From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 692 "Can we get out?"

Boom, boom
The sound of the four company commanders walking away echoed through the bridge.

Then, Sui Yang's gaze swept over the mechanical arms extending from the Primarch's shoulder armor. The intricate servo joints trembled slightly with the Primarch's breathing rhythm, like a swarm of snakes poised to pounce.

When the Emperor's gaze fell upon the disintegrator of a certain mechanical arm, the weapon automatically completed its charging calibration, and then—

"The matter of accepting the surrender of the Earth Federation is now entirely your responsibility and that of your legion."

The Emperor's voice resonated within the bridge, causing the dragon eyes of the Panlong Pillar to turn iron gray. "Remember, although the UED's tech tree appears relatively rudimentary compared to ours, its various technologies are still worth preserving in their entirety."

"Yes, father."

When Ferrus nodded, trace amounts of liquid metal leaked from the seam between the neck armor and the breastplate. These were nanorobots with self-repairing capabilities.

Boom!Boom!
Furthermore, the Primarch's footsteps as he turned and left had a unique metallic quality, much heavier than those of the four company commanders.

As the hydraulic hum of the closing gate dissipated, Athena's golden boots spun in an arc on the floor tiles. The angle at which she tilted her head caused the tip of the Spear of Victory to cast a long, thin shadow on the dome, like the pointer of a sundial tracing the inscriptions of the Code of Mankind.

"His Majesty's sudden personal expedition must be more than just a trivial matter like allocating star regions."

The goddess of war's voice carried a unique purity, but the light in her pupils revealed a deeper doubt.

She deliberately used the term "personally leading the expedition" to tentatively observe the emperor's reaction.

At this moment, Sui Yang had turned around, facing the giant porthole again, and lightly tapped his fingertip on the observation window—

Hey~
This subtle movement immediately triggered a chain reaction, and the patterns on the window frame lit up instantly, refracting the starlight from the outside world into the Milky Way, which is the appearance of the Milky Way map in StarCraft.

The array of surrendered fleets transformed into countless points of light, while the silver markings representing the steel hand were visibly devouring the red UED logo within the Eighteen Solar Systems.

"This universe needs balance," the Emperor replied succinctly. "The Iron Hand and the Imperial Fist each have their advantages."

His gaze swept over the flickering remnants of the alien swarm on the holographic star map. "As for Sui Meng..."

The name made Athena tremble slightly.

For the goddess of war, Sui Meng was arguably the most important "thing" besides loyalty to the empire and the emperor, hence Athena's expression became particularly stern.

"His legion needs your tactical thinking. Dorn will teach him how to build walls, and you will teach him when to break them."

Sui Yang continued, and at the same time, the bronze cauldron projection on the main control panel suddenly unfolded three sub-holograms—

They respectively display real-time images of Earth, Mars, and the home planet, which are also key locations for UED in the solar system.

"I will."

Athena nodded in agreement, then added, "I suppose His Majesty's personal reward for the four children (commanders) is also due to your concerns."

“The Flame Lizard Triad doesn’t just want colonies,” Sui Yang suddenly revealed the truth. “Agriya is the homeworld of the people they protect, and it also contains many mineral veins.”

The other companies also had their own ulterior motives.

The absolute heroes of this expedition and the unification of the Koprulu Sector were the four Astartes companies: the Flame Lizard Trio, the Lamenters, the Man-Eating Sharks, and the Black Templars.

At the same time, his personal appearance can also boost the morale of the entire Astartes, including the four companies.

After all, their performance was outstanding enough to earn them a personal reward from the emperor.

"As for those who weep," the Emperor recalled Frost's tears, "what they truly desire is how many of their fellow human beings can be rescued on the next battlefield."

Upon hearing this, the Goddess of War realized something.

While fighting across the Koprulu Sector, they would harshly criticize and even punish themselves whenever they failed to save more of their fellow citizens, which had formed a kind of "pathological" psychological compensation mechanism.

However, the weeping was kept within an "appropriate" range.

"Man-eating sharks have always had a very good appetite."

Sui Yang's tone when evaluating Tiberius seemed to carry a slight unease.

Furthermore, the holographic screen also projected a scan of an ocean planet, where a giant shark-like creature over 100 meters long inhabits. "The pioneers' weapons and technology were used to help them hunt."

When Sigismund was mentioned, the energy patterns on the Imperial Armor suddenly changed their arrangement.

The star points that originally followed the rules of the Hetu have now been rearranged into the formation of the Luoshu, and the holographic image also projects ten floating giant swords.

“They don’t need a reward,” Athena said, as if she had just realized something. “What they need is…”

"Recognition."

Sui Yang's pupils reflected the starlight from the outside world.

"Indeed." The voice of the Goddess of War was like an undercurrent beneath the ice, calm yet chilling.

With a light tap of her finger, she brought up the combat logs of the Flame Lizards Triple Company in the Koprulu Sector—

In the scene, the dark green Terminators are using their bodies to form a human wall for the evacuation of civilians. "They use 92% of their armor's energy for the force field generator, but report it as 'normal defense consumption'."

The holographic image suddenly switched to a lava field on a certain planet.

Tiberius's shark-tooth armor tore a bloody path through the swarm, and each swing of his power claws deliberately triggered a violent explosion.

“The mortality rate of man-eating sharks is slightly higher than the standard value.” Athena’s voice wavered slightly. “They always use themselves as the sharpest bait.”

As Sigismund's combat log came up, the light across the entire bridge suddenly sharpened.

The image of the Black Templar Company Commander standing alone before the swarm of insects was frozen in time, the protective force field formed by his giant sword planted in the ground enveloping the entire company.

“An absolute rationalist,” Athena commented. “His control of the pace is always just right.”

"Hmm." Sui Yang agreed with Athena's assessment, then asked, "How is Sui Meng's condition?"

Upon hearing the Emperor mention her child, Athena immediately responded, "The surveillance footage from the New City Temple shows that he is dismantling a model of the seventh generation of city walls designed by Dorne."

As she spoke, Athena manipulated one of the holographic projections and switched to Ma Sara.

The young Primarch in the video is using a controllable armor model to pierce the core node of the simulated defensive fortification. "It took him 4 minutes and 37 seconds to break through the absolute defense, which was a full two and a half minutes faster than last time."

Seeing this, Sui Yang ran his fingertip across the observation window, and the patterns on the glass surface were reconstructed into a topographical map of Ma Sara.

He noticed that when Sui Meng dismantled the city wall, he deliberately avoided the load-bearing structure. This precise judgment and restraint proved that the child had already grasped the relationship between "destruction and protection".

"The tentacles of chaos are extending."

The Emperor abruptly changed the subject. The bronze cauldron on the main control panel emitted a subspace projection, in which churning, foul-smelling clumps were clearly converging towards the Koprulu Sector. "Chaos could launch a massive invasion at any moment, disrupting the physical universe."

Athena's Spear of Victory suddenly levitated and stood upright, the energy ripples generated by its tip outlining a three-dimensional formation in the air: "I have deployed the seeds of the Pure Flower at thirty-seven key nodes; as long as we hold those key positions..."

"not enough."

Sui Yang shook his head to interrupt, saying, "When necessary, you must know how to take the initiative and eliminate those intelligent beings affected by chaos in advance. After all, my psionic energy has not yet been able to completely protect the Eighteenth Galaxy."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Athena naturally accepted Sui Yang's words without any rebuttal.

After a long time.

The morning mist in the capital city of UED was tinged with pale gold by the rising sun, and a silver torrent of nanoscale cleaning robots had just retreated into the underground pipes.

They used molecular decomposition technology to treat last night's bloodstains, used gravitational field collectors to recover every piece of metal debris, and even sprayed neutralizing agents into the air.

Sunlight streamed through the recoated glass curtain wall, casting geometric patterns of light on the surrender monument in front of the presidential palace. This sculpture, completed overnight, depicts the Imperial Guard and Astartes helping a fallen civilian, with an inscription carved on its base—

"Order is born from growing pains"

Yesterday's sorrows are tomorrow's shield.

All the holographic billboards on both sides of the street have been replaced with educational promotional videos.

On one screen, the engineering corps of the Steel Hands is repairing a school, and Ferrus's robotic arm is being used as a teaching demonstration for precise operation. In another scene, the pharmacists of the Lamenters Company are vaccinating children, and close-up shots of Frost's smiling face as he removes his mask are played on a loop.

In the central square, early risers discovered that all their electronic devices had received new information, and their personal terminals had automatically downloaded the "Basic Law of the Human Empire" and the "Trans-Universal Welfare Protection Regulations".

And on a middle floor of an apartment building;
The pale blue morning light, like liquid crystal, filtered through the gaps in the beige curtains, cutting out slender grates on the living room floor.

The little boy curled up on the sofa had fluttering eyelashes. The unique smell of the whole family huddled together lingered around his nose: the lingering smell of cigarettes on his father's uniform, the fragrance of cheap shampoo in his mother's hair, and the pungent smell of the anti-inflammatory ointment his brother had secretly applied to his abrasions before going to bed.

As he propped himself up on his elbows, the springs of the old sofa groaned under the strain.

The five people sleeping haphazardly in the dim light create a wartime survival illustration.

The father sat asleep with his back against the coffee table, still clutching a civilian rifle in his hand. The mother and sister shared a bed on the floor, their fingers still tightly intertwined in their sleep. The older brother lay across the entrance like a guard dog, his baseball bat gleaming coldly in the morning light.

The icy touch of his bare feet on the floor jolted the boy completely awake.

He tiptoed forward like a cautious young animal, avoiding the emergency supplies scattered on the floor.
Empty food cans, a neatly tied first-aid kit, and an old-fashioned radio with a constantly flashing red warning light.

He paused for three seconds as his fingertips touched the edge of the curtains, his father's warning from the previous night echoing in his ears: "Don't open it! Those monsters in power armor will..."

But a ray of golden light suddenly pierced his pupils.

The boy instinctively closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his vision was completely filled with the scene outside the window—

Several streamlined warships hovered thousands of meters in the air, their spindle-shaped hulls reflecting the morning glow, like crystal works of art suspended by invisible threads.

These cruisers of the Steel Hand Legion were on a morning patrol, releasing swarms of reconnaissance drones from their open launch hatches. Further away, three black and gold-painted frigates deployed their energy wings, the morning light refracting into aurora-like ripples on their force field shields.

The boy's gaze shifted downwards, and his breathing suddenly stopped.

Above the city's central square, the 300-meter-tall Monument to the Pure Flower is in full bloom.

The petals, composed of living crystals, unfurled layer by layer, transforming stored solar energy into a soft golden halo. Floating within this halo was a holographic projection of the imperial dragon emblem, whose wings, with each flap, scattered countless particles of light upon the city under reconstruction.

For a moment, he seemed to see a human face emerge from the golden particles of light, the face of the giant known as the "Emperor" who appeared in the news last night.

"Is that... an angel?" My younger sister's childish voice suddenly rang out from behind me.

The boy turned around abruptly and found that his whole family had woken up and were standing behind him.

The father's chin was still covered with congealed blood scabs, but he was unable to speak as he opened his mouth; the mother had clenched her apron into deep wrinkles; the brother's baseball bat had fallen to the ground at some point, making a dull thud.

"Sizzle"

At this moment, the radio suddenly emitted static, followed by a new broadcast announcement:

"Attention all citizens, Chapter 3 of the Wartime Special Rations Law will be implemented starting today."

The whole family tensed up reflexively, a survival instinct developed during the past five days of martial law.

But what followed made the father relax his clenched fist: "The basic daily ration per person will be increased to 3000 kcal, and the opening hours of medical points will be extended."

The mother suddenly covered her mouth, a sob escaping between her fingers. The brother's movements as he bent down to pick up the baseball bat became sluggish, the weapon suddenly seeming ridiculous and superfluous in his hands.

The boy turned to the window again, and this time he boldly pulled back the entire curtain.

The morning light flooded into the living room, illuminating the electronic calendar on the wall—

The display screen, which had been frozen for three days during the riots, was now automatically updating to the calendar of the human empire.

Even more surprising is the change in the window glass. The explosion-proof mesh that was originally taped up has been cleaned up by a nano-level cleaning robot, and now it clearly reflects the faces of the family, who are tired, frightened, but also have a kind of uncertain hope.

Suddenly, a loud clanging sound of metal colliding came from afar.

The whole family turned their attention to the source of the sound, where they saw two giants in silver-gray power armor repairing a substation. Their armor was etched with metal arm insignia. One of them was easily lifting a transformer weighing several tons, while the other was using a laser shot from his mechanical arm to weld the broken parts.

“They don’t seem to be monsters,” the younger sister said, standing on tiptoe until her nose was almost touching the glass.

Suddenly, the father strode towards the entrance and opened the door, which had been locked for many days, amidst the horrified gazes of the whole family.

The morning breeze carried an unfamiliar scent, without the smell of gunpowder or blood, only a freshness similar to that of moss after rain.

At the end of the street, the first human Empire logistics troops' hovercraft were distributing food packages.

The white shipping containers emblazoned with dragon logos automatically unfolded into mobile dining tables, and the steam rising from them created a brief "rainbow" in the morning light.

Further away, in Central Park, which had once been blocked by the UED army, several daring children were running and playing around a golden-armored giant. That giant was clearly the executioner who had executed high-ranking UED officials in last night's news, but now he was kneeling on the ground, carefully picking up the ball that had rolled off the children with the fingers of his power armor.

The boy felt his clothes being tugged.

The younger sister looked up, her face covered in cookie crumbs, and asked softly, "Can we...go outside?"

The question hung in the morning light, like a feather slowly descending. The father's hand tightened and loosened on the doorknob, and when he finally turned to look at the whole family, something solid was melting in his eyes.

Outside, the halo of the pure flower grew ever brighter, enveloping the entire street in a warm golden glow.
(End of this chapter)