After admiring the statue of the Emperor, Li Qingyu headed for the main entrance of the cathedral, located behind the monument.
The building was overwhelming in its grandeur. Giant ferrocrete columns were adorned with bas-reliefs depicting the Astartes. Gothic architecture pressed down with grim solemnity.
Inside, people in robes bustled about, engaged in their rituals.
At the doors stood soldiers with fire staffs. Their cold gazes scanned the crowd of parishioners.
Those whose appearance seemed inappropriate, they unceremoniously chased away. But their main task was to watch the cash register. Every entrant was obliged to drop a hundred-bond bill into the donation box.
Here, even the right to pray to a god who would never answer you cost money.
Li Qingyu quickly figured out what was what. Pulling out a hundred from his pocket, he waved it in front of the guard's nose, dropped it into the box, and confidently stepped inside.
The interior hall was colossal, capable of holding thousands of kneeling believers.
Ahead, in the altar area, stood a smaller golden statue, about four meters high, but executed with incredible detail.
The Emperor was depicted as a dark-haired, swarthy man of middle age with noble features. The canonical image, reproduced throughout the Imperium.
In reality, this Golden Guy just liked to show off, constantly projecting a powerful psychic aura around himself. Everyone saw in him what they considered the ideal of perfection.
If your ideal is a busty milf with a doll-like face, then upon meeting the Emperor personally, you would see exactly her.
However, it's better to keep such thoughts to yourself. If you blurted something like that out loud, a Custodes hidden in the ceiling would jump down and shred you into molecules in a nanosecond.
Li Qingyu hadn't come here to pray to the Golden Throne. He needed to deliver a letter to Teresa, Joel's sister. He began to look around for someone to talk to.
The hall was packed with worshipers. In the stuffy air, saturated with the smell of wax and incense, people whispered litanies, pouring out their pain and hopes into the void.
By the wall stood several monks in gray hoods – the lower clergy, responsible for cleaning and sermons.
Noticing one standing slightly apart from the others, Li Qingyu approached him, took out a cigarette, and started a conversation:
"The Emperor protects. How's life?"
The monk glanced at Li Qingyu, deftly took a cigarette from the pack, and hid it in the folds of his robe.
"The Emperor protects. The newspapers say we are happy, so we thank His light for it."
Li Qingyu almost snorted. A man of his kind.
He lowered his voice: "It's like this. A girl named Teresa, sixteen years old, was admitted to you a couple of days ago. Her parents settled in the Underhive and sent me to pass on a message that they are alive and well."
He took out an envelope and showed it to the monk.
"Would the most devoted servant of the Throne agree to deliver good news from her family to the poor maiden?"
The monk lowered his gaze to the envelope, then looked Li Qingyu directly in the eyes, impassively.
Li Qingyu grinned and with a light flick of his fingers slid the envelope, revealing a hundred-bond bill hidden beneath it.
"Of course, the Emperor sees the diligence of his servants and rewards them accordingly."
Seeing the money, the preacher beamed and took the letter along with the bill.
"Wait here, don't go anywhere."
The monk disappeared through a side door. Li Qingyu leaned against the wall and began to observe the crowd.
The service had just reached its climax. A priest at the foot of the golden statue, shaking a holy scripture, yelled hoarsely:
"THE EMPEROR IS OMNISCIENT!!"
Thousands of people kneeling echoed him with a unified hum:
"THE EMPEROR IS OMNISCIENT!!"
"HIS WILL PIERCES THE COSMOS, AND NO HERESY CAN STAND BEFORE IT!!"
"HIS WILL PIERCES THE COSMOS, AND NO HERESY CAN STAND BEFORE IT!!"
The cries merged into a deafening cacophony, the echo bounced off the temple vaults. It was impossible to make out the words.
Li Qingyu, looking at this surrealism, decided that since he was a guest of old Impi, it would be rude to remain silent. He had to support the atmosphere. And he began to shout along with everyone else, but putting his own meaning into the cry:
"Yellow-faced one, you're begging again!"
"Glory to the Four-Armed Emperor!"
"Hey, old man! You who have sat on the throne for tens of thousands of years! Stop spamming your fem-versions across the multiverse! And stop considering viewing these pictures as consent to join the Guard! I summoned your mother!"
"If it howls, it's a wolf; if it yaps, it's a dog."
"If it's proud, it's a wolf; if it fawns, it's a dog."
"Eats everything clean – it's a wolf; leaves crumbs – it's a dog."
"Tears the living – it's a wolf; gnaws leftovers – it's a dog."
"Cold-blooded – it's a wolf; fidgety and pathetic – it's a dog."
"Goes into the forest – it's a wolf; climbs into the kennel – it's a dog."
"A wolf chases a deer; a dog eats shit from the road."
"Hides meat – it's a wolf; bares its teeth – it's a dog."
"Loves the sun – it's a wolf; always seeks shade – it's a dog."
"Marks dryly – it's a wolf; only a dog makes puddles."
"Loves meat – it's a wolf; begs for a bun – it's a dog."
"Only a wolf arches its back in a jump; only a dog walks straight."
"Thick fur – it's a wolf; a naked dog freezes in rags."
"A guttural roar – it's a wolf; a shrill yelp – it's a dog."
"Gnaws bones – it's a wolf; chokes on crumbs – it's a dog."
"If beaten – a wolf bites immediately; only a dog endures a stick!"
Li Qingyu got carried away, shouting these lines louder and more furiously.
His heretical ravings drowned in the sea of fanatical shouts, remaining unnoticed by the general mass, but quite real in the overall din.
One of the believers, kneeling nearby, suddenly flinched. Through the trance of prayer, strange words reached him.
He turned and stared at Li Qingyu, who was sitting by the wall. Listening and filtering out the surrounding noise, he finally grasped the meaning of the shouts.
The poor man's face contorted with horror. He looked at Li Qingyu as if he were a ghost.
Noticing this gaze, Li Qingyu glanced back at him:
"What are you staring at? Look forward, or the inquisitors will take you for a barbecue as a heretic!"
Saying this, he rose to meet the returning monk. The latter came out of the side door, holding a letter.
"Sister Teresa is in class now, she can't come out. But she wrote a reply and asked me to pass it on."
"Thank you," Li Qingyu nodded, tucking the envelope into his pocket.
He turned and quickly left the cathedral.