Reading Memories

Scott was born in the cargo area of the lower deck.

His parents and the clan they belonged to were pipe-repair technicians.

As skilled workers, their lives were free of food shortages.

His parents were very happy about Scott's birth; a healthy infant was a rare thing on the lower deck, and the clan would gain another able-bodied worker in the future.

For this moment, his parents even used their saved-up ration cards to buy some food they usually couldn't bear to eat in order to celebrate this occasion.

They also took the infant in swaddling clothes to the church to ask the Emperor for protection and the priest's blessing. One could see that his parents were very devout.

The scene began to change again. Scott grew up, and at this time Scott was already five years old. As a child born during an exploration journey, he had no chance at all to leave the warship, spending his entire childhood on it.

And it was precisely in his fourth year that a drastic change occurred in his life.

This warp voyage encountered a problem, causing a warp incursion in the compartment where Scott's clan lived.

The foul power of the warp evil broke through the gellar field, and an unknown plague began to spread across various compartments.

A large number of crew members began to go mad under the influence of the warp, and even worse, their physical bodies began to mutate on the spot. Unfortunately, Scott's parents were the unlucky ones infected by the plague.

At that time, Scott was outside buying rations and thus escaped a disaster.

The warship was already accustomed to such situations. Once this happened, the problematic compartment would be sealed off, followed by a cleanup operation carried out by a clearing team composed of enforcer squad crew members, priests, and psykers.

Anyone who went mad or suffered physical mutation would be killed, and their corpses would all be cremated.

Five-year-old Scott was already sensible. He could not understand why his devout parents were mercilessly killed. No matter how much they professed their loyalty to the Emperor and their contribution to the dynasty, it was all to no avail.

Watching the burned corpses of his parents, Scott saw a face. The people who killed his parents bowed respectfully to that person, and that person was none other than the Rogue Trader Ludwig who had come to inspect the situation.

He looked at these killed crew members with a face devoid of emotion, just like throwing away a useless tool.

At this moment, the seed of hatred was planted in his heart. However, Scott was lucky enough not to be affected by the warp; after being tested, he was thrown back into the compartment where he originally lived. New shipworkers filled this compartment, and his parents as well as those who were killed seemed as though they had never existed.

As the scene of his parents' death continuously flashed before his eyes, his fragile mentality also developed problems, and vague whispers began to ring in his mind from this moment on.

As he grew older, these whispers also began to grow clearer and clearer.

Feeling all this, Gao Yi knew that Scott had been targeted by the Chaos Gods when he was young.

More and more knowledge that did not belong to him entered his mind. He inexplicably knew many secrets: where mutants were hidden in the warship, where cultists were hidden, and even where xenos and desecrated wealth were possessed within the nearby star sector.

Relying on this desecrated wisdom, he climbed step by step to the position of master of discipline. He became the person he once despised, killing many guilty people for Ludwig, and also killing many innocent ones.

Gao Yi also saw that during the subjugation of xenos, Scott had handed over desecrated creations to Ludwig as war spoils, and these creations could subtly influence a person's mind.

The subsequent scenes made even Gao Yi find it hard to believe.

Lord Ludwig, I once saw a ritual that could extend lifespan among a xenos race we subjugated.

A xenos ritual? Scott, what are you trying to say? Do you know that your words alone are enough to send you to the tribunal?

My lord! You also know that not all xenos technology is unacceptable. The trade warrants grant us the sacred right to use this xenos knowledge to a certain extent!

Is the xenos technology used by the dynasty lacking? If we really trace it back, I suppose not a single dynasty is innocent.

I am sure you know the condition of your body yourself; the rejuvenat treatment has its limits! The apothecary's healing technology cannot cure all illnesses either. The dynasty cannot do without your rule. Think about those blood kin who only know how to fight for power and profit; have you forgotten your appearance when you last returned to the capital world?

They actually sneered at you for not bringing back enough wealth!

These people live leisurely lives on the planet, and fellows who only know how to take from you will only lead the dynasty to destruction.

Scott's words also silenced Ludwig. He knew his own physical condition. Pioneering was accompanied by countless dangers, and injuries accumulated over years of toil had long made him a spent force. Furthermore, he had no offspring of his own; if he died, the next Rogue Trader would have to be screened from among the direct blood kin of various families.

He did not want to hand the dynasty over to that bunch of good-for-nothings.

What is this ritual you speak of?

Blood kin, use the power of bloodline to extend your lifespan! Since those families want to seize your power, you can summon those members of these families with the purest bloodlines to come over under the guise of an assessment. I believe they will certainly send people!

You mean I should use the so-called ritual to take their lives to prolong mine?

I know what you are worried about! I know an unknown place in the bottom hold, where it will not be discovered by the ecclesiarchy or others.

I will help you deal with those incoming heirs. There might be some chaos happening, but once you recover, you will quell this chaos yourself, and you will also have enough time to find a suitable heir.

Watching Ludwig remain silent, Scott knew he had succeeded.

Ludwig... the Mongert Family, and this warship... shall all become my offerings sacrificed to the gods.

Gao Yi's consciousness began to return to his body, and the memories filled with a large amount of negative emotions made his head ache as if it were splitting open.

He rejoiced that he did not need to eat human brains like Space Marines to acquire other people's memories, but the limitation was that the other party's soul had already plunged into Chaos, or was a psyker.

Looking at the already dead Scott, Gao Yi did not tell anyone what had just happened.

Ludwig was not tricked at all; this assessment was a conspiracy... Unbeknownst to anyone, the Rogue Trader had already been corrupted.

No wonder the betrayal went so smoothly, no wonder Scott's operation logs could not be found in the thinker, and no wonder the defense facilities outside the Hall of Trade Warrants all failed.

Only the Rogue Trader who possessed the highest authority of this warship could do it so perfectly without leaving a trace.

It was just that no one had suspected the Rogue Trader beforehand.

Otherwise, how could such a warship have fallen to this state because of a rebellion by some laborers?

Gao Yi chose to conceal this matter and did not make it public to everyone.

The fewer people who knew about this matter, the better. With so many people on the entire warship, once the news that the Rogue Trader was corrupted spread, it would be impossible to keep it completely hidden.

He always had to leave the warp and return to the planets controlled by the Empire, and once the Empire learned of such news, the Inquisition, Departmento Munitorum, and Departmento Munitorum would presumably swarm in.

Especially those Inquisitors of the Inquisition—heaven knows what they would do, seeing as these fellows' authority was shockingly large.

Even a Rogue Trader branded with the label of a heretic would not escape death.

Right now, Gao Yi's strength was still not enough, and he certainly did not think that having a direct conflict with the Inquisition was a good choice.