bookbashuk Chapter 71 Before the Ashes
Chapter 71 Before the Ashes
Chapter 71 Before the Ashes
Alicia was silent for a moment.
She didn't answer Luo Wei directly, but walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.
Her pale yet delicate face was reflected in the glass, along with the rolling sea of clouds outside the window filled with industrial fumes.
She extended her gloved fingers, pointing to the top of the spire not far away.
A tall tower, without windows, stands like black needles.
An unsettling glimmer flickered at the top of the tower, while the surrounding clouds swirled in an eerie, twisted pattern.
"That's the Star Language Hall."
Alicia told Rowe.
"The empire was able to maintain its vast territory not entirely because of warships and guns, but also because of the transmission of information."
"And the Star Speakers are our only crutch as we grope like blind men in the warp."
“Mary wasn’t executed.” She turned her head, the usual sharpness in her purple eyes gone, replaced by an unusual weariness. “This may be a blessing in disguise for her, or it may be a greater misfortune.”
She was "requisitioned".
"Because of her high psychic potential, brimming with wild, explosive energy. After the transformation and blinding ritual, she will become a perfect disposable battery."
"In order to send a crucial message to the capital of the Gothic Sector about the fact that the Grain Production of Plenty II has met its target for this year, she will use her soul as fuel in the Star Language Array until she is completely burned out."
Luo Wei felt a chill creep up his spine.
Even in the governor's heated study, he felt cold.
A chill that seeps deep into your bones.
A message.
A dry message about wheat production.
The price is the soul of a living, breathing woman with love, hate, and a warm body.
"She left behind a message before she was taken away."
Just before Rowe was about to leave, Alicia suddenly spoke again.
She pulled a crumpled piece of paper from the bottom of the pile of documents on the table.
It wasn't a proper official document, but a torn piece of wrapping paper with dark red fingerprints on it.
"She begged me, if that child—the monster she killed with her own hands—had even the slightest possibility of possessing a soul, please bury it in a place where it can see the sunlight."
Alicia stared at the edge of the note, her movements gentle, unlike a governor who had ordered the execution of countless heretics.
"A desperate mother, in the moments before her soul was torn apart by the warp, did not think of cursing the world, but of the monster child who was supposed to destroy it."
The governor's beautiful eyes looked at Lo Wei, a bitter smile appearing on her lips.
"I said yes."
"I even had the ashes of that freak buried in the garden at the very top of the spire. That's the only place on this planet where you can see the real sun."
Luo Wei was stunned.
It was as if he was truly getting to know the woman in front of him for the first time.
He had always believed that Governor Alicia was merely a political machine in human skin.
A ruthless executioner, O, who would send anyone to the guillotine without hesitation for the sake of power and tithes.
However, he now sees a crack.
Beneath the steel mask called "The Ruler," a fleeting tenderness emerged, like wild grass sprouting from a crack.
Instead of mocking the mother's foolishness, she fulfilled that humble last wish in an almost sacrilegious way.
"This is the price, Rowe."
Alicia seemed to realize her lapse in composure, quickly regaining her composure and reverting to her usual cold and stern demeanor as governor.
She threw the note into the fireplace.
Witness the paper strip curl and turn black in the flames.
"In this massive imperial machine, we are all fuel."
"The difference is that some people are like coal, burning quickly and turning to ash in an instant; others are like nuclear fuel, burning more slowly and suffering for a longer period."
The flames illuminated her beautiful profile, their light flickering on and off.
"Go back. Do more before you turn to ashes."
Leaving the study, Loewe walked along the long and secluded corridors of the governor's mansion.
The servo skulls on either side hummed, and the red prosthetic eyes turned with his steps.
"Manager Luo Wei."
A hoarse yet steady female voice sounded from behind.
Luo Wei stopped and turned around.
It is the head of the guard, Lilith.
She was wearing her signature jet-black armor.
-
"Captain Lilith," Rowe nodded in greeting.
"I'll take you to the helipad."
Lilith walked to his side and stopped talking.
The two walked side by side for a while.
The military boots made a pleasant, crisp sound as they stepped on the marble floor.
"You've been living a peaceful life lately, haven't you?" Lilith asked.
"Thanks to the governor, things are relatively peaceful, except for being a bit busy," Lowe replied.
"Peace?" Lilith let out a short, cold laugh. "Ever since you imprisoned that fifth-generation pureblood infant in the underground lab, the 'Children of the Stars' gene-stealing cult has plotted at least three assassination attempts against you."
Luo Wei's heart skipped a beat: "Three times?"
"The first time was with your breakfast coffee, which was laced with a neurotoxin called 'Widow's Tears.'"
"The second time was in the ventilation duct of your office, where a modified, highly venomous flying insect was hidden."
"The third time was yesterday, when you came out of the underground parking garage, a half-breed disguised as a cleaner was waiting for you with a molten bomb."
Upon hearing this, Luo Wei broke out in a cold sweat.
As a mortal, he was completely unaware of these dangers.
"Did you protect me secretly?"
"Thank you, Governor."
Lilith told him the truth.
"The Governor's Palace's servo skull scans your living area 24/7. Your food is tasted for poison by specialists, and your ventilation ducts have been fitted with biofilters."
"And the assassin carrying the bomb was dealt with 800 meters away by a Vendica assassin apprentice hired by the governor at a high price."
Luo Wei fell silent.
He rubbed his finger on the black ring that symbolized the governor's confidant.
On the one hand, this meant that he had almost no secrets and was constantly under the surveillance of the Governor's Office.
No wonder, he had just asked Old John to distribute the meat when Alicia found out about it.
On the other hand, he originally thought it was just a pure exchange of interests.
He provides value, she provides the job.
But he didn't expect that Alicia would do far more than he had seen.
“The Governor isn’t just protecting her wallet.” Lilith stopped in her tracks. “She’s protecting the only person on this desperate planet who can keep up with her thinking.”
"She's lonely, Lowe. Even though she holds the power of life and death over the entire planet, she's still a prisoner trapped in this spire."
"Don't disappoint her, and don't die too soon."
Lilith gently patted Rowe's shoulder.
"For your safety, I'll escort you down."
Meanwhile, inside the Governor's Mansion.
The oak door to the study was heavily closed.
They kept Rowe Dane out of the corridor.
As the hydraulic latch emitted a hissing sound of airtightness, the air in the room seemed to freeze instantly.
Alicia van Valentius pondered for a moment, then turned and walked to a black obsidian wall on the side.
She removed the black velvet gloves she had been playing with her teacup from the wall, and placed her pale, slender hand on a double-headed eagle relief in the center of the wall.
A faint hum of electricity was heard.
The servo skull emerged from the shadows, its red prosthetic eye projecting a pale blue holographic beam.
The obsidian wall is actually a disguised force field that allows for one-way vision.
As the force field dissipated, the originally dark walls became transparent, revealing the secret room next door that was already full of people.
A small, circular conference room.
Seven or eight elderly men, dressed in dark red embroidered robes, were sitting around a round table.
Before them lay expensive Amasek brandy and fine tobacco from the upper echelons of the city.
In Luo Wei's eyes, the incredibly expensive luxury items like tobacco and alcohol were simply basic necessities for their daily lives.
Amidst the swirling smoke, the elders who held the reins of the Fengrao No. 2 organization displayed a variety of expressions.
They are powerful figures in the Executive Yuan, elders of the Alicia family, or heads of vassal families.
For the past half hour, they had listened to the young clerk's report through one-way glass and a microphone.
"absurd."
The first to break the silence was an elderly man wearing a monocle.
He is Fabian Valentine, the chief inspector of the Executive Yuan and the current head of the Valentine family.
He struck the ground heavily with his ruby-inlaid cane, the sound carrying through the loudspeaker into the study.
"Alicia, are you really going to hand over such a vital lifeline as the Eastern Grain Depot to a low-level clerk who's only been with the company for a month?"
"Look at his report: serrated wheat, fertilizer fertilized with corpses and strong acid—it's practically a heretic's confession!"
Fabian stood up, and the holographic projection magnified his angry face in the air of the study.
"According to Article 732 of the Imperial Agricultural Code, any alteration of the genes of sacred seeds is a felony."
"This Lo Wei is incredibly audacious. Not only did he admit that he was creating these monsters, but he also shamelessly claimed that it was to increase production."
"He has been corrupted by Chaos, and perhaps possessed by some kind of warp evil we don't know about. My suggestion is to immediately notify the legal department to cut off his blasphemous head and hang it on the lightning rod of the spire."
"
On the other side of the conference table, a slightly younger but also overweight man with a full head of white hair wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He was a veteran in charge of financial auditing.
"Your Excellency Fabian, there is no need to rush to use instruments of torture."
The finance veteran looked at the data board in his hand, his tone hesitant.
"His methods are indeed somewhat appalling, but the production volume he promised is real."
"If production can really increase by 20%, then next year's fiscal deficit can be offset. But is this crop really safe?"
"If the Astronautical Army's inspectors find that it contains toxins, our entire planet's credit rating will drop to zero."
"Credit rating?" Fabian sneered. "If the court finds out we're cultivating heretical plants, we won't even have a chance for a rating; it'll be an extermination order!"
The sounds of arguing echoed in the secluded room.
Some people supported the execution, while others suggested waiting and seeing.
Some people stared at the phrase "low cost, high calories" mentioned in Luo Wei's report, their eyes gleaming with greed.
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