In the abandoned Hive City, Atlas's Tech-Sergeant busied himself directing engineering machinery as it gradually dismantled the site, clearing the surrounding area as much as possible without damaging the target.
Elsewhere, Atlas's Space Marines directed the auxiliary troops in scavenging. It didn't matter what something was—even scrap metal had to be taken away.
As for Mordred, he was surrounded by a group of Canned Ones, teaching his progeny the knowledge that had vanished during the Old Night.
"The big thing in front of us is called a Master Computer, or the central processor of the Dark Age of Technology. It was created mainly to manage intelligent machines. As for why it's called that... I don't know either.
"According to that old geezer the Emperor, during that insane yet magnificent age, the Human Federation had a pyramid-shaped structure.
At the very top were the Gold Men, who controlled everything. Beneath them were the Stone Men, who assisted the Gold Men. Beneath the Stone Men was the Federation's most powerful Iron Men army.
Of the three, the Gold Men were the leaders at the top, the Stone Men were middle management, and the Iron Men were the executors.
Without a doubt, the strength of humanity during the Dark Age of Technology came from the widespread application of Intelligent AI. It caused the power of the human race to increase exponentially, eventually turning humanity into a hegemon capable of going toe-to-toe with the Aeldari Empire."
"Then why did the once-arrogant Human Federation end up like this?" Goff asked as he hurried over from behind.
Mordred glanced at his progeny and gestured for Goff to come closer. Then he rapped him on the head, denting his helmet inward.
"Good question, but wait until I'm finished next time! I hate being interrupted. By the way, where was I?"
Seeing Goff get put in his place, The Khan, a Captain, secretly rejoiced inside and came over obsequiously with a cup of orange juice. "Father, you were saying that humanity was the hegemon of that era."
Mordred nodded, took the orange juice, and downed it in one gulp. He loved this kind of sugary drink.
"That's right. Human technology was incredibly advanced in that era. Every Iron Man even had Self-Awareness. You can think of them as a new species, not mindless weapons in the conventional sense. They even had civil rights."
The term "civil rights" was a little difficult to understand, but its general meaning could still be inferred. Seeing his progeny pondering it cluelessly, Mordred hurriedly explained:
"Think of it this way: the Gold Men were the Emperor, the Stone Men were the Primarchs, and the Iron Men were you Space Marines."
This time, everyone understood. So they were beings at the very bottom of the hierarchy.
Mordred saw through his progeny's thoughts and immediately slapped each of them once, correcting them:
"Bullshit. The Iron Men weren't the lowest-level beings at all. At least they counted as valuable soldiers. Some people weren't even as valuable as property. Otherwise, why would it be called the Dark Age of Technology?
"And the Master Computer I'm talking about was the central controller for those machines without true independent consciousness—the Mechanical Sentinels we just fought.
"At best, they counted as civilian service robots, equivalent to the Servitors that put armor on you. If they had been intelligent combat machines, our losses couldn't possibly have been this small.
"So we've struck gold. This thing is a super Cogitator. After all, it's an ancient relic. Even a little scrap from it will be enough to feed us.
"As for Goff's question, I don't know either. Anyway, the Human Federation fell into civil war. Some Iron Men rebelled, while others remained loyal. Then various vassal races turned traitor, ambitious schemers began to rise, and the entire Federation fought itself into a bloody mess.
"Finally—boom! A Warp storm swept in and turned the various colonies into isolated islands."
Everyone was satisfied by the explanation and began praising the Emperor's far-sightedness. No wonder the Imperial Truth told people to trust science and treat AI and aliens as their greatest enemies.
Mordred said nothing about it. You really can't blame those vassal races for turning traitor. With the lunatics humanity had become during the Dark Age of Technology, who knew whether they even regarded their allies as people?
"All right, all right. Don't crowd around here. Let's see what treasures are hidden inside this giant treasure chest."
Fortunately, Atlas had all kinds of exchange students. Besides the big brutes who specialized in chopping things up, there were also technical specialists with dual degrees from the Iron Hands and Mars. In just a few hours, they had restarted the device.
Although people joked that Imperial technology relied on archaeology, they had fortunately inherited the old legacy. Operating this system from thousands of years ago wasn't difficult.
To prevent any unexpected incidents, four Venom Tanks were positioned around the open ground, their Gun Barrels aimed at the Master Computer.
Fortunately, nothing went wrong. As the power conduits were physically connected, the creation that had lain dormant for who knew how many years began to operate.
[System self-check... Error... Memory sectors... lost... Requesting... master protocol... no... Protocol rejected...] [Biological detection module activated. Scanning user identity... Unknown identity. Calling up most recent usage records.] [Command read...] [External module detected. Data matching complete.] [BT7274 Central Data Processing Terminal at your service. Dahl Tech—creating a better life!]
Amid the ruined wasteland, an emotionless electronic female voice rang out. A cartoon figure in a uniform was projected as a Holographic Projection in front of Mordred.
Looking at the cartoon figure, Mordred guessed that it was the host computer's virtual interface module. But more than that, he was interested in who the previous user had been. How were there still old-school otakus in that era?
"Tell me, what happened here, and what are you?"
"I'm not a thing. I'm the BT7274 Data Processing Terminal. You can call me BT."
"According to the remaining data, Serenity Paradise executive Iman Dahl has no signs of life. Permissions have been locked. Outsider, you have no right to use company property."
"Fuck!"
Mordred didn't waste his breath. He shut it down physically and ordered his men to forcibly extract the data.
Before long, several logs were decrypted. From the files, Mordred roughly pieced together what had happened here.
Serenity was a naturally habitable planet. During the Dark Age of Technology, it had been purchased by a company called Dahl, which wanted to turn it into a planet-scale zoo.
To attract tourists and let them experience the most primitive alien customs, Serenity had not been heavily developed. Instead, while preserving the Native Race, the company had introduced many exotic species.
The bizarre creatures Mordred had encountered earlier had been brought in by Dar Company from several Death Worlds. The purpose was to make the park more interesting.
As for why the robots had killed humans, it actually had nothing to do with the Iron Men Rebellion. After all, the Iron Men Rebellion had ended, and nobody had paid any attention to this godforsaken place.
The true cause had been the Warp storm.
Since Serenity had always been operated as an amusement park, all its supplies had come from outside. Once it became an isolated island, the so-called company employees immediately implemented rationing, sealed off the Hive City, and waited for rescue.
Before the employees died, they entrusted the plan to the Master Computer called BT. After all, machines were more impartial than humans.
In theory, the decision was sound. They only had to hold out for a while. But who could have known that the Warp storm would last for thousands of years? Famine, plague, and all kinds of other problems appeared in succession, eventually leading to a full-scale riot.
People in the Hive City fought brutally over the dwindling survival supplies. Then the most absurd thing happened.
Humanity was on the verge of extinction. They wanted to go outside and find a way to survive, to see what the outside world was like. But the Master Computer refused. They had to remain in the Hive City and wait for rescue from the Federation.
In the end, the survivors, driven to desperation, chose to self-destruct. They used a nuclear bomb to trigger a high-energy pulse that paralyzed the main computer, choosing to die together with it and blasting the Hive City into ruins. Only a tiny fraction of the survivors escaped that prison.
By then, however, the region was no longer suitable for habitation. The survivors began to migrate. After surviving countless deadly trials, they finally broke out of the jungle and reached the Green Grassland.
After reading this rather absurd historical record, Mordred was speechless. No wonder there were so few humans on Serenity. So while the Dog-men and Ogryn over there were living peaceful lives, the people on another continent had been playing a deadly game of battle royale.
But what did that have to do with him? As the data was gradually decrypted, various biological modification plans and mechanical blueprints were recovered one after another.
Just as Mordred was preparing to dig deeper and see what other treasures the database held, a communication suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Something's wrong, Father. The Adeptus Mechanicus from Mars are here, and they've even sent an Arch-Magos."
An Arch-Magos?
Mordred knew the Mechanicus's ways better than anyone. He immediately ordered his men to seal off the site. Not even a fly was to be allowed in. As for himself, he would go meet this so-called Arch-Magos. He absolutely couldn't let anyone know that he had unearthed something valuable.
After all—Second Legion had no secrets!
Before you continue