Chapter 583: Talarin: I Even Collected the Mother of the Primarchs

"What? Talarin, you're saying you'll return these two Voyager probes to me?"

"You're so kind!"

Zhou Yun smiled as he looked at Talarin.

Talarin's quantum brain momentarily stalled, freezing for three to five seconds before processing the meaning of Zhou Yun's words.

But by the time he realized it, it was already too late.

The two Voyager probes he had collected for over ten thousand years vanished into Zhou Yun's abdominal pocket in the blink of an eye.

Talarin slightly opened his metal jaws, as if to speak, but ultimately said nothing.

Words like "God of Machines," "Primordial Power," and "Soul of Machinery" flashed through Talarin's mind.

No matter how precious a collection, it could not compare to the fleeting moment of a soul.

"Talarin, is this all your collection amounts to?"

Zhou Yun turned his head, smiling slightly at Talarin.

Talarin instinctively sensed danger and stepped back a pace.

He internally sneered, feeling he had been treated like a fool.

He had just lost a valuable artifact—would he now offer up something even more precious?

Though Talarin always loved displaying his exhibits to visitors, could he not suppress this impulse? Could he possibly display his most precious artifacts knowing they might be stolen?

Impossible! Would Talarin sink to the level of those brain-dead necromancers, unable to control their obsessions and instincts?

"I have one even rarer artifact."

"This artifact is unique across the galaxy."

"And it is intimately tied to you Gene-Primarchs."

Talarin declared to Zhou Yun and the Primarchs in a tone of boastful pride.

The air fell into deathly silence.

Talarin himself froze for a moment, then lowered his head, as if filled with regret.

Talarin was not a miser, not one who stole priceless historical relics from across the galaxy and locked them away in dark, forgotten warehouses.

Talarin was a witness and guardian of history; his duty was to preserve the galaxy's past and leave it for future generations to behold.

The key was beholdal—if no one beheld it, history would be forgotten, and Talarin could not allow that.

Especially since the artifact he intended to display was intimately tied to the Gene-Primarchs,

and the Primarchs' reaction upon seeing it would become a historic moment worthy of record.

Talarin simply could not hold back—he could not help but show his collection to Zhou Yun and the Primarchs.

"What is it?" Fulgrim was the first to show curiosity, eager to know what artifact could make Talarin so proud.

And according to Talarin, this artifact was intimately tied to the Gene-Primarchs.

"Could it be the Vault of Primordial Blood?" Fulgrim had heard of this divine relic from Fabius—said to contain the complete genetic sequences of all twenty-one Gene-Primarchs, which Fabius coveted desperately but had never found.

"That is indeed a treasure worth collecting!" Talarin blurted out: "But according to my historical research, that artifact should be in the hands of my dear friend, Belisarius Cawl."

"My laboratory needs a new security system," Belisarius Cawl said coldly.

"I can assign the Blood Ravens to guard it," Saint Guilliman chuckled jokingly.

"You're not going to tell us the Emperor on the Golden Throne is a fake, and the real one is in your collection, are you?" Guilliman glanced at the theatrical Talarin, his voice dry with his usual strange humor.

"Do you know what's more boring than serious Guilliman?"

Fulgrim shrugged.

"Guilliman trying to tell a joke."

Fulgrim's words made Guilliman's expression twitch, drawing smiles from Saint Guilliman and Zhou Yun—even Belisarius Cawl couldn't help nodding in agreement.

"I have long wished to recreate the scene near the Golden Throne. If you do not mind contributing to galactic history, allow me to enter the Throne Room—"

"I mind very much. I refuse," Guilliman shook his head. "The Emperor is indispensable to the present Human Empire."

Talarin gave a slight shake of his head, expressing his regret.

"This artifact is not related to all Gene-Primarchs—only to one." Talarin continued to obfuscate.

Only one Primarch? The three present Primarchs all raised their eyebrows slightly.

Talarin was pleased with their expressions and let out a series of clicking laughs.

"My museum houses countless historical relics from across the galaxy."

"The head of Saint Sebastian Thor, the Emperor's Imperial Guard, the last Lord of Cadia, Krieg, a world-soul."

"Even clones of your own kind have been displayed on my shelves."

Talarin looked at Fulgrim, who did not anger—only smiled and nodded.

"Yet none of these compare to this artifact's uniqueness. It belongs to one Gene-Primarch—and is something most other Gene-Primarchs lack."

"It is exceedingly rare, and has always been the most important artifact in my collection of human relics."

Talarin raised his voice and declared:

"I! Talarin, Curator of the Solernas Museum, have even collected a Gene-Primarch's mother."

Gene-Primarch's mother

Primarch's mother

Primarch's mother

Mother

Talarin's voice echoed through the museum.

Belisarius Cawl, Fulgrim, and Saint Guilliman all drew a sharp breath simultaneously, then turned to look at Roboute Guilliman.

"Gene-Primarch's mother" was an alien concept to the vast majority of Primarchs.

Neither Fulgrim nor Saint Guilliman had ever known a mother; most Primarchs were the same—perhaps they had foster fathers or grandfathers, but few had mothers.

And if one spoke of a Gene-Primarch's mother, Fulgrim and Saint Guilliman could think of only one: Roboute Guilliman's foster mother, the venerable Lady Yulton.