The Second Legion Has No Secrets

In the abandoned Hive City, the Atlas tech-marines began bustling about, directing engineering machinery to dismantle the site step-by-step, clearing the perimeter while taking care not to damage the target.

In other sectors, the Atlas Space Marine were directing the Auxilia to scavenge; regardless of what it was, even if it was scrap metal, they were to take it all.

As for Mordred, he was surrounded by a crowd of "cans," popularizing the knowledge lost during the Age of Strife to his progeny.

"The big guy in front of us is called a Master Computer, or rather, a central processor from the Dark Age of Technology. It was created primarily to manage intelligent machines. As for why it's called that, Heaven Knows, I certainly don't."

"According to that old man, the Emperor, in that era where madness and greatness coexisted, the Human Federation was structured like a pyramid."

"At the very top were the Gold Men who held all authority, below them were the Stone Men who assisted the Gold Men, and beneath the Stone Men were the Federation's most powerful force: the Iron Men legions."

"Among these three, the Gold Men were the leaders at the apex, the Stone Men were the middle management, and the Iron Men were the executors."

"Undoubtedly, the strength of the Human Federation during the Dark Age of Technology was owed to the comprehensive application of Intelligent AI. It allowed the human race's power to grow exponentially, eventually becoming a hegemon capable of clashing with the Aeldari Empire."

"Then why did the once-invincible Human Federation end up in its current state?" asked Goff, who had hurried over from the rear.

Mordred glanced at his progeny and signaled for Goff to come closer, then delivered a sharp flick to his forehead, denting the helmet inward.

"Good question, but next time, wait until I'm finished before asking! I hate it when people interrupt me. Right, where was I?"

Seeing Goff get shut down, the First Captain, The Khan, felt a secret joy. He leaned in like a dog's leg, holding a cup of orange juice: "Father, you were saying that humans back then were the hegemons of the era."

Mordred nodded and downed the orange juice in one gulp; he loved this kind of sweet drink.

"That's right. Human technology in that period was insanely powerful. Every Iron Man even had Self-Awareness. You can think of them as a new race, not just mindless weapons in the conventional sense; they even had civil rights."

The term "civil rights" was a bit of a mouthful, but the meaning could be inferred. Seeing his progeny pondering it blindly, Mordred quickly explained:

"Just think of it this way: the Gold Men are the Emperor, the Stone Men are the Primarch, and the Iron Men are you lot, the Space Marine."

Now everyone understood; it turned out they were the existence at the very bottom of the hierarchy.

The progeny's thoughts couldn't be hidden from Mordred, who immediately slapped one of them to correct them:

"Bullshit, the Iron Men weren't the lowest existence. At the very least, they were considered valuable soldiers; some people were worth less than property, which is why it was called the Dark Age of Technology."

"And the Master Computer I'm talking about is the master controller for those machines without true autonomy—the mechanical Sentinels we fought earlier."

"At most, they were civilian service robots, equivalent to the Servitor that puts your armor on. If they were true intelligent combat droids, our losses wouldn't have been this small."

"So, we've struck gold. This thing is a super Cogitator. Since it's an ancient relic, even a leak of its data is enough to feed us for a long time."

"As for Goff's question, I don't know either. Basically, the Human Federation had a civil war. Some Iron Men rebelled, some stayed loyal, and with various vassal races turning traitor and Ambitious schemers rising, the entire Federation beat each other to death."

"Finally, BOOM! A Warp storm struck, turning every colony into an isolated island."

The crowd was satisfied with this explanation, praising the Emperor's foresight. No wonder the Imperial Truth told the world to believe in science and treat AI and xenos as the primary enemies.

Mordred didn't say much about this, thinking that one couldn't really blame the vassal races for rebelling; given the lunatics humans were during the Dark Age of Technology, Heaven Knows if they even considered their allies as people.

"Alright, alright, stop crowding around. Let's see what good stuff is hidden in this big treasure chest."

Thanks to the diverse backgrounds of the students within Atlas—not just big guy types specialized in hacking and slashing, but also tech-boys with dual degrees from the Iron Hands and Mars—they rebooted the device in just a few hours.

Although it was jokingly said that Imperial technology relied on archaeology, they had inherited the mantle of the past, so operating this system from thousands of years ago wasn't difficult.

To prevent any emergencies, four Venom Tank were deployed around the clearing, their Gun Barrel aimed directly at the Master Computer.

Fortunately, no accidents occurred. As the power lines were physically connected, this creation, which had been silent for who knows how many years, began to run.

[System self-test... Error... Memory sector... lost... Requesting... Master protocol... No... Rejecting protocol...]

[Biological detection module activated, scanning user identity... Unknown identity, calling most recent usage records]

[Command read...]

[External module detected, data matching complete.]

[BT7274 central data processing terminal at your service. Dahl Tech, creating life with heart!]

In the broken ruins, a dispassionate electronic female voice rang out, and a cartoon character in a uniform was projected as a Holographic Projection in front of Mordred.

Looking at the cartoon character, Mordred could guess this was the host's virtual interaction module, but compared to that, he was more interested in who the previous user was—how was there a "Second Son" fan in that era?

"Tell me, what exactly happened here, and what are you?"

"I am not a 'thing,' I am a BT7274 data processing terminal. You may call me BT."

"According to residual data, Serenity Paradise executive Iman Dahl shows no signs of life. Permissions locked. Outsider, you have no right to use company property."

"Damn it!"

Mordred didn't bother with more talk; he performed a physical shutdown and ordered his men to force a data extraction.

Soon, several logs were decrypted. Through these files, Mordred roughly pieced together what had happened here.

As a natural Earth-like planet, Serenity was acquired by a company Named Dahl during the Dark Age of Technology, which wanted to build it into a planetary-scale zoo.

To attract tourists and let them experience the most primitive exotic customs, Serenity wasn't heavily developed. Instead, while preserving the Native Race, they introduced many alien species.

The bizarre things Mordred had encountered earlier were introduced by Dahl Company from several Death World at the time, intended to enhance the "fun" factor.

As for why the robots killed humans, it wasn't actually an Iron Men Rebellion; after all, the Iron Men Rebellion was already over, and no one cared about this godforsaken place.

The real reason was, in fact, the Warp storm.

Because Serenity had always been used as an amusement park, all supplies relied on external imports. Once it became an isolated island, the so-called company employees immediately implemented planned distribution and sealed off the Hive City, hoping to wait for rescue.

Before the employees died, this plan was handed over to the Master Computer named BT to manage; after all, compared to humans, machines are more impartial.

Logically speaking, this decision was sound, and they could have survived if they just held on, but who could have known that the Warp storm would last for thousands of years? Famine, plague, and all sorts of problems appeared in turn, eventually leading to a total riot.

In order to fight for the remaining meager survival supplies, the people in the Hive City beat each other's brains out. However, the most absurd thing happened at this moment.

The humans, on the verge of extinction, wanted to go out to make a living and see the world outside, but the Master Computer would not allow it. You must stay in the Hive City and wait for the Federation's rescue.

In the end, the survivors, pushed to their absolute limit, chose to self-destruct. They used a high-energy pulse triggered by a nuclear bomb to paralyze the mainframe, pulling a "mutual destruction" move that blew the Hive City to pieces, with only a tiny fraction of survivors escaping this cage.

However, by this time, the area was no longer suitable for survival. The survivors began to migrate, and after a narrow escape from death, they finally rushed out of the jungle and arrived at the Green Grassland.

After reading this somewhat absurd historical record, Mordred was speechless. No wonder there were so few humans on Serenity; it turns out that while the Dog-men and Ogryn were living in peace and tranquility over there, the people on the other continent were playing a battle royale.

But what did that have to do with him? As the data was gradually decrypted, various biological modification and mechanical blueprints were recovered one by one.

Just as Mordred intended to Continue Deeper to see what other good loot was in the database, a communication suddenly appeared before him.

"It's bad, Father! The Adeptus Mechanicus from Mars have arrived, and it's even an Arch-Magos."

An Arch-Magos?

Mordred knew better than anyone what the Mechanicus were like. He immediately ordered his subordinates to seal off the site—not even a fly was to be let in—while he himself went to meet this so-called Arch-Magos. He Absolutely Cannot let others know that he had dug up such good things.

After all—the Second Legion No Secrets!