Chapter 389: Live Well. That is All I Ask of You
When the Angel descended, all pain vanished.
"Praise the God-Emperor! Praise Sanguinius! Praise the Burning Angel Karna!"
Praises resounded through the clouds.
The world attributed this miracle to the divine power of the Holy Angel.
But Karna felt only burning rage in his heart.
He gripped the old man's warming hand, the fire in his chest blazing hotter.
He was not a god.
The Angel's domain wasn't vast, nor did he possess the authority of purification. The reason he could dispel the pain brought by the plague, aside from the shadow of the safe house, was largely because the master of the plague was willing to cooperate.
Nurgle didn't care how many lived or died.
Since death attracted the Dawnbreakers' attention, He summoned death; since life made the Dawnbreakers stay, He allowed life to linger.
Since they were people-oriented, He would firmly grasp the 'people' they valued most.
And plague happened to be the simplest way.
Looking at the rise and fall of countless intelligent races in the galaxy, mass extinctions in specific periods were often caused not by continuous wars, but by silently spreading plagues.
It brought death, strife, despair, reshuffling society, and then bringing another war.
As for these tainted souls, do you dare to accept them?
Do you dare to accept them at the risk of contaminating pure souls?
Karna once again intuitively felt the malice of the Four Gods.
Very despicable.
But very effective.
Wasn't it?
"Lord Karna..."
The old man's withered fingers clutched the Burning Angel's hand tightly, his cracked lips trembling, unable to utter a word.
The comatose girl in the next bed murmured in a nightmare tormented by illness:
"I don't want to die."
This faint wail spoke the heart of all patients.
He had experienced nearly forty years of upheaval, stumbling from the era of struggling for survival in the hive abyss and toxic wasteland.
Life was getting better day by day. A job and income allowed him to build a family that once existed only in dreams, with a virtuous wife, filial children, and grandchildren around his knees.
He didn't want to die yet, longing to continue breathing, to live on in this increasingly beautiful country.
What's wrong with wanting to live?
"I understand."
Karna looked at the old man. Human life is so short. The young man he met during the post-war census forty years ago was now a white-haired old man.
He was just a technician, an ordinary worker in a factory producing precision chronometers.
There were billions of people like him on this planet. Not everyone could pass the exam to become a void ship worker, nor was everyone qualified to pass the layers of screening by the Schola Progenium to become a glorious warrior.
They were mediocre, ordinary.
Without grand ideals or superb talent, only seeking or only able to curl up in a mundane daily life, in the eyes of the Imperial elite, they were like a group of useless commoners.
The countless resources they gathered to create might be destroyed along with them due to an Imperial Navy defeat, dust falling into a corner no one cared about.
But Karna didn't think so.
It was the torrent gathered by these ants that nourished the lifeline of the Imperium.
He looked at the old man's recovering eyes. The light in those eyes was hope.
His partners were right. This universe was too harsh on almost all life.
To live.
That was enough.
You are just ordinary people, one of countless, just live your life well, why demand too much.
"Live well."
Karna didn't scold him for not being pious enough like an Ecclesiarchy priest, nor did he despise him for not being brave enough like a noble officer.
Having witnessed countless inequalities in the world, he was never an arrogant ruler.
He just followed the old man's words.
"Live."
The Burning Angel said loudly, his voice reaching everyone's ears: "That is all I ask of you."
He looked at the old man's fully recovered eyes, as if seeing the twenty years the other party struggled for survival in the toxic wasteland.
"Leave the rest to us, just like in the past."
Karna looked around. The emotions possessed by people of all ages fed back to him.
"Until then—"
"Please wait, and keep hope in your hearts."
"..."
The old man's lips quivered, and he finally let go of his hand.
That face seemed to always wear a gentle smile that made people instinctively want to trust, calming everyone down subconsciously.
The surrounding medical staff continued to quickly expand the isolation zone, transport medical supplies, and prepare medical plans based on the symptoms of previous patients.
They received notification in advance.
The plague would not end. The lords could only suppress the outbreak of plague symptoms for a short time. During this time, the medical staff could get enough rest and ensure the survival of more people in the time to come.
And Karna turned around after a brief consolation.
This was the last place on this planet.
Stepping out of the isolation zone, after layers of disinfection, Karna boarded the Stormbird.
Silence surrounded him.
"My lord, relevant cases have been tallied. Still the three types accumulated before."
Captain Tycho of the Blood Angels First Company spoke to the grim-faced Karna.
Although the interaction between the Primarchs was always strange, especially Lord Ramesses who liked to make bets for people to call him daddy, with an unusually approachable style that shattered filters, the four Primarchs disliked Astartes calling them father.
This made most Chapters address them uniformly as 'Lord'.
"Pox, Weeping Plague, and Dengue Fever."
"Still these three?"
The ship started, and Karna remained standing by the window, his gaze never leaving the planet below.
The scope of this plague was so wide that it even affected the Gothic Sector for a time, causing the Battlefleet Gothic to turtle in Port Maw, unable to support the various sectors now harassed by the Black Legion.
Fortunately, with Arthur present, the Dawnstar System and several surrounding systems remained normal. Without warp influence, relying on the efficient operating system built over decades, they could quickly deal with the diseases and efficiently command other affected systems to implement epidemic prevention measures.
Although suffering, the Dawnstar Sector had stabilized its position in the first offensive.
"Yes, Librarians only found plague marks on these three diseases; the rest can be treated by normal technical means."
Tycho consciously didn't give the relevant files; these shouldn't be the Burning Angel's concern.
"Send it to Romulus via the psychic internet, and share it with the Grey Knights. Also, hurry them up for me."
Karna ordered immediately, then quickly added: "By the way, have the Lamenters' Librarians send it."
These were extraordinary times, and the warp was becoming increasingly dangerous with the activities of the Four Gods.
Although the Lamenters' Librarians might not have the god-chosen talent of Tigurius or Mephiston, they were unparalleled in psychic stability.
Librarians who could survive the curse of the gene-seed were synonymous with stability.
"Understood!"
Phoros, who was accompanying them, immediately accepted the task.
With the Lamenters and Karna's power, they could easily find the weakest areas in the system, thereby eliminating these hidden dangers in the most direct way.
And the Lamenters could also provide a lot of help in handling the epidemic.
"How are the practical application results of the Blackstone array?"
Karna asked again.
"Failed."
Phoros replied, sadness hard to hide in his eyes.
"The Blackstone array we built in the experimental area was reversed by Chaos power, aggravating the impact. Nurgle Plague Zombies even appeared in the contaminated area."
Karna closed his eyes slightly with an expression of 'as expected'.
"Perhaps fire is more effective in the current situation."
Gabriel Seth tried to make a joke.
A rather inappropriate joke, but his heart was heavy as lead.
And people around him were obviously used to Seth's mouth.
Anyway, he was hopeless. At least he didn't slack off when working. No one said anything if he put on a helmet at other times.
"My lord?"
Tycho looked at Karna seriously.
As one of the few talents in both war and administration within the Blood Angels, he was responsible for almost all of the Burning Angel's operations and knew what the Grey Knights and Lord Ramesses were investigating.
They were relying on these diseases and the Nurgle marks on them to lock onto the Great Unclean One spreading these viruses, and then kill the opponent in the warp.
This was extremely dangerous behavior.
Even with Lord Ramesses's guarantee that a Great Unclean One who wanted to exert such influence on reality couldn't hide in Nurgle's impregnable Mansion, this trip was to go deep into the dangerous Garden of Nurgle...
Thinking of this, even Tycho, who had always been incredibly proud of the Burning Angel's power, couldn't help but feel depressed.
They really couldn't lose another Archangel.
Especially since this battle would not involve members other than psykers. They could only wait as bystanders for the Dawnbreakers to tear apart the shackles that had tightly wrapped them before the war.
"This battle must be fought. Our enemy will never stand by and watch us transport the sector's power to where it is needed."
Karna's voice was decisive.
His gaze was on the stars, countless figures flashing in his eyes, and the emotions they gave him at that moment.
No one could feel how painful those tortured souls were better than him.
Tycho was silent. He could sense the almost explosive fire in the Burning Angel.
Blazing flames flickered in his eyes.
Chaos has no so-called mercy, morality, or bottom line. Your self-pity because of their cruel and unreasonable pain, because you can do nothing, will only make these naturally malicious existences happier.
Only by returning death for death can they be made to fear.
Karna had to grasp this only advantage they had, and then plunge this advantage like a blade into the enemy's chest.
"They will die."
The Stormbird entered the hangar, and the fleet departed immediately.
He took a last look at the distant planet, making a promise to this planet shrouded in suffering again, to himself, to everyone.
"They all will."
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