Behind the door, everything was utterly different from the hellish scene outside.
It was a small room, one that could even be called tidy.
There was no overpowering stench of rot in the air, only the faint scent of nutrient solution and ozone. The backup power here was clearly still working, and soft white light illuminated the room.
At the center of the room stood a single small incubation pod.
"Sniff... sniff..."
The sound came from that pod.
Horus stepped forward. Through the transparent lid, he saw a tiny figure curled up in white biofoam.
It was a baby.
A... breathtakingly beautiful baby.
He had silvery-white downy hair and skin as smooth as jade. Even in his sleep, his little face was scrunched up, as though he were enduring immense sorrow.
Horus's mind reeled.
As a diehard Warhammer fan, a name had come to him almost the instant he saw the baby.
"No... no way?" Liu Zhipeng muttered.
He reached out and pressed the pod's release switch.
Hiss-
The airtight seal disengaged, and the lid slowly rose.
The moment the lid opened, the faint sobbing stopped.
As though sensing the change in the air outside, or perhaps the immense biological magnetic field of a Primarch emanating from Horus, the baby opened his eyes.
What extraordinary eyes they were.
Violet eyes.
Clear, bright, without a trace of impurity.
Yet beneath that clarity surged wisdom, pride, pain, and endless sorrow that had no place in an infant.
When those violet eyes met Horus's eagle-sharp golden gaze-
Time seemed to stop.
Holy shit! Liu Zhipeng swore in Chinese inside his head.
The Phoenix.
Fulgrim.
Before the Horus Heresy, he had been the Emperor's perfect creation, the Primarch of the Third Legion, the Emperor's Children.
Liu Zhipeng felt his temples throbbing. He remembered now.