Amidst the man's fervent shouts.
Countless believers prostrated themselves, praying for the blessing of the Four-Armed God-Emperor.
The believers' eyes were fanatical, filled with unwavering faith.
Seeing the believers' reaction, the man rubbed his smooth scalp, revealing a joyful smile.
As time passed.
Even he could keenly sense that the Day of Ascension was rapidly approaching.
The Great Mother would descend soon.
The time of return had come.
The Patriarch had already issued orders; they needed to accelerate their pace, take control of the planet Vitoria, and prepare for the Ascension.
"Spread our thoughts, spread our ideas! We must overthrow the nobles and plutocrats who oppress us and establish a world of equality, harmony, and beauty!"
"A world where everyone is equal, where we only need to work eight hours a day, and are no longer oppressed by those damned nobles.
In this world, we will be our own masters and control our own lives!"
The man raised his hands and shouted, his tone excited, passionate, stirring, and inspiring.
It was highly infectious, making people want to shout along with him.
"Down with oppression!"
The believers shouted after the man, growing increasingly fanatical, their voices fervent, ready at any moment to throw themselves into a grand uprising and fight to overthrow oppression.
"Very good, now for the final step.
This is holy water taken from the God-Emperor's cathedral.
After consuming it, we will feel the power of the God-Emperor, and it will strengthen our faith."
The man clapped his hands, and several equally smooth-scalped cultists emerged from the darkness.
They carried a huge statue of the God-Emperor with four arms.
Behind them, another person held the so-called holy water.
Every believer was required to consume the holy water.
Their fervent faith made the believers drink it without hesitation.
The man smiled, watching as the many human believers drank the so-called holy water in one gulp.
That was not holy water at all, but nutrient fluid mixed with the twisted gene-seed of the Great Patriarch - the genestealer.
Once consumed, these gene-seeds could alter the host's physical and psychological state within hours.
The host would forget the infection process and automatically submit to the will of the Great Patriarch.
Their twisted genes would mix within the human body.
Once the host and their partner reproduced, the next generation would also be genestealers.
At this moment, a believer mixed in the crowd quietly withdrew from the assembly place.
He found another hidden path through a nearby door and infiltrated the cult's interior.
In fact, he was not a believer of this so-called Free cult, but a detective named Dimitry.
Dimitry had been hired by a woman to investigate the disappearance of her daughter.
For this, the other party promised a generous reward.
The reason the other party sought him out was that Dimitry was slightly better than his more incompetent colleagues.
Although they were all mediocre detectives, Dimitry was the best detective in the entire hive.
Dimitry had initially wanted to refuse the commission.
In the hive world of Vitoria, disappearance meant death; there was no possibility of recovery.
Hive gangs or various factions would absolutely not spit out the meat in their mouths.
The plutocrats controlled all the wealth of Vitoria.
Yet they were unwilling to fulfill any obligations.
Every policy was aimed at extracting the maximum wealth and labor from the common people.
Commoners had to give everything for a job.
Time, energy, everything they had had to be handed over to the plutocrats.
Only by doing so could they barely make a living.
Once they lost their ability to work, they were immediately abandoned by the factories.
To better oppress the common people, the plutocrats blocked all possible avenues of survival for them.
They used laws to stipulate that all resources on the planet belonged to them.
They did not allow commoners to privately mine anything or plant anything.
They established various harsh laws, formulated various so-called standards, vigorously promoted loyalty to the Emperor, and used the Emperor's name to crack down on production materials not controlled by them.
They did not allow merchants not approved by them to enter the planet and provide jobs and supplies to the locals.
They forced people to buy food and water only from them.
Even houses were like this.
Numerous plutocrats had devised a perfect harvesting chain.
These actions were to ensure that every penny they gave to the workers returned to their pockets.
The plutocrats' various actions led to persistently high unemployment throughout the world, rampant gangs, and various illicit activities that were constantly suppressed but never stopped.
Except for the upper levels of the hive, other areas were in complete chaos.
Human trafficking, black market organs, and illegal drugs were prevalent among the gangs, who used these as means of survival.
What terrible fate a missing girl would suffer was self-evident.
The gangs would also not give up any cash cow that could make them money.
However, the woman offered too much.
If he could help her find her daughter.
Dimitry wouldn't have to worry about making a living for the rest of his life.
He could even find a better Imperial world to spend the rest of his days.
During this time, Dimitry had heard a lot about things between the stars.
Traveling merchants passing through Vitoria said that the Thirteenth Primarch of Ultramar had resurrected and launched the Indomitus Crusade, cleansing the Imperium of xenos and Chaos forces.
To be honest, such things were too distant for Dimitry.
A leader waging war among the stars and him, a mediocre detective scraping by in the hive, could not possibly have any intersection.
The farthest Dimitry had ever been was another planet within the Vitoria system, and that was when he worked as a crewman in his youth.
The stars were too far away for him.
It was not something someone like him could hope for.
Those grand wars, spanning several light-years, were even more out of reach for him.
However, from the mouths of those rogue traders, Dimitry did learn that Ultramar was the best-developed sector in the Imperium.
The people there valued technology and lived prosperous lives.
The gap between rich and poor was nowhere near as terrifying as in Vitoria.
After completing this task and getting a sum of money, perhaps he could go to Ultramar.
After all, with the protection of a Primarch, it was surely safer than other Imperial worlds.
Thinking about his future plans, Dimitry showed a hint of joy.
The future was promising.
He should leave this damned world as soon as possible.
A good life was beckoning him.
After investigating for these past few days, Dimitry finally confirmed that the woman's daughter had disappeared at the hands of this so-called Free cult.
The Imperial cult was the orthodox religion of the Imperium.
It was also the only officially designated religion.
Once the priests discovered any heretical cult, they would not hesitate to mobilize troops and completely eradicate it.
They would smash the idols of heretical gods and hang all those heretical cultists on the pyre.
Even with such cruel and severe methods, the rise of those heretical religions still could not be prevented.
Many cults still proliferated in the hive.
They hid in the dark corners of the hive or in the sewers.
Developing secretly and vigorously.
Dimitry knew of the existence of these guys, but he never reported them.
If he reported them today, his body would be thrown into the sewer the next day.
This world was just that cruel.
The laws in the hive were just for show; gangs and plutocrats trampled on them with impunity.
Imperial commoners loyal to the Emperor were merely their playthings.
This was very sad, but it was an undeniable fact.
The light in the passage was not bright, possibly due to unstable voltage, and the lights installed on the ceiling flickered.
The air circulation system also seemed to be broken.
The air was filled with dust; after a few breaths, he felt his throat was full of dirt.
This environment made Dimitry feel a bit bad.
But for his reward, he endured it.
As long as he completed this mission, he could leave this disgusting world.
"The mission will be completed soon.
The great Day of Ascension is about to arrive."
"Consecrate all that is ours to the Great Mother and become one."
Voices and footsteps came at the same time.
Dimitry was so scared his legs almost gave out; he hid in a dark pipe nearby.
He was not some kind of war god who could fight ten people at once.
The only weapon he had was an old model laspistol.
If he could infiltrate, he really didn't want to fight.
After all, energy cells were also an expense.
In the hive, weapons were not hard to come by.
As long as you had money, those gangs could get you meltas or plasma weapons.
The sad thing was, Dimitry had no money.
At least not enough money to buy meltas and plasma weapons.
Those were good stuff.
One shot, let alone a person, even if it was iron, it would turn into molten iron; the killing power was top-notch.
But the price was also very expensive, not something ordinary people could buy.
Those hive gangs probably didn't even have one.
If they did, it would be something they kept hidden.
Normal people used laspistols, and the poorer ones used old-fashioned gunpowder guns.
Dimitry thought before setting out that he didn't need any powerful weapons.
His mission was to find the woman's daughter, and if he could rescue her, that would naturally be best.
If not, he only needed to tell the woman the location.
The rest would be handled by the other party, and he would still receive the reward.
This was agreed upon in advance.
And Dimitry would not give the information to the other party without receiving the subsequent reward.
Dimitry hid in the darkness; the two cultists walking past did not realize someone had infiltrated.
They walked past Dimitry, unaware, discussing the so-called Ascension and becoming one.
Dimitry hid in the shadows, not daring to make a sound.
Only after they had gone far away did he breathe a sigh of relief, crawl out from the gap in the dark pipe, and continue forward.
He was quite good at infiltration.
Sometimes, when the income from the detective agency couldn't cover his expenses, he needed to earn some extra money.
The headquarters of those gangs became places he frequently visited.
If his disguise and stealth skills were slightly worse, he would have already been thrown into the street by the gangs.
Clang!
A sound came from a dark corner.
Dimitry raised his laspistol and aimed at that direction.
He didn't want to kill anyone, but if he was exposed, he could only strike with lethal force.
These fanatical cults were the most terrifying; he didn't want to be skinned and sent to the gallows.
But there was no one in the corner.
Dimitry felt a pair of malicious eyes flash in the darkness.
He was a little unsure if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
After confirming he hadn't been discovered, Dimitry continued deeper into the passage.
The external defenses of this cult were very strict; it took Dimitry several days to disguise himself as a believer and get in.
The internal security, however, was quite lax.
To sneak in, Dimitry had even shaved his head, preparing for a disguise at a crucial moment.
He didn't expect it to go so smoothly.
Along the way, besides encountering a few cultists, there was nothing else.
After walking for three or four minutes, he reached the end of a corridor.
He observed for a moment, confirmed there were no guards, and stepped inside.
The room was very large, with the ceiling dozens of meters above his head.
The place where Dimitry entered was a platform, about twenty meters above the ground.
A waist-high railing provided him with cover.
Allowing him to hide in the shadows and observe.
Everything that met his eyes filled him with horror and dread.
"Emperor above, what the hell is this!!"
The space below was vast, extending into the distance, like the manufacturing factories controlled by the Adeptus Mechanicus.
It was as large as the shipyards in the void.
However, there were no towering spaceships here.
There were only people, hundreds and thousands of them.
They scurried back and forth, operating ancient machines and holding weapons.
Laser weapons, particle weapons.
And damn it, there was even a twin-linked autocannon.
This cult had an army!!
Dimitry was disturbed by what he saw.
He took out his visual enhancer, searching for his mission target.
Soon, he found the client's daughter among the crowd.
She hadn't been kidnapped, but was heavily pregnant, with a look of fanaticism and happiness on her face.
He slowly backed away; this mission was over.
Dimitry would not take any more risks.
This cult was clearly not just fanatical; they were organizing a rebellion.
However, the next second, an even more terrifying sight appeared before Dimitry.
A gigantic creature, ten meters tall, covered in thick biological armor, emerged from the darkness.
Its body was covered in sturdy, sharp biological limbs.
That behemoth scared Dimitry, the best detective in the hive city, so much that he didn't dare to move.
Just seeing that terrifying giant beast made him tremble uncontrollably.
He had never imagined that a simple mission could be linked to something so terrifying.
The so-called cult of freedom was terrifyingly powerful!!
Dimitry was not completely ignorant of the outside world.
From the rogue traders, he knew that a terrifying race was rampaging through the galaxy.
They would release terrifying monsters to infiltrate human worlds, slowly corrupting their societies, weakening their resistance, and finally devouring them completely.
Using his visual enhancer, Dimitry saw the humans around the terrifying monster.
Perhaps those guys could no longer be considered human.
Their backs were hunched, and their faces were longer and more oval.
Some had even grown extra limbs with razor-sharp claws at the ends.
These people were no longer human.
They were genestealer hybrids.
Dimitry had always believed that the battles happening in the stars could not happen on Vitoria.
This was the edge of the Charadon Sector, the edge of the Astronomican.
It was small and unnoticed.
Good fortune would not come to this world, nor would misfortune.
But now, Dimitry knew he was wrong.
Vitoria was facing an unprecedented crisis.
"I must leave here immediately."
A thought flashed through Dimitry's mind.
He had to find a way to escape, or he would die here.
Being a hero was out of the question; in front of those terrifying giant beasts, 'hero' was undoubtedly a word of mockery.
As for warning the corporations and nobles, forget it.
Who knows, there might be monsters among them too.
Giving a warning would only be seeking his own death.
Dimitry turned to escape the way he came.
But he found a pair of malicious eyes standing behind him, watching him, he didn't know when they had appeared.
A tail covered in barbs, hands with sharp claws, and a smooth body emitting a slightly putrid, slimy smell.
An oval head, with the mouth at the very front, full of sharp teeth when opened.
"By the Emperor."
Dimitry tried to raise his gun to shoot, but the creature pounced on him and knocked him to the ground.
These gene seeds would twist his genetic helix and his thoughts.
Fortunately, Dimitry didn't drop his gun.
He seized an opportunity, fired a shot, and hit the creature's body.
The monster let out a shriek and instinctively released its grip on Dimitry.
Dimitry took the chance to break free and turned to run.
The monster did not pursue, its malicious gaze watching his escape.
All things return to the Great Mother.
The twisted gene had been sown, and that human would also become a part of the Mother; there was no need to pursue.
********
Vitoria Legislative Hall.
The hall was decorated with exquisite sculptures and portraits.
These sculptures and portraits were all of the past planetary governors.
In the eyes of many senators, these governors were all worthy of respect.
They laid the foundation for Vitoria's system, allowing the excellent human genes to be preserved for generations.
In this cruel galaxy, only the excellent can control everything.
This is an unchanging truth.
The two arrays of cogitators embedded in the walls were emitting a faint flickering light.
Accompanied by the humming of machinery.
Holographic projections appeared before each senator, displaying the theme of this meeting.
"This is the most shameful betrayal against us."
A man in luxurious clothes looked at the report sent from the depths of the void.
He cursed viciously.
Just like a devout follower of the Emperor seeing a shameful heretic.
The legislative hall was large, with over a hundred seats.
In these seats sat the senators from various corporations.
If judged by their family background and origins, they were undoubtedly the most excellent group of people.
Each one was a descendant of a thousand-year-old family, receiving an education and life that ordinary people could not imagine from a young age.
Elegant and noble.
They were more like the masters of the planet than the common people.
In fact, they were indeed the masters of this planet.
At this moment, they were discussing matters concerning the impending changes.
They represented the highest power in this world.
The entire world operated under their will.
Unfortunately, they soon would not be.
The officials appointed by the Primarch were on their way, and the rogue traders loyal to the Primarch would replace their commercial share and take over the industrial assets on the planet.
In other words, they would lose everything.
"The Primarch should never have awakened. He will only throw everything into chaos and make the perfectly functioning system worse. The law of the jungle is the rule of this world, but he delusionally attempts to change this established fact with his own strength, which is undoubtedly a huge mistake."
A young senator also stood up.
His tone was indignant and full of anger.
His family had accumulated wealth for a thousand years, so why should they be on equal footing with those commoners?
Was there still fairness in this world?
Did this world still have meaning??
The Primarch's various decisions were simply absurd.
A three-year-old child could do a thousand times better than him.
If those people's parents didn't work hard, they deserved to be the playthings of excellent people like them.
Why should their power and wealth be taken away to accommodate those incompetent wastes.
The reason those people could only be workers, could only be vagrants, wasn't it because they were wastes??
Why should excellent people accommodate wastes!!
Where in this world is there such a principle??
"The salvation of humanity can never happen at his hands. His decisions are foolish and ignorant. I have never seen anyone succeed against the will of the people. The entire Empire is against him, yet he stubbornly goes his own way."
Another old senator also spoke.
He had lived for over three centuries.
He considered himself loyal to the Empire, loyal to the Emperor.
The Primarch's various decisions were the greatest betrayal of humanity, of the Empire, of the Emperor.
One could constantly hear complaints from nobles on other worlds about the Primarch's various decisions from the mouths of rogue traders.
These complaints were the will of the people.
Defying the will of the people, even a Primarch will fail.
"But what can we do? All power is in his hands. The armies follow him; we can't do anything."
Someone sighed.
A single sentence calmed the angry crowd.
That's right!
They couldn't do anything, only rage impotently.
How sad this was.
"We must never compromise like this."
The young senator said.
But no one echoed the words of the young senator.
The merchants had brought news of the nobles who had tried to defy the Primarch being purged.
The Primarch's methods were cruel and cold.
Any noble who attempted to resist was utterly destroyed and given the most terrible punishment.
One should know that many of those nobles were loyalists.
He was so ruthless, striking at loyalists of the Empire.
"Alas, he holds the armies of the Empire, and the power in our hands is too weak to resist the Primarch's wanton actions."
An old senator shook his head, his tone full of grief and indignation.
Emperor, open your eyes and see.
Your son is destroying your Empire with foolish actions.
Humanity is facing the threat of Chaos and xenos, and now even the Primarch is harming loyalists.
The Empire is in danger!!
Just as many senators were filled with indignation.
A astropath, wearing a long robe and with pure white eyes, walked into the hall with the help of two guides.
The astropath walked to the side of the planetary governor on the main seat and said, "Something has happened, my lord."