Chapter 356

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

Lin En turned and walked out of Dominic's temporary residence, and only when he shut the heavy metal door did his ever-taut nerves relax a fraction.

Dominic didn't want to meddle in the plague affair, and for him that was the best possible outcome.

Without the Tithe Fleet's hindrance, he could let loose his limbs and deal with this plague in his own way.

……

Returning to the Governor's Mansion, Lin En immediately dismissed all the servants and led Lena into the Governor's office.

In the center of the command room, a massive holographic map of the Bravius Main Hive was projected.

On the map, dense red light points marked the positions of the infected, while black zones were areas already completely lost to the plague.

And the green light points represented the Purge Plague Sect's activity range.

Lin En walked up to the holographic map, his voice calm without a ripple:

"As the Governor of Bravius, I only need to fulfill the responsibility I ought to fulfill."

"The most important thing right now is to scrape together three billion healthy soldier sources and hand over the Tithe on time."

He was never a saint; to him, Bravius was always just a tool to anchor his humanity.

If necessary, it could be abandoned entirely.

Lena stood at his side, purple eyes quietly watching the holographic map, and asked softly: "How is the current situation?"

"Very bad." Lin En put it succinctly.

"The Bottom City originally had about nine billion people; after this week of plague and chaos, nearly ten million have already died.

"Of the vast majority remaining, at least over a hundred million have already been infected and are in the incubation period."

"The only ones completely uncontaminated are the roughly eight hundred million in the uppermost level of the Lower City East District."

"I already had Butcher transfer them ahead of time to the idle large-scale factories in Middle City for strict isolation and control."

"In other words, we still need to pick out at least another 2.2 billion healthy people." Lena said.

"Correct." Lin En nodded, finger tapping lightly on the holographic map to zoom in on several Bottom City districts.

"And I've probed Dominic's side — he truly has no interest in the Bottom City's current state, and the spies he sent to watch us are few."

"Since he doesn't want to interfere, we'll dance a fine dance right under his nose."

"You mean....." A trace of realization showed in Lena's eyes.

"Expand the Purge Plague Sect's scale." Lin En said with absolute finality.

"Current manpower is far from enough."

"I need more Gene Thieves, more Purge Plague Believers!"

"Only then can we screen out all healthy people in a short time while simultaneously controlling the plague's spread."

"But mass-catalyzing Gene Thieves carries too great a risk." Lena said with some worry.

"Once Dominic discovers it, all our previous efforts will come to nothing."

"I know." Lin En's gaze was utterly steadfast.

"But this is an extraordinary time; we can only use extraordinary methods."

"As long as we do it concealed enough, Dominic won't find out."

"He has no interest in internal trifles like Bottom Hive plague and sect disputes."

"And," Lin En added, "we only need to hold out these few months."

"Once the Tithe is gathered, he'll be too busy cleaning up loose ends to care about the Bottom City's situation then either."

Lin En had already prepared to write off the Bottom City; he knew that for a Governor,

completely stopping a Nurgle Plague was an almost impossible task.

Lena looked at Lin En's steadfast eyes and nodded lightly: "Good, I'll follow you."

"Activate the 'Seeding' plan immediately." Lin En ordered.

"Use the highest concentration hormones to catalyze all Gene Thieves; I want the Purge Plague Sect's scale expanded a hundredfold within three days."

"Good!"

With Lena's command, the Gene Thief network lurking deep in Bravius Bottom City spun into high-speed operation.

In the darkest, filthiest sewers and abandoned factories of the Bottom City, countless Genestealer juveniles were carried out from artificial wombs in hidden nests.

Genestealers propagate by a half-infection, half-reproduction method; they rely on the "Death Kiss" to infect humans for reproduction.

But that way depends on living bodies, is hard to stockpile, and violates humanitarianism.

Therefore Lin En had Lena fabricate large numbers of artificial wombs and stockpile large quantities of Genestealers of every generation.

The potent hormones Lena personally compounded were injected into the artificial wombs, accelerating the juveniles' development.

Gene Thieves that originally needed years to mature, under hormonal catalysis, became adults in less than three days.

These hormone-catalyzed Gene Thieves were somewhat slighter in build than normal counterparts.

Their eyes were even more rampage-driven, yet their perception and combat instinct had not weakened in the slightest.

Lin En focused on catalyzing fourth-generation Gene-stealer Hybrids.

These fourth-gen hybrids were almost indistinguishable from ordinary humans in appearance; they possessed complete intelligence and language ability, even powerful psyker talent.

The standouts among them — the existences called "Chicken Thief Bishops" — possessed terrifying mind-washing ability, making them best suited for "preaching" and developing believers.

Of course, this kind of forced growth also has fatal side effects.

These Gene Thieves spawned by hormones, especially the Fourth Generation Hybrids, have had their lifespans drastically shortened — one year at most.

After a year, they will rapidly age and die due to genetic collapse.

But Lin En doesn't care.

To him, these Gene Thieves are merely tools.

As long as they can help him survive the current crisis, sacrificing however many tools is worth it.

……

In just one week, the number of Gene Thieves in Bottom City skyrocketed dozens of times over.

The Purge Plague Sect expanded wildly in every corner of Bottom City like bamboo shoots after rain.

Purge Plague Believers wearing gray gowns marked with purple symbols and masks began appearing on every street, in every slum of Bottom City.

Under the banner of "Purifying Plague, Saving Humanity," they distributed food and clean water to starving civilians and provided "free treatment" to the sick.

Of course, this so-called "treatment" is nothing but a screening process.

Gene Thieves possess a natural perception of corruption; they can easily distinguish whether a person is infected with Nurgle Plague.

Even if the other party is still in the incubation period with no obvious symptoms.

For healthy people, the Purge Plague Sect absorbs them as Believers, then transfers them in batches to safe Isolation Zones.

As for those already infected, the Purge Plague Believers announce their death sentence in gentle tones.

"Your flesh has already been abandoned by the God Emperor, but your souls are still watched over by Him."

"Do not let your last purity be defiled as well."

"For the God Emperor!"

These Chaos Believers ultimately gathered together almost voluntarily, accepted the fact of their abandonment, and followed the Genestealers toward abandoned streets.

Even though they knew what awaited them there was not treatment, but the flames of redemption.

Countless infected gathered voluntarily, then were burned to nothing by Tiberium flames.

Blazing flames burned in every corner of Bottom City; thick black smoke covered the sky, and the burnt smell and stench of burning flesh in the air would not dissipate.