hotmtlnovel Chapter 2: Impossible, Absolutely Impossible
Chapter 2: Impossible, Absolutely Impossible
When the Thunderhawk gunboat successfully left the Great Tyrant and began to autopilot towards the Eisenstein along the pre-set route, Sun Qiancai finally had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief.
However, he was well aware that this was only the beginning, and he would likely face a long and arduous battle ahead, especially since the fatigue from using his abilities was already taking hold.
In the moment he closed his eyes to rest, Sun Qian's thoughts drifted back more than a hundred years—
No, to be precise, it was 28,000 years ago.
Back then, Earth wasn't called Terra, and Sun Qian was just an ordinary office worker who would paint strategy game models while watching and commenting on the new Three Kingdoms every day after get off work.
Until that strange blue pop-up window...
[Zhuge Liang invites you to travel 28,000 years into the future to restore the Han Dynasty. Do you accept? (YES/NO)]
Sun Qian was immediately amused and annoyed. Thinking it was some kind of browser game that had failed, he clicked the mouse with the intention of having some fun.
"Fine, if you time travel, I'll time travel too!"
He didn't realize the seriousness of the problem until he woke up and found himself in a dimly lit laboratory.
"You're awake! Congratulations!"
A red-robed man, whose face was mostly replaced by mechanical devices, was looking down at him, grinning to reveal a bizarre smile full of metal teeth.
"From this moment forward, you are the Emperor's Shadowmoon Wolf."
Then came the century-long campaigning as Astartes.
From the initial panic of discovering that he had traveled to the Warhammer universe, to the surprise of discovering that he had traveled to the 30K Great Crusade era;
From the initial elation upon completing the Astartes renovations to the utter despair of being unable to prevent Horus from entering the Temple of Davenport;
Sun Qian, initially an ordinary otaku, gradually learned how to fight as an Astartes.
But at the same time, he also learned about his own insignificance and powerlessness.
Although he was a monster compared to ordinary people, Sun Qian was insignificant among the many Astartes during the Great Expedition.
With only average talents and abilities, he had nothing to boast about except for his longevity of several hundred years. He had tried to warn Horus about the plot against Davin Star, but who would care about the opinion of a lowly soldier?
Especially when it comes to things like predicting the future, many think tanks are already capable of doing so.
As for telling others about a more specific future, such as the outcome of the Horus Rebellion—
Let's forget about it then. If we really do that, the Hammer of Imperial Truth will probably kill itself before the Chaos Heretics do.
After much thought, Sun Qian's goal became much simpler.
To survive in chaotic times.
The only good news is that, perhaps due to the influence of Horus's genetic seed, after the Daven Star incident, before he could even grieve for the corrupted War General, Sun Qian discovered that he had also awakened some special abilities.
After self-research, Sun Qian named his special ability—
[A psychic prosthetic tool generated from the subconscious mind, combining the influence of 30 millennia of time travel with the truth of the empire.]
Abbreviated as the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms System".
Okay, Sun Qian admits that he made the dumplings just for this bit of vinegar.
After all, his abilities are more accurately described by this name.
Specifically, his ability is to summon a glittering golden mental panel, and then trigger its special abilities by selecting cards on the panel...
That being said, he only had the card 【Standard Sun Qian】 on him.
As for ways to obtain more cards, there are indeed ways, as the system itself comes with related tasks.
[Permanent Mission: Befriend neutral or friendly generals from the Three Kingdoms period and obtain character cards by increasing your relationship with them.]
[Hidden Quest: Participate in the classic storylines of the relevant generals; upon completion, you will receive the corresponding character card.]
This is absolutely outrageous!
This is the 31st millennium!
This is the Warhammer Universe!
The only ones you can find are emperors who are obsessed with making canned food, or father-controlled war generals who are going through menopause and want to rebel!
There are also a bunch of genetic prototypes who have some psychological issues.
Where can I find Three Kingdoms generals?
Even if I searched high and low in Terra to find Cao Cao's grave, I don't know if Emperor Wu of Wei would be able to hear my chatter.
Moreover, I estimate that before that, they would be beheaded by the Imperial Guard as cultists.
Despite this, Sun Qian quickly accepted reality.
After all, in his view, this so-called system was likely just something he had created in his mind through self-hypnosis, influenced by his subconscious, based on his psychic talent.
This is not surprising, as Astartes' brain is essentially a human supercomputer, so this situation is quite reasonable.
For example, the effect of "speaking alliance" is actually the hypnotic effect produced by one's own brain after high-speed information analysis, combined with weak psychic energy.
That makes sense.
This so-called mission system might just be a product of my resentment towards that transmigrated guy and the fact that I never got a cheat system. Just pretend that I, Sun Qian, never had any of these things.
After all, no matter how you look at it, searching for Three Kingdoms generals in the 30K era is just too...
"Approaching its destination, the USS Eisenstein requests a reason for boarding."
The sudden mechanical notification sound pulled Sun Qian back to reality from his memories. After calming himself down, Sun Qian replied according to the original plan.
"I am Sergeant Sun Qian, Son of Horus. I have come here on an urgent order from the War Commander. I have some matters to discuss with Company Commander Grürg regarding the second phase of the operation later."
As mentioned earlier, the frigate, named Eisenstein, was commanded by two Death Guard company commanders—but that's just the tip of the iceberg.
In reality, the loyalist Captain Garo was under house arrest under the pretense of recuperating from his injuries, while most of the Astartes on the transport ship were subordinates of the rebel Captain Grürger.
Therefore, although Sun Qian's ultimate goal is to join Captain Garo and, together with him, seize the spaceship and escape back to Terra according to the original plot, it is better to continue to pretend to be a rebel to gain Gruulg's trust for now.
As expected, after a brief silence, the USS Eisenstein issued boarding permission.
With a slight jolt, the Thunderhawk gunboat successfully landed on the deck of the USS Eisenstein.
Sun Qian grabbed the precision-engineered explosive pistol, hung it in the most conspicuous position on his waist, and then pressed the hatch opening button.
"Welcome aboard the Eisenstein, my fellow fighters from the Sixteenth Army."
In front of the gunboat stood an Astartes wearing clean, shiny gray-white power armor, giving a standard Eagle salute.
"Thank you for your welcome, but I have urgent business with Company Commander Grürger..."
"I've received orders; I'll take you to the bridge now."
The negotiations went unexpectedly smoothly, which was also a good thing for Sun Qian.
Using the "Alliance" ability is not without cost; each use consumes a large amount of Sun Qian's energy, and even with his Astartes physique, continuous use would be a significant burden.
Saving money here will increase the chances of successfully persuading Gruulg or Garo later.
Everything seems to be going according to plan.
Ok?
Just as Sun Qian was about to take a step, he suddenly realized something was amiss.
A clean... Death Guard?
"Brother, is Captain Grürger on the bridge? I want to relay the war marshal's orders to him as soon as possible. Can you take me directly to him?"
Sun Qian asked casually, as if it were a casual conversation, and the Death Guardian Astartes in front of him immediately answered.
"That's right, you'll see it once you get to the bridge—"
Sun Qian didn't listen to the other person finish speaking; in fact, he didn't pay any attention to their reply.
He was focused on the text displayed in the system panel because of the "Shuomeng" that had just been secretly activated.
[The
[Calculating the difficulty of persuasion...]
【>999】
[Rating: Impossible, absolutely impossible]