Old Man Huang soothed his frantic son with psychic power, allowing the visions to slowly recede, and Konrad Curze gradually calmed down.
"Son, calm down. Your father is here to take you home."
"That is not my name, Father. I am the Night Haunter, and I know very well why you have come."
He left Nostramo, took command of the Eighth Legion, and joined the Great Crusade. However, after Konrad Curze left Nostramo, the Kharon once again became a cesspit, because the greatest fear was gone.
At the same time, the Eighth Legion's recruitment source also had problems... Konrad Curze's original idea was to recruit only the best talents from his homeworld, those who were "bravest," "most upright," and those who could understand that "fear is not the goal, merely a means."
But due to lack of oversight, the remaining noble class of Nostramo quickly found ways to circumvent the decrees. The truly excellent talents were all kept by the powerful elite and local gangs.
Those sent to the Legion's recruiting office were another group of strong, able-bodied individuals: the outstanding graduates of "Arkham Asylum."
(GW's lore is actually full of loopholes, because even before Konrad Curze's return, the Eighth Legion was already filled with Penal Legionnaires from Terra. The criminals of Nostramo were merely "Arkham" coming to "another Arkham," and logically, it wouldn't have caused such a severe impact. Why would the Emperor intentionally form a Space Marine Legion with the most evil people he could find?)
Konrad Curze found his Legion increasingly degenerating into wanton atrocities. His ban on torture was being ignored, so he personally investigated the matter. Konrad Curze discovered that his Legion was already terminally ill; the number of criminals was so great that if he killed them all, the Legion would be dissolved.
At the same time, his visions became more frequent and more intense. Once, during a more severe epileptic seizure, after barely driving everyone in the room away, he succumbed to the vision. But when he regained consciousness, a dead Legion Librarian lay on the floor.
Although Konrad Curze believed this was all an accident, Konrad Curze's sense of justice made him certain that he was the murderer, and this unlucky Librarian was the first innocent person he had killed.
This incident severely damaged Konrad Curze's already unstable mental state. He believed he had become a murderer, as sinful as the criminals he had killed.
Afterward, Konrad Curze planned to first solve the problem of new recruitment from the source. He actually didn't know how to do this. So he first sought out his closest "Third Sister" Fulgrim. As a result, while consulting his Third Sister, he had another epileptic seizure.
In the vision, he saw the Emperor ordering his assassination and the Imperium being torn apart by civil war. He knew that absolutely no one would believe these "hallucinations." When Fulgrim, out of concern, asked Konrad Curze what he had seen, the nearly collapsed batman told everything to his Third Brother.
His Third Sister was naturally terrified after hearing this and immediately comforted her brother, saying that Emperor Father could not possibly order filicide and the Imperium could not possibly descend into civil war. A calmed Konrad Curze then went along with Fulgrim's words, stating that he had only seen some visions not worth remembering, and everyone should just forget about it.
But Konrad Curze apparently didn't know at the time that Fulgrim's mouth was like an old lady sunbathing at the door, completely unable to keep a secret. At the same time, he himself had not clearly enough indicated that he wanted to conceal this matter.
In short, Konrad Curze wanted to provide his brothers with irrefutable evidence that the Nostramo government had been deliberately sending the Kharon's worst criminals to him as new recruits, leading to the irreversible corruption of his Legion.
Thus, he might be able to gain the support of his Imperial Father to rebuild the Legion. However, when he managed to collect the necessary evidence and was about to present it to his brothers, disaster suddenly struck in the form of Rogal Dorn.
Konrad Curze was supervising the execution of a batch of prisoners of war when the taciturn Rogal Dorn suddenly came over and, from a moral high ground, lectured the Eighth Brother.
He objected to Konrad Curze's methods, declaring that achieving peace through fear was never the Emperor's intention, and that the long-term stability of the Imperium could not be built on intimidation.
After hearing this, Konrad Curze turned around and put a gun in a prisoner's hand, then ordered his subordinates not to kill this prisoner no matter what happened. After saying this, he pulled the prisoner's hand and placed the gun against his own chin: "Come on, kill me."
At first, the prisoner refused, but when Konrad Curze assured him that killing him would not result in any punishment, the prisoner decided to shoot the Primarch in the back when Konrad Curze turned away. The bolter round ricocheted off the armor, causing no damage, and Konrad Curze turned around and instantly killed the prisoner.
Konrad Curze tried to prove his point through this incident, which was: once the fear of consequences is eliminated, people will no longer remain loyal.
If Old Man Huang had a higher emotional intelligence, he might have chosen to keep his mouth shut and let Konrad Curze play by himself. Or if Rogal Dorn was like Guilliman, Horus, or The Great Angel, he could have tried to persuade him: "Though fear can enforce obedience, it can never bring loyalty; failing to distinguish between the two will cause him trouble."
However, Rogal Dorn's social skills were worse than a Kharon toad.
Usually a docile Taurus, once provoked, he immediately transformed into a Virgo. To win the argument, Dorn instantly sold out his Third Brother, Fulgrim, stating that the Third Brother had already told him about Konrad Curze's treasonous delusions, and he accused Konrad Curze of spreading heresy.
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