Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 186 The Terrifying Possibility
In an office in the Governor's Mansion, Khadgar and Ion were summarizing the information and intelligence they had collected.

The room was dimly lit, with only a few old table lamps emitting faint light, which reflected on the serious faces of the two people.

The table was piled high with various data tablets and parchment scrolls, and the air was filled with the faint scent of ink and parchment.

"According to intelligence obtained by spies from the Governor's Office, the altar set up by the Blood Oath Order in the street receives at least 200 units of blood every day, but their average daily consumption generally does not exceed 10 units. A large amount of blood will be transported to their headquarters for refining and processing." Ion read the intelligence in his hand with a look of doubt on his face.

His fingers slid lightly across the data pad, his brow furrowed, clearly uneasy about the authenticity of the information.

"The Blood Oath Order's explanation is that most of the blood was lost during the extraction and processing process, but the spies suspect that this is not the case." Ion's voice was low and solemn, as if every word carried a heavy weight.

Khadgar listened quietly, his hands folded on the table, his eyes deep and calm.

He did not express his opinion immediately, but carefully thought about the truth that might be hidden behind the data.

After a moment, he slowly spoke, "The loss of such a large amount of blood is indeed abnormal. If heretics were to use this to obtain a large amount of blood, then the amount they could obtain would be an astonishing number!"

Khadgar did not directly say that the Bloodsworn Order was heresy, but his tone revealed deep vigilance.

The behavior and situation of the Blood Oath Order can indeed easily give heretics an opportunity to take advantage.

If someone really took this opportunity to obtain blood, the total amount they could obtain every day would be astonishing!

Even if only a small part of the total is taken out, the accumulated number over time is a very astonishing number.

Ion nodded, his expression growing more serious. He continued, "The Blood Oath Order has established over two hundred altars in Rostov, covering over five hundred blocks of civilian areas. The daily blood loss is already staggering. Over time, it's hard to imagine how much blood has accumulated."

Ion was worried about this number. If there really were heretics trying to obtain blood in this way or create some trouble, what they could do would be shocking.

He couldn't imagine what such a huge reserve of blood would be used for.

Khadgar was silent for a moment, then stood up and walked to the window. He gazed through the thick glass at the lights of Rostov in the distance and said in a firm tone, "We must quickly find out where this blood has gone! If there really are heretics behind this, we must stop them before they carry out their blasphemous plans!"

Ion also stood up and walked to Khadgar's side, his eyes also looking into the distance.

He took a deep breath and said slowly, "I have asked my spies to continue investigating, especially the blood that was transported to the Blood Oath Order's headquarters. But we need more evidence to determine whether there is really something wrong with the Blood Oath Order."

Khadgar nodded, a sharp glint in his eyes. "We need more resources! If the Blood Oath Order is truly in trouble, our spies alone may not be able to handle it."

Ion nodded, his expression firm. "I will contact Governor Chen Xi and Prime Minister Rachel to request more support. No matter what, we cannot allow any heretics to act recklessly in Rostov."
-
Chen Xi soon received reports from Ion and Khadgar. Although he could obtain information directly from Ion, there were still differences between these summarized reports and the information he obtained through Ion.

The data in the report is more detailed and has been sorted and summarized, omitting some unnecessary and complicated information, and also includes Khadgar and Ion's analysis and judgment.

Chen Xi attaches great importance to the contents of the report.

He sat in the Governor's office, clutching the thick report, his brow furrowed. The figures in the report made him uneasy—over tens of thousands of units of blood were consumed daily. Even if only 10% of that was retained, it would fill a swimming pool in a few months.

And this is just the number of the city of Rostov, and the number is based on the premise that the Blood Oath Order’s power in Rostov is seriously insufficient.

Chen Xi's fingers tapped the table unconsciously, and his mind kept imagining more terrifying scenarios.

If the other party had been secretly collecting blood since the beginning of the Blood Oath Order's existence... he couldn't imagine how much blood they had accumulated over the past few hundred years. He was afraid that they could use it as a sacrifice to directly obtain rich divine grace and holy gifts.

Although it is well known that Khorne likes heads and blood, the phrase "blood sacrifice to the blood god, skulls to the skull throne" is the most intuitive description of the behavior of Khorne believers.

But for most people, it is probably difficult to break through the stereotype and imagine that Khorne believers do not pick up knives to chop off the enemy's heads and use them as drinking bowls, but instead hold blood collection devices, pretend to be doctors and go door to door to persuade people to donate blood.

In fact, even Chen Xi himself finds it difficult to break through such stereotypes.

He even thought that Khorne's followers should engage in the most frenzied close combat with knives and chop off the enemy's heads in single combat.

However, in reality, Khorne is the god of war. The red kobolds just hate psionic power and ranged attacks, but it does not mean that you will not get the blessing of Khorne if you use psionic witchcraft and ranged weapons.

As long as you can kill enough people and praise the name of the Blood God, you will be blessed no matter what means you use.

The same goes for blood. The focus of blood sacrifice to the blood god is the blood, not how you obtain it.

The blood shed by warriors in battle can certainly please the Blood God, but the effect is the same if you coax people into voluntarily donating blood.

Even to an extreme extent, you can collect women's menstrual blood and offer it as a sacrifice to the blood god.

So, if someone uses the Blood Oath Order to collect blood, things will become very serious.

However, neither Chen Xi nor Khadgar could be sure whether there was a problem with the Blood Oath Order itself.

After all, the Blood Oath Order itself is a branch order certified by the state religion. Having problems with the Blood Oath Order itself and someone simply using the Blood Oath Order to collect blood are two completely different concepts.

The implications are also quite different.

The former may be a major event affecting the entire Mariupol sector, while the latter may be just an individual act of heresy.

In order to make a judgment, Chen Xi still needs more information and evidence.

So he quickly gave Rachel a new order through the communication bead: "Mobilize more forces, find a way to collect more evidence, and find decisive evidence."

(End of this chapter)