254: The Tears of Saint Gillespie! This is a true miracle; the weeping will never be alone!

The Chainsword's engine roared.

This sound was the opening overture to this reckoning.

Accompanied by Roderick von Kane's raspy roar, the Chainsword drew a blood-colored arc.

The fat noble's wails were completely swallowed by the roar of the Chainsword, then turned into a short choke. Hot blood mixed with silk and fat, splashing onto the cold marble, painting a distorted picture of crime and punishment.

Magos Monde tried to activate his internal emergency defense system, but Kane's second strike was faster and more ruthless, cutting him in half at the waist, his mechanical augmentations erupting in a shower of electrical sparks.

Mallow, the trade representative of the Inquisition, watched death approach, his eyes full of madness and spite.

"You will regret this! Zhang Yuan! The Inquisition will not let..."

The Chainsword's teeth crushed his skull, also swallowing his final curse.

The smell of blood began to permeate the hall.

Zhang Yuan sat in his seat, his eyes as calm as a deep well, as if he were appreciating a play whose script had long been written.

Only he knew that when the roar of the Chainsword sounded, his heart skipped a beat.

Not because of fear or pity, but a kind of farewell.

A farewell to the self deep inside who still held naive illusions about this world.

His fingers tapped lightly on the armrest; it wasn't a rhythm, but a death knell for the old era of Valarak.

The reckoning had only just begun.

Kane held the dripping Chainsword and turned to face the guards kneeling in surrender, his voice sounding like it came from hell.

"All those involved in the rebellion and their direct vassals are to be executed on the spot!"

"Seal off all transport hubs in the Upper Hive, and in the name of Lord Iron Hammer, take control of the orbital defense platforms!"

"All industries are to be nationalized by the Governors Mansion!"

Order after order was issued clearly from his mouth, and then transmitted throughout the Hive City via vox communicators by the PDF officers behind him.

Combat did occur, but it was more like a massacre.

Those ambitious men who thought they could carve up the inheritance could not even organize a decent resistance in the face of absolute power.

On the Golden Avenue of the Upper Hive, a private guard of the old nobility had just assembled, attempting to resist by relying on defensive fortifications. The next second, a Thunderhawk Gunship streaking across the sky dropped precise death. After several beams of light, the entire street, along with the flesh and steel upon it, turned into molten glass.

In the Adeptus Mechanicus workshops of the Mid-hive, several rebellious sages activated combat Servitors, only to find their control over these machines stripped away instantly. Their weapons turned, tearing their former masters to pieces. Nova's Ghost Operatives appeared silently in the shadows, recovering control cores as if they were merely processing a few pieces of scrapped equipment.

The ordinary citizens watching all this went from initial fear to shock, and then to numbness. They only saw that after the sky darkened, those big shots who usually acted with overbearing pride were easily wiped out like insects being stepped on.

When the gunfire of the last pocket of resistance ceased and the light of dawn once again fell upon the Governors Mansion, three newly processed heads had already been hung on the highest flagpole in the plaza, silently declaring the end of an era.

The sky of Valarak had never been so "bright."

Zhang Yuan stood up and walked down the steps.

The smell of blood rushed towards him, but he seemed unable to smell it.

"Notify Ilaria," he said to Titus behind him.

Titus paused slightly.

Ilaria Valentine.

That proud Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus.

They had not met again since the Terra Expedition.

Even in the Terra Imperial Palace, during the meeting that decided the empire's fate, she had only attended from afar as a representative of the Inquisition, separated by a vast distance from Zhang Yuan, who was at the center of power.

He hadn't expected that the next time he would issue an order regarding her would be here.

"Where is she?" Titus asked.

"She is on the 'Fist of the God-Emperor'," Zhang Yuan said. "Roboute Guilliman had her serve as my liaison officer, responsible for handling matters related to the Inquisition and the Ecclesiarchy."

"Let her come see me."

"Yes."

Half an hour later.

The hall of the Governors Mansion had been cleaned, and the smell of blood was dispersed by powerful air purifiers, leaving only a faint scent of disinfectant.

Ilaria walked in, her gaze first sweeping across the hall. Although the floor had been cleaned, the lingering scent of disinfectant and the dark stains in some corners that couldn't be completely erased still silently told of everything that had happened not long ago.

Her gaze finally landed on Zhang Yuan. On that familiar face, there was now a bit more unquestionable majesty.

"Governor... Lord." She bowed slightly, there was a tiny pause in the transition of the address, her tone still trying to remain businesslike, but in those ice-blue eyes, Zhang Yuan's current figure was clearly reflected, along with the empty governor's throne behind him.

"Ilaria." Zhang Yuan looked at her, not directly issuing orders as he did with others, but remaining silent for a moment, seemingly also adapting to this new relationship.

"Sit." He pointed to a chair nearby, breaking the silence. "There's no need for such restraint between us."

Ilaria hesitated for a moment but finally sat a few steps away from him, her straight back not relaxing. "I must obey Lord Roboute Guilliman's orders. Duty calls, and etiquette cannot be abandoned."

"Duty..." Zhang Yuan repeated the word in a low voice, a hard-to-describe arc curling at the corner of his mouth. "Yes, duty. My duty back then was just to survive. Your duty was to judge me as a 'heretic'. Look at us now, how ironic."

Ilaria's lips moved, and she finally only said: "Times have changed, Lord. You... have obtained the glory you deserve."

"Is that so?" Zhang Yuan was noncommittal. He returned to the main topic, but the atmosphere was now completely different. "You've seen the situation in Valarak. A typical case of internal strife caused by a power vacuum."

Ilaria looked up and stared into his eyes: "I must obey Lord Roboute Guilliman's orders. And..."

She paused, seemingly choosing her words, "Compared to the paperwork on Terra, I'm more accustomed to handling this kind of 'trouble'."

This slightly self-deprecating remark eased the tense atmosphere between the two a little.

Zhang Yuan looked at her.

Time didn't seem to have left many marks on her, but her eyes had settled much more than when they first met in the Hive City.

It was a unique weariness and tenacity after witnessing too many grand narratives.

"You've seen the situation in Valarak," Zhang Yuan said straightforwardly.

"Yes." Ilaria nodded. "A typical case of internal strife caused by a power vacuum. It's very common in the Empire."

"I need you to turn it around completely," Zhang Yuan said.

"I need you to use your authority as an Inquisitor to audit all the old nobility, the chambers of commerce, and all the Adeptus Mechanicus personnel stationed on Valarak."

"I want a list that is absolutely clean."

Ilaria's eyebrows twitched imperceptibly.

"This will take time, Lord."

"I will give you time." Zhang Yuan walked up to her. "But I need results."

"This purge is just the beginning. I want to turn Valarak into a war machine that serves only me and only the Expeditionary Force."

He paused, his voice dropping even lower.

"And you, Ilaria, will be the most sensitive inspector inside this machine."

Ilaria Silence.

She looked into Zhang Yuan's eyes, those eyes that once made her feel wary and endangered were now full of unquestionable authority.

He was no longer that hive lord who needed to survive in the cracks by relying on the secrets of "STC".

He was the Commander of the Expeditionary Force personally appointed by the Imperial Regent.

Behind him stood the Adeptus Custodes, the Sisters of Silence, and the awakened Primarch.

"I understand." She bowed again, this time deeper.

"I will carry out your orders, Lord Governor."

"Very well."

Watching Ilaria's figure disappear at the door.

Zhang Yuan walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the city that had just undergone a violent labor pain under his will.

Purging and auditing were only the first steps to stabilizing the interior, the "hemostasis."

And next, what he had to do was "blood production."

Only by building an industrial engine so powerful it was irreplaceable, making Valarak an indispensable blood pump for the entire sector, could his rule and the expeditionary mission he carried be truly solidified.

Having thought all this through, he slowly raised his hand and connected to Swann's communication.

"Boss! Is the party over on your end?" Swann's rugged face, chewing a cigar, appeared in the holographic projection.

"Just finished cleaning up the trash," Zhang Yuan said. "Now, it's time for business."

"Is there a result for the thing I asked you to study?"

"Of course!" Swann grinned and pulled up a complex design diagram.

"For the C-80 and C-90 transport ships, I've optimized the design based on our existing materials and production lines. Production efficiency can be increased by thirty percent! As long as resources are in place, we can churn them out like dumplings!"

"Also, there are a lot of good things in the factories of those traitors. Especially the Adeptus Mechanicus one; although their plasma technology is primitive, it has great reference value. I've already sent the engineering team to dismantle it."

"Very well." Zhang Yuan's eyes flashed with light.

He looked out the window at the sky that had just undergone a rainstorm's baptism.

"Swann, I want you to expand all production lines at the fastest speed."

"I want to establish an unprecedented military-industrial complex on Valarak."

"I want the entire Ultima Segmentum to know one thing."

"I, Zhang Yuan, can not only bring destruction."

"But even more, I can bring 'prosperity' they cannot refuse."

His gaze pierced through the atmosphere, looking towards the orbit above.

The grand industrial blueprint had been drawn, but the startup of this war machine would take time and more loyal and powerful guardians.

His thoughts naturally drifted to the debris field composed of four battered warships.

Valorian was still there, waiting for him.

Those sons of Sanguinius who had held onto their honor in despair were still there, waiting for an answer from the Empire.