Chapter 221: I Am the Hua Di Huang! I Am the Master of Mankind!

Beetlehold, the Beetle and Claw Restaurant,

The restaurant owner was waving his three arms, wiping plates that were already clean.

His eyes held a hint of emptiness, as if he were just trying to find something to do.

The restaurant's somewhat old door was suddenly pushed open. The restaurant owner suddenly raised his head, staring warily and tightly at the entrant.

One of his arms silently slipped under the table as he hissed in a low voice:

"I have no desire to mix with you, to amuse myself in another scam. I only wish to run this restaurant well."

"Get lost! Or even if I die, I will tear off a few of your heads."

"Don't be nervous, boss."

However, the voice coming from behind the door carried no madness, but was full of reason and gentleness:

"Do you remember me? I've eaten here before!"

The restaurant owner saw the face of the person entering and was slightly stunned.

"It's you, I remember. No one would forget someone who could eat an entire fire scorpion."

The restaurant owner lowered his weapon slightly, watching the person outside the door walk into the restaurant.

Zhou Yun slowly stepped through the door; his face had been altered by Body Clay into a cunning appearance, and he wore a baseball cap on his head.

Beside him walked a large figure, an Ogryn with some chitin on his body.

That was Morpheston.

Last time, Morpheston had used cognitive distortion to infiltrate Beetlehold, but was seen through by the Neurotyrant at the last moment.

This time, to prevent accidents, Zhou Yun used Body Clay to create a physical disguise for him.

Morpheston's body was too large, and he needed to hide power armor under the Body Clay, so Zhou Yun could only disguise him as an oversized Ogryn.

Yet Morpheston, as the esteemed Chief Librarian, was too corrupted by knowledge and could never act out the pure innocence of an Ogryn.

The restaurant owner scrutinized Zhou Yun warily, then asked with some hesitation in his tone: "You aren't mad either?"

"What do you mean 'not mad'? After the High Council ended, I left Beetlehold."

A faint smile hung on the corner of Zhou Yun's mouth as he sat at the dining table and asked with confusion:

"By the way, what is wrong with Beetlehold? I met some people on the road, all of them completely mad."

"... Muttering about things like the Hua Di Huang, Terra, the Wang Zuo, and all sorts of nonsense."

Zhou Yun had indeed witnessed the chaos within Beetlehold on the road.

Almost all the Genestealers had fallen into some kind of madness. After the Patriarch's death, their cognitive distortion seemed not only not to weaken, but to grow stronger.

From their fragmented speech, Zhou Yun could roughly discern a few things.

Some Genestealers treated Beetlehold as holy Terra, and their own chitinous carapaces as power armor. Those raving Plaguebearers and Tech-priests considered themselves Tech-priests of the Xie Sect. The strangest part was that they were muttering about the Imperial Truth... It seemed they still lived in humanity's 30th Millennium.

The other Genestealers each had their own confusion; some even claimed to be sons of Horus, Death Guard, Thousand Sons, or some other Legion.

Zhou Yun even saw a Genestealer shouting that he had researched a spell capable of solving the flesh mutations of his brothers.

Then, a while later, Zhou Yun saw many Genestealers turn into sand.

There was also a very large Genestealer chasing and killing other Genestealers, saying he wanted to imitate his father and execute one out of every ten.

This Beetlehold was truly too insane.

"You... you still think we are the offspring of the Beetle Saint Jiliesi?" Looking at Zhou Yun's face, which bore no madness, the restaurant owner was momentarily stunned.

"Let's not talk about that for now. Boss, stir-fry me two dishes; I'm starving to death." Zhou Yun waved his hand and said to the restaurant owner.

After Zhou Yun's funds became somewhat sufficient, he had exchanged for the Gourmet Tablecloth.

However, contrary to Zhou Yun's expectations, although the basic Gourmet Tablecloth could conjure food, the food itself actually cost money. Some rarer foods were priced so high they could rival the value of a Saint Jiliesi feather.

As for the Gourmet Tablecloth that could truly conjure food out of thin air, its price was even more exorbitant. Zhou Yun looked at it and felt his eyelid twitch.

Moreover, the Gourmet Tablecloth could not conjure those special delicacies unique to the 40k era, and the taste differences between the same type of food were not great... Zhou Yun was quite fond of the skills of this restaurant owner in Beetlehold.

The owner sighed slightly, then a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "It's been a long time since anyone came here to eat a proper meal."

Saying this, the restaurant owner turned and walked into the kitchen. Not long after, he came out carrying plates.

"The Beetle Saint Jiliesi Sect has collapsed. No one brings food anymore. What I have left here is not much."

"Bloodgrass root starch balls stir-fried with fire scorpion meat. Make do with it."

Zhou Yun looked at the food before him; its appearance was indeed not particularly good.

Bloodgrass is a desert plant native to Baal. Its roots are rich in starch, which can be fermented to make sweet drinks or candies, or, without fermentation, processed into starch.

The bloodgrass starch balls, the size of a fingernail, before Zhou Yun were one of Baal's specialty dishes. Stir-fried with slightly spicy fire scorpion meat, they looked somewhat sticky.

But after taking a bite, Zhou Yun still had to admire the cooking skills of this Genestealer.

The satisfaction brought by starch, fat, and protein danced on Zhou Yun's tongue. In less than a few minutes, Zhou Yun had finished the entire plate.

"What exactly went wrong with the Beetle Saint Jiliesi Sect? Why do I know nothing about it?" After finishing, Zhou Yun swept his fingers over the Hot Rehearsal Clapperboard & Robot Director, asking with deep confusion and bewilderment in his tone, as if he were someone who knew nothing.

"There is no Beetle Saint Jiliesi, no pure offspring of the Beetle Saint Jiliesi. It is all a scam and an illusion."

The restaurant owner took a breath, pulled a Baal cigarette from his pocket, hesitated for a moment, then pulled out another and offered it to Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun waved his hand to refuse. Although he drank alcohol, he never smoked.

Mainly because the Lho cigarette technology and harsh additives in the Hive City were too extreme; many went blind instantly after a single puff.

This made Zhou Yun dare not even smoke the purely natural Baal cigarettes; who knew what harsh additives were inside.

The restaurant owner snorted lightly, lit the cigarette himself, and began to smoke.

"Some time ago, the Patriarch led people to welcome that so-called Living Saint, Saint Jiliesi, and never returned."

"But one night, everyone's eyes seemed to become clearer than before. Many things that were previously unclear or incomprehensible became clear."

"We looked around. Where were the pure offspring of Saint Jiliesi? There was only a group of mutated and fallen monsters."

"The Genestealers were us, and the blasphemers were us too."

The restaurant owner let out a self-mocking laugh:

"It's all a scam and an illusion. We are just pitiful puppets manipulated by Tyranid creatures."

"Then some committed suicide, others went mad, and the entire Scarab Fortress fell into chaos."

"I discovered a few clues long ago and prepared myself mentally, which is why I didn't go completely mad."

Saying this, the restaurant owner took a deep drag on his cigarette, then stared fixedly at Zhou Yun, as if observing his reaction.

"Oh, I have also discovered a few clues and prepared myself mentally," Zhou Yun said with an unchanged expression; with the aid of the prop, his voice sounded extremely credible.

The restaurant owner paused slightly, then nodded slowly.

"And then what happened?" Zhou Yun asked, pressing down slightly on the brim of his cap as he looked at the restaurant owner.

"Then it went completely mad; many seemed to fall into different illusions again."

"Some thought they were members of the State Church, some thought they were the fleets of the Great Crusade of old, and others thought the Scarab Fortress was Terra... In short, it went haywire. These madmen with conflicting worldviews even turned on each other within the Scarab Fortress. Ah, it would have been better to sink together into the illusion of Scarab Sanguinius!"

"The faction with the greatest power now is... those who believe the Scarab Fortress is Terra. They worship a certain special individual and call him the Emperor. They currently occupy most of the lower and middle levels of the Scarab Fortress."

"They have also seized the propaganda equipment... Oh, it's about time they should be coming."

The restaurant owner raised his eyes slightly and glanced at the clock on the wall.

The time had stopped at the position of 14:13 Terra time.

"They believe this is Terra and insist on using the Terra calendar and timekeeping..."

Saying this, the restaurant owner pressed the switch for the loudspeaker on the wall, and a sound mixed with the hissing of insects erupted from the speaker.

"I am the Human Emperor!"

A hideous, terrifying, yet strangely seductive voice echoed in Zhou Yun's ears:

"I am unyielding. I led my people across the suffering years ravaged by Warp storms and endured the cruel trials of the Age of Strife. I shall always uphold the firm rule and righteous law of humanity; this is my innate duty as Lord of Mankind!"

"In the ancient Old Night, I kept the flame of human civilization burning! I have protected Terra, the homeland of humanity, intact to this day!"

"To my great joy, the Age of Disintegration has ended, and the grand blueprint for rebuilding my domains has been unveiled."

"O orphans scattered across the galaxy, O other fragments of human civilization, I shall embrace you all!"

"I shall bring you the truth, shatter falsehood and superstition, and interpret the destiny of humanity for you!"

"The Human Empire shall once again rule the starry seas; this is the manifest destiny of the human race!"

"Swear allegiance to me! I am the Emperor! I am the Lord of Mankind!"

Morpheus, disguised as an Ogryn beside Zhou Yun, looked utterly dazed; for the first time, his face displayed the innocence belonging to an Ogryn.

Zhou Yun also couldn't help but applaud.

What an infectious speech! What passionate lines! What a confident ruler!

It sounded far more credible than that social-phobic, dead-at-home research dog and failed old father who has lived for hundreds of thousands of years!

(End of this chapter)