Warhammer 40: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 9 All beings decay, all beings live forever

Although the priest was full of confidence and comforted everyone, he knew that they could not hold on for much longer. The sound array communication was normal for a while and then interrupted again. What made him panic was that before the riot, he saw the wandering merchant Ludwig and his guards heading to the lower level of the void ship.

Before leaving, Ludwig came to the church to pray, but this time during the prayer he found that the Rogue Trader's condition was not right. The weak expression and occasional coughing should not appear on his face at all. With powerful implants and the best medical conditions, normal diseases and fatigue should not appear on his body.

He also vaguely heard the Master of Discipline, who was accompanying the Rogue Trader, say he was going to look for something, but what could be on the lower deck that the Rogue Trader could possibly be interested in? At the very least, he could send a squad of soldiers, so why bother going there himself?

There are only blasphemous mutants and scum there.

The priest forced himself not to think about these things. At that time, he was not qualified to question the Rogue Trader's decision. After all, there were more important things at hand, which was to hold on until reinforcements arrived.

At the beginning of the riot, the church was already protected by soldiers, and with the influx of many law enforcement teams and boatmen, they had enough manpower to fight against the zombies outside.

However, the large number of people also brought a serious burden. There was not enough food and the ammunition was almost exhausted. The boatmen were not professional fighters and did not have suitable weapons. Fighting in close combat with those guys carrying the zombie plague was just asking for their lives.

He saw with his own eyes that the slain men rose to their feet again and became mindless monsters.

"Don't believe him! We're doomed... The Divine Emperor has abandoned us, and the Rogue Traders won't come to save us! Don't you know what those nobles are like? They don't care if we live or die!
They would shut off our heating and let us freeze to death, the law enforcement teams would break our legs for the smallest things without hesitation, and they would withhold our rations! We were nothing more than tools they could consume at will, and our lives were nothing to them!
Just wait and see... Soon the priest will lead the soldiers to break through, leaving us here to die and help them attract the attention of the monsters outside. It's over, we're all finished!"

The man broke down in despair, and his words caused a commotion among the crowd.

The prayers stopped abruptly.

The surviving boatmen all looked at the priest, their doubtful eyes showing that they had wavered.

Some people even started to agree!

"Soldiers! Capture those people! How dare they slander the God-Emperor! This is unforgivable!

The God-Emperor is perfect! It was He who bestowed upon us the Holy Light, who led us out of darkness and created our home! He endured endless torture and pain just to protect us! Compared to what the God-Emperor endured, the suffering we endure now is nothing!

Hearing someone slandering the God-Emperor, the priest instantly became furious. Compared to those traitors, the priest could not tolerate such humans who questioned the God-Emperor even more.

The soldier pushed aside the crowd and grabbed the man directly. No matter how he struggled, how could he possibly defeat the soldier?

Originally, these boatmen could only eat corpse starch on a daily basis, and their physical fitness was far inferior to that of the soldiers.

Amidst a desperate roar, the soldier shot him dead.

However, death did not suppress the crowd's turmoil, but instead made the already nervous people even more frightened.

Faith began to waver at this moment...If you look at this sacred church from the outside, you will find that it is slowly dimming.

The plague fog that was isolated outside by the light of the Divine Emperor also began to corrode inward.

At this time, more and more figures appeared in the area outside the church.

A large number of zombies, accompanied by many Nurgle believers, staggered towards the church. The Chaos believers even brought out an automatic cannon and a hell gun. The only difference this time was that there was a group of special people in front of the zombies.

Their bodies no longer resemble those of humans; pustules, ulcers, and keratin have changed their originally human bodies.

Unlike zombies, they still retained their consciousness. A strong stench of decay emanated from them, maggots wriggled in their rotting bodies, and a large number of flies fluttered around them.

"My brothers, do you see this? The followers of the false emperor are killing each other. Their faith is collapsing, but we are as close as brothers. The great and kind father has given us strength, and we must bring his gifts to everyone on this battleship."

"Praise be to the merciful Father! All things decay, but all things live forever!"

A group of Nurgle believers prayed together, each holding a bowl of dark green soup in their hands, and the sound of their prayers could be heard inside the church.

"Listen up, people in the church, embrace the loving Father! We are not here to bring you pain. We are all from the bottom of the world. We are brothers, sisters, and compatriots. We depend on each other for survival.

I am here to bring you relief. Drink this bowl of soup and you will no longer feel hungry or suffer from illness. Have you forgotten the feeling of curling up in bed, enduring hunger and cold?
Have you forgotten that your loved ones died in despair due to illness and lack of treatment? They could have been saved with just a needle, but those nobles watched us die!
All of this will no longer exist! We will all receive eternal life together in the gift of the loving Father. It is a world of equality, a beautiful garden, a world that belongs to us! We will all receive eternal peace by the loving Father's side!

But no matter what these Nurgle believers said, their appearance at this moment was too terrifying for any normal human being.

These are no longer human bodies. Although they are still alive, they are alive because of the supernatural disease in their bodies.

The priest gave up suppressing the chaotic crowd and instead began to organize the last soldiers to prepare for defense. He looked outside and saw that the entire church was surrounded tightly. He knew that even if he really wanted to break out, it would be impossible. He also didn't want the Church of the Emperor of God to be desecrated. He would rather fight here to death!

"Warriors of the God-Emperor, take up your weapons! Distribute weapons to those who are willing to fight, and the rest of you, hurry to the back!"

"Great God-Emperor, whose power is unmatched, I beseech you to save us from our enemies, inspire us, help us to surpass them, show us the way to victory, and I ask you to allow us to triumph in your eternal name."

The priest began to pray before the battle. He was ready to use his life to fulfill his loyalty to the God-Emperor.

The battle happened without warning.

The soldiers inside the church opened fire, but the shots, which were enough to kill a man, did not cause much damage to the Nurgle believers.

Even these Nurgle believers have lost their sense of pain, and large numbers of maggots are filling their already rotten bodies.

“My brothers and sisters, go and save these lost people. When the Father’s grace enters their bodies, they will know that everything we say is true!”

After saying that, flies carrying deadly plague flew out from their bodies and flew towards the people in the church, and the zombies also began to charge.

"For the God Emperor!"

"For my loving father!"
-
"Quick! Hurry! The sound array on the lower deck has been disrupted, and the church hasn't responded in a long time!"

The map has been imported into the combat suit's system, and the real-time route on the mask guides everyone forward.

The scattered traitors along the way had no ability to stop the team and were easily crushed. The cabins or rooms with survivors were also marked, and the location information would be shared with subsequent teams.

With the extra psychic crystals, Gao Yi built another barracks. The doubling of production allowed the second batch of CMC combat uniforms to be delivered to the lower deck and replaced.

But it was just the upper deck of this poor void ship. In order to gather enough resources, Pavian had gone a little crazy. The missing railings and the stripped-off walls of the warship, as long as they did not affect the normal operation of the warship, were dismantled by Pavian's mecha servants and thrown into the barracks.

Not only did they demolish the area they were responsible for, they even extended their hands to other decks.
The interior of the warship, which was originally magnificent and solemn, was now in disarray. The crew members and supervisors on each deck complained to Gao Yi about Pavian's behavior. Some even said that Pavian had taken away their beds and chairs. Gao Yi had no choice but to ask Pavian to be a little more restrained.

(End of this chapter)