3: Chapter 3 Ice Tomb and Golden Throne

The moment the hatch slid open, Lin Yuan’s temples throbbed.

That sound came again. It was like thousands of rusted gears grinding inside his skull, mixed with intermittent whispers, ancient and heavy syllables. He blinked, and a flicker of gold flashed at the edge of his vision, gone in an instant.

[God-Emperors Gaze: 0.5%]

The red numbers in the corner of his vision flickered slightly. Lin Yuan didn’t stop. His right index finger rested on the trigger guard of his laser pistol, and his left hand quietly pressed against the wound on his left arm. The bleeding had stopped, but a false sense of lightness flowed in his veins—a sign that radiation poisoning was being suppressed, like rotten wood painted with varnish.

Rat Eye cowered three steps behind him, breathing heavily.

"Sir, this place..." Rat Eye’s voice caught in his throat, as if something was choking him.

Lin Yuan didn’t look back. His gaze was fixed on the end of the corridor.

There, seven cylindrical cryo-stasis pods were arranged, their silver-grey exteriors covered in thick frost. The pods bore black serial numbers: ARK-07, identical to the mark on the metal card in his hand. His grandfather's relic felt warm in his pocket.

"Stand back," Lin Yuan said in a low voice.

Rat Eye immediately retreated, his back pressing against the cold wall. His right hand hung seemingly casually by his side, but his fingertips trembled slightly, reaching for a protrusion on his waist. It was a severely worn badge, covered in grime and rust, but the letters ARK were faintly discernible. His finger lingered on the badge for a second, then slowly moved towards the communicator hidden under his clothes, finally freezing in mid-air and slowly retracting.

Lin Yuan caught the movement in his peripheral vision, but he didn’t expose it.

Now was not the time for internal purging.

He approached the first stasis pod. The ice was too thick to see inside, only vaguely discerning a humanoid outline. On the side of the pod was a touch panel; the screen was cracked, but the interface was still flickering with a faint green light.

Power was needed to initiate the scan.

Lin Yuan looked down at the Mark IV laser pistol in his hand. The energy indicator on the gun showed: 1/4. The last shot. In the wasteland, one laser round meant the life of a Sand Scorpion, or the head of a raider. Using it to activate a terminal whose functionality was unknown was a gamble.

He remembered the golden characters on the forge table, and the weight of the word "Astartes." A strategic advantage was worth a tactical risk.

Lin Yuan drew his pistol and aimed the muzzle at the energy interface on the side of the stasis pod.

"Sir!" Rat Eye exclaimed, "You’re going to..."

The buzzing sound of the laser interrupted him. A crimson beam accurately struck the interface, and energy was instantly fed into the pod. The cracked screen flickered a few times and then lit up. The faint blue light illuminated Lin Yuan’s pale face, casting deep shadows in his eyes.

[Biological signal detected...]

[ARK-07 gene-seed reserve pod - Status: Locked]

[Authorization verification: lin clan bloodline - Level 2 Researcher]

[Match: 99.7%]

Lin Yuan’s pupils contracted slightly. Match. His DNA had a 99.7% match with these pods. Not his grandfather’s, not some stranger’s, but his own.

Lines of data flashed across the screen, accompanied by harsh static:

[Project: Astartes Prototype - Reserve Gene Bank]

[Quantity: 7]

[Status: Deep Sleep (Inactive)]

[Unlock Conditions: STC Level 3 Authority / Black Tower Main Control Core Certification]

[Warning: Forced thawing will result in genetic collapse]

Lin Yuan’s finger slid across the screen, stopping at the words "Black Tower Main Control Core." That was his next objective. Not a vague exploration, but a clear, quantifiable mission: reach the Black Tower, obtain Level 3 authority, and unlock the first Astartes.

Below the screen was a line of small text, almost covered by bloodstains:

[Ark Project - Seventh Containment Facility - Lin Zhengguo (Chief Researcher)]

Lin Zhengguo. His grandfather's name.

Lin Yuan silently noted this information, then took out the metal card from his pocket and lightly swiped it across the induction area next to the screen.

[Downloading data...]

[Black Tower route map updated]

[Warning: Path passes through high-Luminous Swamp zone, unidentified electromagnetic signals detected]

The route map unfolded on the screen, a red dashed line extending from the current location deep into the Rust Canyon, ending at a towering black spire. But in the middle section of the route, there was a large red area, marked with a few blurry characters: "Luminous Swamp - Electromagnetic Ghosts Haunt."

Electromagnetic Ghosts. Legends circulated in the wasteland, saying that the ghosts of pre-war AI roamed the swamp, devouring all nearby electronic devices.

Lin Yuan turned off the screen and walked to the other side of the pod cluster. There was a collapsed medical terminal there, its screen still glowing with a faint green light. He rummaged through the ruins, kicking aside a deformed metal plate, and found a scorched notebook and a still-usable data pen.

The last page of the notebook recorded a water purification synthesis formula, which could produce drinking water capable of neutralizing mild radiation using existing filtration materials and chemical reagents from Layer B3.

This was the water purification clue for Layer B3. Lin Yuan quickly jotted down the formula and put the data pen into his pocket.

Just then, he smelled something.

It wasn’t the smell of disinfectant, nor the smell of rusted metal. It was a pungent, sweet-smelling pheromone, drifting from the other end of the corridor. Lin Yuan immediately extinguished his flashlight and crouched against the wall.

Rat Eye also smelled it, and his face instantly turned pale. "Sand Scorpions..."

Lin Yuan silently moved into the shadows of the pod cluster. He saw claw marks. On the metal shell of the ARK-07 pod, there were several fresh, deep claw marks with dark green mucus. These were left by the Sand Scorpions’ forelimbs, but the angle and depth indicated that these creatures were not attacking blindly.

They were searching for something.

Lin Yuan recalled the tactical intelligence displayed by the Worker Scorpions earlier—avoiding lines of fire, breaching walls, anticipating. Now he confirmed that these Sand Scorpions were tracking ARK-07’s biological signals. Their pheromone markings were not random but indicated organized hunting behavior.

The leader was evolving.

"They know this place," Rat Eye whispered, trembling, "They can smell it..."

Lin Yuan didn’t answer. His vision suddenly distorted for a moment.

The golden light came again, stronger than before. He saw a massive shadow, composed of gears and cables, suspended from the ceiling of the chamber. At the center of the shadow was a colossal Golden Throne, on which a figure seemed to sit, distant and majestic. A phantom of a Adeptus Mechanicus priest, clad in black robes, flashed before his eyes, red cables wrapped around his outstretched arm, pointing towards the Black Tower.

Hallucination. A side effect of the God-Emperors Gaze.

Lin Yuan bit his tongue, the pain instantly clearing his mind. He quickly pulled out the military log from his pocket and, with trembling hands, recorded everything he had just seen: time, symptoms, duration. Using militarized records to anchor rationality and combat cognitive erosion.

"Sir?" Rat Eye looked at him in confusion.

"Nothing," Lin Yuan closed the log, his voice terrifyingly calm, "We need to get out of here."

He walked towards Rat Eye, looking down at the scrawny waif. Rat Eye looked up, his eyes showing both fear and unconcealed greed and calculation. The badge on his waist, the movement towards the communicator, all indicated that this kid knew the value of ARK-07 and what the Black Tower meant.

"You know where the Black Tower is," Lin Yuan said, not as a question, but a statement.

Rat Eye swallowed, then nodded.

"Take me there," Lin Yuan extended his hand, "I’ll provide protection, you lead the way. Once we reach the Black Tower, I’ll give you thirty percent of the supplies inside."

Rat Eye stared at Lin Yuan’s hand, then at the laser pistol on Lin Yuan’s waist. His fingers unconsciously touched the badge on his waist again; this time, he deliberately let Lin Yuan see the worn ARK symbol.

"Fifty percent," Rat Eye said, his voice no longer trembling, but instead carrying a gambler’s ruthlessness, "And I want a gun. Not a laser gun, just a regular projectile firearm will do."

Lin Yuan’s lips curled slightly. This wasn’t fearful subservience, but an equal negotiation. Rat Eye had bared his fangs, but also his cards: he had a history with ARK-07, his family might have been employees here, he knew the dangers of the Black Tower, and he knew its value.

"Forty percent, no gun," Lin Yuan said, "But you’ll get there alive."

Rat Eye looked at him for a long time, then finally extended his hand and grasped Lin Yuan’s. The hand was cold, strong, and held the potential for betrayal.

"Deal, Sir."

Lin Yuan turned and walked to the medical terminal, quickly mixing a bottle of cloudy liquid according to the formula he had just memorized. He drank half and tossed the other half to Rat Eye.

"Drink it. Radiation poisoning will give you cramps in the swamp."

Rat Eye took the bottle, hesitated for a moment, then drank it all.

Lin Yuan took one last look at the frozen pods, at the 99.7% match displayed on the screen. He tightened his grip on the laser pistol, checked the last energy cell, and then headed towards the ramp leading to the surface.

Behind him, the ARK-07 screen completely dimmed, leaving only faint blue indicator lights flickering in the darkness, like the breathing of a sleeping giant.

And above them, above the thick concrete layer, the Sand Scorpion pheromone markings were forming a new spiral pattern, larger and more complex than ever before.

The Luminous Swamp awaited thirty kilometers away, rumored to have ghosts that devoured electronic devices, acid fog that could melt steel, and pre-war mechanical demons.

But Lin Yuan had already set his goal. The Black Tower. STC Level 3 Authority. The first Astartes.

He stepped onto the ramp, his figure disappearing into the dark passage.

Rat Eye followed closely, his hand still pressed against the badge on his waist, his eyes flickering with uncertain light.