Chapter 341: Anticipating the Enemy |
In the system, once the functions related to the God-Emperor were shut down, the backdoor he had left behind was erased. The Pal Portal and Pal Repository became unusable.
After obtaining Land's genetic sample, Li Nuo found a relatively safe place to lay low.
He watched Elina lead a group to rescue Valdor and waited for the arrival of the Bloodhand Clan Leader, Keluoen, who had come to extract him.
Li Nuo handed Land's genetic sample and all the technical data he had collected along the way to Keluoen, then rushed toward the Golden Gate alone.
He had previously speculated that the appearance of the Warp rift was a conspiracy by the evil deities of chaos.
But thinking about it carefully, something didn't quite add up.
If the evil gods of chaos had the ability to use Land to open a Warp rift, wouldn't Land have wreaked havoc on Calasta long ago?
Therefore, Li Nuo strongly suspected that a crucial piece of information remained hidden.
His primary suspects were the Eldar, who had shared the Webway technical blueprints with Land in the first place.
Ever since the disappearance of The Old Ones, this wretched race had been inextricably linked to the forces of chaos.
Especially the Book of Destiny.
Li Nuo always got the feeling the artifact was just a front for a certain big blue bird.
Perhaps, acting on instructions from the Book of Destiny, the Eldar had deliberately handed Land a flawed set of Webway blueprints.
If Land followed the standard debugging process to fine-tune the device, it would lose spatial stability and tear open a Warp rift.
Technologically speaking, such an insidious scheme was entirely feasible.
Unfortunately, when Li Nuo extracted Land's genetic sample earlier, he hadn't found the blueprints on the Magos.
Li Nuo pondered. If he wanted the truth to surface, he had to get his hands on those blueprints. Since they weren't on Land, they were highly likely stored in the researchers' resting area near the Golden Gate.
After a tense but uneventful sprint, Li Nuo successfully beat Valdor and Elina to the Golden Gate, locking onto the blueprints' location.
Just as he expected, the technical blueprints were strictly guarded by the Skitarii.
Out of trust in the Golden Gate, the Skitarii hadn't relocated them even after the Warp rift appeared.
They formed a defensive perimeter around the metal safe containing the documents, shouting at anyone who drew near to step back.
Li Nuo raised his hand, locked his thoughts onto multiple coordinates, and snapped his fingers.
Snap!
Illumination, activate!
Blinding white light flooded the area.
The Skitarii's overly sensitive sensors were the first to burn out from the intense glare, followed by the mortals' vision and the receptors of various monitoring instruments.
Leaping into the air, Li Nuo dashed mid-flight and used his Vibration Technique to pry open the metal safe, sending the technical blueprints flying.
He reached out and snatched them from the air, securing the blueprints firmly in his grasp as he landed outside the Golden Gate.
Piloting a scout ship, Keluoen executed a precise sub-light jump, arriving directly above Li Nuo to scoop him up with a tractor beam.
"Damn it! It's a Palu Orks warship!"
"When did this ship get here?"
The crowd below shouted in panic as Li Nuo used his Vibration Technique to accelerate his ascent.
Not far away, Elina and Valdor noticed the scout ship.
Valdor flew into a raging fury, while Elina shuddered, her pupils contracting.
"Why are the Palu Orks here?" Elina muttered.
Valdor cursed. "Why else? These damned mongrels planted spies here to secretly sabotage our device and trigger a Warp rift! And now they've set their sights on the technical blueprints you Eldar shared with us! I bet that filthy, despicable Ork is holding those blueprints right now! Stop it! Don't let it take the blueprints!"
Valdor's words gave Elina a terrible shock.
"You didn't keep the blueprints on your person?" Elina shrieked.
Valdor didn't answer her. He lowered his head and charged forward, completely ignoring Land.
Burning with anxiety, Elina chased after the rapidly ascending Ork.
The Palu Orks also possessed Webway technology; they would definitely find the flaws in the blueprints.
If they exposed these technical flaws to the Imperium of Man, the Imperium might not believe them, writing it off as a Palu Orks ploy to sow discord between humans and Eldar.
But that wasn't a guarantee.
People like Valdor, who didn't understand technology, generally wouldn't believe the Palu Orks' claims.
But Land and the other Magos on Mars were a different story.
If they followed the Palu Orks' explanations to conduct in-depth research and deductions, it wouldn't be hard to discover that this entire situation was a trap laid by the Eldar.
This was a scenario Elina did not want to see.
"Li Nuo! Stop! I know you're the one controlling this Ork!" Elina shouted as she flew. "Give the blueprints back! Don't take them! Whatever you want, we can give it to you!"
Li Nuo stepped through the hatch into the scout ship's lower deck.
He looked back down, his gaze pausing briefly on the rapidly approaching Elina, and slowly raised a red-gloved hand to give her the middle finger.
'Elina, your panic just confirms my suspicions, doesn't it?'
Li Nuo snorted coldly and ducked into the cabin.
The scout ship engaged its thrusters, speeding away from the danger zone and leaving Valdor and Elina howling in frustration below.
A few Imperial warships currently blocking the demon army moved to intercept the scout ship.
Possessing Keluoen, Li Nuo commanded the breakout operation from start to finish, arriving unscathed in the adjacent Webway space.
Over ten minutes later.
Taking a shortcut, the scout ship arrived at the Palu Homeland. Li Nuo gathered the professors of the Palu Academy to study the blueprints.
Land's genetic sample was also taken by the Chief Mad Dok for cloning experiments.
The waiting period was rather dull, so Li Nuo shifted his consciousness back to his Shaman Boy persona. He summoned Palcador, explained the situation, and began discussing their next countermeasure.
After listening to his shaman's description, Palcador pondered for a moment before drawing a preliminary conclusion about the event:
"Boss, i fink this is all an Eldar conspiracy. They have no way to stop you from becoming a True Ork God, so they can only settle for the next best thing—restarting the plan to eliminate the Dark King, forcing the God-Emperor to remain seated on the Golden Throne indefinitely.
"The God-Emperor can't constantly monitor everything in the age of rebellion; his main base of operations is the Imperium of Man in the end times! If they find even a single opening while the God-Emperor fails to pay attention to the age of rebellion, the knife-ears might be able to force the Dark King to descend into The Emperor's body, and then proceed to seal him.
"With the control of the seal in the knife-ears' hands, it becomes a bargaining chip they can use to negotiate with us. If we refuse their demands, they might detonate the Dark King, driving him to prematurely devour the age of rebellion sub-universe, taking us down with them in mutual destruction."
Li Nuo asked, "Palcador, are you saying we should stop the knife-ears from sealing the Dark King?"
"Please allow me to correct you, Boss. We should stop the Dark King from descending in the first place. If we fail, then we stop the knife-ears from sealing the Dark King and seal him ourselves instead."
As Palcador detailed his thoughts, Li Nuo nodded.
Malcador's genes were truly incredible. As a mere grad student, Li Nuo couldn't have thought of so much, nor in such fine detail.
The most crucial point was that this plan, devised on the spot by Palcador, meshed perfectly with the plan to exterminate the knife-ears. They were complementary, without any conflicts.
Of course, many details still needed to be ironed out.
Before the ascension ceremony concluded, Palcador would have ample time to perfect the strategy.
"You may go, Palcador."
"Yes, Boss."
Palcador bowed respectfully and left, leaning on a staff—even though he didn't possess any spellcasting abilities.
The ritual array returned to silence as Li Nuo closed his eyes to rest.
Compared to the tranquility here, the Imperial Palace of Terra was far livelier.
The Warp rift continued to expand, and more massive demons poured into the area.
Calasta had fallen. The crowd gathered on the artificial corridors, swarming madly toward the Golden Gate.
Those at the front shoved their way through the gate, while those at the back were devoured by demons.
Eating their way from back to front, the demons arrived before the Golden Gate. Knowing they were outmatched, the Adeptus Custodes behind the doors slammed them shut. The massive panels clamped together, crushing hundreds of demons in an explosion of foul blood and flying gore.
As the psionic barrier on the gate activated, the demons found themselves unable to budge the doors, instead suffering injuries from the psionic energy.
Retreating unwillingly, they pulled back into Calasta, where they began constructing various chaos facilities steeped in blood and sin.
Currently, Calasta was the only Webway entrance controlled by the Imperium of Man.
If the device hadn't exploded, the Imperium could have opened Webway gates in other locations and secured long-term control over those entrances.
Unfortunately, the device had blown up.
Not only had it blown up, but it had also spawned a Warp rift that couldn't be closed.
Even more tragically, the device's blueprints had been stolen by the Palu Orks.
Waking from his coma, Land heard the news of the stolen blueprints. His head flushed red with boiling rage, and his eyes rolled back as he nearly fainted all over again.
Fortunately, the Magos possessed a robust heart and highly elastic blood vessels.
After taking several deep breaths, Land barely managed to calm down.
A servitor helped him to his feet. As his field of vision rose, the figures of the Eldar and Valdor came into view.
The moment he saw the Eldar, joy flashed in Land's eyes. He stepped forward, speaking in a pleading tone, "Could you give us another copy of the Webway technical blueprints?"
This was a fairly reasonable request.
It was, after all, merely a matter of making another copy, which wouldn't cost much time or effort.
As long as they provided sufficient compensation, Land believed the Eldar would agree to his request.
However, Elina shook her head, tactfully rejecting Land's proposal. "I'm afraid not, Land. A second set of blueprints did not appear in the prophecies we received. Of course, we also didn't foresee the Palu Orks destroying the device and stealing the blueprints. Perhaps because of the Palu Psychic Field, our prophecies frequently fail when it comes to them."
These words were not entirely false. Elina truly hadn't read any prophecy regarding the stolen blueprints in the Book of Destiny; otherwise, she would have prioritized protecting the blueprints over rescuing Land.
Elina suspected that the Book of Destiny had deliberately concealed the Palu Orks' theft to force a specific prophecy to come true, just like with the supernova explosion last time.
Although she felt disgusted by the Book of Destiny's habit of hiding parts of the truth, as an avatar of an Eldar deity, Elina had no choice. She had to obey the arrangements of the prophecy unconditionally.
Seeing Elina refuse his request, Land turned around in disappointment and walked toward the palace, preparing to recreate the blueprints from memory.
Valdor, having arranged the guard detail for the Golden Gate, asked Elina, "Do the Eldar have a way to close that Warp rift?"
"The Palu Orks occupy a vital facility within the Webway; that machine might be capable of closing a Warp rift of this magnitude. Relying solely on the power of the Eldar, the most we can do is stop the rift from expanding."
Elina pointing the finger at the Palu Orks only further cemented Valdor's earlier suspicions.
"Damned Palu Orks. Damn Li Nuo. To think he prepared so thoroughly for today's operation..."
Consumed by hatred, Valdor gripped the shaft of his halberd so tightly that it creaked.
Elina said, "We Eldar are the firmest allies of the Imperium of Man. I will return to organize a tactical operation to stop the Warp rift from expanding. However, I must warn you first: attempting to halt the Warp rift's expansion could backfire and trigger further enlargement."
"The rift can grow even larger?" Valdor asked gravely, his face darkening. "Just how large can it get?"
Elina pondered for a moment before replying, "It might swallow the entire Webway space where Calasta is located."
Valdor furrowed his thick brows. "Wouldn't that mean The Warp would be right outside the Golden Gate?"
"Exactly," Elina nodded. "However, that is an extremely low-probability event. It shouldn't come to that."
A low probability didn't mean it wouldn't happen.
If it truly did happen, Valdor knew he couldn't shoulder the blame.
"I must report this to His Majesty. I'll have to ask you to wait here for a moment."
"No problem, but you need to decide quickly. It will take at least half a month for an operation to halt the Warp rift's expansion to show results. Until then, the rift will continue to grow."
"I understand. I'll give you an answer as soon as possible."
Valdor cut through the crowd and sprinted down the artificial corridor, charging into the Imperial Palace in one breath until he reached the steps below the Golden Throne.
The golden figure stood upon the steps, as if he had been waiting for Valdor's arrival all along.
"Your Majesty," Valdor said, taking a knee with a heavy heart.
"What happened in Calasta?" the God-Emperor asked in a deep voice, his hands clasped behind his back.
"Your Majesty, the Eldar shared a set of Webway technical blueprints with us. Magos Land combined those blueprints with his recent research findings and successfully constructed a Webway Gate Controller. The despicable Palu Orks seized the opportunity to sabotage the device, tearing open a Warp rift inside Calasta, and then stole the blueprints..."
Valdor recounted the sequence of events, bringing up the "Palu Orks" every third sentence. It was painfully obvious he firmly believed that the Palu Orks were the masterminds behind it all.
"Your Majesty, we absolutely cannot allow Li Nuo to become a True Ork God. If he dares to destroy Calasta and threaten the Imperial Palace of Terra now, in the future, he'll dare to subvert the Imperium!"
Valdor was impassioned, but the God-Emperor remained unmoved.
The golden figure looked calmly at the commander of the Adeptus Custodes, his gaze as placid as an ancient well.
"Valdor, why would the Palu Orks steal the blueprints?"
"To plagiarize the Eldar's Webway technology, of course!" Just as the words left his mouth, Valdor gave a start, a chill inexplicably gripping his heart.
"Wait, that's not right! The Palu Orks' Webway technology is not the least bit inferior to the Eldar's. They had no need to steal the blueprints. Then why would they do such a thing...?"
Valdor grew bewildered.
The God-Emperor said, "Let the Eldar go and stop the Warp rift's expansion. At the same time, we must prepare for the worst. Go back and tell Elina not to talk to me about probabilities; I only care about results. If they successfully halt the Warp rift's expansion, the Eldar are allies of the Imperium of Man. If they fail to stop it, the Eldar are the mortal enemies of the Imperium of Man."
With a wave of the God-Emperor's hand, Valdor was cast into the artificial Webway.
