Warhammer, I really didn't intend to form a second empire!

It would be best if they could maintain stability and continue to be exploited to the point of bleeding. If not, then Zhao Zheng would let these unruly people know why he is called a tyrant.

Zhao Zheng thought of the remnants of the Dragon Kingdoms on Qiankun Star, and also of his first encounter with the Emperor.

“I never give people room to adapt gradually. Whether they passively obey or actively agree, as long as they finish their work and carry out the orders, I don't care about them. But if they show any dissent…”

Zhao Zheng didn't continue speaking. Kongming understood what he was about to say, so he didn't ask any more questions. He simply bowed to show that he understood.

After Kongming left the bridge, Zhao Zheng stood alone in front of the holographic star map for a while.

The markers of 167 star systems slowly rotated on the holographic star map. Between the pale blue halos and the dark red expanding arrows were large areas of unexplored gray-black regions. Those unknown star fields were like silent abysses, quietly waiting to be illuminated by new lights one day.

Zhao Zheng casually switched the star map to administrative mode, and the data layers representing population density, industrial output, and resource output were superimposed on the star map, forming a color distribution map with distinct layers.

The population is still concentrated in a few core worlds, while the rest of the planets marked as development worlds are still in the early stages of the Qin Empire's development.

Zhao Zheng's gaze lingered for a moment on the orange area of ​​the B-2 star system, then he reached out and swiped along the edge of the interface, bringing up the administrative evaluation report that Sun Wu had recently submitted.

The report was short, but every point hit the nail on the head.

Although the population of the B-2 star system is large, the social structure left over from the Old Night era is extremely loose. Local small groups and old power networks still maintain a certain influence in the dark, and superficial obedience cannot cover up the low efficiency of execution at the grassroots level.

Sun Tzu did not use any gentle methods when dealing with these old forces. He directly used the wartime control regulations as a basis to transfer all the local leaders who tried to delay the implementation of the new policies from their original positions and incorporate them into labor reform camps in various places, so that they could personally experience what "accelerated cooperation" really meant in mines and construction sites.

Zhao Zheng felt that Sun Wu hadn't done a good job in this regard. The best way to deal with such people would be to skin them alive, pull out their tendons, and hang them on a street lamp.

Unfortunately, the Qin Empire still prioritizes resource utilization above all else, so they can only send them to work as mining slaves and civil engineering "living slaves," which is a way to ensure they have a stable "iron rice bowl" for life.

Zhao Zheng scrolled down a page and saw a footnote that Sun Wu had added at the end of the report.

"The electronic component supply line of the second foundry has been completed. We have built two supporting production lines according to the Qiankun Star supply chain standards. The equipment has been debugged and put into trial operation. It is expected to enter full-load production next month. At that time, the capacity utilization rate of the nine foundries in the B-2 star field will increase from the current 70% to more than 90%."

"Furthermore, after consultation with the pharmacist team, the number of people of the appropriate age in the B-2 star system who have completed the gene enhancement process has reached the expected value. The screening of the first batch of Astartes modification surgery candidates is about to be completed, and the first batch of surgeries is expected to be launched within a month."

After reading the report, Zhao Zheng closed it.

Sun Tzu was always reliable in his work. From the initial Yulin Star System Campaign to the conquest and integration of the B-2 Star Region, he always managed to get things done well.

These expeditionary commanders were mostly talented individuals who combined military and political skills, and Zhao Zheng showed them the utmost tolerance and affection.

Unfortunately, Chi You, Xiang Ji, and Li Cunxiao were all disappointing. They were fine in leading troops and were very brave in battle, but their political abilities and vision were too poor to be of high rank. They could only serve as generals.

For the first two years, Zhao Zheng was somewhat disappointed in his sons and specifically asked Kongming and Xiao He to teach them. However, these rebellious sons simply used the excuse of the heavy war to leave Kongming and Xiao He hanging.

Enraged, Zhao Zheng personally went to the front lines and berated the three men. Only then did they obediently go to "attend class," and the result was as expected.

Sometimes, if you don't have the talent, you just don't have it. Even if a brute becomes a commander, even if he holds that position for ten thousand years and fights countless battles, he might still be inferior to a mortal fleet commander.

Zhao Zheng believes that the abilities of the descendants of Sun Wu, Han Xin, Wang Jian, and Li Jing are not much worse than those of the original ancestors in official history, and some of them are even superior to those ancestors in certain abilities.

The genetic heritage of the Dragon Kingdoms, combined with Zhao Zheng's genetic inheritance, has created these geniuses who can almost be called all-rounders.

But they are, after all, just superhumans. Although they have been modified and enhanced, and still have their own inherent influence, it is hard to say whether they can still demonstrate such abilities when facing real warp threats and those powerful aliens.

The subspace is truly unreasonable; even Zhao Zheng almost succumbed to it at the beginning. It's not something that can be resisted by sheer willpower alone.

Zhao Zheng didn't want anything to happen to them, so he was considering that if they could also become Primarchs, he might not have to worry so much.

But the essence of the Primarch is a lesser god creation made by the Emperor in the Warp and the real universe. Although Zhao Zheng is also a lesser god, can he create a god?

He was just a Primarch with the essence of a subspace black hole; how could he possibly have that ability?

Besides, where would he find so many lesser gods' essences?

But Zhao Zheng later thought that perhaps his offspring did not need to have the strength of the original body. Giving them a physical body that could be comparable to the original body would also be fine.

When the Emperor designed the Primarch, didn't he use materials taken from himself and the human gene pool? Why can't I do it?

Although the Primarch is powerful and has the influence of the Warp, that doesn't mean Zhao Zheng can't make some attempts. In any case, even if he fails, Zhao Zheng is confident that he can save the lives of his offspring.

Zhao Zheng had always had this idea, but he hadn't had the time to do it. However, he felt that now was the time to give it a try.

The laboratory on the Lishan was not large, but it was equipped with the most complete equipment in the entire empire. There were four hundred sets of constant temperature storage cabinets embedded in the walls, each of which stored gene samples and biological tissue cultures brought from Qiankun Star. In the corner was a multi-functional gene sequencer that Zhao Zheng had assembled by hand, and the indicator light on the panel was still flashing slowly.

He stood silently in front of the sequencer for a while, then reached into the storage cabinet and took out a quartz ampoule labeled "Prototype-Genetic Material-Baseline". The dark golden liquid gleamed faintly under the cold light.

Zhao Zheng placed the ampoule into the analysis chamber and started the whole genome scanning program. The machine emitted a low hum, and a dense stream of gene sequence data began to scroll on the screen.

He sat down at the control panel next to him, his fingers rapidly typing on the keyboard, bringing up the complete genetic map extracted from his own genetic material.

When the Emperor designed the Primarch, he used his and Ilda's genes as a carrier and incorporated a large amount of "essence" from the Warp as a framework, which created the Primarch's extraordinary physiological structure and psionic talents.

Putting aside the genes of the Emperor and Ilda, he couldn't possibly imitate the Emperor to search for the essence of the Warp to fill his skeleton. That thing itself was part of the Warp, and rashly contacting it would only bring unnecessary trouble.

So he changed his approach. Since he wanted his offspring to become stronger, he needed some hardship in the subspace. What if he voluntarily cut off a part of his own essence?

That black hole was inherently powerful, and it was later fused with the psychic energy of the four Chaos Gods and his own soul. In essence, it contained some of the power of the Warp's origin, making it the perfect tool to serve as the skeleton.

The problem is that this essence is too domineering. Although these offspring are inextricably linked to it, their projections in the warp are also small black holes.

However, if not handled properly, it can backfire and devour the souls of one's offspring, turning them into puppets or causing them to be completely swallowed by the black hole.

Zhao Zheng needs to find a way to control the intensity and direction of this essential release, so that it can operate stably within the offspring's bodies, rather than directly tearing their flesh and soul apart.

The first thing he needs to do now is to find a medium that can contain the essence of the subspace, but he can no longer improve the genetic enhancement and modification surgery on his offspring.

The problem is not the genetic sequence itself, but how to fit the essence that he split off from his own soul into the body of a mortal.

There is a natural interface between the Primarch's essence and physical body in the warp. This is a structure that the Emperor reserved at the beginning of the design to ensure that psionic energy does not spread uncontrollably in the body.

Humans do not have this structure. Although their offspring have undergone multiple rounds of genetic enhancement and Astartes modification, and their physical bodies have approached the threshold of the extraordinary in some indicators, there is still a qualitative gap between them and the original body.

Zhao Zheng sighed helplessly. Ultimately, the technology was limited, and he was still unable to replicate the experiment of creating the original.

Forget it, let's take it slow. These things can't be rushed. Even the Emperor, a warhammer dragon overlord, only created twenty-one Primarchs. I'm still a bit green.

But Zhao Zheng firmly believed that one day he would be able to completely upgrade his offspring.

Chapter Twenty-One: A Promising Future

However, Zhao Zheng buried the experimental plan for "essential injection" at the very bottom of the drawer and turned his attention to another, more reliable path.

Since it's impossible to allow offspring to access the psionic essence at the Primarch level in the short term, at least the foundation at the physical level can be laid solid enough that they won't collapse from the strain when that day truly arrives.

Since that's the case, let's find a way to make them as powerful as the Imperial Guard.

They were all modification surgeries. Zhao Zheng didn't believe it. There was no reason why the emperor could create the Imperial Guards but he couldn't.

He took out three sets of gene samples with different numbers from the storage cabinet in the laboratory, which came from Xiang Ji, Li Cunxiao and Chi You respectively.

He had already performed a complete sequencing of the three people's genes before the Astartes modification surgery, and the modified data was continuously tracked and recorded for nearly two years. The change curves of each physiological indicator were clearly engraved in the database.

Zhao Zheng compared the three people's genetic maps with his own baseline sequence position by position. He found that after the offspring received his genetic seed modification, certain specific regions in their genomes showed convergence.

In other words, the offspring's bodies are indeed passively moving towards the original body, but the speed is very slow, and without the psychic essence as a framework, this convergence will only lead to minor physiological adjustments, rather than a fundamental leap.

The most obvious difference is in appearance and personality; Astartes will become more and more like the Primarch. Then there's the Primarch's own power, such as the Primarch's abilities.

In this respect, the Eighth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Army Corps are the most obvious.

Prophecy, psychic powers, and shadow integration—none of these skills are lacking.

The same is true for Zhao Zheng's offspring. After undergoing genetic modification, the original casting surgery, and two additional modification surgeries, their bodies have all swelled to three meters in length, and each of them is essentially a psionicist.

If we're talking about strength, then the Second Legion's current psychic masters are probably no worse than the Fifteenth Legion's.

Most importantly, the Second Legion members have unparalleled resistance to psionic energy, at the very least possessing the psionic resistance of a Soulless Being.

This makes the Second Legion like a comprehensive and flawless legion, integrating offense and defense, just like the First Legion that the Emperor is now building with all his might.

Unfortunately, Zhao Zheng is not currently able to infuse his essence into them. The only thing he can do right now is to find a way to accelerate the physical convergence of his offspring.

He could sense that his own descendants were evolving much faster than the rest of the legions.

Putting aside other matters, the Astartes of the other legions either rely on late-game blessings or on the Emperor's "divine intervention." Very few can truly rely on their own efforts to strengthen themselves to the level of a captain of the Imperial Guard.

Moreover, the evolution of the other legions' Astartes is very limited because their lifespan is not permanent; they age. Once they reach a certain age, their evolution essentially ends.

Zhao Zheng pulled up all the research data on gene expression regulation from the Qiankun Star Central Research Institute over the past six months, and the experimental records accumulated by Hua Tuo, Bian Que and their teams were spread out on the screen.

He discovered an experimental record showing that adding a specific frequency of psionic pulse field to the Astartes modification surgery could stimulate the expression efficiency of gene seeds in the recipient's body, shorten the recovery period after surgery, and at the same time, the final stable values ​​of various physiological indicators were 40% higher than those of the recipient without the assistance of the psionic pulse field.

Zhao Zheng's gaze lingered for a moment on the marginal notes in the experimental record.

This is a note that Hua Tuo casually wrote down three months ago, which was just a side observation record of the topic of "the auxiliary effect of the psionic pulse field on the rate of cell differentiation".

This experiment was originally just a supplementary test, but Zhao Zheng found inspiration in it.

If the psionic pulse field can stimulate the expression efficiency of gene seeds, allowing the offspring's physical bodies to more quickly approach the physiological structure at the Primarch level...

What he might need is not to immediately create a complete subspace essence injection scheme, but to design a sufficiently precise and continuously operating psionic pulse field so that his offspring's bodies can gradually achieve convergent evolution over a longer time dimension.

This process will not be quick and may take years or even decades, but its risks are far lower than those of direct injection and its success rate is much higher.

After his offspring have evolved to be powerful enough, Zhao Zheng will then infuse his essence into them.

Zhao Zheng's fingers flew across the keyboard as he began to sketch out a new experimental framework, within which he planned a hierarchical structure.

The first phase is to identify the optimal frequency range and intensity interval of the psionic pulse field, which requires a group of candidates who have undergone Astartes modification to conduct controlled experiments.

The second stage is to verify the actual effect of pulsed field acceleration convergence and measure the difference between the physiological indicators after convergence and the original baseline.

The third stage involves infusing one's own essence.

The third phase of the experiment cannot be rushed, nor can it be done hastily. Zhao Zheng decided to complete the first two phases first before making any further plans.

The first phase of the experiment was launched in the biological laboratory of the Lishan ship in the early hours of the following day.

Zhao Zheng personally selected 120 offspring who had completed all Astartes modification surgeries and had been in recovery for more than six months from the candidate list, and randomly divided them into six groups of 20 people each.

This experiment is very important. If it is confirmed to be successful, it will become the underlying framework of his Second Legion in the future.

Whether the Qin Dynasty can become so powerful that even emperors dare not challenge its might, and whether it can achieve absolute dominance within a human empire, depends on whether this experiment can succeed.

Five groups received psychic pulse fields of different frequencies and intensities, while one group served as a control group without any additional intervention.

The draft experimental plan was revised seven times by Zhao Zheng. Each revision involved him repeatedly calibrating the energy pulse generator, adjusting the distribution of electrode patches, and confirming the sampling interval of the monitoring data with Hua Tuo and Bian Que.

It wasn't until the seventh version that it was finally finalized.

The center frequency of the first set of pulse fields was set at a medium level, and the intensity was controlled so that it could just penetrate the epidermis and reach the skeletal muscle cell membrane receptors.

Zhao Zheng stood in front of the observation window of the experimental chamber, watching the twenty offspring lying on the neatly arranged metal platforms. Electrode patches extended from both sides of their thoracic vertebrae to the base of their skulls, connecting to the psionic pulse generator that he had personally modified behind them.

The psionic amplifier array inside the generator glowed faintly under the excitation of the electric current, radiating low-frequency psionic pulses into the cabin at a stable frequency.

Hua Tuo stood in front of the instrument, his eyes fixed on the real-time data stream on the screen. His fingertips tapped rapidly on the keyboard, recording the fluctuations of each set of values.

"Vital signs are stable, heart rate has increased by about five percent, and there are no abnormal rhythms in brain waves."

Zhao Zheng did not answer. His psychic perception had penetrated into the experimental chamber, and he was examining layer by layer how the psychic pulses actually acted when they reached each recipient.

The psionic pulses passed through their epidermis and fat layers, resonating in the muscle tissue, and then extended upwards along the conduction pathways of the nervous system, triggering extremely subtle changes in the electric field on the surface of the gray matter cortex within the cranial cavity.

Three hours later, the first group of irradiation ended, and all twenty offspring who had undergone the experiment recovered.

Preliminary data show that the psionic pulse field did not cause any structural damage to the nervous system or organ function of the subjects, and various physiological indicators gradually returned to baseline levels within hours after irradiation.

However, Zhao Zheng's spiritual perception detected a subtle signal: the activity of the gene seed in the first group of subjects showed a slight peak. Although it did not reach the "40% increase" recorded by Hua Tuo in his previous experiments, the trend was indeed there.

More data is needed; the sample size is too small, and the experimental period is too short.

The second round of irradiation began that evening, with the irradiation frequency increasing while the intensity remained constant.

The penetration depth of the psionic pulse field remained the same, but the resonance pattern changed, beginning to reach the deep structures of skeletal muscle cells and cardiomyocytes.

Zhao Zheng sensed that the activity response of the gene seed in the subject's body was significantly accelerated, but a slight arrhythmia also occurred, which was fortunately quickly corrected by the body's own regulatory mechanism.

……

The experiment ended after seven days, and subsequent data collection and analysis lasted for three full days.

Hua Tuo and Bian Que took turns guarding the analyzer, comparing the gene maps, protein expression profiles, and tissue slice images of each group of subjects with the baseline data before the experiment. It wasn't until late at night that they handed the final analysis report to Zhao Zheng.

The charts on the data board are arranged neatly. The gene expression profiles of each group of subjects are compressed into curves of different colors, overlapping above or below the baseline. The magnitude difference is marked as a percentage on the side axis.

Zhao Zheng's gaze swept from the first set of data all the way to the sixth set, and he stopped on the curve of the fifth set.

The frequency and intensity of the psionic pulse field in that group were set to the highest among all experimental groups. According to the experimental records at the time, more than half of the subjects in the fifth group showed observable brief stress responses during the irradiation process.

However, the final data showed that the fifth group of subjects had the highest peak of gene seed activity and the largest change in convergence indicators. Among them, the average cross-sectional area of ​​skeletal muscle fibers increased by nearly 20%, the stability value of nerve conduction velocity also increased significantly compared with before the experiment, and even their body size collectively increased by more than 5 centimeters.

Moreover, all subjects' vital signs returned to normal after the irradiation ended, and no detectable tissue damage or functional impairment occurred.