Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 430: No Longer There

Chapter 430: The Old Friend is No Longer Here
The silver-haired young man kicked the steel wall next to the shaft with a perfectly controlled force - the maintenance slide embedded in the track above was stuck for some reason and was hanging in the air.

The kick seemed simple but effective. With a loud clang and the sound of friction with the metal track, the maintenance ladder slid down from where it was stuck and unfolded in front of the young man.

The young man reached out and grabbed the ladder and tried, but did not climb up immediately - there was still about four hundred meters to go, and he needed to climb two curved ventilation ducts.

He looked around, stuffed the dark red robe, metal mask, breathing hose and other things into an old tool box, and then skillfully hid it deep in the maintenance tool compartment under the ladder.

Then, Fulgrim rolled up the sleeves of his gray work clothes slightly to the sides, revealing his strong but smooth forearms, and began to climb the extra-long maintenance ladder with a vertical angle of ninety degrees.

Obviously, you won't encounter other living people along this route because the length and difficulty of this thing's climb are not designed for ordinary humans. Usually only maintenance servitors will take off and land along the tracks on both sides of it.

Ever since it got stuck, this expressway has been marked as inaccessible, and even the maintenance team usually bypasses it. There are other ways to get there anyway, and using this slide is just a little faster.

But it was sufficient for young Fulgrim.

He climbed a few steps and stopped, suspending himself in mid-air. Before he put his head deep into the metal tunnel, he used a hand-woven wire ribbon to barely tie the silver hair that was scattered on his shoulders to the back of his perfectly shaped skull. The hair was placed low and rolled into a full bun to prevent it from being caught on the protrusions or nails in the tunnel during the climbing process.

The last time his hair got caught in the spiral groove of a screw it hadn't been pretty, and he had had to step back and untangle his hair from it, only to have a lock of it ripped out anyway, and it was now lying in the pouch in his work pocket.

If it is said that those few short weeks on the Vesalius, from a baby being accelerated into a young man who barely reached adulthood, and then still being able to break the door lock and sneak out, wandering in the bottom floor full of mutant tribes and mechanical equipment, and then sneaking back in and closing the door again, this kind of life taught Fulgrim something through osmosis.

One of the things to keep in mind is: don't leave your intact hair or blood-stained clothes lying around, because you never know who might try to get them under the guise of an attack on an entire planet, or what the person who gets them might do with them as samples.

Several weeks had also passed since he became a captive of the Soul Advent Saint of "Ferrus Manus", and his growth rate had slowed down, probably because he was no longer under catalyst, and he now had the aging rate of a "normal" Primarch - in other words, his aging had almost completely stopped, he had his previous memories, but his body and mind were still constantly absorbing more new insights and knowledge every moment.

And Ferrus still doesn't allow him to call him brother.

Ferrus, the brother he had murdered with his own hands, but strangely enough, he could even instinctively remember that he had murdered him.

But everyone knows that the original body has become a non-human existence after a certain point...

So when did Fabius Bile obtain the original biological sample and create his own?

He climbed up with ease, like a nimble snake through the tunnel of the maintenance slide, then emerged on the floor of the maintenance room in his room that housed the cleaning servitors, finally standing in the room and sighing as he thought about the whole thing.

Right on time, he heard slight noises outside the room, and Ferrus summoned him again.

If it were the real person, no matter how good their relationship was, he probably wouldn't be able to accept such treatment.

But this was nothing to him. After all, Fabius Bile was obviously his son, but he had the audacity to ask him to call him teacher, and he didn't think it was very wrong.

It wasn't until the young Phoenix mentioned this to the other party inadvertently in the following conversation, and then he was a little surprised to see that this fact caused a fury of steel, and Ferrus immediately added the Iron Hands' heavy priority mark to any other fragment soul missions in the hunt for Fabius Bile.

He was then allowed to call him "Manus".

After that, he was caught by the other party and taught a lesson for about a full hour, which was very rare for a Gorgon (although he always felt that Ferrus Manus at this moment did not feel like Bromance, but looked... inexplicably closer, more like a brother.).

The main idea of the conversation was that he, Fulgrim, was a Primarch. Although he was not only a traitor but also a murderer of his own brother and a demon lord who was also a pleasure criminal and the Prince of Darkness, as a clone of the Phoenix, he was not someone that Fabius could consider himself as his teacher. He should at least have a Primarch who was very idle, kind, and knowledgeable to guide him... "Is there really a brother in this galaxy who is very good-tempered, can tolerate my existence like you, and is very free? Manus?"

"You don't have to think about that... We... I will find you a guide who is absolutely suitable for your status," the other party replied coldly, his silver eyes on his gleaming metal face looking into the distance. "But before that, you must be under my surveillance at all times."

"Of course." Young Fulgrim nodded. "I have been very, very sorry for what happened on Isstvan V since I regained consciousness... Manus, the dead cannot be resurrected... If your actions at this moment can be seen as a precursor to repairing our relationship, then I will endure it."

"Endure? Endure what? Even though you are my captive, do the servants here dare to treat you harshly under my strict orders?"

"No, but the treatment of my descendants and cousins who followed me..."

"Ferus Manus" interrupted the cloned Phoenix rudely.

"First, a solitary cell is perfect for sobering up these drug addicts. I hate to see the mess that has come to inhabit the place where I and my offspring live. Second, those flesh and blood monsters Fabius created do not deserve to be called your cousins. He has reduced you too low, to the dust, to make you listen to him, Fulgrim."

The other party shrugged, the fabric of his overalls undulating as he moved, his expression seeming a little nonchalant, "Really? I agree, he probably educated me this way in order to control me, but I don't think everything is bad, Manus. For example, it was he who brought me back to the Vesalius from the lost incubator and made me grow up quickly, so that I could meet you again here. Isn't this a good thing? At least for me it is completely, it's like a miracle given to me, Manus, a salvation, a miracle."

"..."

“Or maybe it’s right for someone like me to learn humility before I start learning pride.”

"..."
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I think his last sentence is correct. It is always better to learn from being taken advantage of and humiliated as early as possible.
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But to belittle his existence is not to belittle you and me and the rest of our brothers? ! Damn Fabius! -
You may not be used to seeing him this way. But isn't this extreme self-confidence, arrogance, obsession and arrogance one of the reasons why the Chaos Gods chose the traitor Bile? Even if you search the entire galaxy, you will hardly find another guy who is so confident that he can even disdain what is written into the gene seed from the beginning.
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Of course, of course, you should be more familiar with the character of this traitor, my friend.
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I hope so. I don't think I ever really knew his true nature when he was still my Apothecary's Son. Because if that were the case, I would have wiped him out of my Legion as soon as possible, before he became like a space cockroach that was invincible and everywhere.
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What a nice metaphor, my friend! I never thought I'd hear such...straightforward words and metaphors from you before.
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Oh, you mean "a little vulgar", right? Maybe this is part of who I am. Gorgon, we are each other's mirrors, and people are also their own mirrors. Reflecting yourself in yourself and learning more, making yourself perfect is a good way to polish yourself.
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I just……
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Are you not used to the fact that he is a new Fulgrim? He is the same Fulgrim, but not the one you know?
A pulse of emotion similar to a sigh was transmitted.
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There is a request for access. Your children are gathered outside the door and want to request a meeting with you.
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Perhaps they have something to report. Let Fulgrim take shelter in the adjacent chamber for the time being.

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+Meeting. Advice. Gene Father. +
+I am listening, Alvion of Lakuan. What do you want to tell me about this impromptu meeting? +
The sparks that marked the spiritual thinking of the Primarchs were so bright and present in the minds of the Iron Council. To be honest, that kind of oppressive force was so strong that if people did not know that it was the advent of Ferrus Manus, many people might have chosen to believe that it was a form of advent of the God of All Machines.

Huge, profound, extremely complex, yet rational and rigorous, all events of the past, present and present are spiritually devoured by the thoughts of the Primarchs efficiently and ruthlessly classified into categories - ever since they reported to their Gene-Father about their inventions and applications of the Logical Calculation Sages over the past ten thousand years, they have rarely received a "good" evaluation.

Then they saw that it took the Iron Hands Primarch about 0.5 seconds to master this method, and another 0.5 seconds for a new and huge thought set to form within their link, and it had the function of semi-automatic evolution. Any Iron Hands with a level and computing power sufficient to link into this thought set can now easily retrieve all the information allowed by their authority.

Many of the materials were original versions of precious ancient documents and technologies. Even the Iron Hands who had transformed their digestive organs felt a long-lost feeling of hunger and thirst.

That's great, but if the price is.

The price was that they had to start to endure staying in the same mobile fortress with one of the leaders who looked like a traitor in every way, the primarch of the corrupted Third Legion, the favorite of Slaanesh and the human-form captive of the Dark Prince. Not only did they have to endure the test of not being able to kill him all the time, but they also had to endure the weak behavior of their father who was obviously softening his heart and really starting to try to teach them a lesson. It felt very uncomfortable.

So before this advice, all the senior officers on the ship held a high-speed thinking meeting that lasted about 10 seconds.

You see, this is how convenient it is for Iron Hands officers to hold meetings: all they need is a Master Thinker, some sufficiently strong data cables and some suitable interfaces. They can plug the cables into the interfaces on their skulls or back of the neck spine, and then they can hold a silent meeting that can last from a few seconds to tens of minutes. This silent meeting means that if necessary, they can communicate without saying a word.

Speaking with one's own synthesized voice or voice grid is a more deliberate traditional and ritualistic practice, usually reserved for the largest steel meetings.
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This can't go on any longer! Gentlemen! -
We must speak to the Primarch. It's outrageous.
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You're a little impatient, but I understand.
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Perhaps we should continue to observe. So far, apart from always trying to repair all the machines visible to the naked eye, arguing loudly with the Father of Genes, talking back and throwing data tablets, this clone captive has not shown any more aggressive behavior. My calculation still assesses the danger level very low.
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You also said "clone". Considering the greatness and uniqueness of the Primarch, the product of a great engineering effort sculpted by Om Messiah himself, a God made of divine masterpieces, how do you know he won't be a problem after being botched by Chaos traitors? -
Considering his prototype's actions on Isstvan V and afterwards, which deserved to be killed ten thousand times by the dead, Lavus's doubts were almost 100% understandable.
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I also have to say that last time when I was on duty at the door of his cell, he was ordered by the Gene Father to be brought out. As a result, because there was a small hose leak on my power armor, he demanded that we stop and fix it. It was unreasonable.
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An incident you haven't shared with us, brother. I think you need to prioritize this incident a little higher.
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So you asked him to repair it for you? Bro. I mean, it was a clone of Fulgrim, a traitor enemy but also a Primarch.
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Why not? I don't think he would command any respect in our Iron Fortress.
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Well said, brother. Our beloved Gene Father is once again showing the weakness that caused him to fail ten thousand years ago! He used his death to prove the shortcomings of human emotions, flesh and blood are weak! Great is steel!
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So back to the beginning, we must advise on this. The Father of Genes has recently summoned this prisoner more and more frequently and for longer periods of time.
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I would be the first to mention this to Ferrus.
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Alvion.
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Traci. As the only Librarian and Librarian in the fortress, you should remind the Primarch more about the danger of this prisoner.
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I still have an important mission to perform for my Gene-Father, Alvion.
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Spying on other captives?
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Monitor the other prisoners. The corrupted energy of the warp in them is an extremely unstable and dangerous factor. You just mentioned the unfortunate fact that the brothers of the think tanks in Lakuan's expedition all died for the Chapter, and died on the top of the tower of Shadinus, when we faced the demon prince. Now I am the only high-level psyker trained here, if you don't count the gene father. Shouldn't I stay up all night and keep an eye on those cells that always make strange noises?
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Agree. The unliving should not and do not deserve to set foot here, so we need to be on guard.
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Passed. Is the Gene-Father summoning the cloned Fulgrim again?
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Yes. According to the log, one hour and five minutes had passed since the summons began.
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I can't wait any longer. I'm going now.
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Agreed. We will join you.
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Then I will continue my mission.