Page 16
Page 16
Chapter 21 Hayek's Big Hand
Hayek's large hands.
This is what local officials in Demoor call a series of actions by Locke Hayek, the Minister of State, whenever he uses his political skills to purge his opponents.
Wherever Hayek's influence reached, officials and nobles suffered financially, and workers had to work overtime.
This is the influence of the Hayek family in Demoor. Today, the Schermer family seems incredibly powerful, able to summon most of the city's elites for a birthday celebration, but compared to the Hayek family, they are still far inferior.
After listening to Lapland's account, Lynch fell silent.
He had gained some understanding of the Hayek family. It was a family that could practically rule Demore. In the absence of the planetary governor and the absence of the Star Claws, Locke Hayek, the current head of the Demore family, was the local tyrant of Demore.
but.......
"Why do you say that Rocks can contact the Mantis Warriors and the Lamenters?"
"Because he is the Minister of State Affairs, and after Huron took control of the entire Badab, the Ministry of State Affairs was practically his limbs, managing the various hive cities of the planet and, at times, liaising with other chapters within the Maelstrom Guardians."
Lapland took a deep breath as she finished speaking.
"As the Minister of State Affairs, Lox's status is even higher than that of a typical Star Claw Astartes. If there is anyone on the planet who is most likely to make contact with the Mantis Warriors and the Weeping Ones, it is him."
"But the problem is also very simple: he is most likely in cahoots with Huron, and even if he isn't, I can't think of any leverage that could get him to help us."
Lappland looked at Lynch and said seriously.
“If you insist, then we can force him to help us, but doing so will definitely expose us. Now that you have killed Pike, although you did not leave any trace, it is inevitable that you will alert him. The Star Claw and the other nobles of the Nest City will definitely pay attention to everything that happens that could affect them.”
Lynch remained silent. After hearing Lappland's words, his first reaction was to capture that Rocks and force him to help him, but could they really bear the consequences?
With Gawain gone, all that remained of them were a psionicist and some private soldiers from a merchant ronin family. Facing three thousand Astartes of the Star Claws was like throwing an egg against a rock.
Is it just a matter of leaving?
No, not necessarily.
Lin Qi closed his eyes and began to silently recite the emperor's name in his heart.
In fact, the reason why Lynch was unwilling to leave was quite simple.
That's Gawain.
In Lynch's view, although Gawain's actions were all out of his lord's orders, the other party allowed him to eat normal food and sleep in a normal room for the first time in this messed-up world, so his heart was still filled with the gratitude that a normal person should have.
Now, the other party is likely in grave danger, and he's being asked to do nothing but leave the planet and abandon them...
He was not an emperor who could regard everything as a tool to be discarded when it was no longer useful.
The funny thing is, what Lin Qi is praying for now is the power of the Emperor, or rather, the God Emperor, who treats everything as a tool to save humanity.
Time passed slowly, and as they left the top of the tower and were about to arrive at the Flax family mansion in the Upper Nest, the Emperor still did not respond.
Grass.
Lynch opened his eyes, feeling frustrated. He called out to Horus, only to find that Horus, like his old man Hagi, was sullen and ignoring him for some reason.
The fist is hard.
Lin Qi took a deep breath, got out of the car, and remained silent the whole way.
Lappland noticed his condition, and a hint of worry appeared on her face, but more than that, it was a look of distress at the current situation.
They arrived at the reception room, where Texas was already seated on the sofa, waiting for them with a serious expression.
"Feel sorry."
Before the other party could speak first, Lin Qi took the initiative to apologize.
"My teammate had a problem, and I apologize on his behalf..."
"Such things are inevitable. Even the legendary assassins of the Empire cannot guarantee that the Star Claw's internal defenses are foolproof."
Texas said this, but it brought a wry smile to Lynch's face.
Gao Wen was a member of the Imperial Guard, and he was even wearing equipment. On the way, Lin Qi thought about some details and finally came to the conclusion that the other party was most likely exposed.
That is, Gawain found the notebook, but just as he was about to succeed, he triggered some pre-set traps. These traps were most likely made of psionic energy. After all, the Imperial Guard, as the perfect humans designed by the Emperor, are powerful but have very low sensitivity to psionic energy.
While most psionic traps do little to no damage, or even negligible damage, to the armored Imperial Guards, whose armor is equipped with highly sensitive detection devices, however...
Sometimes, psychic energy cannot be understood using common sense or conventional instruments.
This was the only reason Lin Qi could come up with after thinking for a long time that could cause an Imperial Guard to fail in his infiltration mission.
"What's the next plan?"
"Forcing our way out is not advisable; the steel rings on the Badab orbit are more than just for show."
Lynch shook his head, rejecting the plan to leave Badab.
The Flax family has three ships docked in orbit: two Sword-class frigates and a Moon-class cruiser named "Fool".
For a merchant ronin, such a ship configuration is extremely rare and powerful, but that is only true for merchant ronin.
By launching a sneak attack, Lin Qi and his men might be able to successfully break through the port's defenses, and with a bit of luck, they might even be able to sink a few of Star Claw's warships, but they would absolutely not be able to break through the steel ring that was hovering in orbit.
As an orbital defense system built by Huron using a large amount of resources, the Iron Ring possesses unimaginable ferocity in firepower.
In the original timeline, the loyalists, in order to break through its defenses, launched a kamikaze attack by dragging a whole fragment of a star with their warships, and that's how they achieved their goal.
It's somewhat comical that one Moon-class and two Sword-class ships would attempt to break through the Iron Ring.
“My companions will not betray us, so we are not at risk of being exposed for the time being. However, I think we should prepare in advance for places like the Lower Nest or even the Deep Nest, where the Star Claws have little or no control…”
"Ladies, may I come in?"
The butler's voice interrupted the conversation between the three people in the reception room.
The three quickly exchanged glances, and then Texas spoke.
"come in."
The door opened, and the butler walked in. After bowing respectfully to the three of them, he took out a letter from his breast pocket.
"This is an invitation from the Hayek family. They invite Miss to attend tomorrow's banquet, and the messenger specifically mentioned that they hope Miss can bring the bodyguard from today."
The three of them looked at the invitation and their expressions changed simultaneously.
That Rocks did indeed discover something.
So what is this, a trap?
Lynch's expression changed rapidly. Finally, he took a deep breath and nodded to Lappland.
Lappland understood his meaning and accepted the invitation.
Tell them we will be there on time tomorrow.
Chapter 22 Emperor Tarot
"right here."
As he got out of the car, the butler spoke to Lin Qi.
Lin Qi looked at the pit in front of him, nodded to the butler, and went inside.
This is a hidden path that allows one to bypass the PDF's garrison at the dividing gate between the upper and lower nests, enabling relatively quick travel between the two locations.
The invitation from Locke Hayek was quite unexpected. Lynch, Lappland, and Texas discussed it for a long time but still couldn't figure out the other party's purpose. However, they had already decided to go, so all they could do next was to make some backup plans and preparations.
This is why Lynch plans to return to the lower nest tonight.
He was going to check out the stronghold. If Gawain could escape the pursuit of the Star Claws, he would definitely return there. He needed to leave at least a letter to let the other party know his next location and destination.
Secondly, he needs to use his abilities to produce a batch of suitable supplies at the stronghold, and then find someone to conduct a suitable "transaction".
It was midnight, and Demoor's lower lair was filled with muddy darkness and deathly silence, with only the distant factory, flashing lights, and the roar of machinery, like a monster lying on the ground that would never die.
Lynch wore a black cloak, which, combined with his psionic disguise, allowed him to better blend into the darkness.
He entered a narrow alley and walked close to the wall. Neither the drunkard at the alley entrance, nor Changji waiting for customers in the alley, nor even the nimble rats at the deepest part of the alley noticed his passing.
Lin Qi turned out of the alley, circled around the route he had taken before twice, and then stopped in front of the small building that served as his base.
Despite having the aid of psionic abilities to conceal himself, Lin Qi, out of caution, still chose to circle around twice to confuse the "stalker" who didn't actually exist.
Lin Qi turned the doorknob, opened the door, and entered the stronghold.
After turning on the light, Lin Qi saw a glass of water with half a glass of water on the table. The position and posture of the glass were exactly the same as when he left, which meant that Gawain had not returned here and was likely still hiding from the pursuit of the Star Claws.
Even worse, he might have already been caught.
Leave the letter here first; we'll only know what to do next after tomorrow's banquet.
Lynch found paper and pen in a room and wrote down his next plans in High Gothic, along with a way to find them later.
Then he folded the letters and placed them on the table with a water glass.
So now, it's time to get down to business.
Lin Qi took a deep breath and, instead of activating his abilities, went to the shrine in the small building and began to pray silently.
A faint white light began to fill the room, and Horus appeared behind Lynch. He looked at Lynch's prayerful expression and the imperial statue on the shrine, and his expression became very complicated.
"In the end, is what we built actually the ideal world that Luojia longed for?"
The Wolf God's voice was bitter, and a sorrow and sadness beyond his years appeared on his young face.
"My father often said that as long as no major mistakes are made, an ideal world can be built..."
"The truth is, you have all made a huge mistake."
Lynch finished his prayer and said to Horus in an annoyed tone.
“Even if the root cause lies in those four piles of poop, you all have many other problems, especially your father. Many times, if he were just willing to use his foul mouth to talk, many complicated issues could be easily resolved, instead of the situation we have today…”
At this point, Lin Qi pointed to the statue of the emperor.
"Sitting on the throne, he turned into a dried-up corpse and couldn't even speak clearly, which was even worse than your dementia at that time."
Horus fell silent. He knew Lynch was angry with him because earlier, when he had asked him and the Emperor for help, neither of them had responded.
But there's nothing he can do. Even if the other person gets angry, he can't refute them because what they said is the truth, and the more he refutes it, the more it proves their correctness.
bdsm-fiction