Chapter 360: Warhammer: What Do You Mean You Conquered the Zerg? Chapter 360 Guidance (IV)

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

The heavy doors of the interrogation room closed behind him, shutting out the pained shrieks from inside.

Bishop Wenka gripped his scepter until his knuckles turned white, the hem of his red robe sweeping across the polished alloy floor, kicking up a muffled gust of wind.

He had just come out of the temporary interrogation room, and his sleeve was still stained with blood that had not yet dried.

It was the blood of heretics, the filth that defiled the God Emperor's glory.

Along the way, the members of the National Religion Guard accompanying him kept their heads down, and no one dared to look directly at the bishop's iron-blue face.

Everyone knew that this high priest was known for his severity and would not tolerate the slightest flaw.

The filthy heretics of Bottom City were one thing, but now, even among the recruits about to be delivered for the tithe, believers of the Plague Cleansing Cult had mixed in.

In Bishop Wenka's view, this was not merely a simple security issue, but an open provocation against the divine authority of the State Religion, and a serious dereliction of duty by the Governor of Brevis.

Keli Feng.

The name ground against his tongue again, carrying a cold anger.

The young governor had risen to fame through several victories, and even Lieutenant General Dominic sang his praises without end.

Yet under his rule, a private cult of tens of millions had sprung up—simply a disgrace to the Empire.

But Bishop Wenka did not let anger cloud his judgment.

He was very clear that this was Brevis, Keli Feng's territory.

A strong dragon does not crush a local snake, and besides, he was merely a State Religion representative aboard the ship, not an Inquisitor of the Tribunal, and had no power to directly arrest the governor.

If he truly tore face, the only one to suffer would be himself.

To move against this cult, or even against Keli Feng, he first had to bring Lieutenant General Dominic on board.

As the Highest Commander of the Tithe Fleet, Lieutenant General Dominic alone had the authority to thoroughly investigate conscription sources and intervene in Brevis's internal affairs.

As long as he nodded, the matter would be legitimate and proper.

With this thought in mind, Bishop Wenka walked straight to Lieutenant General Dominic's temporary residence at the starport.

The navy guards on duty at the doorway saw him and hurriedly saluted, not daring the slightest negligence.

The State Religion held a superior status within the Empire; even a Navy Rear Admiral had to give him three points of face.

The guards dared not announce him, but directly led him inside.

Lieutenant General Dominic was standing before the holographic star map, looking at the reclamation progress report for Dolido Planet.

Hearing the footsteps, he did not turn his head, thinking it was his deputy officer delivering documents, until the muffled sound of a scepter striking the ground came from behind, and only then did he frown and turn around.

Seeing that the visitor was Bishop Wenka, a flicker of impatience crossed Lieutenant General Dominic's eyes, so quickly that no one could notice it.

The two types of people he found most headache-inducing in his life were these.

One was the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who nitpicked over words, and the other was the priests of the State Religion who spoke nothing but doctrine.

The former dragged efficiency, the latter hindered action—all useless red tape.

But no matter how annoyed he was, surface courtesy had to be fully observed.

Lieutenant General Dominic put down the data slate in his hand, forced out a smile that was not enthusiastic, and went to meet him:

"Bishop Wenka, what wind blows you here? Please, have a seat."

He gestured to the attendant beside him to pour a cup of holy water, the standard hospitality for State Religion personnel, even though Lieutenant General Dominic himself thought this stuff was no different from ordinary distilled water.

Bishop Wenka did not sit, nor did he take the cup handed over by the duty soldier.

He stood in place, his gaze sweeping over the star maps and tactical terminals in the room, with not a hint of a smile on his face, and got straight to the point with a questioning tone:

"Lieutenant General Dominic, as the plenipotentiary tax collector of the Imperial Tithe, you bear the sacred duty bestowed by the God Emperor upon your shoulders."

"But I see you seem to have put too much energy into the battlefield and agriculture, while turning a blind eye to the most core faith purity."

The smile on Lieutenant General Dominic's face faded somewhat.

Slapping a hat on someone as soon as they met was the usual style of the State Religion.

He cursed inwardly, but his expression remained unchanged as he pulled over a chair and sat down, speaking slowly:

"Bishop, what do you mean by this? Conscription has always proceeded according to Imperial Regulations, and every batch undergoes strict identity verification."

"As for faith, I recall that the clergy of the State Religion accompanying the fleet perform a unified blessing ritual before boarding; has some oversight occurred?"

Lieutenant General Dominic was no fool.

Bishop Wenka had specifically come to his door and put on such a posture of interrogating crimes; surely there was some trouble related to faith on the conscription side.

Most likely, Chaos believers or heretical cults had mixed in.

Places like Bottom City—these things were like moss, growing wildly with just a bit of water.

But he did not expect that Bishop Wenka's next words would directly set fire to Lin En.

"Oversight?" Bishop Wenka sneered, his voice suddenly rising.

"Far more than an oversight! This is an open blasphemy against the God Emperor!"

"Lieutenant General, you should ask your good friend, Keli Feng, properly."

"Ask him whether the faith in his heart is still pure, ask him whether the Brevis under his rule belongs to whom in the end!"

Lieutenant General Dominic frowned even more tightly.

Kaili? What does this have to do with Kaili?

He thought he understood Lin En fairly well.

Although that young man's methods were a bit excessive and his personality a bit cold, in the big picture he absolutely stood firmly on the Imperial Side.

Pacifying the Green Skins, recapturing Dolido—each and every one was a genuine achievement; how could any of it be connected to impure faith?

"Bishop, your words are too heavy." Dominic's tone sank a few degrees.

"Governor Kerry's loyalty to the Empire is beyond doubt."

"I fought side by side with him; I know his character well. I don't know exactly where he violated the doctrine, so please explain clearly, Bishop."

Seeing Dominic still defending Lin En, Bishop Wenka's anger grew even stronger, and he no longer beat around the bush, slamming the interrogation record directly onto the table beside him.

The parchment struck the tabletop with a crisp "crack."

"Explain clearly? Fine, then I'll make it clear to you!" Bishop Wenka's voice carried suppressed fury.

"Among this batch of conscripted tithe soldiers, their faith has already been contaminated!"

"Tens of thousands of recruits no longer regard the God Emperor as the sole true god, but instead pray to and thank a heretic organization called the Purge Plague Sect!"

He pointed at the record, his fingers trembling slightly with anger:

"These recruits admitted with their own mouths that they were able to walk out of Bottom City alive and stand on the Starport entirely thanks to this Purge Plague Sect distributing food and identifying patients."

"They are grateful to the sect more than to the Empire, and pray for the sect's protection more than for the God Emperor's protection!"

"What is this? This is heresy!"

"This is dividing the authority of the State Religion, shaking the foundation of faith in the God Emperor!" Bishop Wenka grew more and more agitated, his white mustache trembling.

"Who allowed them to establish a private cult? Who allowed them to seduce the populace in the name of 'Redemption'?"

"The Nest Capital is under Keli Feng's rule. A huge sect appearing out of nowhere—could he not know? I think he is simply intentionally conniving!"

With matters having reached this point, Dominic could no longer sit idly by and go through the motions.

He picked up the interrogation record on the table and gave it a quick scan.

What was recorded there was very fragmentary, mostly recruits' confessions, mentioning grey robes, Purification Apostles, incinerating the infected, distributing food, and such.

There wasn't much core information, but one could indeed see that this Purge Plague Sect had considerable power in Bottom City and a great many believers.

He pretended to continue pondering the record's contents, while in his heart he quickly calculated.

Something was off.

Last time he and Kaili chatted about Bottom City heresy, the other party clearly listed four sects.

The Redemption Sect, the Chaos Descent Sect, the Natural Disaster Sect, the Doomsday Sect, and he said they were focusing on suppressing the Chaos Descent Sect.

From beginning to end, not a single word was mentioned about the Purge Plague Sect.

Was Kaili intentionally concealing it, or had this sect only recently appeared?

Dominic was more inclined towards the latter.