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

So Zhao Zheng wanted to tell Forgrim that the Emperor was not perfect at all, and he had absolutely no need to go down a dead end.

If Luo Jia's situation is considered a form of obsession, then Fugrim's situation is a case of someone who has walked into a dead end and become obsessed with a single point.

The Primarchs' home planet and childhood environment endowed them with distinct personalities, but the Emperor's appearance shattered all the perfect images they had imagined, which unconsciously led them to imitate him.

This is also the biggest difference between Felus and Fugrim, who both pursue perfection.

Ferrus strives to emulate his idols and treats his teachers with the same respect he would show to his mentors, aiming for perfection. In short, he is incredibly strict with himself, demanding the best of everything and never seeking anything from others.

But Forgrim seemed to be secretly competing with the Emperor, wanting to outdo him and prove that he was the most perfect one.

Therefore, he is always nitpicking, taking into account every look and opinion from the outside world. He cares a lot about what others think and whether he has made any mistakes, because a perfect person cannot make mistakes!

To say that Slaanesh wouldn't like such a perfectionist who is obsessed to the core would be absurd.

What Zhao Zheng most wanted to do was to wake up Fogrim from his daze: perfection has no definition!

Who decided that perfection has a definition?

The word itself is a paradox!

The essence of perfection is that all of a person's inner goals and requirements have reached their most ideal state or even exceeded it; that is perfection.

Forgrim had too little contact with the Emperor and hadn't seen his beastly side; otherwise, he would never have thought the Emperor was such an unsurpassable god.

But Zhao Zheng also knew that if he wanted Forgrim to see that the Emperor was actually just a bastard who was not much better than Zhao Zheng, Forgrim might not be able to accept it and might very well go to the other extreme.

Therefore, there is only one way to truly bring Forgrim back from the wrong path!

Felus, move out! Use your iron-willed, straightforward personality and Zhao Zheng's persuasive skills to repeatedly crush the perfect image of the emperor in Forgrim's mind!

But there's no rush. Let's talk about it when we get back to Terra. Zhao Zheng believes that Feralus will give Forgrim a good answer.

Chapter 71 The kids took off running!

"Father, is this Holy Terra? The mother planet and origin of humanity?"

Kongming looked out the porthole at the brownish-yellow planet with its towering, cloud-piercing giant nests and the radioactive clouds and toxic gases that permeated its surface. He was speechless.

Is this the Holy Terra?

Humanity's home planet?

This doesn't even look as good as the ecological environment of any random habitable planet in the Qin Dynasty.

Could it be that such a powerful empire's home planet turned out to be like this?

Doesn't the Emperor and his officials intend to repair Holy Terra? Or have the humans of Holy Terra evolved to the point of being immune to all poisons?

And why are all the ships crowding together in this channel? Why not separate some routes and then navigate and queue them according to the size and type of the warships?

Disappointment, doubt, and confusion were intertwined in Kongming's eyes. Was this the partner who had always been above Qin?

That's it?

"Father, may I ask you something?"

"Oh? Go ahead and tell me."

Zhao Zheng was also standing to the side, watching as this once blue planet from his memories had turned into this desolate and dilapidated yellowish-brown planet, and felt a strange sense of emotion.

"Have Holy Terra and the Empire staked everything on the Great Crusade, which is why they're so poor?"

"No, it's rolling in money. You know Terra Palace, right?"

Kongming nodded.

"It's made of gold, and there are countless noble families and some bloated imperial officials. Perhaps a single jade thumb ring on their bodies could buy an entire city."

"And those Imperial Guards, their specially made golden power armor, one set of which could buy a small habitable planet, how could they be poor?"

"There are countless treasures hidden beneath the Emperor's palace. Any one of them could potentially change the course of a star sector war or alter the surface environment of a planet. There are countless such technologies."

"During the golden age, humanity's favorite pastime was manipulating the stars. Even though this technology has been discontinued, a significant amount of it has survived. How could we be poor?"

"This is Holy Terra! Humanity's home planet!"

Zhao Zheng's words struck Kongming's heart like a hammer, making his eyes even more confused and bewildered.

"Then why is Holy Terra like this?"

"do not know."

"According to what you said, Father, shouldn't this place be magnificent and the people live in peace and contentment?"

"do not know."

Zhao Zheng didn't know how to answer Kongming, and he had no answer to this question either.

This question is destined to remain unanswered. No one knows why the legendary lover, the Emperor, would do such a thing. He promised to save humanity, yet he couldn't even govern his home planet Terra, which was so close to him.

Zhao Zheng doesn't believe that the Emperor is incapable of managing Terra. It's just that the concept of water is gone. It's not a big deal. The tech guys can easily solve this problem.

So what if our home planet runs out of water? We can just bring it in from elsewhere, right? Does the Empire need a few ships and the associated transportation costs?

No matter how important Holy Terra is, it's still just a planet. How high can the cost of improving the environment be?

But the Emperor didn't. He simply didn't have it. He felt that Holy Terra was very important, and he had placed many important things on it, such as the Star Torch.

And then... no more.

That's it. Perhaps the humans of Terra are not as important as humanity as a whole. This is the most reasonable explanation Zhao Zheng could come up with.

Kongming didn't ask any further questions, but the lingering disappointment and loss in his eyes were still too obvious.

Zhao Zheng didn't want to discourage his offspring, because when he went down there and saw those people from the lower nest, he would only feel more heartbroken, not to mention those mutants from the bottom nest who never saw the light of day.

The ecosystem of the colossal hive world of Holy Terra will only disappoint and shatter the faith of every pilgrim who comes here.

For example, right now, aboard the Imperial Dream, Vograim looked down at the tan planet below, which wasn't much better than Chemos, and couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Is this the planet where my father lived? Can this really be called humanity's home planet?

But when he saw the Emperor's relaxed expression, Forgrim felt that the Emperor must have his reasons for doing so, and he just needed to understand them.

The Lishan was parked in Terra High Orbit for nearly four hours before finally getting a landing window assigned by the Terra Airport control center.

Zhao Zheng stood at the porthole of the bridge, watching the slowly moving ship shadows below move in and out of the gaps in the rail defense line, waiting for the airport control center to send a signal that it was safe to land.

The ships were a mixed bag, ranging from imperial military transport ships to civilian cargo ships and pilgrimage vessels. They were crammed into a long line on several narrow waterways, like a swarm of ants stuck in a narrow passage, slowly moving forward with almost no extra space between them.

Zhao Zheng watched for a while, then couldn't help but shake his head.

Does this level of capability even deserve to be called the First Galactic Empire? If even one ship's engine system malfunctions, dozens or even hundreds of ships would probably crash into it together.

What was the emperor thinking when he allowed such a chaotic traffic management system to exist?

He turned to look at his side. Kongming was standing at the edge of the control panel, holding the data panel in his hand, but his gaze was fixed on the slowly moving shadows of the ships outside the window. His brows were slightly furrowed, as if he was also thinking about the same question.

He didn't speak, but stood there quietly, his gaze moving back and forth between the ships.

Nearly half an hour later, the guidance signal from the airport dispatch center finally reached the Lishan, instructing them to descend along the designated channel and dock at the dedicated berth inside the dock.

Zhao Zheng and Kong Ming arrived outside Terra Palace aboard Stormbirds. It was a spacious and flat helipad paved with terracotta and radiant gold, its surface inlaid with dense, fine patterns, which looked magnificent under the sun.

Kongming's psionic abilities could only sense the numbness of the people in the lower nests, the extravagance of the people in the upper and top nests, and a welcome banquet meticulously prepared for the Primarch's return.

"Your Majesty, why do these people in Terra seem so happy?"

Kongming asked the question using his spiritual power.

"They're happy because I'm back with Fulgrim."

"Is the return of the Primarch something to be so happy about? Are they living well? Shouldn't celebrations be for those on the upper and lower nests? What are they celebrating?"

"Because we're back, the Empire has welcomed back another Primarch, and they're happy, but I don't understand why they're happy."

"Logically speaking, our return may be very useful in the macro narrative, but for these people at the bottom, we don't know what role our return has played."

"Apart from the good news coming from the front, I can't think of anything else they're happy about."

"The factory workers who toiled for twenty hours straight, only to have their food and wages withheld by the overseers, their backs bent under immense pressure, would proudly straighten their chests when they heard the Imperial Primarchs reporting victories from the front lines?"

Kongming was even more confused. Was this kind of thinking really right?

Do the people at the bottom of Terra not even want to solve their basic needs for food and clothing?

Kongming shook his head, no longer thinking about the question. He had previously felt a little guilty about the impending "bloodbath" of the imperial treasury, but now he felt no guilt at all.

Since the emperor has no intention of saving these people, then let's not keep these good things and let the Qin Dynasty do it.

When Zhao Zheng led Kong Ming, Qin Qiong, and the others down the gangway, Waldo was already standing at the edge of the tarmac waiting for them.

He wore that gleaming gold power armor, his spear resting on his shoulder, his posture upright. When he saw Zhao Zheng, he nodded slightly in greeting.

"Your Highness, His Majesty has already given instructions that you may go directly to the treasury to select the seventeen items. Prime Minister Makado will be waiting at the entrance of the treasury."

Zhao Zheng did not stop walking; he simply nodded slightly and led Kong Ming straight toward the passage at the end of the tarmac.

Kongming followed half a step behind him, his eyes quickly scanning the surrounding scenery. His habitual observation skills and alertness to unfamiliar environments were automatically activated the moment he entered the Terra Palace area.

He noticed the wall materials on both sides of the passage, the guards' positions and patrol frequency, and the location of the air vents of the air circulation system, quickly piecing together a preliminary picture of the functional layout of this space in his mind.

The defenses here are really tight; you could say that even the defenses of Qiankun Star might not be as good as these.

Kongming originally thought that with so many Odin and Thor mechs, all of which were Titan units made of adamantite and living metal, they would be powerful enough. He never expected that the Terra Palace would be so strong.

It is, after all, humanity's home planet. Though it may appear "damaged" on the outside, it remains strong on the inside.

At intervals along the walls on both sides of the passageway are embedded shallow relief panels, depicting historical scenes from the ancient Terra period.

From the ancient wars of Terra to the collapse of the Old Nights era, and the reconstruction of ruins from the War of Unification, these scenes are arranged along the corridor in a highly condensed narrative style, leaving almost no blank spaces.

When they arrived at the Gate of Eternity, the relief carved on it seemed a bit far-fetched to Kongming.

The image depicts a human riding a horse and fighting a giant dragon with his bare hands.

Kongming stood in front of the relief for a while, feeling that it was really incompatible with the imperial truths promulgated by the emperor, because the religious connotations were too strong.

"Is this painting somewhat out of place because it's meant to emphasize the sacredness of Terra Palace?"

Qin Qiong came to Kongming's side and asked.

Waldo and Zhao Zheng, who were ahead, also stopped and looked at the relief in front of the Gate of Eternity.

"What's wrong? Are you surprised?"

"I just feel that this is somewhat contrary to the truth of the Empire."

Kongming shook his head and said.

"Of course it doesn't fit, even though it is true."

Zhao Zheng's words were astonishing, even Waldo couldn't help but look at him, what did he mean? Had the Emperor ever done such a thing?

"This happened a long time ago, probably during the Middle Ages of Ancient Terra. This is a fragment of a Star God, quite different from the two I killed before. I don't know how strong this fragment is, but even if I wanted to win now, I'd probably have to risk half my life."

So this is true?

Qin Qiong and the others were somewhat astonished. Could someone really fight such a huge dragon with their bare hands?

Zhao Zheng was already the strongest single expert they had ever seen.

"It's true. It's currently sealed on Mars by the Emperor. Those guys were worshipping it from the beginning. The Emperor was a later addition. They've almost overused the term Om Messiah."

This was the first time Waldo, the commander of the Imperial Guards, had heard of such a thing, but being loyal to the Emperor, he did not ask any further questions.

However, the fact that Om Messiah on Mars was actually a giant dragon that the Emperor had sealed away was rather shocking.

"Let's go and pick out some treasures first. This dragon is none of our business. The Emperor is a repressed person who wants to show off his power, so let him be. Not just anyone can come here. No matter how much they admire him, it's their business."

Zhao Zheng didn't linger there. He didn't want to comment on the emperor's behavior. Anyway, this person was always fighting between his left and right brains, and his actions were contradictory. In the end, it wouldn't be Zhao Zheng who suffered.

As the outline of the Gate of Eternity gradually appeared at the end of the corridor, Zhao Zheng slowed his pace slightly.

The dungeon vault door, at this moment, did not seem expensive at all, and looked extremely understated. The door, which was made almost entirely of adamantite, could withstand the volcanic cannon of an Emperor-class Titan.

Macardo stood before the door, leaning on a slender, flaming scepter, dressed in a simple, dark gray robe, looking like a scholar from a bygone era.

He turned his head slightly to look in Zhao Zheng's direction, his gaze lingering on Zhao Zheng's face for a moment before landing on Kong Ming, who was half a step behind him.

When Kongming met Makado's gaze, he nodded slightly in greeting, his posture respectful, but his eyes showed no extra fluctuation.