Warhammer: In the Name of Nirvana

A corpse lies on the operating table.

A corpse named Angron.

When Morgan first stepped into the laboratory of the Lord of Mankind, she saw him. He was lying on the operating table in the center of the room, surrounded by at least twenty Gothic lanterns, but she still couldn't get rid of the feeling. The gloomy air of death.

The Spider Queen looked at her brother, looking at her corpse-like brother.

Then she smiled.

[If I hadn’t personally experienced all the causes and consequences, I would really think that my brother is dead now: look at his chest and muscles. Compared with humans, they are more twisted like a legendary monster, but here There was still a hint of tranquility on Zhang's face. 】

Having said this, Morgan blinked and mentally sketched out an absurd but somewhat rational idea. Then, she happily threw the idea to the Lord of Humanity who was placing the utensils aside.

[Maybe it would be a good idea to let Angron sleep like he is now: after all, I am afraid that only in a complete faint can he get rid of the constant influence of the Butcher's Nail and seize the time to take a good rest. 】

As she spoke, the original body looked at her genetic father, while the Emperor showed no concern about this. The serious look from behind made Morgan curl his lips in displeasure and focus his gaze on Angron again. : This time, the Spider Queen’s words were somewhat sincere.

[I bet that Angron has never really rested since he was driven into the Butcher's Nail: he may not have closed his eyes for several months. This level of mental exhaustion is enough to To drain away the sanity of any Primarch. 】

[At this point, we cannot accuse Angron of his own cowardice. 】

Hearing this, the emperor paused and just nodded.

+ Indeed, this is something we have to take into consideration: but it is of little use to our next topic, and you do not need to excuse No. 12. The mistakes he made are obvious to all. +

[…I’m not excusing him. 】

+ It doesn’t matter. +

The Lord of Mankind put down his drawings, turned around, took away another pile of files that his daughter had placed on the filing cabinet, and took out a gray-white uniform from the secret compartment on the left and stuffed it into into Morgan's hands.

+Put it on. +

[What’s the use of this? 】

+This is respect for science. +

There was a different kind of stubbornness in the emperor's words: Morgan raised his brows and said nothing.

This is a set of scientific research protective clothing that is specially used when conducting experimental work under high-risk conditions. Although for the Lord of Mankind and his daughter, this suit of clothing is actually of no use because it is used by them. The passively triggered psychic shield that wraps around the entire body is the best protective device in the galaxy, but the Lord of Mankind obviously likes to focus on these details to make himself look more like a mortal.

As for Morgan, there was no reason to compete with her father on such a small issue. She glanced at the protective suit in her hand, then stretched out two fingers, carefully kneading its rough surface, and endured it. She kept nodding: Although this suit was of no use to her, it was indeed the best-performing protective suit that the original body had ever seen.

She didn't use any force, but it still couldn't be torn apart.

[You don’t mind if I take this suit of clothes away after the experiment is completed, father. 】

Morgan's inquiry received the silent acquiescence of his genetic father, which made the Lord of Avalon feel a little brighter: only needing to give her the shortest time, the profound wisdom of the Primarch can allow Morgan to make this costume Thoroughly understand the raw materials and process details to create the most perfect imitation.

Although the Lord of Avalon herself does not use this kind of clothing, she has a large scientific research team under her hands, as well as a large number of mortal engineers who are engaged in relatively dangerous work: these elites are all from the Far East An important asset of the frontier, and the mass production of this imperial-style protective clothing is enough to reduce their accidental casualty rate by dozens of percentages.

Just like that, out of the joy of getting another gold coin from her old father, the Lord of Avalon put herself into the large protective suit while listening to the Emperor's explanation of how the Primarch was created. , memories of some details.

+ When I designed you, I did not deprive you of the mechanism to restore energy through sleep and rest: in other words, the most basic operating logic of this creature cannot be violated by existing science and technology. +

In front of his daughter, the Lord of Mankind made no secret of his powerlessness on certain issues. Even in the field of biological sciences where he is best at, he is definitely not omnipotent: even if it is like the original body Miracle Creation also involves compromise and giving up on many issues.

+ There are actually many compromises like this: for example, I once wanted to limit the wolf blood in Leman Russ, or eliminate Perturabo's natural ability to see certain things. vision, but ultimately failed. Compared with them, No. 12's situation was more difficult. +

+After all, when it comes to your technical issues, I have always been doing additions, and this time, I have to do a great subtraction: even for me, this can be called a challenge. . +

The Lord of Mankind seemed to be trying hard to maintain the atmosphere in the laboratory at a more efficient level. After arranging everything, he strode to the operating table where Angron was placed, accompanied by his Two fingers waved slightly in the air, and the entire laboratory came alive in that moment.

The machine started to play, the gears began to move, and the unknown liquid gurgled in the pipes that spread throughout the room. They entangled the cylinders filled with nutrient-rich gel like snakes. Glass containers, and within these gels, are stored a variety of strange organs, some of which are obviously not human, or even any humanoid creature.

The powerful shadowless lamp replaced the dim Gothic lighting. From far to near, every trace of haze in the laboratory was quickly dispelled. The various ancient taboo knowledge posted on the walls and blackboards were clearly revealed. : Obviously, they are all those [mediocre knowledges] that are so safe that the Emperor is not afraid of Morgan taking the opportunity to copy them.

But the original gene had no time to worry about these priceless treasures for the time being. She pulled the zipper under her crotch and chest, and with great effort for a while, she wrapped her body into the scientist uniform. When Morgan walked to the operating table When she stood next to her genetic father, she found that the Emperor was pressing Angron's muscles while focusing his attention on several monitors nearby.

I don't know if it's a habit or some other reason, but the biological data flipping up and down on the display screen, apart from numbers, are all ancient Nordic characters: Fortunately, among the more than 10,000 languages ​​​​the Primarch masters, , there is no shortage of ancient Nordic prose groups.

Then again, originally, Morgan only mastered 7,641 different languages ​​in the entire old empire, just dialects, code words and slang. This is the standard for every Primarch, but considering this For decades, among the spirits souls that the Lord of Avalon held in his arms and gnawed at, there was no shortage of folklore researchers inherited from the ancient empire. Therefore, the Spider Queen has mastered more than 3,000 new kinds of souls. The language allows her to speak more than 10,000 languages ​​proficiently: including but not limited to Eldar language, Necron language, and even Orc language.

Morgan can even accurately grasp the subtle differences between the three different Eldar dialects: the Ark Eldar, the Troupe Harlequins, and the Dark Eldar of Commorragh, and effortlessly uses the oldest and standard Eldar language. , write a whole book of poems.

+The situation of No. 12 is a little worse than we imagined: I spent two days checking every corner of his body, and except for Conrad, he should be in the worst condition I have ever encountered. of the original body. +

The emperor's words interrupted the brief memories in Morgan's mind. The Lord of Mankind pressed his fingers on Angron's chest. The tiny circuits on the protective suit released ultrasonic waves, exploring the inner situation and transmitting the data. Returning to the display screen: in the room, there was only the tapping of data and Angron's groan of pain.

As a result, the schematic diagram of the Son of the Mountain's skull, brain, and spine was clearly displayed on the display screen. Morgan observed the shapes while filtering the various data explained to her by the Lord of Humanity.

+ Observation of No. 12’s body surface shows that at least 94% of his skin has been hit or cut. In addition, there are at least 30 long-term injuries in his body: he may have received several formal medical treatments. Although No. 12 also had some signs of malnutrition, they were highly concentrated in the recent period. For a few months, he had maintained a pretty good nutritional profile for the dozen or so years before that. +

[After all, he is a gladiator, and not a disposable second-rate thing: as an important personal property, even if it is just for his usable value, the treatment he has always received will not be any worse. 】

Morgan's eyes quickly scanned Angron's limbs and bones, and she found no problems worthy of attention: all the problems of the Son of the Mountain were concentrated in his head.

[In other words...]

+That's right. +

The Emperor nodded.

+ The only thing we have to solve is the Butcher's Nail: Fortunately, we have no shortage of information about this ancient atrocity, nor are we short of relevant researchers. +

After saying that, the Lord of Humanity handed his daughter a thick stack of papers.

+ These are written materials from the [Ixacion Cellar]. The vault has now been closed. All relics and documents are not allowed to be archived and have been destroyed. The Butcher's Nail happens to be one of the collections, but It is called [Heartbreaker] there. +

Morgan took the scroll and quietly read the information that should have been destroyed, while her father continued to surround Angron, busy with something, and his originally white gloves and sleeves were gradually soaked red with blood.

The Primarch read the information, which may have been hundreds of thousands of words, as quickly as possible and came to his own conclusion.

[In other words, the Butcher’s Nail did not just penetrate deeply into Angron’s head: it replaced an entire brain area in Angron’s brain tissue, and the lobes and insula that originally existed in this brain area The leaves and cortical structures had been surgically removed before the butcher's nail was embedded? 】

+ Yes, this is the biggest problem we have to face. +

The Emperor held his hands and nodded, not even looking at Morgan.

+ It’s not that we can’t remove this butcher’s nail, but it’s because the butcher’s nail has replaced those vital brain organs: Although No. 12 has the same excellent recovery ability as you, but his The stripped brain lobes, insula and cortical structures are so important to the operation of life. Once we peel off the Butcher's Nail, his life will be reduced before his recovery ability can fully restore these brain structures. Lost everything. +

+So, before he was beaten into the Butcher's Summit, the fate of No. 12 was already determined: I am very curious about how the natives on Nuceria did it after stripping off the brain tissue. Within a minute, the Butcher's Nail was accurately driven into it, but unfortunately, all the information related to it has been destroyed in that world by your extermination order. +

[I have no regrets about this. 】

Morgan put away these scrolls, her brows raised high. At this moment, the Lord of Avalon actually felt a little regretful: Her punishment of Nuceria was so easy, those high-level riders They were just massacred, and this world was just killed in an instant under the light of the extermination order. The pain they caused was not worthy of such a clean and tidy gift.

She should have captured the souls of those high-level riders and found time to torture them: Unfortunately, in the highly confrontational situation with the God of Blood, Morgan had no time to pay attention to these issues at the time, and could only let them become sighs. What a pity.

+So, this is the situation we are facing now. +

The Emperor's narration continued.

+ This situation is a little worse than I originally expected: I made the plan based on the data of the Heartbreaker, and the function of the Butcher's Nail is far more powerful than the Heartbreaker. Within the scope of my ability, I Couldn't get it out of Twelve's mind. +

[Can’t you just replace it? 】

Morgan pointed at the shadows covered by black tendrils on the display screen.

[We are all your creations, and Angron is no exception. Every inch of our body was created by your own hands: therefore, you cannot create a batch of brain lobes, insula and cortical structures and put them in An In Gronn's mind? 】

+Not enough time. +

The emperor shook his head: he had obviously anticipated this plan.

+ I may be able to recreate the brain structure of a batch of original bodies, or use mechanical methods to create some substitutes. The latter method is relatively more feasible: but even I cannot do it. Within a minute, these brain structures were accurately embedded into No. 12's mind, not to mention taking time to fuse these substitute players with the original brain structures. +

+ In fact, I am not sure at all whether No. 12 can survive for more than one minute after peeling off the Butcher's Nails: this number is the most optimistic prediction I can give based on the physiological limits of the original body. Valuation. +

+ This also needs to take into account No. 12’s own desire to survive: but unfortunately, he is surprisingly lacking in this aspect, so the most likely situation is that when the tendrils of the Butcher’s Nail have not been completely peeled off, Ten Number Two's vital signs will stop running. +

After the Emperor finished telling all this, these crucial facts made the Lord of Mankind frown in an extremely rare way. The words in his mouth were so heavy that they were loud and clear. Then, he turned his eyes to his daughter: Morgan is here Standing there, she looked troubled by the emperor's words, but she did not lose her perseverance to continue working hard here.

This made the Emperor nod.

+So, in this case, I brought you here: because the plan No. 666 that Q provided to me before is already the most feasible solution under the current situation. , I hope you are fully aware of every detail of this plan. +

[Knowing everything is impossible, father, after all, he himself is an adventure. 】

Morgan smiled.

[However, I can start this plan immediately at any time: Do you need me to tell you again the main purpose of Plan No. 666? After all, I gave it away along with hundreds of other scrapped cases. you. 】

+...+

+ Let’s talk about it again. +

The emperor nodded: Somehow, he felt that this was necessary.

【OK. 】

Morgan nodded, bypassed the presence of the Lord of Humanity, and walked straight to the side of the huge operating table, facing Angron's terrifying skull: beside her, her genetic father was stretched out He took out his hand and placed it on Angron's head. The next moment, on the display screen facing them, Angron's skull that was completely integrated with the implant's tentacles appeared, as well as speckled... Surgical scars.

Standing here, Morgan could clearly see the inside and outside of the Butcher: You know. Although it is just a nail, the Butcher's Nail is a real big thing. After all, Angron is a big man among the original bodies. His head alone is comparable to the chest of a Space Marine, and it covers him The Butcher's Nail of the entire head is actually so huge that the Primarch's field of vision can find countless gaps in it.

The sheer size of the Butcher's Nail just provides Morgan with room to play.

She pointed at the gaps and showed a determined smile towards the Emperor.

[Yes, we cannot peel off Angron's head with the Butcher's Nail. 】

[Yes, we cannot stop the operation pattern of the Butcher's Nail: as long as it senses that Angron is not killing, the simple and cruel operation program will operate, releasing pain into Angron's mind. 】

[Yes, we can't stop the Butcher's Nail from killing Angron's other emotions: except for the short-term joy he enjoyed when killing, Angron would only maintain a numb and dead silence for most of his life. Even I don't have the slightest solution to this problem. 】

[But besides that, if we change our thinking a little bit...]

Morgan licked her lips, her ears ringing with crazy laughter.

[Although we cannot pull the Butcher's Nail out of Angron's mind, considering that the implant itself is so huge, it is so huge that it is comparable to the palm of my hand, and it does not have What advanced self-protection measures...]

Morgan's fingers approached the gaps. The largest gaps could even allow the Primarch's fingers to penetrate deep into them: naturally allowing for the insertion of more delicate objects.

[In other words: Although we cannot eliminate the Butcher's Nail itself, this does not mean that we cannot make a small...reconstruction of the Butcher's Nail. 】

[And this is the basis of Plan No. 666. 】

The original body slowly drew three circles in mid-air with one finger, forming a triangle shape, and drew respective dotted lines in the three circles: From a psychic perspective, every movement of Morgan will appear in the void. It leaves real traces in it, like there's an invisible blackboard there.

[We all know that the operation procedure of Butcher's Nail is divided into three steps: first, observe whether Angron is killing, if not. You will enter the second program. 】

[The main body in the brain issues instructions, causing the tendrils that penetrate deep into the cerebral cortex and even the spine to release pain to Angron through stimulation: this is the second procedure. 】

[Then, these tendrils will receive instructions. This is the third process. 】

[Since these programs exist, it means that there must be a connection between them. 】

Morgan clicked three circles, and then made a horizontal cut between the second and third circles she drew, ruthlessly breaking the line connecting the two circles.

[What we have to do is to insert a little program of our own between the second and third programs: We cannot prevent the body in the brain from feeling whether Angron is killing, but when the body issues instructions , we can make slight changes to this command. 】

[Just by adding some small additional devices to this body that is so huge that it covers Angron's entire skull, and maybe adding a little bit of alien technology, we can interfere with its running program: just like you As I just said, you are very good at addition. 】

[After the interference, the main body will still issue instructions to release pain, but this command will no longer be given to each cortex or the tendrils on the spine, but will be given to the lower-level units we prepared for the main body, so that those Lower-level units release pain so that the tendrils cannot receive orders. 】

[To put it simply, this is a bit like a coding problem. 】

The primarch smiled.

[Through this plan, although we cannot erase the Butcher's Nail itself, we can erase most or even all of the pain it caused to Angron. Without these constant pain, the Butcher's Nail will give Angron The impact will be suppressed to the maximum extent: there may still be some inconveniences, but the biggest problem has been solved. 】

[Angron will no longer be tortured by constant pain, and he can think and rest normally: As for his emotional problems, although there is no solution, his situation is definitely much better than before. 】

[To sum up, this is the solution to problem No. 666. 】

Morgan spread his hands and gently stroked the brutal tendrils.

[Rather than completely solving or giving up completely, I prefer to use compromise and other subtle methods to solve these problems that trouble us: Fortunately, this view is still effective for now. 】

[But the only problem is...]

Having said this, the Lord of Avalon's smile finally became a little forced, and she looked at her genetic father, whom she already knew about. The Emperor seemed not to care about that [problem].

+I know. +

The Lord of Mankind nodded.

+ At the end of this plan, you highlighted the only hidden danger: Although Plan No. 666 can solve the pain caused by the Butcher's Nail to No. 12, it cannot solve the pain it has increasingly penetrated into No. 12's mind. middle. +

Morgan smiled bitterly and shook his head.

[On the contrary, because he can't feel pain, Angron will have a lot of time not to be killed. This state will accelerate the penetration of the Butcher's Nail: after at most two centuries, this nail will It will completely penetrate into the depths of Angron's brain. 】

[At that time, his thinking organs will be more damaged, his thinking ability will be irreparably lost, and he will behave very much like those among mortals...]

+Alzheimer's disease patients. +

The ruthless voice of the Lord of Mankind echoed throughout the room.

He couldn't care less.

+But by then: none of this will matter. +