Chapter 136: Secret Tunnels Beneath the Imperial Palace of Terra

Ninglu issued instructions to the Astropaths, ordering the Third Legion and the Eighth Legion to explore eastward from the galactic star map, from the northeast and southeast of Vostonia, respectively.

Subsequently, he brought along two members of the Honor Guard, Hollis from the First Legion and Bradshaw from the Eleventh Legion.

The two Order Shadows were the primary subjects of the Primarch's investigation, and they were the candidates to be sent to the moon.

Ninglu walked back and forth along the path near the lake in the courtyard, his eyes searching the lakeside with both natural and supernatural vision.

Finally, when walking the second lap, the Primarch sensed a slight difference in the environment, a point that was abrupt and somewhat discordant.

Even for him, it required repeated comparison to discover that slight difference.

Ninglu stepped forward, walking toward that point of discordance, and entered the unnatural passage.

The two Order Shadows followed the Gene-Father, feeling as if they were walking through a curtain of water.

The intense scent of the lake water, the smell of damp rocks, and the cold air were all left behind in an instant; they seemed to have stepped into another layer of space.

They looked around in amazement, and Hollis, carrying a bolter on his back and a Power Sword at his waist, said with suspicion and uncertainty.

"We didn't feel anything at all before."

"These tunnels were not formed naturally; they were not shaped by orogenic movements or tectonic compression."

With the Superhuman Senses inherited from the Gene-Father, they should have been able to sense it from miles away, yet they had felt nothing at all until the moment they stepped inside.

"It is not strange that you did not discover it; even a Primarch might not necessarily be able to find this place."

Bradshaw scanned the surroundings and asked curiously.

"Was this built by the Emperor?"

"Unlikely, this tunnel should have been built by the Cold Ones with their miraculous technology, but the Emperor placed a Psychic Prohibition here."

The two Order Shadows immediately stopped dwelling on it; they curiously reached out to stroke the tile walls that shimmered with eerie light, examining the faint, dissipating bioluminescence.

They looked up at the ceiling, where the light from the bottom of the dark lake rippled like shadows on the seabed across the wide cavern ceiling, which was hung with countless clusters of stalactites.

Crystal lines meandered and flickered in the rock crevices overhead, resembling distant starlight, completely different from the scene on the surface of Terra below.

The two Order Shadows were dazed and intoxicated by the bizarre and beautiful scenery.

Their pupils dilated, staring blankly at the crystals overhead, as if there were something fascinating within them that tightly gripped their eyes and their senses.

Ninglu noticed them moving in slow motion, lifting their legs, landing their feet...

Every movement had become abnormally slow.

The Primarch looked up, sensing the supernatural allure emitted by the shining crystals arranged by the Cold Ones.

He did not channel his psychic power to help his two sons wake up, not because of the Psychic Prohibition.

The Psychic Prohibition placed here by the Emperor had great suppressive power over ordinary psykers, and even the Thousand Sons, but it could not suppress a Primarch.

He could have injected his mental power to help his two sons, but he did not do so.

【This is your final test: whether you can overcome your hallucinating senses with your will.】

Countless wondrous lights and shadows flickered in the black eyes of the two Order Shadows; they seemed to have arrived in another world.

They were intoxicated by this sight, not knowing how much time had passed.

Suddenly, a thought arose in their hearts simultaneously: 【We were chosen to serve as the Primarch's honor guard during the journey to and from Terra.

Where did the Gene-Father go?】

The panicked Order Shadows suddenly came to their senses; it was as if a mirror had shattered before their eyes, and they regained their focus.

"I..."

"You overcame your senses with your will."

Hearing the Gene-Father's praise, the two Order Shadows could not help but puff out their chests and continue walking forward behind Ninglu.

Having had the experience of nearly falling into a hallucination, they were highly vigilant, constantly reminding themselves in their hearts.

The further the two Order Shadows walked, the more they felt how difficult it was to find the correct path in the tunnel network beneath the lake.

Every passage seemed to be in a bizarre state, and their senses could not distinguish the differences between each tunnel.

They looked completely different, yet they also seemed the same.

They could only follow the Primarch forward; they did not doubt for a moment that the Gene-Father could find the correct route and walk out of this eerie maze.

Ninglu suddenly stopped, his gaze cast toward the inconspicuous fluorescent green stones on the ground by the tile wall, which shimmered with spiritual light.

【Cold Stone? An auxiliary material for the "Gravedigger" of the Sequence 8 corresponding to "Corpse Collector".】

The Primarch leaned down and picked up an oval stone the size of an ordinary person's palm.

Ninglu had not expected that on a whim, walking through the underground maze of the Imperial Palace toward the Great Observatory, he would actually encounter Potion Material.

He looked around and discovered that these fluorescent green stones were neither part of the tunnel network built by the Cold Ones nor did they have the patterns of Huang Laohan's Psychic Prohibition.

【Taking these Cold Stones will not cause any impact.】

As Ninglu pondered, the two Order Shadows also naturally stopped.

Knowing their Gene-Father's hobbies well, they also lowered themselves and began to pick up the Cold Stones.

The Primarch continued to walk forward, the route clearly presented in his mind; the Cold Ones' supernatural construction technology could not interfere with his senses.

He led his two sons out of the tunnel and stood on a flight of stairs, facing a grand avenue lined with silver birch and plane trees.

Ninglu looked around; the Great Observatory stood on a raised black rock foundation, and the scale of the building was an architectural miracle of ancient Terra, not inferior even when compared to the various massive structures of countless eons later.

The exterior walls, constructed of intricately carved Statuario marble, were two thousand meters high and covered in purplish-red patterns.

The massive flying buttresses were carved into the likeness of winged angels, extending from the building which resembled a mountain bedrock, their open arms raised high toward the sky in a gesture of supplication.

The perimeter walls of the entire observatory depicted the great pioneers in the history of astronomy and their countless achievements.

The niches and statues honored Agnik, Sakov, the heretic who advocated heliocentrism, Hypatia, the alchemist of Scania, Suleima, the Mother of Comets, and others, each possessing legendary scientific achievements worthy of standing here.

The ancient Astronomy Telescope that the Emperor had once used to observe distant galaxies hung from iron chains directly above the Dome, the Obsidian Lens flickering with deep light under the sun's rays.

Ninglu took the lead, walking upward along the three-hundred-meter-wide stairs cast from Auslate stone toward the grand entrance.

"Primarch!"

Cries of alarm rang out at the entrance; as people gazed at the tall figure walking toward them, it was as if they were caught in a dream.

It was not until a moment later that the giant's shadow enveloped their bodies.

"I wish to go to the observatory to take a look."

"Of course..." the observatory's observation researcher stammered, "I shall notify the Director at once and have him come to attend to you."

"There is no need," Ninglu shook his head slightly, "If I have need of him, I shall summon him."

So saying, the Primarch strode past the crowd and entered the Great Observatory.

Ninglu walked through four observation rooms in succession, but found nothing.

When he stepped into the fifth observation room, a sudden inspiration struck him.

(End of chapter)