Chapter 320: Feeling That Kowtowing to Isha Works Better

The plague first emerged on the front lines of the Liberation War of Ultramar, precisely on the seventh day of the seventh month since the war began,

then, overnight, it spread throughout all of Ultramar, ravaging every planet,

this disease was named "Tear Plague" by human medics and Astartes Apothecaries, its clinical symptom being uncontrollable flow of thick, foul-smelling tears teeming with mites, which within seven hours would coat the eyelids, causing severe malignant swelling accompanied by excruciating pain, rendering patients nearly blind,

this was merely the initial stage; the patients' condition would continue to deteriorate, tears would keep pouring forth, until only thick green-black pus remained, the eyeballs rotting away, resulting in permanent blindness,

Zhou Yun and Sanguinius had warned Guilliman long ago that the God of Plague had set his sights on Ultramar, and that He would eventually unleash His favored plague upon the Space Marines' homeworld,

Guilliman prepared thoroughly: he organized vast numbers of human medics and chapter Apothecaries, stockpiled enormous quantities of medicine, and devised contingency plans for every possible type of plague,

within the first hour of the plague's outbreak, medics and Apothecaries identified the vector of transmission,

mites—a common type of space mite—carried the pathogenic bacteria,

medics and Apothecaries moved swiftly to quarantine infected zones and eradicate the source, but their methods, entirely reliant on human and material-universe forces, ultimately failed to overcome the Tear Plague,

the mites carrying the Tear Plague bacteria seemed to possess some kind of warp property, able to emerge from anywhere not within human sight,

despite every conceivable effort, medics and Apothecaries could only barely slow the plague's spread,

after all, the Father's plague was beyond the reach of mortal medical means,

or rather, the very fact that mortal medicine could suppress even a fraction of the Father's plague was itself unscientific,

the only good news was that the plague currently affected only humans; the Astartes appeared immune,

Guilliman believed this was entirely due to the effects of their gene-modified bodies,

but he was quickly proven wrong, for Belisarius Cawl's Adeptus Ministorum troops also showed no infection, and among the Battle Sisters who came to reinforce, only a few cases appeared; the humans under Sanguinius's leadership were likewise untouched,

and the followers of the Saint Doraemon Cult, like the Ministorum troops, either did not contract the plague or experienced only brief, mild symptoms,

Rena was one such case,

she was among the earlier infected, yet only wept—no pus emerged—and recovered quickly,

many in the Saint Doraemon Cult therefore believed this was Doraemon's protection,

others began to believe that devout faith could repel the plague,

Zhou Yun, however, suspected this was some kind of warp phenomenon: a group of people believing that sincere faith in the Emperor or themselves would grant protection and prevent illness had, in the warp, generated an effect—awakening the Emperor's or their own power, making them genuinely less susceptible to the plague,

the roar of the Stormraven echoed across the sky, storms churning on the sea made the troop transport rock violently,

Zhou Yun, seated beside Guilliman and the 2nd Company Captain Sicarius of the Ultramarines, rubbed his temples and gazed out the window,

an endless ocean stretched to the horizon, black and green, layered with dark clouds, occasional tornadoes linking sea and sky,

the ocean world of Talassa, now the very front line of the battlefield and one of the regions most severely afflicted by the Tear Plague,

Guilliman worried for his people; this Primarch, raised by foster parents, retained profound humanity,

as a statesman, Guilliman knew well how much morale he could boost simply by walking among the sick,

disease was one of the greatest destroyers of warrior morale; Guilliman must appear invincible,

this was also why they chose the Stormraven gunship over the teleporter to land on Talassa,

the teleporter was too small—only reaching Guilliman's waist—and every time he squeezed out of it, Zhou Yun couldn't help laughing,

Sanguinius had no such trouble; he could skillfully adjust his stature with psychic power, always emerging in perfect form,

Sicarius, seated beside Zhou Yun, remained silent, staring out at the shattered rock islands on the sea,

Talassa was Sicarius's homeworld; he still bore the honorific title of Duke of Talassa, and in a sense, Talassa was his noble fief,

Sicarius had deep affection for this land,

but its capture by Chaos had turned it into a stubborn stronghold, and with the plague spreading, the battle had become deadlocked,

Macragge had poured more forces into this planet; the only human unit equipped with Zhou Yun's devices, the Cadia 184th, had joined the fight, instantly escalating the war's brutality,

it wasn't Zhou Yun's devices to blame—it was mainly the fault of,

suddenly, a deafening roar like mountains collapsing and oceans surging came from outside the window; Zhou Yun and Sicarius saw an island being ripped from the sea, levitated by psychic force, and hurled like a stone skipping across water toward another island,

the islands collided, the seabed screamed, and the Black Legion forces on both islands were obliterated in this catastrophic scene,

"My island…" Sicarius's whisper rose beside Zhou Yun,

after the 184th entered combat, the situation on Talassa did improve,

for instance, a small hive city had resisted capture for a long time; Rena and her 184th were reassigned there,

facing this fortress modified by the Iron Warriors, Rena dragged an entire island and smashed it directly into the hive city,

later, Rena learned that the hive city had been Sicarius's childhood home, the ancestral seat of his human family,

after the Stormraven tore through the storm layers, it landed shakily in the Graudo Valley on Talassa,

Guilliman and Zhou Yun stepped out of the Stormraven under Sicarius's escort,

the valley housed an Imperial encampment, hastily erected quarantine huts standing amid Talassa's rain curtain,

human medics and Astartes Apothecaries moved in and out of the huts; occasionally, Eldar figures could be seen,

some Eldar in the Death Guard possessed medical knowledge and were assigned to assist the Imperium in curing the Tear Plague,

yet even the Eldar could not cure Nurgles's newly bred plague so swiftly,

most of these Eldar now rarely participated in frontline medical work; they claimed they were seeking a more efficient method to cure the Tear Plague,

Guilliman's face was bathed in cold rain as he watched the Eldar construct a statue of a woman in the corner of the encampment, reverently praying to the Eldar goddess of life, Isha,

though he didn't know how Guilliman felt, Zhou Yun thought this was actually quite sensible,

Isha was a benevolent deity; she was often the first to be infected by Nurgles's new plagues, drinking the freshly brewed broth herself, using her own body to find cures, then quietly revealing them to mortals of the material universe—not just the Eldar, but all races across the galaxy; many actual cures for plagues originated from Isha's whispers,

at least for now, this was more reliable than most methods of Apothecaries and human medics; perhaps even reverently kowtowing to Isha was the most reliable way to cure a new plague in the galaxy—except for bacterial plagues, whose most effective cure lay in Zhou Yun's upper,

the encampment commander hurried forward, attempting to hold an umbrella over the Primarch and Zhou Yun, but Guilliman halted him,

the human commander was too short; even holding the umbrella high, it barely reached Guilliman's shoulders,

Guilliman took the black umbrella himself and held it over both himself and Zhou Yun,

"I will see the patients," the Primarch said to the commander,

they walked together outside the huts,

from within the huts, sobs, wails, and cries echoed endlessly, weaving into a low, oppressive background hum that clung to the rain-soaked world,

this was only the second day since the plague's emergence; Zhou Yun and Guilliman had arrived here via teleporter at high speed,

yet the Tear Plague seemed to ignore the limits of the material universe, spreading instantly to every corner of Ultramar,

"Is this plague as fierce as you predicted?" Guilliman asked Zhou Yun in a low voice,

Zhou Yun had previously warned Guilliman that Nurgle might create a virus to infect Macragge,

"I can't say," Zhou Yun replied, shaking his head,

His knowledge of this Tear Plague came entirely from his past life's book, "Storms and Convergence: Rise of the Primarchs"

but it was a campaign manual, written very briefly, omitting much, and had no Chinese translation,

and Zhou Yun's English proficiency was as poor as Rena's math skills; the manual's phrasing was thick with Nottingham dialect, as hard to read as High Gothic,

thus Zhou Yun could not determine whether the current Tear Plague was inherently this virulent, or whether his arrival had triggered a butterfly effect,

"The God of Plague is a master breeder of bacteria. He may have noticed my presence and intensified the plague's strength,"

Zhou Yun carefully chose his words,

"Disease is the God of Plague's creation; plague is divine punishment. Only the most foolish believe such things,"

Guilliman frowned,

"yet you have forced me to believe this plague is supernatural, divinely made, profane and unclean, perhaps even demonic,"

though he spoke thus, Guilliman could not help but believe Zhou Yun,

for the Tear Plague struck with such ferocity and spread so rapidly, yet not a single patient had yet died directly from it,

as if an invisible hand skillfully manipulated each patient's life, keeping them suspended on the threshold between sickness and death,

Guilliman listened to the sobs behind the armored door, clenching his teeth slightly,

he pushed open the door—yet the moment he stepped inside, the crying ceased instantly,

the patients, confused and delighted, touched their eyelids and found the swelling gone, the tears had stopped, and their blinded eyes could see again,

as if the mere arrival of Guilliman and Zhou Yun had dispelled all disease and suffering,

(End of Chapter)