Chapter 966, One Draw Kill
Chapter 966, Eleven Draws
"...responsible for overseeing the inventory and transfer of the original Dark Eldar assets, coordinating the Eldar's cooperation in municipal reconstruction, and ensuring that the Veiled Spirit Gate system aligns with Alliance standards..."
"...Today we need to inspect the two Soul Box Storage Halls, establish records, and supervise the progress of the takeover of the Blood Performer's Laboratory..."
"...Most of the subordinate officials assigned to these departments haven't arrived yet. We need to meet with them first, see what kind of quality they are, and then start assigning tasks..."
Shang Yanwen had many things on his mind, but he didn't feel a headache; instead, he felt invigorated.
On my very first day in office, there was already a lot to do.
As a supervisor, unless it is a particularly important task that requires his personal attention, he is generally responsible for management, such as formulating strategies, arranging tasks, conducting research, and reviewing reports.
Otherwise, no matter how capable he is, he couldn't possibly handle all those specific matters on his own.
However, the current problem lies in the low attendance rate of subordinate officials. The Comoros Special Region holds a very high position and is also very important in the overall strategy of the alliance. The entire administrative body is a team composed of elites drawn from all over the alliance.
Shang Yanwen was like this, and so was his superior, Governor Xia Xingze. This man, having risen from the position of Chairman of the Forward Space Domain to become the Minister of Commerce of the Alliance Central Committee, could be considered one of the Alliance's key figures. Taking another step forward, he might even enter the Alliance's highest authority—the Alliance Cabinet—as a standing member.
In reality, if Xia Xingze performs well as Governor-General of Comoros, he will be a strong contender in the next cabinet reshuffle.
This applies not only to those in leadership positions, but also to those who handle administrative tasks below them.
However, many government officials and administrative staff need to travel from all over the universe. For those from distant places, even if they find a nearby veil spirit gate to come, it still takes quite a long time.
Before the staff arrived, Shang Yanwen naturally had to do many tasks himself.
In some ways, this is actually a good thing.
He was used to personally handling specific tasks when taking on a new job. Without frontline work experience, being a leader is difficult.
Let's tackle today's tasks one by one.
The first task was to investigate and liquidate the two Soul Box Vaults.
……
The Soul Chest of the Dark Eldar is the secret to their immortality.
That's like an archive of their souls. They would place the essence of their souls there, and then put the souls into a body that matched their own.
When they die outside, their souls are drawn back into the Soul Box. After a short recovery, as long as a new body is available, their souls can be retrieved and placed into the new body, thus completing a resurrection.
The Dark Eldar can achieve theoretical immortality by resurrecting themselves hundreds or thousands of times.
Of course, in reality, death will eventually come. After all, their technology is not without flaws. Leaving aside the damage to the soul from each death, and the long period of weakness required for each new body to adapt, let's just consider this: if they are severed from their connection with the Soul Box at the moment of death, the Soul Box cannot guide their soul back.
Unable to return, the Dark Eldar have only one place for their souls to go: the realm of Slaanesh.
From this perspective, the Soul Box of the Dark Eldar must be incredibly important to them.
Now, the Eldar resistance in the Comoros, as well as the fleeing Eldar, don't necessarily take their own lives with them when they run away; rather, they take their Soul Boxes.
As for the Eldar who surrendered to the Alliance, the actual manifestation of their surrender was, of course, handing over the Soul Box to the Alliance for management.
As the third-in-command, Shang Yanwen's primary responsibility was managing the surrendered Dark Spirits. Therefore, the management of their Soul Boxes was naturally of paramount importance. He had a department under him called the 'Resurrection Administration Bureau,' specifically designed to prepare for the future resurrection of the Dark Spirits.
If the 'loyal' Dark Eldar want to be resurrected, they must submit an application to the Alliance and obtain approval from the Alliance government.
These soul boxes are now under the control of the Alliance army. Those soul box vaults filled with the contents of an entire family are often guarded by an Alliance army unit.
Now, Shang Yanwen's task is to inventory these items and, under the protection of the military, transport the Soul Boxes to a unified management center for safekeeping. Once they are stored and registered, the Dark Elf race members who have completed the Soul Box registration will have 'basic human rights' within the Alliance.
It's the basic right not to be easily killed if you don't make mistakes, just like the four female slaves he saw when he first stepped into the government building.
However, his first job ran into some problems.
As he and his men completed the initial inventory of the Mindara family's soul casket vault and were preparing to load the documents and soul caskets away, a painful scream erupted from the ventilation duct!
Shang Yanwen was pinned down behind an alloy counter by his security chief, Vicas, the squad leader of the Execution Angels. Three poisoned arrows were driven into the spot where he had just stood, the ground hissing as it corroded.
Twelve Eldar dressed in shadow camouflage burst through the stained-glass window, their blades cleaving open the chests of two clerks, their blood splattering onto the data screens.
"For Victor!" The resistance leader's battle cry was shattered by the roar of the chainsword. Four execution angels crashed into their formation, their casually fired explosives turning the upper bodies of the attackers into a bloody mist, while the chainsword sliced each attacker into pieces.
Shang Yanwen saw that the Eldar holding the flag appeared to be a young boy, pinned to the sacrificial pillar by a power sword, his struggling feet drawing blood from the silver pillar; he also saw the most valiant female warrior among the enemies, who used a scimitar to slice off the Space Marine's arm armor, only to have her neck crushed by a backhand in the next second.
The battle ended in a very short time, with three prisoners remaining, who were captured by the execution angels.
After a brief interrogation, Vikas gave the order: "Execute." His voice, chilling, seeped through the holes in his visor. As the chainsaw sword plunged into the Eldar's body, it pulled out blue-purple organs, the dull thud of the saw teeth crushing the spine mingling with the pungent stench of burning flesh.
This is not just about physical annihilation.
The weapons of the execution angels are equipped with special devices created in collaboration between the Inquisition and the Mechanicus. Dark Eldar killed by their weapons at close range will gain complete 'freedom'.
While wiping the blood off his power armor, Vicas explained to Shang Yanwen, "These aliens destroyed the East District pipelines, rendering our newly drawn East District pipeline map invalid. They probably infiltrated from those pipelines."
Shang Yanwen, who had stood up, did not show much change in expression.
He thought for a moment and shook his head slightly.
After a whole squad of human soldiers rushed over, he demanded that all members of the small Mindara family be brought along.
The family's chief official, Inser, groveled before Shang Yanwen.
But at this moment, the civil official appeared extremely ruthless: "I believe this attack is inextricably linked to you. This is your territory, and I suspect that there are sympathizers of the rebels among you."
"Absolutely impossible!" Inser's body trembled. "You have no evidence to..."
"I only ask that you hand over the murderer." Shang Yanwen held up one finger.
“I…” Inser understood what he meant and said with a pale face, “I will give you a satisfactory answer and find the murderer for you.”
“Not one,” Shang Yanwen said, “it’s one hundred.”
Inser's face turned even paler.
His family has a total of just over nine hundred members.
“I did it!” Inser’s son stepped forward. “It has nothing to do with anyone else…”
"Muir!" Inser shouted, but was interrupted by a loud bang.
It was Vikas who fired.
He had received advance orders from Shang Yanwen and would not hesitate to shoot Inser's son.
Shang Yanwen continued to say to Inser, "Ninety-nine are still short."
Inser clenched his fist, but then let it fall limply.
Although he vaguely suspected that it might be his son, who had connections with the resistance, provided intelligence and facilitated his infiltration, and took advantage of Shang Yanwen's arrival to carry out the assassination, he was prepared to hand him over if he couldn't defeat him. However, he was also prepared to sacrifice his family's livelihood to do so.
But his son has already stepped forward and died, so why does he still want this?
What does Shang Yanwen mean by this?
An eleven-draw lottery?!
But... even a scramble is better than a mass extermination.
……
Sitting in the car on the way back, Shang Yanwen appeared calm, but in reality, he was still somewhat shaken.
If Vicas had been a fraction slower, he would have been dead just now.
But he killed not just to avenge himself.
The stark examples need to be presented.
This time, what will be brought back by the human forces and preserved in a centralized location includes not only the soul boxes of all the surviving members of the 'Mindara' family, but also all of their members.
His lunch took place on a terrace overlooking the ruins of a theater. As Shang Yanwen chewed his synthetic steak, the surrender ceremony of the Mindara family was taking place in the square below. More than eight hundred people stood in a circle, watching ninety-nine of their kin kneel on the ground. Their soul caskets had been picked out and placed in front of them, to be crushed one by one by an angel of execution.
For every one that is crushed, a kneeling Elven will silently fall to the ground.
Their weapons and equipment had long been confiscated, leaving them with no chance of resistance.
In such an atmosphere of despair,
A young Eldar suddenly lunged at the angel of execution, but with just one kick, his head was smashed.
Shang Yanwen saw all of this. His face, with its deep nasolabial folds, was reflected in the clean metal tableware.
The boy who rummaged through garbage dumps for food a hundred years ago now holds the fate of countless dark spirits in his hands.
(End of this chapter)
