Warhammer 40,000: Echoes of Divinity

Fortress – Subterranean Laboratory

With Yoan sent away, Qin Mo turned his full attention to the dimensional transmission experiment.

The prototype apparatus was carefully transported to the testing chamber—a newly excavated cavern deep beneath the fortress, its walls reinforced with plasteel plating and null-field generators to prevent psychic interference.

Two reinforced holding cells had been constructed at opposite ends of the chamber, their adamantium locks and stasis fields humming with power.

The test subject was already secured inside the left cell.

He was not a heretic priest, nor a Chaos cultist.

Just a common criminal.

His crime? Attempting to dismantle a drone for scrap.

A waste of resources.

A waste of air.

By the time Grot had finished escorting Yoan to the transport shuttle, he had already returned to the lab, eager to assist Qin Mo.

....

Qin Mo gestured toward a metallic backpack resting on a workbench.

"Put this on him."

Without hesitation, Grot grabbed the pack and stepped into the holding cell.

The prisoner—terrified and compliant—offered no resistance.

Silent. Resigned.

He slipped the device onto his back without question.

As Grot exited, the prisoner even shut the cell door behind him.

A sign of fatalistic acceptance.

Grot squinted at the device.

"Is that a grav-pack?"

Qin Mo shook his head.

"No. It's a safeguard."

He placed his palm against the control panel, and the transmission device whirred to life.

"The pack contains a locator beacon, a soul tether, and a shield generator. It ensures he will be transmitted mostly intact—"

Qin Mo's eyes flicked toward Grot.

"—and that he actually arrives."

Grot grimaced, watching the prisoner shift uneasily in his cell.

"Sounds like complicated mag-tech."

Qin Mo ignored him.

He turned to the dimensional transmission device, a two-meter cube of reinforced alloy, its metallic surface etched with intricate energy conduits.

As he raised his hand, thick power cables slithered from the chamber walls, locking into the machine with a mechanical hiss.

"First test—begin."

He activated the machine.

....

Qin Mo placed his hand upon the machine, channeling his will into its systems.

A high-pitched hum filled the chamber as its energy signature spiked.

Calculations ran through the machine's logic-engine at speeds incomprehensible to the human mind.

Grot's eyes locked onto the prisoner.

The man's body began to distort, his outline warping unnaturally.

Then—

"SKAAAA∼!!!"

A bone-chilling scream tore from his throat.

The safeguard pack activated, releasing a pulse of energy.

Above the prisoner's convulsing form, a flickering, translucent humanoid silhouette emerged—

Struggling. Reaching. Desperate.

The wraith-like entity clawed at its own body, trying to latch back onto itself—

Yet it could not.

But at the same time—

It was not fully torn away.

It remained anchored, held in place by the pack's energy field, trapped between dimensions, unable to fully sever, yet unable to fully return.

Grot took a step back.

"That… that thing… is his soul."

Qin Mo observed the phenomenon with cold detachment.

"The pack isn't working," Grot muttered.

"It's working—just not perfectly," Qin Mo corrected.

He studied the soul tether for another two seconds—then raised his hand.

The pack's internal systems fully activated.

A translucent barrier enveloped the prisoner, encapsulating both his body and his soul.

Then—

He vanished.

A heartbeat later, he reappeared inside the opposite cell.

The barrier dissipated. His soul re-fused with his body.

He collapsed to the floor, gasping in agony.

....

"You're not planning to use this thing to escape the Underhive, are you?" Grot asked, his voice wary.

Qin Mo didn't hesitate.

"Of course."

To him, it was obvious.

"This is only the first step. Eventually, we will use this to traverse the void—jumping between star systems."

Grot paled, glancing at the prisoner, still shuddering on the floor.

To him, this machine felt less like an escape tool—and more like a torture device.

"If the safeguards are fully active before the transmission begins, he wouldn't have felt any pain." Qin Mo explained.

He approached the cell, studying the prisoner's trembling form.

"What did you see?"

The man struggled to form words.

"I… I saw… lines. Lots of lines."

His breathing was ragged.

"Then… everything turned transparent."

He swallowed dryly.

"After that, I saw… things… but at the same time, it felt like I saw… nothing at all."

Qin Mo listened intently.

Then, he reached a simple conclusion.

The prisoner had been momentarily displaced into another dimension.

However—

As a mere human, his senses were too feeble to comprehend it.

It didn't matter.

Because the transmission worked.

....

"You got lucky," Qin Mo said, amused. "I thought you'd materialize inside the wall."

"What?!"

The prisoner's face drained of color.

Only now did he fully grasp how close he had been to death.

Qin Mo turned away, deep in thought.

Dimensional transmission was fundamentally simple—

A rift is opened.

The subject is pushed through.

The rift closes.

If the material universe was a chessboard, then normally, a piece had to move one square at a time.

Dimensional transmission?

It allowed someone to pick up the piece and place it wherever they wanted.

The machine's intelligence performed vast calculations, ensuring positional accuracy.

But—

If there was no locator beacon at the destination, accuracy would inevitably degrade.

A few meters off-course?

No issue for a warship.

But for a human?

A few meters could mean materializing inside a wall.

Or worse—fusing with debris.

The answer?

Allow the AI to calculate for a longer duration, increasing precision.

Once one person successfully arrived at the destination, they could plant a beacon—ensuring future transmissions had near-zero deviation.

Qin Mo nodded to himself.

The theory was sound.

....

The lab doors slammed open.

"New Kato just lost power! We're investigating!"

Klein burst into the room, his voice urgent.

Qin Mo barely glanced at him.

"I drained the power grid for this experiment."

Klein froze.

"You what?"

Qin Mo didn't bother explaining.

Dimensional transmission required vast amounts of energy.

This test had proven it.

New Kato had blacked out.

And the prisoner had barely moved a hundred meters.

....

"Did it work?" Klein asked hesitantly.

His nerves were on edge.

If Qin Mo said no—

"Yes. It worked."

Klein exhaled in relief.

"Then… does this mean we can finally leave the Underhive?"

"Of course."

Qin Mo turned to his assistant.

"In five days, once I've mass-produced the safeguard packs, we'll be able to move freely in and out."

Klein was elated.

After months trapped below, he could finally return home—to see his family again.

....

"Mobilize all military forces in three days."

Klein's stomach dropped.

"What? Why? The heretics are dead!"

Qin Mo's voice remained calm.

"The heretics are dead. But the ones who betrayed us… still live.

I have no intention of starting a war—

But if someone tries to stop us when we leave the Underhive…

We will be ready."

Klein swallowed hard.

"Understood…"