Beginning Cooperation

As the Blood Angels arrived, the various machines and personnel throughout Huaxia began to be withdrawn and redeployed.

In particular, after both sides worked together to overcome the barrier to exchanging information, the sharing and research of various technologies quickly grew feverish.

The Tech-Sergeants carefully placed storage devices containing all kinds of technology into their toolkits.

Meanwhile, the scientists stared excitedly at the long list of technology names displayed on their computer screens.

Anti-gravity! Power Weapons! New alloy materials...

In particular, both sides began jointly researching and developing mechs, a new field of technology.

Dullens had even brought out a Pickaxe Hammer and a Monofilament Dagger from somewhere, both engraved with various passages from the Imperial Creed. He used them to carve the Imperial Creed into the outer armor of the experimental mechs that were about to be installed.

The chapter master, Affos, even suggested that after they returned, they should reduce the mechs in size. By combining them with Dreadnought technology, veterans who had completely lost their limbs could enter them.

The proposal won the unanimous approval of every battle-brother in the chapter. However, in the eyes of the scientists who understood the specifics, it clearly violated human rights and morality.

But that was the current state of Warhammer 40k!

The mechs were manufactured smoothly. Thanks to Huaxia's powerful entire industrial chain and terrifying manufacturing capabilities, once part of the technology had been analyzed, all the components were gathered in just half a month, followed by a month of assembly and production.

But the outer armor still wasn't installed until much later.

That was because every piece of outer armor had to be engraved with the Imperial Creed. According to tradition, each stroke should even be accompanied by a grand act of worship, similar to kowtowing three times and bowing nine times, to praise the Emperor.

Dullens had initially wanted to do that as well. But by the final stage, he still hadn't finished engraving even the armor on a single foot. The chapter master, who had regained the ability to move, knocked him unconscious with one punch.

Then, under the chapter master's orders, all the Blood Angels began using their Monofilament Daggers to carve the Codex Astartes into every part of the armor.

As for poor Dullens, after waking up from being knocked unconscious by the chapter master, he was ordered to kneel on one knee before the enormous mech. Holding the Codex Astartes in both hands, he began reciting it devoutly.

The other battle-brothers listened to his recitation and began engraving the armor in various places!

Quan Tiehua watched this scene and sniffed. For some reason, it reminded him of the Perfect City during the Great Crusade.

Those bastards of the Word Bearers and their great father, Lorgar, were practically religious fanatics. They called the Emperor a god.

But because of matters concerning the Warp, the Emperor rejected that title. And because those fellows wanted to spread faith in the Emperor, they slowed the progress of the Great Crusade. The Emperor then ordered the Word Bearers to kneel on the ground and watch as the Ultramarines destroyed their Perfect City.

Because of these events, when the rebellion finally began, the Word Bearers collectively sided with Chaos.

But the ridiculous thing was...

Lorgar, who had already become a Chaos Daemon Prince, could never have imagined that the Codex Astartes he had written—and which the Emperor had deemed heretical—would, after the Emperor took his seat upon the Golden Throne, become one of the important pillars protecting the entire Imperium of Humanity.

That enormous irony would have been unbearable to anyone.

What was even more unbearable was that after becoming a Daemon Prince, he was often driven into a breakdown by believers who worshiped the Emperor while holding up the Imperial Creed Codex he had once written!

This was truly a case of filial piety between a benevolent father and a devoted son—an absolute spectacle of filial devotion!

Watching Dullens kneeling below and reciting the Codex Astartes, Quan Tiehua tried even harder to sniff back his laughter.

Dullens, meanwhile, had no idea why this scene felt so familiar. It was an intensely familiar feeling—and a very bad one.

Even after finishing the recitation, when he raised his head to look at the brothers engraving the armor in various places,

he always felt that some of them seemed to be secretly laughing!

After the final piece of armor had been secured, the chapter master, Affos, removed his Power Armour and put on a specially made outfit with a plastic-like texture.

The difference was that the interfaces on his body, which should have connected to the Power Armour, were exposed.

This was a technology developed jointly by the Tech-Sergeants and the scientists.

They had combined neural interfacing with the technology used in Power Armour, allowing an Astartes to pilot a mech that was almost second only to an Emperor-class Titan.

As a disk descended from above, mechanical tentacles extended from it one after another, then began securing themselves to each interface in turn.

The instant the interfaces connected, the neural-integration figures on the laboratory screens suddenly leaped, then stabilized and began progressing like an electronic heartbeat monitor.

With the first step a success, various experiments followed. Chainsword technology was installed on both sides of the arms, creating retractable Chainsword weapons.

But because of material limitations, and because this was an experimental machine, its saw blades did not use monofilament. In any case, the technology and experimental data were all here. At worst, they could return to the Imperium, run the experiment again, and replace the materials.

The entire mech was also equipped with Anti-gravity devices. And to adapt it to the Imperium's special environment,

most of the mech was assembled in a modular fashion. For example, its internal structure and external armor.

If they wanted to use mass-produced cannon fodder, they could simply change the materials. They could find any machine—even a stamping press from the current twenty-first or twenty-second century—and use it to stamp out these parts in batches. Then they could slap on an engine and a few other components, and it would become a proper cannon-fodder mech!

The mech also had weapon-mounting slots in its shoulders, head, waist, and legs, all built according to the Tech-Sergeants' instructions.

This was so that after returning to the Imperium, they could simply pick up the weapon cables, connect them, fit everything together, tighten the screws, and use the weapons immediately.

Four small Plasma Rapid Fire Cannons modeled after plasma pistols were mounted on both sides of the head.

Although they were rapid-fire cannons, their obvious flaw meant that they could only fire rapidly for one minute before needing to cool down.

Still, that was good enough. After testing, their projectiles proved capable of piercing straight through an Astartes with every shot.

A huge recessed slide rail had also been left on the back of the enormous mech. This was so that it could be equipped with a void shield after returning to the Imperium.

After all, the Blood Angels had designated its role as a highly mobile, close-combat Titan designed for rapid breakthroughs.

Without a void shield, it might be blasted into pieces by a single enemy shot during a charge.

"The experiment succeeded!"

As each scheduled experiment was completed and marked as qualified, the mech's experimental program also came to a perfect end.

However, because this mech was an experimental model, and many subsequent technologies could not be analyzed and manufactured in a short time, many of its components were merely simplified substitute systems.