Outlander 34

Chapter 36 34. Outlander

Emperor's Dream, laboratory.

"My Emperor, the test subject's body has been fully healed, and current vital signs are stable."

"Data indicates his physical strength can now withstand the modification procedure."

"Prepare for surgery."

The Emperor put down the golden quill in his hand and stood up from the workbench. He was wearing a simple, standard white lab coat, the tailored fit subtly revealing golden threads beneath.

He rose and walked to the two-meter-tall nutrient tank. The blue nutrient fluid shimmered, countless bubbles rising from the bottom. Dense, thick tubes extended from the top of the tank, plunging directly into the figure suspended within the liquid.

Hades, eyes tightly closed, floated naked and unconscious in the nutrient tank. After treatment and nutritional replenishment, his already impressive 1.9-meter height had increased further, appearing to be a solid two meters tall – a truly massive man.

Countless scars crisscrossed his limbs, but surprisingly, his torso bore few marks.

But what drew the eye most was the giant's head.

His hair had been shaved, and the left half of his head was now a gleaming, metallic bionic brain. Through the transparent outer casing, a dense network of cables was neatly arranged, flickering with light.

A massive scar vertically cleaved his left face, starting from the top of his head. The scar formed a crude, inverted triangle, running from the mechanical brain to the tip of his chin.

Hades' left eye had also been replaced with a bionic one, a simple model with a red, mechanical circular eye that glowed red.

Initially, the Adeptus Mechanicus researchers suggested using bio-engineering to allow Hades' left brain to regenerate naturally.

But the Emperor rejected this proposal, instead choosing to install a mechanical left hemisphere that was semi-independent of his biology.

The researchers were slightly puzzled but silently followed the Emperor's decision.

The nutrient fluid in the tank was about to be drained. A beeping sound rang out, and the liquid began to flow rapidly, as if boiling.

The Emperor looked through the glass of the nutrient tank at Hades inside.

Hades' eyelids trembled slightly, but he did not awaken.

The Emperor placed a finger on the glass, tracing a few lines as if at random.

A faint golden light flashed across Hades' head.

+Caution is a virtue, but sometimes it is unnecessary.+

+I hope you can fulfill the destiny I have chosen for you, Outlander.+

[Outlander]

The world the Emperor inhabited consisted of the physical universe and the Warp.

But what lay beyond the world?

Chaotic, formless turbulence.

Even the Warp, bizarre as it seemed to ordinary people, had its own rules.

The Chaos Gods acted in accordance with the world's original rules, but some Gods sought to touch what lay beyond.

The Warp needed to expand.

The games of the Gods should not be confined to a single world.

Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways, was the first to try. It attempted to expand the Warp's reach, or perhaps to break the rules within this world.

And then, it succeeded in creating a small hole in the Warp, breaking a corner of this world.

Chaotic, disordered turbulence erupted, annihilating all laws it encountered.

Fortunately, the damage to this world was not extensive, and Tzeentch used its power to repair the breach.

But the barriers of this world had been weakened by this attempt.

Whether as a punishment from the world's rules for the Lord of Change, or merely by chance...

Beside this world, separated by countless turbulent currents, was a world composed entirely of physical laws.

There was a tiny probability that beings from that physical world would be randomly swept into this world by the turbulence.

These lucky or unlucky little creatures were like walking rifts in the world, absorbing all the Warp energies around them and throwing them into the turbulence.

Because they themselves came from a physical world, they did not reject the laws of the physical world. In the physical world, they existed in their original form.

If these beings were not dealt with, the rifts in the Warp would grow larger and larger until it collapsed into the chaotic turbulence.

But this was not good news for humanity either.

The humans of this world were not purely physical beings; they had their own soul projections in the Warp.

If the Warp was destroyed, humanity would cease to exist.

So the Emperor and the Chaos Gods had their own tacit agreement.

If an Outlander was encountered, destroy it.

If an Outlander was encountered, destroy its physical body. With only physical laws supporting the body, these beings would cease to exist.

But now, with the Emperor meeting Hades, the agreement was rewritten.

A single Outlander wouldn't pose much of a threat to this world, and besides, those Warp entities had long been stirring again.

Even if the Emperor didn't intervene, Tzeentch would break the agreement.

Greed, very good.

The Emperor thought.

Few Outlanders can pass through the Warp's turbulence, and even fewer can fall onto a habitable planet and survive.

Even fewer can land on Barbarus, a planet governed by Nurgle, and avoid being controlled by Tzeentch from the start.

And even rarer is an Outlander with his own good qualities.

The Emperor saw Hades in Mortarion's memories, saw Hades who sacrificed himself to help Mortarion kill the Aliens.

This deal won't be a loss.

The Emperor thought.

But it still depends on Hades' own performance.

Hades, this is just a seemingly insignificant one of the Emperor's countless backup plans. At this stage, he won't waste too much attention on it, nor can he afford to waste too much energy on it.

+Good luck.+

The Emperor reached out and pressed his entire palm against the glass, and suddenly, golden light erupted!

The Emperor's long hair scattered in the blast of energy.

In the Warp, the outside of the pitch-black rift was instantly enveloped in a layer of golden light. The golden light violently compressed the Null Field, and the originally somewhat weak Null Field began to struggle!

At the same time, in the nutrient tank, Hades, floating in the nutrient solution, also began to struggle! His limbs twitched and trembled unconsciously.

The Null Field slammed around inside the enclosure, trying to escape the golden light's encirclement.

But how could the originally tiny Null Field be a match for the vast golden light?

The Null Field quickly quieted down, allowing the golden light to compress it.

When the Null Field was compressed to a size slightly smaller than a human figure, the golden light stopped advancing.

The golden light retreated slightly, then gradually faded, disappearing until it became imperceptible.

"Surgery can begin."

The golden light in the laboratory was like a fleeting dream, and the Emperor still stood there, his calm expression seemingly pondering something.

This is a cage.

But whether this cage is to defend against external malice or to trap the monster inside remains unknown.

Happy reading ('ω')

I'm very sorry that I may add a lot of original settings or change some settings based on the original settings for the sake of the novel's rationality. I'm really sorry to the comrades who like to read the original flavor. I really can't write that kind of article with my writing skills and brain.

I also hope everyone can recommend some resources about 30k. There's too much information, and it's overwhelming.