Meanwhile, after Odinson left the Conference Room with the government team, he did not head straight to the Underhive to recruit people. Instead, he went to the Chapter Serfs' quarters and pulled every idle Chapter Serf into service as engineering supervisors.
Once everyone had assembled, Odinson led the group to the Upper Hive, pressed a Bolter to a noble's head, and patiently explained the stakes to him.
The noble immediately turned over a new leaf and led Odinson to several Underhive representatives.
Odinson then pointed his Bolter at their heads as well and patiently explained the stakes, demanding that they gather at least one hundred million laborers for construction work, using gentle methods. If any deaths occurred, their entire families would lose their heads.
The men immediately mended their ways and agreed profusely.
With the support of the Civilian Factory—or rather, the system—these men had lost all courage. They had no intention whatsoever of cutting corners or falsifying anything.
They immediately summoned their subordinates and ordered them to notify every gang in the Underhive to produce one hundred million laborers, specifically emphasizing that they had to be young and strong.
They also stressed that the methods had to be gentle. If anyone dared cause a death, their entire families would lose their heads.
Those subordinates were scared out of their wits as well. They scrambled off to notify the leaders of every gang, repeating the representatives' words exactly.
Thus, those gang leaders were also terrified, afraid of being punished by the God-Emperor's angels. They immediately gathered their men, began assigning tasks, and repeated everything the representatives' subordinates had said.
Thus, even these gang members, who were normally arrogant and tyrannical, were scared senseless. Trembling, they began knocking on doors one household at a time to call people out, while carefully making sure no one died, terrified that the God-Emperor's angels might be watching them...
Driven by fear, the gang members were remarkably efficient. Before long, the entire Underhive had launched a vigorous yet cautious campaign of rounding up able-bodied laborers.
After watching the entire process from the shadows, the Emperor slowly typed out a question mark: "?"
As the Master of Mankind, He had considerable authority to speak on this matter.
Fear could indeed make people more efficient, but it could also distort the transmission and execution of orders.
Yet not a single one of these people had falsely conveyed orders, and there had not even been a single mistake in repeating them. Something was wrong here.
Furthermore, among so many people from top to bottom, not one harbored any wishful thinking. No matter how arrogant and unruly they had once been, they were now all afraid that their incompetence would be discovered. Every one of them was treading on thin ice, as if they had always been timid and afraid of trouble.
The problem was, if they truly were timid and afraid of trouble, could they have risen this far in the Underhive? Impossible!
If fear were really this effective, He would have fully supported Curze and Corax back then!
This had to be caused by that unknown force. It had heightened these people's fear while allowing them to remain rational, letting them display astonishing efficiency even in their terror.
Yet He could not see how this force had accomplished it. He could not even find the slightest trace of discord within these people.
That made Him feel a hint of fear.
After all, He was now truly a racial god of humanity, and He was still stuck on the path to godhood. He possessed a trace of the power of the Chaos Octed, and among these people were even some fanatical Ecclesiarchy believers.
Under such circumstances, He still could not detect how that unknown force was influencing these people. How could that possibly put Him at ease?
If it could influence ordinary people without leaving a trace now, would it later be able to influence Space Marines, Custodians, Primarchs, or even... Himself?
Thinking that His own awakening might also be connected to this unknown force, a shadow fell over His heart.
(P.S. It had actually already influenced her. Emperor-chan just had not noticed yet. holding back laughter.jpg)
But He was weaker than ever and could do nothing. He could only secretly remain on high alert.
Meanwhile, the gangs' operation to seize people also drastically changed the fates of countless individuals.
Underhive, Castor District, Hyena Gang territory.
"Bang bang bang! Open the door!"
The violent knocking and shouting jolted Old John awake. He instinctively held his breath, trying to pretend he was not home.
But the gang members outside seemed to already know someone was inside. They kept pounding on the door and even began trying to force their way in.
A door made of two sheets of iron naturally could not stop gang members who had come prepared. Before long, the entrance was smashed open, and two gang members barged inside.
Old John instinctively covered his head and curled up, preparing himself for the beating to come.
In the Underhive, if you dared disrespect gang members like these, a beating was the bare minimum. There was no upper limit.
For someone as disobedient as him, even getting only a beating would have been considered lucky.
But the expected fists, kicks, and clubs never fell. Instead, he was yanked straight out of bed.
"Sleeping, sleeping, all you know is sleeping! Are your ears broken? I told you to open the door!"
The other gang member paced back and forth, shouting anxiously at Old John, who had snapped to attention.
"M-my lord, I really am hard of hearing. I truly didn't hear you." Though he had no idea why the gangsters were so mild-tempered today, Old John hurriedly seized the opportunity.
The thug who had dragged him from the bed hesitated. "Hard of hearing? Can we hand someone like that over? What if Lord Angel gets angry and our whole family ends up rich?"
The other thug abruptly stopped pacing. "Hard of hearing my ass! I fucking checked already! This bastard heard there was money being handed out while carrying packages two days ago and ran over faster than anyone! Hard of hearing my ass!"
As a well-trained Underhiver, Old John immediately caught the implication and pulled out the Hyena Coins he had just received. "My lords, these are for you."
The thug who had dragged him out of bed brightened and reached for them, only for the anxious thug to slap him across the face. "Are you trying to make your whole family rich right now? If he complains to Lord Angel, not one person in your family will escape!"
The thug covered his face in grievance but did not dare argue. His earlier movement had been pure muscle instinct, without a single thought involved. Now fear had taken control of his mind and restrained his muscles.
Old John was utterly baffled by their behavior. His hand holding the money froze in midair, unsure whether he should offer it or not.
The anxious thug tried to explain. "There's a major construction project for you to work on, huge—really huge. Are you going or not?"
Old John cautiously asked, "Um... can I not go? I can pay money."
Inside, he cursed. A huge construction project, my ass. It was obviously forced labor for some noble, maybe even deadly work.
This was hardly the first time it had happened. Whenever nobles wanted to make a big move, they would seize laborers everywhere. If you were lucky, you brought your own food and worked for free. If you were unlucky, you simply vanished from the face of the earth. Only an idiot would go!
"You—!" The anxious thug started getting anxious again, but he did not dare mention Lord Angel. The boss had said that if they failed to bring in enough people, their heads would be moved elsewhere!
If Lord Angel had not specifically said gang members were unwanted, he would have turned himself in.
Suppressing his anger and fear, he patiently explained, "This time, it isn't work for nobles. The God-Emperor's angels are expanding a Starch Factory. Food is included, and there'll be extra Starch and Vitamin Pills as wages and bonuses. I heard that if you're lucky, you might even be selected for some kind of army and serve Lord Angel directly. That's an incredible opportunity!"
Seeing him actually explain things patiently, Old John was doubtful. "If it's such a good opportunity, why aren't you going yourself?"
"Because Lord Angel doesn't want people like us!" The thug looked aggrieved. After hearing that he could serve Lord Angel directly, he had wanted to sign up himself, only to receive the news that the sky had fallen.
Old John hesitated. Not a single word from gang members could be trusted, but they probably did not have the guts to profane the God-Emperor's angels.
And the temptation of Vitamin Pills made him waver.
Vitamin Pills were called vitamins, but they were actually a kind of Nano-healing Agent. They could treat most common illnesses. Even if they could not regrow severed limbs, to an Underhiver like him, they were no different from miracle medicine.
After all, what Underhiver was not riddled with disease? Having something like this was practically the same as being reborn.
Old John hesitated for a long while. The anxious thug began pacing again and even considered moving on to the next house first.
Then Old John thought of the angels' stories and reputation, deciding that this might actually be real. He nodded in agreement. "Fine, I'll do it. When do we leave?"
The anxious thug looked delighted, and his whole body relaxed. "Wait for my word. I'll visit a few more houses, gather enough people, and then we'll leave."
With that, he led the thug who had dragged Old John away and headed for the next house.
Old John looked at the hole in his iron door, then at the Hyena Coins in his hand, and felt that this was probably real.
The Emperor, having watched the whole thing: "6"
This was clearly that unknown force strengthening this man's trust in the Astral Claws. Otherwise, how could the name of something that existed only in mythological stories make an Underhiver trust gang members?
Yet the Emperor still found nothing wrong. Everything had unfolded naturally, without the slightest abnormality.
And similar scenes were taking place simultaneously in countless corners of the Underhive. This made the Emperor feel that this force seemed rather good to ordinary people.
Although it used fear to make the gangsters work, it mainly strengthened trust among ordinary people.
Combined with the fact that the Emperor knew Huron truly intended to fulfill his promises, all this made Him raise His assessment of that unknown force slightly.
Mm, slightly above the Chaos Gods.
Before you continue