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

Zhao Zheng estimated that it would take a week to travel from Qiankun Star to Fenris System, but the journey could actually be shortened by two days. Zhao Zheng didn't know if this was due to his own special circumstances.

At that moment, the Emperor's fleet also jumped out of Mandeville and arrived near the Lishan.

The colossal size of the Emperor Dream lay across the void, as if proclaiming its pride in the forging techniques inherited from the Golden Age.

Zhao Zheng arrived on the Emperor Dream aboard the Stormbird.

When Zhao Zheng stepped off the Stormbird, Waldo was already standing in the center of the hangar waiting for him. The commander of the Imperial Guards was just as he had been when they last met, with a tall and straight figure, holding the Spear of the Sun God, and his eyes were like torches.

"Your Highness, His Majesty is waiting for you in the lounge."

Zhao Zheng nodded to him, without exchanging any pleasantries, and followed Waldo through the airtight door on the side of the hangar, walking along the familiar corridor into the interior of the Emperor Dream.

The display cases on both sides of the corridor still housed artworks and artifacts from the ancient Terra period, but Zhao Zheng didn't pay attention to them this time.

Guided by Waldo, he passed through three airtight doors and arrived at a room that was more spacious than before. The walls were made of a relatively understated gray alloy and black refined gold, and a huge holographic star map was embedded in the wall, which was currently displaying the detailed terrain of the sparse star region on the northwestern edge of the solar star field.

No matter how you look at it, Zhao Zheng would still feel envious of the emperor's extravagant lifestyle.

Having lived for so many years is no joke; I have a lot of inventory. I wonder when my Glory Queen ship will be completed on Mars and Jupiter. I'll have to take it over and see if I can replicate it.

Let's talk about enjoying ourselves later, when Qin is even stronger.

The emperor stood before the star map, wearing a white robe with no decorations at the collar, and there was no one else beside him.

Zhao Zheng paused at the doorway, then went inside. Waldo silently closed the hatch behind him.

The emperor turned around from in front of the star map, his gaze lingering on Zhao Zheng's face for a moment before he spoke, his tone more natural than when they last met.

"You've arrived?"

"Ah."

Zhao Zheng didn't exchange any pleasantries and simply sat down on the chair next to the emperor.

The fleet moved slowly and steadily toward Fenris. Zhao Zheng and the Emperor looked out the porthole at the Fenris system, neither of them speaking first.

Zhao Zheng simply didn't want to talk, but the emperor...

He has a bit of social anxiety.

"Why would you suddenly care about this? Searching for a brother stranded in a world of ice and death should be a very common thing for you."

Zhao Zheng didn't quite understand why the emperor wanted to involve him, after all, his relationship with the emperor wasn't exactly good, and their first meeting had ended in some unpleasantness.

"Based on past experience, you should prefer to do this alone rather than take me with you."

The emperor remained silent, but his golden pupils did show a slight reaction.

“Before Horus’s return, I was indeed more used to acting independently, because that was the fastest path.”

“I’m not used to delegating things to others. Except for things that don’t require my help, I generally prefer to solve them on my own because it’s more efficient and less troublesome.”

"But the scale of the Great Expedition exceeded my expectations, and the galaxy was far more vast than I had imagined, and there were more enemies than I had imagined."

“But my son, your return with Horus has made me realize one thing: some paths cannot be walked alone.”

Zhao Zheng did not interrupt the Emperor; he also wanted to hear the Emperor's opinion on the Primarchs.

“You are all created by my own hands, each of you carries my expectations. When I designed you, I hoped that you could become more complete than me.”

“You are not like me. My essence is etched in the texture of time. The knowledge and power accumulated over the long era are too heavy, making it difficult for me to truly participate in and understand those human emotions like ordinary people do.”

"But you can. You should have grown up in the human world, felt the warmth of humans, and understood their limitations and desires, even if an unexpected event occurred in the process."

"You are the weapons of war and the commanders of the expedition that I established for the Great Expedition. Your most fundamental duty is to ensure the efficiency of the expedition and the rapid recapture of the old human lands."

"But I also hope that you can become guardians of human civilization, not as my tools, but as inheritors and leaders who can truly understand and pass on human civilization."

"You may question the depth of my love for you, which is normal, but please don't question how important you are to me."

"Because each of you is another path for me to move towards the future, and the only path I am willing to believe in."

As the emperor spoke those words, Zhao Zheng's gaze fell upon the outline of the Fenris star system outside the porthole.

The icy planet was slowly zooming in on the horizon, its cloud surface reflecting the cold white light of the star, appearing almost silvery-gray against the dark background of space.

He did not respond immediately. Although the emperor's words contained genuine emotions and human warmth, Zhao Zheng was not sure how much of it reflected the emperor's true thoughts.

Perhaps this was just the Emperor trying to build rapport, and he simply chose a set of words from Macardo's carefully crafted phrasing.

Zhao Zheng believed in the importance of the Primitive Body to the Emperor, but he absolutely did not believe that the Primitive Body had any other arrangements in the Emperor's plans; otherwise, the Primitive Body would have been incorporated into the political system long ago.

Although no one really cares whether the Primarchs participate in politics or not, Zhao Zheng and Guilliman who returned later are good examples.

However, it is true that Astartes and Primarchs cannot participate in politics.

The Emperor's words are a mixture of truth and falsehood, and coupled with his ever-present spiritual charm, it's easy for him to make many people fall at his feet.

Unfortunately, this time he was facing Zhao Zheng, a greedy and selfish tyrant who had long harbored blasphemous thoughts and had already begun to act on them.

But Zhao Zheng didn't intend to expose him.

Whether true or not, the fact that the emperor was willing to say these words demonstrates how much he valued this reunion of brothers.

"You want us to be the successors of humanity, but have you ever considered what if we don't want to go down this path?"

The Emperor shifted his gaze from the Fenris system outside the porthole to Zhao Zheng.

There was no displeasure at being questioned in his gaze, but rather a hint of scrutiny and contemplation.

Do you think you would have other options?

"Everyone should have the right to choose. When you created us, you endowed each of us with an independent personality and the ability to think. Isn't that because you hoped we could become true human beings? If that's the case, why can't we have our own thoughts?"

Zhao Zheng turned his chair to face the emperor, his gaze calmly meeting those golden eyes.

"If some of them don't want to be the commander of the Great Expedition, don't want to be the guardians of humanity, and just want to live their own lives on their home planet, would you accept that? Or rather, could you allow it?"

The emperor did not answer, but just kept looking at Zhao Zheng.

His gaze held a complex mix of emotions, but he remained silent, as if deep in thought or simply lost in thought.

Finally, he just said something unrelated.

"We've arrived. Your brother is down below. Let's go."

As the emperor spoke, he turned his head slightly, his gaze passing over Zhao Zheng's shoulder and landing on the surface of the icy planet.

He then stood up and put his hand on Zhao Zheng's shoulder.

"Don't resist."

He said softly, and then Zhao Zheng felt the surrounding scenery change instantly, and the temperature suddenly dropped by hundreds of degrees Celsius.

The winds of Fenris, carrying ice pellets, lashed at Zhao Zheng's face. The biting cold was enough to chill even a Space Marine, but it meant nothing to the Emperor and Zhao Zheng.

The ice beneath his feet cracked softly as Zhao Zheng stepped firmly onto the ground, recovering from the brief discomfort of the teleportation. The surrounding scenery revealed its clear outline in the wind.

The emperor stood about two steps away from him, his white robe motionless in the cold wind, as if fixed in the air by some invisible force field.

At this moment, he no longer used psychic powers to disguise his appearance; he simply appeared as an ordinary middle-aged man.

His gaze fell on a cluster of low stone buildings about five kilometers ahead, built along a snow-covered mountain ridge.

The walls were made of rough, black rock, with cracks filled with frozen moss and ice chips, and the roof was covered with heavy animal hides and planks that rattled in the wind.

Zhao Zheng didn't speak, but raised his hand to feel the biting cold wind and kneaded the snowflakes on his fingertips.

What a horrible place! Anyone who could survive in such an environment would probably be a superhuman with an iron will.

Russ has grown up in this kind of environment all these years, no wonder he has become that barbarian.

If you're not a bit savage, you probably won't get any advantage in this godforsaken place; you'll even have trouble getting enough to eat.

Zhao Zheng asked himself honestly, if he had landed in such a godforsaken place, he probably wouldn't have been much better off than Russ.

The emperor took a step forward, the ice beneath his feet making a clear sound. Zhao Zheng followed behind him to the side, and the two of them crossed the open area covered by ice and snow, heading towards the huge settlement.

At the entrance to the settlement stood a row of sharpened wooden stakes, which were bound together with thick hemp rope and animal sinew to form a simple fence.

Behind the fence stood several men, dressed in heavy animal-skin cloaks, holding crude iron axes and spears, looking like frozen stone statues in the cold wind.

They did not react immediately when they saw the Emperor and Zhao Zheng, but watched the two figures walking in the cold wind from a distance.

There was an exceptionally tall man, much taller than Boss Riemann, and in front of him was a short man who looked frail.

Upon recognizing the newcomer, the Fenris warriors behind the fence simultaneously lowered their iron axes and spears by half an inch.

Their gaze lingered on Zhao Zheng's six-meter-tall frame for a long time before shifting to the emperor in front of him.

The short figure was two heads shorter than them and almost negligible compared to the giant behind them, but those golden eyes made them instinctively feel an aura colder than ice and snow.

For some reason, the Fenris warriors were suddenly stunned when they saw the Emperor, and they didn't even stop the Emperor and Zhao Zheng from walking straight in.

Almost everyone in the tribal settlement saw the two men, a giant and a dwarf, but no one came forward to ask about their identities, nor did they feel any panic at their arrival.

The emperor and Zhao Zheng thus arrived at a simple palace built of huge stones.

A strong odor wafted from inside, causing Zhao Zheng to frown slightly. As someone with severe mysophobia, he wasn't used to this kind of place.

“Let’s go, your brother is inside, we should go in and see him.”

"Do I really have to go in? I don't really want to go into a place like this."

Zhao Zheng was somewhat resistant, but a Nordic-themed amusement park like Fenris, which was very likely built during the Golden Age, was still quite interesting. His psionic energy had already explored the place extensively.

If you ignore its deadly living environment, its natural scenery is truly beautiful.

But this palace with its strong odor is definitely not included.

The tainted, inferior liquor, the heavy body odor of barbarians, the stench of blood and carcasses from the animals returned from hunting...

Honestly, Zhao Zheng felt that he was better off staying outside, or returning to the Emperor Dream.

Ignoring Zhao Zheng's resistance, the emperor walked straight to the entrance of the giant stone palace.

Zhao Zheng stood there watching him take a couple of steps, then clicked his tongue and followed.

As he passed the entrance, he sidestepped to avoid several strings of dried animal bones and pelts hanging along the edge of the door frame, which rattled and clattered in the wind.

The interior of the palace was more spacious than it appeared from the outside. A long table stood in the center, and a bonfire burned beside it. Flames licked at the dark rock dome, enveloping the entire hall in a play of light and shadow.

Rusty iron weapons and animal hide totems hung on the walls, and the ground was covered with a thick layer of dry moss and animal hair mats, which felt soft to the touch. However, Zhao Zheng could clearly feel that there was a lot of dried and hardened bloodstains hidden under the mats.

He frowned, using his psionic energy to sever the direct contact between his feet and the ground, but something still felt off. Finally, he simply used his psionic energy to completely isolate his body from any contact with the ground, and only then did he feel a little better.

The place was teeming with people, a group of burly men dressed in animal skins, chewing on large bones and drinking Fenris mead, humming tunes that Zhao Zheng couldn't understand.

Some people got drunk and started fighting on the spot, exchanging punches and having a great time.

Savage and uncivilized, with unenlightened people—this was Zhao Zheng's first impression of Fenris, even though he knew that Ruth and his wolf cubs were very cunning.

The figures of the Emperor and Zhao Zheng, two strangers, immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the palace.

There was no way around it; Zhao Zheng's body, which was much taller than the Wolf King, was simply too eye-catching, and even the Emperor didn't attract much attention for a moment.

Lehmann Russ could tell almost instantly that the two people who came in from outside were unfathomably powerful, and that he was likely no match for them.

At this moment, the Emperor unleashed his psychic charm once again, and it was then that the people in the palace saw the Emperor, a short man who looked as thin as a rake.

Ruth knew that this skinny, short man was the most dangerous, because Ruth felt an unprecedented sense of unease emanating from him.

His wild instincts kicked in, and the moment he saw the emperor, the feeling of his life being in danger sent shivers down his spine.

Ruth had originally intended to observe them further. The identities and motives of these two were unclear, and he didn't know how they got in. No one had informed them of their arrival, and he didn't know how the people outside were doing. He hoped they were alright.

But when he saw that the people around him were all looking at the two people in front of them with expressions of worship and fanaticism, Russ, who had only been king for a short time, felt his self-esteem being rubbed raw.

So he slammed his hand on the long table.

Bang!

The loud noise brought everyone back to their senses.

"I am your king, wake up!"

When Ruth slammed her hand on the long table, the firelight in the entire stone hall flickered.

The Fenris warriors, who had been bewitched by the Emperor's psychic powers, jolted awake, and the wine cups and bones slipped from their fingers.

Some people staggered back two steps, knocking over the wooden stool behind them; others shook their heads violently, as if they had just woken up from a sudden dizziness, their cloudy eyes scanning back and forth between the Emperor and Leman Russ several times.

Ruth's voice had a certain primal penetrating power, and Zhao Zheng noticed this detail.

Even within the Emperor's almost unfair psionic field, his roar could still tear through the golden veil, drawing the Fenris warriors' attention back to reality.

Ruth stood at the end of the long table, her pale white eyes fixed on the Emperor.