Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 601

Chapter 599: Gu’s New Son

. As the name suggests, Death Company is a place where you fight to the death.

Unexpectedly, yet unsurprisingly, most of Wang Mengsong and his warriors chose Death Company.

Fighting to the death… isn’t that the goal of a Space Marine?

Normal Chapters and Space Marines generally don’t retire. They age, and theoretically, they could die of old age, but in reality, no Space Marine ever truly reaches that point in their thousands of years. The ultimate outcome is disappearance or death in battle.

Joining Death Company simply brings that time closer.

Compared to so-called “retirement,” Space Marines prefer this.

These transformed “angels” are, ultimately, different from mortals. After being implanted with gene-seed, many of a normal person’s mundane desires diminish to a very low level. Their desires for food and s*x decrease significantly, while their cravings for honor and combat far surpass those of ordinary people.

While the New World Torch may be a weakling, it’s still a Space Marine, so few choose retirement.

As a former Chapter Commander, Wang Mengsong also chose the Death Company.

Thus, the New World Torch’s Death Company was established.

Finally, let’s discuss the issue of gene-seeds.

Not all gene-seeds need to be redeemed by Gu Hang.

For example, the Phoenix’s seeds have now reached their limit of 2,000, and Gu Hang cannot exchange them for new ones. However, the seeds that grow every five years and are harvested from Space Marines who subsequently die in battle are not subject to this limit. In other words, as long as the Phoenix doesn’t suffer significant damage all at once and the battlefield conditions prevent the gene-seeds from being recovered, the total number can slowly increase above 2,000.

It’s simply that Gu Hang can’t exchange for any more until the

lost gene-seed drops below 2,000. The same logic applies to the New World Torch’s ‘Second-Class Infinite Warrior Gene-seeds.’

Not all of the total 1,800 gene-seeds need to be redeemed by Gu Hang. Some are readily available.

Of these 1,800 gene-seeds, 800 will be allocated to the New World Torch, which will gradually increase its number to over 900. There are still dozens of scattered New World Torch veterans who have chosen to retire, and they will always occupy the quota. So let them do so. Gu Hang decided to be generous and give people the choice.

Wang Mengsong, of course, will not be the commander; he doesn’t even hold the title of the Death Company’s commander.

The leadership of the New New World Torch will be entirely composed of the new seeds Gu Hang redeemed and the new warriors he trained.

As usual, all members will undergo political commissar training to ensure their loyalty to the Alliance.

The new recruits trained from the other one thousand seeds will be directly formed into the New Fury Flame Chapter to carry out the two-hundred-year atonement crusade—an expedition within Alliance territory and under Alliance command.

The New Fury Flame is even freer of historical baggage, after all, without even a single veteran.

Regarding the two, Gu Hang intends to have no connection with the old chapter culture, solely upholding the Alliance’s culture and ethos.

Certain aspects of the old chapter, such as the history that cannot be concealed, will also set the tone: the chapter is guilty, but the warriors are all good soldiers of the Alliance. Within the Chapter, they must fight for the Alliance, clearing the name of the Torch of the New World. A hundred years from now, when all sins have been atoned for, they will once again be bathed in glory.

Gu Hang hoped that the warriors of the New World Torch and the New Fury would not feel too much psychological pressure.

What was difficult to say within the Phoenix was much easier to say within these two Chapters, formed entirely by the Alliance and merely listed through a backdoor listing.

You are first and foremost warriors of the Alliance. As long as you fight for the Alliance, all glory will come naturally. There is no need to worry about the infamy left by past traitors. That history is of no concern to you, not even the need for inheritance. You don’t even need to explain the Chapter’s history to them, just the history of the Alliance. Those former Torches and Furys weren’t even considered predecessors.

The warriors of the New World Torch also shoulder the responsibility of keeping watch over those old traitors within the Death Company.

As for what Wang Mengsong would make of the sudden appearance of several hundred “New World Torches”… Gu Hang would tell them that these were gene-seeds seized from their ships and the corpses of their soldiers. Meanwhile, Alliance agents had also stolen the New World Torches’ gene pool from their home planet.

This was indeed the case. A few years ago, the New World Torches had brought 1,500 men with them on their campaigns. After their deaths, many of their gene-seeds were never recovered, and over 800 were collected, all in Wang Mengsong’s possession, and then passed to the Alliance with the surrender.

Of course, Wang Mengsong wouldn’t believe it completely. While the numbers roughly matched, how could the selection of reserves, implantation, and growth of superhuman organs be accomplished so quickly?

But Gu Hang would let their pharmacists examine the new gene-seeds, ensuring they were identical to their own, without a single flaw.

What if they still didn’t believe it?

Believe it or not.

Honestly, giving those old Torches an explanation would be a concession. If you don’t believe it, then don’t. What else do you expect after joining the Death Company?

There are still a thousand spots left, all destined for the New Fury.

The Alliance actually recovered hundreds of seeds from Fury’s corpse, but Gu Hang simply sealed them away, leaving them useless.

As for what to do with the Fury Chapter’s feud with the Phoenix Chapter—that’s perfectly simple.

There are some things Gu Hang could just confess to Martin.

The Fury were all killed, there are no Fury

anymore. They’re just borrowing a skin.

When they’re no longer needed in the future, Fury can officially be annihilated at any time.

…

Dealing with these matters didn’t take Gu Hang much time.

After the broad ideas and the tone were set, the specific implementation details were left to the Chapter Management Office.

This was a brand new Alliance organization, and it had only been established recently. They didn’t make any decisions, but simply carried out Gu Hang’s will, aiming to fully cooperate with the needs of each chapter.

It wasn’t an independent agency, but rather an appendage of Gu Hang’s Governor’s Office, specifically responsible for handling such matters.

They would coordinate with the Alliance’s biological research institute to receive all the gene seeds; they would work with the Alliance’s military and political departments to select the soldiers Gu Hang needed, arrange surgeries, and assign personnel to the two new regiments…

As the Alliance grew, Gu Hang had more and more things to do personally.

Besides, he did have another very important matter at hand.

He went to his and Ye Lisia’s master bedroom, where a crib was nearby.

Taking the bottle from the nanny, Gu Hang fed the baby himself.

He wasn’t very experienced in this area, but he had mastered the techniques of holding and nursing a baby quite well.

The one he was nursing was, of course, his own.

Ye Lishia, watching from the side, burst into laughter.

“Why are you laughing so happily?”

Ye Lishia replied, “I’ve imagined many futures before—becoming a general, commanding fleets, and destroying the empire’s enemies…but this scene wasn’t what I had envisioned.”

“Becoming a mother?”

“Not just that.” Ye Lixia’s smile grew warmer. “Of course I’ve thought about becoming a mother and bearing children. I just didn’t imagine that quietly watching my husband beside me, holding our child, would bring me such happiness.”

Gu Hang held the child and kissed her cheek.

…

The warmth and leisure were ultimately superficial. What can’t be ignored is that this scene took place on a battleship like the ‘Rising Star’.

The birth of a new life aboard a warship is not uncommon. The ‘Rising Star’ has a permanent aboard of over 400,000 people, many of whom have families on board, after all, aboard can last for years.

Although the Alliance is working to minimize the situation of lifelong, cradle-to-grave aboard, crew members have a contract, a salary, and a rank within the Alliance. When their time is up, they can choose to renew their contract or retire, but the number of those who choose to retire is relatively small. The proportion of those who choose to retire is higher due to injury or advanced age.

However, due to the long-term nature of space travel, it is not uncommon for crew members to start families on board. With a population of hundreds of thousands gathered together, it’s like a city. Most things found in a normal city are also available on the starship.

Even kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school are available.

Of course, this was an Alliance initiative; it’s not common on Imperial ships.

Many people start families aboard the ship and work for a while. While the ship is resting, they choose to retire, or some of their family members retire. Mothers or fathers take their children off the ship, finding a home base, or return home aboard.

This prevents the tragedy of a future war that could wipe out the entire family.

These are relatively humane measures implemented by the Alliance. Honestly, it’s hard to say whether they’ve improved efficiency, but Gu Hang believes they’re the right approach.

If everyone lived like this before the Alliance arrived, and if they continued to live like this afterward, wouldn’t the Alliance’s presence have been in vain?

In this sense, Gu Hang and Ye Lishiya are like a family formed together. Their child was also born on board the ship.

They even share the same dilemma as to why they chose to do so.

Gu Hang and Ye Lishiya decided to have a child.

It wasn’t for any other reason, like the Alliance needing an heir.

In fact, there wasn’t a need.

Gu Hang might be fifty-seven years old this year, but his physical condition and appearance remain much the same as that of the young man he was then. He’s unsure if he’s now immortal, but at least, with his psychic powers radiating through him, he feels no sign of physical decay. He estimates he could live for a thousand years without issue. Lifespan does

n’t bother him much.

In fact, if his lifespan truly draws to a close, he has one last resort: becoming a god right here and now. Embrace the Warp, embrace the Storm Kingdom, which now belongs entirely to him, abandon his human nature, become a lesser god of the Warp, and thereby achieve eternal immortality.

Of course, he won’t do this until his last.

As someone like Gu Hang, he doesn’t have much need for an heir.

Ye Lishia isn’t particularly concerned about her lifespan either. Although a few years older than Gu Hang, she’s already over sixty. However, having undergone her first life-extending surgery early on, she has at least two hundred years of lifespan and eternal youth. She can undergo at least three more surgeries to extend her lifespan to five hundred years.

Neither of them has a pressing need for offspring.

Having a child was simply a personal decision they made as a couple.

While this decision might carry some political implications, they both agreed that wasn’t paramount. They were simply fulfilling a mutually agreed-upon task at a certain stage in their lives, a fulfilling part of their lives.

As for the attendant benefits, for example, for the next ten or twenty years, Gu Hang and Ye Lishia would have a “crown prince” they could trust, one who could participate in political activities as a high-ranking member of the Alliance; as Alliance leader, the integrity of Gu Hang’s family would symbolically impact the entire Alliance society; and it would provide stability to the civilian population, ensuring that if Gu Hang were to pass away, the Alliance would have an heir…

these benefits could be left to their own devices.

As for the possibility that the child would become useless… it wasn’t impossible.

But the impact wouldn’t be significant. After all, Gu Hang didn’t need a true heir. If he truly was useless, he would just be treated like a pig by some wealthy second-generation kid. This was Gu Hang’s final act of kindness to his offspring.

Of course, as a father, Gu Hang deeply desired this possibility.

The single character “Jing” in his name embodied Gu Hang’s hopes. While Gu Hang rejoiced over his offspring,

the

war situation continued to unfold.

The southern front was relatively peaceful.

While fighting raged on many planets, and two chapters on Phantom Moon erupted, ultimately annihilating each other… no, it was a battle of surrender.

However, overall, there were no major battles.

The Alliance, having adhered to Gu Hang’s will, insisted on waiting a year and a half.

Not only did shipbuilding take time, but also the implantation of new Space Marines, the growth of superhuman organs, and so on, all took time.

Just wait and it would be over.

For this reason, Gu Hang didn’t want to overly provoke Iron Armor or Alfonzo.

The Alliance had only secured its own portion of the passage from the Proud Claw Sector to the Nepeta Sector and Alfonzo Sector. They weren’t rushing to seize anything they could on the other side.

Humphrey Paul, on the other hand, didn’t move his main forces south. He simply reinforced the defenses of the Nepeta Sector, leaving the Alfonzo Sector to the Mechanicus. The main force of the chapter remained on the western front.

The scenario that the masters of Holy Terra feared most hadn’t materialized. The Iron Armor Legion, having won the crucial battle, did not attack the central territory of the empire. In the Tianwang Universe, they only locked up a few important planets and did not advance further. Instead, they turned to attack other star regions in the vast Magre Universe.

The high-ranking officials on Holy Terra breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the Iron Armor’s actions in the Magre Universe were in full swing and unstoppable, and a large number of planets fell rapidly, the method of exchanging space for time was exactly what they expected.

The empire lacked everything, but it had no shortage of vast territories.

But Gu Hang still found it strange.

Why the large-scale invasion and capture of planets in the Magre Universe?

(End of this chapter)