Chapter 402: The Sleeping Beauty Randomly Teleporting Across the Galaxy

Ji Li Man considered himself rational, capable of viewing every brother with reason,

He valued Dorn, that brother as steadfast as stone, even though the two had many conflicts after the Great Heresy,

He respected Sanguinius, that brother as perfect as shining gold, even though the Second Imperium was not very pleasant,

He missed Ferrus, that brother as strong as steel, even though their relationship was not intimate enough,

He respected Corax, that brother and sincere liberator, even though their worldviews were vastly different,

He admired the Khan, that brother who was free and wise, even though he appeared unpredictable,

He trusted Vulkan, that brother who was benevolent and hard; he had no "even though" to offer for him,

He even missed Russ a little, that brother who pretended to be savage; if he gave Ji Li Man a chance, he too would want to get drunk with the Wolf King until they passed out.

But Leman, uh

Ji Li Man did not know how to evaluate Leman,

He knew Leman's capabilities; during the Great Crusade, only Leman and Horus made Ji Li Man feel he could not cope,

Moreover, Ji Li Man did not trust Leman and his little secrets, and disliked that Leman always acted on his own,

He once hoped Leman would become the protector of the Second Imperium, but in reality Leman preferred to orbital bombard his own people,

And Leman also clearly disliked Ji Li Man; he seemed always wanting to punch Ji Li Man in the face.

If only he himself returned, then even if the next one to return was Leman, Ji Li Man would accept it calmly,

But now Sanguinius has returned; Ji Li Man is willing to cast aside principles and pray devoutly to Hua Di Huang and Saint Doraemon,

Let the next one not be Leman; anyone else will do, even Russ!

Ji Li Man thought of the three of them—himself, Sanguinius, and Leman—gathering together; his Second Imperium PTSD was about to flare up.

"You must be joking." Ji Li Man showed a bitter smile: "Leman is not easy to deal with."

"He dares to bombard Macragge, dares to bombard his own homeworld; I often suspect he would bombard Terra."

Ji Li Man felt that Zhou Yun's remark just now was surely another common vicious joke from Saint Doraemon.

However, there was no smile on Zhou Yun's lips; he only waved his hand with a hint of helplessness.

The smile on Ji Li Man's lips vanished completely.

Zhou Yun also felt a bit helpless; although he was willing to tell jokes, he knew that if the Leman from the Great Crusade era returned, besides rebuilding the Second Imperium, he would bring nothing but trouble to Ji Li Man and Sanguinius,

As for the Leman who returned second to the Imperium in the original timeline in Zhou Yun's memory, he indeed became a mature and stern old lion, but after seeing Ji Li Man who had split his legion, uh, let us hope that Ji Li Man, who has been in a stasis field for ten thousand years, can defeat the old Leman.

The Primarch easiest for Zhou Yun to find, and the one he most hoped to bring back to the Imperium, was the Khan,

The Khan was in the Webway, and Zhou Yun held the Webway map "Map of Purgatory"; relying on the Seeker's Staff, he had a complete opportunity to find him,

And from a personal emotional standpoint, Qiao Gaoli's language was Khorchin; the Khorchin region is in Tongliao, and Zhou Yun happened to be a spiritual Tongliao native; rounding off, he was a fellow townsman with the Khan, not to mention the cultural proximity,

But when the Khan was on Baal, he explicitly refused to return to the Imperium to Sanguinius; it was unlikely Zhou Yun could forcibly drag him back, so he could only temporarily give up.

As for Ferrus, his soul was currently fighting with the Cursed Legion inside Khorne's thigh, and he was temporarily too busy to revive and return to the material universe.

As for Dorn, Corax, Vulkan, and Russ, Zhou Yun had already used the Seeker's Staff on all of them,

The Seeker's Staff just spun in place, indicating that those four were not in the material universe at all; finding people in the Warp was much more difficult.

Only Leman, only Leman.

Every time Zhou Yun used the Seeker's Staff, it pointed precisely to one direction,

But each time the direction pointed to was slightly different; every interval of time it would point to a completely different direction,

Zhou Yun initially thought Leman was on the Dark Angels' flagship, the Fortress of the Stone, and was moving along with it,

But several times the direction the Seeker's Staff pointed spanned such a vast distance; unless the Fortress of the Stone used an Any-Door like Zhou Yun, there would be no way to move that fast.

The only reasonable explanation was...

"You mean..."

Ji Li Man's expression was a bit strange:

"Leman is sleeping, and unconsciously teleporting randomly across the galaxy?"

"Yes, I am forced to make this judgment." Zhou Yun rubbed the center of his brow and said in a strange tone: "After Caliban's destruction, many Fallen Angels were randomly teleported to different times and different places."

"Our Sleeping Beauty Leman is in a similar situation now; the difference is that he is constantly teleporting, constantly appearing in different times and places."

"This might be caused by the special nature of Caliban or Leman himself."

Zhou Yun had confirmed this matter with the Right-or-Wrong Divination Machine; Sleeping Beauty Leman was indeed teleporting alone across the galaxy, randomly appearing at any time and any place.

"We might find Leman anywhere, at any location; even if luck is good enough, Leman might teleport directly into this conference room in the next moment."

"How could it be so unlucky... so lucky." Ji Li Man also said with a bit of distress.

Zhou Yun could indeed use the Webway and Any-Doors to quickly go find Leman, but the problem was that even Any-Doors and Webway travel required time,

And Leman... Leman was almost constantly teleporting randomly; in the blink of an eye he could be a hundred and eight thousand li away, making him actually harder to find,

Moreover, many planets nowadays have fallen into chaos; the Imperium has completely lost control over them.

Of course, if one really wanted to search, there was always a way.

Zhou Yun cast a questioning glance at Ji Li Man, asking whether he wanted to bring Leman back.

As Zhou Yun expected, Ji Li Man shook his head slightly,

"It is not yet time, it is not yet time." Ji Li Man said with a slightly bitter smile: "The Imperium is too chaotic now; many planets have lost control. We need new order, and Leman cannot bring order."

"Although saying this is a bit strange, my friend, I fear Leman; Leman is a creature more terrifying than Konrad Curze. Curze was a human driven mad later, but Leman... Leman is a beast by nature."

"When I first heard of my eldest brother, I almost felt excited; I thought my father had forged a brother for us like King Arthur."

"But when I met him, the illusion shattered... Leman is not King Arthur; he is closer to those giant beasts in the legends of King Arthur."

"When I look at Leman, I imagine what Caliban looks like; Leman is the brother most shaped by his own homeworld. He is like the embodiment of Caliban; those giant beasts in the forests are within Leman's spirit."

"He disguises himself as a knight, but essentially he is still a giant beast. His order is not the fairness and justice of knights, but the concealment, secrets, and terror of the giant beasts in the forest."

Ji Li Man paused slightly, looked at Zhou Yun, and said: "If we have stable order and hard rule, then Leman will be the sharpest sword."

"But if we do not, then it is best not to try to restrain Lion El'Jonson; letting him roam the forests beyond civilization, acting as a ranger-knight hunting dark beasts, is actually the best choice."

Zhou Yun truly sensed a hint of fear toward Lion El'Jonson in Ji Li Man's words.

Zhou Yun could understand this; when he was in the Hive City, he wore the faces of several Primarchs, and Lion El'Jonson's face carried the highest intimidation.

For those with weak psychological fortitude, a single glance at Lion El'Jonson's face was enough to make them faint on the spot.

Sometimes, even when Zhou Yun looked in the mirror, he was startled by the Lion King's face in the glass; the Lion King had indeed been shaped into a terrifying form by the forests of Caliban.

"Do not underestimate Russ's humanity, do not overestimate Lion El'Jonson's humanity, and do not mistake Lorgar for a human," Ji Li Man earnestly warned Zhou Yun at the end.

Zhou Yun nodded slightly in agreement with Ji Li Man's statement.

But this agreement vanished into thin air when Ji Li Man shoved a thick stack of documents into his hands.

The first document was a star map depicting these eight nodes.

"There are eight important star systems around Terra; each is a significant Warp node. If these eight star systems are sealed, we will be unable to leave the Solar System via Warp jump."

"The terrible thing is that because the High Lords chose to deploy the vast majority of their forces into the Solar System, these eight star systems were essentially given to the Black Legion for free."

"In terms of Warp jumps, Terra has already become a cage."

"But we have the Arks of the Eldar, we have the Webway." Zhou Yun lifted his head from the documents to look at Ji Li Man: "I have seen the Map of Purgatory; four of these eight star systems have Webway gates."

"That is correct. I believe the Black Legion that has occupied these eight star systems is unaware that the Eldar, the Eldar who worship the God of Death, are already Exodites."

Ji Li Man nodded and said:

"I need you to deploy a portion of the Eldar to carry our troops and directly attack those four star systems with Webway gates."

"I also need a batch of Blind Stars; the four star systems without Webways require small-scale, covert kill teams to infiltrate."

"Additionally, some people wearing Blind Stars need to be sent to the sides of the High Lords and some Second Lords. Can you ask Xi Xi Xi Gaoqi for some Harlequins?"

Blind Stars allow one to exist in another's blind spot, but they do not make one completely vanish; the sturdy bodies of Space Marines might encounter obstacles when infiltrating some narrow spaces.

There are many such places in the Imperial Palace; the best choice is still to use the Eldar Harlequins.

But Zhou Yun felt slightly strange: "Are the High Lords and Second Lords worth your such concern?"

Even if most of the bureaucrats on Terra turned the place upside down, at most they would just cause some political trouble for Ji Li Man.

But politics... in this galaxy, no one can compare to Ji Li Man in politics.

The only risks are the Officio Assassinorum, the Adeptus Mechanicus, and the Adepta Sororitas, these few institutions that hold independent military power.

"I am not worried about them; I am worried about the people around them."

Ji Li Man's expression was somewhat grim:

"Terra has been infiltrated, and it has been infiltrated for many years."

(End of this chapter)