Chapter 357: Discovering Sanguinius |
After rummaging through the desk drawer in the weirdboy hut, Li Nuo finally found the note left by Angra.
He grabbed an Encoded Transmitter, dialed the frequency on the note, and left a written message for Angra.
About five minutes later, the transmitter received a reply and sprang to life, tapping out High Gothic with a steady beep.
Li Nuo glanced over it briefly, moved to the open clearing outside the hut, set the transmitter down, and dialed Angra's frequency again.
Upon connecting, a holographic screen projected from the transmitter, forming a life-sized display of Angra.
His appearance hadn't changed much. He still looked like an eleven- or twelve-year-old boy, though his clothes had shifted from rough linen to a long robe that carried the distinct aura of an ecclesiastical official.
"Are you working in the God-Emperor's state church now?" Li Nuo asked.
"Yes. I normally play the role of a cardinal, conducting public activities under the guise of a mortal."
"Oh, I see."
Angra asked, "You reached out to me because you need my help, right? Just speak your mind. I promised to repay you, so I will definitely see it done."
Li Nuo thought it over. Concealing his plans targeting Nurgle, he simply steered the focus to Sanguinius's Warp essence:
"Here's the situation, Angra. I want to speak with Sanguinius, but as I'm sure you know, the Sanguinius of the age of rebellion is already dead, and no trace of him can be found in the age of apostasy or the end times. However, I figured that as a primarch whose Warp essence wasn't consumed by the evil gods of chaos, Sanguinius should appear elsewhere. And as one of the primarchs who has embraced his Warp essence, you might have a chance to contact him."
"I understand what you mean. You might not be entirely clear on the relationship between the primarchs and the God-Emperor, so let me explain."
"Please do." Li Nuo listened attentively.
"The primarchs are essentially avatars of lesser human deities who lack Second-degree Souls. Once we embrace our own Warp essence, we ascend to a First-degree Soul. The God-Emperor then calls out to us. If we submit to him, we become members of the state church, appearing before people as mortals and swearing allegiance to him. The problem is that not all primarchs are willing to embrace their Warp essence, nor will all of them submit to the God-Emperor after ascending to a First-degree Soul."
Angra paused for a moment.
"Sanguinius belongs to the former category. He was unwilling to embrace his Warp essence and become a First-degree Soul. He had the ability to resurrect from the dead, yet he willingly chose to wander the Warp as a lone ghost, staying far away from the light of the God-Emperor's Astronomican."
Li Nuo asked, "Why is that? Did Sanguinius have a falling out with the God-Emperor?"
Angra pondered for a second. "To be honest, I don't know the specific details. I'm guessing it might be related to Sanguinius's Warp essence—even though I don't know what characteristics his essence actually possesses."
"Getting back to the main topic," Angra said. "I know where you can find Sanguinius. During the battle at Baal, at the Blood Angels' moment of life and death, Sanguinius secretly assisted his sons in the shadows. He bought them extremely precious time until Guilliman's reinforcements arrived. By my calculations, the battle at Baal is about half a month away. If you want to see Sanguinius, you'll need to hurry."
As Angra spoke, he grabbed a parchment scroll from beside him, jotted down a few lines, and held it up for Li Nuo to see.
"This is a letter of recommendation. Once you meet Sanguinius, give it to him. Out of respect for me, he should be willing to communicate with you."
Li Nuo copied down the text from the scroll.
The two ended the transmission.
Angra had fulfilled his promise, and Li Nuo had learned Sanguinius's whereabouts. It was a mutually beneficial exchange.
Li Nuo returned to the hut, opened his system interface, and checked his save files.
About two months ago, he had dispatched a fleet to scout Baal. Now, it was time to activate it.
[Save File: Blood Raven Boyz - Batorax.]
[Briefing:]
[Former Crimson Palm warlord boss Batorax, now commander of the Baal scouting team, arrived today in a small star system near Baal.]
[He and his fleet detected Tyranid wormhole signals all across the vicinity of Baal.]
[This indicates that a Tyranid fleet of unprecedented scale is traveling toward the Baal system through wormhole channels opened by Narvhals.]
[Judging from the intensity and number of the wormhole signals, the count of Tyranid bio-ships will not be lower than 10,000, with a swarm numbering over 300 million.]
[According to Batorax's projections, once the Tyranids arrive, the ecology of the Baal system and its surrounding regions will deteriorate drastically, permanently losing all developmental value.]
Li Nuo looked at the briefing thoughtfully and raised a hand to activate the Noisy Box.
"Palcador, didn't we develop a device to eliminate wormhole signals and forcibly terminate wormhole jumps, based on the Tyranids' wormhole characteristics?"
A few seconds later, Palcador's reply came through.
"Boss, there really is such a thing. About two years ago, you obtained samples of tendrils and Narvhals. After the Palu Academy was established, a team of scholars dove deep into researching biological armor and bio-ships based on your directives. During that process, they deciphered the Narvhals' wormhole signals and produced a ship-mounted device called the 'Wormhole Signal Eliminator.' This equipment can emit targeted, fixed-frequency gravity waves to forcibly close wormholes through cancellation, thereby terminating the Tyranid fleet's navigation. According to the scholars' predictions, forcibly halting their travel could potentially inflict immeasurable casualties on the advancing Tyranid fleet."
Palcador sent the research report over to Li Nuo's Dataslate.
After reading it, an idea popped into Li Nuo's mind.
Should he try using the Wormhole Signal Eliminator to stop the Tyranids' wormhole navigation?
Doing so would minimize casualties in the battle at Baal, which would be equivalent to presenting Sanguinius with a massive gift.
With this gift and Angra's letter of introduction, Sanguinius would likely agree to meet him.
Li Nuo weighed his options and conferred briefly with Pader.
In the end, he decided not to deploy the Wormhole Signal Eliminator.
The reasoning was obvious.
Anyone could offer timely help in a crisis. Everyone knew that delivering coal during a snowstorm was an immense favor.
But the prerequisite for delivering coal in a snowstorm was that it actually had to snow first.
If there was no snow, what was the point of delivering coal?
Therefore, the Tyranids had to launch a ferocious assault on Baal.
As for how to deliver that coal...
Li Nuo thought for a moment and asked, "How is the Greenskin Tide plan progressing?"
"Boss, over two-thirds of the Koronus Expanse has already been Palu-fied. Right now, the Greenskin Tide is spreading toward the remaining portions of the Expanse and the regions to its west. It's estimated to reach the vicinity of Baal within six months. By then, one-fifth of the Dark Imperium will be completely Palu-fied."
It would take six months for the Greenskin Tide to spread to Baal.
That speed was already incredibly fast, but relying on the Greenskin Tide to deal with the Tyranids would be too late.
"How many Palu fleets can we mobilize right now?" Li Nuo asked.
Palcador said, "Reporting, Boss. In the age of rebellion sub-universe, we have 30,000 warships available for combat missions, along with fifteen Mushroom Ships ready for battle. In the age of apostasy sub-universe, our fleet numbers are smaller—only 300 ships, primarily used to guard the Universal Hall there. In the end times, our ship count is even lower; aside from the vessels converted from the Crimson Palm warlord's forces, there are only about fifty crude frigate-class warships inside the Eye of Terror."
Li Nuo looked pensive as he mapped out a distribution plan for the warships.
"What are those Mushroom Ships you just mentioned?"
"Boss, those are specialized flagships built based on the knife-ears' Infinity Circuit. 'Mushroom Ship' is just a temporary name."
"Oh, I get it. Send over the detailed specifications for the Mushroom Ships."
"Right away, Boss."
Li Nuo's Dataslate received a document. The text was fully 300,000 words long, but fortunately, Palcador had highlighted the key points in advance.
A Mushroom Ship was twelve kilometers long, eight kilometers wide, and thirty kilometers tall. Its primary feature was the Infinite Mushroom integrated directly into the ship's keel.
Compared to the demonstration two months ago, the Infinite Mushroom's functionality hadn't undergone any major changes.
It could operate at high intensity in a continuous cycle for an entire month, reviving Paru Boyz at a rate of 300,000 every ten minutes.
Within that month, as long as the number of Paru Boyz killed in action every ten minutes did not exceed 300,000, the frontline would suffer no net attrition.
Even if casualties exceeded 300,000 but stayed below 500,000, there still wouldn't be any major problems.
That was because the Mushroom Ship came equipped with its own Paru Boyz cultivation module, capable of rapidly growing Paru Boyz to meet the demands of war.
The peak cultivation rate was 200,000 every ten minutes.
If the casualty count exceeded 500,000 every ten minutes, Li Nuo would have to assign dedicated personnel to bring out the "Ultimate Imperial Weapons" from the Palu Homeland.
Li Nuo informed Palcador that Sanguinius would appear during the battle at Baal.
The two conferred at length, devising a primary plan with the highest probability of success, along with a corresponding backup plan.
Wasting no time, Li Nuo immediately sprang into action. Palcador took charge of assembling the fleets, standing ready to answer his Boss's summons at any moment.
Li Nuo possessed Batorax and located a dead world roughly ten light-years away from Baal to serve as a staging ground.
He expended over 300 million tons of Monocrystal to open a portal, summoning five Mushroom Ships and 10,000 warships through it.
The dead world underwent Palu-fication remodeling over ten Terran days, transforming from its original dull gray state into a lush, vibrant green landscape entirely covered in Palu mushrooms.
The planet became a shiny world, hosting over 1.3 billion shiny boyz on its surface.
Five Terran days later, the battle at Baal erupted.
The Palu Orks did not immediately move to assist the Blood Angels.
The 10,000 warships scattered across the Baal system, weaving and roaming along the periphery of the battlefield without engaging the Tyranid bio-fleet in direct combat or answering the Blood Angels' comm requests.
After roughly five Terran hours, a Palu warship detected an anomalous psionic signature inside the Warp.
It was a tiny white dot hovering around the Shadow in the Warp. It looked extremely fragile, yet it always managed to find gaps in the Shadow, slipping right through to reach the most intensely contested areas of the fighting. From there, it provided Warp-based aid to the Blood Angels in the material universe.
Its method of assistance was not granting power to the Space Marines of the material realm, but rather using a soothing technique to help them shake off the negative effects of the Red Thirst and the Black Rage.
There was an overwhelmingly high probability that this tiny white dot was the ghost of Sanguinius.
"Boss, I barely caught up to the little white dot! It's about to spot me!"
Inside the amniotic tank, Pengpa kept his eyes tightly shut, straining to keep pace with the tiny white dot.
On the holographic display, a translucent human silhouette darted through the Shadow in the Warp with agile movements and blinding speed.
Whenever the Blood Angels entered the Red Thirst or the Black Rage, the Warp energies would become agitated, taking on shades of blood-red and purple-black.
The translucent figure eliminated those two colors by touching them, restoring peace to the Blood Angels in the material realm whenever necessary.
Li Nuo observed the process, certain this was the very Sanguinius he had been searching for.
"Transmit the soul communication code to him, and remember to pass along Angra's recommendation letter."
"Got it, Boss!"
Pengpa channeled his psionic energy, firing a signal toward the tiny white dot.
The tiny white dot paused for half a second before sending a response, then promptly resumed roaming across the battlefield.
Pengpa printed out the message he had received. Summarized, the meaning was clear:
If you want to speak with me, help the Blood Angels win this campaign first.
Li Nuo and Palcador exchanged a glance and nodded slightly. Palcador understood implicitly, turning to address the Emperor Boy on the command podium:
"The Palu Legion will now intervene in this conflict! First, assist the Blood Angels in defeating the Tyranids, then execute the next step!"
"Yes!" The Emperor Boy accepted the order. Acting as the legion commander, he maneuvered the fleet to cut into the battlefield from the flank.
Pengpa continued to monitor the changes inside the Warp.
After some time, the Tyranids completely wiped out the Blood Angels' fleet and began launching ground assaults.
At that moment, Abaddon accomplished his grand feat of tearing the galaxy apart; the Great Rift subsequently unfurled, severing the galaxy in two.
The Tyranid tendrils were left senseless and disoriented by the Warp shockwaves caused by the Great Rift, presenting the Blood Angels with a magnificent opportunity to counterattack.
The Palu fleet swept the skies above Baal clean of Tyranid vessels, while the Blood Angels purged the bugs on the ground.
Just as the Blood Angels sent out communication requests to figure out the origins of these greenskins, they discovered to their horror that the Ork fleet had locked onto them with fire-control radar.
And that was not all.
The moment Guilliman's fleet appeared inside the Warp, Pengpa instantly flashed a warning signal to the Emperor Boy.
"I spotted Guilliman's fleet! They're estimated to reach Baal within three Terran days!"
The Emperor Boy looked toward Li Nuo, who gave a nod.
The Emperor Boy promptly issued the order:
"Deploy the Palu Shadow! Stop Guilliman and his fleet!"
The Palu stationed on the dead world deployed the Palu Shadow, completely enveloping the entire Baal system.
The presentation of the Palu Shadow had been meticulously calculated; unlike the Tyranid Shadow, it was not riddled with loopholes.
Almost the instant it took shape, the tiny white dot weaving through the Warp was forced right into the blank space Li Nuo had deliberately left open, unable to move a single step further.
