Chapter 377

Zhou Yun's will extended in all directions like mechanical tentacles, gently touching the machine spirits hidden within the gunships, perceiving the existence of those spirits of all machines.

Every screw and every cable of those gunships was exposed under Zhou Yun's control.

This was the ability he had obtained from the Domain of Vile Arts—the control over all machines.

Zhou Yun searched through the memories of the machine spirits in the gunships to find out which reckless guy dared to intercept the Primarchs' ship, but found that the mastermind behind it had issued orders through many complex and hidden command layers.

The true mastermind was hidden behind the cumbersome administrative system of the Empire; the initial order-giver could not be traced at all in the memories of the machine spirits.

Even between gunship and gunship, the orders were received indirectly from different command systems; the initial order-giver must have had quite a bit of understanding of the entire administrative system of the Empire.

Hmm... this was unlikely to be the Ecclesiarchy; the Ecclesiarchy had no real official armed forces other than the Sisters of Battle.

Perhaps it was the Administratum, the Fawu Force, or the Navy?

Of course, it could also be Mars.

However, Zhou Yun was just trying it out anyway; he had other ways to find the mastermind.

Zhou Yun calmed his heart and issued orders to the machine spirits in all directions with his will.

A slight, yet impossible-to-ignore tremor came from the ship under Zhou Yun's feet; at the same time, the gunships chasing around the ship also began to tremble slightly.

"Oh no! The machine spirit is displeased!"

"Damn it! The gunship won't listen to my commands!"

"I've piloted it for more than ten years, how did it lose control now!"

Chaos spread from the surrounding gunships; those pilots were horrified to find that the machines they were once familiar with suddenly experienced stagnation, stuttering, and malfunctions, and even worse, they broke away from the pilots' control and began to act on their own.

They were like being deprived of power; their flight speed slowed down abruptly, and they descended toward the ground uncontrollably.

Tiruien looked at this scene in astonishment, but although he was old and fat, his brain was not slow.

He quickly thought of the teachings about Saint Doraemon that had been passed down in those astropathic communications:

Saint Doraemon is the Primordial Power, one of the triple wills of the Machine God.

Clearly, this Saint Doraemon had demonstrated his unique miracle.

Archmagos Belisarius Doraemon Cawl watched this scene, and he turned his head slightly to look at his Martian colleagues who were stiff and stunned in place.

"111001101000100010010001'111010001011011010000101'111001011000111010011111."

The Archmagos spat out a series of complex binary secret texts and said to his Martian colleagues in front of him.

The meaning of this string of binary secret texts was "You should praise, this is the miracle of the Primordial Power!"

And those sages from Mars were still immersed in shock, communicating with each other in binary in low voices.

Belisarius Cawl watched this scene and only felt a sense of comfort surge in his neural thinking network.

Logically speaking, he should have gone directly to Mars to complete the second task Guilliman had given him ten thousand years ago.

But now, Cawl believed it was necessary for him to act as a prophet to teach these colleagues who had not yet recognized the existence of the Primordial Power.

These sages and tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus who had arrived at the Moon and Terra would be the first batch of believers in the Machine God to accept the teaching.

Then Cawl would take them back to Mars to lay a good foundation for the Primordial Power to descend on Mars.

However, Zhou Yun didn't react to Cawl's actions; Cawl just took it as the Primordial Power's tacit approval.

How? Could it be that the Primordial Power couldn't understand binary secret texts? How could that be possible?

Zhou Yun didn't pay much attention to Cawl's side; he just watched Tiruien quickly coordinate the personnel on the ground and prepare a landing spot for their ship.

Hmm, by way of bribery, extremely efficient. "If we were to follow the normal procedures, it would take at least half a month." Tiruien said with a somewhat bitter tone.

Although the method was a bit abstract, the efficiency was high. The void ship soon received landing instructions, and the landing position was in the auxiliary spaceport on the Eternity Wall of the Imperial Palace.

Not the Lion's Gate spaceport... Zhou Yun thought while touching his chin.

There were two spaceports in the Imperial Palace, the Eternity Wall spaceport near the outer palace wall and the Lion's Gate spaceport in the inner palace.

Under Tiruien's coordination, he only allowed the void ship carrying the Primarchs to land at the Eternity Wall spaceport, which was the outer palace part.

I'm afraid that in the inner palace of the Imperial Palace, that is, among the High Lords, there were indeed people who feared the Primarchs and dared not let the Primarchs land directly beside them.

Zhou Yun's expression was a bit strange; if there were only Guilliman on this ship, he could understand their suspicion and fear of Guilliman.

But there was not only Guilliman on this ship, there was also Sanguinius, the Archangel.

They actually suspected and feared even the Archangel?

Do they think that the things they have done, even someone as merciful as Sanguinius would not forgive? So they tried every possible way to delay the steps of the two Primarchs entering the inner palace?

But whether it was Sanguinius or Guilliman, they were too lazy to care about the High Lords now.

Zhou Yun and the two of them now only wanted to go to the Sanctum in the inner palace as soon as possible and face the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang directly in the Throne Room.

Guilliman, Zhou Yun, and Sanguinius quickly exchanged a look.

"Shield-Captain Valerian." Zhou Yun's gaze fell on the silent golden-armored warrior beside him.

The Adeptus Custodes Shield-Captain Valerian looked at Zhou Yun, asking with his eyes what Zhou Yun needed him to do.

"We need to contact Captain-General Trajann."

Irtu Simotrien, the Master of the Administratum with a sallow face and a bloated body, was lurking in a dark safe house deep in his palace, shivering and gnawing on his fingernails.

He was a person sitting at the top of the Imperial power pyramid, the head of the High Lords Council, and the manager of the Administratum, the largest department in the entire Empire. He was famous in politics for his obsession with grasping the initiative.

But in private, he was a person who lacked a sense of security. He had the most power, but the foundation of his power was also the weakest.

The power of the Inquisition representative Er Si came from every Inquisitor; the power of the Astropathic Choir Master Kai Laplin came from himself and those psykers; the Rogue Trader representative came from the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang's authorization letter and countless wealth.

The Ecclesiarchy Pope came from faith, the High Admiral of the Navy came from ships, the Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes came from the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang's perfect creation, the Navigator Ambassador came from the third eye, and the Fabricator General came from Mars.

And as the chief, the Master of the Administratum, his power came only from parchment scrolls, scriptoriums, and hundreds of trillions of Administratum officials.

It was those poor staff members who almost couldn't leave their posts for generations, crawling at the table until their spines became deformed, who gave Irtu Simotrien power.

Irtu was never an individual; he was the embodiment of all Administratum officials, scholars, staff, and their descendants. He was the representative of their will, the maintainer of their interests, and the gatekeeper of their traditions.

They were like cells, converging into Irtu Simotrien.

Therefore, every time Irtu breathed, he could feel the heavy burden on his shoulders; the lives and deaths of hundreds of millions of Administratum staff were tied to Irtu.

Irtu had to protect the traditions of the Administratum; in other words, Irtu had to sit firmly at the peak of Imperial power and maintain the immobility of Imperial law.

Because even the smallest change in Imperial law would cause countless people in the Administratum to lose their jobs, countless people to die suddenly, and countless chaos and corruption to breed.

Irtu originally did this job very well, very well, but now...

Irtu gnawed on his fingernails anxiously.

But now the Primarchs have returned...

"The Primarchs will bring the worst things—reform!"

"Isn't that right! Lord Irtu!"

Irtu's most trusted subordinate, his assistant minister Nesos, said in a tragic tone.

Nesos was the only subordinate who could enter Irtu's safe house; Irtu trusted him completely.

Because Nesos was selected by Irtu when he was a child and was cultivated from a young age.

His life, death, wealth, glory, and power were all tied to Irtu, and there was no possibility of betrayal.

And Nesos could always give Irtu the advice he needed most.

"That's right! Reform!"

Irtu roared nervously:

"How can they be so bad! They are a group of fratricidal lunatics! They almost destroyed us!"

"Now they have returned, and they have come to destroy us again." Nesos nodded in agreement and said.

"What else do they want to bring us? A new Great Crusade? Let the tide of blood kill all humanity!" Irtu roared: "We must stop them, delay their steps, I need time to reach a consensus with other High Lords."

"I have already followed your instructions and let them land at the Eternity Gate spaceport." Nesos said softly.

"Very good, this is very good, my arrangements will stop them, it would be best to hold them for a few days."

Irtu Simotrien stood up abruptly, waving his arms and roaring; he seemed to be cheering himself up:

"Nesos, quickly give me a list, who are the High Lords I can persuade?"

"Fawu Force Minister Avilisha Drakma, Ecclesiarchy Pope Baldo Slaester, Navy High Admiral Merida Peris—these three, we can definitely persuade them."

"Assassinorum Grand Master Fadix, Fabricator General Ude Udia Laski, Rogue Trader spokesperson Kania Danda, Captain-General Trajann—we might be able to persuade them."

"Oh... I privately think that perhaps Imperial Prime Minister Tiruien might also stand on our side..."

Nesos's mouth curled up slightly:

"After all, the power of the Imperial Prime Minister is completely tied to Imperial law; the corrupt and graft-taking old Tiruien might be reluctant to part with his power."

"Then we have many advantages!" The Master of the Administratum Irtu roared with joy.

Nesos stood in the dark corner, watching Irtu talk about how he would deal with the two Primarchs, and couldn't help but curl his mouth into a faint smile.

He whispered in a voice that the mortal Irtu couldn't hear:

"Heracles kept his word, shooting an arrow into the monster's spine, the iron arrowhead piercing all the way to the chest."

"Nesos pulled out the iron arrowhead, and blood sprayed from both the chest and back, the blood mixed with the Hydra's snake venom."

(End of chapter)