"Aoyama Khan?"

The Praetorian soldier spoke.

His voice was calm and powerful.

In line with people's imagination of the Imperial Guard.

"It's me."

Fu Qinghai slowly got up and said.

Sid Nora also stood up unconsciously.

"Come with me."

After the forbidden army finished speaking, he turned around and walked out.

Fu Qinghai and Sid Nora looked at each other.

……

The two followed the forbidden soldier all the way to the surface of the fortress, passing by a control panel in the passage, Fu Qinghai raised his hand seemingly casually and touched it, and a stream of purple gelatinous liquid gushed out and swam into his palm along the gap.

The steel gates opened in both directions, and the gloomy light from outside the fortress shone into the dark passage, and with the light came a whistling cold wind mixed with ice slag and snowflakes. The three of them stepped onto the surface, and an Orion gunboat painted in dark gold and crimson was already waiting quietly on the tarmac.

……

The Orion gunboats whizzed across the sky.

Fu Qinghai sat by the window and looked down on the scenery below.

The Janissary transport gunboats flew fast and did not take long to reach the Himalayas from the Antarctic continent. Fu Qinghai looked at the city walls, their silhouettes half-hidden in the hazy morning, and the towering sharp domes shimmered in the snow-covered glow.

The Female Wall is more than fifty kilometers away, but still dominates the northern horizon and is as mighty as the mountains that now serve as its foundations. And in the east, the morning sun had risen, and the sun's rays tried to pierce the drifting clouds of smoke, casting faint and dirty specks of light on steel and pure gold.

Fu Qinghai had never looked at the palace from this position, and even when he looked at this holy place from such a distance, the epic grandeur still made him feel a little dizzy.

The glow of the rising sun in Terra illuminates the haze that pollutes the atmosphere. The onion spires that rise above the clouds are not only a grand ornament of the landscape, but also a signal control center. Missile launchers for interception are also installed on the multi-level observation deck outside. Explosion-proof shields were also erected between the classical Gothic-style buttresses and the pheasant moats.

This is a fortification left over from the Fist of the Empire's defense at Terra's Palace, and it has not been completely demolished. The combination of these cold military installations and the ornate decorations of the palace reminded Fu Qinghai that it had not been long since the tragic siege of Terra.

At the moment it is 31.

The Palace is the largest building on the surface of Terra, and is more of an alternative hive than a single building, covering much of the Northern Hemisphere, and is referred to by some as "an endless dark hive of forbidden technology and underground tunnels deep into the surface". As the administrative center of the empire, the Imperial Sanctuary with the Golden Throne was located here. The entire palace is divided into an outer hall and an inner hall, and it is said that it costs billions of Terra government personnel just to keep the outer hall area functioning.

Fu Qinghai had never entered the Terra Palace.

Not to mention, the inner sanctum area of Terra Palace.

The Orion gunboat landed steadily in the square in front of the Gate of Eternity. The Eternal Gate is the largest entrance to the Imperial Palace, a towering gate with a mile-long avenue flanked by heroes who have made great contributions to the Empire. Gunboats cannot land directly in the inner sanctum area, but can only be parked outside the Gate of Eternity.

The three men walked down the gunboat cabin one by one.

At intervals on both sides of the avenue, a gold-armored Forbidden Army guard stood with a spear, and their polished golden armor shone in the early morning sun, which was by no means different from the matte color of the Space Marine's terracotta armor, which was extremely high-profile and eye-catching. Fu Qinghai didn't know how many people were left in the current Wanfu Troupe, and just looking at the scale in front of the Gate of Eternity, there was quite a lot.

"Over here, Aoyama Khan."

The leader of the Praetorian Army raised his hand.

His tone was not friendly, but it didn't contain any other emotions, and it was simply cold. Along the way, Fu Qinghai asked him anything, but he didn't answer, and it was difficult for Fu Qinghai to deduce from his tone and tone what the purpose of this trip was, and who summoned him in the palace.

Fu Qinghai followed the forbidden army and walked forward.

Actually, the answer is already on the horizon, isn't it?

There are only two people in the entire universe who can command the Praetorian Army.

One is the commander of the forbidden army.

Another person......

He who sits on the golden throne.

As he walked, Fu Qinghai glanced up at the huge intricate reliefs on the Gate of Eternity: a golden-armored giant with a white halo behind his head, holding a spear to pierce a scaly dragon. I wonder if it's the legendary Star God Void Dragon?

At the same time, I was silently analyzing in my heart: I don't know the commander of the forbidden army, so there is only one answer...... But the question is, hasn't the emperor been turned into a carrion? Why can I still issue orders to the outside world? How did Lao Deng know about me?

Crystal statue of St. Giles......

Fu Qinghai seemed to have guessed the answer.

He traveled back from 700 years later, because of the statue that was resurrected in the subspace, and now someone in the palace was suddenly summoned, probably related to the crystal statue...... Could it really be the soul of St. Giles?

The more Fu Qinghai thought about it, the more he felt that it was possible.

Sid Nora wanted to keep up with Fu Qinghai's footsteps, but was stopped when he approached the Gate of Eternity, and the leader of the forbidden army who led the way turned around and raised a palm in front of Sid Nora, and said in a cold and unquestioning tone:

"Stop, Grand Instructor of the Inquisition."

"You're not allowed."

Sid Norra's face was stunned, but he didn't say anything, and stood silently in front of the Gate of Eternity. She looked at Qingshan's back, and he seemed to be immersed in thought, bowing his head and walking straight ahead, not paying attention to his back.

Fu Qinghai followed the forbidden army captain around the palace all the way, through layers of security and complex mechanisms, and finally arrived at a mysterious area - the Emperor's Sanctuary, which is the heart of the throne hall and the entire palace, this huge room houses the emperor's body and the golden throne. Three hundred hand-picked forbidden soldiers were in charge of guarding the place.

Fu Qinghai raised his head and subconsciously wanted to find the Golden Throne and the carrion corpse on it, but a taller figure in golden armor blocked his view - the golden armor on this forbidden army had more complex carved patterns than other forbidden soldiers, and it was half a head taller than Fu Qinghai, who had undergone a new and completely different transformation, and looked down at Fu Qinghai condescendingly and indifferently.

Fu Qinghai stopped.

The forbidden soldier slowly took off his long helmet and hugged it around his waist, and then took off the golden face armor, revealing an old face, with a gray beard around his lips and on both sides of his cheeks, and an undisguised scrutiny in his indifferent eyes.

"I'm Ixion Hale."

The tall forbidden soldier spoke:

"The current commander of the forbidden army."

Fu Qinghai looked up at him.

"Hello, Marshal Ixion Hale, I'm Aoyama Nayan Khan, the leader of the Iron Floating Slaughter Band."

Fu Qinghai also introduced himself.

Fu Qinghai only knew about the two commanders of the forbidden army. One was Constantine Valdo, the first commander of the Praetorian Army in the 30Ks, who is said to have disappeared after the rebellion ended. The other was Trajan Valoris, the 17th Commander of the Forbidden Army in the 40K, who was also a High Lord. As for the commander of the Praetorian Army in front of him, Ixion Hale.

He hadn't heard of it, and he didn't know it.

"I don't know why he summoned you."

The commander of the forbidden army said lightly.

"I'd love to know, too."

Fu Qinghai said that he was also puzzled.

"But I don't see a shred of awe in your eyes...... Those who have been to the palace of Terra, whether it is the inquisitor, the court officer, the archbishop, or even the high lord, no matter what kind of ghost they have in their hearts, at least they look at the palace and look at the gate of eternity, and there will always be a heartfelt fear and reverence in their eyes. ”

Ixion Hale's tone abruptly increased:

"But with the exception of you."

"Maybe ......"

Fu Qinghai looked at the left and right.

Then spread out your hands and make an innocent gesture:

"That's why I was summoned?"

"Humph!"

A cold snort burst out of the mouth of the commander of the forbidden army.

"You're a little presumptuous, Aoyama Khan."

Ixion Hale pouted and said:

"Just like your primordial."

The sentence "just like your original body" directly lowered Fu Qinghai's seniority - a fact that many people will ignore: the emperor first created the forbidden army, and then created the genetic prototype. If you really want to force the ethical generation, every genetic prototype has to shout "uncle" when they see the first commander of the forbidden army, Konstantin Valdo. The commander of the forbidden army in front of him obviously knew Fu Qinghai's genetic prototype, Chagatai Khan.

"Please, Aoyama Khan."

Ixion Hale didn't stop sarcastic, but stepped aside and raised his hand to the front.

Fu Qinghai took a deep breath, then stepped out and walked forward while looking up at the throne.

Before looking up at the Golden Throne, countless chaotic thoughts flashed through Fu Qinghai's mind - it is said that in the eyes of different people, the emperor is a completely different image.

Most accounts of the Great Expedition describe him as a giant, dressed in golden armor, with brown hair, a square chin, and a stern demeanor. He often has an angelic golden halo on his head.

In Belisarius Kaul's eyes, the emperor was a scientist in a lab coat, with brown hair and brown eyes, not tall or short, thin but not weak, with a handsome but not outrageously handsome face, and an old and young temperament.

In the eyes of the lion king, Leon Johnson, the emperor is a mysterious figure wearing a hood and jade, gold and silver armor. And the Lion King firmly believes that only what he sees is true, and what the other brothers see is a fake.

In the Cyber Wars, when the Emperor appears on the battlefield, the human coalition in the Tunnel describes him as a "barbarian born in ancient Eurasia", with "a mixture of bronze and burnt tan", black eyes and hair, and armed with a blaster and power sword.

Perhaps the closest of these images is the Silent Sister, who is unable to see the Emperor's psionic energy due to her soulless force field. At the end of the Cyber War, Sister Silent Kalia Kaslin sees the true face of the Emperor:

is an ordinary middle-aged man, sitting on the golden throne and forever maintaining a painful posture. He opened his mouth and let out a silent scream, his struggle to endure the pain seemed to make his ageless face very old. He doesn't have an unparalleled majesty, and he doesn't have any aura in the back of his head.

Finally, let go of all the distractions in your head.

Fu Qinghai fixed his eyes on the throne.

That's right, as he imagined.

It's a carrion corpse, lying in the center of the throne.

Sunken eye sockets, shriveled eyes, withered gray hair, open and hollow mouth...... There were few muscles left in his body, the leathery skin was clinging to the bones, and his body was too deflated and even a little thin, but the black meridian-like veins were still bulging under the skin. Countless mechanical pipes of different sizes and thicknesses were inserted into his body, and these pipes were connected to the golden throne beneath him.

Fu Qinghai didn't wear the spirit vision goggles of the ghost armor, otherwise he would have seen countless psionic energy flowing down these pipes into this rotting corpse. But even if he didn't see it, he knew how many psionics the human empire needed to sacrifice every day in order to keep this strange device running.

"Hoo ......"

It was only at this moment that Fu Qinghai finally exhaled the breath he had just inhaled. He fixed his eyes on the Golden Throne, and then slowly knelt down on one knee, his armor touched the cold floor and made a crisp crashing sound, Fu Qinghai bowed deeply, his forehead almost touching the ground.

"Salute, Lord of Men."

Fu Qinghai said silently in his heart.

Salute to all the suffering you have endured for humanity.

Suddenly, a voice sounded in his head:

"You have the number five gene sequence in your body."

Number Five? Who is the number five?

Fu Qinghai didn't react for a moment.

Then he slowly looked up.

Could it be...... Chagatai Khan, right?

It turns out that the emperor called his heir so.

Gene No. 5, Chagatai Khan?

Gene No. 18, Vulcan Vokan?

Fu Qinghai recalled what he had seen in his previous life, in "The Dark Empire", Robert Kiliman woke up and went to Terra to meet the emperor. According to his recollections, the living emperor was a cunning being, as good at hiding his thoughts, just as he was also good at reading the minds of others. The "remnants" of the emperor on the throne were too powerful for Robert Killiman to understand, but they lacked the subtlety of his walk on earth.

When the emperor was still walking on earth, he used love to disguise his methods. The Emperor had his genetic protogens call him his father, and he had the progenitors claim to be his son, but the emperor himself rarely said these words. Robert Killman realized at that time that the emperor was not sincere when he said these words, and in the face of the impact of all the spiritual power that the emperor no longer concealed, the thin veil that originally covered Robert Killman's eyes was also torn off, and everything was finally revealed.

The emperor didn't really love the genoplasm at all.

The genoplasm is just his weapon.

That's the whole truth.

Robert Kiliman described the Emperor's joy and welcome when he saw him: not like a father greeting his son, but a craftsman retrieving a useful tool that he once thought was lost, acting like a prisoner locked in a cage and handed a file.

Killiman wasn't the one to bring the file.

He is the file itself.

Fu Qinghai now empathizes with Kiliman.

But unlike the thirteenth gene prototype's defense and pathos in the face of the truth, Fu Qinghai did not have any ethical and family expectations for the emperor, so he was more comfortable in the face of the emperor's strange way of communication.

Despite this, he was also very painful.

The Emperor's will and psionic powers were so powerful that talking to the Emperor was like talking to a star, using the language of fire and light, and every word was burning him.

The Emperor, a locked prisoner, discovered a prison escape tool 10,000 years in advance, but unlike Robert Killiman, this tool was not a very familiar genetic prototype created by his own hands, but something else. Fu Qinghai could vaguely feel that his "iron file" made him feel a little puzzled on the throne - the emperor was not sure how useful his tool could be.

"I see."

That voice ended up leaving the phrase.

Fu Qinghai stood up in a daze, his mind still reverberating with a roaring echo and a burning pain, and he walked all the way out of the palace and to the gate of eternity, escorted by the commander of the forbidden army, Ixion Hale. Until he saw Sid Nora, who had been guarding the gates of eternity.

Fu Qinghai finally came to his senses.

The gold-armored forbidden soldiers lined up outside the gate all disappeared.

The towering gate behind him slowly closed and closed.

Fu Qinghai stared blankly at Sid Nora.

Sid Nora was also looking at Fu Qinghai.

"So, he spoke?"

The Grand Instructor of the Inquisition Court finally couldn't help but ask:

"He can talk to the outside world, right?"

Sid Nora's voice was eager.

"Him?"

Fu Qinghai repeated a sentence in his mouth.

"Could it be 'Him'?"

Sid Nora immediately spoke:

"The state church thinks he's a god, but I don't think so. What exactly do you see, Aoyama? ”

Fu Qinghai recalled the experience just now.

His eyebrows furrowed, and he slowly shook his head and said:

"I'll be honest, I'm not so sure, the corpse on the throne...... What the hell is it? ”

………

(End of chapter)