The Astartes Family's Notebook

The standard warships produced by the Empire's regular shipyards are not simply thick-skinned and tough; the military harbingers array alone is something that civilian shipyards can't compete with.

During interstellar travel, the plasma trails leave contrails in the void. Kaz checked the travel logs and immediately determined that there was a pirate port nearby.

At worst, it's a small black market.

When they recruited Qiong En and Troys, they had to be careful about how they approached the local bigwigs in the major starports.

Now that his army is strong and well-equipped, Kaz is hungry and wants to eat ant beef.

"Boss, how did you arrive at this conclusion from such abstract data?"

Looking at the space station before him, Qiong En was completely convinced; the name "Destroyer of Annihilation" was indeed well-deserved.

"You'll naturally learn it once you see it enough times."

The Astartes' software system is far more powerful than its hardware configuration. With the Ingus Inmen as a precedent, Katz doesn't think his abilities are anything special.

However, the other Astartes still looked at Katz with great respect.

Hehe, Xiao Shuang...

The mysterious cyber ghost didn't show up to interfere. With the limited cargo capacity of the destroyer, it would be difficult to sustain a long voyage without resupplying along the way.

Looking at the Empire's star map, space is truly empty; some subsectors may only have a few habitable planets.

But anyone who has actually traveled long distances in the Empire knows that the Void is quite lively.

Some remote, isolated places are where space stations are hidden, serving as hideouts for space pirates or transit points for traveling merchants and alien races to trade.

Don't get me wrong, the traveling merchants really do have this right. They can decide for themselves whether to destroy the aliens or engage in peaceful trade, which doesn't constitute treason.

However, more often than not, it is a combination of both.

After all, maintaining a void starport is quite costly, so it's not a bad thing to bring in more factions to share the maintenance costs.

So when Katz led half a company of Astartes onto the space station, which was only half the size of a destroyer, the locals felt like the sky had fallen.

Holy crap, why is half a company of Astartes popping up in an Imperial destroyer?!

Did I break a cardinal rule?

Katz did not commit any unwarranted killings.

Although there aren't many good people involved in deep space exploration...

Something about that sounds off.

Oh well, that's how it is.

After a quick looting, Kaz led his team away again.

"Boss, what are you up to now?"

After the great battle, Qiong En seemed more lively.

It's just that the unfortunate kid, who came from a technical sergeant background, really lacked discernment.

Oh well, it's the kid I chose, the child I raised, what can I do?

"We need to go all the way with this act; we can't abandon the Blood Duck Squad's persona yet."

Unlucky children who don't manage the household don't know the cost of daily necessities. Astartes need to be raised in abundance; raising them in poverty easily breeds disloyalty. Your poverty is the best example of this.

The expeditionary fleet consisted of more than eighty ships. The Ishimura II was, after all, a cruiser. Without considering the ordinary crew members, squeezing out the combat effectiveness and daily training functions of the compartments was barely enough to fit three Astartes companies.

But now there's only one destroyer. The new recruits might be having a good time living in a group, but the veterans are almost running out of room in their four-person dorms.

So changing the paint job is out of the question.

Since they will still be acting as Blood Duck, then conforming to the temperament of "Blood Raven" must become the focus of their daily work.

Kaz has already made up his mind.

If all else fails, they can go through the official channels of the Empire under the name "Blood Raven" to contact the Star Sector Government and return to Haven Star in a legitimate manner.

At worst, we can leave the cleanup to our great Saladin commander.

Being away from home for too long has made me somewhat psychologically abnormal.

I used to overthink things and have too many ideas, always afraid of causing unnecessary trouble for the Wings of Desolation.

But thinking about it carefully, there's no hurdle that can't be overcome.

That damn unlucky box, number 17...

After weighing the pros and cons repeatedly, Kaz decided to make a trip to the Tyran system.

For no other reason than that they couldn't go back empty-handed, since the "Little Hands Not Clean" gang was notorious for never leaving empty-handed.

After obtaining a more detailed star map from the space station, Katz abandoned his original plan to travel in a straight line to Tyrannosaurus. Instead, he continued to detour around the Empire's border planets, both to train new recruits and to "leave a record of his work."

The conditions were already poor; if the recruits were then thrown onto a destroyer to do push-ups for ten years, these two batches of recruits would be completely ruined.

It was obvious that Cyber ​​Ghost would occasionally pop up to test Kars, but after confirming that Kars' general direction toward the Tyran system had not changed, it did not intend to offer any further opinions on Astartes' roundabout approach.

And so, after many twists and turns, Kaz spent another twenty years finally arriving at the Tyran system.

The wondrous human empire, the mechanical cult of the trenches...

We also have to add the word "damn extreme star field".

It's freaking huge.

Although the Milky Way is vast for mortals, the five star regions that the Empire divides into based on administrative management are actually not much different for long-distance sailors.

However, Katz still couldn't help but exclaim that the Limit Starfield was truly enormous. Its administrative level, comparable to that of a star sector government, was nothing compared to the Peaceful Starfield, and even compared to the Hazy Starfield, it exuded a wild and untamed primal energy.

Throughout the journey, none of the empire's "nominal" territories ever questioned Blood Duck's identity.

As for the Tyran system, it is theoretically already the outermost frontier, and even if we go any further out, the star torches will not be able to reach it.

Given these conditions, besides Tyrannosaurus, there are actually two other planets in the galaxy that have already been colonized and developed.

On the contrary, Tyran, which named the entire galaxy after itself, has maintained its pristine natural environment due to its extremely high scientific research value.

This is truly rare; Terran is actually a naturally habitable planet that has independently evolved a complete ecological environment without any "human intervention."

And Cyber ​​Old Ghost popped up at just the right moment to provide commentary.

"This planet is a very valuable natural library of plant and animal DNA. By studying the evolutionary trends of native species, it can greatly help us to make inverse comparisons with the human genome."

Kaz asked Taliman with a puzzled look, but the old apothecary didn't want to talk about these topics and simply hummed in response.

Indeed, for a human empire that judges the purity of its population through phrenology, DNA testing is a slippery slope that cannot be touched, in case it actually reveals something.

With the help of a Mechanicus monk whose body had been possessed, finding the secret research facility didn't take much effort.

Because someone had discovered this place long before Katz and had already claimed it for themselves.

No wonder this old cyber devil came to pick it up himself and even generously offered to let him take the packaging box; it turns out that another tech enthusiast had already taken over the place.

However, Kaz underestimated just how domineering the high-ranking members of the Mechanicus, who were at the level of Great Sages, were internally.

Welcome, Ancestor!

I'm not entirely clear on the specific methods and details, but anyway, those tech geeks who had taken over the experimental facilities were trembling like newborn chicks in front of Cyber ​​Old Ghost.

Then, Taliman and Choun's eyes turned green.

Holy crap, that old cyber ghost really wasn't lying. Only Astartes, who has some knowledge of biochemistry, environmental science, and materials science, understands just how luxurious the seemingly ordinary experimental facilities are inside.

Coincidentally, the pharmacist and the technical sergeant were the most technically skilled combat comrades in the Astartes company.

"Boss, these are all high-end items that money can't buy."

"If I hadn't spent so much time on my home planet, I wouldn't believe that I could still see these devices in this day and age."

Qiongen and Taliman gave Kaz a brief explanation of the laboratory's specifications, and Kaz understood immediately.

Hey, it's just high-end stuff that circulates among the oil enthusiasts, the kind they don't sell to Astartes.

Alright, since Cyber ​​the Elder didn't cause any trouble, then Kaz won't have any bad intentions either.

The experimental data was naturally collected and packaged by Cyber ​​Old Ghost, who controlled that unlucky oil guy in Huangquan No. 8, so there was no need for Kaz and the others to meddle.

As a member of the Blood Ducks, one must naturally not lose the style of the Blood Raven.

"Demolish it, take everything you can."

Now he felt much more confident about going back to Haven Star to see the commander of the battle group.

At least I made it through the whole trip and didn't go home empty-handed.

There's no need to describe the specific moving process in detail; everyone's just going through the motions anyway.

Kaz didn't want to delve into who the real owner of the research facility was, and Cyber ​​Ghost didn't make any move to contact the local Mechanicus or shake off Kaz.

Isn't this just another form of "preferring to give to outsiders than to one's own servants"?

Compared to his fellow members of the Mechanicus, Cyber ​​Ghost trusted Kars, an outsider from Astartes, even more.

To put it bluntly, this is precisely the most profound political problem plaguing the human empire today.

The lush primeval forest, with its extremely humid air, can cause some discomfort to the lungs of ordinary people who do not have an auxiliary respiratory system if they breathe it for a long time.

However, these conditions are not a problem for Astartes.

The Tyranids have not yet arrived, and the planet Tyranid, which was officially named after them, still retains its pristine state.

Kaz suddenly paused, as if he had thought of something.

Could it be that the Blood Raven Legion discovered the clues left by our Blood Duck and tracked them all the way to Tyren?

Chapter 479 What can I say?

When absurdity becomes the norm, life itself becomes the most magnificent comedy.

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"So you really are a parasite, not someone who has possessed another body?"

"My original body is perfectly fine, why would I want to possess someone else's body?"

Inside his secret research facility, Cyber ​​Old Ghost created a new body and surprisingly spared the technical priest of Yellow Springs No. 8.

This was beyond Kaz's expectations. Could it be that there are really good people in the Mechanicus?

Impossible, absolutely impossible! There must be a conspiracy involved!

"Company Commander, you're being a bit ungrateful. I'm only doing this to make it easier for you to deliver goods."

what?

Oh!

Huangquan No. 8 Forges the World...

Wait, the company commander?!

"If I'm not mistaken, you must be a loyalist who served as a company commander in the warband."

No way, does this guy have some special skill to spot me? He actually saw right through me, Karz, that I'm a loyalist to the Himalayas.

No rush, let's play along.

"Haven't you heard of my name, Samar?"

"My main business does not involve subspace research."

Oh, um, I only heard about this. Cyber ​​Ghost's social module is so advanced, it can handle these roundabout social niceties.

"So there are two questions: First, how can you be sure I will keep my word and deliver the goods to you? Second, how can I be sure you will keep your word and pay the reward?"

"The first problem is not a problem. If I trusted the wrong person, it's either because I was not discerning enough and deserved it, or the reward was not enough and it's only natural that you had bad intentions."

Old Immortal is so insightful! It's a pity he's in the Mechanicus. With this kind of awareness, why don't you consider joining the High Lords Council?

"The second question is not a question at all, because you know nothing about my strength."

"Appreciate further details."

"That's exactly what I want—that you know nothing."

"?????"

You old bastard, are you kidding me?