Chapter 409: Everything Done From Now On Is For Hua Di Huang

"The False God visited Ude Udiya Laski?"

"And then Ude Udiya Laski went to the Imperial Palace?"

Deep within his ancient official residence, Ilto Simotrien listened as Nessos reported on the movements of Ude Udiya Laski.

He lay in a chair woven from rattan, half his body twitching uncontrollably.

Ilto struggled with all his might to suppress his trembling, as if resisting his own increasingly failing body.

Where has that former Minister of Internal Affairs, once so wise, rational, cautious, and reliable, gone?

Why do mortals age so easily? Why do they lose most of their strength and wisdom in merely a few decades?

Compassion welled up in Nessos's heart, but his excellent acting kept his expression from betraying this emotion.

Ilto's twitching arm gripped the rattan chair as he struggled, forcing himself to think through the situation, trying to understand the meaning behind Ude Udiya Laski's actions.

If it were a younger Ilto, he would surely have noticed the answer by now, wouldn't he?

Clearly, that Saint Doraemon and the Fabricator-General had reached some kind of consensus.

Most likely, Saint Doraemon used some method to repair or maintain the function of the Golden Wang Zuo, which is what Ude Udiya Laski has always cared about.

And Nessos knew that Saint Doraemon truly occupied the portion of the Warp related to the God-Emperor; in a sense, He was indeed one of the candidates for the God-Emperor.

If it were Vashtorr the Arkifane, Lord of All Furnaces, perhaps the Machine Cult's spirit could still, through their false and fragmented faith, receive the protection of the False Omnisiah-Hua Di Huang.

But Saint Doraemon and Hua Di Huang have already reached an agreement; Hua Di Huang is clearly planning to sell the Machine Cult to Saint Doraemon. The Machine Cult has even less possibility of resistance; indeed, they might not even raise the thought of resistance.

Their own god has sold them out; what else can they do?

Unless Saint Doraemon's power is exhausted, the Machine Cult's spirit is nothing more than a plaything in Saint Doraemon's hands.

Yet exhausting Saint Doraemon's power is almost impossible; He gained the faith of nearly billions of Terra's residents through food, and Mars is far too close to Terra.

However, for the Machine Cult, this is actually not a bad thing; at least they now truly have a god to believe in.

The Machine Cult itself was merely a means for Hua Di Huang to filter the power of the Malevolent Arts Domain through the Dragon's Dream of Mars, a safer way to utilize the power of the Malevolent Arts Domain; it was one of Hua Di Huang's thousand lies. Now, at least, the faith has become real.

Of course, Nessos did not intend to say these things to Ilto; it did not fit his true purpose and would not be conducive to the Empire embracing reform.

A moderate and rational conservative is more dangerous than an extreme and foolish conservative, because a moderate and rational conservative often forces the Gaige Sect to compromise.

But an extreme and foolish conservative will only bring about self-destruction.

He was guiding Ilto, leading the entire conservative faction of Terra's bureaucracy toward self-destruction.

"My lord, the Fabricator-General has cared immensely about the Golden Wang Zuo for centuries."

"He likely wanted to go to the Golden Wang Zuo anyway; it just so happened that the False God visited him just before that."

Nessos spoke to Ilto in a voice as seductive as a snake.

Ilto's body trembled involuntarily; his neurological disease was tormenting him.

"Is it truly so?" Ilto asked timidly.

"Of course, my lord," Nessos said with a smile. "Have you forgotten how the Fabricator-General promised?"

"Now the Department of Justice, the Ecclesiarchy, and Mars are all your people; the Astra Militarum and the Navy will obey you; the Adeptus Custodes and the Officio Assassinorum are wavering, maintaining neutrality."

"Our chances of victory are very, very high; we only need to make our move at the next High Lords' Council."

"Yes, yes, yes," Ilto said, his expression somewhat dazed.

"Look, I almost forgot again; it is time for you to take your medicine." Nessos glanced at the clock, then took out medicine prepared by the Machine Cult's Adepts from a small stasis-field safe nearby.

This medicine was an oral agent used to alleviate Ilto's neurasthenia and inject vitality into his cells.

Nessos uncorked the vial, letting his sleeve hang lightly over the mouth of the bottle, letting a single drop of imperceptible neurotoxin fall into the oral agent.

Nessos had to admit that the former Ilto was indeed an excellent official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; even the long years had not completely broken him.

This forced Nessos to use a slow-acting neurotoxin to destroy Ilto's nerves and mind.

A wise Minister of Internal Affairs, a brilliant conservative leader, was not conducive to the total destruction of the conservatives.

This medicine was a specialty of the Legions; even the Tech-Priests of the Machine Cult could not detect it.

Ilto took the medicine from Nessos's hand and drank it down completely, trusting him entirely. Of course, he would trust Nessos; Nessos was his Minister of State, raised by him since childhood, everything tied to Ilto, with almost no possibility of betrayal.

Moreover, the entire process of Nessos handling the medicine was under Ilto's watch; it was just that Ilto's mortal eyes could not clearly see Nessos's movements.

The effects of the medicine began to take hold; Ilto seemed somewhat dizzy.

"My lord, dizziness is normal; did not that Adept of the Machine Cult say so?"

Nessos helped Ilto up and walked slowly toward the bedroom.

Ilto struggled slightly: "I have no time to rest; I still have work to do."

"I will complete it for you," Nessos said with a gentle smile.

"My child, you are truly reliable." Ilto grasped Nessos's hand: "I will protect everything we once forged, protect the former Empire, and then you will inherit my position."

"My lord, I only wish to serve you." Nessos smiled, tucked the blanket over Ilto, slowly exited the bedroom, came to Ilto's desk, and looked at the documents that the Minister of Internal Affairs must handle.

They were piled like a mountain. Ilto had processed about half, but as Nessos expected, many of the documents Ilto processed contained subtle loopholes and defects.

His nerves were being destroyed by the slow-acting neurotoxin; his will and thinking were far worse than before, and this had been worsening over the past decade.

Nessos sighed and began to correct the minor mistakes Ilto had made, handling the remaining state affairs.

"If it weren't for us, this Empire would fall apart."

Nessos shook his head, feeling deeply exhausted:

"But everything done from now on is for Hua Di Huang."

What Nessos did not know was that not far behind him, the Harlequin Shadow Seer Hylendri Veilwalker, wearing the Blind Spot Star, was watching him.

"Humans really know how to play games," Hylendri Veilwalker couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

She had seen everything Nessos had just done, including the poisoning.

This boy was obviously not quite normal, but Zhou Yun and Ji Li Man had not ordered the net to be drawn.

"Wait a little longer; if we draw the net now, who will do the work?"

Zhou Yun and Ji Li Man had both told this to Hilendri, the Weaver of the Veil.

"Humans really know how to play," the Eldar Harlequin Shadowseer couldn't help but sigh again as he watched Nessus working diligently.

"Human play is truly unique, abstract, and bizarre."

The Adepta Sororitas has two headquarters monasteries.

One is the Most Holy Convent, located on the seventh satellite of Ophelia, the second holy site of humanity and the second base of the Ecclesiarchy besides Terra.

The other is the Primus Convent, located on Terra itself, the very one Zhou Yun visited today.

After Fabricator-General U-Ula departed for the Golden Wang Zuo, Zhou Yun, according to plan, brought Nobi Huang Daxiong to visit this headquarters of the Adepta Sororitas.

But at this moment, Zhou Yun's thoughts remained on U-Ula's words.

U-Ula had asked Zhou Yun, inquiring about matters concerning the "Dragon on Mars."

Zhou Yun naturally knew what that was: the Dragon of Mars, sealed by the Emperor deep within the Dark Labyrinth of Mars, a thing suspected to be a fragment of the Void Dragon, a Star God, and very likely the true form of the Omnissiah worshipped by the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Yet Zhou Yun did not immediately answer U-Ula's question, after all, this matter concerned one of the Emperor's colossal lies, regarding the very birth of the entire Adeptus Mechanicus.

Instead, he asked U-Ula where exactly she had learned of the Dragon's existence. U-Ula could only say it was in a dream, and that she only had that dream on Mars; upon waking, she would almost immediately forget it.

U-Ula now only vaguely remembered the existence of the "Dragon" and knew nothing specific.

Zhou Yun planned to discuss this later with Ji Li Man and Sanguinius, then go find the Emperor to clarify the specific situation before making any further plans.

"My lord?" Mo Wen Val noticed Zhou Yun's distraction and asked with concern, "Is there something important?"

"Just a lie told by a great charlatan that has lasted ten thousand years. It won't matter if we wait a little longer."

Zhou Yun shook his head and said, then turned to look at Mo Wen Val:

"Where were you just now?"

"I was just saying that, thanks to your benevolence, most residents can now eat their fill."

"However, our practice of distributing water and food for free has shaken the interests of many guilds; those merchants are very dissatisfied."

Mo Wen Val's lips pressed slightly together, as if feeling displeased toward those guild merchants.

"Is there trouble?" Zhou Yun asked with a smile.

"As you know, our sisters of the Adepta Sororitas are not good with words; our tongues are clumsy, unlike those eloquent merchants."

Mo Wen Val also showed a slight smile:

"But fortunately, blessed by your grace, our bolters are always eloquent; they come to negotiate with the guild merchants on our behalf."

"Our bolters often, with thunderous, deafening eloquence, make those guild merchants open their hearts and fall silent."

"That is acceptable." Zhou Yun nodded slightly: "But you must still exercise restraint when killing."

"Hmm?" Mo Wen Val blinked gently, not understanding the meaning in Zhou Yun's words.

"Try to ensure the integrity of the corpses; do not affect their recycling into protein blocks and corpse starch." Zhou Yun warned softly: "I have seen the data compiled by Ji Li Man; food is still very scarce now, do not waste."

The power of bolters is too strong for mortals; one careless shot turns them into charcoal, making recycling into corpse starch and protein blocks very troublesome.

Mo Wen Val bowed her head devoutly and humbly accepted Zhou Yun's instruction.

Then she pointed to a small annex building of the monastery before them.

"My lord, the Saintess is waiting for you inside."

(End of this chapter)