Warhammer 40: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 275 The Emperor's Vigilance

The chaos on Terra was escalating rapidly, with the Royal Guard even leading troops into the lower lair to carry out a purge.

But they still found that these active cult members were impossible to kill off completely...

Some hives even appeared when certain sacrificial rituals summoned demons to Terra.

Meanwhile, some aliens, and even some cunning ones, began to take advantage of the chaos to grow stronger.

Several squads of Grey Knights were also urgently redeployed from Titan to Terra to deal with the escalating Chaos threat.

Such a large-scale chaotic corruption could even give rise to a great demon.

Fortunately, this situation did not occur. The four gods, who were somewhat stressed by Gao Yi, did not choose to invest too much of their power in Terra.

Instead, they used this small-scale, covert sabotage to slow down Guilliman's return to power in the empire.

The actions of the Four Gods are even more troublesome than a direct large-scale attack.

The consequences of the traitor within the Ministry of the Interior were more severe than anticipated, bringing the Empire's administration to a standstill and triggering a series of chain reactions with countless erroneous data points.

No one expected that the extent of Tzeentch's corruption within the Ministry of the Interior would reach such a level.

Many Ministry of the Interior officials were unaware that they were aiding Chaos. Under Tzeentch's long-term, silent guidance, they unknowingly became accomplices, and even when they were caught by the Inquisition, they still believed that they were truly helping the Empire.

Finding errors in massive amounts of data and documents is no easy task, and it's impossible to prove who can be trusted and who cannot.

The massive and bloated bureaucratic system is now rife with its flaws...

When Guilliman went to meet the Emperor, all the court and the Ministry of Justice could do was arrest and kill him, preferring to kill the innocent rather than let one go.

Any nobles or even officials implicated will be arrested, and any resistance will be ruthlessly suppressed.

Most of those who ended up in the hands of the courts and the Ministry of Justice never had the chance to leave.

The transport plane landed at Lionsgate Landing Site. The group had to pass through the Gate of Eternity and then walk along the mile-long Avenue of Eternity to enter the inner sanctum of the palace.

The avenue is lined with statues of famous heroes from the Empire’s history, and at the plaza at the end, there are statues of the Primarchs.

All the Primarch statues used to be here, but now the statues of the traitors have all been removed.

The relevant history has also been erased, and most people are unaware of this history or the existence of the Primarch.

Guilliman glanced at Gao Yi, who was staring at the sculpture.

"Lord Gao Yi, you are now qualified to have a statue of yourself on this road."

"Forget it... I don't care about statues or anything like that. I care more about something more tangible. Remember the rights you promised me."

"After you have met the Empress, you will get what you want."

The chaos on Terra prompted the mobilization of the entire Royal Guard, with ten thousand guards strictly protecting every corner of the palace.

When the group arrived at the throne room, the three hundred most elite guards were already lined up on both sides.

Looking at the tightly closed palace gates, Guilliman turned to Trajan.

"Trajan, open the gates. Ferrus and I need to see our father."

Trajan nodded, and at his signal, the doors to the throne room opened.

Just as Guilliman and Ferrus were about to take Gao Yi inside,

An imperial envoy, however, said...

"Lord Guilliman, Lord Felus, the great Emperor has delivered a divine message to me. He needs to see Lord Gao Yi alone. Lord Gao Yi, please wait here patiently."

The words of the imperial guard made all three of them stop in their tracks.

"Goodness... they're still wary of me... are they trying to whisper something to their son?"

Gao Yi couldn't help but complain in his heart.

However, Gao Yi also cautiously observed the Imperial Guards around him... He hadn't felt this way during their meeting in the subspace, but he was still a little apprehensive about actually seeing the Emperor in person...

He checked the remaining psionic crystals and confirmed that he still had enough to summon Doom.

They even began contacting the Spear of Adun, which had not come with them, and their own fleet, just in case.

Gao Yi was a little worried that the Emperor might force him to sit on the golden toilet instead of him.

When Gao Yi was still weak, the Emperor might not have had such thoughts, but as Gao Yi's subspace projection became more and more powerful, he was able to devour and purify more and more subspace energy.

Although Gao Yi felt that the Emperor was unlikely to kill him for his current worth, he still made the worst-case scenario plan.

The human side of emperors who have already embarked on the path to godhood is becoming increasingly diminished.

Guilliman and Felix entered the throne room.

The heavy doors closed behind them. Guilliman and Feralas, who had come before the golden throne, both looked up at the emperor sitting on it.

Countless tubes pierced his already completely withered and decaying body.

The Golden Throne was constantly draining the Emperor's spiritual energy and life force.

Upon seeing the Emperor again after ten thousand years, both Guilliman and Feralas momentarily doubted whether the other was truly the same Emperor they once knew.

At this moment, the mummified emperor was emanating a power that did not belong to humankind.

A beam of light pierced their souls, causing Guilliman and Firus to suffer unbearable pain.

"Father……"

Guilliman strained to open his eyes and looked at the desiccated corpse on the golden throne.

Feralus, in his Purifier form, has a more acute perception of the Emperor than Guilliman.

An overwhelming fear rose in their hearts; the Emperor's current state even reminded them of the four gods of the Warp.

A surge of psychic energy rushed toward the two from the emperor's mummified corpse.

The Emperor's psychic powers began to influence the consciousness of the two.

The emperor's form before the two men changed once again.

At this moment, before their eyes, the emperor had become an aggregate of countless consciousnesses, with both positive and negative emotions converging on him.

It was only then that Guilliman truly began to believe that the Emperor had indeed embarked on the path to godhood.

He tried to find that familiar emperor among these countless wills.

And the figure of the emperor he once knew appeared in these wills.

The emperor was no longer a mummified corpse, just as he had not yet sat on the golden throne.

This is also thanks to Gao Yi, whose previous actions of relieving the emperor's pressure and sharing his faith allowed him to retain more of his humanity.

The two were thrilled to see the Emperor again.

Guilliman also began asking the Emperor what he should do next, and who exactly Gao Yi, whom he was concerned about, was.

However, the answer he received was beyond his expectations.

The Emperor showed Guilliman and Feralas the High Pride warp projection... The Xel'Naga's appearance made it difficult to associate them with humans.

The Emperor stated that Gao Yi remains the key to saving humanity and the Empire.

When Guilliman learned from the Emperor that Gao Yi did not belong to this world, he also understood why Gao Yi had so many inexplicable things.

"Are there really other worlds besides ours...?"

“Guilliman, it seems that this world is much bigger than we imagined. I have also sensed voices from other worlds, and Gao Yi’s existence has completely confirmed this conjecture for me.”

Guilliman and Firus exchanged a glance.

What the Emperor said next made Guilliman's expression immediately turn serious.

Just as Gao Yi had thought, the emperor never trusted him completely.

To this world, Gao Yi is ultimately an outsider.

Everything Gao Yi is currently demonstrating is indeed not harmful to humanity or the empire, but precisely because he is so extraordinary and powerful, even the emperor feels that he cannot control him.

An individual with no destiny or future in this world has no ties to it, and the human heart is the most unpredictable thing. Gao Yi's growth rate made the emperor feel uneasy.

In his eyes, no matter how much Gao Yi claimed to be acting for the sake of humanity, it was ultimately only one side of the story.

The Emperor told Guilliman that Gao Yi could be given more power within the Empire to accelerate its development.

However, it is also necessary to be wary of Gao Yi and his forces, and the empire needs to exercise certain oversight over them.

While actively helping Gao Yi achieve technological breakthroughs, Kaur will also learn and master his technology.

To ensure that those key technologies are truly in the hands of the empire.

"I understand... Father..."

The doors to the throne room opened again.

No one knows what the Emperor said to the Primarch.

However, Gao Yi's keen senses detected a change in Guilliman's gaze towards him.

"Lord Gao Yi, my father wants to see you."

(End of this chapter)