Long before the war began, Fogham believed that the Lahrs could not match the combined forces of the three legions. His speculation was reasonable and correct, and he was proved right.

Whether it's the Midnight Blade, the Emperor's Son, or the Bearer, every city they occupy is quickly emptied and transformed into a military base, and supplies are raining down from the sky, giving the Astartes enough confidence to move forward.

The Lahrs possess great technology and savage physique, but they have not fought an enemy like the Astarte Legion, and they cannot understand the enemy's will to fight - is it conquest?

No, that's just a secondary purpose.

The main purpose is extermination.

The Lahrs could not understand this, and therefore, they were killed, captured, and dissected. This matter is important because the Lal people have extremely complex biological forms.

They come in a variety of species, and apart from the snake's tail, they are a mad racial hodgepodge. They have strong samurai, spiky wings, venom secretions, and even gills that breathe freely underwater

In order to find out the enemy's weaknesses, Forgrim commissioned an anatomical study, led by Fabius and the Midnight Blade, Jaelziño Guzmán, on the Emperor's Pride.

——

If asked, Jaelziño would say that it was a pleasure to work with Fabius, the pharmacy of the Emperor's son. Yes, he would have said so, and he would have cited several pieces of evidence without hesitation.

For one, Fabius was a very professional pharmacist, and his knowledge and achievements in biological anatomy were no worse than those of a pharmacist like Nightblade, who had a more specific way of teaching.

Second, he never complained. Whether it was digging his hands into the greasy entrails of the Lahrs or sniffing their rancid body odor, Fabius did not make any negative comments, he was so attached to his work that he didn't care about anything else.

Third, he understood every intention of Jaelziño perfectly, and their cooperation could almost be described as perfect - yes, almost, if Fabius didn't mention something.

"I hear, Dr. Jairziño, that you have healed Lord Robert Killman?" Fabius asked.

He still held a huge scalpel in his hand, and his long white hair fell down his forehead, but it could not hide his sharp facial features and persistent cold black eyes.

He stared at Jaelziño, his expression looking very hungry for the truth.

"It's just a rumor." Jairziño replied.

He really didn't want to explain or dwell too much on this issue, so he simply threw out a cold tone. At the same time, he still did not forget about work.

His hand sliced steadily and quickly through the internal organs of the rall, and he lifted the soft, mass of gray-black flesh out of its belly and placed it on a tray.

The cold white light of Fabius' workshop shone on it, making it look evil and ominous, like some kind of twisted monster.

"Rumors shouldn't make Ultramarines talk about it very often." Fabius lowered his head and took out another mass of entrails with equal speed and stability, which was also placed on the tray.

His crimson surgical gown was stained with black blood, and he looked very strange.

"Them." Jaelziño looked up, and the expression behind the helmet became very exciting. "Talk about it a lot?"

"Yes." The Emperor's Son nodded. "So I don't think it's a rumor. You healed Robert Killman, a noble genetic protoplasm, I wonder if I can ask me about the process? Can you reveal a little bit about that? ”

Jairziño looked at the pair of inquisitive eyes and shook his head slowly but firmly, "I'm sorry, I don't have anything to say about it, cousin. ”

Fabius sighed regretfully.

"I understand." He said. He then returned to his work, working with Jaylziño to analyze the bones, muscles, and skin of the Rals, trying to figure out what made them so powerful in their various forms.

Two hours later, they left the body and walked over to another. This one is still alive, and there are still tiny life reactions remaining. Jaelziño frowned and stretched out his blade, intending to kill it and dissect it, but Fabius stopped him.

"Vivisection may allow us to discover something new, Dr. Jaelziño." He said softly.

"Indeed, but—" Jaylziño bowed his head. "—it's dead."

Fabius frowned, but didn't say anything. The autopsy began again, and the corpse was a warrior of the Lal people. Highly muscular, extremely strong, and devoid of the species characteristics of other creatures.

In a way, it's primitive, it's pure Lahr form. It has a snake tail, four arms, a jaw that can be split, and eyes with high-speed vision. However, as the dissection progressed, a brand new organ was discovered.

It is located in the thoracic part and is a gland that gives off a pungent odor. This organ, which was not present in any previous dissected corpse of the Lars, was analyzed by Fabius for an hour and seventeen minutes using a genetic analysis instrument.

When the results of the report were finally presented to the two of them, they were both amazed for a moment.

"It's a," Fabius said slowly. "It's a self-healing organ, Dr. Jaelziño. It releases a compound that, according to tests, reacts with the skin and muscles of the Lal people, covering them where they are damaged."

"It's a self-healing gland." The pharmacist concluded. "It's even more self-healing than Astarte. But why does it get into a near-death state, and why doesn't this gland work? ”

The Emperor's Son paced his workshop with a muttered expression, and Jaelziño turned his head to glance at the corpse. Some of the traces left on it made him chuckle unconsciously.

"Probably because the area that needs to be repaired is more than this gland can handle, Apothecary Fabius."

"Huh? How do you know? ”

Jaelziño didn't speak, but said something else: "Not all of the people of Lal have this organ, cousin, which obviously cannot have been the result of natural evolution. ”

"What do you mean?" Fabius's breathing suddenly became heavy.

He was silent for a few seconds, then hurried back to his workbench for the next dissection. From samurai to commoners, from dancers with feminine bodies in blood-stained clothing and golden armbands, to laborers with thick arms and twisted waists for greater endurance.

When they had dissected all the existing species of Lahr specimens, both of them fell into a terrible silence.

"The individual differences between them are so great that they are simply beyond medical and scientific explanation." Fabius said.

The Emperor's Apothecary took off his rubber gloves with a serious gesture and silently replaced them with a new one. His surgical gown was completely blackened, and some blood was even stained on his gray hair, which looked like a stain or a little bit of it.

Jaylziño took the conversation, but not a declarative sentence, but a question: "Are you thinking about what I'm thinking, Fabius?" ”

The pharmacist nodded solemnly, but excitement crossed his eyes.

A few minutes later, Fogham walked in, striding in with a serious stride: "What's the matter, Fabius?" What's worth calling me urgently, even to get me out of the tactical table? ”

Fabius did not hide it, but bluntly stated the results of his work with Jaelziño, and his tone was very calm, but fine beads of sweat slid across his forehead.

"The people of Lal have a complete and identical genetic chain, the protoplasma, but the internal structure of these genetic chains has been modified. Just like us, Primordial, like Astarte—"

"—watch your words, Fabius!" Vogrim suddenly shouted a reprimand, and he glanced at Jaelziño, thinking nothing to say.

"How can these alien scum be on par with the Emperor's intelligence?"

"I'm really stupid in my vocabulary, my primordial, but that's not the point." Fabius bowed his head deeply, his voice already muffled.

"Every Lal is modified, and that's the point, the original. Their physical bodies have a great deal to do with who they are. ”

"What do you mean?" Fogrem frowned deeply.

"Please come with me." Fabius looked up and led his prototype to the dissecting table.

"Look, it's a warrior corpse of the Lal people, look at its chest, the original body. Did you see that? These muscles, these coarse bones and tough skin. Look at this corpse again, it's the corpse of a dancer of the Lal people. ”

The pharmacist held out his finger and pointed to the bare bones of his original body like a treasure, followed by a study report. Fogrem watched it in silence, lines of data darting across his eyes. And Fabius continued, not waiting for his original body to finish reading.

"You see, it has thirty-two more bones and more muscle distribution than the samurai, but the samurai is several times stronger than it. Is this reasonable? Let's take a look at another samurai, and you see, its structure and skeletal arrangement are exactly the same as the previous one! If you're still not convinced, we have more work waiting for you to review. ”

"What the hell are you trying to say, Fabius?" Chemus asked, expressionless.

"Oh, my primordial body," the pharmacist of the Emperor's son took a deep breath. "They are perfect, my lord, and each of them has been genetically modified at birth so that they can make great strides towards their own perfection."

Jaelziño frowned, and a sudden wave of discomfort welled up deep in his bone marrow. He didn't like Fabius's tone, there was something frightening buried in the apothecary's words. It was hidden deeply, but Jaylziño smelled it anyway.

"Perfect?" Fogrem asked softly.

"Perfect!" Fabius nodded repeatedly.

Phoenix smiled, he turned his head and gestured to Jaelziño, and the medic wisely walked out without lingering too long. The door to the workshop closed heavily, and the smile on Vogrim's face had completely disappeared at this moment: "What the hell are you talking about, Fabius?" Are you crazy about a bunch of aliens like perfection, to Astarte, or even in front of your cousins? ”

"What? No, of course not, the original—" The pharmacist shook his head hurriedly.

This is just a metaphor, I am not good with words, you know. I just want to say that if the Lal people have a way to improve themselves in some way, to bring themselves closer to perfection, then can we borrow this way and improve it. Turning it to yourself? ”

"Using Alien Technology?" Fogrem looked down at his apothecary, his eyes as deep as a deep purple gem.

Fabius was one of only two hundred left of the Emperor's sons, and Fabius was forever pale and haggard in his workshop, toiling diligently. Isolated and more rigid than robots.

As an Astarte, he doesn't even care about rank and honor.

Forgrim could probably guess why, he knew what made Fabius like this, and he knew very well that if he didn't intervene, Fabius would keep this terrible state until the day he died.

It was he who reshaped the pharmacist of the emperor's son, but he was not happy about it. When asked why, Fogham compared Fabius to a spider, saying that he was merely weaving his web in isolation.

Phoenix persuaded him to want Fabius to stay with his brother, but on that day, the apothecary of Mune erupted in anger that even he was looking for.

'My brothers are dead!' That day, the pharmacist roared.

"What the hell are you thinking, Fabius?" Vogrim asked softly. "Are you trying to persuade me to agree to something you can improve with alien technology?"

The pharmacist nodded, seemingly unaware of the hints and warnings hidden in the primordial words. Or maybe he noticed, but he didn't care.

"Just imagine that the original body if I could use this technique to improve the genetic seeds. Even if it's only a 1 in 1,000, 1 in 10,000 chance, if I can improve, then—"

"—will the blight or anything like that not happen again?"

Vogrim laughed, interrupting Fabius, and continued, "Do you understand what you're saying, Fabius?" You are trying to improve the creation of the emperor, how arrogant. I'm not personally averse to hubris, but I'm averse to madness, and how far are you from madness? ”

"I'm just following your teachings and striving for perfection." Fabius said. "Is this sinful, Primordial?"

"No, it's not perfect." Fogrem shook his head.

"Pursuing perfection with alien means and technology? Innate skills instead of acquired efforts? The perfect flesh with the untempered weak will is the most ridiculous empty talk I have ever heard, Fabius. Without mentioning whether you will succeed or not, or how blasphemous it is, just look around you, son. ”

The pharmacist looked at him blankly.

"Look!" The phoenix roared suddenly, its silver hair flying, and its eyes burned like fire.

"This group of xenomorphs has failed! They've been defeated by us, and they'll eventually become a race in the galaxy that will pass with the wind, not worth mentioning, just like the other alien scum we've exterminated! Do you want to go after perfection from a bunch of losers?! ”

"But, the Primordial—" Fabius's face turned pale, but he didn't give up. He still tried to argue his case, and he himself couldn't tell why he was so bold.

Fogham was not irritable and maintained his demeanor most of the time. That's why his anger at the moment is so appalling.

The pharmacist's heart was full of uneasiness, but there was another voice in his heart that was screaming. The cry was not his, but the voices of some of the dead.

It was the wailing of the sons of the emperor who had died of blight, and Fabius had watched them die one by one, but could not do anything about it.

"No but." Fogrem said firmly. "I don't want to hear you mention anything like that again, you have to understand what you're saying, Fabius. What you just said was enough for me to kill you on the spot. ”

Phoenix turned.

"Now, get out of your workshop, go rest, and do whatever you want."

He strode away.

Under the cold light, the pharmacist of the emperor's son clenched his fists little by little.

This chapter is 5k, and 1k is owed to be paid back tomorrow.

(End of chapter)