Chapter Fifty-One: Terra Hive City

Without the presence of Magnus, the Thousand Sons still fighting Imperial forces on Luna were much easier to deal with. With the arrival of reinforcements from Terra and the addition of the Second Regiment of Traversers, the Thousand Sons on Luna were swiftly eradicated. Fragments of ornate, ancient power armor, shattered by gunfire and blade, floated in the moon’s low gravity, and the souls imprisoned within, after millennia, were finally set free.

After the battle ended, the Eldar, after much deliberation, permanently closed the Webway gate on Luna.

The Imperial Navy hastily brought Guilliman back to Holy Terra, but Wang Ming and Fulgrim did not return to Terra with him. Their identities were awkward at best: Wang Ming was a completely unrecorded, unknown Primarch, while Fulgrim was a clone of a Primarch who had already turned traitor—explaining their presence would prove impossible in the short term.

Moreover, Wang Ming still needed to carry out another round of recruitment aboard the “Imperial Truth” to face the daemonic armies of Khorne on Terra.

“Brothers, as you can see, you have traversed worlds.” Wang Ming and Wang Xiaofa stood atop a Thunderhawk gunship, addressing the four thousand newly “recruited” Traversers below, who were weeping in unison.

“Ahem! Stop crying! Though you’ve crossed over into 40K, there is good news,” Wang Xiaofa, standing beside Wang Ming, shouted to the Traversers with a loudspeaker.

“What good news?” one of the Traversers called out.

“At the very least, you are now three-meter-tall demigods,” Wang Xiaofa replied.

“How is that good?” the Traverser asked, puzzled. After all, even original-forged Astartes die in droves in this grimdark universe.

Wang Xiaofa’s words only made the newly recruited Traversers wail louder.

“You can resurrect without limit,” Wang Ming quickly added.

At these words, the crowd of Traversers fell instantly silent.

“Death to Chaos!” After a brief, strange quiet, the Traversers’ fighting spirit erupted. Each one seemed eager to tear Chaos to shreds right away.

“Brothers, you will now participate in the Second Battle of Terra, fighting against the daemonic legions of Khorne,” Wang Ming explained the situation to the new recruits.

Upon learning they could resurrect endlessly, the Traversers were largely unfazed by the prospect. With infinite lives, they could simply trade blows with the daemons without worry.

After Wang Ming had organized this new batch of Traversers, a member of the Custodes, accompanied by Captain Leandro Ferreira, arrived from Terra to find Wang Ming.

“Great Primarch, His Majesty requests your presence at the palace,” the Custodian said, performing the necessary courtesies before conveying the Emperor’s invitation.

Wang Ming nodded, indicating he understood. “Very well, I shall come to the palace after handling some affairs,” he replied.

After sending away the Custodian, Wang Ming began to lay out his plans. First, he needed to organize the transportation of food to the various hive cities on Terra. Due to the warp storm, Terra could no longer receive the supplies necessary to sustain its vast population. Food was the most critical need—Terra’s population was immense, and the Administratum alone employed ten billion clerks, so the food crisis was dire.

One of the main reasons for the widespread riots on Terra was hunger. With hundreds of billions in need, a colossal quantity of food was required just to keep everyone alive.

To address this, Wang Ming took from the “Marketplace” the synthetic emergency rations once used by the Human Federation during the Golden Age to combat planetary famine. These rations would expand tenfold upon contact with a little water—a solution developed by the Federation to feed populations during the early days of planetary colonization.

Though the taste and texture left much to be desired—rather like chewing wood—this was only an issue for the Traversers. For Imperial citizens, the flavor was quite acceptable.

Wang Ming provided enough synthetic food to feed fifty billion people for a month. These rations, piled like mountains, were stacked beside the temporary factories constructed by the First Engineer Regiment using SCT templates. Swarms of servitors from Terra worked day and night to process the food, loading it onto transports bound for the starving masses in every hive.

With preparations complete, Wang Ming led the Traversers to Terra.

Within the middle hive of one of Terra’s hive cities:

“José, what did the foreman say? Will there be food today?” A factory worker, assembling parts atop a massive mould, called down to a colleague below.

“No, Richard. The foreman says the factory’s stores are empty,” José replied.

Hearing this, Richard clambered down from the mould and joined José. “What’s going on? Has something happened?” he asked in a low voice.

“Seems so. Haven’t you noticed the increased patrols lately?” José pointed out the window at the soldiers marching by the factory.

“So what do we do?” Richard asked anxiously. After all, he had a wife and two children to feed.

“I’ll see what I can find on the black market. Also, head straight home after work—word is the lower hive is restless, and some gangs have already moved up into the middle hive,” José advised.

Richard nodded. He trusted José completely—they’d grown up together, and were neighbors as well. More importantly, José was a retired Astra Militarum veteran, discharged early for certain reasons.

With little work at the factory these days, the shift ended quickly, and Richard and José returned home together. Home was just a tiny single room, its walls made of metal. Richard’s family of four lived crammed into this cramped space.

After arriving home, Richard handed some Thrones to José, asking him to try the black market for food.

José returned only at dusk, carrying two small bags. He put them on the table and opened them, revealing a few blocks of corpse-starch and a small piece of grox meat.

“Damn it, even the black market’s running out of food,” José said, dividing the food in half and handing the larger portion to Richard.

“What are you doing? If you give me this, what will you eat?” Richard refused to take the bag, looking José in the eye.

“I’ll be fine. You have a family to feed. I’m alone—I don’t need as much,” José replied.

In the end, Richard accepted the food.

“Be careful tonight. If anything happens, let me know,” José said before leaving.