Hammer 40k: Far East Storm

"As long as there is chaos pollution, I have absolute power." Elizabeth looked at the collapsed long table, raised her eyebrows slightly, and continued: "Here I am above any laws of the empire, you All rights will be put aside until your purity is determined after the trial, and those rights will return to you, and the achievements you mentioned before, your past deeds, your contribution to the empire, and your. Status, all of this, doesn't mean much to us. By the way, the Crow Guard is gone, so your status is meaningless."

"How is it possible?" Li was shocked. "Raven will not let this happen."

"In fact, it was the Ravens who caused all this. After the Great Rebellion, the Raven Guard was almost completely wiped out. Although the Ravens are very powerful, they cannot restore your war group to its heyday, and there are rumors of the Raven Guard's surgery. There are big flaws, and the success rate is less than one percent. "Elizabeth looked at Li and said, "You should know what this means. What kind of number is one percent? Can it be called surgery? It was like a massacre. There were not many suitable recruits, and most of them died during the operation. After that, the Raven Guard was split up and the Ravens were almost invisible. News about the old group’s activities, what do you think its fate will be?”

Li fell into silence. In his memory, the Crow Guard was so powerful. They had participated in countless epic battles and withstood countless cruel tests. In my memory, there is no creature in the galaxy that can stop the crow's claws, victory or death, this is the crow's motto, and the crow has not died in the cruel battle, this is because they have been winning. The founder of the war group, Raven, is a god-like figure. He is noble, upright, and intelligent. All the praise words Robert can think of can be applied to Raven. He respects Raven even more than the holy emperor.

Li never believed that such a powerful Crow Society would die like this, but what if what she said was true? There is no need for too many reasons, just a 1% success rate is enough for its demise. One percent, this is such a terrible number. It means that it is extremely difficult for the Crow Guard to get new recruits, and war will always be accompanied by attrition. When the replenishment cannot catch up with its consumption, it means the demise of this fighting group.

Besides, the raven is also missing.

Li lowered his head and sat down on the chair weakly.

Elizabeth was very satisfied with the damage her words had caused to Li, so she decided to take advantage of the victory and pursue it: "To tell you the truth, if it weren't for your previous achievements, our trial against you would never stop at rude words. Yes, the Inquisition is proficient in all kinds of cruel torture, which is something you don't want to try. You just need to understand that it is unimaginable cruelty, so I hope you can cooperate with our trial wisely. , once we determine that you have been contaminated by Chaos, then purification will be waiting for you."

"Purification?"

"Of course it was burned to ashes. And you should know that the so-called conclusion of 'confirming that you have been contaminated by Chaos' does not actually require much evidence. As long as I am convinced that you have been contaminated by Chaos, then you It’s just contaminated. I just need to find a reasonable reason. For example, well, for example, your handsome face, obviously you were changed by the curse, your face didn’t look like this before.”

"My face turned out to be darker, and my skin wasn't that smooth," Li touched his face and said with some lack of confidence: "I don't really like the way I look now, but who told me that I haven't seen him in nine thousand years?" It’s sunny.”

Judge Elizabeth looked at Li with a sneer. She observed the expression on Li's face. Unfortunately, she did not find fear, panic, or other more interesting expressions on this handsome face.

He didn't care much about his own life or death, but he showed obvious depression because of the news about the war group. Typical behavior of Brother Astarte, Elizabeth also had some doubts about her judgment for a moment.

So after a while, she changed to a slightly gentle tone and continued: "So, your initial whistle to me was extremely unwise. Any person who is being judged will know how to respect his judge." . And you have to know that the essence of Slaanesh is to enjoy pleasure and indulge in sensuality. Your frivolous behavior will be used as one of the evidences of your corruption. I will record your initial performance in detail, and the final result will probably be different. This is decided.”

Li Da opened his mouth and asked in disbelief: "You mean I will probably be burned to death because I whistled and because my face is whiter?"

"It's very possible," Elizabeth said seriously: "Because I come from the Demon Tribunal, I have this power."

This is too ridiculous. What else can Li say? He had no choice but to put aside some of his pride and honor and cooperate with the work of these judges. In fact, this would not be too difficult for Lee. Although he also valued honor, he had not yet reached the heights of Robert E. Lee.

Lee and his mentor had been together for nine thousand years. He knew very well that the Robert Lee before waking up was a true fanatic who took "honor is my life" as one of his life creeds. He is also a respected and true knight. For that person, even in the face of death, he will not do anything that damages the honor of the chapter.

Li, on the other hand, is more casual. It would be nice to have more honors, but it is absolutely impossible to give up his life for a few slogans or an "iron plate". In fact, Li's idea is actually very dangerous. If others view it in good faith, then it can be said that this person is open-minded and flexible. But if it is explained strictly according to the rules of this era, it means that one does not value honor so much, and his loyalty to the emperor is questionable. The former is enough to keep Li away from most of the administrative agencies and power structures of the empire, while the latter will definitely It really put Li in a very dangerous situation.

But in any case, the focus of this investigation team is not "whether Li is suspected of betraying the emperor." Even the two judges from the Heretic Tribunal in the investigation team have no doubts about this. This is simply unnecessary. Questioning matters, how could a fighting hero who had awakened from a dreamlike legendary age betray the emperor? Of course, according to the literature, these people may not be as loyal to the emperor as they are. Until now, many interstellar marine regiments are of the same tune. They are loyal to the emperor, but they are not devout believers in the emperor. The knowledgeable judges all knew that this was a fault caused by history and culture, so they had no doubts about Li's performance.

The harsh words and pointed questions coming from the mouths of these two judges all came from the instructions of Judge Elizabeth.

"The more cunning a demon is, the weaker it is. Cunning makes them smarter, and smartness is synonymous with cowardice from a certain perspective. This is especially true for demons from 'Slaanesh'. Their The essence is to indulge in lust and pleasure, so when those bastards from Chaos found themselves in the heart of mankind, on the earth, they soon met their nemesis, me from the Demon Tribunal. When you find that his whereabouts have been exposed and his identity has begun to be doubted, he will be afraid and frightened, and then his flaws will be exposed. So I need you to use words to attack him from the beginning and pierce his weak defense. Make him fearful, make him angry, make him lose his normal state, and then I will observe carefully and make a judgment."

One of the judges said displeased at that time: "So it sounds like you have determined that our waking hero has been contaminated by Chaos?"

"It's not a certainty, it's an assumption. I will first assume that he has been contaminated by Chaos. He is now a cunning enemy. I will do everything possible to expose his mask. I am very fair and I will give him a chance. In the process, he was able to reverse my judgment through his outstanding performance. "Elizabeth added: "This is not only my way of doing things, but also the way of the Demon Tribunal."

"Conclusion of guilt!" The judges from the Heretic Tribunal felt a little uncomfortable with this. Although they were both Tribunals, the two Tribunals behaved in completely different ways.

"Yes, no matter who he is? I would rather kill tens of millions of people by mistake than let one go."

Before meeting Li, the judge and the two judges made many judgments about possible situations and carefully screened the issues. Elizabeth had been observing Li from outside the room from the very beginning. It was an ancient way. A single-sided reflective glass allowed Elizabeth to clearly see what was happening in the room, but Li could only see what was happening inside the glass. of myself.

But when the trial actually began, things didn't go so smoothly. This melee master named Lee is much smarter than expected. At least he is not the kind of space warrior with a brain full of muscles that Elizabeth imagined. Lee is more like a calm commander. He is insightful, sharp-tongued and calm. Even when faced with questioning that made Elizabeth feel excessive, he did not lose his calmness.

Yes, he did get angry and irritated because of those problems, but he didn't get dizzy with anger. He just suppressed his anger and then talked to you slowly with an attitude that was neither hard nor soft. At some point, Elizabeth even had to wonder if her opponent was a Space Marine? Could it be that there was a mistake? Judging from his performance, this guy should be a diplomat.

This made Elizabeth angry, so she rushed into the room without following the original plan. She was a threat at first, and then she was annoyed to find that the threat did not have much effect. This person who came back from nine thousand years ago The idiot didn't know the prestige of the Demon Tribunal. When he heard the name of the Demon Tribunal, he showed no expression on his face. It was as if he heard the name of an unrelated clerical department in the empire. From this reaction alone, Elizabeth could roughly confirm Li's safety. At least she had never seen a demon remain calm after hearing the name of the Demon Tribunal, no matter how good the demon was in disguise.

More importantly, no trace of Li being infected by Chaos was found in various tests and data. There was no trace of evil in his body. He didn't even have psychic powers. On the contrary, these data all show that he is as pure as a newborn baby.

Apart from Li's handsome face and well-maintained skin, there was almost no other evidence to prove that he was contaminated by Chaos. If it is an ordinary person, it doesn't matter even if there is no evidence. The life and death of the person being tried is just a matter of words. Who can question it? But Li's identity was different. Not long after he woke up, several Star Chapters sent messages, something about the former Crows Chapter being split into multiple smaller Chapters, and even the Blood Angels. Fighting groups, the messages sent by these fighting groups are very simple, mostly asking about Li's physical condition. It is not difficult to understand that they are Li's former comrades or juniors, and it is normal behavior to express concern. What is more strange is the note sent by the High Lords Association, indicating that the lords are also paying attention to the situation here.

Moreover, Li's identity was not ordinary. The God-Emperor had personally inspected Li's physical condition. This alone gave Li a transcendent status.

Under so much pressure, Elizabeth was not allowed to have too many ideas. But what made her unable to let go was the clear disgust that came from deep in her heart. It didn't make much sense. It was just a woman's sixth sense. However, Elizabeth regarded this as a sign and a guide. , and no matter what it is, in most cases, this omen is always right. Elizabeth trusted her instincts, which convinced her that this guy Lee must be hiding something. But in the end, when there was so much evidence in favor of Li, she could only regard her dislike of Li as a simple dislike of the pretty boy.

"I just hate pretty boys too much, and this guy Li is the pretty boy among pretty boys, so I hate him, and this feeling invisibly affects my judgment. Alas!" Under this thought, Censorship began to level off after that.

The follow-up investigation consists of some routine and boring routine questions, and as one question is asked, more questions will be asked back by the person being questioned. It’s not that Lee deliberately disrupted the trial with his rhetorical tone, but because he had just woken up after nine thousand years of sleep. He knew absolutely nothing about many things in this world. No matter who Robert E. Lee was, he was the same. Nothing is known. After all, even for human society, nine thousand years is not a short period of time. If Li wanted to understand the judge's questions, he had to ask more questions, so the trial became a torment for the judge in the end. .

In less than three days, Judge Elizabeth hurriedly ended the review. She felt that she was facing a curious baby who kept asking "what does this mean?" Li was finally labeled "pure" logo.

But this is not over yet. After passing the physical examination, Li will be placed in a church on the earth for isolation observation for half a year.

In fact, the empire does not really hope that the heroes lying in the Holy Spirit Hall will wake up. For the empire's senior officials and bureaucrats at all levels, it is much better for these heroes to lie in expensive coffins and be worshiped than to walk out. , at least this will be much easier for both parties.

After all, the ruling class never needs heroes.