A Weasel Is Raising Hell

The journey's peace was shattered by a hurried, familiar clatter of camel bells.

At the time, Zhou Beichen and Lorgar were drinking tea at a roadside stall in a border town. It had been brewed from the roots of a local thorny shrub, bitter but invigorating. They watched the townsfolk gather around the work-point noticeboard, discussing and calculating this month's gains. Two travel-worn men dressed as ordinary travelers, yet sharp-eyed and efficient in their movements, walked straight up to their table and bowed slightly.

They were from the Lackeys, and core members at that. They had special methods of communication that allowed them to find anyone across vast Colchis.

"My lord, Divine Son." One of them lowered his voice, unable to conceal the urgency in his tone. "An urgent report from Perfect City. The Astronomy Department has observed a new star in the northern sky. Its brightness is abnormal, and it's continuing to increase!"

Zhou Beichen had been chewing on a juicy local root vegetable. At those words, he froze, oblivious to the juice running down his fingers. He looked up toward the southeastern sky, though it was daytime and nothing could be seen.

Lorgar closed his eyes, as though sensing something. A few seconds later, he opened them. A glint of gold flashed deep within his violet eyes, and his voice remained calm. "It isn't merely an observation. In my dreams, that golden-armored warrior and the red one-eyed giant... their faces are becoming clearer and clearer, as if they are staring at me through a thin veil. That sense of oppression... I have never felt anything like it before."

Zhou Beichen tossed aside the root and wiped his hands carelessly on his clothes. The usual relaxed expression had vanished from his face.

"Got it." He let out a breath and looked at Lorgar. "Let's go, son. There's a weasel raising hell at home, and it's the heavyweight kind. We need to head back and prepare to receive our guest."

Without another word, the two set off immediately, returning to Perfect City at top speed.

When they stepped into the capital once more, centered around the spaceship monument and now several times larger than before, they sensed an atmosphere unlike any they had known. The city remained busy, and the gears of the work-point economy continued to turn efficiently, but beneath the everyday bustle flowed a hidden current of anticipation and tension.

Their return was met with a spontaneous, enthusiastic welcome from the people. Crowds poured into the streets, cheering for their familiar Divine Son and the legendary "Pastor Zhou." The welcome was sincere, born from the tangible improvements in their lives and the order established over the past two years.

By the time they returned to the central administrative hall, Lavoisier and the others had already been waiting for a long time. The situation was more specific than the Lackeys' report. Over the past half month, the new star's brightness had increased dozens of times. It was now possible to vaguely determine that it was not a natural celestial body, but a complex artificial object that was slowing down. At the same time, disturbances in the psychic background were indeed intensifying. Though they had not yet caused chaos, they had already drawn the attention of the relevant departments.

The entirety of Perfect City immediately sprang into action. An honor guard composed of the Faithguard Army's finest soldiers was selected for emergency training. At that crucial moment, they were to display the new face of unified Colchis through the neatest formations and most spirited bearing. The city underwent a thorough cleaning, and the main streets were decorated with lights and banners. Yet it was not the Covenant Church's mysterious, oppressive style, but one emphasizing cleanliness, brightness, and vitality.

These honor guard members had been carefully selected from the Faithguard Army and administrative personnel at every level. Every one of them stood tall and looked alert. They wore newly designed ceremonial uniforms combining Colchis's practical style with a simple, dignified beauty. Carrying halberds inlaid with glass and metal emblems, they drilled synchronized formations and weapon salutes.

Their training was not for battle, but to display the new face of Colchis civilization at a moment of utmost importance—not humble submission, but a welcome offered with dignity.

When Lavoisier briefed Lorgar and Zhou Beichen on the matter, excitement overflowed from his eyes. "We must show these guests from the sea of stars that under the guidance of the Divine Son and yourself, Colchis is not some barbaric land. We possess our own order, culture, and dignity."

Lorgar approved all the preparations and personally reviewed some of the details. He required the honor guard to embody discipline and spirit, rather than gaudy decoration.

Zhou Beichen added one point. "Managing your expressions will be important. You may be curious. You may be awed. But you cannot be obsequious. Remember, you represent all of Colchis. You are the face of Earthly Heaven."

Another dozen or so days passed amid the citywide preparations and waiting.

Then, one morning, before the sun had fully risen above the horizon, a deep, prolonged horn suddenly sounded from the observation tower at the highest point in central Perfect City! Unlike the short blasts that announced working hours or assemblies, this call was long and solemn, instantly spreading throughout the entire city.

People streamed from their homes and looked up at the sky. In the southeastern heavens, gradually brightening beneath the morning light, a star was growing brighter and larger at a speed visible to the naked eye! Unlike other stars, it did not twinkle. It emitted a steady, cold light with a metallic sheen, and its brilliance briefly eclipsed even the rising Colchis Twin Stars!

"What is that?!"

"A new star?"

"No... it's moving! It's coming toward us!"

Cries of alarm and discussion rose through the streets and alleys, and some unrest was inevitable. But under the swift reassurance and guidance of grassroots officials at every level and members of the Faith and Order Defense Bureau, panic did not spread. The people were more curious than frightened, though a nameless tension gripped them. They were told that this might be a visitor from the sea of stars, a moment that would witness Colchis joining a broader universe.

Zhou Beichen and Lorgar stood atop the platform beneath the spaceship monument, looking up at the approaching star. They knew it was not a star. It was the flagship of the Imperium of Man, the Emperor's vessel, breaking through the atmosphere and descending toward Perfect City.

"That's no small ship." Zhou Beichen narrowed his eyes, feeling the faint but unmistakable tremors coming up through the ground beneath his feet. "What a display."

Lorgar said nothing. He merely watched in silence. The Primarch blood within him seemed to resonate invisibly with the immense presence descending from above. It felt both familiar and faintly unsettling, stirring an instinctive scrutiny within him.

There were no imagined flames or thunderous roars. Using anti-gravity technology beyond Colchis's understanding, the enormous vessel descended steadily and silently onto the vast clearing specially prepared outside Perfect City, like a gigantic cloud gleaming with cold metal. Its sheer size cast a shadow that instantly covered nearly half the city.

The hatch opened, and an enormous gangway extended outward.

The first to descend were two squads of Custodians clad in bright golden power armor and helmets crowned with horsehair crests! They were tall and solemn, like golden statues. Every step was as precise as though it had been measured. The powerful psychic fluctuations and pure physical pressure they radiated seemed to freeze the surrounding air. They swiftly formed ranks on either side, creating a majestic passageway.

Then, that figure appeared.

The Emperor of Mankind.

He was not clad in fully enclosed power armor, but in a more classical suit of golden armor with flowing lines, a scarlet cloak draped over his shoulders. He did not deliberately radiate power, yet simply standing there, his existence was as dazzling as a star. His face was perfect beyond mortal imagination, bearing both sculpted features and the accumulated depth of endless wisdom and ages. His golden eyes were like molten suns as they calmly swept over the scene before him. An indescribable aura, blending absolute strength, supreme authority, and a certain... inhuman divinity, spread outward like a warm tide—gentle, yet beyond question.

Beneath the radiance of this lord of humanity, even Lorgar, already revered as a god, seemed instantly dim by comparison in his plain traveler's cloak and slightly weathered face, like a firefly before the full moon.

The people of Perfect City, along with the well-trained honor guard, were all stunned. They had never imagined that such... perfect and powerful existence could exist in the world. The pressure and attraction stemming from the level of life itself and the essence of the soul were enough to make anyone untempered by experience feel the urge to prostrate themselves in worship.

Yet not a single person knelt.

The honor guard members had pale faces and rapid breathing, their knuckles white from gripping their halberds so hard. Yet they firmly remembered the Divine Son's teachings, as well as the principle of equivalent exchange woven into their daily lives—we only kneel to Divine Son Lorgar, who has led us in creating better lives and given us hope. This unfamiliar, resplendent god was powerful and majestic, but he... had never done anything for us Colchisians.

Therefore, no one knelt. There was only the perfectly synchronized weapon salute, and countless gazes mixed with shock, curiosity, wariness, and a trace of stubborn defiance.

The Emperor's molten-gold eyes slowly swept across the silent square, across the formation struggling to maintain its composure, across the citizens who stood straight despite their awe. At last, his gaze settled on Lorgar and Zhou Beichen atop the platform.

Zhou Beichen stared fixedly at the Emperor's face. Within those golden eyes that seemed capable of seeing through everything, he thought he caught a fleeting... emotion? Not displeasure. Not anger. Rather, something more like...

Satisfaction?

The approval of seeing something meet his expectations?

Zhou Beichen wondered if his eyes had deceived him.

Immediately afterward, another towering figure descended the gangway behind the Custodians. He had dark red skin like cooled lava and wore blue power armor decorated with mysterious runes and eye motifs. Most strikingly, he had only one eye, and within that eye burned an endless thirst for knowledge and mysteries.

He curiously examined everything around him, especially the spaceship monument. His single eye gleamed with intense scholarly interest. It was Magnus.

The welcoming ceremony unfolded in an atmosphere that was extraordinarily solemn yet faintly strange. There were no ritual prostrations, no cries of long live. As Colchis's highest representative, Lorgar stepped forward to deliver the welcome.

Lorgar took a deep breath, descended from the platform, and approached the Emperor. He bowed slightly in a Colchian gesture of respect. Neither servile nor arrogant, his movements were composed. His voice was steady and clear, carrying the bright resonance of youth as well as an undeniable strength.

"On behalf of all the people of Colchis Star and Earthly Heaven, welcome, visitor from the sea of stars, great lord of humanity."

He did not use the title Father, nor did he display excessive fervor or fear, as though he were merely receiving a distinguished foreign guest. He briefly introduced Colchis's development in recent years and the core ideals of Earthly Heaven—order, labor, equivalent exchange, and resistance against Chaos.

The Emperor listened quietly, his face expressionless, though his molten-gold eyes never left Lorgar. Standing a little farther away, Zhou Beichen could sense that the invisible aura around the Emperor seemed to grow... gentler while Lorgar spoke.

When Lorgar mentioned that they had successfully resisted and purified Chaos corruption, the Emperor even gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Throughout the welcome, Lorgar was courteous and clear-minded. He displayed Colchis's dignity while expressing a potential recognition of humanity's cause of unification.

The Emperor did not say a single word from beginning to end, but Zhou Beichen vaguely felt that this lord of humanity... seemed rather pleased?

At the very least, he did not seem offended.

The brief welcoming ceremony and the tour that followed ended in a state of outward calm and hidden undercurrents. The Emperor and Magnus were arranged to stay in Perfect City's finest reception hall—a newly built structure of local stone and glass, simple yet grand.

That night, within a heavily guarded quiet chamber deep inside the reception hall, the Emperor dismissed everyone, including Magnus, who was eager to discuss knowledge.

His molten-gold eyes crossed the room and settled precisely upon Zhou Beichen, who was preparing to slip away and return to Lorgar to discuss countermeasures.

A calm, majestic voice, devoid of all emotion yet seeming to ring directly within his soul, stopped him.

"You. Stay."

Zhou Beichen froze at the doorway.

The Emperor looked at him and slowly said:

"We need to talk."