He looked like a faint cluster of golden light drifting through the dark underground passages.
The Servitors and combat robots tasked with defense failed to notice the inconspicuous speck of light at all.
Their attention had been drawn to the chaos on the surface.
"The eastern sector is under massive invasion!"
"The Titan foundry sector requests reinforcements!"
"Warning! Explosive activity detected!"
The communications channels were filled with urgent calls.
Most of the troops responsible for underground defense had been diverted to reinforce the surface.
The few remaining guards watched the main passages nervously, afraid those crazed Gretchin might suddenly pop out of some corner.
No one noticed a tiny speck of golden light making its way down through the neglected secondary passages.
The underground structures of Mars were extraordinarily complex.
Over ten thousand years, the Adeptus Mechanicus had built countless furnaces, laboratories, and storerooms here.
These facilities were stacked layer upon layer, forming an enormous underground labyrinth.
At the deepest point of that labyrinth lay the Adeptus Mechanicus's most secret forbidden zone.
It housed the most dangerous creations, the most forbidden knowledge, and the Shard of the Void Dragon.
Liu Zhipeng continued his descent.
His surroundings gradually began to change.
The metal walls, with their mechanical elegance, began to give way to more ancient structures.
The walls no longer bore the Chapter Icons of the Adeptus Mechanicus, but more primitive symbols. They gave off a faint golden glow, clearly inscribed with psychic power.
"The Emperor's handiwork." Liu Zhipeng recognized the symbols. "Looks like I'm getting close."
After descending several hundred more meters, he finally saw his target.
It was an enormous door.
No, rather than a door, it was more like a wall. A wall made of pure gold.
Its surface was covered in dizzyingly complex runes. They flickered constantly,