The Bizarre Adventures of Cloud Hammer

The two waited for a while, and Brother Ou and Luochen each came back with a box, but Eryu, who was behind them, didn't bring anything.

"What are you holding?" asked Xianyu.

"These are some specialties from Warhammer 40k. Luochen and I originally wanted to take more, but Eryu wouldn't let us." Brother Ou replied to Xianyu.

"Why? It would be a waste if I didn't take it. There's no one else on the boat anyway."

"There are still people."

Er Yu spoke and told everyone what he saw on the lower deck. In addition to the pirates, there were also many slave laborers who were abducted by the pirates and suffered abuse. Er Yu asked Ou Ge and Luo Chen not to take daily necessities in order to let these slave laborers survive.

"These slave laborers are a real problem."

If Eryu hadn't mentioned it, Apu, Ou Ge and Luochen would have forgotten the existence of slaves in Warhammer 40k. After all the pirates were wiped out, the ship could not be driven by these slaves alone, and leaving them in space would sooner or later die due to depletion of supplies.

Salted Fish: "Can't we pull these people onto our boat?"

"No."

Gloria answered and explained that her hull could not accommodate the natives of the Warhammer 40k universe. Most of the races in this universe have connections with the Warp. Once a problem occurs, it is very likely that the Emperor and the evil gods will follow clues and come here.

"Then should we just leave them alone?"

Er Yu remembered the conversation with the child on the lower deck. He said that he would go back to save these people. The child and the slaves all believed that the Emperor's angels would go back to save them. Compared with those anthropomorphic creatures in the Warhammer 40k universe, Er Yu has a kind heart that a human should have.

"Don't worry about that. According to my calculations, someone should be here soon."

Gloria had also read the ship's log. These pirates fled here because of the pursuit of the Imperial Navy. The Imperial Navy would catch up with them soon, and then these slaves would be rescued by the Imperial Navy.

"Seriously?"

"There's a 75% chance that I'll also install an automatic program on this ship. If the Imperial Navy doesn't arrive, this ship will automatically head for the nearest civilized world on the star map and continuously send out distress signals."

"Then wait for me for a while, I will go back and tell them." Eryu promised the child that he would go back and tell the child and the slaves the news, which would at least give them hope.

Apu: "I'll go with you."

"No, just wait for me."

Eryu refused Apu's invitation and returned to the lower deck alone. After seeing Eryu's arrival, the slaves began to praise and thank the Emperor for allowing the angel to return to them.

Eryu told the slaves the news that the pirates had been eliminated and that the ship was now safe. He also informed the slaves that the Imperial Navy would be coming and that they would soon be rescued by the Imperial Navy.

"Can't the angel take us with us?" asked the child from before.

Eryu replied that he couldn't, because he had important tasks to do and couldn't take them with him.

After telling everything, Eryu turned to leave, and the child asked again:

"Can we meet again?"

Eryu stroked the child's head and said:

"maybe."

----

Half a day after everyone left, a fleet of three frigates emerged from the warp.

More than half a month ago, the Imperial Navy of several neighboring star regions launched a siege operation. After defeating the pirate fleet, the Imperial Navy divided into several formations and began to pursue the fleeing pirate ships. After discovering that the Eyeless Winged Serpent had made a subspace jump, the commander of this frigate formation believed that there might be some important items or important people on the Eyeless Winged Serpent, so he led the formation to track the Eyeless Winged Serpent and came here.

"Enemy ship spotted, sir." A soldier reported to the commander of the formation.

"Report the situation."

"The enemy ships didn't make any movement. They just stayed in the void."

"Did the engine stall?"

The commander was puzzled. Most pirates would flee upon discovering the Imperial Navy, so why was this ship motionless? Was there an ambush? But there was no place to hide in this area.

"The enemy's engine is operating normally. Do we need to open fire?"

"Surround the enemy ship first and don't let it escape."

The frigate formation surrounded the Eyeless Winged Serpent and found that the enemy ship was still motionless. The commander ordered the launch of boarding fish and allowed the boarding team to board the ship to check the situation.

After the boarding team boarded the ship, they quickly reported the situation on the Eyeless Winged Serpent to the commander.

"All the pirates are wiped out, and only the slaves are left on the ship? What's going on?"

"We're investigating, sir. These pirates died horribly."

The soldiers who boarded the ship found that these pirates were basically killed by large-caliber ammunition. They collected the shell casings that fell on the ground and sent pictures back to the command ship.

"Is this caliber... a bomb?"

The commander recognized ammunition of this caliber. What else could it be besides a bolt-action grenade? He took out his own bolt-action pistol for comparison. The caliber in the photo was obviously much larger.

After a while, another boarding team told the commander what they had learned from the slaves:

"Sir, we asked the slaves at the bottom, and they said that the Emperor's angels saved them."

"Angels of the Emperor... Astartes?"

The commander suddenly realized that if it was an Astartes, it would not be surprising to use explosive shells of this caliber.

"Where are the angels?"

The Commander inquired about any traces of the Astartes, and they found no Astartes battle barges or strike cruisers in the area.

"The slaves said the angels left after telling them the Imperial Navy would be coming."

"The angel knew we were coming?"

The commander was puzzled, as they had not received any contact from the Astartes.

"Did any of them see what the angel's sign was?"

"The slaves said it was a golden eagle."

A golden Sky Eagle? It was unknown which Chapter this Astartes Brother came from. Since the Archangels had taken action, it probably saved them some trouble.

All the pirates on the Eyeless Winged Serpent were killed, no important items were found, and even if there were important people, they were just corpses. However, this ship can be recycled. After all, it is a Flamestorm-class frigate. It can be towed back for repairs and still be used. If it is not used, it can be sold to those powerful people and traveling merchants.

The commander then ordered:

"Let our men go up and drive this ship back and prepare to return."

"What about the slave workers on the ship?"

The boarding team sent the commander the situation of the slave workers. It was unknown when these slave workers were abducted onto the ship, nor was it known whether there were pirates mixed in with the slave workers. The best outcome for these slave workers would be to find a hive to take them in, but judging from the physical condition of these slave workers, it was estimated that no hive would want them.

And returning home would also take time. Instead of wasting resources on these slaves, it would be better to save them to replenish one's own ships, so -

"Clean it all up."

Chapter 10: Empire and Emperor

After leaving the Eyeless Winged Serpent, everyone returned to Gloria's hull. Anticipating the arrival of the Imperial Navy, Gloria conducted a subspace voyage according to the route provided by the star map, with her destination being a galaxy in the Lothric sector.

After a short rest, the six people gathered again in Gloria's bridge. Wei had adjusted his mentality after lying in the room for so long, and now he would not be affected too much if he experienced the same thing again.

"So, the first Chapter Meeting of our yet-to-be-named Chapter has begun."

The six people who had taken off their power armor sat in a circle on the plastic chairs from the food stall that Gloria had gotten from somewhere. Looking at the familiar head and the huge body of a man with a strong magnetic field under it, everyone felt a sense of incongruity.

"According to the Empire's standards, all six of us were wiped out. We might as well be called a war gang." Brother Ou complained. The Empire has strict standards for the number of people in a war gang, but there are not so many rules for war gangs.

"But we didn't join Chaos, so it's not appropriate to call us the War Gang." Luo Chen felt that calling us the War Gang was not a good idea.

"Don't worry about the warbands and gangs for now, let's talk about business first."

Apu interrupted the two and said, "Let's talk about the name later. The real thing to talk about now is how they should act in the galaxy in the future."

"We are currently in the year 41 of M101. It's still nearly 900 years since a certain pointy-headed Warmaster blew up Cadia. Setting aside whether or not we'll stay in this universe for that long, let's discuss what we should do next."

Since Xianyu, Awei and Eryu don't know much about the Warhammer 40k universe, this topic is basically discussed by Apu, Ou Ge and Luochen.

"What else can I do? I'm lucky enough to be able to survive in this universe. I shouldn't even think about getting involved in those big events."

Brother Ou believes that surviving is the most important thing in the Warhammer universe. All those major events start with apocalyptic-level battles (actually, they are not), and the Astartes are filling in in large numbers. Even if the six of them go in, it will not be enough to fill the gaps.

Luochen also agreed with Brother Ou's opinion. The six of them were still too weak in the Warhammer 40k universe. Even if they had an Emperor's Dream, they could only protect themselves in major events.

"I agree. We can check on some minor incidents, but let's not deal with major ones."

"It seems that everyone has the same idea."

Apoo felt the same way. In this universe filled with hostility, surviving was a victory, but could they really stay out of it? They needed to gather energy to get home, and if they accidentally ran into something big, they would be in trouble.

"Then our future course of action has been decided. Brother Ou, Luochen, do you remember any major events in the early stages of M41? I seem to remember one very important event in the early stages of M41."

"Let me think about the major events in the early stage of M41, the early stage..." Luo Chen thought carefully. He did remember that there were several important events in the early stage of M41, but he had also forgotten some of them.

"Gothic War?" Brother Ou remembered. He seemed to remember that the Gothic War took place in the early period of M41.

"It's the Gothic War!"

Ap and Luochen both confirmed that a major event that occurred in the early M41 was the Gothic War, which was also the twelfth Black Crusade initiated by the invincible Abaddon. Its purpose was to obtain the six ancient creations in the Gothic star zone - the Blackstone Fortress.

The three of them had forgotten which race built the Blackstone Fortress. It didn't matter anyway. All they needed to know was that the Blackstone Fortress was an extremely powerful weapon. The Great Plunderer Abaddon relied on the Blackstone Fortress to defeat Cadia.

Apu: "Then the question is, what year did the Gothic War take place?"

Luochen: "Uh... who can remember this?"

Ou Ge: "I really don't know about that."

In the end, the three decided not to discuss the Gothic War. They would not go to the Gothic Star Sector anyway. They didn't even have a complete star map of the Storm Star Sector and yet they wanted to run around. They should just start from scratch and develop.

The future course of action has been almost decided, so the next step is some topics that K cannot avoid in Warhammer 40.

Apu: "There are two very important issues. The first is everyone's opinion of the human empire."

As the largest power in the galaxy, the Human Empire is an issue that every time traveler who comes to Warhammer 40k cannot avoid.

"shit!!!"

Everyone answered in unison, and Apu had already expected this, because the Human Empire was a piece of shit! Apu, Ou Ge, and Luochen were well aware of how valuable the Empire was. Xianyu and Awei, while not very knowledgeable about 40k, knew what the Empire was like. Eryu knew just how bad the Empire was from playing a few 40k games and hearing everyone else tell jokes about it.

As a civilization spanning the galaxy, the Human Empire has an outrageously backward system, a chaotic internal structure, and unprecedentedly low administrative efficiency. Its level of badness can be said to be unprecedented and unparalleled. To put it simply, the Empire is a collection of all the dregs in human history. Even Seer is countless times better than this pile of Ori, and this is also a classic joke of the Empire.

It can be said that the Empire is so rotten because of Chaos, but the fundamental reason is that the Empire itself is a country forcibly propped up by the Emperor. When the Emperor sat on the Golden Throne and no longer controlled the Empire, the Empire began to rot and stink from the root. The only reason it could last for ten thousand years was because of its large size and the sacrifices of those brave and fearless soldiers.

In Warhammer 40k, you can like the Astra Militarum, a certain Astartes Chapter, or a certain character, because the spirit they demonstrate is worthy of admiration, but if you like the human empire as a whole, it is recommended that you see a psychiatrist.

If Apoo and others were allowed to freely choose a civilization in Warhammer 40k, they would choose Tau without hesitation. Although people make fun of Tau every day on the Internet, if they really had to travel back to Warhammer 40k, most people would go to Tau without hesitation unless they could become Imperial nobles, because Tau is the most "normal" civilization in the universe, and the Human Empire has nothing human about it except the word "human".

If the Imperium is so rotten, why not try to save it? This thought has been present throughout the Imperium's history, but time has proven that the Imperium is simply beyond the reach of mortals. Due to the trauma of the Dark Age of Technology, the Imperium has completely banned the use of artificial intelligence and other administrative tools, resulting in the Imperium managing its vast territory with extremely low efficiency. Even the Primarch Guilliman, known for his expertise in administrative management, felt he would rather die in the Heresy than in the current state of the Imperium.

What if a mortal insisted on managing the empire on his own?

My family, let’s take a look at the Grand Assassin Master Wangorichi in the distance.

Knowing everyone's attitude towards the Empire, Apu continued to ask the next question:

"Second, what do you think of the Emperor?"

Salted Fish: "I feel not as good as Sigma."

Eryu: “I don’t have any opinion.”

Except for Xianyu and Eryu who spoke first, the other three were lost in thought. After thinking for a long time, Ah Wei said, "The Emperor is a very complicated person."

Ah Wei was right, the Emperor was an extremely contradictory and complex character.

Great, greedy, stubborn, kind, cruel... all kinds of words with positive, negative and contradictory meanings can be applied to the Emperor. He is the greatest leader and the most stubborn madman in human history in Warhammer 40k. On the outside, he is like an omnipotent god, but on the inside he is an ordinary person who is not good at speaking and does not understand human hearts.

Apoo respected the Emperor's contribution to humanity, but he hated his actions. During the Great Crusade, the Emperor built his Empire on a lie called the Imperial Truth, and sooner or later, the lie would be torn apart, just like the Emperor's ideals.

Because the Warhammer 40k IP is very old and the authors are not unified, and because of the changes made before and after GW, some of the Emperor's operations seem quite NC to ordinary people. For example, Angron is a bug. The Emperor could have done better, but he chose the method with the most barrage.

The Emperor relied on the Primarchs and the Legions Astartes to conquer the galaxy, but at the end of the Great Crusade, he was eager to exclude the Primarchs and the Legions Astartes from the ruling structure of the Imperium of Man without giving any explanation, which made some Primarchs and the Legions Astartes begin to doubt the Emperor's true purpose.

The Emperor in 30k has also been continuously downgraded in the updates of GW, from the original omniscient God-Emperor to really just a powerful psychic. Even though he is the most powerful psychic in the real universe, he is still a human being, a human being with flaws.

This made all the Emperor's plans in the Great Crusade so rough, impatient and risky, but he had to do so because humans had no time. He could only gamble with the fate of all mankind as a chip, but he made the most fatal mistake from the very beginning, overestimating himself and underestimating the enemy.

In the 30th century, the Emperor underestimated the influence of Chaos on reality. When he seized the power of Chaos without immediate retaliation, he was deceived by Chaos' disguise. It was not until Horus was controlled by the Four Gods and started a rebellion, and until Magnus was used by Tzeentch to penetrate the Webway, that the Emperor may have realized that he had already stepped into Chaos' trap.

It can be said that the Emperor's failure was inevitable. He was gambling on the tiny probability. After the failure, the Emperor could have ignored the life and death of mankind, but he still sat on the torture device called the Golden Throne for the sake of mankind.

The Emperor loves humanity, but the humanity he placed his hopes on turned his love into love TV. The human template he created allowed the Empire to degenerate into its current state over the past ten thousand years. It can only be said that this is both sad and ridiculous.

"The emperor should be respected, but for the sake of the emperor and the empire, I think it's better not to do so." After thinking about it, Brother Ou expressed his opinion.