Chapter 46: Everything Was Part of the Plan

Item: The Book of Infinite Variables

[Origin: The Shield of the Mingfu Star System – Asford Star – Ninth District of Fedia City]

Evaluation: A black book corrupted by the Lord of Change, covered in complex mathematical formulas.

[Production Date: 998.M41]

[Condition: 99.9% new]

[Value: 1,800,000 credits]

Sell it?

Zhou Yun’s head felt ready to burst from numbers; he gritted his teeth and looked into his fourth-dimensional pocket.

Inside the pitch-black fourth-dimensional pocket, the black book floated silently, a vortex of numbers swirling above it.

Can I sell it?

Zhou Yun’s eyes lit up with delight.

It was a notion that had just popped into his head.

Since he couldn’t destroy it, why not just toss it into the fourth-dimensional pocket and sell it?

Chaos corruption? Lord of Change? Go bother your childcare robot in the 22nd century!

Without hesitation, he grabbed it and sold it instantly.

One million eight hundred thousand credits appeared in his account; the black book vanished from the fourth-dimensional pocket, gone somewhere unknown.

Amidst the turbulent Warp,

the blue domain of the High Throne,

a labyrinth of crystal, its surfaces polished smooth like river stones,

its corridors shifting, dissolving, twisting, merging, and splitting in chaotic randomness,

flickering reflections of ambiguous symbols danced within the refracted light of the crystal walls—

statues in mist, cackling blue eagles, writhing serpents, chaotic paintings.

This was the domain of the Lord of Change, a realm of ever-shifting chaos,

shaped constantly by the Warp deity of Change according to his ever-shifting moods, desires, and whims.

Any mortal who dared to gaze upon this domain would be infected by its infinite forms and descend into madness.

Nine gates stood here, nine hundred ninety-nine riddles awaited answers, nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine fates intertwined, ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine dice rolled with a crash.

And today, in one moment among countless nonlinear timelines, a single die landed silently, revealing to the servants of Chaos a new grand design.

“Gagagagahaha!!!”

The Lord of Change, with a bird’s head, covered in blue-purple feathers, draped in a classical Greek robe, cackled wildly.

The Lord of Change was a great daemon of Chaos, an agent of Chaos’s grand design.

Blessed by their thousand-faced master, they could witness any event across all time.

Before it floated a vortex composed of numbers,

a gateway to reality, a fragile point between the Warp and the material universe.

Now, this Lord of Change needed only to exert a little more force to enter the material universe.

This was part of Chaos’s grand design.

The Lord of Change had revealed His plan: this Lord of Change would enter the material universe and ravage human worlds.

Holding his scepter, the Lord of Change beat his wings and surged toward the number vortex.

Around him, Pink Horrors and Blue Horrors squealed and shrieked; Change-Spirits waved their four, five, or nine arms in encouragement.

Other Lords of Change stood atop the labyrinth, ready to witness the success of the plan.

The Lord of Change had woven a magnificent scheme, a vast, intricate net of deceptions impossible to escape.

Hidden within the numbers, a secret had silently corrupted nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine children over decades.

And tonight, the corruption erupted simultaneously from the depths of their minds.

These corrupted ones would become sacrifices, opening a gateway to the material universe for the Lord of Change.

The plan was nearly complete.

Unless someone in this fleeting instant killed all nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine sacrifices, no one could sever the gateway to the material universe.

The Lord of Change praised the wisdom of the Lord of Change, the greatness of the flawless plan.

The number vortex spun faster; the barrier between reality and the Warp had thinned to mist.

The Lord of Change cackled wildly and charged toward the number vortex—

Boom!

The number vortex vanished from its place; the gateway to reality closed silently.

The Lord of Change, unable to stop, slammed hard into the crystal wall behind the vortex.

All the daemons of Chaos stared, dumbfounded, at this sudden turn.

The gateway to the material universe had vanished; the corruption in reality had been severed.

The “Book of Infinite Variables,” crafted over decades, had vanished from both the material universe and the Warp.

The Lord of Change, still stuck against the crystal wall, scratched his head in confusion.

Why wasn’t this how the plan was supposed to go? Why wasn’t this what he saw in the future?

Was this the scheme of the cursed? The work of corrupt fat men?

Why had the “Book of Infinite Variables” vanished from both the material universe and the Warp?

He looked toward the highest point beyond the nine gates.

“Master, is this also part of your plan?”

When the Lord of Change asked, silence fell—absolute, deathly.

The Pink and Blue Horrors dared not speak; the Change-Spirits twisted their bodies toward the nine gates; even the other Lords of Change stretched their bird-necks.

Then, after nine minutes and nine seconds, a faint voice echoed from deep within the chaotic labyrinth:

“This”

“This was all part of the plan.”

The church burned in flames, beneath the gaze of the Emperor and Saint Guilliman’s statues,

the Ecclesiarchy priests themselves ignited the Purification Fire, for the church had been defiled by donations from Xieshen worshippers;

only the holy relics and the statues of the Emperor and Saint Guilliman had been moved beforehand.

PDF units moved through the streets of District Nine, roughly bursting into homes and dragging children from their beds, accompanied by Ecclesiarchy priests.

Besides the children, all adults who had once studied under Nama Kar were also dragged out.

Amid the priests’ prayers, PDF units purified them with rhenium flamethrowers.

But before death came, most of the corrupted had already descended into madness.

Zhou Yun guessed the number of the corrupted was precisely nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine.

But Augustus Flax declared that tonight’s dead would not be limited to these.

All who had studied under Nama Kar—including their families—would undergo strict scrutiny,

to ensure no one slipped through.

After confirming Nama Kar’s corruption, Augustus Flax wasted no time.

He swiftly deployed PDF forces into District Nine to cleanse the corrupted,

and helped Zhou Yun conceal his and Leina’s involvement in the incident.

After all, Zhou Yun had nearly been corrupted, and Leina was not only an illegal psyker but had also studied under Nama Kar.

To the Ecclesiarchy, both were thorough heretics, likely to be purified together.

Especially Leina—lest trouble arise, she had already gone into hiding.

“How are you feeling?”

Augustus Flax’s remote servitor asked Zhou Yun, who remained silent.

“Any hallucinations, headaches, dizziness?”

“No, I’m fine,” Zhou Yun replied, shaking his head. “Everything’s normal.”

He gazed at the roaring flames nearby,

in the orange-yellow fire, reflections of the Warp shimmered, along with Zhou Yun’s own image within the Warp—

a faint, blurry, blue, round figure.

“I sure as hell hope I’m not Doraemon.”

(End of Chapter)