Chapter 65: The Emperor

The next morning, countless denizens of the Lower Nest lined up in an endless human tide, crammed along narrow roads stretching beyond sight.

The Gene Thieves’ guards lurked among the crowd, secretly watching for anyone attempting to leave the line.

The Bishop stood at the very front of the procession, overlooking everyone from a towering cart.

“Devout people, when you reach the First District, you shall receive true baptism.”

“There, you shall shed the filth upon your bodies and gain a brand-new life.”

“You shall merge with us—no more hunger, no more fear, no more pain!”

“Pray devoutly to the Four-Armed Divine Emperor!”

The sermon, laced with hypnotic tones, echoed through the air, stirring the emotions of this vast procession.

Even those who joined merely for food found themselves stirred by a flicker of faith.

Watching the boiling, noisy crowd, Zhou Yun suddenly thought: What a splendid mass of biomass.

He calmed his mind and began pondering the mysteries surrounding the Gene Thieves.

Why were they so desperate to expand?

Why did the Clan Chief personally inject the corruption genes?

Why must all of them be corrupted only in the First District?

The haste in expansion was understandable, but the Clan Chief’s personal involvement and the exclusive corruption in the First District raised suspicion.

This carried enormous risk—Mengge and I infiltrated easily, and I even planned to use Mengge to assassinate the Clan Chief.

What could possibly compel that cautious Worm of the Underworld to take such a risk?

Must the Clan Chief personally oversee it?

This left Zhou Yun with growing doubts.

“What did you do last night when you went to see my brother?”

Mengge sidled up to Zhou Yun without expression.

Jeanne, standing beside Zhou Yun, subtly shrank back, creating a slight distance between herself and Mengge.

“I brought your whole family,” Zhou Yun said to Mengge, sincerely.

Mengge’s expression stiffened slightly.

“If you don’t want to say, fine—why insult me?” Mengge grumbled.

He assumed Zhou Yun wouldn’t answer, so he didn’t press further.

“When we reach the First District, I’ll find a way to slip into the first wave of those receiving baptism.”

“You two stay toward the back. Hold these to your ears.”

As he spoke, Mengge opened his palms, revealing three tiny worms no bigger than grains of millet.

The worms wriggled their bodies, vibrating their thin, delicate wings, emitting faint, barely perceptible hums.

“Place them against your ears—these insects can synchronize vibrations, allowing us to communicate even at a distance.”

Zhou Yun nodded slightly and picked up one.

He kept a cautious mind, scraping off a speck of bodily clay from his fingertip and sticking it to the worm’s back, securing it behind his ear.

He feared the thing might burrow into his skull.

Jeanne hesitated, then reached out a small hand and took another worm.

Then she grabbed it and crushed it instantly.

Mengge’s cheek twitched.

Sensing Jeanne’s disdainful gaze, he gave up trying to be friendly, quietly distancing himself from the two and blending into the front of the line.

“You,” Zhou Yun sighed with amusement, ruffling Jeanne’s small head.

“Is this worm dangerous?” he asked.

Jeanne lifted her hazy eyes, glanced at the worm, and shook her head.

“Not now. But later? I can’t say,” she whispered.

Zhou Yun patted her head, then pulled out the worm-meat jelly he’d bought yesterday from his fourth-dimensional pocket, broke off a piece, and gave it to Jeanne.

The walk to the First District was long, so he’d prepared food in advance.

Jeanne nibbled slowly on the worm-meat jelly, lost in thought.

After a short while, she tugged gently at Zhou Yun’s sleeve and whispered:

“Is your homeland east of the Terra Imperial Palace?”

Jeanne spoke in Chinese—the only language understood by her and Zhou Yun in this vast sea of people.

Her speech was somewhat halting.

“Yes. In fact, the land where the Terra Imperial Palace stands is part of my homeland too.”

Zhou Yun blinked, replying in Chinese, wondering why Jeanne asked this.

“I once heard Him tell a story about your homeland,” Jeanne whispered.

“Oh? Him? The Emperor?” Zhou Yun asked softly.

“He told you a story?” The winged figure within Bai Guang couldn’t help speaking, though Jeanne couldn’t hear.

From his tone, Zhou Yun detected surprise—and a faint hint of bitterness.

“Mm,” Jeanne nodded slightly, whispering. “It was a story about an emperor.”

“Many, many ten-thousands of years ago, on Terra, there was a great and ambitious emperor.”

“The emperor was not born an emperor; when the Emperor met him, he was merely a feudal lord who had inherited his ancestors’ legacy.”

“In that age, on that land, there were six other equally powerful feudal lords, each ruling a kingdom.”

“Between them, there were many lesser states, minor principalities, and vassal realms.”

“The lord had a grand ambition: to reunite this fractured land, to make all humanity across the vast earth speak one language, be ruled by one government, and worship one throne.”

“So he began a great campaign, training mighty soldiers who conquered the vast land, destroying every fragmented principality.”

“The emperor appointed capable officials—not his own descendants—to govern the conquered lands; he established a unified language for all; he even built new roads, binding the land into one whole.”

Zhou Yun blinked.

By the time Jeanne spoke her second sentence, Zhou Yun had already guessed whose story she was telling.

“Was this emperor surnamed Ying?”

But how did this story come to be told by Jeanne? Has it been recorded in the human thirtieth millennium?

Unification, campaign, forging mighty soldiers, emphasis on descendants and roads—

Hmph, this doesn’t sound right.

When the Emperor told Jeanne this story, did he slip in some personal bias?

“And then?” Zhou Yun asked, curious.

He wondered how this emperor’s tale unfolded in the Warhammer universe—whether Chaos had intervened,

and why Jeanne had chosen to tell him this story now.

“But when the emperor achieved his great unification, Chaos began its endless corruption.”

“The emperor craved wisdom, yearning for his mind to remain eternally clear in governance—so the Whisperer of a Thousand Forms spoke to him.”

“The emperor craved immortality, wishing his body to remain eternally healthy to rule his empire—so the Plague God’s gentle touch came to him.”

“The emperor craved power, hoping his soldiers would forever bravely guard the borders—so the Blood God’s battle cry echoed to him.”

Should be launching this Sunday, but my 4,900 follow-readers didn’t make it to Sanjiang. If I wait for the next round, I’ll have to compete with The Breakthrough and the Immortal, which also seems hard; the one after that, I’ll have to fight with Learning Language—I’m learning language, really? So this Sunday it’s launching directly, no more fighting for Sanjiang.

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(End of Chapter)