The cocktail party was held in an extremely luxurious aerial estate on top of the hive city.
The manor was magnificently decorated, and all kinds of flowers and plants exuded a faint, slightly fishy natural scent under the warm wind blown by the ventilation machines.
Everything here seems to have nothing to do with the filthy nest outside.
It's a completely different world.
The crystal chandeliers suspended by suspended servo skulls were like the sun of this manor, providing just the right amount of light for the guests attending the cocktail party.
It's not too harsh, nor too dark.
Girls selected from the middle and lower levels of the hive and carefully trained, dressed in hot clothes, wandered among the guests, acting as bar girls.
The girls' skin was very fair, with a sheen like white cream.
The bodies of these girls have been technically adjusted, and they look very hot, with fair skin, beautiful faces, long legs, curvy figure, and perfect faces, which are full of fatal temptation to men.
Each of these bar girls is a precious gem that has never been possessed by anyone.
Of course, if a guest needs it, he can enjoy it.
All follow-up work is handled by the Graus family
Such is the wealth of the Glause family that they are not shy about sharing their modest fortune.
They own industries in several galaxies, and the wealth they earn every second is unimaginable to ordinary people. It is also wealth that the lower class cannot earn in several lifetimes, or even dozens of lifetimes.
Many people believed that unless the Graus family was convicted of treason by the empire, there was no way they would decline.
Now the situation is different, and another threat has put the Glause family in a shaky situation.
That was the reform that Guilliman was enacting.
The old man who said Guilliman betrayed them was none other than House Graus.
An old nobleman who had undergone many delayed operations, he lived for more than four hundred years and experienced four centuries.
The Grouse family's deep wealth allowed him to enjoy expensive medical procedures that extended his life.
It is worth mentioning that according to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior a hundred years ago, the average life expectancy on the planet Natal was only 55 years old.
A large number of workers are engaged in toxic industries and they often do not live to the age of fifty.
It is quite exaggerated for an old nobleman to live for four hundred years.
It is equivalent to more than ten generations of the middle and lower classes.
The old nobles saw it clearly. Guilliman's reforms were bound to cause heavy losses to the Graus family and would no longer be able to guarantee their luxurious life.
The Glaus family has served the Emperor faithfully for over five thousand years.
But now Guilliman has taken them all back, which is undoubtedly a complete betrayal of the Graus family.
Such betrayal made the Graus family indignant, and they publicly stated that they would not accept any reforms of Guilliman.
The old noble's shout attracted the attention of other nobles.
They were whispering to each other, with anger also evident on their faces.
In their view, Guilliman's actions were simply incomprehensible and even stupid.
Some nobles even thought that Guilliman was a mentally ill tyrant.
He was killing loyal people of the empire, persecuting these loyal families, and suppressing loyalists of the empire.
If it weren't for the other party's identity as the Primarch, these nobles would have wanted to report directly to Terra, declare this guy a Chaos heretic, and request all departments of the Empire to work together to strangle him.
How could a loyal primarch do such a thing as attacking loyal nobles and weakening the Empire's strength
It must be heresy.
Only a heretic would behave like this.
"We must stop his ridiculous behavior." A younger noble said, "We have been loyal to the empire for thousands of years. Our loyalty cannot be questioned or challenged, but he wants to dismiss us. Tens of thousands of years of slumber have made his mind unclear. We must let him know that it is us who maintain the survival of the empire, not those stupid civilians."
"Watch your words. Offending the Primarch will be considered treason." Another noble said in a deep voice, "If you don't want to attract the Emperor's angels, restrain yourself."
"So what? It's just death. The Bandik family will not be afraid of this. We are loyal to the Emperor and to Terra. Death cannot make us surrender. The biggest problem now is to correct the mistakes of the Primarch. The system of the Holy Emperor has been in operation for tens of thousands of years, which fully proves the superiority of this system. The families are loyal to Terra, and Terra is loyal to the Emperor. Everything is so orderly."
"And now the Primarch wants to break this system, take away the rights of the loyal families, and give them to those stupid, easily seduced civilians. This idea is simply absurd. Those stupid civilians are useless. In addition to letting their sons take up weapons and become soldiers, and letting their daughters wear bunny girl clothes to pour wine, what else are they used for? ”
The young man from the Bandik family shouted, "Our fathers fought for the empire to protect these garbage. Our status and identity are what we deserve, but now he wants to take it all away. Is this fair?"
"This is indeed unfair, fellow citizens. The Emperor rules Terra, Terra rules the nobles, the nobles rule the common people, and the common people give everything to the nobles. This is the most perfect system. And now, Guilliman wants to break it and replace it with a stupid system. For the sake of the Imperium and the Emperor, we should really rise up in resistance. The Graus family will only obey the orders of Holy Terra unless the Primarch can retract that stupid reform."
The old noble of the Graus family shouted loudly.
The emotions of many nobles at the party were also aroused.
They discussed in low voices the folly of Guilliman's reforms, each of them indignant, determined to do everything they could to protect the Empire.
... ... ..
The reception is over.
The bodies of several barmaids, whose bodies were bruised and terrified, were packed up along with the garbage and sent to the bottom floor via a conveyor belt, where they were looted.
Those corpses were also snatched away by the homeless people at the lower level, and they were dismembered and then divided up the different parts of the corpses.
Only some blood was left in the garbage dump.
This happens at every banquet.
The nobles who were having fun would always accidentally kill a few people.
This kind of thing is nothing to them.
As long as the matter is handled cleanly and law enforcement agencies cannot find the body, there will be no problem.
Even if there are problems, they can be easily resolved with the power and influence of the Graus family.
... ... ... ... ... ..
Bells rang throughout the hive, and the voices of the missionaries praying to the Emperor echoed through loudspeakers in every corner of the hive.
A group of workers walked out of the rumbling factory, took heavy steps, and got on the public transportation that shuttled around the city.
Hawke was one of these workers. He was exhausted and felt that every bone in his body was aching.
The twelve-hour work drained all his physical strength and energy.
Looking out from the windows of a vehicle, what comes into view are high-rise buildings flashing neon lights.
A trace of confusion appeared on Hawke's face.
His father is a worker, his mother is a worker, and he is also a worker.
This kind of life is monotonous. Every day I eat the same canned food, sleep in the same cramped room, listen to the preaching of the Anglican priest through a simple holograph, or watch boring videos to kill time.
In another two years, the Fertility Committee will assign a wife to him, and they need to give birth to a child within two years, otherwise it will be regarded as deliberate violation of imperial law, and they will be punished and required to pay more taxes.
Families that cannot afford it will be driven to the bottom of the society and become poor wanderers.
His life was predictable; he went to get off work and back home every day, earning just enough wealth to sustain his life.
The workers' wages are calculated by the mechanical priests to ensure that they will not starve to death or save money. They must always stay motivated to work so as not to fall into poverty.
In such a world, unless Hawke is willing to be a tramp, nothing will change.
"I heard that the Emperor's son has awakened."
There was a discussion coming from the front row, which made Hawke subconsciously concentrate and listen to what the other party was saying.
"What does waking up have to do with us?"
“Maybe it can improve our lives.”
"Don't dream. Every powerful person is the same. They don't care whether we live or die. They only regard us as a nuisance and a burden."