Chapter 971, Return Quickly

Chapter 971, Return Quickly
Faced with two conflicting messages—one from the Holy Terra and the other from Mars—whom should Robert believe?

Of course, I don't believe anyone!
Judging from the current situation, something must have happened.

Without enough information, it was difficult to determine who was in trouble, but Robert decided to go and see for himself.

At the same time, in order to protect himself and avoid being caught in a trap due to problems on Mars, he was very careful in leading the fleet forward, always maintaining formation and sending out a large number of reconnaissance ships.

Later, it turned out that the incident did indeed occur in Holy Terra.

The forward reconnaissance ship spotted a war raging on Holy Terra!
Robert kept a close eye on the situation and demanded that every piece of intelligence from the front be transmitted directly to him.

Based on this intelligence, Robert felt that the war currently taking place on Holy Terra did not seem to be an invasion by an 'external' enemy, but rather an internal turmoil.

But that makes it even stranger.

Holy Terra, despite its massive population of trillions, has been built with countless densely packed cities, even after the oceans have been drained. This not only results in cramped living spaces but also inevitably leads to many areas lacking proper control.

Riots are actually quite normal.

Let alone since the Great Cataclysm, even in the past, when everything was fine, the situation wasn't necessarily peaceful.

With such a large base of people, coupled with the fact that the empire was indeed very corrupt and inefficient, it was only natural that some unrest would break out.

However, unrest is easy to erupt, but also easy to suppress.

Leaving aside the Imperial Guards who are stationed inside the palace for extended periods, these "homebodies" would never leave their homes, no matter how serious the situation.

But besides the Royal Guard, the Golden Knights, one of the founding chapters, were also stationed on Holy Terra for a long time. They had a long history of suppressing riots.

Aside from them, the defensive forces on Holy Terra are still formidable.

The Solar Legion is the elite of the Astral Armies. With a total strength exceeding ten billion, even though a significant portion of them were outside Holy Terra at the very beginning of the Cataclysm and certainly cannot return, nearly half remain permanently stationed within Holy Terra.

They were the main force in suppressing Holy Terra.

Besides them, the Ministry of Justice is also not to be ignored. Holy Terra is the Ministry of Justice's stronghold, and the police force there, in terms of equipment and personnel quality, is absolutely no less than an elite army. The difference is that the police force places more emphasis on investigation, bomb disposal, urban warfare, and small-scale operations.

Perhaps, in a large-scale field battle, the legal forces would be no match for the military, given their different equipment, training, and the different scenarios they would be dealing with. However, they are clearly more professional in suppressing riots in urban environments.

The number of police officers from the Ministry of Justice in Holy Terra is no less than that of the Solar Expeditionary Force.

The Ministry of Justice, in addition to its basic police force, also has a large number of elite officers. Power armor and Terminator armor—of course, force feedback versions that ordinary people can equip—are also included.

Besides the Sun Legion and the Ministry of Justice, there are also forces like the Inquisition and the Assassin's Court...

There are too many capable people on Holy Terra who can quell the riots.

Throughout history, there have been virtually no successful upheavals on Holy Terra.

But what if it's not just simple unrest?
In the solar system, amidst such turbulent subspace waves, it is perfectly normal for deep chaotic corruption to arise.

In fact, even before the Cataclysm, Chaos corruption was never uncommon among the impoverished population of the lower hives on Holy Terra.

However, beneath the scars, the condition must have become even more serious.

Of course, the turmoil caused by the mere addition of Chaos Corruption is still not terrible.

But what if those defensive measures that were originally meant to suppress unrest are also corrupted?
Star Guard generals, police bureaucrats... these have all happened in history.

At this point, it's still not particularly scary.

After all, the corruption of chaos has always been a core threat that the human empire has been facing. The State Religion, the Cult of Mechanics, the Inquisition, the Ministry of Justice... they all have a series of strict mechanisms to carry out supervision in all aspects.

But what if the corruption deepens further? What if even these institutions themselves become corrupt?
It's hard to say what will happen once it gets to that point. There's even a terrifying reality to add on top of that—even without the corruption of Chaos, is humanity truly a flawless race?

In this chaotic world, even without the corruption of chaos, the many powerful and wealthy people on the planet certainly have their share of petty schemes.

Then corrupted by chaos, teased by the whispers of the warp...

"Phew..." Robert let out a long sigh of relief.

Now, no matter how complicated or difficult the situation may be on Holy Terra, he has to face it.

That was something he was mentally prepared to face.

Otherwise, he could have come alone; why bring a huge Terran expeditionary force with him?

……

When the Terra Expeditionary Force arrived near Holy Terra, this time he didn't even need to contact the surface; the communication from the surface arrived first.

However, this is a warning message.

They still do not accept Robert's identity.

It was entirely expected.

Whether they are genuinely cautious and do not believe in the resurrection of the Son of God, or they actually believe it but for various reasons, especially because they do not want the Son of God to return to his throne and seize power, they may do so.

Robert replied with a strongly worded letter, emphasizing his identity and legitimacy, and in the name of the Imperial Regent, demanding that all political and military forces on Holy Terra, if they remained loyal, must follow his orders.

Here, he did not fall into the so-called identity verification trap.

If the people on the ground were to verify his identity, no matter how genuine his identity might be, they would have countless ways to use the name of procedural justice to drag things out indefinitely.

Instead, he needs to take the initiative.

But where does he have the initiative?
There are two levels, both of which are important.

Firstly, there's his identity.

Before he fell into slumber, in addition to being the Son of God and the Lord of the Legion, he had another particularly important and undeniable identity: the Regent of the Empire.

You can tell how important this person's status is just by looking at their name.

He was the undisputed supreme and legitimate ruler of the imperial government, and even a dictator.

As long as the emperor has not returned, he is the master of the empire.

And this identity was never taken away from him, even after he was seriously injured and fell into a deep sleep.

That's perfectly normal. Who can take it away? Besides, why bother with eleven ancient mythological figures who are already asleep and can't wake up?
Now, this legitimate status is right there, and it is the greatest source of legitimacy for his rule over the entire empire.

The second source of his initiative was the massive expeditionary force he led, which had been replenished by the alliance and restored to its peak.

He was determined to make good use of his strengths.

His order to Holy Terra was not directed at a single government. He also activated secret channels to send a differently worded letter to every key power on Holy Terra, including the Custodian Army, requesting their support.

In addition, he deployed his army to lunar orbit.

(End of this chapter)