The Dreadnought still remembered the very beginning of the story. It was a grand crusade led by the Emperor himself, and twenty legions were formed on Terra, the birthplace of mankind.
As one of the first Space Marines of the II Legion to be transformed on the Moon, he, who still had his name at that time, once had conversations with the members of the Lunar Genetic Cult. These dissatisfied members of the Genetic Cult whom the Emperor defeated,d worked day and night for the Emperor's great cause of transforming Space Marines.
They treat other Space Marines very coldly, regarding them as the Emperor's lackeys, but they treat him differently.
"You are the most outstanding product of our genetic engineering! Other Space Marines are nothing more than pathetic genetic monsters, tools of the Emperor's war, but you are different!"
The researcher's eyes were filled with an intoxication and enthusiasm that I could not understand at the time: "You, who have infinite evolutionary possibilities, are the future of mankind!"
Wuwei didn't know what the future he was talking about was. He only knew that he and his brothers had particularly developed gene detection nerves and matching glands compared to others.
They could eat the opponent's body in battle, absorb the strengths of the opponent's genes, and complete targeted evolution in a shorter time.
Their legion was designated by the Emperor as an expert in fighting xenos, and this is exactly what happened. During the Great Crusade, by absorbing the strengths of the enemy and formulating targeted strategies, they were invincible in the battle against the xenos.
And Wuwei also stood out in this process. Because of his outstanding record in hunting aliens, he was respected by the brothers around him and was called "Hunter".
As time went by, no one even remembered his name; they only knew he was The Hunter, and he was so obsessed with it that he also enjoyed this title. He felt that this title was proof that he had outstandingly completed the mission entrusted to their legion by the Emperor, so he simply gave up his real name and hunted among the stars as a Hunter, killing more enemies of humanity for the Emperor.
But being strong never comes without a price. They become experts in fighting xenos because they can absorb the genes of their opponents, but absorbing too many genes from others also causes some brothers to suffer irreversible flesh and blood mutations.
Although those brothers still had clear consciousness, the non-human limbs that evolved from them gradually changed their behavior. They began to try more and more non-human behaviors, which made the hunters feel vaguely uneasy.
But seeing that the Third Legion, which once suffered from the Blight, was reborn from the ashes after finding its own Primarch, Fulgrim, the Hunter felt that all problems could be solved as long as he could find his own Primarch.
But he never thought that the Primarch had gone further than them on this path.
Hunter and his brothers found their Primarch on a primitive planet called Zerus.
It was a planet with special parasitic creatures called Larva. Those worms would parasitize the bodies of other monsters, absorb their cerebrospinal fluid, and after obtaining the other's genes, devour and assimilate them from their bodies.
Their Primarch was born on a human-controlled spaceship, where he learned basic human language and common sense, but the spaceship soon crashed on the planet Zerus, and the only survivor on the spaceship, the Primarch, soon became a part of the deformed ecological chain on the planet Zerus.
He imitated the Primal Zerg and began to plunder other creatures and even the genes of the original Zerg to evolve himself, in order to protect himself on the planet where monsters are rampant.
When the hunter found him, although he could still be seen in human form, his hands that had mutated into pincers, his mantis-like jumping feet, and his scorpion-like tail stinger all showed his specialness.
"Who are you? Where did you come from?" He heard his non-human Primarch ask, "I can feel a subtle connection between you and me. Who are you?"
He suppressed his nausea and revealed his identity to the Primarch. After learning that these legion warriors were his genetic descendants, the Primarch's attitude became quite enthusiastic.
He even shared his "delicacies" with the warriors and taught them which part of the monster to eat to better acquire the experience of evolving their genes.
The warriors were touched by the selflessness of the Primarch, but the Hunter was the only one who was detached from them. He always felt that his brothers were no longer trying to obtain the enemy's genes in order to defeat the opponent, but were addicted to the process of plundering genes. The return of the Primarch not only did not change this situation, but exacerbated this phenomenon in the Legion.
He originally hoped that returning to human life would change the Primarch's mindset, but he soon discovered that he was wrong, the Primarch's outstanding ability in manipulating genes allowed him to easily evolve or degenerate back to the state of ordinary humans, he just preferred to remain in a non-human state.
This preference, which in itself symbolizes an attitude, was emulated by the Space Marines who followed their Primarch, but ordinary Space Marines did not have the same outstanding genetic manipulation capabilities as the Primarch, and their imitation of the Primarch's behavior was often irreversible.
Seeing that the entire Legion was rushing towards the abyss of inhumanity, the Hunter tentatively proposed to destroy the Primal Zerg of Zerus in order to stop the Legion's degeneration. But this proposal was unsurprisingly rejected by the Primarch.
"Don't you think the way these Zerg survive has something to recommend it to us?"
The Primarch asked back: "By devouring the genes of others, we can become bigger and stronger. This will also be the way for our legion to survive. I will lead our legion to become the true ultimate creature, and become the 'evolved swarm' heading towards the universe!"
"But we are humans who hunt xenos. Obtaining genes is just a means of hunting. It should not be the purpose of our hunting itself!" the hunter retorted.
"Only creatures at a higher position in the ecological chain have the right to hunt creatures at a lower position. Endless evolution is the fundamental guarantee for us to continue hunting. Hunter, as a veteran in the legion, I thought you already understood this principle."
The Primarch's eyes seemed to be filled with blue flames. "Since my father has endowed you and me with the ability to evolve, we should enjoy the process. Besides, don't you think the unpredictable changes brought about by absorbing genes are wonderful?"
"Although you, father, are free to control the evolution and degeneration of organisms, many of the brothers who followed your example have already experienced serious mutations in their flesh and blood. From the definition of the human empire, it is even difficult to call them human beings..."
The hunter wanted the Primarch to think more about the fate of the Legion, but was rudely interrupted by the Primarch: "Definition? Whose definition? Who can define that they are not human?"
Of course, according to the division between science and imperial truth, creatures with human skulls are considered human."
"Who formulated science, and who formulated the imperial truth?"
The Primarch said aggressively, "Have you not seen those abhumans who were isolated on their own planets and mutated due to the local environment? The abhumans we exterminated before, because they lived in a high-pressure environment, the structure of their skulls gradually changed in the inheritance from generation to generation. Even though they still considered themselves human, the Empire had already issued an extermination order for us!"
"Tell me, Hunter, is the science you talk about really scientific? It is nothing but the standard set for you by others. If you live by the standard set by others, your brain is nothing but a racetrack for others!"