Fu Qinghai was dreaming.
A long, boundless dream.
Sometimes he felt like a fish, breathing the oxygen in the water, swimming freely in the deep sea.
As he swam, he would think: so this is what breathing underwater feels like.
Sometimes he felt like a bird soaring in the sky, like the petrel from a middle school textbook.
The textbook verses recited in childhood vaguely appeared in the dream, and he transformed into a petrel flying in the rainstorm.
Gale, rainstorm, towering waves, lightning, and thunder...
“Crack!” A bolt of lightning shot through the dark clouds and struck him.
Damn, that hurt so much!
Fu Qinghai felt like he was about to be fried by lightning, one moment on his chest, the next on his abdomen, then on his back.
Is this the price of being a scumbag?
Suddenly, he felt a cool sensation on his head, and his whole being felt suddenly enlightened...
But most of the time, it was a vague, muddled dream.
Until...
【You have successfully been modified into a White Scars Legion Space Marine, achieving a Stage Milestone Event!】
【Calculating Assimilation Points... 781 points】
The cold voice in his mind pierced through the muddled dream and reached Fu Qinghai's thoughts directly.
He was instantly awakened.
Fu Qinghai suddenly opened his eyes, and what greeted his sight was a murky, churning, yellowish fluid; through the fluid, he could see the transparent glass dome outside.
Fu Qinghai realized he was naturally breathing in the liquid; the flowing fluid filled his lungs with each breath, shuttling through his mouth, nose, and throat.
He moved his limbs slightly; they felt somewhat unfamiliar, restrained, but he inexplicably had a feeling.
A feeling that he could break free with a slight struggle.
But Fu Qinghai did not move rashly; lying in the glass pod, he calmly surveyed his surroundings.
At the same moment, the red alarm light outside the Low Temperature Incubation Pod suddenly lit up, emitting a "drip-drip-drip" sound.
Master Kunto, who had been burying his head at the workbench, looked up abruptly.
"Hmm? Waking up early," his Cybernetic Eye flickered, "Half a month earlier than scheduled."
He walked toward the Cultivation room.
Fu Qinghai saw a shadow moving outside through the murky Cultivation Fluid, preparing to focus his gaze, when he suddenly felt the pod shake, and the liquid enveloping him began to slowly drain.
"Hiss—*Kacha*!"
As the liquid drained, the glass door opened.
Fu Qinghai saw the aged face beneath Master Kunto's dark red Hood, and his eerie green Cybernetic Eye.
Fu Qinghai's vocal cords sticky, he managed to speak: "Master..."
"Come out, be careful, don't fall, and don't exert too much force." The familiar hoarse voice.
Fu Qinghai struggled to control his slightly unfamiliar limbs, carefully standing up from the Incubation Pod and climbing out.
A sticky, transparent fluid still clung to his Skin.
He was completely naked, but Fu Qinghai looked down and saw that his hair had grown back.
Specifically, his leg hair.
As soon as Fu Qinghai stabilized himself and looked down, he noticed something was wrong.
Master Kunto, who used to be short and only reached his Shoulders, was now even shorter, only reaching his upper Abdomen.
Fu Qinghai's brain, softened by the Cultivation Fluid, managed to process the situation.
This is... I've grown taller?
"Follow me." Without waiting for Fu Qinghai to ask, Master Kunto Turned around and left.
Naked, Fu Qinghai staggered after Master Kunto to the Workbench.
"Sit." Kunto pointed to an iron crate nearby.
Fu Qinghai sat down as instructed.
Kunto's mechanical hand beneath his robe deftly pulled some metal tubes from the Workbench, placing the probes at the ends of the tubes against Fu Qinghai's head, chest, and back.
Fu Qinghai, sitting on the iron crate, subtly adjusted his breathing, adapting to his new body.
He felt his hearing had improved, and his vision had strengthened; he could clearly see the dim corners of the Laboratory that the Workbench Shadowless Lamp couldn't reach if he focused.
He felt another sense of wrongness; Fu Qinghai held his breath and listened intently... He could hear the beating of the heart in his chest... it seemed somewhat off.
A heart murmur? No, it wasn't a murmur... it should be... it is...
"Very good, both hearts are beating normally, no Organ necrosis." Master Kunto's voice sounded beside him.
Saying this, the Tech-Priest picked up a small scalpel from the counter and made a deep cut on Fu Qinghai's chest.
Blood instantly gushed out, but what was exposed beneath the Skin was not red muscle tissue, but a black, shell-like substance.
Only a little blood emerged before it rapidly coagulated; after a few seconds, a fresh, small scab formed.
Fu Qinghai looked down at all this.
He already understood in his heart.
From this moment on.
He was no longer human.
He was a Two Hearts, Three Lungs Astartes.
A precisely operating War Machine, a meticulously designed killing tool.
...
At this time, aboard the Dagger-class Frigate, inside the Training Cage.
Ogedai, having lost his lower body, sat in a circular mechanical platform wheelchair, wielding a heavy long blade in each hand, swinging them with all his might.
Facing the Weapons attacking from all directions, unable to maneuver or dodge due to the lack of legs, he could only rely on his two Strength arms and his Weapons to block head-on.
"Clang, clang, bang, crack, slash!"
Ogedai used his core strength to spin rapidly, his long blades blurring as he parried the incoming Weapons from the Surroundings.
Powerful collisions between metal erupted in clusters of sparks.
Suddenly, a metal spear stabbed unexpectedly from the lower left behind him; Ogedai couldn't dodge in time, and blood instantly spurted from his side.
"Ah!" He cried out in pain, which sounded less like pain and more like annoyance.
Outside the Training Cage, Taral stood with Arms crossed, silently watching Ogedai inside the cage.
Being injured by the Training Cage was a disgrace to any veteran Astartes long accustomed to battle.
Just then, a black mechanical skull floating in the air flew into the training chamber.
This was a Servo Skull.
The empty eye sockets of the Skull flashed red twice, emitting a cold electronic sound:
"Lord Taral, Lord Ogedai, Master Kunto requests your presence in the Laboratory."
Taral appropriately stopped the operation of the Training Cage, looking at Ogedai inside, who was drenched in sweat and panting while looking down, and said:
"Ogedai, guess what? That kid is probably out."
Ogedai, still consumed by resentment, looked up abruptly, surprised: "He finished the Modification already?"
...