Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Bayer died a very serious death.

That insane brain couldn't even complete its final transfer of consciousness before its entire memory was intercepted by swarm intelligence.

But the mess left by Bayer has only just begun to unfold, and it can't be resolved by killing one or two people.

This is an underground genetic empire that has lasted for tens of thousands of years, with laboratories, clones, new humans, gland hounds, mutated Astartes, modified slave laborers, unfinished anti-psychic fetuses, cultivation pools hidden underground in the wasteland world, and countless civilians of the empire who were disposed of by Bayer as materials.

The swarm intelligence continuously aggregates data, and commands are issued from the Dominion Court outwards.

Now, all seventy-three laboratories have been taken over.

Researchers categorized the pollutants according to their contamination levels. Those without chaotic corruption and possessing technical value were implanted with monitoring protocols and sent to the Agrippina Gene Research Center.

Those who actively participate in live human torture, chaotic sacrifice, and uncontrollable mutation experiments shall be executed immediately.

All experimental data must be backed up to three copies; the original data must not be destroyed.

All live samples must be frozen and must not be disposed of without confirmation of the risk level.

Rows of cloning pods glowed with an eerie green light in the cold mist.

Some contained empty shells that Bayer had prepared, some contained undeveloped new human embryos, and some were failed creations that had been transformed into half-beasts, half-humans, and half-Astartes, stuck to the glass and slapping the walls of the incubation chamber with their deformed hands.

The cornerstone technicians, with expressionless faces, labeled each culture chamber with a number, sealing up what needed to be sealed up, destroying what needed to be destroyed, and sending what needed to be sent for research.

The treatment of gland hounds is the simplest: retain one thousand complete samples and destroy the rest.

Glandular hounds are not a species that normal human society can absorb. They are bio-weapons specially designed by Bayer to hunt Space Marines. Their sense of smell has been modified to a pathological degree, allowing them to penetrate the sealing layer of power armor and locate the biochemical scent of Astartes gene seeds. They act in packs, and their tactical instincts are written into their genes.

There's no need to keep this.

One command sealed the fate of millions of gland hounds.

But when it comes to the new humans,

A new set of data is displayed on the strategic projection table.

The new human species exists in over seventy wasteland worlds, and the number of independently developing tribes is impossible to accurately count.

The conservative estimate is tens of millions to hundreds of millions of people, while the overestimated model may exceed 300 million.

These new humans have undergone three iterations, exhibiting high genetic stability, short reproductive cycles, and high efficiency.

Lawson was somewhat impressed.

Bayer is a madman, there's no doubt about that.

But being crazy doesn't mean being incompetent. On the contrary, Bayer's new human project has indeed stumbled upon a dangerous yet alluring direction.

These new humans are extremely resilient, not prone to illness, unaffected by mild radiation, and can work normally even in environments with low concentrations of toxic gas. They are stronger than ordinary civilians of the Empire, have a higher average level of intelligence, better recovery abilities, and a shorter adulthood period.

More importantly, their genes have a strong ability to spread.

The child born from the union of a new human and an ordinary citizen of the empire will still carry the powerful genes of the new human, possessing immunity to disease, greater strength, higher intelligence, and better adaptability to harsh environments.

If this kind of population were placed in an imperial world without war or external interference, it would only take a few hundred years for them to completely erase the genes of the local ordinary humans through reproduction and intermarriage.

Just like how Homo sapiens eliminated Neanderthals.

That's what makes Bayer truly terrifying.

But are these new humans still human?

Looking at the genetic model of the new humans, Lawson muttered to himself, "Pure human..."

The word "human" is sacred in the empire.

The most common official definition of humanity used by the Empire was "the form of an emperor."

Humans should grow according to the form bestowed by the emperor: two eyes, one mouth, two arms, two legs, without scales, tentacles, extra organs, or obvious deformities.

If a child born from a factory has an extra finger due to radiation, or is born with purple skin, or has unusual eye color, they will most likely be burned as a mutant by a fanatical priest.

The lower classes have no right to appeal, and no one would argue with a Catholic pastor about stable mutations and genetic expression for the sake of a miner's child.

So what if it's burned!

Too many people die in the empire every day; one more or one less makes no difference.

But this is just a brainwashing package used by the empire to control the lower classes.

Once you get to the higher levels, this set of standards becomes a joke.

After 30,000 years of interstellar colonization, subspace storms, extreme planetary environments, gravity differences, radiation environments, and countless overt and covert genetic modifications by the Empire over the past 10,000 years, the so-called "humans of Earth with absolutely pure genes" has long become a concept that is so vague that it cannot be more vague.

Empires preach theology while wielding their abacuses; their true definition of "humanity" has never been purity, but practicality.

You are a person as long as you are useful.

Oglins are enormous, intellectually deficient, and have skeletal structures that differ significantly from standard humans. Yet, they can carry heavy weapons, block doors with their bodies, and take artillery fire for the Empire on the battlefield. Therefore, the Empire reluctantly acknowledges them as subhumans, legitimate outcasts.

The Lightlings are short and unsightly, but they are excellent snipers and cheap, effective scouts, so they can be considered subhuman.

The navigators have a third eye on their foreheads. As they age, many of their bodies become twisted like a lump of flesh, and some even grow deformed tissues that would give anyone nightmares. By the standards of the lowest levels of the state religion, they should have been dragged to the square and burned to ashes long ago. They are absolute aliens.

However, without navigators, the Empire cannot conduct stable warp travel. Without warp travel, the Empire is just a million isolated graves. Therefore, navigators have become one of the most powerful noble classes in the Empire.

Needless to say, the Cult of Mechanisms might consist of nothing more than a brain submerged in preservative solution, surrounded by tracks, mechanical limbs, optical arrays, a dozen tentacles, and a bunch of interfaces that even he himself might not be able to count at once. What does this thing have to do with "two hands and two legs"?

No!

But they control the production lines for forging worlds, ships, weapons, plasma reactors, Titan legions, and servants, so they are sacred Martian allies, not just human, but very sacred.

At this point, the definition of humanity has long ceased to be a biological issue; it has become a political, military, and dominance issue.

Lawson looked at the information about the new humans on the projection table.

The empire now truly has only a few criteria for judgment:

There are also basic humanoids who are absolutely obedient to the Empire's rule, whose mutations are controllable, do not carry chaotic subspace contamination, and can provide value to the Empire's war machines.

If you meet these conditions, you are considered human. Even if you have an extra hand, as long as that hand can hold an extra laser gun to serve the emperor, the higher-ups can turn a blind eye.

If you don't meet these criteria, no matter how perfect you are, it's useless. A nobleman with pure genes, standard physique, and regular features is not even as good as a mutant if he dares to refuse to pay tithes, dares to question the emperor's authority, or dares to flirt with the rebels!

Heretics, burn them!

So here's the question: what kind of new human does Bayer belong to?

From the perspective of the state religion, they are dangerous; from the perspective of the courts, they are even more dangerous.

A new human species that can stably inherit genes, reproduce rapidly, and gradually replace ordinary human genes is enough to make any conservative judge put an extermination order on the spot.

From Lawson's perspective, however, they were incredibly useful.

It is resistant to disease, toxins, and mild radiation; adaptable to harsh environments; reproduces quickly; has high intelligence and good physical fitness; has a weak soul projection; and is naturally resistant to the temptations of chaos.

If they were incorporated into the Empire's dark side system and placed in wasteland and mining worlds that are heavily polluted, environmentally harsh, and difficult to rebuild, they would make an excellent foundational population.

Bayer originally intended to use them to replace the old humans.

Lawson doesn't care about the terms "new" and "old".

However, the new humans still have one major problem: many things cannot be determined by data boards alone.

Lawson needs to see for himself, not only the genes, but also the social structure, how they survive, how they reproduce, how they establish order, how they treat the weak, how they face the empire, and how they face the fact that their creator is dead.

The gates of the Royal Court opened, and Lawson set off with his guards.

…………

NH-17.

This planet doesn't have a real name.

In the Empire's old star map, it was just a crossed-out wasteland world.

It is not suitable for human survival.

Bayer's description of it is simple: "The new human species naturally reproduces and observes the world. The third generation is stable, and the social structure forms spontaneously. It can continue to be observed."

At this moment, in the northern hemisphere of NH-17, on a black rocky plateau carved out by wind and sand.

Lawson, accompanied by Two Dogs, Three Dogs, Mastiff Seven, Mastiff Nine, and a T-sequence gene testing team, arrived at the edge of the highlands.

Lawson looked down at the wasteland basin in the distance.

There is a huge tribal settlement there.

The outer ring is a circular defensive line pieced together from discarded mining machinery, animal bones, rocks, and metal plates.

The layout inside the defenses is completely different from the Imperial Nest; it's more like an enlarged Beast Nest.

All the buildings are arranged around the central area. The outermost layer consists of the hunter's camp and the watchtower, and further inside are the food processing area, the weapon repair area, the water storage pool, the medical shed, and the larval nests.

At the very heart of the place is a high platform made of giant beast skulls and the remains of mining machines, with a spear stuck in the ground and a huge, dried vertebra hanging from its tip.

"The population size is larger than the records indicate."

T-sequence synchronous scan: "Preliminary heat source statistics show that there are approximately 1.17 million living beings in the settlement. There are approximately 280,000 adult combat beings, approximately 340,000 juveniles, approximately 210,000 pregnant mothers and young caregivers, and the rest are craftsmen, scouts, food handlers, disabled aids, and elderly individuals."

More than a million people gathered in the wasteland basin, yet it was unusually quiet for a human settlement; everyone was busy with something.

Tall, muscular new humans moved about the settlement.

Their grayish-brown or pale copper skin is adapted to the planet's toxic atmosphere, and their pupils contract extremely quickly, switching between bright light and shadow with almost no delay.

They wore protective gear made of animal skins, metal sheets, and old industrial fibers.

The weapons were spears, bone knives, crossbows, scrap guns, and rudimentary arrow launchers.

Lawson raised his hand, and an invisible layer of spiritual energy covered everyone.

Er Gou looked down at his hands: "Boss, they can't see us?"

"We can't see, we can't hear, we can't smell; today we are just observers."

They walked down the rock ridge.

Outside the settlement, a hunting party is returning from the wilderness.

There were about three hundred people. Leading the way was a new human male who was nearly two and a half meters tall. He had broad shoulders and dragged a warhammer made from the leg bone of a giant beast on his back.

He wore no extra adornments, yet he naturally exuded a sense of pressure that kept the others in the hunting party subtly at a distance from him.

Aoqi glanced at it: "The alpha wolf?"

T-sequence synchronous scan: "This individual's muscle density is 37 percent higher than the population average, bone mineralization is 22 percent higher, and neural reflex speed is in the top 1 percent of the tested samples. The prefrontal cortex of the brain has high activity intensity, indicating strong decision-making ability."