Operation Paperclip

If someone calls you "Dad" for no reason, they're either a scammer or have ulterior motives; they might even force you to bring them food.

For Space Marine, honor is more precious than life itself, and whenever asked which unit they belong to, they always proudly call themselves the Sons of the Forks.

If you were to praise someone for having the same qualities as their father, it would be like saying, "You're like Canned One without a tail," otherwise, it would wag more enthusiastically than an electric fan. Therefore, a Space Marine would never joke about a Primarch.

But looking at this group of self-proclaimed Blood Ravens, who were calling each Space Marine their father or mother, everyone frowned.

The nine Primarchs present were certain that this was definitely not their offspring; they had never heard of any legion having a unit called Blood Ravens.

However, when asked who the Primarch was, the group claimed they didn't know, or even how they ended up in the Webway.

This response was certainly not satisfactory to the Primarchs, who immediately summoned the Magos Biologis to conduct a genetic comparison, figuring that there would surely be a match among the 18 Legions.

While waiting for the test results, everyone was talking and speculating about which brother's child it was.

Holding his little blanket, Dorn believed this was Corvus Corax's offspring; otherwise, there was no explanation for how it could steal Vulkan's hammer right under their noses.

But Corvus Corax was convinced that these were definitely not his offspring, and instead suspected that they might be a group of Night Lords, because Tom, who was leading the group, looked a bit like Koz.

But Fulgrim thinks you're all wrong. Didn't you notice they're only 2.1 meters tall?

And that Dreadnought, they are clearly a group of Iron Warriors, otherwise there is no way to explain why these people are so short, otherwise they are the Imperial Fists!

Dorn, who was being mocked, had nothing to say. Among all the legions, the Iron Warriors were undoubtedly the shortest, followed by the Imperial Fists. The two legions were evenly matched, consistently ranking at the top of the list of shortest legions.

It's strange, really. If an ordinary person dared to steal his blanket, Dorn have already turned them into mincemeat with a single Storm's Teeth.

But faced with this group of strange-looking Space Marine, Dorn felt no anger, but rather a strange sadness. And it wasn't just Dorn; the other Primarchs felt the same way.

The Lion King's reaction was even more obvious, his eyes darting around Alpharius, because he noticed that although these Space Marine had changed their Paint Scheme, their hood decorations and sword-shaped emblems looked exactly like those of the First Legion.

As for the Giant Lizard, they were subconsciously ignored by everyone. After all, in the Primarch's eyes, these things should be like Space Wolves, with round heads that even looked somewhat cute.

But this doubt did not last long.

The good news is that the results are in, and the bad news is also that the results are in.

The 782 Space Marine before them belonged to no one Legion, yet they also belonged to every Legion.

First, according to the genetic testing results, these 782 Space Marine have a Gene-Seed that does not belong to any known Legion, but there is another Gene-Seed growing next to this Gene-Seed.

Of these, nearly 300 were identified as having companion seeds from the Night Lords, while the remaining 400 or so belonged to various legions.

The reason why the quantifier "nearly" is used instead of an exact number is because these Space Marine are not of pure lineage.

On the surface, they were identified as Night Lords, but there were also genetic components from other legions among them. In other words, every single one of these Space Marine was a hybrid.

It even contains some kind of Xenos gene, and in a very high proportion.

Logically speaking, this outcome is impossible, because the Gene-Seed represents everything; it's either yes or no.

Space Marine aren't dogs that can produce a bunch of mixed breeds, but in these Blood Ravens, you can find the dominant genes from every Legion, and even their characteristics.

For example, the Raven Guard's supernatural stealth, the Ultramarines' strong cellular activity, the Iron Warriors' sturdiness and durability, the Salamanders' superhuman strength, the Thousand Sons Legion's Psychic Power talents, and even their extreme resistance to the Warp.

The previous points were somewhat understandable, but the last one was the most outrageous. Even Malcador stated that Psychic Power talent and extreme resistance to the Warp were simply impossible to coexist, with the Adeptus Custodes being the best example.

While these Mechanicus were baffled and preparing to extract biological samples for in-depth investigation, they discovered that their technical capabilities were simply insufficient to break through that insanely flawed genetic code.

Ultimately, only one conclusion can be drawn: these Space Marine are the product of a special genetic engineering project, and they can gradually evolve according to different environments, eventually perfectly adapting to any legion.

The person who created them was definitely a figure who was a generation ahead of the empire in genetic engineering research.

But none of that is the most important thing. The most important thing is that the researchers detected a special code on the Blood Ravens. When compared with the existing files, the only one that matches the model is the Adeptus Custodes.

Upon learning of this result, Kaul, who had just been promoted to Arch-Magos of Forging, immediately sealed all experimental records.

After all, prohibiting Blasphemous Experiment is one of the Empire's principles, but what if it's something done based on principles themselves? They can't investigate everything!

When the report was placed before the Primarch, everyone fell silent as they looked at the pitiful Space Marine Marines staring at them.

Based on the existing clues and the fact that the other party emerged from the Webway and suffered amnesia, the Primarchs have reason to suspect that it was the Emperor's doing, and that their genetic father is very likely the brother whose name cannot be revealed.

A fact that no one wanted to face was now before them: these Blood Ravens were very likely the Emperor's replacement for the existing legions.

If the memories of Mordred hadn't disappeared, the Primarch wouldn't have thought that way, but the problem is that all memories of Mordred are gone.

This wasn't the Primarch's wild speculation, but a reasonable deduction based on existing clues. Zhuang Sen knew this best, after all, the First Legion had also participated in the extermination of the Thunder Warriors.

Like everyone else, the remaining 782 Atlas had lost their memories of Mordred after leaving the Webway, and even the contents of their diaries were unclear. But this did not prevent them from piecing together the final mission called Operation Paperclip from the fragmented information.

In other words, they should develop stealthily and wait for the return of the Gene-Father.

As for how to develop stealthily, Tom had already done his homework, which is why they appeared at this time and attracted Malcador's attention.

Seeing the Primarchs having a small meeting, Tom knew that the first step of the plan had succeeded, and immediately spoke up:

"Your Highnesses, we Blood Ravens have a secret mission: to safeguard supplies for our Gene-Lord. I have already informed the Arch-Magos, and now we await our Gene-Father to come and receive them."

Before we discuss our ownership, may I first take you to the Webway to inspect these supplies?

"Supplies! How much?"

"Not many, just a tiny fraction. Oh, right, there are also three Battle Moon."