On the bridge of the Golden Road, after the Ethereal issued a global ceasefire order at Li Qinwu's request, Li Qinwu decided to wait for a while and see how things developed.
For the time being, he handed the Ethereal over to Father Anthony for human experimentation.
After working alongside Li Qinwu aboard his warship for some time, Father Anthony realized that if he wanted to make a name for himself, machinery was no longer an option. Father Busi was simply far better at it than he was.
Father Busi was a native of an Industrial World, and the industrial knowledge he had encountered was far beyond that of a priest from an Agri-World like Anthony.
Moreover, Father Busi's massive Mechanical Worm body could serve as a high-precision machine tool. Anthony could not compete with him at all.
So Father Anthony took a different path and began pursuing the road of a biological sage.
At that moment, inside one of the Golden Road's enormous compartments, the space had been converted into a biological laboratory filled with all manner of biological research equipment.
Father Anthony, Li Qinwu, the gang boss, and the Ethereal bound to an iron bed stood within the chamber.
Li Qinwu pointed at the Ethereal on the iron bed and said to Father Anthony:
"This fellow is one of the T'au Ethereals. Ordinary T'au have a strange, instinctive devotion to him.
"I don't think charisma alone can explain it. I suspect he has some kind of gland that secretes pheromones capable of influencing T'au emotions. I want you to take him apart and study him!"
Father Anthony stroked his chin.
"Interesting. My database contains no record of anything like this. Our understanding of the T'au has been limited to ordinary T'au; we have never captured an Ethereal specimen!