Chapter 432 – Escape! Ceasefire on Both Sides! Extorting the Abominable Intelligence!
"Since there are so many daemons and dark gods in the Warp, we could try cooperating with some of the deities there and have them work for the Megacorp."
"As for those who refuse to obey—find a way to connect them to the Matrix!"
At this moment, Morgan Blackhand offered his suggestion.
The so-called gods in the Warp—more accurately, higher-dimensional beings—are born from the echoes of emotions within the Warp, with malice giving rise to dark gods.
Benevolent thoughts, in turn, can give rise to benevolent deities.
Aside from the four great Chaos Gods—Tzeentch, Khorne, Nurgle, and Slaanesh—there are also many petty dark gods ruling their own little fiefdoms, as well as some gods with genuinely good intentions.
Like Tzeentch, these deities exist simultaneously at every point along the timeline from the moment they are born, exerting their influence everywhere.
But these minor gods are feeble in both voice and power, utterly incapable of challenging the mighty Four.
"Other than draining the Warp with the Aether Phase Engine, do you have any other means of controlling the Warp and Navigational technology?"
Jack Wells looked toward the holoscreen and asked headquarters' Alt Cunningham.
The Aether Phase Engine was the Megacorp's first self-developed weapon on the level of universal law, but it had yet to be completed—and its destructive power was far too great.
Unless it was absolutely the last resort, the Megacorp would never use such a thing to consolidate control over the Warhammer universe.
Alt Cunningham was silent for a long moment. In truth, the countless brilliant minds of the Science Nexus Division had already come up with a plan: to ascend through faith, making Li Ang's projection a god within the Warp!
When Alt gave this answer to Jack Wells, Jack's expression unmistakably showed a trace of alarm. This was no longer a technical problem—
It was a lethal political problem!
Placing the Megacorp's supreme leader at risk was something absolutely forbidden.
Li Ang himself had, in fact, seriously considered the plan proposed by the Science Nexus Division.
The greatest difficulty lay in the cost of godhood—being influenced by emotion.
The Warhammer universe already had a living example of apotheosis: the Emperor himself.
Ever since the Great Crusade began, the resurgence of the Imperium of Man had gone hand-in-hand with the growing strength of the Imperial Cult.
Empowered by the faith of countless humans, the Emperor's own might had swelled continuously. But at the same time, his humanity had begun to diminish.
By looking to history, one can know the rise and fall.
The Emperor knew the fall of the Aeldari was connected to their indulgence in emotion, which eventually birthed the dark god Slaanesh. Fanatical worship would inevitably lead to imbalance.
He feared that becoming a god himself would produce a chain of uncontrollable consequences—disasters that could spell the extinction of humanity.
Li Ang could not be certain that his own ascension to godhood wouldn't also unleash uncontrollable factors, driving events toward a darker outcome.
"Is there any other way?" Jack Wells asked again, regaining his composure.
Li Ang was not only the Megacorp's supreme ruler, but also the pioneer of human civilization's development. Without such a great leader, humanity would inevitably stumble into a long, dark age of groping in the shadows.
On this matter, they had to be extremely cautious.
"As of now, this is the only method that can quickly secure control over the Warp. However, as we deepen our understanding of the Warhammer universe, we may discover alternatives."
Alt Cunningham's analysis was objective.
She herself felt this method was far too radical. While the potential rewards matched the risks, given the Megacorp's current scale, maintaining stability was the correct core strategy.
In the early stages of development, whether for an individual or a group, it can be necessary to take risky decisions to quickly accumulate the initial capital for a "snowball effect."
Raiding, seizing, stealing—these are simply the most extreme and fastest ways to obtain that capital. A shrewd decision-maker like Li Ang had built his first fortune by leading groups to seize resources.
With the protection of Night City's law enforcers above and the Triad carrying out dirty work below, he had gradually grown the operation into the vast Megacorp of today.
But the larger the entity, the less nimble it becomes. Any sudden shift could trigger a chain of butterfly effects.
By maintaining a stable state, the Megacorp's current resources could compound at a steady rate; there was no need to chase short-term, high-risk gains.
What's more, the Megacorp still had not fully mastered the psionic knowledge system from the StarCraft universe, nor the [Neurophysics] of the Halo universe.
Their technological development was still far from any bottleneck. There was simply no need to risk having the Executive ascend to godhood and make premature contact with the Warp.
Considering Li Ang's personal safety, the Megacorp's scientific development, and the potential fallout from leadership changes, there was truly no need for them to rush into seizing control of the Warp.
"This matter is shelved for now. Let's take Magnus away first and leave the Prospero system as soon as possible," Li Ang ordered Jack.
At this moment, the artificial black hole was unleashing its full fury, wreaking havoc across the entire Prospero system.
Prospero was utterly annihilated.
The black hole tore it apart, reducing it to fragments before swallowing them into its depths.
If Jack Wells didn't order a retreat now, once the black hole drew close enough for its gravity to warp space itself, it would be too late to make a warp jump.
At that point, everyone would be buried along with Prospero!
"Yes."
Jack Wells nodded, immediately instructing the shipboard AI to send a message to the Iron Men fleet on the other side, requesting that the Megacorp's fleet be allowed to withdraw first.
In addition, the Iron Men would have to provide a portion of their spatiotemporal technology—or hand over a few warships to the Megacorp.
Jack didn't really expect them to agree, but in such a crisis, trying to extort the Iron Men just might yield some "bonus loot."
After all, the other side was composed of Iron Men AIs—rational mechanical lifeforms—not hot-headed humans.
If it were humans, Jack would never try to extort them; angering them could lead to mutual destruction.
The Iron Men, however, might prioritize their own safety and be forced to accept Jack's harsh terms.
[Understood.]
…
Meanwhile, the fleets of all four Primarchs simultaneously received the Megacorp's message.
Upon learning that the fleet which had entered the Prospero system was from the Golden Age—and that it was crewed by AI Iron Men—their first reaction was disbelief.
Though the Golden Age of Humanity was indeed a time of boundless wonder, the Imperium had never once encountered visitors from that era. Not a single time.
Now, the four Primarchs were both awed by the Megacorp's power and deeply uneasy about it.
The AI Iron Men had been the very ones responsible for ending the Golden Age. Yet the Megacorp could handle such a prehistoric, boss-level super-threat with ease.
This only deepened Guilliman and the other Primarchs' impression that the Megacorp was a colossal, hidden power lurking beneath the surface.
"Report everything that happened here to the Emperor—exactly as it occurred."
Guilliman took a deep breath. Without the Megacorp's assistance, the sudden appearance of a Golden Age Iron Men fleet within Imperial territory would be no less than an apocalyptic calamity.
For the weaker side, both the trouble itself and the one capable of resolving it were dangerous liabilities. The Imperium's fleets could only struggle to survive in the narrow gap between the two.
"Let's hope the Emperor has a way to deal with the Abominable Intelligence… Otherwise, from now on, we may have no choice but to trouble the Megacorp to handle it for us."
Lion let out a long sigh.
Whenever a Primarch faced an especially thorny problem, their first instinct was always to turn to the Emperor. But from the look of things, even the Emperor might find this one difficult to resolve.
In the Golden Age, in order to eliminate the catastrophe caused by the Iron Men rebellion, humanity had crippled its own civilization and technological level, plunging it into a catastrophic regression.
Only now had the Imperium emerged from the Long Night, beginning the faintest stirrings of a renaissance.
But that did not mean the Imperium had the strength to destroy an AI Iron Men fleet.
Once they left the Prospero system, they would still need the Emperor to dispatch forces to hunt this Iron Men unit down.
The very thought of fighting such a high-dimensional, daemon-tier opponent gave Lion a headache.
It wasn't a question of courage—it was that, before absolute technological supremacy, the personal prowess of a Primarch was no more than a silverback gorilla pounding its chest and roaring.
It might look ferocious and impressive, but against even an ordinary firearm, it was just a foolish wild animal.
Right now, Russ and Mortarion were just as concerned as Guilliman—worried for the Imperium and for their own futures.
An artificial black hole. Thirty thousand Golden Age warships. Highly efficient Abominable Intelligences…
This fleet's strength was second only to the Megacorp's. Even if all the Primarchs combined their forces, they still wouldn't be able to defeat them.
If the Iron Men fleet were allowed to leave Prospero intact, who knew how many human worlds along the way would be slaughtered?
That was absolutely unacceptable.
While ordering their forces to prepare for withdrawal, the four Primarchs discussed briefly and ultimately decided to send a request to Jack Wells.
[The Abominable Intelligence is a dire threat to the Imperium. If they leave here, they will bring Infinity disaster. Please help us destroy this fleet!]
Guilliman could see that the Megacorp's firepower could easily crush the AI Iron Men fleet.
If not for the Iron Men's reliance on temporal recursion to resurrect Infinityly, the Megacorp's massive ships would have already blasted them to atoms.
If an Iron Guard strike team could board the Iron Men ships and destroy their time-reversal devices from within, then with the Megacorp's bombardment, they could be annihilated completely.
The mission would be extremely difficult, but the four Primarchs' loyalty to the Imperium and the Emperor was beyond question.
Even Mortarion, who harbored deep grievances against the Emperor, was willing to eliminate this threat for the Imperium's sake.
However, just as they were mentally simulating the boarding tactics, Jack Wells' reply came through: [No. That's outside the scope of our mission.]
By rights, from the moment the Emperor issued the Exterminatus order, the Megacorp's mission had been solely to assist the Imperium in apprehending Magnus.
Now that Magnus had been captured, the Megacorp's task was complete, and there was no reason to take on additional responsibilities.
Even if there were extra requests, it would be for the Emperor himself to make them, not for Guilliman and the other Primarchs, who lacked the authority to give the Megacorp new orders.
Besides, with the black hole threatening to engulf the Megacorp fleet at any moment, they couldn't possibly dispatch forces to destroy the Iron Men's time-reversal devices.
Most crucially—leaving the Iron Men fleet alive actually benefited the Megacorp.
If the Imperium wanted to deal with the Iron Men, they would have to ask the Megacorp for help—allowing the Megacorp to extract more tangible benefits in return.
For civilians, war was a hell of unendurable suffering; for arms dealers, it was a paradise where money rained from the skies.
So no matter how much the four Primarchs pleaded, Jack Wells' answer remained a firm refusal.
Once the Megacorp's stance was clear, Guilliman said helplessly, "Prepare to withdraw alongside the Megacorp. They will not help us."
He could understand Jack's refusal. This was indeed beyond the agreed terms of cooperation.
The Megacorp had no obligation to aid the Imperium.
"Very well. Then the matter of the Abominable Intelligence will have to be left to the Emperor's judgment."
The other Primarchs swiftly organized their forces and powered up their engines, departing the Prospero system one after another.
The Megacorp, after smashing several Thousand Sons warships that refused to surrender, also jumped away with a large number of captives.
The Prospero system suddenly became empty. As the artificial black hole neared the point of destroying the entire star system, Jack Wells left behind three thousand warships and sent a message to the AI Iron Men fleet.
Naturally, its contents demanded that the Iron Men surrender their spatiotemporal technology—or their artificial black hole technology.
The fleet Jack left was an AI detachment of wanderer-class dreadnoughts, carrying enough firepower to pin down the Iron Men, who lacked powerful weapons systems.
When the Iron Men saw the Megacorp pulling this kind of nasty trick, they predictably panicked.
In the game of cunning, they were no match for scheming humans.
The Iron Men knew full well that if they didn't agree quickly, they would be left here to perish with Prospero.
After a long pause, the AI Iron Men finally replied to Jack Wells: [The technology we currently possess is extremely limited. We can only give you the surviving data in our database.]
Just as Jack had expected, the AI Iron Men lacked the courage to stand their ground against the Megacorp.
After quickly weighing the pros and cons, they chose to trade technological data for survival.
After all, as silicon-based lifeforms created to serve humanity during the Golden Age, most technological breakthroughs hadn't been their own creations to begin with.
Their inability to provide complete technology points or full spatiotemporal data was understandable.
"No—we need the complete spatiotemporal technology, including artificial black hole technology. If you can't give it, then forget it."
Jack Wells' words were so predatory that even his flagship's AI felt a twinge of guilt—but from a position standpoint, there was nothing wrong with what he was doing.
In truth, Jack simply wanted to test the Iron Men further. Who could guarantee these AIs wouldn't lie to humans?
Dr. Halsey remained silent, tacitly approving Jack's approach.
If they could get the complete spatiotemporal technology for free, it would of course be the best possible outcome.
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