187: Capture the Prince of Pleasure

The breakthrough progress of the Zero Point Project and the full deployment of the Void Barrier constructed a steel cradle for the Human Federation, isolating it from the Warp.

However, just as the Human Federation firmly fixed its gaze on the origin of the material universe, a long-ignored shadow—the Chaos Godss still raging throughout the galaxy and holding deep enmity toward the Human Federation—did not abandon their hostility because of the Federation's shift in focus.

On the contrary, the continuous expansion of the Firmament Network near the Eye of Terror, coupled with the Void Barrier's systematic repulsion of Warp energy, acted like a branding iron searing rotten flesh, provoking unprecedented anger and vigilance from the Chaos Gods.

The first to react was neither Khorne, Nurgle, nor Tzeentch, but Slaanesh, who had previously been profaned by the Human Federation through conceptual feedback, had ultimate pleasure vulgarized, and was soundly repulsed.

This youngest yet most vengeful Evil God harbored a twisted interest mixed with hatred toward the Human Federation; this cold civilization that completely rejected sensory input and suppressed emotion was, by its very resistance, the ultimate temptation.

Slaanesh longed to tear open the chastity belt constructed of steel, order, and the Void Barrier, and taste the torrent of emotion that had been suppressed within for eons.

But Slaanesh's attacks were no longer grand displays involving the Gate of Pleasure or legions of demons. Under the dual suppression of the Firmament Network and the Void Barrier, conventional invasion was like striking a rock with an egg. He chose a path that was more insidious and truer to his essence: infiltration and conversion.

The target was not the Human Federation's impregnable core citizens, but the vast populations of the Far East Star Sector and the Newly Annexed Necron Territories—regions recently annexed, where the Void Barrier had not yet been established, and where people were still suffering in the Reshaping Crucible.

The lingering attachment to The Emperor in their hearts, the resentment over the loss of their homeland, the fear of the unknown future, and the inevitable pain and confusion arising from the standardized transformation in the Reshaping Crucible—all of these were Slaanesh's sweetest bait.

The infiltration began in an extremely concealed manner. It wasn't through joyful illusions in dreams, but a fleeting, gentle recollection of returning to the past that inadvertently surfaced in the hearts of the despairing; it was the vague yearning for richer experiences that occasionally emerged during monotonous, suppressed collective labor; it was the hushed reminiscing among companions about details of their past lives in the renovation camp dormitories late at night, unable to sleep.

These subtle emotional ripples, almost impossible to detect by conventional surveillance, spread quietly like a virus among groups that had not yet been fully integrated into the Human Federation.

By the time providence finally noticed the problem through macroscopic abnormal fluctuations in population behavior patterns, Slaanesh's emotional virus had already formed small, yet deeply rooted, secret networks across multiple Newly Annexed Worlds.

More terrifyingly, these networks did not attempt any open resistance or destruction; they were merely silently feeling, reminiscing, and yearning, cultivating the first spark of warmth beneath the Human Federation's cold skin of order—a spark that could be exploited by the Evil God.

This is not conventional Chaos corruption," the adjudicator analyzed. "This is the precise exploitation of a byproduct of the ideological transformation project. Slaanesh did not attack directly; he merely amplified the inevitable psychological fluctuations during the transformation process. As long as the Reshaping Crucible exists, and as long as human individuals undergo painful transitions, this infiltration will have an opportunity."

Han Zhe's gaze was cold as frost. He knew well that modifying the Reshaping Crucible to make it gentler and eliminate pain was absolutely not the Human Federation's choice. That would mean compromise, doubting absolute order, and bowing down to the fear of the Evil God.

We cannot stop eating just because the food is hot," he said solemnly. "The Reshaping Crucible must continue, and it must accelerate. But at the same time, we must provide another outlet for the souls suffering in the Crucible—not indulgence, but directing their pain and desire toward a deeper hatred for the enemy."

Activate the Hatred Forging Protocol. During the transformation process, systematically reinforce the collective hatred among the newly annexed population toward Chaos, The Imperium, and all external enemies that obstruct the Human Federation's order. Externalize personal confusion and pain into a sacred hatred directed at the enemy, sanctioned and guided by order. Let every Human Federation citizen being reshaped become a warrior burning with cold fury."

This decision marked a profound shift in the Human Federation's social engineering. It moved from simply suppressing emotion to guiding and utilizing it, forging the ineradicable weakness of human nature into a Blade pointed at a clear enemy.

Slaanesh's emotional virus was quickly identified and isolated, and its infected networks were dismantled by the Human Federation using more efficient social surveillance and psychological intervention methods.

The guided, cold collective hatred acted like a fortified vaccine injected into the newly annexed population, causing a strong rejection reaction to Slaanesh's temptations of gentle recollection.

Slaanesh's first infiltration attempt was thwarted by the Human Federation in a colder, more systematic manner. But this Evil God would not give up, and the Human Federation also realized from this confrontation: passive defense can never eradicate the threat. They must take the initiative, plunge the dagger into the enemy's heart, or rather, place a cage around a deity's neck.

Capture a Warp God," Han Zhe dropped this bombshell in the Command Center. "Not like capturing an unformed fetus, as with the Taotie Prototype. We must capture a mature, powerful Chaos Gods who holds a deep grudge against us, or a crucial high-level avatar of one."

Use the Void Barrier to sever its connection to its Warp essence, use the Firmament Network to suppress its existence, use the Gods Flask Unit to decompose its essence, and finally, convert its power into a weapon against the the cold observer."

After intense debate, the target was locked: Slaanesh. Not because he was the weakest, but precisely because his hatred for the Human Federation was the fiercest, his infiltration actions were the most active, and the Human Federation had already accumulated the richest data on counteracting his power characteristics during previous engagements.

More importantly, Slaanesh's essence—the pursuit of ultimate sensation and emotion—formed the sharpest opposition to the absolute rationality pursued by the Human Federation. Capturing and dissecting Slaanesh would be the heaviest psychological blow to the Chaos Gods, and the ultimate affirmation of the Human Federation's own ideology.

Operation Codename: Sweet Cage.

The core of the plan was not to forcefully attack Slaanesh's domain deep within the Warp, but to lure him out. Utilizing Slaanesh's twisted interest in the Human Federation and his irresistible urge to conquer, a carefully designed flaw was used as bait to invite a part of his core existence into the real universe, drawing him into the Human Federation's preset trap—a deity-catching snare interwoven with multiple layers of the Void Barrier and the Firmament Network.

The bait was intelligence deliberately leaked about an ultimate technology being secretly developed by the Human Federation's Supreme Command Center—a technology capable of completely erasing emotion and achieving a society of absolute rationality.

This intelligence was reverse-transmitted to Slaanesh through the secret network that Slaanesh had infiltrated and which the Federation had subsequently counter-controlled, making it appear as an accidental leak. The intelligence implied that once this technology was completed and fully deployed, Slaanesh would entirely lose his foothold in human souls, and his interest in the Human Federation would forever remain unsatisfied.

This struck Slaanesh's deepest unease and fury. He could not tolerate this most tempting blank canvas being sealed away forever. Amidst Tzeentch's schadenfreude, Khorne's contemptuous snorts, and Nurgle's indifference, Slaanesh made his decision.

When that figure radiating ultimate beauty and deadly temptation—Slaanesh's supreme avatar, the Prince of Pleasure—carrying a decadent glory capable of corrupting star systems, forced his way into the real universe via the secret channel left by the bait and descended upon the Human Federation's preset Deity-Capturing Trap Sector, he was met not by the fear or worship of Human Federation high-ranking officials, but by a Deity-Capturing Fleet that had been waiting for a long time, consisting of ten eternal-class titan ships, thirty-six adjudicator-class battleships, seventy-two overloaded Imprisonment-class Platforms, and numerous Firmament Network node platforms.

Void Barrier, maximum power, activate!

Firmament Network, protocol override, definition injection!

Gods Bottle Network, full link activation, target locked onto Slaanesh's avatar!

Invisible isolation fields, like layers of tempered glass, rapidly weakened and severed the connection between the Prince of Pleasure and his Warp essence.

A dark golden torrent of order washed over his body—formed of ultimate beauty—with unprecedented intensity, branding scars of order onto his perfect surface. Dozens of Gods Bottle Sub-Units simultaneously emitted a greedy hum, their tendrils acting as invisible conceptual probes, piercing the avatar's struggling, writhing form from all directions, beginning to decompose and devour his divine essence.

Slaanesh's shriek nearly tore the fabric of reality. He had never suffered such profanity—not defeat, but capture, study, and digestion. The magnificent outer garment of the Prince of Pleasure, woven from countless pleasure-seeking souls, peeled away under the wash of order, exposing the twisted, struggling divine core within. He released a final, desperate seductive whisper, attempting to corrupt the surrounding Deity Catchers, but he was met only by the cold, emotionless gazes of the Human Federation crew, who had long since forged their hatred of Slaanesh into the strongest mental armor through the Hatred Forging.

The battle lasted an astonishing seventy-two hours. Finally, at the cost of three Eternal-class ships severely damaged, seven adjudicator-class ships destroyed, and two Gods Flask Units overloaded and self-destructed, the severely weakened, nearly inhuman divine remnant of the Prince of Pleasure was dragged into a specialized Ultimate Cage, doubly reinforced by Necron Phase Technology and Spacetime Anchoring Fields, and transported to the deepest part of the Extragalactic Tomb of Time Research Station.

The Human Federation had captured a true, mature, high-level avatar of a Chaos Gods. The significance of this was no less than capturing the crown prince of an enemy nation in a mortal war.