Chapter 100: Allies

General Luo Site’s stern face twisted into a smile barely worthy of the name.

“I trust my own judgment; at this point, we need not concern ourselves with inconvenient heretical remarks or the legality of psykers.”

“To speak heretically, if there is any chance of victory, I would even ally with the dead and merge with the xenos.”

General Luo Site’s words stirred no ripple in the hall.

Everyone in this cathedral hall were soldiers General Luo Site could trust.

and Leina’s threshold for heresy had already been raised by Zhou Yun.

yet Zhou Yun’s lips twitched slightly.

Ally with the dead? Merge with the xenos?

In a certain sense, General Luo Site’s words were indeed correct.

Noticing his words had drawn no reaction, General Luo Site sighed and shook his head.

“I sincerely invite both of you to join the upcoming meeting; you will replace Viceroy Augustus Flax’s position.”

“Of course, this must wait until my dear Tech-Priest Shaho Lik has calmed the machine-spirit—”

“Commander, the machine-spirit is in ecstatic joy.” Before General Luo Site could finish, Tech-Priest Shaho Lik interrupted him.

“What?” General Luo Site blinked, confused, turning toward the laser comm-unit behind him.

In his memory, using this cursed device under the shadow of the Tyranid advance required the Tech-Priest to perform a sacred ritual of repeatedly unplugging and replugging it, smearing it with holy ointment and tapping it at a forty-five-degree angle before it might function properly.

Though his appearance betrayed nothing, General Luo Site was one hundred and eighty years old.

He had witnessed many such operations by Tech-Priests and understood the complex rituals of calming machine-spirits.

Why now?

“Just now, as the two of you entered the hall, the machine-spirit suddenly surged with unexpected joy. Its entire mechanical state is optimal; interstellar communication can now be established.” Tech-Priest Shaho Lik’s gaze settled on Zhou Yun and Leina.

Leina looked at Zhou Yun in confusion; General Luo Site turned to look at him too.

Zhou Yun scratched his head, expression bewildered, waving his hand at the crowd to indicate he had no idea either.

The machine-spirit was ecstatic the moment it saw him?

Was this again due to the winged figure in Bai Guang’s assertion that he had further recognized his own warp essence?

Zhou Yun weighed it in his mind—he had been studying his newly acquired abilities lately.

The first was the ability to sleep: Zhou Yun had recently discovered he could fall asleep instantly anywhere, seemingly a capability of Ye Bi Daxiong.

The second was an uncanny shooting skill: his marksmanship had inexplicably strengthened, reaching near-perfect accuracy—clearly another ability of Ye Bi Daxiong.

The third was what this Tech-Priest described: causing the machine-spirit to rejoice. Machine affinity? Was this Ye Bi Daxiong’s ability or Doraemon’s?

Zhou Yun couldn’t sort it out right away.

He himself remained half-skeptical about possessing warp essence.

Seeing Zhou Yun’s expression of detachment, General Luo Site asked no further.

Establishing temporary interstellar communication was, Wulunruhe , beneficial.

Sparks crackled from the laser comm-unit; such devices enabled unstable communication within the star system.

Yet with the Tyranids approaching and psyker communications growing more disrupted,

these laser comm-units had become invaluable.

Flashes of light erupted within the comm-unit, and faces appeared one by one.

Zhou Yun glanced: six faces total, one spot still empty.

“It seems the Navy won’t bother joining our meeting,” said a woman with a scarred face.

The Imperial Navy garrisoned in the Underworld System had refused to consult with the Astra Militarum and the Sisters of Battle on defense.

In their eyes, the soldiers stationed on the system’s planets were useless, expendable.

“They’ve always believed this to be a war they will inevitably win.”

General Luo Site spoke with grim pessimism:

“I only hope we can hold out longer.” The Astra Militarum and Sisters of Battle viewed this as a war destined to be lost; their only hope was to delay until reinforcements from the Blood Angels arrived.

The Navy, however, saw the Tyranids as mere paper tigers and believed the Underworld System would stand forever.

General Luo Site turned his head, pushing these thoughts aside.

“This is Viceroy Zhou Yun and Lady Leina; I assume you’re all familiar with their records.” He gestured toward Zhou Yun and Leina.

No one objected to Zhou Yun’s participation; all knew his Zhanji .

He had suppressed the expansion of the Gene-Stealers, defeated two Chaos cults, and served as the right hand of the Gene-Stealer chieftain; now he was virtually the representative of the Asford Underhive’s forces.

Anyone who opposed Zhou Yun’s presence at this meeting was vermin.

General Luo Site was unsurprised. He turned to Zhou Yun.

“All information about our allies is in the files over there, but I’ll introduce them again.”

He pointed to the faces on the comm-unit.

“This scarred woman is High Sister Magda Grace of the Holy Rose Convent; she and her ten thousand Sisters of Battle will defend Laixi.”

High Sister Magda Grace nodded slightly in greeting: “I hear you’ve halted the Gene-Stealers’ advance. Well done—we failed to do the same on Laixi.”

!。 Du

Her tone carried both praise for Zhou Yun and guilt for herself,

for it was due to the intervention of the Xenos Inquisitor that she discovered the Gene-Stealers on Laixi; and as Zhou Yun knew, this was not the first time she had fought the Tyranids.

“This is Commander Alexei Demest of the Vostonya 1635th Armored Regiment, ‘Hammer of Vostonya’; he will garrison the toxic gas seas of Iksoi.”

Commander Alexei of the Vostonya Firstborn Regiment gave Zhou Yun and General Luo Site the Imperial eagle salute.

“I came at General Luo Site’s call,” he said earnestly and resolutely. “This time, Vostonya will not stand idle.”

During the Horus Heresy, Vostonya chose to stand idle; to atone for this sin, every firstborn son in every Vostonyan family now joins the Astra Militarum, swearing never again to absent themselves from war.

They possessed excellent toxin-dispersion equipment, ideal for combat in Iksoi’s poisonous atmosphere.

“This is Commissar Tain Geer ; he will lead the Cadia forces to garrison the Void Dome on Tartarus.”

General Luo Site continued:

“This is Major Henrik Jansen of the Cadia 1433rd Air Regiment; he will defend the gas giant Aelos.”

When he reached the final face, General Luo Site paused:

“These are the Cadia Artillery Regiment; they will guard the asteroid belt encircling the outer edge of the system, under my direct command.”

Zhou Yun nodded slightly to the Cadia soldiers.

Thus, every inhabited world in the Underworld System—except the dead world Pertita—was now defended by Imperial troops.

After introducing all commanders, General Luo Site sat beside Zhou Yun and pulled forward the Underworld System’s star map.

The structure of the Underworld System was peculiar:

the innermost region held two toxic stars,

then outward came six planets: Tartarus, Asford, Laixi, Iksoi, Aelos, and Pertita,

beyond them lay the asteroid belt known as the Lord’s Ring,

and farthest out stretched the Shimmering Shield—a layer of icy planetesimals.

“Let me explain why the Navy is so confident of victory—and why they think we’re useless.”

General Luo Site sighed.

(End of Chapter)