Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 469 The Lost Ancient Stone Tablet

Upon arriving in his territory, Ninglu decided to meet with the local governor.

He ordered Arsena Dunn, Akahan Rand, and others to advance to the outer edge of the Volian Sandstorm Vortex, establish a temporary base, and conduct preliminary reconnaissance.

Ninglu then boarded the black Skyhawk shuttle and flew towards the main nest.

Through the viewing window, Nimrod saw layers upon layers of magnificent hive cities, each larger than the model city of Vostonia.

Of all the hive cities he saw, only Terra, Necromonda, and Gadinar were larger.

The Vigilant Star already shows signs of the future; before the "Great Rift" unfolds, the world's population reached 167 billion.

The last census of Vigilant Star showed a population of 85.2 billion. Although Vostonia has surpassed the peak population of one billion that I remember, and now has 3.4 billion, it is still far behind.

Unfortunately, the Warning Star is not only located in a subspace travel route, but also a necessary path to the "Eye of Fear" in the future, making it impossible to hide.
Ning Lu knew that after the grand birthday celebration, the importance of the Vigilant Star System would be further enhanced.

Imperial troops heading to the "Eye of Fear" usually gather here for final resupply before proceeding to the war zone.

After the "Great Rift" unfolded, Abaddon turned his strategic focus to this area, hoping to use the Void Claws he acquired to destroy the warp route between Vigilant Star and Red Earth, completely isolating the Dark Side of the Empire from the other side.

As Ning Lu pondered, the black Skyhawk shuttle closed its wings and slowly landed on the helipad atop the Nest City Spire.

The nest tower of the Agammenus family was larger in diameter than the dome of the middle nest, and its wide landing pad could accommodate hundreds of aircraft.

The planetary governor, dressed in a magnificent robe, waited in the reception area, followed by dozens of noble representatives.

Holding the ruby ​​scepter, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves and walked up to the Primarch with a smile on his face.

"Boiro Agamunus, on behalf of the families and people of Vigilant Star, welcomes Lord Nimrod."

“Boyro, I am satisfied with your achievements in the Vigilant System.”

Having gained the Primarch's approval, Boylo felt a surge of power within him.

He felt as if he had returned to his youth, when he injected himself with stimulants and worked hard to win the trust of the Arbitrator Lord in order to secure the position of planetary governor.

"Your Majesty, I have prepared a banquet for you."

"Lead the way." Ninglu glanced at the many nobles and nodded slightly to them.

Sixteen servo skulls flew in a circle, ribbons fluttered, flowers fell, and a stirring synthesized sound array resounded.

"Rejoice! Protectors of the Vigilant Star, conquerors of the Xenomorphs, Primarchs of the Eleventh Legion, Kings of Volstonia... have come to your side."

For the people of Vigilant Star, among the many titles of the Primarch, "Conqueror of the Aliens" is the most commonly used name, and the victory over Sam-Han Ark is etched in their memories.

In the luxurious palace, the banquet slowly began.

The nobles who controlled the direction of the city and the guild representatives who could decide the lives of hundreds of thousands of people on the dome with a single thought carefully watched Lord Ninglu's every move, looking for an opportunity to get close.

The Primarch leaned against the Black Iron Throne specially crafted for him, and even the thirty-three longswords behind him were replicas of his own. Clearly, Boylo had put a lot of thought into finding out his preferences.

He was fairly satisfied with Agammonus and had no intention of lingering there. He accepted the invitation to the banquet merely to show his support for the planetary governor.

Wanting to leave as soon as possible and head to Nimrod in Vorian, he asked.

"Boylo, how is the development of Vigilant Star progressing? Are there any difficulties?"

The planetary governor, who was well-prepared, immediately put down his wine glass and calmly spoke.

"Your Majesty, the development of Vigilant Star is progressing well. This year's production capacity will increase by 1.2%, and the production of personal energy shield components for the Legion will increase by 23%, reaching 1,400 sets..."

"The population is expected to see new growth, reaching an estimated 86 billion..."

"Not bad." Ning Lu nodded in satisfaction.

Boylo surveyed the hall, his gaze sweeping over the listening nobles. He lingered meaningfully on several ambitious families for a moment before averting his gaze amidst their dry laughter.

“Your Majesty, I have heard that you have a fondness for unusual things. I have some ancient stone tablets that may interest you.”

“Oh,” Ninglu said with interest, “I’m very interested.” “I’ll have someone bring it up right away.” Boylo then pressed the communication bead and gave the order.

A few minutes later, hundreds of machine-operated servants carried up three huge stone slabs, each five meters wide and two meters high.

Ning Lu got up, walked to the stone slabs, and looked at them one by one.

The patterns on the stone slab are incomplete, with images and words scattered on it.

Ninglu's gaze lingered on the last stone slab, where he noticed a row of countless tiny black figures below, worshipping something above them.

The figure in the mist and shadows is incomplete, making it impossible to identify.

Even though the stone tablet lacked any spiritual radiance, he was still very interested in it.

Where were they found?

Seeing that Lord Ninglu was interested, Boylo quickly said...

"Your Majesty, it is an ancient relic that the mining team unearthed while excavating an underground mine."

"Many incomplete images were found in the collapsed ancient stone temple."

"After research, it was found that the temple was built by a lost ancient civilization whose writing system was completely different from modern languages."

Ninglu considered various possibilities, but there were too few clues to confirm them, so he walked back to the throne.

“Send them to Starport, and my think tank will accept them.”

“I am very pleased with your gift. Send me the coordinates of the ruins.”

“As you wish,” Boylo glanced around the banquet hall again. “My lord, while Vigilant Star is progressing well, there is still one problem that cannot be solved.”

"Since the establishment of the colony, Vigilant Star has always lacked water."

"The Arbitration Lord demands that the lower classes be prohibited from drinking extremely dirty groundwater and instead drink recycled water, with ordinary people drinking chemically treated water."

"As the population grows, the drinking water problem becomes increasingly serious, especially the glacial water consumed by nobles and guilds, which has recently been threatened."

Ninglu nodded; he had always known that the Vigilant Star lacked water resources.

The reason why the future state religion can gain a lot of support from the local people is because they add purified holy water to chemically treated water and provide it to some believers for drinking.

"what is the problem?"

"A mantis-shaped monster lives in the glacier. They have sharp claws and teeth, and the soldiers cannot resist them."

“Every time they appear, they bring disaster and cause a serious drinking water crisis, so we call them the disaster mantis.”

Ninglu's eyes suddenly lit up. He knew that mantises lived in the glaciers of Vigilant Star, and even caused some trouble for the Guardians of the Church on Huangquan No. 8, but he did not know that the mantis was called a calamity.

This immediately reminded him of the Chasm of Fortune pathway Sequence 7 "The Lucky One", and the main material for the subsequent Sequence 6 "The Chasm Priest" is the Chasm Mantis.

Ninglu immediately said, "I will send warriors to resolve the disaster."

He then thought of the way Huangquan-8 solved the water problem: they built a space elevator and drank water obtained from the asteroid belt.

"I will order the construction of a space elevator, collect water from the asteroid belt, and provide the remaining portion of the Hongbei District, which will be allocated to you."

Upon hearing this, Boylo said gratefully, "Praise be to Your Majesty!"

"Praise be to the King!" The nobles raised their glasses in praise of the protector of the Vigilant Star.

Ninglu picked up his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp.

"I have important business to attend to here."

The Primarch departed amidst the farewells of numerous nobles.

(End of this chapter)