The Galaxy, Hazy Sector, Cheslatan Planet, main continent Human colonial stronghold.
Bright, mottled warm yellow light streamed onto the floor through the window lattice, and a gentle breeze blew in through the door.
Fu Qinghai, shirtless and wearing long trousers, sat on the edge of the bed, turning his head to look outside, where a dazzling star hung in the sky, slightly larger than the sun.
He had been in this world for a week.
To be precise, one standard Terra week.
He had roughly figured out the current situation.
Fu Qinghai was currently in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe.
Warhammer 40K is a popular cultural IP created by the British company Games Workshop （Games Workshop）, with the first edition of the tabletop wargame released in 1987. It is a cultural IP with a long history and distinct characteristics, boasting a large following both domestically and internationally.
Fu Qinghai had certainly heard a little about it.
Fu Qinghai spent a week trying hard to recall the Warhammer 40K games he had played and the novels he had read in his previous life, combining this knowledge to contemplate a way out of his current predicament.
He was now on a colony planet named "Cheslatan," which was originally a Savage Planet discovered by the Imperium of Man during the Great Crusade. It had no civilization or sentient life, and was designated Planet 17-974.
This meant it was the 974th planet conquered by the 17th Expeditionary Fleet; "Cheslatan" was the name given by the colonists.
Although it was a Savage World, Cheslatan was neither too close nor too far from its Star, possessed surface water, an oxygen-bearing Atmosphere, and a dry, pleasant Climate. It was a rare Terra-like Planet, and even setting aside potential underground mineral wealth, its current conditions were very suitable for developing into an Agri-World.
The Imperium's administrative departments could directly establish Biochemical cultivation factories on the Planet without incurring the massive costs of modifying the Planetary Surface environment.
The only drawback was that Cheslatan was located on the edge of the Hazy Sector, somewhat distant from the densely populated Human activity zones.
Consequently, after the Space Marine Legion, the 17th Expeditionary Fleet, surveyed the Planet's natural environment, the Space Marines implemented species extinction upon a large lizard-like Organism whose overall assessment suggested it might pose a threat to Human survival. They then notified the nearest Hive World to dispatch Colony Ships to Planet 17-974, left behind a few unfortunate Administrative Officials, and then eagerly left to conquer the next world.
The nearest Hive World, Levianthan Hive, began dispatching Colony Ships to Cheslatan. However, after the first Colony Ship arrived at the Planet following a long Warp Travel, the entire Sector was suddenly engulfed by violent Warp Storms, Astropathic Communication with the Hive World was severed, and subsequent Expeditionary Fleets were never heard from again.
One Colony Ship, carrying over six thousand colonists, was thus stranded alone on this Savage Planet in the distant Universe.
It had been two years.
Fortunately, any potential threats on the Planet had been completely eradicated by the Space Marines. Coupled with the suitable Climate for survival, the first wave of Human colonists settled down here, carrying with them anxieties and apprehension about the prolonged raging of the Warp Storms.
Inside the simple hut constructed of ochre concrete, Fu Qinghai stood up from the bed and walked to the full-length mirror, looking at his reflection.
He was a handsome Youth with black hair and black eyes, his appearance bearing about seventy to eighty percent resemblance to his former self. His skin was fair, his nose bridge high, and his eyes deep-set, possessing a mixed-race quality compared to traditional East Asians. He had a large Skeleton, and at 17 years old, he was already over 1.8 meters tall, with nascent muscle contours even without rigorous training.
Such a handsome, intelligent, quick-learning youth with excellent Physical Fitness, great potential for development, a temperament like Bruce Lee, a face like Daniel Wu, and a physique surpassing Takuya Kimura.
In the Warhammer 40K Universe, there is a simple and universal term for such a person—
Mortal.
A creature that can perish in the billions in any minor conflict of the Imperium of Man.
In the Warhammer 40K Universe, the Galaxy is dark and cruel.
"Alo! Alo, come eat!" a familiar, cheerful voice sounded outside the door.
The blue-eyed, short-haired girl bounced in, completely Used to it regarding Fu Qinghai's bare upper body. She grabbed Fu Qinghai's arm and pulled him out, "Come on, let's go eat."
Fu Qinghai was interrupted from his thoughts and quickly grabbed a shirt from the bed before being dragged out the door by the girl.
Stepping outside, the metal door behind him closed automatically. Fu Qinghai, now clothed, found himself on a street filled with an earthy yellow hue. People walked around casually in small groups, occasionally lifting their face coverings to shield against the slight dust carried by the wind.
The Climate of Cheslatan's main continent was slightly hotter and drier than most regions on Earth. Vegetation was not lush, but such a Climate was already a rare habitable condition in the entire Galaxy.
The girl led Fu Qinghai to a low building where Food was distributed. The two collected their standardized rations, found a corner, and while eating, listened to the girl chatter about the stronghold's happenings while Fu Qinghai was unconscious.
Thanks to the first Colony Ship carrying not too many people but rather a lot of large pioneering equipment, the current population of three thousand in the Colonial Outpost was negligible compared to the entire Planet's resources. Thus, life in the Outpost was relatively comfortable.
With no new bureaucratic system arriving, the few Administrative Officials originally from the Expeditionary Fleet became the highest Officers of the Colonial Outpost. The Ship Captain, who was forced to stay behind, also served as an Official of the Outpost, establishing a temporary Management order for the Colonial Outpost.
No, it could no longer be called "comfortable." At this very moment, Cheslatan was practically an idyllic haven, a paradise, in the cruel Galaxy!
As mentioned earlier, the Warhammer 40K Universe is dark and cruel. The quality of life for most Humans is far inferior to that of the ancient Earth Terra era. The Imperium of Man constantly faces invasions from various Alien Creatures and mysterious forces from the Warp.
Ordinary Humans living on Hive Worlds and Forge Worlds either fight and die on the front lines against Heretics and Xenos, perhaps without leaving behind any honor or Name, or they toil to death in the sunless, heavily polluted Lower Hive, eating Corpse Starch from the recycling systems their entire lives.
Compared to these two less-than-ideal options, the Colonial Outpost on Cheslatan, isolated by the Warp Storm, was completely a Sanctuary in the cruel Galaxy.
Temporarily.
Unlike the bewildered people in the Colonial Outpost, Fu Qinghai certainly knew why this sudden Warp Storm had lasted so long.
The supreme military commander of the Human Expeditionary Force—the Primarch Warmaster Horus—launched a Rebellion near the end of the unfinished Great Crusade, with half of the Space Marine Legions joining the rebellious Faction.
The Chaos Gods in the Warp took the opportunity to stir up Warp Storms, severing contact—both communication and travel—between various parts of the Imperium and the Space Marine Legions.
Fu Qinghai's new identity after rebirth was named Locke, having no surname, just a simple word.
A typical name for an Underhive Scum, as simple as his orphan background, which was shockingly basic. The chance to immigrate was obtained via a lottery, which was the result of the Planet's Governor showing great mercy.
Of course, it could also be that the population capacity of Levianthan Hive had reached its limit.
The blue-eyed girl was named Feiyi. She was also an orphan, but unlike Locke, who boarded the immigrant ship as a Hive orphan, Feiyi once had parents—a pair of botanists who were middle-class residents of Levianthan Hive. They were assigned by the Imperial government to research the vegetation and fauna of the New World, but they died from an illness contracted during exploration on the colony world.
During the long journey on the Colony Ship, Feiyi's family took good care of Locke, who was an orphan. The two managed to stick together in the Colonial Outpost, relying on each other. Besides both being orphans, there was another reason—Feiyi was not well-liked.
For no reason at all, everyone in the Colonial Outpost, except Locke, inexplicably found the little girl annoying and avoided her.
Recalling this, Fu Qinghai found it somewhat bizarre. How could anyone dislike such a beautiful and kind girl?
Feiyi's ethereal yet wild beauty, combined with her height of nearly 1.7 meters at only 15 years old, would have allowed her to easily become an Instagram beauty blogger with millions of followers on Earth in his previous life, without needing any special talents, and she wouldn't even need photo editing or makeup. Developing a career in modeling would also have been highly promising.
However, Fu Qinghai didn't dwell on it; he needed to consider another, more pressing issue.
How to participate in the main storyline currently gripping the Imperium of Man and the entire Galaxy—the Horus Heresy.
Unlike the previous Universe, this time Fu Qinghai did not receive a starter pack allowing him to freely choose a Faction; he randomly selected the Emperor's Faction.
Not bad; at least it was a Faction he could achieve an Easy Win with, assuming no other Reincarnators interfered.
However, recalling how the Reincarnators in the previous Universe dared to target even Tony Stark and almost succeeded, Fu Qinghai couldn't be happy—how could there be no Reincarnator interference?
With a thought, Fu Qinghai opened his Attribute Panel in his mind.
【Name: Fu Qinghai （True Name ）
Reincarnation Number: 60731920
Race: Human （Space Human Race ）
Height: 184cm
Weight: 75kg
Special Ability: Tony Stark Electronic Soul Backup （Completion Degree 17%） Bound Brain Domain
Reincarnation Equipment: None
Assimilation Points: 124 points
World Anchor: X1
Reincarnation Life: X2】
The Name hadn't changed, but one Reincarnation Life was missing. It was the "True Name" in parentheses that gave Fu Qinghai pause for thought. Recalling the fantasy novels he read in his past life, he wondered if this "True Name" was related to some kind of Magic ritual or Black Magic.
The Race had changed, from the original Terran Human Race to the Space Human Race. Unlike the Terran Human Race, when Fu Qinghai focused his thoughts on the four characters for Space Human Race, a description surfaced:
During the long process of space exploration, Humans gradually adapted to the microgravity environment and radiation background of space, gaining a certain resistance to Cosmic Radiation and an increased tolerance limit for G-forces.
A reasonable transformation. Fu Qinghai knew that traditional Earth Humans could not stay in space for long periods. In his previous life, Research Institutions studying astronauts' bodies found that prolonged exposure to low gravity in outer space leads to various chronic illnesses, affecting vision and cognitive abilities, including gene mutation, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, and cerebrospinal fluid accumulation.
"Tony Stark Electronic Soul Backup （Completion Degree 17%） Bound Brain Domain."
This was the reward Fu Qinghai earned by sacrificing one life in the previous Universe.
It was also the reason Fu Qinghai was knocked unconscious immediately upon waking in this Universe.
Fu Qinghai, who had only understood what the new addition in his brain was a week ago, couldn't contain his ecstatic joy.
He knew that in the Marvel plot, Iron Man had performed an electronic backup of his brain. After the original body died, a Tony Stark composed entirely of data often appeared as a blue Holographic Projection and participated in subsequent plots, at his strongest even threatening to destroy the Universe.
But those plots mainly occurred in the Marvel Ultimate Universe （1610 Earth Universe） and other Parallel Universes. The plot currently displayed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe （MCU） did not feature Iron Man creating an electronic Clone of himself, so Fu Qinghai hadn't considered that possibility at first.
Unexpectedly, in the MCU's year 2013, Tony Stark began the plan to electronically back up his brain. Perhaps due to post-Battle of New York anxiety, this was happening concurrently with the Ultron project.
Currently, the completion degree of this electronic cloning project was very low, only 17%. However, when Fu Qinghai's thoughts touched upon it, he discovered that the knowledge contained within was vast.
This was easily understandable. In Fu Qinghai's view, it should be very easy for Iron Man to back up the knowledge he possessed—it was just creating a database of knowledge documents, something even a third-rate programmer could accomplish, as knowledge is static; even the most massive amount of knowledge is still static.
But this was not Artificial Intelligence, let alone an Electronic Soul. The real difficulty of this Electronic Soul cloning project should be how to digitize and Clone Iron Man's Feelings, personality, likes, and dislikes, and the choices and Judgments he would make in different situations. This was the core of this Black Technology.
Fu Qinghai guessed that when the Electronic Soul Backup was truly complete, knowledge and logic would account for at most 30% of the data; the remaining 70% would be the Clone of Iron Man's personality and Feelings.
After all, there were countless intelligent people in the Marvel Universe. The reason Iron Man was Iron Man was not entirely dependent on that knowledge.
It seemed that Tony Stark might not have figured out a solution yet, so the project was shelved for the time being.
As for how the data interface of a hard drive connected to Fu Qinghai's brain stem, that likely had to be attributed to the magical Reincarnation World.
Fu Qinghai extended his mental tendrils into that vast Mindscape, and segments of knowledge flashed through his mind and disappeared.
It was a strange experience, like trying hard to recall a memory fragment, yet unlike recollection, it wasn't vague. Fu Qinghai could clearly feel an ocean had been added to his head, cool and icy, occasionally spitting out a bubble. But when he tried hard to "think" about that thing, to Chase that bubble, it vanished.
Fu Qinghai gave up.
He felt a bit discouraged.
What's the use of this? It says I have 17% of Iron Man's electronic backup in my head, but I haven't become 17% of Iron Man.
Scooping up a mouthful of Food, Fu Qinghai sighed and looked around vaguely.
Suddenly, he noticed a Servitor placed by the side of the street not far away.
It was a short, stout Humanoid Creature, nearly half of its Flesh and Blood body replaced by various agricultural machinery. It stood motionless by the roadside with a vacant gaze, its back hunched as if the overly installed Mechanical Arm was about to crush it.
A Servitor is not a person; it is Flesh and Blood machinery with most brain functions stripped away, used to replace Artificial Intelligence. They originate from Clone organs grown in cultivation vats or from criminals, serving as the labor cornerstone of the Imperium of Man.
This is why Fu Qinghai used the word "placed."
Upon arriving in the Warhammer 40K World, Fu Qinghai also took some time to adapt before he could regard a Servitor as something like a Refrigerator or a washing machine, rather than a living person.
At that moment, as he gazed at this Servitor, a bubble suddenly burst in the unfamiliar sea of thought within Fu Qinghai's brain.
"Servitor Slave, cybernetic prosthetic humanoid, hand extra modification: shallow drilling arm, left shoulder extra modification: high-power lamp, waist extra... Preliminary analysis shows modifications exceed factory set load, Output power insufficient... Optional modification directions: 1. Remove shoulder... 2. Modify... 3. ..."
As Fu Qinghai stared, a large chunk of fragmented Information flashed in his mind. Fu Qinghai, who initially knew nothing about the manufacturing principles of Servitor Slaves, found himself increasingly convinced that this Servitor had problems—this part was wrong, that part wouldn't work, and he could modify it to be better. A faint impulse also urged him to dismantle this Servitor for research.
Shaking his head, Fu Qinghai dismissed this impractical idea.
The officials of the Colonial Outpost seemed merciful to the people, but this was only because he needed to ensure the survival rate of the immigrants. At a time when communication and transport were cut off, every single person was quite precious.
However, the Servitors and all large pioneering equipment in the Colonial Outpost were property belonging to the Imperial government, not something Fu Qinghai could casually tamper with. He was an Underhive Scum with zero formal education, not a Tech-Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
I see... Fu Qinghai mused, gaining a rough understanding of this "Tony Stark Electronic Soul Backup （Completion Degree 17%） Bound Brain Domain."
It makes sense; a Superpower linked to Iron Man shouldn't be completely useless; it just needed development.
He hadn't expected that the alloy hard drive he casually pulled out was actually Iron Man's electronic backup.
No wonder a mere hard drive required a massive 7012 Assimilation Points to assimilate... Fu Qinghai thought, perhaps I am the legendary lucky one?
Indeed, if you want to get rich, you must bet big; win and you get the high life, lose and you get Reincarnation... Fu Qinghai thought contentedly.
"Hey, hey, Alo!" a slender little hand waved in front of Fu Qinghai's eyes. "Why are you smiling foolishly at the Servitor? Is your head still not right?"
"Uh..." Fu Qinghai composed himself and snapped back to attention. "Where were we just now?"
"I was saying, something terrible happened at the Outpost yesterday!" Feiyi said in the tone of sharing a shocking secret.
"What terrible thing, how terrible?" Fu Qinghai asked casually.
"Do you remember what caused you to fall unconscious?"
"Didn't you tell me a rock fell from the sky and hit your head?" Fu Qinghai looked at Feiyi strangely, thinking, did she have to repeat such an incredibly unlucky event?
"Yes. Later, Calvin and Sezer investigated and found out that a Starship crashed about two hundred kilometers from the Outpost. Many pieces of metal and rocks fell from the sky that day, piercing the roofs of some buildings in the Outpost."
Calvin and Sezer were the Administrative Officials of the Colonial Outpost.
"Including the piece that hit your head," Feiyi added.
Why bring that up again... "And then? Calvin took people to check it out, right? After they came back, they sealed off the information, said nothing, and forbade anyone from the Outpost from going near the crash site."
Fu Qinghai already knew what happened next.
Feiyi lowered her voice and said, "I heard that the night before last, Cedric and his group secretly went to the Starship."
"Oh?" Fu Qinghai also focused his attention.
"After Calvin and the others checked the crash site the first time, rumors spread privately in the Outpost that the Starship was a Warship, one belonging to the Expeditionary Fleet, but for some reason, Calvin ordered the Outpost residents not to approach it. Cedric and his gang had been clamoring to go treasure hunting in the Starship, to find Weapons, saying they'd be set for life if they got a Bolter."
Cedric's small clique was a group of sixteen or seventeen-year-old youths in the Outpost, little thugs, some of whom were also orphans. If they were peers on Earth in his previous life, they would at most be considered undisciplined and rowdy. But these youths who grew up in the filth of the Lower Hive could not be described merely as "naughty kids." The dirty streets of the Lower Hive were filled with drugs, guns, bloody murder, and violent gangs; the only thing they lacked compared to the teenage Warlords in Africa wielding AKs was an environment conducive to rebellion.
Cedric's group used to frequently gang up to bully Locke, who was Fu Qinghai. Perhaps out of jealousy for Locke's good looks, or some other reason—thugs don't need a reason to pick a fight. And Feiyi, just as her parents had done, always bravely stood in front of Locke to protect him. Of course, this wasn't because Feiyi was a great fighter, but because Cedric and the others were annoyed by Feiyi and unwilling to get close to her.
"The result is that this morning, only one person returned—Lazlo. He was covered in blood, his face pale, delirious, muttering something about Daemons, White Daemons, and the like. He was severely injured, and he died shortly after returning!"
Feiyi's tone was hard to discern between fear and schadenfreude, as Cedric's clique often troubled Locke and frequently caused trouble for the Colonial Outpost.
Hearing this information, Fu Qinghai narrowed his eyes.
Even setting aside participation in the main storyline, the Colonial Outpost on Cheslatan could only be a temporary Sanctuary. Regardless of who won the final Horus Heresy, this place would sooner or later fall under the rule of some Faction.
And an even worse outcome would be that before the rule of the Imperium of Man arrived, they would encounter other Xenos Races from the edge of the Galaxy, which would undoubtedly be a disaster for this weak Colonial Outpost.
Therefore, for whatever reason, Fu Qinghai could not simply live out his days in comfort; he had to consider a way to leave this place sooner or later.
And the Starship that crashed half a month ago presented an opportunity.
"Daemon, White Daemon?" Fu Qinghai murmured to himself; this piece of information was too vague.
Fu Qinghai frowned and began to ponder.
A Warp Daemon manifesting?
Setting aside how complex and massive a Sacrifice and ritual would be required for a Warp Daemon to break through the barrier and enter reality, if it truly was some evil entity from the Warp inside the Starship, then Lazlo wouldn't have had a chance to escape. Things that do not conform to the rules of the real world are difficult even for powerful Space Marines to harm.
Furthermore, the Colonial Outpost Officer Calvin had taken people to investigate.
Right, I should just go ask Calvin directly and see if I can subtly glean anything.
"Let's go!" Fu Qinghai took Feiyi's hand, stood up, and headed toward the residence of the Outpost Officials.
"Where are we going?" Feiyi, being pulled along by Fu Qinghai, was confused.
...........