Chapter 532

The Silent King Szalak, the theoretical supreme ruler of the Necrons, master of the Last Triumvirate of the Three Saints, enemy of the Star Gods and the Old Ones, and a Class-A war criminal of the galaxy,

He ruled during the final days of the bitter war between the Necrontyr and the Old Ones, ignoring the warnings of the astrologer Auran, and chose to worship the Star Gods to combat the Old Ones.

The first Star God the Silent King worshipped was the Deceiver, one of the galaxy's four great tricksters, who did not disappoint him—betraying him utterly and triggering the Bio-Conversion.

The once-proud Necrontyr were burned in furnaces, their souls devoured as sweets by the Star Gods, their flesh and blood destroyed, their memories uploaded into living metal bodies, becoming soulless mechanical slaves—the Necrons were born.

Thus the true War in Heaven began: the Star Gods and the Necrons ravaged the material dimension, nearly igniting the entire galaxy in war against the Old Ones and their allied species, the Eldar; this war mirrored into the Warp, turning its once-peaceful expanse into a swirling mass of filth, until even the Old Ones were ultimately devoured by the Warp itself.

In a sense, all the tragedies of the galaxy today can be traced back to the day Silent King Szalak chose to believe in the Star Gods.

Later, Szalak led the Necron uprising, destroying the weakened Star Gods, tearing those material-universe deities into fragments.

But the Necrons were left exhausted, unable to resist the rising Eldar Empire; thus Szalak ordered the Necrons into a six-thousand-year Great Slumber, hoping to outlast the Eldar by sheer time.

And the Silent King himself destroyed his master control protocol over all Necrons, exiling himself into the infinite void beyond the galaxy, repenting his sins.

Only recently did the Silent King encounter the Tyranid Hive Fleet beyond the galaxy; realizing the threat of the Great Devourer, he returned to the galaxy, seeking to reunite the Necrons against the Tyranids.

Zhou Yun mentioned him because he intended to keep multiple paths open.

Besides placing hope in the Three-Year Sleep-Child Pillow, the only other plan Zhou Yun could choose was the Emperor's scheme to elevate him to godhood.

And Zhou Yun himself wished to secure another path—allying with the Necrons was one such option; the Necrons had no connection to the Warp, were sufficiently powerful, and possessed numerous technologies capable of isolating the Warp; among the galaxy's myriad horrors, the Necrons were among the few races worth cooperating with.

And among the Necrons, at least the Silent King sought to reverse the Bio-Conversion; Zhou Yun himself had the means to help the Necrons regain their souls, even their flesh and blood bodies.

Zhou Yun inquired about the Silent King to verify whether an alliance with the Necrons was feasible.

Few in the galaxy still knew or understood the Silent King.

Slaanesh was one of them; the Eldar and the Necrons were ancient enemies, and Slaanesh's evaluation of the Silent King was exceptionally "high."

"The Emperor and the Silent King are two sides of the same coin."

"If you cheat the Emperor, he'll cheat you out of your kidneys."

"But if you cheat the Silent King, you'll receive an entire race's worth of kidneys."

This was Slaanesh's evaluation of the Silent King.

Aside from Slaanesh, the only other person Zhou Yun could think of who still knew the Silent King was Sanguinius.

At least the Silent King once told Dante that he had a close relationship with Sanguinius; when speaking of Sanguinius, the Silent King sounded as if he were discussing a deceased wife.

"Szalak?" When Zhou Yun mentioned the Silent King, Sanguinius wore a peculiar expression.

"He's a bit like… like the Emperor," Sanguinius said after a pause.

Hearing Sanguinius's evaluation—similar to Slaanesh's—Zhou Yun's face twisted slightly.

For Szalak's evaluation of Sanguinius had been far more direct.

In Szalak's view, had Sanguinius become Emperor of the Imperium, he would have led humanity—and the galaxy—toward a bright future; Szalak believed Sanguinius would have been a more reasonable Emperor, the only human worthy of his mourning, the one he revered and remembered for ten thousand years, even regretting that had Sanguinius not died, everything would have been different.

But of the Emperor, Szalak's sole evaluation was: "A necromancer's corpse."

Yet Sanguinius judged Szalak to be somewhat like the Emperor—a necromancer's corpse and a skeleton manipulating technology were, somehow, similar.

"Is that a compliment or an insult?" Zhou Yun asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.