Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 604

Chapter 602, Princess

Arno accomplished a major feat in the Alfonzo Sector: she mobilized vast resources to rescue Sebastian Moreau.

This involved not only personnel from her own Central Bureau of Investigation, but also the Alliance’s two other foreign intelligence agencies, and even the Demon Hunters.

He also mobilized the network of relationships he had cultivated since entering the Alfonzo Sector through the struggles between the doves and hawks.

Even so, Moreau was a crucial figure, and his detention was necessarily tight.

Ultimately, success required thorough preparation and meticulous planning, but also a bit of luck at the last moment.

After a perilous and arduous journey, Arno and Moreau’s own small boat managed to secretly cross the Vinci-Vuchi line and enter the Alliance territory.

Later, the pursuing Alfonzo Mechanicus ships rushed over and collided with the Alliance fleet stationed in the Vuchi system.

Of course, they failed to do so. Thus,

Moreau arrived in Alliance territory.

Gu Hang took this very seriously.

Before his capture, Sebastian Moreau was the Forge General of the Forge World of Argon, bearing the title of Sage and ranking among the top five within the entire Alfonzo Cult.

He was also one of the most important figures within the Dove faction. It was precisely for this reason that Varuk forcibly captured him, using his imprisonment to effectively suppress the Dove faction.

Now that he’s in the hands of the Alliance, it means that if the Alliance invades the Alfonzo Sector in the future, the Dove faction within the Mechanicum will likely be influenced by Moreau and switch sides.

Of course, this also depends on Moreau’s willingness to join the Alliance.

Force is futile.

The good news is that his willingness to “escape” and follow Arno into Alliance-controlled territory speaks volumes about his commitment.

Gu Hang hopes this man will play a significant role in the future, justifying the cost of the Alliance’s investment in reshaping the Alfonzo intelligence network to save him.

Originally, the matter was to end here. If he were to be useful, it would be the responsibility of the intelligence department, and he would be included in the subsequent invasion.

However, upon arriving in the Alliance-controlled area, the former Fabrication General strongly requested a personal meeting with Gu Hang.

Furthermore, Arno had specifically, through the intelligence network, strongly suggested to Governor Gu that he meet with Moreau, claiming he had crucial intelligence. Moreau would only share it with Gu Hang.

It was about the Zerg.

This piqued Gu Hang’s interest.

A high-ranking member of the Alfonzo Cult had reliable intelligence on the Zerg.

So, then, let him meet.

…

Sitting in a high position, Gu Hang met the former Fabrication General.

Sebastian Moreau looked rather disheveled.

He wore a red and black robe, but his body was… too small.

Based on Gu Hang’s understanding of these high-ranking members of the Mechanicus, no matter what direction they pursued, they would inevitably transform their bodies into increasingly outrageous forms.

Even Wu Jiarong was bound to experience this.

They had so much to keep on hand at all times. Not just weapons, but also a vast array of scientific research equipment and tools.

These modifications weren’t all done all at once. They often started with replacing an eye, transforming a finger into a drill, and altering the digestive system to eliminate the need for meals… Gradually, the dehumanization became increasingly exaggerated.

As more and more equipment was installed, the size of these high-level mechanics naturally grew larger. By the time

Moreau reached his level, his size would have been completely different from a normal human. But now, he looked like an ordinary person, even smaller.

This was primarily due to the fact that when he was imprisoned by Varuk, he was inevitably disarmed. Most of his original mechanical modifications had been removed. Otherwise, if a Forge General had been imprisoned intact, he would have had many ways to create a disturbance and escape.

Arno’s rescue of him this time exploited this fact. After his release from prison, he installed a simple humanoid body, disguised himself as an ordinary mechanic, and escaped for a while. What followed was a thrilling, escaping and hunting game across the galaxy. He had neither the resources nor the time to create a new body.

From this perspective, Morro’s current human form was truly utterly discomfiting.

Gu Hang retracted his scrutinizing gaze and smiled, saying, “Welcome, Sage Morro. I deeply sympathize with what you’ve endured within the Alfonzo Cult. We should jointly condemn the actions of those apostates who betrayed the Empire, the God-Emperor, and the God of All. However, before that, you should rest well.”

“I have important information I must present to you in person.”

“So, what is it?”

Morro remained silent, fiddling with his robes for a moment.

Gu Hang waited patiently.

He could sense Morro’s hand, beneath the dark red robe, reaching into his chest, reaching upwards, and pulling out something, seemingly from the back of his head.

When Morro’s hand emerged from the robe, it held a dark stone slab.

Gu Hang stared at it. “Is this what you wanted to give me?”

“Yes.”

Morro didn’t put on airs; his current state didn’t allow for that.

He raised his hands respectfully, a gesture of offering.

Invisible psychic tentacles extended from Gu Hang’s mind, gently twirling the black stone in Moruo’s hand and bringing it to his face.

Examining it closely, it seemed unremarkable: a neatly crafted oval stone, its surface round and glossy, a bit aesthetically pleasing.

But the reality was certainly more than that.

After carefully examining it against his face, Gu Hang could only sense a faint psychic response.

Seeing that Moruo showed no sign of explanation, Gu Hang simply channeled his psychic energy deeper into the stone.

Suddenly, his vision blurred, and the scene shifted.

He felt as if he were in a fantasy world, and everything he saw rippled like jelly.

Scenes recorded on the stone slab flashed before his eyes, one after another.

These events clearly occurred at different times and places, but the narratives shared a strong connection.

The first few scenes should be in a starport, where Space Marines wearing the Iron Legion livery are handing over a batch of goods to members of the Alfonzo Sect.

The cargo consisted of warehouse after warehouse of Void Zerg corpses.

The corpses, of all types, were nestled in petri dishes of all sizes.

Then, in a few flashes, the corpses transformed into living Zerg within the petri dishes.

Then, numerous clips appeared, showing Alfonzo’s researchers dissecting and studying the corpses.

There were also scenes of them reporting to the Ironclad.

Seeing this, Gu Hang found nothing unusual.

For a long time, the Ironclad had been stationed in the Empress Sector, their duty being to combat the constant influx of Void Zerg from the Empress Sector. During the war, some captured corpses and live specimens were sent to the Mechanicum, a well-connected organization, for research. Was there anything strange about this?

To incriminate the Ironclad based on these images was nonsense.

They could even claim that this research was simply to understand the enemy’s situation and better combat these aliens.

In fact, this might be true.

Gu Hang also had these studies. The Alliance’s research institutes even had live specimens of greenskins.

Nothing surprising there.

Even when Gu Hang saw the living body of the impressive Brainworm Tyrant being transported here, he didn’t think anything of it.

Harnessing the power of aliens was officially taboo in the Empire, but who hadn’t done it?

If this was a big deal, and if he could use it as definitive evidence to claim Iron Armor had been worm-injected, Gu Hang himself felt it was unacceptable, let alone using it to convince others.

This wasn’t quite what

Gu Hang wanted. But just as he was feeling a little disappointed, the final scene appeared.

It was a massive square petri dish, roughly thirty meters on a side. A single worm floated within the purple, translucent culture fluid, filling the entire dish.

If it were simply large and alive, Gu Hang wouldn’t be surprised.

Large Void Zerg had been seen in previous footage. They were all valuable specimens, with relatively intact carcasses of larger artifacts like living cannons, Swarm Tyrants, and Assassin Worms being transported here as experimental material.

While there were few living large worms, there were some.

But what caught people’s attention was this insect’s appearance: it lacked sharp teeth and claws, nor its signature shell. From its appearance, it seemed to possess no combat capabilities.

Instead, it looked more like a larva.

A larva that required a thirty-meter-long and wide cubic petri dish.

Gu Hang was momentarily stunned, but then he understood the strangeness: Putting aside the question of what kind of larva could be so large, another crucial question was: do the Void Zerg even have larvae?

Gu Hang’s understanding of this great enemy of humanity was that they were genetic weapons born directly from the incubation tanks. Regardless of the species, they were born as adults. Generally speaking, their functions were defined at birth: some were responsible for combat, others for devouring and transporting everything back to the digestion tank… Often, after completing their tasks and missions, they would jump into the digestion tanks themselves, where they would be digested into biomass, which was then transported back to the incubation tanks via living pipes to be reassembled.

There were no reports of individual Void Zerg individuals being capable of reproduction. Their powerful reproductive capacity doesn’t depend on individuals, but rather on the swarm as a whole, using biomass within the incubation tank to form eggs or directly constructing their bodies.

In this scenario, could any Void Zerg be in larval form?

Could it be that my knowledge of Void Zerg isn’t deep enough, leading to a misunderstanding?

Gu Hang couldn’t help but doubt himself.

He used his psychic powers to forcibly freeze the scene, then tried to zoom in closer to get a better look at this strange insect.

But the next moment, while everything in the image remained frozen, the countless eyes of the “larva” suddenly opened and stared at Gu Hang.

A sudden chill ran through his head.

It wasn’t that Gu Hang was frightened.

His mind was suddenly pulled out of the illusion.

The dark stone slab, catapulted by the sudden uncontrolled force, slammed into the hall wall, rolling several times before coming to rest.

Gu Hang sat in a chair, gasping for air.

A simple change in emotion wouldn’t cause him to have such a violent physical reaction.

That was… psychic energy.

This psychic energy gave Gu Hang a powerful mental shock.

If it was a weaker psychic, this kind of impact would be enough to destroy their brain directly.

Some guards wanted to catch up, but were stopped by Gu Hang.

He carefully savored the taste of this psychic energy that had just bombarded his mind.

He found that he had personally experienced and fought against it before.

That was during the battle with the Alfonzo fleet, when the neurozoan was imprisoned on the war ark and enslaved by the Mechanicus.

The taste of the neurozoan psychic energy was exactly the same as what he was experiencing now.

But this larva was definitely not a neurozoan.

Gu Hang could tell that the two were… very different.

He even had a vague feeling.

The psychic energy just now was not hidden in the stone slab, causing him a surprise attack. It was more like a warning that passed through an extremely long distance through the medium of this stone slab.

It was as if Gu Hang had seen it, even if it was only through the remaining images of the past, it was as if it had seen Gu Hang from who knows how many worlds away, and had also seen Gu Hang, and had ‘cordially’ greeted Gu Hang.

If this was the guess, then it was a bit scary.

What kind of insect could have such terrifying psychic powers?

Gu Hang sat back for a long while before asking, “Sage Moreau, do you know what appeared at the end?”

“That was the ‘Princess’.”

“Princess? Do you mind explaining it to me a little more?”

“I’d love to tell you in detail, but… I’m sorry, there are many things I don’t know.”

“It doesn’t matter, this matter is very important, just tell me everything you know, including your guesses.”

“Okay,” Moreau replied. “‘Princess’ was the name Humphrey Paul gave it. Captured one hundred and eighty years ago, she was considered by the Ironclad Chapter as their greatest hope for completely ending the Void Zerg threat in the Empress Sector. He sent ‘Princess’ to Alfonzo, hoping we could help him with his research…”

(End of Chapter)