Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 265 Conscience and Responsibility

Chen Xi didn't care about the unrest within the expeditionary force. This level of impact was already a minor issue; it was just that discontent had arisen among the troops privately.

The truly alarming situation is when Chen Xi needs to start planning how to use three thousand Astartes to slaughter three million Starbound soldiers.

As the thought flashed through his mind, he subconsciously touched the plasma pistol at his waist, the cold metallic touch reminding him of the danger of the idea.

Don't think this is a fantasy. In this galaxy shrouded in the shadow of warp, the corruption of chaos often spreads faster than the deadliest virus.

It could be that a worker in a hive city secretly kept an eight-pointed star badge, or that a planetary governor accidentally learned a name that shouldn't be spoken, and in the blink of an eye, billions of beings on the entire planet would become madmen worshipping at a flesh altar.

If, by then, killing hundreds of billions of people on a planet cannot reverse its decline, then the judges should issue an extermination order.

Speaking of which, we need to correct a common misconception—wiping out the entire population of a planet is not called an "extermination order."

The true extinction order is to use cyclone torpedoes to blast the continental shelf into glass, and plasma incineration cannons to melt the hives into lava lakes, turning the entire planet into a desolate world that even the Tyranid swarm cannot recycle or reuse.

The Empire cares about whether those adamantite veins and STC templates will fall into the hands of the aliens, as for the billions of mouths crammed into the lower levels of the hive like cockroaches.
The descriptions of them in the court's archives are nothing more than a string of numbers, which are likely official population figures compiled by the Ministry of the Interior hundreds of years ago, and do not include those "people" of the bottom nest who have never even paid a tithe to the empire.

This sounds like a hellish joke, but when you see the trillions of conscription applications the Terran Council receives every month, or hear about an agricultural world that has to implement a "fertility lottery" system due to overpopulation, you'll understand that for the Empire, periodically using inquisitions to reduce the population is actually a kind of mercy.

This is why the empire doesn't care about human lives, because the empire's manpower is truly inexhaustible!

Based on what Chen Xi knew about the Blood Oath Order, the Inquisition's purge likely involved far more than just a billion people.

As mentioned many times before, this is a branch of the state religion with a wide influence among the lower classes in the Mariupol Star District. Their daily missionary activities involve providing medical assistance to those who lack access to healthcare!

It's easy to imagine how many people have come into contact with or received treatment from the Blood Oath Cult!
In accordance with the consistent practice of the court, not only would the entire religious order be uprooted, but every preaching hall they had preached in, every patient they had treated, and even the neighborhoods that had used the same water purification system as them would be marked as "areas requiring purification".

Believe me, the Empire won't hesitate to send its fleet over to conduct a thorough cleanup with its cannons in this kind of situation.

This is also the main reason why Chen Xi is so cautious about this matter, because now a single thought of his could determine the life and death of hundreds of billions of people, and possibly hundreds of billions of innocent people.

It is entirely possible that with just a tremor of his hand, billions of people could be instantly reduced to ashes.

If it's a game, Chen Xi would never hesitate. As a war criminal who has played over 500 hours of every major Paradox game, who hasn't tried the Chibaku Tensei?

The “16.8B organisms cleared” pop-up on the screen is just an insignificant number; he might even smile at the “racial fastidiousness” achievement that pops up.

But this isn't just a number or a cutscene in a game; it represents tens of billions of living, breathing people!

Each of them is a vibrant life, with their own parents, family, and friends. They cry, they laugh, they worry about making a living, and they strive to survive. They are all living, breathing people just like Chen Xi. He cannot yet treat them as a string of numbers and make decisive decisions about them for certain reasons.

It's easy to order a company to their deaths on the battlefield, since the Astral Army's oath of service clearly states: "Your life belongs to the Emperor."

But what about the civilians huddled in air-raid shelters? When they paid their tithes, no one told them that one day, with a flick of the judge's pen, the entire neighborhood would become a coordinate grid for orbital bombardment.

But it's different for ordinary people. Soldiers die on the battlefield so that they don't have to die.

Perhaps this is why judges must undergo numerous trials before they can obtain the Inquisition Rose Knot. These trials are not merely honing combat skills, nor are they simply memorizing the doctrines of the State Religion.

It's something more cruel and fundamental—they must learn to extinguish the last vestige of weakness in their own hearts when necessary.

Because sometimes, kindness, conscience, and a sense of justice can really lead to mistakes.

If an inquisitor hesitates for even a second, the corruption of chaos could spread throughout the entire galaxy; if he shows the slightest pity, the seeds of heresy will take root and sprout in the hearts of millions. The Empire does not need indecisive saints; it needs ruthless executioners, judges who can issue extermination orders without flinching amidst the cries of billions.

This is also why seasoned judges with years of experience are either madmen or degenerates.

Their souls were soaked in blood and ashes day after day, the screams of the purified echoing in their ears, and the faces of the commoners they had sent to the gallows appearing before their eyes.

But they cannot waver, cannot repent, and cannot even show the slightest hesitation.

Because if they show weakness, the enemies of the Inquisition will pounce and tear them apart like hyenas.

On one side are the cries of countless innocent lives lost because of his command, and on the other is the duty to defend the lives of more people and to live as human beings.

This immense sense of separation and heavy responsibility can truly drive a person crazy.

Some people choose madness, using more extreme means to numb their guilt; others choose depravity, throwing themselves into the embrace of chaos in despair, just to escape the endless moral dilemma.

The remaining judges who still possess conscience and morality, while constantly eroding their last shred of humanity, are also following in the footsteps of their predecessors, either becoming extreme madmen or heretics in need of purification.

In this hellish galaxy, all beauty, morality, and conscience are eroded by cruel reality.

And this is precisely the fate of the judges.

(End of this chapter)