The attacks on the residential areas were not simple affairs.
The unfortunate victims left behind hardly any intact bodies.
They were brutally dismembered, with their organs and brains missing!
Judging by the evidence at the crime scenes, it appeared to be the work of some beast-like monsters.
The residents of the district were now gripped by fear.
People were terrified, and despair loomed even heavier over the territory.
Eden let out a long sigh, turning to Bayev, who was standing nearby:
"Have we found the culprits?"
"No, those damned creatures are hiding well!"
Bayev shook his head, then continued:"But we do have some leads. Several weeks ago, an agent we planted in the Hoffman family's territory sent us a report. The same thing happened there.
I suspect this attack is related to the 'Broken Eye' cult that's been spreading within their lands."
Eden fell silent.
Five years ago, after the Heretic Rebellion, the upper hive sealed its connections to the outside world.
Under Bayev's leadership, a grand purge was carried out to root out and eliminate the heretics.
But as the royal district's control weakened, the upper hive fractured.
It led to the rise of three dominant factions: the royal district, the Hoffman family, and the Gray Wolf gang.
Within the royal district, the policy towards cultists was one of zero tolerance.
Any faith unrelated to the Emperor was banned.
Any sign of disloyalty or blasphemy was met with judgment and immediate execution!
But the royal district had no authority beyond its borders.
Soon, various heretical cults began to reemerge in the territories of the Hoffman family and the Gray Wolf gang.
Gradually, those heretics began infiltrating the royal district's lands.
Fortunately, the royal district had strict control, and the heretics could only spread in the outer areas.
However, as the district's grip loosened further due to the ongoing resource crisis, instability grew.
This gave the heretics a chance to infiltrate further.
They mingled among the populace, making it nearly impossible to distinguish them.
They carried out secret rituals, causing numerous deaths.
Several law enforcement and logistics personnel had been killed while carrying out their duties.
It was becoming a significant problem for the royal district.
What Eden couldn't have anticipated was that the heretics had infiltrated so close to the Holy Square!
If they advanced any further, would they reach the royal district, or even the spire itself?
What angered him most was the timing of the heretics' appearance.
There were only a few days left until the "Emperor Ascension Day."
If the heretics launched an attack during the ceremony, it would lead to massive chaos.
Fear and despair would grip everyone!
At that point, all his efforts would be in vain.
Eden had invested nearly all of the royal district's resources into this "Emperor Ascension Day." He couldn't afford such a failure!
He even had reason to suspect that these heretics were brought in by the Holman family.
Their goal could be to sabotage the ceremony.
As for the Gray Wolf gang?
They weren't clever enough to orchestrate something of this magnitude.
The Holman family, on the other hand, was skilled in scheming. They had launched attacks before.
This time, they had struck at the heart of the royal district!
Eden turned to Bayev, resolute in his decision:
"We must cleanse all the heretics from the residential areas around the Holy Square before the ceremony!"
Bayev frowned: "Governor, we don't have the time or manpower to investigate, identify, and eliminate the heretics."
"Think again, see if there's another way..."
Eden felt a headache coming on.
No matter what, those heretics had to be dealt with. At such a crucial moment, nothing could go wrong!
Bayev frowned deeply, then proposed a brutally simple solution:
"We could seal off the surrounding residential areas, declare them heretic nests, and carry out a full purge of everyone. It's the fastest, most efficient way that won't cause too much unrest."
It was undoubtedly the quickest way to solve the problem, and it aligned with the Imperium's typical approach.
It would just require some sacrifices.
For the Imperium, sacrifices were nothing new.
In fact, the Imperium's very foundation was built on sacrifice.
Tens of thousands of lives? That was insignificant. Even on Urth, the loss of so many lives wouldn't cause much of a stir.
After all, Urth had sacrificed close to a hundred billion lives to pay the Imperium's Tithes of Eleven!
"Governor, this is the best course of action the royal district can take."
Bayev spoke earnestly: "If we allow the heretics to continue spreading, not only will the ceremony be ruined, but an even greater disaster will unfold!"
In other words, with Eden's approval, tens of thousands of lives would be sacrificed in the name of the Emperor.
For most planetary governors—those bloated, parasitic leaders—this decision would be nothing.
But for Eden, it was unacceptable.
The education he had received could not allow him to make such a choice!
Those were tens of thousands of lives, real, living people!
But if they weren't swiftly dealt with, more lives would be lost, and all his plans would be for naught.
At that moment, Eden truly understood how cheap life was in Warhammer 40K.
When Bayev had mentioned before that millions or even billions had died on Urth to pay the Imperial Tithe, Eden hadn't really felt anything.
It was just a story to him then.
But now, faced with the decision to sacrifice tens of thousands of lives, the weight of it pressed down on him.
Now he could understand a bit of the pain the previous Grant family leaders must have felt.
This was truly a dilemma!
Bayev, thinking Eden was concerned about the potential fallout from a full-scale purge, confidently added: "Trust in my experience, Governor. I've handled many similar situations before. I promise you, the entire purge will be contained, with no impact on the surrounding districts.
No one will escape, and no bad news will leak out. In two days, this matter will be completely resolved!"
Eden was speechless.
Bayev wasn't wrong—he did have plenty of experience with purges.
But why did he have to look so confident about it?
He truly didn't seem to view people as human beings at all!
For a moment, Eden thought that cruel rulers like this truly deserved their grim fates.
They could commit the most horrific acts without a second thought.
With a ruthless man like Bayev at his side, anyone who didn't know better might think Eden himself was the villain of the story!
Eden couldn't shake the feeling that if Bayev ever fell to Chaos, he'd be a significant figure.
Bayev, with a posture of service and concern, asked:
"Governor, what do you think?"
What did he think?
Was he really supposed to agree to a plan that would wipe out tens of thousands of innocent people?
Even taking a step back, these people couldn't be allowed to die.
They were his resource—his precious fuel!
Eden wanted to explode with frustration, to tell Bayev to get out, but he restrained himself.
After all, Bayev was just an executor, a loyal administrator.
No matter how cruel his actions, the ultimate responsibility would fall on him, the planetary governor.
Or rather, on Eden Grant.
Eden had only been in this world for a short time; there was no way he was taking the blame for this.
On the contrary, he was here to clean up the mess left behind by the original Grant and bring order to this chaotic situation!
The question remained:
If he rejected Bayev's proposal, was there another solution?
(End of Chapter)