Ancient Nobility

The golden-armored warrior's voice came through the breathing grille, somewhat muffled and hoarse, but still clearly audible.

The countless young people willing to lay down their lives for the Imperium froze, unable to understand why the Emperor's representative had chosen someone so frail.

But none dared question it.

The Custodes possessed supreme authority granted by the Emperor himself. They were the Emperor's mouthpiece and, to a certain extent, represented his will.

"Huh?" The young man's mouth hung slightly open as he stood there dumbfounded, unable to understand why the golden giant had chosen him. He blinked blankly, then stiffly raised a hand and pointed at himself. "Me?"

Before he had time to react, two attendants in blue robes rushed out from behind the golden-armored giant. They seized him by both arms without a word and dragged him toward Door Twenty-First.

"My box! My box!"

At such a critical moment, the young man ignored his own life. A tremendous force erupted from his emaciated body as he struggled free of the Gene-Warlock's attendants and lunged toward his suitcase.

Before he could reach it, pain shot through his leg. His body spun three hundred and sixty degrees in midair, and the golden giant caught him precisely by the ankle, leaving him hanging upside down.

The Custodes watched with interest. The frail Li Tang looked like a captured, scrawny monkey in his hand.

"My box!"

Once he recovered, the young man showed no fear. His face twisted viciously as he kicked at the Custodes' gauntlet, completely disregarding the blood being scraped from his ankle.

"Crack." The crisp sound of a fracture rang out. His reckless struggle snapped his fragile lower leg on the spot, yet the young man continued attacking the Custodes without the slightest fear.

He braced his other foot against the Custodes' arm, clenched his teeth to suppress his cries of pain, and tried to tear his trapped lower leg free.

"Argh!!!!!!"

His muffled groan of suppressed agony rang clearly across the silent plaza.

On the city wall, the Thunder Warriors and Astartes who witnessed everything secretly admired him. Even at the cost of mutilating himself, this mortal had resisted those haughty golden-armored warriors.

Such a tragic act deserved their respect.

The people prostrated on the ground were all drenched in sweat. Sunlight obscured by the cloud of dust seemed to pierce through the clouds, scorching their will mercilessly.

Resist the Custodes? That meant resisting the Emperor's will!

Just as the wanderer was about to tear his muscles apart, the Custodes finally released him. Dragging his crippled leg, the wanderer crawled to the corner of the wall and hugged the small suitcase to his chest.

"Admirable courage!" the Custodes said again. He showed no anger at being defied. Instead, he loudly praised the wanderer.

The young man slung the suitcase around his neck, then raised a hand to stop the blue-robed attendants from helping him. He stubbornly lifted his head and said each word clearly. "I can walk myself!"

With that, he used the wall to slowly stand up and limped toward Door Twenty-First.

The high-speed elevator descended. Through the open iron grating, they could see the outside world and take in the bustling scene.

Factories belched thick smoke, while the excavated slopes of the Himalayas were alive with frantic construction.

"This is our lord's palace," the golden-armored warrior said casually, taking the initiative to speak. His voice was filled with pride. "Once completed, this magnificent palace will be the tallest structure on this planet."

The young man said nothing. He hugged his beloved box, his wandering gaze suggesting that he was not really looking at the scenery. No one knew what he was thinking.

The Gene-Engineer wiped away the fine sweat from his forehead without drawing attention. The corners of his mouth twitched beneath his hooded robe, but he never dared make a sound.

It was only because this Custodes had a good temper. Had it been anyone else, this ignorant wanderer would already have learned what it meant to be beaten more than a dozen times in a second.

"What's that?" The Custodes was not annoyed. He pointed at the small box in the young man's arms and asked again.

The young man still said nothing. Instinctively, he hugged the leather suitcase tighter, his body going rigid with tension.

The Custodes did not dwell on it, much less inspect it.

Anyone who could appear in the Recruitment Plaza had certainly passed the security screening. There could be no accidents.

Nor did he believe that a young man with one broken leg, a sallow face, and an emaciated body could make any waves before the Emperor's guards.

"What's your name?" the golden-armored warrior asked again.

This time, the young man reacted. His black eyes seriously examined the Custodes from head to toe. After pondering for a moment, he still shook his head.

"What a pity." The Custodes shook his head helplessly. "I think you're very interesting. You're an exceptionally stubborn person. Your name would be worth engraving inside my armor."

But in the young man's eyes, he saw a trace of contempt—deeply hidden, yet unmistakably real.

His fingers twitched slightly. The Custodes scrutinized the young man anew, hoping to discover something else, but ultimately found nothing.

The elevator began slowing down level by level, indicating that they were nearing their destination. The young man's expression remained calm, showing neither fear nor anticipation. In his hunger-weakened, hoarse voice, he asked the Gene-Engineer, "Will I die?"

"Yes!" the Gene-Engineer answered rationally without hesitation. Then, remembering that the Emperor was nearby, he immediately added, "You might not!"

When the laboratory doors opened, the young man refused assistance. Despite being drenched in sweat, he stubbornly kept walking forward.

Cold sweat streamed down his face as he gritted his teeth.

The Custodes could only shake his head as he watched. He did not know where the young man's pride came from, or why he was so stubborn.

"Plato~" The call rang out from within a sea of radiance, filled with surprise.

It was vast as the sea and sonorous as a bell, yet there were pauses in the speech, as if the speaker had not talked in a very long time. "You've brought me an extraordinary gift."

Plato knelt on one knee, leaning on his spear. The Custodes had not heard the Emperor's actual voice in a long time. Most of the time, his great and merciless voice appeared directly in their minds.

The young man heard that voice too. He raised his head and saw the holiest radiance, the greatest leader, the most sacred countenance.

It was exactly as he had seen in his dreams—so familiar, so intimate, so captivating.

The young man's knees bent involuntarily. He almost fell to the ground on the spot, ready to accept his teachings and become his servant.

Unexpectedly, he did not kneel.

The instant his knees bent, he forcibly stepped forward with his broken leg. The agonizing pain from his marrow jolted him awake.

"Hypocritical illusion!" The young man kept his head raised, staring straight at the sacred radiance. Blood streamed from the corner of his mouth; he had bitten through the tip of his tongue.

His hoarse voice trembled as he unleashed an unyielding cry. "Don't even think about deceiving me! Don't even think about controlling me!"

His exhausted roar echoed through the laboratory. His lucidity astonished the Custodes and everyone else.

The Emperor's guards had seen many people with resolute wills. Every one of them had bowed before the Emperor's radiance.

Yet this young man had truly resisted the radiance emanating from the Emperor with sheer willpower.

"Li Tang!" The Emperor called out the young man's name—the surname passed down from the age of Earth, representing a truly ancient noble bloodline.

"Who are you?" The moment Li Tang heard his name called, alarms went off inside him. He wanted to turn and run, only to discover that his body could not move.

He felt that everything about him had been seen through. Every thread of thought was understood by the being within the radiance, while his past and future were examined.

Li Tang felt himself... No! He was certain that he was like a book, laid bare and utterly defenseless as someone read him page by page.

"You don't know me, and I didn't know you before this either." Within the radiance, the Emperor rarely smiled. "But I know your genetic ancestor!"

Li Tang's eyes held nothing but distrust. He would never believe such nonsense!

The golden figure had said "know," not "have met." That meant the golden, radiant figure before him had lived for at least thirty thousand years!

"Hmm~" The Emperor rarely slipped into reminiscence. The True One Armor lightly tapped against the ground. "In the seventh century, he established a powerful, unified dynasty on this land. The Heavenly Khan! I remember clearly that this was how people addressed him back then!"

"All nations came to pay tribute, and the four barbarian tribes submitted." The Emperor recited the sentence in an ancient pronunciation.

The people present could not hear the words, but the Emperor's power let them understand their meaning.

The Custodes Plato looked toward the proud, upright Li Tang, and a touch of understanding appeared in his eyes. He now knew where the frail young man's pride came from.

A bloodline inherited from the age of ignorance, having survived the colonial era and witnessed the Golden Age—it truly had the right to look down on anyone.

The so-called nobles of Terra in the present age were factions the Emperor had conquered or that had voluntarily joined the Imperium of Man, later ennobled by the Emperor himself.

Though they possessed legitimacy and authority, when it came to the antiquity of their bloodline, they were worlds apart from the person before him.

"Although I hate fate, I have to marvel at its wonders. At the dawn of a great age, certain people will always gather together for no apparent reason."

"Li Tang, named after a great dynasty." The Emperor addressed him. "I see your pride, your defiance, your unwillingness, and your confusion."

"There! No one can accomplish it now!" The Emperor pointed toward the bloodstained operating table. "Now I'm giving you an opportunity—a power that can allow you to recreate your ancestor's glory. Are you willing to seize it?"

Li Tang looked at the operating table, then at the Emperor.

He saw through the golden figure's words. Though they were highly inflammatory, he knew that he had no other choice.

He did not believe refusing would allow him to walk out of here.

"Keep it safe!" Li Tang handed the leather case in his hands to the golden-armored warrior, then climbed onto the operating table without the slightest hesitation.