The Bizarre Adventures of the Oil Man, but Starting with Warhammer 32K

"Those few who knew of the existence of the Second and Eleventh Legions believed that these two legions were purged by the Emperor because they had violated some taboo, but this has never been confirmed."

Leon spread his hands. "But now, we should know why the Second Legion was purged. Although the existence of demons can no longer be concealed, before the Great Heresy, when demons could not so freely enter and exit the real universe, the Empire had been concealing the existence of demons."

"If it had been discovered at that time that the Second Legion was colluding with the Daemons, I believe the Emperor himself would have executed them in secret to prevent the widespread spread of news of the Daemons' existence."

"It didn't exist before the rebellion?" Armidale reassured.

Li Ang nodded in confirmation, and the soldiers looked at each other.

From this moment on, they truly realized that the dark secret that Fearless carried seemed a bit outdated - everything that should and shouldn't have happened had already happened, and even if someone knew some of the secrets from the past, it seemed that it would not change anything.

"But I'm still curious about what a demon is."

Lieutenant Vigan was still a little incredulous. "A creature that defies common sense actually exists? Doesn't that mean the Imperial Truth is a lie?"

Leon shook his head and denied Vigan's statement: "In fact, due to the rampant spread of demons in the real universe, more and more people have abandoned the Imperial Truth. They are afraid of demons and regard the Emperor who once restored the glory of mankind as a god who can dispel demons and save them."

"The religious ignorance once dispelled by the Emperor himself is now revived through his worship... But the Imperial Truth is not simply a lie to deceive us. Tell me, Lieutenant Vigan, what is the true nature of the Imperial Truth?"

"Of course, it explains the truth of the real universe. It is our principle, standard, and code of conduct..."

"No, the core of the Imperial Truth is a rational and scientific attitude. The denial of supernatural phenomena is indeed a lie of the Emperor, but a scientific and rational attitude is never deceptive."

"What is science? Science isn't truth; it's simply a summary of human experience. Anything that's repeatable and recognizable can become science. Whether it's an incredible power like psychic energy or a subspace creature like a demon, as long as we can summarize the laws, it will become human science."

Looking at Lieutenant Vigan, who seemed lost in thought, Leon continued, "The foolishness of religious thought lies in its recklessness. The general public simply regards demons that delight in devouring human souls as evil gods, and the Emperor who saved humanity as a good god."

"Gods are omnipotent. Whatever they can do is normal. Ordinary people cannot resist them. They can only wait for God's messengers to rescue them. But once humans hold this idea, they have lost the ability to save themselves."

"Demons are not mysterious. Humanity has generally confirmed that demons are creatures of the Warp that exist by relying on the emotions of sentient beings. They enjoy flaunting their presence before humans, and the cunning, pain, anger, and ecstasy humans feel at the hands of their presence become their food—which is why they so fond of plundering human souls.

"Although they are difficult to explain with common sense, they are not incomprehensible. The very nature of demons means that the fewer people who know about them, the less food they can gain. Therefore, the ignorance and faith of ordinary people are actually a bulwark that protects them. But if even the Space Marines, who serve as the bridgehead against humanity's enemies, can no longer view the existence of demons objectively and rationally, then humanity is truly doomed."

"That's why the Emperor concealed the existence of demons from the beginning. That's why the demons instigated the rebellion. The civil war in the Empire must have been a feast for these demons..."

Lieutenant Vigan nodded in conviction. "You are quite extraordinary, Father Leon. The Mechanical Priests I've met before were all believers in the Om Messiah. None of them possess such a profound understanding of science as you do."

"There are also atheist sects within the Mechanicus." Leon said with a smile.

"So we have a general understanding of what happened after the Great Crusade and the existence of demons..."

Armidel was clearly thinking further ahead: "Now that the Heresy has occurred and the Second Legion no longer exists, do we still need to return to the Empire?"

As soon as this topic came up, the scene fell silent again.

They had once been the Sword Bearers of the Empire, and naturally understood the Empire's ruthless approach. Now the entire Second Legion had been branded nonexistent, and their existence would certainly not be acknowledged by the Empire.

They were not afraid of sacrifice, but they were afraid that after they returned, they would be destroyed by the Empire itself and become a non-existent part of the Second Legion.

"If we can leave this planet, I think we should definitely leave. But whether we should return to the Empire..." Sergeant Arlo suggested hesitantly, "Why don't we continue to roam the Astronomican Edge like we did before? That way, even if we die in battle, we'll have made our due contribution."

The others stared at each other, apparently no one had a better proposal. Li Ang was about to speak when Hunter Fearless, who had finally recovered, interrupted him.

“No, we must return to the Empire.” Fearless’ tone was very firm: “Father Leon, you just said that the Second Legion was wiped out by the Empire and there is no record of it, right?

Seeing Leon nod, Fearless continued, "There are no records, which means there's no way to verify whether the Second Legion was completely destroyed. I believe the reason for erasing the records is definitely not just to conceal the existence of demons. Although the Second Legion may have been destroyed, its Primarch would never be completely eliminated so easily."

"What is your evidence?" Li Ang was a little confused.

"Hunter's intuition, and some past experience."

Hunter Fearless's tone was quite firm. He asked Armidale, "Do you remember? Before we left the Legion, our Primarch had already completely transformed into a xenomorph. He could even spread his spores everywhere like those greenskins!"

PS: I will test the water today and post another chapter later.

Chapter 13: Determining the Future

"?"

Leon was a little surprised by the hunter's words. He turned his head and looked at Amidel, but found that Amidel was nodding in confirmation of the hunter's statement.

He could even add, "In fact, when we boarded the space wreck, I was also deeply shocked by the insect specimens. Although we confirmed at the time that those insect specimens were different from the original Zerg on Zerus, looking back now, I always feel that those insects represent a possibility for the future. If our Gene Father is still alive, I believe he must be conducting experiments in this area in some unknown corner."

"That's it."

Hunter Fearless nodded in agreement: "As a hunter of humanity's enemies, I will never allow my Gene Father to research threats against humanity. Therefore, we must return to the Empire, and we must return to the Empire concealing our identities. We need to conduct secret investigations in the Empire and find evidence that our Gene Father still exists or that he has left behind any backup plans. Even if he has truly been reduced to ashes by the Emperor, I must see his ashes to rest in peace! This is my mission now!"

The hunter's words clearly stirred the warriors' blood, and the warriors who were originally confused began to boil with excitement:

"I've been annoyed with our father for a long time. I just left him at first, but now I have to find an opportunity to kill him!"

"How can a blasphemer like that be worthy of being our father? If I could catch him, I would definitely remove his skull and use it as a urinal!"

Unlike the hot-blooded warriors, Wuwei had clearly considered for a long time before speaking these words. He did not join the warriors in launching a flamboyant rebellion against my father, but continued to seek confirmation from Leon:

"First, we must first have a way to conceal our identities and legally integrate into the Empire. We need weapons and ammunition supplied by the Empire, and many investigations require official Imperial identification to gain cooperation. Father Leon, I can see that you are not ordinary. Do you have any suggestions in this regard?"

"It's hard."

Leon hesitated. "To avoid a repeat of the Heresy, where several Legions simultaneously rebelled, Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the XIII Legion Ultramarines, promulgated the Codex Astartes, which divided large Legions into Chapters of a thousand men. However, shortly after promulgating the Codex, he was severely wounded in battle by a traitorous Primarch and, like his father, was forever placed in stasis."

Armidale held his forehead, finally understanding why he was discovered when he lied about the Thirteenth Legion.

He originally wanted to disguise himself by taking advantage of the enemy's large numbers, but who would have thought that it was the Primarch of the Thirteenth Legion who dismantled the legion?

But for now, no one cared about Armidale's frustration. Everyone held their breath and listened intently as Leon continued his narration. "As a result, the power to form new Chapters and review old ones actually fell into the hands of the High Lords Council—the Supreme Council of Human Lords that existed during your Great Crusade without the participation of the Astartes."

"You know, they are always particularly wary of the Astartes. They keep a record of every chapter and conduct strict purity checks from time to time..."

"So it's not nothing?" Wuwei asked.

"It depends on how much you are willing to pay."

Li Ang did not deny it: "Perhaps you can go to a marginal star region and impersonate some already marginal warbands. Or find some warbands that have suffered heavy losses. They generally won't refuse the joining of their manpower, but this way your status in the warband will not be too high..."

"We need a better way, Father Leon."

Dreadnought said, his resolve unusually firm. "We need a full Chapter. To achieve this, we can even take you as our leader, owing you a debt of honor that will never be repaid. As long as it does not conflict with our goals, the new Chapter we form will follow you forever."

Li Ang's eyes lit up.

To be honest, Leon doesn't care much about other things. He only cares about digging up more scientific and technological knowledge so that he can restore the technology of other worlds to completely change the Warhammer universe - this is his consistent goal, but the pursuit of knowledge is always full of challenges from inside and outside the empire.

For Leon, who is digging graves all over the universe, the dangers of the galaxy are far from being dealt with by the Crusaders he has assembled alone. Now there are Space Marines who cannot return to the Empire normally right in front of Leon. Who can not be moved by this?

It would be a lie to say that Leon had no idea from the beginning, but he originally just wanted to hide these one hundred or so Space Marines privately - as long as he had a large ship, hiding more than one hundred people would not be a problem at all.

But the other party actually took the initiative to propose to form a chapter. This is certainly not easy, but a chapter with legal status can expand to more than a thousand people, and a hundred Space Marines can become a thousand Space Marines. Such a good thing...

His mind quickly recalled the major events that were about to happen: from the Pope of the Imperial State Religion officially obtaining permanent status in the Council of High Lords, to the Beast War that was about to defeat humanity's false prosperity, to Abaddon's Second Black Crusade... Before long, a rough plan had taken shape in Leon's mind.

But there are so many things to consider when establishing a war group. At least the common problem of flesh and blood deformation in the Second Legion's bloodline that I just heard from Hunter Fearless is very worrying.

If there were only a hundred or so people, then this wouldn't be a problem, but if a continuous war group was to be established, then at least the stability of the gene seed and inheritance had to be guaranteed.

What Leon needed was a warrior, not an unstable time bomb, so he did not reveal his rough plan but changed the subject.

"Perhaps we can reach a deeper cooperation, but not now. Although we all know each other's stories, whether we can go on together in the future, I think we both need to make a more comprehensive assessment of each other."

Leon raised his fist towards Wuwei.

"But at least now, I will show you my ability to take you off this planet, and you must at least trust me unconditionally before leaving this planet. How about this, Captain, what do you think?"

Hunter Fearless looked at Leon, nodded slowly, stretched out his power fist, and collided with Leon's.

"We will also prove our sincerity," he said.

PS: The Empire itself didn't know how many Chapters it had until after the Curse Founding. Since it's only been a short time since the Second Founding, the Empire still has a very clear record of this. Even if the records are unclear, the Empire has a set of methods specifically designed to test the loyalty and purity of these Chapters, which can be said to be very professional in this regard (although it still can't prevent rebellions).

Chapter 14: Rearmament

After reaching a consensus with Leon, Hunter Fearless fell into a deep sleep again to save energy. The four people who were currently in charge of the decision-making process, led by Amidel, quickly summoned the remaining warriors and announced Leon's joining to them.

The Astartes would naturally obey Leon's orders based on the order, but Leon knew that if he wanted to win the true respect of these warriors, he could not just rely on the consensus reached between him and Amidel and others.

He must develop a development plan that demonstrates his abilities while truly and permanently changing the Astartes' situation, so as to gain the hearts of these warriors who are willing to serve him until death.

The core of the plan is naturally to return to the crashed space hulk and look for usable materials on it to build a spacecraft capable of returning to space.

But according to Amidel, after they killed the "green crawling lizard", the lizard's "flying companion" has been lingering in the space wreck all year round, and will even go out to hunt down any Astartes whose traces he has discovered.

The other party's strong desire for revenge is obviously not something the Astartes, who are now out of ammunition and food, can deal with. Before returning to the wrecked space ship, Leon must let these Space Marines develop weapons and equipment to fight against the behemoths.

But as the saying goes, every profession has its own specialization. The more technology develops, the more serious the problem of different industries being like different mountains becomes. If an ordinary engine oil worker encounters this situation, even an engine oil worker who is not a senior engineer will definitely sigh that a good cook cannot cook without rice.

Fortunately, Li Ang, who has a golden finger, is equivalent to a human-shaped self-propelled industrial system. It is not difficult for him to build a skyscraper from the ground. All he needs is a little time.

If we want to develop, the first thing we need to solve is energy.

Leon checked the Astartes' reserves and discovered that although they had over a hundred warriors, they only had thirteen usable power packs. These thirteen packs used their own solar panels to power the Dreadnoughts' life support systems and the cryotubes storing their gene-seeds, but they were insufficiently powered and could not be used in combat.

Their MK2 expeditionary power armor also became scrap metal due to the lack of power backpacks - facing the large monsters rampaging on this planet, the lack of power backpacks would hinder the Astartes from dodging, and the little defense possessed by the power armor was simply not enough.

Not impressive enough does not mean that this planet is full of monsters that can directly penetrate ceramic steel power armor, but the huge impact force when the monsters collide is enough to act on the surface of the power armor and shake the people inside into meat cans like St. Giles.

As their power packs gradually ran out, the remaining Astartes gradually dismantled their power armor into pieces of ceramite armor plates, relying on these armor plates to protect their vital parts. Because of this, complete MK2 power armors were as scarce as their power packs.

Li Ang wanted to loudly rebuke them for damaging the cultural relics, but in the final analysis, everything was caused by lack of energy.

Leon couldn't conjure up refined nuclear fuel for a power backpack, but if nuclear energy wasn't the only thing he cared about, then nature itself had plenty of energy it could utilize.

Looking at the small hydropower station under construction in front of him, Li Ang's eyes were full of pride.

Leon was secretly pleased to see the Astartes diligently working in the river with shovels and eating dirt.

These two-meter-five-tall hunks worked much faster than the mechanical slaves with their own square-cutting equipment. He began to understand why Rogal Dorn and Perturabo liked to bring so many Space Marines with them to fight together.

"When it comes to energy, it has to be water. Water is humanity's oldest and most reliable way to obtain energy," he explained to Armidale. "The differential energy in dams is water, the steam power from coal mines is water, and even the initial conversion of nuclear energy into electricity relies on water. You could say the advancement of a civilization is determined by whether they can boil water faster and better!"

"But can this ancient method really provide the energy we need? If so, why didn't we do it when our technical sergeants were still alive..." Amidel was a little skeptical.

That was of course because they didn't have the ability to dig out a set of generator technology from another world that was as efficient as the void's production capacity - Leon really wanted to tell him so, but he would never and could not say that he had a golden finger.

The characteristics of the soulless ensure that what is in Leon's mind cannot be seen by those evil spirits, but if it is known by people who are not soulless, it will leave traces in this world.

Even if the four vendors in the subspace hadn't discovered him yet, for those conceptual beings that existed simultaneously in the past, present, and future, once he spoke, they would eventually catch hold of the truth. Therefore, Leon was always cautious in this regard.

“Never doubt the wisdom of our ancestors. The oldest things may not be the most effective, but they are definitely the most reliable.”

Leon evaded Armidale's concerns by citing the Warhammer theory that older classics are stronger. "This place has good terrain. Plus, we've artificially built a dam to raise the elevation. The potential energy from the falling river water can at least free up those thirteen power packs while maintaining energy for the new settlement. It's also enough for me to conduct some basic experiments and forging. If we avoid peak hours, it can even charge some batteries."

"Thirteen Astartes re-armed with power packs and power armor, that's all well and good. But what about the rest of the brothers?"

"I have some new ideas for them."

He turned and walked back, his destination being the small settlement that had been rebuilt near the river. Along the way, the Astartes who were traveling between the settlement and the construction site nodded to Leon and Amidel.

While they can't see any benefits from making these changes yet, the move away from their previous monotonous lives has rekindled their passion for ash and the future.

In the new settlement, several small dormitories and a simple monastery had been built. To save space, Leon placed his workstation in the back room of the monastery.

He took Armidale to the back of the monastery and showed him the battery on the workshop.

"Neon Genesis Evangelion high-energy battery. This battery pack alone can keep a large robot eighty meters tall in combat for two minutes. I plan to use this battery to create a new set of force-feedback armor and accompanying weapons for the remaining Space Marines."

"A giant robot eighty meters tall?" Armidale's eyes widened. "An Emperor-class Titan can last two minutes?"

"Well, not really..."

Leon rubbed his nose awkwardly, thinking it was impossible to lump the products of the two worlds together. Given the Warhammer world's profligacy with energy, even ten power packs tied together wouldn't be enough for an Emperor-class Titan to fire a plasma incinerator. "But at least it's more than enough armor and weapons for personal use."

"So what is Neon Genesis Evangelion?"

"It's about a group of ancient Terran warriors who, in their own era, piloted a Titan called EVA to fight for love and the salvation of humanity."

Li Ang made up a story, not afraid of revealing the truth. "The high-performance generators used in hydropower stations and the batteries we use today are both remnants of their era. I was fortunate enough to discover the STC templates for these technologies, but even today they're outdated. I didn't expect them to come in handy in this unique situation."

“They must be a group of strong and determined warriors who can defeat the enemy using a battery that only lasts for two minutes,” praised Armidale.

Li Ang was a little embarrassed: "It is indeed powerful. At least their pilots can shoot down planes."

Amidel was confused by Leon's cold joke: "Anti-aircraft vehicle? Are we not capable of that?"

Li Ang was even more embarrassed: "You guys are really no match for him."

Amidel looked like he wanted to say something, but Leon did not continue on this topic. Instead, he showed Amidel another piece of equipment he had on hand, which was the force feedback power armor he had mentioned before.

This power armor, like the energy shield and solar battle axe, were all technologies he had previously reproduced from StarCraft, except that the objects of reproduction were changed from Protoss to humans.

However, due to the primitive conditions of this planet, Leon couldn't even piece together the CMC-300 power armor that every human brother had, nor could he make the small cold nuclear reactor on the power armor.

He could only modify an EVA battery from the disassembled power backpack, and also replaced the power armor with a more primitive version.

"CMC-200 power armor, don't expect too much defense. I riveted your ceramite armor plates on the key areas, and the rest was simply made of whatever metal I could find."