The sound of the man-eating storm, made of tiny particles, hitting the old, abandoned buildings echoed in Kasga's ears.
Not long after leaving Fort Karaxis, to avoid the continuous natural disasters, Fulgrim suggested they rest briefly at a nearby abandoned factory.
Walking through the steel-framed abandoned factory, the dense tapping sound from outside the building brought a sense of peace and leisure.
Though he didn't know where Fulgrim would lead, he always followed her steps.
"The workers shouldn't have too much to worry about."
"Fort Karaxis's livelihood currently depends entirely on factory production, and Herold is now busy seizing power, so he won't have time to act against them."
"Once the storm subsides a bit, we'll use the old secret passage to sneak back into the factory and transfer the necessary supplies here."
"Then we can launch—"
"Wait, what are these?"
Stepping down the iron ladder, Kasga, following behind Fulgrim, pointed to a floor in a dark, abandoned basement.
There, large quantities of purified water, food, various hygiene and medical supplies, and protective suits were piled up. Dozens of boxes made the already cramped small room even more crowded.
Even in terms of weapons, there were several boxes of ammunition, dozens of blades, and rifles.
As for outside the room, new machinery occupied about two-thirds of the area, looking out of place amidst the rusty and dusty surroundings.
"Didn't expect that, did you?"
The puzzled Kasga met Fulgrim's fair chin, which was tilted up in triumph, like a peacock fanning its tail.
She had been prepared all along.
For the turmoil caused by the failed marriage alliance, internal noble disputes, and power struggles, she had already made thorough contingency plans.
She had arranged everything down to the smallest detail, from stockpiling essential supplies in uninhabited areas far from the Fort to the upcoming counterattack plan.
As for discussing the next course of action with Kasga earlier...
Hehe.
That was just teasing him.
The perfect Fulgrim had already planned countless feasible contingencies and would choose the most suitable one based on the outcome of events.
The calculation and planning ability of a Gene-Seed Primarch was simply something a mere mortal like Kasga could not hope to compare with.
Seeing Kasga's slight embarrassment, Fulgrim offered comfort:
"Although escaping directly without preparation seems a bit rash, and your preparations for the climate, escape route, and future counterattack strategy are still very naive."
"But as an ordinary person, being able to guess Herold's trick and offer corresponding solutions is already excellent."
Pat, pat on the head.
"After all, you did promise to 'save' me."
Fulgrim emphasized that word heavily.
...
That's true.
But why does it always feel like she's mocking him?
Kasga thought, as Fulgrim ruffled his hair and helped him put on a protective suit.
Sigh.
...Bad woman.
And Kasga was about to be played in the palm of this bad woman's hand.
...
He could only say his luck wasn't very good.
He had encountered one of the rare perfectionist all-rounders among the Primarchs.
If it had been another, slightly less intelligent Primarch, he might have been able to seize the opportunity to become their military advisor or strategist, thereby gaining their favor.
Like Angron, Angron.
And Angron.
Even Russ!
"What do we do now?"
Kasga asked helplessly.
It's impossible to just rely on this equipment to fight their way back.
Although it was certainly feasible given a Primarch's combat power, large-scale armed conflict could cause irreversible damage to the already fragile shelter ecosystem.
If the other side chose to destroy the entire Fort in a desperate act... then all survivors would be exposed to severe radiation storms, with unimaginable consequences.
"We need to fix this first."
Fulgrim replied.
"You might not believe it, but currently, only about ten percent of the systems in Fort Karaxis are functioning normally."
"I studied the system's operational pipelines before."
"In ancient times, this was Karrakis's power station. Most of the Fort's internal functions depend on the energy supply from here."
Fulgrim, after changing into her protective suit, leaned closer to the machine and explained to Kasga while repairing it.
"Fixing this place is equivalent to gaining control over the Fort's various functions."
Fulgrim took some parts from nearby equipment and examined them closely.
"Give me the mechanical parts from α-24."
"Previously, the Fort relied on internal emergency energy production equipment, but if we can repair the power plant and restore power, most of the Fort's system functions will be back under our control."
"Including fire control, riot suppression, and surveillance systems."
As she spoke, several discordant alarm red lights suddenly flashed from the instrument in front of them.
"Another error..."
"Kasga, give me the mechanical pliers from Σ-3."
...
Click.
As the final click, symbolizing connection, sounded and the green light came on, Fulgrim wiped away the fine beads of sweat on her fair forehead.
The time spent repairing the instrument was not short, but fortunately, what they had most of now was time.
"Phew. All right, now all that's left is to activate it and gain access."
Their gazes fell upon an ancient computer, connected by countless mechanical pipelines... well, in this world's terms, a 'Cogitator'.
【Starting... 1%】
【Starting... 2%】
She had put in a lot of effort to reactivate this old Cogitator.
Judging by the countless dense machinery and supplies newly set up near it, she had tried to sneak in here a long time ago to repair this Cogitator.
"I originally planned to repair the power supply after the marriage alliance, but the plan was ruined by Herold, so I can only forcefully gain control of the Fort through this method."
As she spoke, Fulgrim's hands rapidly tapped the buttons on the Cogitator.
The speed was so fast that Kasga could only see partial afterimages.
"You did all this by yourself?"
"Of course!"
"Actually, it wasn't that complicated," she replied with a hint of boastfulness to Kasga's question, "If Chemos didn't lack so many key materials, I would have fixed it much earlier..."
"You wouldn't believe how I used ultra-low quality materials..."
"Kasga."
The talkative Fulgrim suddenly paused.
She glanced around, confirmed again that only the two of them were there, then leaned close to Kasga's ear and whispered:
"Praise me, quickly."
"Huh?"
"Just praise me, right now... anything will do."
The Fulgrim in people's minds was often a composed, elegant, powerful, and wise human demigod.
Only Kasga was fortunate enough to glimpse her true form, hidden beneath her perfect exterior, when they were alone.
Kasga smiled at the sight.
"Ah, alright, alright, great Fulgrim, the most intelligent engineer on all of Chemos..."
Baby baby, you are a baby who is very good at building machines.
...
【Starting %】
..."Eh?"
According to Fulgrim's plan, everything was going smoothly.
However, the Cogitator seemed to have a problem now.
...
【Gene identification error!】
【Please input the correct human gene at the administrator permission activation point】
Looking at the prompt on the Cogitator's display, Fulgrim's expression was full of embarrassment.
"Something must have gone wrong, causing it not to recognize me..."
"Um... lend me your genes for a moment."
As if to hide her embarrassment, Fulgrim lowered her head and quickly drew a small amount of blood from Kasga's outstretched arm, put it into a sample bottle, and inserted it into the corresponding slot.
After a moment of hesitation, the Cogitator entered the reading phase again.
"Phew, it should be fine now."
It wasn't abnormal for it not to recognize her before.
After all, Gene-Seed Primarchs were products of the Emperor's Warp experiments, a very distant cry from humans.
Cogitators from the Old Night era might indeed be unable to identify their genes.
But a genuinely normal human like Kasga, well—
"Beep!"
The screen flashed with frantic red light.
【Gene identification error!】
【Please input the correct input the correct input the correct input the correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct correct】
Countless garbled characters instantly filled the entire display.