related to the special legion culture of the Imperial Fists.

The Pain Glove is called a glove, but it is actually a thin garment made of electrical fiber mesh that can cover the entire body except the head. It stimulates the body's nerves and causes the most extreme pain without causing harm to the body. The device also suppresses dizzying reflexes to ensure the user remains awake throughout the procedure.

In addition to the masochistic maniacs of the Imperial Fists, the Dark Angels' interrogation priests also have many weird and special torture instruments, which are used to urge the Fallen Angels to "sincerely repent" and ensure that the chapter is "always loyal" and "has no secrets."

"Qingshan Khan..."

After understanding the functions of these gadgets, the judge looked up at Fu Qinghai, considered his words and said:

"These things are all extremely dark and heretical forbidden technological creations. According to regulations, they should be handed over to the Tribunal for safekeeping by us..."

Fu Qinghai remained expressionless and noncommittal.

Just said softly:

"This is the trophy of the Iron Buddha Chapter."

"But……"

Sid Nora was about to say something else.

But suddenly he realized that three space warriors were quietly standing behind him.

Sid Nora has observed the shoulder heraldry specifications of the Iron Buddha Chapter. Ordinary Space Marines have company numbers and chapter emblems, while Apothecaries and Techmarines have positive spirals and gear skulls. But these three space warriors have personal crests, which are the golden crow, the bat and the 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 get out of this room, right?"

Fu Qinghai smiled and said nothing.

Instead, he gave an unexpected answer:

"Your Excellency, Grand Inquisitor Sid Nora, so far, I think our cooperation is quite pleasant."

Sid Nora heard the implicit threat from his soft tone. He didn't even care about the Mechanicus. It would not be difficult to kill one of my Inquisitors.

Sid Nora nodded and said:

"Qingshan, is it okay for me to call you this? Why don't we each take a step back and I'll take the fortune teller. That thing is too dangerous. I don't want to leave it alone. All other heretical technological creations belong to the Iron Buddha Chapter. , how about it? Neither you nor I will disclose this matter to the outside world. "

Tsk tsk, he is indeed a radical judge.

Fu Qinghai sighed in his heart.

Sid Nora was more radical than he could have imagined.

She wouldn't want to ask a diviner through a sacrificial ritual and find a Chaos traitor within the Empire, would she?

"Can."

Fu Qinghai nodded and said seriously:

"But I have to remind you that the guy who invented the fortune teller told me that if this device is destroyed rashly, a subspace rift will be created. I don't know if what he said is true or false. No matter how you want to study this thing, don't Study near my battleship, do you understand?"

"I see."

Sid Nora nodded and said.

After speaking, he took out a piece of black cloth and covered the divining device completely. Then he picked up the device and walked out. The hatch automatically slid open. The three Space Marines turned around and made way for the female inquisitor to 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 sacrifices to find the answer to your question, are you sure that answer will be the one you want?"

Sid Nora stopped.

Without looking back, he said in a deep voice:

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

Then he left without looking back.

hope so.

Fu Qinghai thought to himself.

I wish you really knew.

After all, there are aliens in the Alien Court, heretics in the Heretics Court, demons in the Demon Court, and sometimes...

Not a joke.

…………