Chapter 290: The Thinker, Kip

"Forgemaster has begun his move."

Robert Kyriman's voice was low and powerful; if one listened closely, one could detect the complex emotions within it,

anger, sorrow, pain, hatred, even sighs all intertwined.

Many of Kyriman's brothers suspected him of ambition, yet this Lord of the Ultramarines truly regarded the other Primarchs as brothers, regardless of whether their bonds were good or strained.

Deep within his heart, the Lord of the Ultramarines still grieved over Forngrim's fall.

That once-honorable, proud Forngrim, who never failed to embody perfection—the Gene-Primarch of the Emperor's Children, one of the Empire's symbols, the purple phoenix—how could he have become this?

Especially when he learned that Forngrim and his Emperor's Children, after ten thousand years, still used the Emperor's Children's name, the Imperial double-headed eagle, and mocked the slogan "For the Emperor," Robert Kyriman's pain deepened.

Forngrim had become a symbol of the Empire's fallen glory, representing how the entire Empire was helplessly sliding into the abyss.

Now, after ten thousand years of dormancy and neglect, Forngrim once again extended his fangs toward the Empire.

According to Zhou Yun's intelligence, Kyriman was certain the governor of Macragge, the capital and largest city of Macragge, had been corrupted by Forngrim and become a servant of Slaanesh.

He proposed a grand victory parade to showcase triumph across the galaxy, uplift the spirit of Ultramar, bind Ultramar together, and spread word of the Primarchs' return to more of the galaxy, bringing hope.

Though the parade was grand and slightly exaggerated, the Lord of the Ultramarines had to admit it held real value.

"This will let the Primarchs' radiance shine across the galaxy, erect a new example for humanity, awaken their faith in the Emperor, and awaken their faith in the Primarchs."

The governor of Macragge declared this to Kyriman.

But the parade's true purpose was to have the corrupted governor present Kyriman with the Slaanesh artifact known as the Crown of Glory, corrupting and fully consuming him.

Yet Zhou Yun and Kyriman would not let Forngrim have his way—they had already devised a trick to trap Forngrim.

Theoretically, this trick would cause Forngrim to be corrupted in reverse by Zhou Yun.

Of course, Forngrim, already fully corrupted by Slaanesh, would not easily become Zhou Yun's Demon Prince—but it would be enough to render him unable to respond to reality for a long time.

"I accepted the victory parade as planned."

The Lord of the Ultramarines said, his expression weary.

The high-efficiency pills Zhou Yun provided had indeed improved his productivity, but they had not lessened the fatigue from doing these tasks.

The more he handled administrative and military affairs from Ultramar's reclaimed and unreclaimed worlds, the darker Kyriman's mood became.

Inefficiency, bickering, and meaningless waste permeated the Imperium.

Everyone bore unimaginable burdens, everyone gave their all for the Empire—yet efficiency remained low, departments endlessly bickered, and meaningless waste continued to grow.

Kyriman gave a bitter smile; he understood why Saint Guilliman and Zhou Yun said this Empire needed him.

"This kind of public-facing, faith-requiring work should be left to Guilliman," Kyriman sighed.

If the parade weren't truly valuable, if it weren't to thwart Forngrim's scheme, Kyriman truly would not have held any parade.

"Forngrim was corrupted by Slaanesh, not driven mad by the Axe of the Butcher," Zhou Yun shook his head. "If he saw Guilliman, he'd flee faster than anyone."

Guilliman was now absurdly strong; Zhou Yun had fought him over a dozen times with Fat Tiger the Daemon, and knew this well.

Unless Forngrim was suicidal, he would never attempt to corrupt Guilliman.

"I understand. Everything proceeds as planned," Kyriman nodded lightly.

Though in Zhou Yun's plan, he no longer needed to face Forngrim's corruption directly,

once news of the victory parade spread, he would inevitably sink deeper into the vortex of bureaucracy, as forces from across the Imperium flooded toward Macragge from all directions.

Just thinking of the added workload, Kyriman's face darkened further.

Zhou Yun, watching the darkness on Kyriman's face, felt a pang of pity—he had recently traveled between planets, recovering corrupted things and aiding companies in assaults, and now understood the immense burden Kyriman's mind carried.

Every company, every Ultramar auxiliary force, every Astartes and mortal, was like an extension of Kyriman's supermind, moving according to his thoughts, executing surgical strikes, assaults, and flanking maneuvers across hundreds of battlefields.

The difficulty was comparable to a surgeon performing a thousand surgeries simultaneously.

Before Zhou Yun could say anything comforting, Kyriman's servitors, moving with the speed Kyriman had drilled into them, delivered more files onto his desk.

Clearly, the time Kyriman had allotted for conversation with Zhou Yun had expired; the servitors followed his rules, urging—and even driving—him to begin new work.

Kyriman exhaled a heavy, foul breath and immediately plunged into the sea of documents.

He had essentially turned himself into a high-intelligence thinking servitor, embedded within his own command system, working himself to exhaustion.

Zhou Yun sighed with pity and said nothing further; for Kyriman immersed in work, not distracting him was the better comfort.

He knew this, and Kyriman knew he knew it—so Kyriman no longer wasted time with empty formalities toward him.

Zhou Yun turned and left the command room through his gate, leaving Kyriman amid the constant stream of servitors, now a human command machine.

"Stand still!!!"

Zhou Yun had just returned to Hera Fortress, to the quarters Kyriman assigned him, when he heard Lei Na's voice like thunder.

He had seen this trick before—it was the Whisper of Enchantment, using psychic energy to wrap one's will and invade another's mind to control their actions.

Lei Na had often used it in the hive cities.

Lei Na's voice, laced with powerful psychic energy, lashed out toward the Macragge wild rabbit captured from the mountains—

BOOM!!!

The poor rabbit exploded into a spray of blood inside the training cage in Zhou Yun's quarters.

CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!

Applause rose from the ceiling—Xiang Leina, the Eldar jester hanging upside down, clapped.

"At least it really stood still. Well, it'll never move again." She grinned.

"... hat are you two doing in my house?" Zhou Yun stood by the gate, staring blankly at Lei Na and Xiang Leina.

The 184th Regiment was currently resting on Macragge, assigned only to guard a few key Macragge cities, so Lei Na was temporarily stationed there.

Xiang Leina had no separate quarters assigned by Kyriman; instead, the Eldar were given a dedicated embassy district.

But this jester, distrusted by the Deathwatch, often sneaked over to live in Zhou Yun's quarters—after all, Zhou Yun usually traveled between planets and mostly stayed in the Wallpaper House, rarely returning here.

Xiang Leina giggled, leapt down from the ceiling, and did a backflip to land before Zhou Yun.

"Lei Na failed the Inquisition's certified psychic test—theory, practical psychic techniques, military psychic techniques, and anti-corruption all failed."

"If Inquisitor Greffax hadn't signed her a permit, she'd have been shot on the spot."

"She wanted to ask you if you had any items that could control psychic power, so I thought—psychic abilities? We Eldar are experts!"

Hearing Xiang Leina's words, Zhou Yun looked at Lei Na with a slightly odd expression and asked: "You failed anti-corruption? Why?"

". h." Lei Na's gaze flickered slightly.

"Tsk, it's not Lei Na's fault," Xiang Leina giggled. "The Macragge Inquisition used a simulation to test Lei Na, and she had a panic reaction—fired an Alpha-class psychic cannon that nearly blew half the Macragge Inquisition into space."

Lei Na awkwardly turned her head away.

"How's your training going?" Zhou Yun asked, eye twitching as he looked at the blood and corpses scattered across his training cage.

"Not good," Xiang Leina said before Lei Na could speak, grinning. "Her psychic power is decent for an Eldar, but she's unskilled in all psychic techniques and knows nothing about psychic theory."

"And because her psychic power has grown, many spells she used to cast can't be cast anymore—like the Whisper of Enchantment. Her psychic energy is too strong; before she can control someone, she just blows them to pieces."

". ctually, not having Inquisition certification doesn't matter. On a grand scale, the Emperor himself was an unlicensed psychic. In a couple days, when Kyriman or Guilliman have time, I'll get one of them to sign you a special permit."

Zhou Yun looked at Lei Na with pity.

Previously, Guilliman had carefully examined Lei Na's psychic potential to prevent her from being corrupted by Forngrim or Slaanesh, and confirmed that her psychic potential had indeed impaired her learning ability.

Most psychics, especially those reaching Alpha-level, develop some mental distortion.

Lei Na appeared normal on the surface, but her psychic potential had twisted her capacity to absorb new knowledge—particularly logic-based or computational knowledge. Most of the time her intelligence was normal, but when acquiring new knowledge, her psychic-distorted mind interfered.

This wasn't entirely bad—because of this, Lei Na was nearly immune to the whispers from the Warp and had strong resistance to the corruption of the Four Gods, strongest against Tzeentch, then Slaanesh and Khorne, and significantly stronger than average against Nurgle.

In other words, she would forever struggle to learn new knowledge, especially mathematics, machinery, and psychic theory.

"I mainly want to learn more practical psychic techniques—like psychic wound healing, mind control, eliminating physical fatigue, removing toxins."

Lei Na said, slightly embarrassed.

"So I was wondering… do you have any items that can directly implant knowledge?"

Zhou Yun's lip twitched.

Now he was being tested on his Doraemon duties.

"Daxiong—no, Lei Na, secret gadgets aren't magic. If you always rely on gadgets, you'll never grow."

Zhou Yun said seriously to Lei Na.

Lei Na softly "ah"ed, seemingly stunned by his tone.

Zhou Yun smiled faintly at her expression.

He was only joking, of course.

Zhou Yun had always believed in "4D Pocket! Skill Points!" and "4D Pocket! Let me see your potential!"

He rummaged through his 4D pocket and pulled out a loaf of bread, shoving it into Lei Na's hands:

"Ta-da! Memory Bread!"

"Press this bread onto the knowledge you want to memorize, then eat it—you'll remember it."

"By the way, if you get indigestion, you'll forget."

Lei Na thanked Zhou Yun repeatedly, then left his quarters under Xiang Leina's curious gaze.

After Lei Na left, Xiang Leina couldn't help asking curiously: "Boss, can this bread really fix Lei Na's brain?"

"I think her brain is beyond even the Life Goddess Yisha's healing—if she crawled out of Nurgle's garden, it still wouldn't help. I suspect her brain structure is the Imperium's latest scientific breakthrough."

". o," Zhou Yun shook his head. "It just lets her memorize the knowledge. Understanding is another matter—Lei Na's memory is fine; her defect is in comprehension."

"Besides, if we truly fixed her brain, an untrained Alpha-level psychic like her would get corrupted on the spot. She's better off like this."

Xiang Leina nodded in agreement.

Zhou Yun glanced at her: "By the way, when's Xigaoqi coming to fetch you?"

"I've been feeling a bit short on people entering my 4D pocket lately—I've had a moment of enlightenment. What if He really doesn't save you and just comes in to have his own moment of enlightenment?"

Xiang Leina's smile froze.

Outside Zhou Yun's residence, Leina, who had just left, couldn't help raising her head to gaze at the scorching sun in the vast sky.

She still found it hard to adjust to Macragge's climate, its expansive sky, and its blinding sun—everything stirred in her a constant sense of fear.

Suddenly, Leina felt her vision blur slightly.

She couldn't help lowering her head, feeling a faint ache in her tear ducts; a few tears seeped out, sticky trails tracing down her cheeks.

(End of Chapter)