All Flesh Is Corrupt, All Flesh Shall Live Forever

Although the priest comforted the crowd with absolute confidence, he knew they could not hold out much longer. The sound array communication had functioned for a moment before cutting out again, and what terrified him the most was that, before the riot broke out, he had seen the Rogue Trader Ludwig head toward the deeper levels of the voidship with his praetorian guards.

Before leaving, Ludwig had come to the church to pray, but this time he noticed something was deeply wrong with the Rogue Trader's condition. That frail expression and the occasional cough should never have appeared on his face; with powerful implants combined with the finest medical care, normal sickness and fatigue should never have touched his body.

He had even faintly heard the master of discipline, who was following the Rogue Trader, say they were searching for something, but what could possibly exist in the lower deck that was worth a Rogue Trader's concern? At the very worst, he could have sent a squad of soldiers—why go personally?

There were only desecrated mutants and scum down there.

The priest forced himself not to think about these things. At the time, he was not qualified to question the Rogue Trader's decision, especially since there was a more important matter at hand: holding out until reinforcements arrived.

At the beginning of the riot, the church had already been protected by soldiers, and with many enforcer squads and shipworkers flooding in, they had enough manpower to fight the living dead outside.

Yet a large population also brought a severe burden. Food was running out, ammunition was nearly exhausted, and the shipworkers were not professional warriors, nor did they have suitable weapons; engaging in close combat with those creatures carrying the walker plague was simply sending themselves to their deaths.

He watched with his own eyes as those who were killed stood up again to become mindless monsters.

Don't listen to him anymore! We're dead... The God-Emperor has abandoned us, and the Rogue Trader isn't coming to save us! Do you not know what these nobles are like? My lords the nobles don't care whether we live or die at all!

They'll shut off our heating supply and let us freeze to death, those enforcer squads will break our legs without a second thought over the slightest thing, and they'll dock our rations! We're just disposable tools to them, our lives aren't worth anything in their eyes!

Just wait and see... Soon the priest will take the soldiers and break through, leaving us here to wait for death and help them draw the attention of those monsters outside. It's over, we're completely finished!

Driven by despair, the man suffered a mental breakdown, and his words stirred up a chaotic uproar among the crowd.

The sound of prayer stopped abruptly.

The surviving shipworkers all looked toward the priest, their suspicious gazes representing their wavering faith.

Some even began to chime in!

"Soldiers! Seize those people! How dare they defame the Great God-Emperor! Unforgivable!

The Great God-Emperor is perfect! It was He who bestowed upon us the holy light, He who led us out of the darkness and created our home! He endured endless torment and suffering solely to shield us! Compared to what the Great God-Emperor has borne, what are the hardships we face now!"

Hearing someone defame the Great God-Emperor, the priest flew into an instant rage. Compared to those traitors, the priest found such human questioning of the Great God-Emperor utterly unbearable.

The soldiers pushed through the crowd and grabbed the man directly. No matter how he struggled, how could he possibly match the strength of the soldiers?

Ordinarily, these shipworkers could only afford to eat corpse starch, and their physical fitness fell far short of the soldiers'.

Amidst desperate screams, a soldier ended his life with a single shot.

Yet death did not suppress the crowd's chaos; instead, it made the already tense people even more panic-stricken.

Faith began to waver at this moment... If one looked at this sacred church from the outside, they would find that it was gradually growing dim.

The plague toxic fog, kept at bay by the light of the Great God-Emperor, also began to erode inward.

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

A large number of living dead, interspersed with many nurgle cultists, walked haltingly toward the church. The chaos cultists had even hauled out an autocannon and hellguns, except this time, right at the very front of the living dead, there was a special batch of people.

Their bodies no longer looked much like humans; pustules, sores, and horny growths had altered their original human forms.

Unlike the living dead, they still retained their own consciousness.

A thick stench of decay emanated from them, maggots wriggled within their rotting bodies, and swarms of flies buzzed all around them.

"My brothers, do you see? The false emperor's followers are killing each other, their faith is collapsing, yet we are as close as brothers. The Great Grandfather has bestowed power upon us, and we are going to bring His grace to everyone on this warship."

"Praise the Grandfather! All flesh is corrupt, all flesh shall live forever!"

The nurgle cultists prayed in unison, each holding a bowl of dark green soup in their hands, and the sound of this prayer drifted into the church.

"Hear me, people inside the church: embrace the Grandfather! We are not bringing you suffering; we all come from the deep hold, we are brothers, sisters, and compatriots, depending on each other for survival.

I have come to bring you deliverance. Drink this bowl of soup, and you will no longer feel hunger, nor will you suffer from the torment of illness. Have you forgotten what it felt like to curl up in bed, enduring hunger and cold?

Have you forgotten how your loved ones cried out in agony and died in despair because they could get no treatment for their illnesses? Clearly a single med-injector was all they needed to live, yet those nobles watched us die with open eyes!

None of this will happen anymore! We shall gain eternal life together amidst the Grandfather's grace; it is a world of equality, a beautiful garden, a world of our own! We shall all find eternal peace by the Grandfather's side!"

Yet no matter what these nurgle cultists said, their current appearance was far too terrifying for any normal human being.

These were no longer human bodies; although they were still alive, it was only because of the supernatural diseases within them that kept them going.

The priest abandoned the effort to suppress the chaotic crowd and instead began organizing the remaining soldiers to prepare a defense. Looking outside, he saw the entire church had been surrounded impenetrably; he knew that even if he truly wanted to break out, it would be utterly impossible. Furthermore, he had no desire to see the Great God-Emperor's church desecrated—he would rather fight to the death right here!

"Warriors of the Great God-Emperor, pick up your weapons! Distribute weapons to those willing to fight, and drive the rest to the rear!"

"The Great God-Emperor, His power is unmatched. I beg You, save us from the hands of our enemies, inspire us, help us overcome our foes, point out the path to victory for us, and I pray that you let us return in triumph under Your eternal name!"

The priest began his pre-battle prayer, fully prepared to practice his loyalty to the Great God-Emperor with his life.

The battle broke out without warning.

The soldiers inside the church opened fire, but gunshots powerful enough to kill a man caused no great harm when they struck these nurgle cultists.

These nurgle cultists had even lost their sense of pain entirely, as massive amounts of maggots filled their already rotting bodies.

"My brothers and sisters, go and save these lost people! When the Grandfather's grace enters their bodies, they will know everything we said is true!"

With that, blowflies carrying a fatal plague took wing from their bodies and flew toward the people inside the church, while the living dead also began their charge.

"For the Great God-Emperor!"

"For the Grandfather!"

"Hurry! Move fast! The sound array suffered interference on the lower deck, and the church hasn't replied in a long time!"

The map had been imported into the combat suit's system, and real-time route guidance on the visor led the group forward.

Along the way, scattered traitors lacked the capability to stop this force and were easily smashed to pieces, while cabins or rooms containing survivors were marked, with this location information shared with the subsequent teams.

Having obtained excess psionic crystals, Gao Yi had constructed another barracks. The doubled production output allowed a second batch of CMC combat suits to be delivered to the lower deck and outfitted.

It was just rather unfortunate for the upper deck of this voidship. To gather enough resources, Pavian had gone slightly mad; missing railings and stripped warship bulkheads—as long as they did not affect the normal operation of the warship—were all dismantled by Pavian's servitors and thrown straight into the barracks.

He did not just dismantle the area under his charge; he even reached out to other decks.

The originally resplendent and solemn interior of the warship was now missing pieces here and there, and crew members and heads of various departments lodged complaints with Gao Yi regarding Pavian's actions. Some even claimed Pavian had stripped away their beds and chairs, leaving Gao Yi no choice but to make Pavian exercise a little restraint.