"When the shadow of the Great Devourer engulfs all of Ashford, it will already be too late."
The winged figure calling himself Saint Gilles flickered before Zhou Yun's eyes.
And indeed, as he'd said, Zhou Yun had run into some real danger this time.
But Chaos had always been good at using kindness to lure people into damnation.
A lover's affection, a sage's teaching, a brother's friendship, a father's care…
That kindness might sometimes be a lie, sometimes sincere—but either way, the gifts of the warp always came at a price, and the deeper you took them, the harder to escape.
The Sons of Horus placed their Warmaster in the temple of the Serpent Lodge to save him—only to see him corrupted.
Magnus, pursuing the warp too far, shattered the Emperor's webway dream with one psychic cannon blast.
Fulgrim fell in love with the Laeran blade's power, only to be possessed by its daemon.
Even the superhumanly wise Primarchs could be led astray. Zhou Yun knew he himself lacked their wisdom—and didn't have the guts to gamble.
He drew a small knife from his dimensional pouch and walked over to the stunned sneaky cultists, slitting their throats to send these not-yet-too-corrupted hybrids to meet the Great Devourer.
Looking at their corpses, Zhou Yun felt a headache coming on.
If he left them here, others might find clues and trace them back to him.
If only there were a way to get rid of the bodies without leaving a trace…
Hmm?
Zhou Yun blinked as an idea popped into his mind.
He crouched down, grabbed a corpse, and stuffed it into his dimensional pouch.
[Item Name: Hybrid Neophyte Corpse]
[Origin: Hades Shield System – Ashford – Fudiya City]
[Appraisal: Lightly mutated Genestealer hybrid corpse. Warm in nature, spicy and slightly salty in taste. Said to relieve pain, expel toxins, disrupt gene stability. Not recommended for consumption.]
[Manufactured: 978.M41]
[Condition: Intact, excellent appearance]
[Value: 10,000 credits]
Warm in nature, spicy, expels toxins…
Zhou Yun was about to scoff at the pouch's appraisal when his eyes caught the hefty price tag.
Even more than a whole damaged polonium transfer unit!
He quickly got to work, stuffing the remaining corpses into his pouch as well.
Eight sneaky corpses in total netted him over 100,000 credits.
The squashed, heavily mutated leader alone was worth more than 20,000.
Zhou Yun felt a twinge of regret—if he hadn't squashed it flat, it might've sold for more.
Adding up everything he'd salvaged today, his balance was already close to 200,000.
He swallowed hard.
In his heart, he wasn't a greedy man.
But the more credits he piled up, the closer he got to the dokodemo doa (anywhere door)—and the better his chances of running away.
If he could hunt more Genestealers…
Zhou Yun shook his head, driving that dangerous thought away.
These were Genestealers—sneaky ones—not some overalls-wearing, rap-dancing chickens.
These here were just lightly mutated hybrids, the weakest and most humanlike of their kind.
If he ran into stronger hybrids, more heavily mutated ones, or even one of their apex predators…
He wouldn't live to see the Hive Fleet arrive.
Thinking that, Zhou Yun took out another vial from his pouch.
[Item Name: Air Gun Potion]
[Origin: 22nd Century Earth – Future Department Store]
[Manufactured: 241.M3]
[Function: Liquid potion. Apply to finger, then point and shout "bang" to fire a concussive blast strong enough to knock a normal human unconscious. Each finger can fire once.]
[Appraisal: You can't shoot without a gun? Since when is a gun so inconvenient?]
This gadget wasn't nearly as strong as a shock gun or air cannon, only capable of stunning unmodified humans. Against mutated hybrids, it took several shots.
But it was cheap and discreet, and it wasn't like Zhou Yun was likely to bump into Astartes in the hive.
He applied a few more drops to his fingers and used the concussive blasts to erase all traces of his presence from the area.
Then he slipped away from the ruined district as fast as possible, not wanting the cult to catch up to him.
Minutes after Zhou Yun left…
A hooded figure, its face bristling with mechanical implants, crept silently to the scene.
It was a Sanctus, an assassin of the Genestealer cult, born to eliminate anyone who threatened the brood's safety.
It had superhuman night vision, multi-jointed limbs that let it crawl through shadows, and plasticky muscles to squeeze through the narrowest cracks.
Its eyes were the Patriarch's eyes. Its bioblade was the Patriarch's claw. It was here to answer the Patriarch's questions.
But the ground here was swept clean, as if by wind, leaving no trace.
Clutching its bioblade warily, it turned to examine the lingering psychic residue in the air.
In the unseen world, it saw a single pure white feather gently drifting down.
That feather was exquisite, like it was forged of platinum, yet softer than any down.
That feather was pure, out of place in this filthy world, and so noble it seemed to carry the holiest blessing.
It caught a faint scent from the feather, as though it had been steeped in thousands of years of prayer and incense.
Oh—it could no longer hear. Couldn't hear the Patriarch's voice. Couldn't hear the Four-Armed Emperor's voice.
It began to sob, realizing in a haze how ugly it had become, how wrong its path was.
It prayed for forgiveness. It prayed for redemption. And then… He sent down His fire.
In the shadows of the ruins…
A massive presence—six meters tall, the embodiment of all corruption and blasphemy, like a demigod or devil—watched silently.
It watched as its "eyes," the Sanctus tracking the psychic traces, suddenly froze, its link cut.
Then golden flames erupted from the Sanctus's mutated skull, pouring from its eyes, mouth, and ears, burning fiercely.
Until nothing was left but faintly glowing golden ash.
The hulking figure let out a low, fearful hiss.
And then, in an instant, every Genestealer mind on the planet heard the Patriarch's hissed command:
"Find him! Kill him!"
(End of Chapter)
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