Chapter 271

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

At the very moment the Green Skin Fleet departed.

At the edge of the Calixis Star System, a silent, uninhabited star region.

Space suddenly began to twist and churn violently.

A massive Warp rift, radiating ominous light, tore through the dark universe.

Viscous Chaos energy surged from the rift, corroding everything around it.

Several colossal derelicts, adrift in space for who knows how many thousands of years, slowly emerged from the rift.

Their hulls were rotting beyond measure, as if grown over with a thick layer of mold.

Even though the surroundings were a vacuum, it seemed one could smell the stench they exuded.

They did not linger in place; upon exiting the Warp, they immediately adjusted course and flew straight toward Brevis.

A grand plague was about to envelop the entire star system.

Simultaneously, Brevis.

In the Underground Command Center of the Governor's Mansion.

Lin En stood before the star map, watching the blinking light points on it.

A pink Tearing Worm lay on his shoulder, its little head nodding rhythmically.

"Lin En, there's news." Lena's voice rang out in his mind, carrying a trace of gravity.

"The Half-Insect Beastman embedded in the Naruto remnants reports that Lianggenna has already assembled a large quantity of forces."

"Approximately hundreds of millions of Green Skins, aboard over a hundred warships, set sail from Dolido yesterday morning, target: Kal II."

Lin En's finger tapped lightly on the star map; a red light point lit up at Kal II's position.

"Over a hundred warships? Even more than I expected." Lin En said in a low voice.

"Is Lianggenna actually this impulsive?"

Lin En's brows wrinkled.

He hadn't expected Lianggenna's conduct to be so reckless, but it also fit the Green Skin style perfectly.

However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

His original plan was to have the Bug Swarm disguise themselves as the Tyranid Vanguard, forcing Dominic to cooperate.

Now it seems, there's no need for that much trouble at all.

Lianggenna's fleet can be used perfectly to probe Dominic's attitude.

"Lena, have the Bug Swarm pause operations for now." Lin En said decisively.

"Have all Bug Race units remain concealed, same as usual."

"Okay." Lena nodded. "Then what about Dominic's side?"

"I'll go personally." Lin En smiled faintly.

"I want to see just how this Noble Major General of Wen Tu Li Ya will choose."

In the Guest Hall near the Starport.

Dominic sat at his desk, leafing through a thick stack of reports sent back by three investigation teams.

He had already lived here for a full five days.

These five days, he had spent most of his time learning about Keli Feng.

He merely waited patiently for the investigation results, wanting to personally verify whether that "Emperor's Chosen" spoken of in legendary terms was truly worthy of the name.

He opened the Bottom City investigation report first.

The report was filled with commoners' praise of Lin En.

Almost every person interviewed, when mentioning the name Keli Feng, had light flashing in their eyes.

"Lord Keli is a good man; if not for him, my family would have starved to death long ago."

"My son serves in the Vanguard Army; the rations he sends back each month keep our family of five alive."

"The previous Governor didn't give a damn about our lives; only Lord Keli gave us rations, found us work, and drove off the Green Skins!"

"He is the Angel the Emperor sent to save us!"

"Even the Wildmen on the Ice Plains are willing to follow Lord Keli; Wildmen used to come rob us, now they've all gone to fight Green Skins!"

The report also attached detailed data: in the half-year since Lin En took office, the Vanguard Army had expanded recruitment by twenty-three million.

This figure, for a Bottom City nearing a hundred billion population, wasn't considered many.

But aside from the fixed salaries supporting nearly a hundred million people, Lin En would also extract no small amount of grain from the Nobles every few days, distributing it to the Bottom City populace under various pretexts.

Although it only lowered the mortality rate by less than five percent, Keli Feng gave them what they needed most.

Hope.

To confirm authenticity, Dominic even specially summoned a few Bottom City residents for questioning.

Those few Bottom City people looked no different from other Hive City slum dwellers, but their eyes were no longer entirely numb and rigid.

Even a fleeting spark of vitality left Dominic deeply shaken.

Brevis, it really seems different.

Next was the Middle City investigation report.

The Middle City's guild masters and workers likewise held an extremely high evaluation of Lin En.

"Previously the nobles monopolized all the grain, and our factories were on the verge of bankruptcy because they couldn't support the workers."

"It was Lord Kaili who gave the Vanguard Army's equipment orders to us, and even provided us with grain!"

"Now our factories operate twenty-four hours a day, and the workers can eat their fill too!"

"Lord Kaili is not only a good Governor, but also an outstanding military strategist."

"He led us to victory over the Green Skins, protected our homeland, and we are all willing to follow him."

Data shows that Middle City's industrial capacity has increased by eighty-one percent compared to before Lin En took office, and the guilds' capacity has risen a full three hundred percent.

Last is the Upper City's investigation report.

In stark contrast to the unanimous praise from Bottom City and Middle City, the Upper City's nobles heaped almost nothing but abuse and accusations on Lin En.

"Keli Feng is a thoroughgoing tyrant, damn him!"

"He forcibly requisitioned our grain, seized our factories, turned our factories into public property — utterly lawless!"

"He doesn't put the nobility's dignity in his eyes at all; those lowly commoners actually dare to ride roughshod over our heads, and this is all the result of his connivance!"

"What Emperor's Chosen — it's all a lie; he's just a white-faced pretty boy who climbed up by relying on a woman."

"A vulgar barbarian, without a shred of the elegance and propriety that belongs to a noble."

The report listed in detail Lin En's various acts of "infringing" on noble interests.

Cracking down on grain monopolies, confiscating illegal armies, reforming the "taxation" system, restricting noble privileges.

Every clause struck at the nobles' sore spots.

Dominic set down the report in his hand and couldn't help laughing.

Judging by his understanding of the Empire's nobles.

For them, whether a Governor is good or bad has never been about whether he can let the common people live good lives.

It's about whether he can protect the nobles' privileges and interests.

As long as he lets them exploit the common people in peace and stability, even if that Governor is a mediocre, incompetent fool, in their mouths he is a "wise monarch."

Conversely, if anyone dares to touch their interests, even if that Governor governs the planet better than ever, he is a "heinous tyrant."

And the commoners' evaluation is exactly the opposite.

So a conclusion can be drawn.

The more fiercely the commoners curse, the worse this Governor is.

The more fiercely the nobles curse, the better this Governor is.

As things stand now, Keli Feng is indeed a rare good Governor.

In this dark, rotten 41st Millennium, there is actually still someone willing to stand on the commoners' side.

Willing to offend the entire noble class for the sake of the commoners' interests.

Such a person, even if not a Divine Chosen, qualifies as a saint.

Dominic stood up, walked to the window, and gazed at that blue-gray planet below.

In his heart, he had already made his decision.

But there was one thing he still couldn't figure out.

Just what is this "Frost Dragon" of the rumors?