40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 577 95. Interlude: Robert Guilliman’s complaints and Belisarius Caul’s little secret

Under normal circumstances, Belisarius Call was not very willing to let too many people into his laboratory.

He has been in Pharos Mountain for nineteen centuries, knows everything here well, and has long regarded this place as a real laboratory that belongs to him. Even the Emperor's Scythes have never truly understood this place.

In accordance with the orders of the Primarch, they left this place to him, and Cawl believed that he had lived up to the tranquility they deliberately left. But now, the situation has changed

He had to leave the door open to let Robert Guilliman and his victorious guards walk in to see what was going on.

He even lost the right to lead the way, and could only stand at the end of the team, watching the Lord of Macragge lead the team to search around the top-level laboratory with a gloomy expression.

He couldn't help sighing - of course, this was to attract attention.

He succeeded, and he captured the distinctive voice of Khalil Lohars.

"Great Sage Caul, I think that neither you nor I have the right to complain now." Khalil said with his head lowered while holding a data tablet in his hand.

"Why? Does the great Lord Guilliman want to deprive him of even this small power?"

"I just think that after all we have done, we should give him a little space to vent."

"But I didn't do anything, sir!" Kaul grasped the point and said angrily. "You came up with this plan and you were responsible for executing it, and I did nothing! At best, I just met with you, and then I was paralyzed by the damn thing, and the processor overheated!"

"That's not what I'm talking about, Call."

Khalil finally raised his head, temporarily getting rid of the backlog of official documents in his hands.

Guilliman agreed to his proposal, and handed over to him a number of reports related to the Nightborne over the past few hundred years. Although it was convenient and fast to slide the data pad, the descriptions in those reports still made it difficult for him to remain calm.

Frankly speaking, he had already anticipated what the Nightborne's habitual solitude and secrecy would look like in the eyes of others, but he really didn't expect that they could achieve this level.

The reports he had just read were not reports so much as reports and complaints, and every line was full of complaints.

‘In the heat of the war, our friendly troops rushed out of the trenches without saying a word and rushed towards the enemy despite the bombardment. I admire their courage, but I want to know where they got the courage to do such a thing without notifying us! ’

——Manicus, sergeant of the 3rd Company of the Nova Warriors Chapter.

'I respect the great Lord Konrad Curze and the legendary Argo Severtalion, but I must say that fighting alongside the Nightborne is never a pleasant experience. ’

‘They are reliable allies. They will never abandon you and will firmly complete the tasks assigned to them. But each of them is a fatal time bomb. You never know whether they will make any desperate move when the situation is critical. I hate this, especially. ’

——Priyard, Captain of the Damocles Squadron of the Iron Serpents Chapter.

'Fuck grandma's Iago Severtalion. Forgive me, Primarch, but I must write this down in my post-battle report, even if you demote me. But screw Yago Savitarion! He acts as if he is the only one qualified to sacrifice for humanity! ’

——Luft Huron, Lieutenant of the 3rd Company of the Star Claws Chapter.

Khalil couldn't help but shook his head as he thought about these words. He knew what Robert Guilliman was doing. It was obvious that the primarch was very dissatisfied, but he couldn't express it clearly at this moment, so he had to complain to him in this obscure way.

But what can he do? He himself is.

oh. Khalil blinked in hindsight. It turns out that's what he meant.

"Sir?" The great sage looked down at him. "Can you finish the sentence in one go?"

"It's nothing, Kaur." Khalil sighed and pointed to a team of victorious troops on the side.

They were busy in front of a huge and stopped machine, and jars of human tissue soaked in nutrient solution were being taken out of the machine without interruption.

"I'm talking about here," Khalil said. "You've been here for nineteen centuries, and I don't think you're a conformist, so you'd better start preparing your defense. I don't want to see Robert order your execution."

Kaul was silent for a while, and suddenly said dryly: "He won't, sir."

"Really? How do you know?"

"Because—" Call ended the sentence with a sharp twist. "——He just doesn't know how to do it anyway. I've done experiments."

experiment?

Khalil narrowed his eyes and stared up at him, but the great sage quickly turned around and walked to the victorious army as if to escape to introduce them to the functions of human tissues.

He explained that these were organs provided to the local hospital in Sousa for surgery or other purposes, but a Chang Shengjun leader did not believe what he said and immediately asked.

"I don't mean to offend, Great Sage. But you don't seem like someone who would care about these things. Moreover, even if you could, you should do it in the traditional way of your Mechanicus. Replacement of organs is an ancient thing. Zman Medical Association’s style, they are the doctors.”

"I also have a medical license! Can't I still be a doctor?!" Kaur immediately argued with reason. "Just because I am a great sage of the Mechanicus, you cannot think that I have no patience and love for patients!"

His retort caused the victorious troops to fall into silence, and Robert Guilliman walked over angrily.

He had never given anyone a good look since he landed on the surface of Sousa. Of course, he had every right to do so - but Caul didn't seem to have this awareness, and he even started to complain about Guilliman.

"My lord, my lord! Your guards think I am a doctor who cares little about human life!"

"When did I say that——?!" Chang Shengjun looked at him in shock.

The Lord of Macragge looked at him gloomily and made a gesture to indicate that they didn't need to worry about it anymore. After the victorious troops walked a little further, the Primarch immediately spoke.

"Belisarius Call, nineteen centuries ago you came to Sousa."

Caul nodded repeatedly, but Guilliman ignored it and continued his story.

"I gave you all the support I could, and I even allowed you to be here alone to do your research. But how did you repay me?"

"It's very simple, sir." Kaul said immediately without thinking. "Twelve brand new weapons, improved power armor, and the development of new artillery and armor for the auxiliary armies. This is just a small part of it. If you need it, I can go on talking about it all day."

"I am not discussing your exploits with you!" Guilliman roared. "Credit and fault should always be treated separately!"

Call nodded again.

"Now, I want to ask you, what did you do to Sousa? Why did Pharos Mountain become like this ghost?!"

Kaur immediately replied: "I just modified it slightly. Didn't you read the report I submitted?"

"Those are all precious knowledge that I have worked hard to gain. I even thought about how every punctuation mark should be used. Sir, please, please don't say you haven't read it."

Khalil could clearly see the throbbing veins on Robert Guilliman's forehead.

"Of course I've seen it," he said with suppressed anger. "But there are obviously many concealments in your report."

"Which one, my lord?"

"The one about Pharos."

Kaul nodded and said: "In that report, I explained in detail the role of the lighthouse and its importance. I also wrote in it my plan to use it to transport new weapons and equipment to various parts of the empire. These You know everything and you approved it.”

"And now, as we speak, there may be Dark Angels equipped with torchbearers fighting the Orcs near Caliban at the other end of the galaxy. So, my lord, may I ask what point I am hiding? ?”

"Here! Damn it, Belisarius Call, are you playing a word game or a debate contest with me? I'm talking about here!"

"I made some small modifications to my laboratory. Don't I even have this right, sir?" Kaul asked in confusion.

Robert Guilliman took a deep breath, turned his head, and gave the order to his guards to leave temporarily. When the last victorious army left this mechanical maze, he no longer had any secrets to hide.

"Those gene seeds from different battle groups-" Guilliman held the dagger at his waist and asked word by word. "Where did it come from?"

This time, Kaul didn't display his linguistic skills. He answered Guilliman's question very meekly and unusually directly: "It was given to me by the agents of Lord Sigilbearer. In fact, I would like to show you something if you are willing."

"Show it."

Caul's prosthetic eyes slowly lit up, and a servo skull slowly flew from the far side. It brought a well-preserved metal silver box, with the Imperial Sky Eagle shining on it.

Cawl reached out, opened it with a click, took out a parchment roll, unfolded it and showed it to Robert Guilliman. The original body browsed through it in less than a second, but his expression became uncertain.

After a few seconds, he reached for the document and began to read it carefully again. The cycle went on and on until several minutes later before he spoke again.

"Do the Chapter Masters know these things?"

Call shook his head seriously.

"They don't know, my lord. In fact, not even the Primarchs know. The Handbearer feels the same way as I do. We both think this plan will put the Astartes in a bad mood. Therefore, this plan will not be announced to anyone until the official results are announced.”

"But now I know."

"Yes, so I am explaining to you - in short, through reasonable and legal gene seed taxes, I obtained the gene seeds of all battle groups one by one. However, compared to what I am going to say next, this matter It’s not really the point.”

Guilliman's eyes twitched: "What else do you want to say?"

Caul once again summoned another Servo-Skull, which also carried a box like the previous one, but it was made of solid gold. Its surface was empty, but when Guilliman reached out to hold it, he noticed a small line of writing.

"This box, and the documents inside, all come from the throne." Kaul said slowly. "In the past, I tried my best to hide it because the time has not come yet. In fact, it is still the case now. You can open the box, but you must be prepared."

Guilliman did as he was told. He opened the golden box, and a burst of light bloomed from it. Then, his movements suddenly stiffened, and his eyes lost focus, as if he suddenly turned into a sculpture and stood there. land.

He quickly recovered and closed the box. But this time, he didn't ask Kaul any more questions, he just uttered a word.

"Stack of Original Blood."

"Yes, my lord." Call replied solemnly. "He said he would give me part of his work and let me continue the research on his behalf."

"I tell you frankly, for me, this is really a great honor. At that time, I was not a sage, sir. I was just a mechanical priest who was just beginning to make his mark."

"This incident has kept me intoxicated for centuries, unable to extricate myself from the huge pride of being recognized by him personally. I thought it was happiness, and others thought so too."

"However, when my laboratory was finally completed and I began research under the instructions of the Seal Master, I soon felt unspeakable fear. I couldn't understand, can you understand? I, Belisarius Caul Can't understand his work."

"It would take me decades to understand one of his words. One of his conclusions, I would have to use all my strength to reproduce. I tried so hard to advance research, but I couldn't do it at all. There’s no way to even replicate the success of his work.”

"I have spent eight thousand nine hundred and seventy-one years trying to go further. However, until now, I dare not say that I have gone further than him in this research."

Guilliman shook his head slightly.

"Don't belittle yourself." He said calmly and authoritatively. "For him to hand this matter over to you is an endorsement. Moreover, even if you say so, you have already completed preliminary research."

"No, my lord, no." Call smiled bitterly with the remaining half of his face. "Forget it, do you want to come and see him in person?"

"who?"

Kaul showed a rare hint of sadness.

"My only guinea pig," he said. "My sin, my incompetence."

Robert Guilliman suddenly frowned. He turned back and looked at each other with Khalil. The latter put away the data tablet and nodded slightly.