Chapter 335: Chaos Tinker Calculates

"Ahahahaha!!!" A clear, bird-like, hearty laugh echoed through the command room within the Hera Fortress at the highest peak of Macragge.

This command room belonging to the Lord of the Ultramarines had been cleaned out, leaving only Zhou Yun, Ji Li Man, and Sanguinius inside.

Sanguinius wore armor interwoven with crimson and gold, a pair of pure white wings hanging behind him, the silver chains upon them shaking incessantly with Sanguinius's clear laughter.

"You mean you tricked the Plague God into believing in numerology?"

"Now my dear brother Mortarion is teaching the Plague God numerology?"

The smile at the corner of Sanguinius's mouth was impossible to suppress; his eyes, bright as stars, were filled with joy as he said:

"Leman once claimed to be the funniest person in the entire galaxy. I now declare that you are."

"Don't laugh; I've actually done a good deed."

The smile at the corner of Zhou Yun's mouth was also impossible to suppress; he went with the flow and never expected to actually succeed in making the Father believe in the great power of numerology:

"Look, now the Father is happy, Mortarion is happy, you and I are happy, everyone is happy. This is a great deed beneficial to both Macragge and the Garden of Nurgle."

"And all I gave was seven kinds of bacteria."

Originally there were only six, but Zhou Yun thought at the time that with the Plague God's protection, the aimless bacteria manufacturing machine might produce some useful bacteria.

The result was only one kind of "bacteria that makes birds runny-nosed," which was still useless, so he left samples of it along with the previous six for the Father.

"Yes, yes, such a good thing."

The Great Angel nodded incessantly at Zhou Yun; Ji Li Man had never seen Sanguinius so blatantly remove the holy mask from his face and so strongly vent the joy in his heart.

"Thinking that Mortarion is now trying hard to make the Plague God believe he is materialistic, I can't stop myself from laughing."

"If he succeeds, we might even get a Warp deity who believes in materialism!"

After saying this, Zhou Yun and he couldn't help but look at each other and laugh again.

A Warp deity who believes in materialism, the steadfast materialist warrior Nurgle—who wouldn't laugh out loud at that?

"Then, who can tell me what numerology is?" Ji Li Man, who had been sitting in his original spot watching Zhou Yun and Sanguinius laugh, asked with a stern face.

He roughly knew that Zhou Yun had convinced the Plague God through some method, trapping Mortarion so he could no longer invade Octarius.

But making a deal with the Plague God, with that blasphemous entity in the Warp, still made Ji Li Man feel uneasy and awkward deep in his heart.

Matters involving Warp deities always made Ji Li Man feel unable to adapt.

"Mortarion believes that everything in this world, including the High Heaven and the gods within the High Heaven, can be explained by mathematics."

Sanguinius said with a light smile in his voice:

"You should still remember that he always despised Warp power, despised those sorceries and mysticism, but now that he has been corrupted by the Plague God, what flows through his body is precisely the Warp power he once despised; the power he wields is thoroughly sorcery, and the principle by which these powers operate is even idealism and occultism."

"He cannot accept it, so he began to use numerology to try to explain all of this, convincing himself that everything he uses is based on rigorous science."

Zhou Yun nodded in agreement.

Mortarion was originally a twisted person; he loathed psychic powers and Warp forces, which led to the ban on Librarians and psychic powers within the Space Marine Legions at the Nicaea Council.

Even many Thousand Sons identified Mortarion as one of the culprits of the Burning of Prospero: Horus was the manipulator, Leman was the executor, and Mortarion was the one fanning the flames, full of prejudice against psychic powers, shouting the loudest, and the most self-righteous critic.

But he himself was a powerful psyker; after being corrupted by Nurgle, he, the one who most strongly opposed psychic powers and the Warp, simply became a thoroughly Warp entity. The so-called numerology was the tool he used to deceive himself.

No wonder when Ahriman of the Thousand Sons Legion saw Mortarion again during the Siege of Terra, he evaluated him as "a stupid drunkard, preaching abstinence after getting drunk, hypocritical and shameful!"

In Zhou Yun's view, Mortarion's numerology could be ranked fourth in the galaxy for stubborn denial, after "I am not a god!", "This is all part of the plan!", and "I am Rogal Dorn!"

Hearing this, Ji Li Man's eyebrows furrowed even tighter.

"I have some memory of it." Ji Li Man nodded slightly; he vaguely remembered that Mortarion seemed to have been researching these things even during the Great Crusade: "I think his theory is not as reliable as psychic powers; at least psychic powers and Librarians are relatively reliable."

"And his numerology feels about the same as the Emperor Tarot popular on the streets nowadays; it's just street fortune-telling."

"No, no, no." Hearing Robert Ji Li Man's words, Zhou Yun spoke seriously: "Street fortune-telling? How can you insult this profound doctrine so?"

"The Emperor Tarot is a rigorous and reliable discipline; there is great wisdom within it."

Zhou Yun had witnessed the effects of the Emperor Tarot several times back in Asford.

This fortune-telling art, said to be linked to the will of Hua Di Huang, is real and effective, absolutely more reliable than the amateur numerology.

"Then what about numerology?" Ji Li Man asked with some unease: "Mortarion is after all a creation of Hua Di Huang; he has an extraordinary mind. Surely the thing he researched has some effect."

"Theoretically, no." Sanguinius shook his head and said: "It is useful when he uses it himself, but this is actually his instinctively mobilizing the theories of the High Heaven."

"The Warp is essentially an idealistic world; if an entity's will is strong enough, such as an individual like Mortarion strongly believing in numerology, then numerology can indeed take effect in his hands."

Hearing this, Ji Li Man's eyebrows furrowed even tighter.

He asked with some doubt: "Then what if a powerful individual like the Plague God believes it?"

In an instant, the command room suddenly fell silent; Zhou Yun and Sanguinius exchanged a glance, then looked at Ji Li Man.

"If a powerful individual like the Plague God believes in the effects of numerology, will numerology be effective?" Ji Li Man asked the two of them. "It shouldn't be, right?"

Zhou Yun said with a twitching eye corner:

"It's fine; even if numerology comes true, it will only harm the Warp."

"If this numerology really has any effect, I'll go eat the 'Penicillium' demon!"

Ku Gags said quietly to the Gardener Slykox beside him.

Not far away, before the Black Citadel, the Father was laughing heartily, holding his belly and watching Mortarion practically cultivate bacteria using numerology for Him.

Mortarion darted among the materials prepared by the Father like a shaman dancing, holding a fourteen-sided tortoise shell in his hand and shaking it constantly.

"All things follow the logic of numbers; within numbers lies the true meaning."

"Three is the cycle of plague earth; in the center of the three, life is observed."

"Great plagues can be determined by this; the magnitude of great plagues is determined by numbers."

"Seven is decay, nine seeks change; six is lust, eight craves slaughter."

"These are the most holy numbers of the High Heaven; whatever is in one's fate is judged according to this."

!

"Please count, wiping away sorcerous words; one number determines one fate."

"Open!!"

Three dice fell from the tortoise shell in Mortarion's hand, spinning on the ground for a few turns before slowly coming to a stop.

Mortarion observed the numbers on the dice faces and quickly made his judgment.

He selected several types from the materials given by the Father of Mercy.

The materials provided by the Father of Mercy included several plagues He had cultivated Himself and several bacteria Zhou Yun had previously gifted Him.

By sheer coincidence, the three bacteria Mortarion chose were all cultivated by Zhou Yun and gifted to Nurgle.

The Father of Mercy held his belly, watching the three bacteria Mortarion had chosen with some curiosity.

"The bacteria that will cause diarrhea all day long."

"The bacteria that eats the knowledge in books."

"The plague that makes birds runny-nosed."

Nurgle watched with interest as Mortarion began to stir these three bacteria into the crucible.

"Numbers count not only matter; they can also connect to the High Heavens."

"Different realms, same attributes; the two can be used interchangeably."

"Reality and the Spirit Sea are one family; matter and psychic energy are inseparable."

"Scientific principles are all the same, then reborn in the High Heavens."

"If one masters numerology, one can connect without even using sorcery."

Seven stirs, seven boilings.

Three layers of bacteria, three layers of water added.

Mortarion took a deep breath, feeling the bacteria in the crucible undergo change.

"Done!!!"

Mortarion suddenly lifted the lid of the crucible; seven minutes and seven seconds after the steam rose, he thrust his ladle out with force.

The ladle stirred up three-layered whirlpools in the crucible, and Mortarion ladled out seven bowls of thick soup.

Each bowl of thick soup contained floating, viscous colonies, but Mortarion discarded the first six.

It cannot be the first six; numerology has already revealed it. It can only be seven.

Only seven is the true Great Plague.

Mortarion lifted the bowl of thick soup in his hand and placed it before the Father of Mercy, his face full of confidence.

The Father of Mercy could not help but lean forward, curiously looking at the brand-new colony Mortarion had cultivated using the three layers of bacteria.

As the God of Plagues, the Father of Mercy understood the effects of the bacteria Mortarion had cultivated in a brief seven seconds.

"This is... 'The bacteria that makes the Lord of Ten Thousand Changes suffer diarrhea and excrete knowledge'!"

A barely noticeable smile flashed across Mortarion's cold, emaciated face.

The Father of Mercy, Nurgle, could not help but applaud this excellent creation.

Sliekox, the Chief Gardener, widened his single eye slightly.

Ku'gath stood with his mouth agape, his tongue hanging out.

"It really works?"

"How can numerology really work?"

"How can it really work?!"

"Could this universe truly be materialistic?"

(End of this chapter)