Chapter 204 Mystery in the Mining Area (Part 1)
The meeting was held in the fortress hall of the Ministry of Justice, which will also be used as a court when necessary, but today it is used as a reception room.
A huge black hardwood round table was placed in the center of the hall, surrounded by a circle of law enforcement officers wearing black carapace, their faces hidden under their helmets, as if they would never be exposed real face.
The arbitrator of the local legal department stood behind the table without a helmet. He was an old soldier as tough as leather. He was only wearing a simple black uniform at this time, which highlighted the plating implanted on his body. Silver artificial limbs and other artificial organs, these devices inject his body with amazing speed and strength.
Suddenly, the door was pushed open.
Soshyan strutted into the hall with a group of warriors, and their actions almost caused a whirlwind in the hall.
Finally, he stopped in front of the table and took off his helmet and placed it on the table, revealing his broad and powerful chin and frowning cheeks.
“To make a long story short, I think everyone should know our identities.”
Soshiyan’s opening remarks were very capable. The arbiter nodded and responded:
"Yes, respected Astral Knights Chapter, Soshiyan Chapter Master."
"I have read your report, but there are still many details worthy of discussion."
"We also have a lot of new information to report."
"Then you can talk first."
The Arbitrator recounted to Soshyan what happened after they left the underground mining area.
It turned out that they encountered several more waves of attacks after leaving the mining area. The enemy seemed to know their route of action very well and was always able to set up ambushes at key locations.
However, the ambushes were no longer purebreds underground, but hybrids closer to humanoids. They disguised themselves as local gangs and launched a sneak attack on the team of the Ministry of Justice.
The team lost several people one after another along the way. If the people left behind in the fortress hadn't noticed that their action took too long and sent a response, they might not have been able to come back.
Afterwards, a secret investigation into the administration of Safinius was launched.
Although the alien was well disguised, there were still some clues, and soon a shocking fact surfaced.
The genestealers on Safinius apparently found the Ministry of Interior to be an excellent hiding place. As one of the largest and most rigid organizations in the Empire, they could escape under the guise of the authority of the Ministry of Interior. Less harsh scrutiny.
As a result, the verification of the Ministry of Interior could not be carried out until the District Legal Director himself broke through all kinds of red tape and signed a formal authorization order.
But no one knows how long the Genestealers have been there.
The Legal Department only discovered some suspicious persons who disappeared before the investigation, and no results were found for the rest without exception.
Safinius is a rich planet with several large hive cities of considerable size, but these have nothing to do with the poor miners. On the contrary, the guilds just squeeze them as hard as they can, even It became unscrupulous because there was no intervention from the Ministry of Interior.
As a result, apart from working to death in the mining areas, crime has become one of the few viable ways to make a living locally.
Due to the interference of the Mechanicus, the Ministry of Justice cannot send too many manpower, nor does it have enough resources to maintain the entire planet, and no leadership force has emerged among the people to restore order.
It is not difficult to imagine the corruption that grew in the slums after the Genestealers came to Safinius and infiltrated the local Ministry of the Interior.
Even the source of the corruption may lie in the local guild masters. This possibility is so terrifying but so realistic.
Although the activities of the Genestealer Cult are very secretive, through the unremitting efforts of the law enforcers, all the traced information was still connected to construct a vivid picture. For example, the few state churches on Safinius have been systematically looted one by one in the past fifty years, and all the sacred objects in them have been stolen.
Twenty years ago, a smuggling convoy was intercepted and a batch of stolen sacred objects was seized.
At the time, it seemed that these were at best violent crimes stolen by smugglers, but now it seems that the aliens are clearly using violence as a cover to seize these sacred objects in a planned way.
More importantly, these details highlight the conspiracy - their attempt to infiltrate local religion.
In fact, for nearly a hundred years, murders and kidnappings have occurred everywhere in the mining area, and the gene stealers have carried out their horrific plans with impunity.
They randomly select innocent people to attack, letting them disappear directly from the world, or become the breeders of monsters.
And all this is almost never informed to the Ministry of Justice by the local guilds and the Ministry of the Interior. Most of the time, they let the Ministry of Justice deal with chores such as smuggling and miner riots, as if they are deliberately distracting the Ministry of Justice.
Until the Ministry of Justice followed up the investigation and discovered possible alien corruption in the Ministry of Interior building, they may have been working hard for decades on their master's return, concocting various lies to deceive the Empire. law enforcement and judicial agencies.
But although the investigation has revealed so much, it is still the tip of the iceberg.
Much of what the genestealers on Saphinius did represented a slow and difficult-to-decipher plan.
To others, these clues are clueless, but to the Arbitrator, these facts are unmistakable.
However, as the investigation deepened, small riots began to occur in the mining area and the nest city. The Ministry of Justice could only keep running between various riot sites, so the progress of the investigation immediately slowed down.
It is not that the Arbitrator did not apply for the local security forces to join the counter-rebellion, but strangely enough, once the local security forces joined the suppression operation, the riots escalated.
After questioning many of the captured riot leaders, the arbitrator found that they were all normal locals, many of whom were leaders of underground miners’ organizations, and the reason for their riots was because of rumors of underground miners. After killing the monster, the empire planned to blow up the mine and bury everyone underground.
The appearance of the local defense forces further proved the authenticity of this rumor, so the miners began a collective strike and refused to enter the mines, resulting in large-scale riots.
Although this is indeed the style of the empire, the Arbitrator is keenly aware that this rumor appears at a very opportune time.
After realizing that the local defense forces were no longer reliable enough, he sent out a request for help.
In the end, the application came to the Ascetic Chapter, and then to the Astral Knight Chapter.
After listening to the arbiter’s narrative, Soshyan nodded.
"Your work is very effective. A huge conspiracy is being revealed, but I still have a question."
Soshiyan took out the report and it was still on the table.
"How did you come out of the hell below alive?"
The arbitrator was stunned for a moment, then sighed, put his hands on the table, and said in a deep voice:
"Honestly , it’s hard for me to answer this question, because it’s too...unbelievable, so I didn’t include it in the report.”
“We have all seen such incredible things, you can tell me.”
"It was a group of people, a group of heretics who believed in the so-called Crow Lord. They fought off the gene thieves... No, I don't feel like that. They couldn't fight against the gene thieves. I feel like it's something else."
(End of this chapter)