Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 497 Is this considered a traditional art? They are indeed father and son.
"It's finally over."

Upon hearing this, Wannas glanced at Hongsuo.

Now both warriors were wearing newly repaired armor and were moving through the ruins and rubble that were being cleared south of the Indomitable. The fortress had been tilted at an angle in the previous attack, but other basic life support facilities were gradually being restored.

Two Iron Warriors passed by with a stretcher, and the Master Apothecary stopped to examine the remains, though they looked like a mass of melted metal and charred flesh. "Send it to the lower level of the central cathedral, too," he told them.

Some time has passed since the end of the entire battle. The outer fleets have been swept away, captured or destroyed, and the control of the Indomitable, which contained tens of thousands of prisoners and slaves, has also fallen into Hongsuo's hands. The remaining ships in the War Blacksmith Fleet are now all docked at the Indomitable's dock for maintenance, and the walls between the fortresses are also being rebuilt and reinforced.

They continued walking forward until they passed through the city wall, which was beginning to be repaired, and arrived at the central cathedral, which was also the command center of the star fortress.

The area below here has now been hastily converted into a multi-purpose room. Under the golden marble floor that eulogizes the heroic stories of Ultramar, rooms and fortifications made of gray exposed cement, steel bars, and stones in iron cages have been built. The burnt cables have been pulled out, repaired, and rearranged.

Experimental water tanks were set up one after another, and a new temperature control system lowered the temperature here to a level that would inhibit the activity of biological organisms.

What made the slave workers and captives who built this place even more uneasy was that many new steel operating tables were installed here, and there were drainage troughs underneath for releasing fluids and cleaning. Some of them were too large for mortals. The fear and speculation about what the war blacksmith was going to do filled the entire star fortress.

“I thought it impossible for an Iron Warriors warsmith to grow weary of war,” the Raven Guard said as they began their descent into the newly constructed elevator to Honsou’s new lab.

"No," Hong Suo answered, looking at the approaching laboratory lights. "The current situation is like this. War is inevitable, so we can't get tired of it. Although many of us have a preference for war written into our genes from the beginning, Vanus, it is impossible for humans to be formed by pure war - unless we abandon everything that makes us human and leave only the edge of our weapons."

The Raven Guard thought, "Are you referring to someone?"

The master potion master shook his head, "I didn't mention anyone by name."

The elevator ran to the connection with the platform and stopped with a clang.

As they stepped out of the elevator door, frost immediately began to spread upwards from the ground and condensed on the surface of the power armor.

"This is our new control center. Time is short, so it's a bit crude."

Hongsuo took him to stop in front of one of the water tanks near the center. The light inside illuminated a suspended head. Marks of burning still remained on the scalp, which was whitened by being soaked. The bones had been repaired in many places, and a spine was connected underneath. New circuits and interfaces were etched on the surface of the spine using delicate surgical techniques, and more cables were connected to it. If any member of the 5th Company of the Extreme Warriors was here, he would definitely be surprised.

The face revealed by the remaining flesh on the head was exactly that of the technical sergeant, Hestia.

The technical sergeant's head was now closed with his eyes, his eyeballs moving behind his eyelids. The panel data showed that his stress level was within the normal range, but he still frowned slightly.

"Is he dreaming?" The Raven Guard frowned and observed the Ultramarines carefully. As a fellow Astartes, he couldn't help but feel a little sad when he saw such a scene. Although the body put into the Dreadnought might not be much better, there was still some difference between facing these modified debris nakedly and being separated by a thick layer of armor plate and amniotic fluid chamber.

"Yes," Honso answered, waking up the other lights in the room. The bottom lights in the rows of experimental tanks began to light up gradually. "He is trying to adjust the flight posture of the Inflexible for us in the scenario I provided. You can also think of him as half of the machine soul of the fortress under our feet. And there is another advantage of using him to create an interactive interface. He will subconsciously reply to any communication from the Empire using the codes and passwords he knows, and I don't have to specify and discover them separately."

There are dozens of transparent tanks in the new laboratory. Some of them only have one or several lumps of meat connected to electrodes and cables, while some of them have an almost complete body. Vannas's eyes swept across the faces in the sinks and found Sergeant Oranto and Inquisitor Sibia as expected. The former was suspended in the amniotic fluid, her facial expression seemed full of doubts, her fingers curled up into a weapon-holding posture, while the latter had a vigilant look on her face. Next to her experimental sink was a fully enclosed black rectangular cabinet with a thick layer of ice on its surface.

"How dare you link her directly to this assassin."

"What else?" Hong Suo shrugged. "The bodies of the Iverson Assassins cannot be studied directly. I am trying to replicate the potions they use. Some of the materials are really... well... very inspiring. I doubt how many of the people who established the Assassin's Court were human. The special and fragile drug balance and self-destructive characteristics of these assassins make them only stable in a non-dead state... Although I am not short of theoretical materials, it is always good to see with my own eyes how trained inquisitors will activate and enslave the Iverson Assassins in their minds."

"What if she wakes up and starts killing people here?"

"I have set up targeted brainwashing content and monitoring measures, as well as an emergency ejection device."

"What a reassuring answer. How many have been restored? Are they all dreaming now?"

"Yes. It was all arranged in a dream. Grendel did a good job when he really wanted to work. The devices and drugs he left behind saved many of those who were most seriously injured or recovered to the point where they could be implanted through my technology. They are very susceptible to brainwashing suggestions, while those who were more completely implanted need frequent adjustments and control."

"What about the Dreadnought?"

Hong Suo shrugged. "He's old and confused. It's a typical neurodegenerative symptom. The protein denatures very quickly. He still thinks he's a soldier of the First Company, fighting against the Tyranids in Macragge Arctic Fortress. If I hadn't come, his condition would have deteriorated rapidly within a few months. His memory would have been eroded. He would have completely lost recognition of other people and would have become a being who only fights by instinct and the stimulation of biological electrodes."

"…Then he and they should thank you."

"That's right." The master of medicine nodded without shame. "This is a galactic problem that has lasted for hundreds of centuries, and I have a way to stop the progress and even make it begin to recover. This skill alone can allow me to win the right to rule several habitable galaxies from those who can pay the price. Really, Vannus, you don't have to show that distrustful expression. Anyone who knows the value of this skill will say so."

"Okay, okay." Shadow Master nodded in agreement, "Since extracting a single organ can make your brainwashing program run more stably, why did you still keep the bodies of these Ultramarines?"

"Of course it's because of the gene seed." Hong Suo said, "Their bodies remain basically intact, so they all have a complete and pure gene seed. I can certainly extract it immediately, but I want to try to see if I can..." Vannas turned back in horror, staring vigilantly at the master pharmacist who was about to utter the horrifying devil's words.

From the highest heaven came the approval of two, no, three gods.

"Since the original gene seeds all came from the same sample container, and it itself is a type of cell that requires acquired directional catalysis to promote differentiation and growth..."

"Throne!" the Raven Guard cursed.

"Grendel happened to be seriously injured." The master of alchemy said shamelessly, "We always want to give our brothers the best, so I used the Ultramarines' gene seeds to cultivate different organs, and then used them to treat his injuries. The effect is very good. The Ultramarines' mutant genotype has been proven to help with faster recovery."

"You lunatic! Do you know what you are doing?! Confusing the genetic bloodline of your legion?!"

"He's far from a madman." Hong Suo said nonchalantly, and walked to Grendel, who was also suspended in the water tank. Half of the weapons commander's face and facial bones disappeared, showing how terrible the blow he suffered was - Artorion's power battering ram just grazed his face and caused such an injury. If Grendel hadn't tried his best to slap the potion in his hand on Fearless's face before he fainted, he would probably have been suspended here as a pile of meat paste.

"I'd better give the title of madman to someone else. There are many people in this shaky galaxy who are more suitable than me. Ahaha - look at Grendel. After combining the two genes, his bone and muscle regrowth rate is more than 11% faster than when he only had the Iron Warrior gene seed. This is an advantage that cannot be ignored. It will be very useful in the future... But the specific impact on his memory or other parts will have to wait until he wakes up to observe."

"Grendel hates your half-blood identity very much...If he wakes up and knows what you did to him, he will definitely want to kill you immediately!"

"I don't think so." The pharmacist carefully adjusted the amount of medicine being dripped.

"why?"

"Because this old warrior smashed his frontal bone and half of his frontal lobe with a hammer, out of appreciation for his outstanding martial arts and to help him stop drooling, I used the cultivated Ultramarines tissue to fuse it into the repair..."

"You are a lunatic. Completely, completely lunatic." The Raven Guard said with certainty. "Then where is M'Ka? Why haven't I seen it for so long?"

Hong Suo squinted at Wannus, "You just called me a lunatic, and now you're asking me why I can't see a demon appear in my laboratory?"

"I thought one of the main reasons you went to Moriana was to come here to find and release M'Ka, wasn't it? It is well known that it has a feud with Calgar and the Ultramarines. And you want to attack the Ultramar sector to gain military merit and a position next to the Blackheart King."

"Hmm, you think so too?" The Warsmith sneered, "Wrong. My target is the Indomitable. Apart from something as powerful as the Mountain Phalanx, nothing else is more suitable than a Ramirez-class star fortress as our long-term base at this time - even Huron himself only has one 'Hell's Iris' of the same level, right? Doesn't being able to capture the 'Indomitable' intact prove part of my ability?"

"But...but?" Vannus was speechless. Hong Suo's ambition was sometimes terrifying, but sometimes he was unpredictable. "But taking only the Indomitable as a trophy won't satisfy the rest of your fleet...they...right...?"

The Raven Guard fell silent. Many of Hong Suo's previous actions that seemed subtly irrational but hidden in a thick fog were now reasonably explained.

"So Uluventa's berserkers and most of the aliens have actually all died in the war of attrition, and you will not recycle their remains like you did the Ultramarines," he said bitterly, "and Vosser Tucker, under your promise, has used up most of the resources he had and could find around him for mechanical flesh and blood transformation. His forge is now leaderless and doing nothing, and he himself is recuperating here with you because he was allegedly damaged in the final explosion..."

The master potion master shrugged and pointed to a simple life-support tank in the corner of the lab, in which a mass of tissue and brain was suspended in amniotic fluid.

"I didn't do it on purpose," he explained. "He didn't have much flesh to begin with, and the amniotic fluid tank always hangs like this underneath his mechanical spider."

"When Nosa Atasiya quietly retreated in the rear, he also took away those in Katya Salomba's team who were more willing to listen to you... You used the rest to line up at the front line of this attack..."

Hong Suo shook his head. "You are wrong. It was their own greed, desire, and desire for murder that pushed them to the front line. I just provided a target that was within reach. You said they were not the most obedient group of people. How could I convince them to rush to the front for me just by giving orders?"

"Are the liquors and promethium mixed with your laboratory products really completely safe?"

"Those are just fine wines that make people more impulsive. Isn't that the case with alcohol? That's why you and I are designed to be insensitive to alcohol. And what's wrong with promethium? They have their own way of testing it, and if they think it's qualified, then it's qualified."

The light blue eyes and the purple eyes stared at each other for a while.

"Okay, so how did you arrange it, M'ka?"

"How else can we arrange it?" This time it was Hong Suo's turn to be a little surprised. "It is our traditional custom as the Iron Warriors to use demons as the core energy source or equipment engine of the foundry. - I was trying to solve the problem that we lack navigators and cannot make warp jumps - really, in the end, those impulsive guys didn't even leave me a navigator!"

The Raven Guard glared at the Potion Master who had an expression on his face that said, "Don't you even know that we've been using demons to do our work?"

Finally he showed a tired expression.

"Where's my room? I think I need to rest for a while."

(End of this chapter)