Governor

Zhou Yun stepped out of a hotel on Street Number Nine in Residential Sector Eighteen, District Nine.

Yesterday, Lena and he had silently followed the old woman named Nama Carl.

Zhou Yun had even changed his face several times, pretending to brush past her.

This allowed him to observe Nama Carl from a closer distance.

The mathematician and actuary had dark, yellowish skin and slightly deep-set eyes, features likely characteristic of Terra's South Asian subcontinent.

There was no madness in her eyes, nor the cloudiness common in the elderly. Instead, they possessed a peculiar liveliness.

It was as though countless numbers spiraled and turned within her eyes, converging into her pupils.

Other than that, Zhou Yun had found no unusual signs.

She showed no psychic reaction, spoke clearly and rationally, and displayed no blasphemous behavior.

She merely lowered her head from time to time, rapidly calculating in the notebook in her hands, as though working something out.

Zhou Yun cautiously glanced at its contents.

They really were densely packed mathematical formulas, function graphs, and derivations.

Zhou Yun had possessed a university degree in his previous life, so he could barely understand a tiny bit of what was written.

Yet he had found no problem whatsoever.

As for Lena, she was even more hopeless.

She had only learned some basic mathematical knowledge from Nama Carl when she was little.

She could handle the accounts while running a gang in the Lower Hive, but when faced with actual mathematical problems, she was utterly lost.

She still had not managed to memorize the string of numbers "387,420,489."

Zhou Yun always felt there was something wrong with that string of numbers, but he had never discovered what the problem was.

Neither of them had found any sign that Nama Carl had been corrupted, so they could only stay there for the time being.

Standing on the street outside the hotel, Zhou Yun glanced at a small chapel not far away.

According to Lena, the residents of District Nine had pooled their own money to build the chapel.

Inside stood statues of The Emperor and Sanguinius, along with a handful of crimson sand brought from Baal and regarded as a holy relic.

The reason Zhou Yun had strongly insisted on staying at this hotel, even though it was several blocks from Nama Carl, was this chapel.

If there truly were signs of Tzeentchian corruption, then this little chapel in District Nine might be able to resist some of it.

There was another reason as well: Zhou Yun had arranged to meet Governor Augustus Flax at this chapel.

Zhou Yun entered the chapel.

There were no lights inside. Only candle flames blazed beneath two towering stone statues, casting a hazy orange-yellow glow across the chapel.

One statue was of The Emperor, holding a flaming blade as he gazed into the distance.

The other was of an angel, wielding a power spear as he thrust it toward a venomous serpent coiled on the ground.

Blessed speakers played sacred prayers, while incense anointed with holy oil filled the chapel with a faint fragrance.

Several people sat on the pews inside the chapel, heads bowed in prayer.

An Ecclesiarchy priest lowered his head devoutly and spoke softly to Zhou Yun.

"Child of Man, do you wish to confess your sins to The Emperor?"

"Child of Man, do you seek Sanguinius's mercy?"

If I wanted Sanguinius's mercy, why wouldn't I ask the guy in that white light at the corner of my eye?

Zhou Yun did not know whether it was merely his imagination, but after entering the chapel, he seemed to have grown brighter.

"I'm here to see the governor." Zhou Yun ignored the priest's proselytizing and got straight to the point.

The priest nodded lightly, indicating that Zhou Yun should go upstairs.

"Child of Man, no matter how great mortal authority may be, it is ultimately but a corner of The Emperor's radiance."

The priest called out to Zhou Yun as he headed upstairs.

"Child of Man, no matter how brightly wealth may gleam, it cannot compare to the brightness of an angel's feathers."

"I very much agree with that." Zhou Yun nodded.

He was so bright he was nearly blinding Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun glanced at the winged figure in the white light at the corner of his eye. He was growing brighter and brighter.

It was as though this chapel allowed him to squeeze further into the material universe.

Hearing Zhou Yun's heartfelt agreement, the priest's gaze toward him immediately became much friendlier.

He pointed out the room where the governor was waiting.

Zhou Yun nodded in thanks, pushed open the small door of a confession booth on the second floor, and entered.

A thin, listless old man with dark circles under his eyes and cloudy gaze sat in one corner of the confessional, flipping through the Scripture of the Word.

Governor Asford, current head of House Flax, Augustus Flax.

Zhou Yun narrowed his eyes slightly.

This governor had actually come to speak with him face-to-face.

Augustus Flax was an extremely cautious man who almost never exposed himself to danger.

Zhou Yun sat across from him.

"So you're still a devout believer of the Imperium." Zhou Yun spoke with a trace of mockery.

Augustus Flax closed the book in his hands and set it aside.

"Faith in The Emperor brings some peace to my heart."

Augustus Flax brushed aside Zhou Yun's mockery with an offhand response.

He looked at Zhou Yun. Every muscle in his face moved in a carefully practiced manner, assuming an appraising yet courteous expression.

Training. Zhou Yun detected traces of training in him.

It had undoubtedly been the product of years upon years of training.

Imperial nobles enjoyed privilege, but they were not merely useless parasites occupying their positions. Their lives could hardly be called easy or pleasant.

In truth, they were more often exhausted and overworked. Many Imperial nobles, even governors, worked themselves to death at their posts.

The privileges granted by The Emperor did not come without corresponding responsibilities.

From birth, nobles continued to undergo exceedingly harsh training.

Their every day and every moment, every action and every expression, was strictly planned.

Day after day, they had to study the knowledge needed to govern planets, study piety and combat, study etiquette and social interaction.

Forget being tired; they were not even permitted to show fatigue.

Such days repeated endlessly until they had been forged into people capable of bearing the privileges and responsibilities bestowed by The Emperor.

Governors were especially so. Managing an entire massive planet with nothing but a human brain was a task that nearly challenged the limits of human physiology.

The Augustus Flax before him was a bastard. As governor, he had abandoned all administrative affairs in the Lower Hive.

But that did not mean he was useless. His past training was still at work within him.

"What do you and that illegal psyker intend to do in the Upper Hive?"

Augustus Flax stared at Zhou Yun.

"Why are you following Nama Carl? What does that actuary intend to do?"

Zhou Yun was not surprised.

While following Nama Carl, he had noticed that someone else was following them as well.

So they really were the governor's spies.

"I suspect she is a heretic, corrupted by Chaos."

Zhou Yun narrowed his eyes, smiling faintly.

"Would you be interested in lending me a squad of PDF troops so I can help you get rid of this problem?"

I'm a little stuck on the writing, so the next chapter may be delayed.