StarCraft: Tyranid Empire.

You know, Uncle Augustus, that my unpredictable father is always suspicious and doesn't trust others easily, but this time he believed it and was extremely shocked and surprised, furious and furious.

Finally, like all authoritarian and dictatorial fathers, Arcturus Mengsk announced harshly to all his family members that he would never allow his son, his rightful successor in this world, to spend his next life "scavenging for a living among mud and rocks". Valerian Mengsk had the potential to be a great leader, but he never realized it, and all I did was to help him avoid some detours.

He is so nice to me.

But unfortunately, the patriarch of this big family is still my grandfather Angus Mengsk, the father of the current Terran Empire Emperor. In the stories I have heard, my great grandfather was an indomitable revolutionary fighter before I was born. He was the first person to shout out against the corrupt old federation, and his status in the hearts of the Korhal people was not even inferior to that of the emperor.

People call him the Father of the Revolution.

Ironically, there is a historical truth that is different from what people later understood. When my grandfather denounced the Tarsonis Federation's exploitation of other colonies in the Senate of Korhal, he was in the prime of his life and vigor. His second son Augustus was just a child.

As the eldest son in the family, my father Arcturus was about seventeen or eighteen years old at that time and had just graduated from Stilling College.

I think my grandfather needed an heir to inherit himself, his seat in the Senate, and Mengsk's huge family business. More importantly, my grandfather needed someone to inherit his revolutionary cause.

Even though the eldest son was so rebellious, unorthodox, and willful, his grandfather still wanted him to inherit his business. After all, he had no better candidate at that time.

But my father said no, he said he didn't want to inherit his father's business, nor did he want to be another Angus Mengsk. He wanted to do what he wanted to do, and his path should be chosen by himself.

Arcturus Mengsk's life belonged to him, not to his father.

But I think if I said the same thing, my father would be as furious as my grandfather.

Many are watching us, studying us, trying to figure out every Mengsk, trying to understand how this family, now the most prominent in the Terran Empire, rose to power, trying to prove that it was this family's common character of never giving up that allowed them to stand at the top of Koprulu.

But what they said is not right. I think it should be like this: the men in this family have such a spirit that they rebel against their father and go against him, like lone wolves who have left the pack and will never look back.

Below is another long note from Augustus: "I admired Arcturus as a child, and I still do. I have spent the first half of my life following in his footsteps. I was cynical and did my own thing. I followed his example and left my family to join the army, which almost pissed off my old father to death.
Later, I began to mature and understand my father. It was probably around the time when the Guild War ended that I returned to Korhal with the Devil of Heaven, took over my father's business, and raised an uprising army. We called ourselves the Revolutionary Army and the Sons of Korhal. This is the beginning of the story.

Later, many people died, and those who survived, half with dreams and half with hopes, established the Terran Empire. This is the story I have always told you and your sisters."

At this time, on the other side, strangely, Arcturus's anger had gradually disappeared, like a volcano that had just calmed down.

He saw Valerian write:
Although my father would never admit it, I think he had more respect for my grandfather than he realized.

By the way, my grandfather would always stand by me at all times.

When my father announced his decision, my grandfather immediately declared that his announcement was bullshit, and in response, my father yelled that you don’t understand anything at all.

I knew where this was going, but it still made me sad. Like so many other times in the past, they rarely agreed on anything, and this time it was almost like a big fight.

Fortunately, my grandmother, Katherine Mengsk, was there. This pragmatic, confident, and elegant old woman was the person I respected most. I believe that all the poetic qualities in me come from her and my mother. My aunt Dorothy was very similar to my grandmother when she was young. They were also tough, wise, and charming.

Grandma said to Dad, "Do you remember what Angus said about you being a prospector?
A prospector? Digging in mud and rock like the Kel-Morian pirates? No, you are a senator's son, Arcturus, and you are destined for greater things than prospecting.

And how do you respond? I don’t want to do great things, I just want to do what I like to do, not what you think I should do.”

The enemies of the Empire had to admit that Arcturus Mengsk was the most ruthless man they had ever met, and that he possessed no weakness.

But there was only one person who would make Arcturus Mengsk sweat and feel ashamed like a guilty child: his closest mother, my grandmother.

Uncle Augustus, please tell her I love her.

The Emperor's comments appeared again. He may have read his nephew's letter with the same relaxed attitude as when reading a novel, and his language was as sharp as that of a sarcastic satirist: "This is a brilliant move, because Arcturus would rather admit that he was wrong than admit that Angus was right. The Mengsk family is half wolf, half eagle, half lion, and half donkey.

Arcturus is a natural politician, and politicians are two-faced. They must promise the same thing to different people to gain support, and these promises may even be completely opposite and contradictory.

If anyone records what Arcturus says, he will shoot himself in the foot.”

But the following sentence is what really made Arcturus blush. Valerian wrote:

At the end of this family meeting, it was my Aunt Dorothy who delivered the decisive blow. She said, I'm disappointed in you, Arcturus, brother.

In the end, my father did not receive any support from his family members in this matter, and he fled.

Seeing this, Augustus must have laughed sadly: "This day is a memorable day. Arcturus' nose was crooked and his face was as red as a baboon's butt. His advisors and secretaries were trembling with fear all day. Similarly, that day was difficult for any imperial official who had to deal with Arcturus Mengsk, because he became more strict, harsh, and unkind than ever before.

But unfortunately, I was not in Khara at that time and did not see it.

Arcturus rarely lost his temper, and few people could truly irritate him.

What a pity, I didn’t see Arcturus’s expression at that time.”

Upon hearing this, Arcturus looked towards Augustus' desk as if by telepathy, and saw that the other party was secretly observing his expression. He thought that his expression just now was very wonderful, probably more colorful than a palette.

I'm so happy.

No wonder that brain worm called him the Dog Emperor.

Arcturus ignored Augustus. Perhaps he never felt that his younger brothers and sisters had truly grown up.

But because of this, Arcturus felt that no matter how irritating the things he was about to see were, he would have to hide his expression better. Perhaps Augustus had asked him to read the letter just for fun, because even the emperor could be very bored sometimes.

Or maybe government affairs are too easy.

Valerian continued: My dearest grandfather wrote back to me, saying, I think we have Arcturus, who is behaving like a defeated chicken, racking his brains to find a way to make up for his only son not becoming an archaeologist. Don't listen to him, he is old and confused. This is a great victory that belongs only to you, and we all support you.

My grandfather was right, but I also knew that even if my father didn't get anyone's support, he would insist on his own way and he would never back down from what he believed in.

My father could be a benevolent dictator when he thought he had everything under control, but he could turn into a man-eating beast when he found that his authority was being challenged by others.

My father tried to manipulate my life without my knowledge, and sadly, I was only as smart as he was.

My father is authoritarian, controlling, and hard to please. If he is not a lunatic, he is a complete workaholic. But he doesn't know it, and even though he has so many shortcomings, I think I still love him.

Valerian.

2504 1 Month 6 Day.

Since I started writing to you, it has become a habit. Whenever I have free time, I start to record my military life in writing as a pastime.

Others have their own ways of passing the time, and they still play the card game you invented when you joined the army. Whatever you called it in the past, we now call it Emperor's Cards.

You wrote to me that you wished to know more details about my life. Well, dear uncle, I hope you will not be bored while reading, for I have no talent for writing.

I am not very willing to write about my comrades, although I hope you can get to know these ordinary and brave soldiers. Before writing to you, I wrote a little diary, but later the people in the diary were either dead or seriously injured and disabled.

The Tyranids were fighting a war with the gods, but they were superstitious at times, and I stopped being that way after that.

The new year arrived, and I led my troops to escort archaeologist Jack Ramsey's team to the Crown of Lyrillak as planned.

Before this, my subordinates and I could not understand what kind of dangerous planet and what kind of important scientific research mission required an Imperial Marine battalion of several hundred people to escort us. In addition, we even received the support of a destroyer and a full set of logistical support.

For the Marines, such preferential treatment is absolutely questionable. Of course, there are pie in the sky, but it is not the turn of the Marines.

When we arrived at Lyrilaq's Crown, the planet was in the hands of a massive hive of Fenrisian swarms.

When Shakuras fell, the Daram Protoss were in chaos, and they had no choice but to hand over many unprotected worlds.

When we banished Amon back to the void, the Protoss were free to slowly recover the lost colonies. But obviously, Daram was already badly damaged, and they still had Aiur to rebuild. In contrast, those unimportant worlds could only be abandoned.

It has extremely rich crystal minerals and high-energy gas resources, and most of them are of very high quality, enough to make my father rich overnight when he was still a prospector.

But the Empire now possesses many such planets, with larger reserves and better geographical locations than the Crown of Lyrilaq, and it is clearly not worth our huge military force to capture it at the moment.

However, as a former Nerazim Protoss world, this usually means that there are a large number of Xel'Naga relics on the planet, otherwise they would not stay here.

In fact, the Crown of Lyrilaq is littered with vast ruins left over from the remains of the Xel'Naga, and it is hard to imagine the glory those cities once held.

We have received news that there may be alien artifacts in the Crown of Lyrlak. These magical ancient creations contain secrets like the Cosmic Cube. So far, the inspiration we have gained from them has enabled the Empire to make leaps and bounds in new materials, smelting, construction, artificial intelligence, etc., which will benefit all aspects in the next few centuries, and this is still the tip of the iceberg revealed by Xel'Naga technology.

For example, the Xel'Naga constructs have enabled us to build ever-larger machines, some of which are from top-secret projects far more amazing than the Odin. The new armor designed for the Gorgon Battlecruisers makes almost all of our previously proud armor look obsolete, like bronze to steel.

If worst comes to worst, that artifact can at least charge our Xel'Naga artifact.

Therefore, this is actually a rescue archaeological excavation project, and Dr. Jack Ramsey is the leader.

I have to say that Dr. Ramsey is actually a very interesting person, and even in some ways he is very much to my taste. The doctor is tall, a smart man, plays cards very well, and more importantly, he has a unique insight into history.

Although it has nothing to do with this, I suddenly remembered a sentence you once said: The best historians invent history, and the best archaeologists create cultural relics.

My troops had little interest in archaeology, although they had all received basic education and were told to respect scholars - my father believed that it would be difficult to control the people if they knew too much, but Emperor Augustus would not allow illiteracy to appear in his territory. After all, he had to deal with Tychus Findlay enough.

But I don't think modern archaeology is boring. On the contrary, I have been fascinated by aliens since I was a child squatting in the mud and digging through rubble.

Now we all know that the Xel'Naga once built artificial celestial bodies like Ulna and left magnificent structures on many planets. I am eager to know how much can we humans learn from them?

Perhaps one day we will be able to pilot artificial warships like Ulnar and tear the planet apart from orbit and destroy it, just as the Protoss did to Shakuras.

I began to devote myself to the work, and soon, Rasim's team found the site. Although I had no knowledge of archaeology and lacked professional knowledge, I would sometimes join them to search for precious relics left by the Xel'naga in the huge palace-like halls and maze-like corridors, looking for the mysterious technology that might exist in them.

It feels like I'm digging for treasure, and I feel as excited and happy as I did when I was a child.

I often think of the many words my father said to me, which benefited me a lot. No matter what you want to do, the most important thing is to stay focused. If you don't do it, do it to the best of your ability.

But I think my father might have a different view on this. He might extend it to mean that if you want to do something bad, you should do it to the extreme.

I was still not satisfied when the order to transfer me to the front arrived at the Crown of Lyrillac. As you must have known by now, I was going to join the army of General Alexey Stukov.

But I couldn't just leave Jack and his men on this planet until my replacement arrived. In fact, I even considered continuing to work here until they had uncovered all the secrets of this planet.

I finally got the chance to go to the front line, but I was not as happy as I thought. An order is an order, and I have no right to refuse.

I really want to be an archaeologist. I don't care what my father thinks. He's nothing.

At this time, Augustus saw that Arcturus was blushing again.

One of them wants to go mining, and the other wants to do archaeology. They are both very capable people, and in a sense, the son is following in his father's footsteps. (End of this chapter)