"Rainen Rusu, you bastard!"
Mong shouted at Zhou Yun standing outside the gates of the Mortuary Guild:
"We were still inside and you opened fire with laser rifles?!"
Zhou Yun wore a radiant smile. "How could I have guessed that you two happened to be here too?"
Marukitto picked up the rusted, decayed triangular sword from the ground and stuffed it into his robes. He glanced at Zhou Yun, slightly speechless—this guy clearly knew full well they were inside.
Marukitto and Mong had kept their faces covered the whole time, yet Zhou Yun had recognized them instantly and wasn't surprised at all that they were mutants. Clearly, when they removed their hoods and entered the Mortuary Guild, Zhou Yun had already been watching from nearby. Marukitto couldn't help but shake his head.
Mong, unaware of this, just muttered complaints about Zhou Yun being untrustworthy. But Zhou Yun's bright smile only made Marukitto feel a chill down his spine.
"Granted, I nearly hit you two, but I also saved your lives," Zhou Yun said as he stood a few meters from the Mortuary Guild's gate. "And you two being mutants… that's not exactly good, is it."
Behind Zhou Yun, twelve laser rifles floated into the air, aiming at Mong and Marukitto. Mong froze on the spot, and Marukitto's body stiffened slightly.
"Rainen Rusu," Marukitto said slowly, raising his hands, "we may be mutants, but we are not villains. As I told you before, we truly came here to save Asfōdo. We… we were guided by a tenshi (angel)."
"Tenshi?" Zhou Yun was visibly surprised.
"Yes, tenshi." Marukitto nodded firmly.
"Which tenshi?" Zhou Yun's lips curved into an amused smile.
"Who else could it be?" Marukitto shook his head.
"Oh? What a coincidence… I too was guided by a tenshi," Zhou Yun replied with a grin.
This time Marukitto froze, scanning Zhou Yun up and down.
"Doesn't seem like it…" Marukitto muttered softly.
"I don't think so either," Zhou Yun agreed with a nod. Then he looked toward the Mortuary Guild behind them.
"Since I saved your lives, and we're all supposedly guided by tenshi… could you do me a favor?" Zhou Yun asked with a chuckle. "There's a safe inside, equipped with a small stasis field. You saw it, right? Help me bring it out."
Both Mong and Marukitto blinked in surprise. Marukitto glanced at Zhou Yun standing outside the guild, arms folded, with twelve laser rifles still floating ominously behind him. Clearly, he had no intention of stepping foot into the Mortuary Guild himself.
"Damn heavy," Mong muttered as he and Marukitto dragged the human-sized plasteel safe out of the guild.
Zhou Yun ran his hand lovingly over the plasteel casing. The real value wasn't the heavy exterior, but the miniature stasis field inside—a vestige of humanity's Golden Age of Technology, creating an area where time nearly stopped. It wasn't strong enough to freeze time completely, but it was more than enough to preserve a certain notebook.
From his dimensional pocket, Zhou Yun pulled out the Naniiwa (Anywhere) Ring and pressed it against the safe. Through the portal created by the ring, he saw the item stored inside: a cream-colored, thick-paper notebook bound in soft black lambskin, secured with an elastic strap.
This was the Bondzman No.7 notebook, custom-made for Ignace Karkasy in one of Terra's hive cities, only 200 copies in existence.
With nenriki (psychokinesis), Zhou Yun slowly lifted the notebook out. Despite surviving millennia, it was clearly well-preserved.
"What's in that notebook?" Mong asked curiously.
"Probably just a poetry collection," Zhou Yun replied as he flipped it in his hand.
One look at it convinced Mong it wasn't some ancient heretical grimoire, and he lost interest.
Zhou Yun, however, recalled the works of that poet from ten thousand years ago: In Praise of Unity, The Imperial Long Poem, Sea Verses, Introspection and Hymns, and the infamous We Have Only the Truth, which had cost him his life. He wondered which one this notebook contained.
Opening it, Zhou Yun found a slip of paper tucked between the title pages, torn from the notebook itself. On it, heavy, powerful script—not at all like a mortal hand.
From the corner of Zhou Yun's eye, the white-winged figure in the light let out a quiet sigh.
"That's Loken-chōrō's (Captain Loken's) handwriting," the figure murmured.
Captain Loken, Tenth Company Captain of the Sons of Horus, member of the Mournival, once a close advisor to the Warmaster, and the last Shadow Moon Wolf loyalist left at Istvaan III.
The note was a pre-battle declaration—an oath often sworn by an Astartes before battle. Yet here it was, written for a mortal: Ignace Karkasy, asking him to keep a secret.
"I swear to Captain Garviel Loken, in the name of Terra and the Emperor, to keep strict silence about what happens tonight, and vow never to speak of it to anyone," Zhou Yun read softly.
Then he turned to the first page of the notebook:
"Captain Loken asked me to keep it secret, but First Captain Abaddon nearly snapped my neck—I need to vent my fear somehow.
This is my private diary. Writing it here shouldn't count as breaking the oath, right?
As I told Captain Loken: 'Even the most gifted actor would struggle to match Erebus' brilliant performance tonight.'
Erebus said that Governor Temba betrayed Horus, not the Emperor. He turned it into a personal vendetta, manipulating and deceiving the Warmaster.
That can't be good. I suspect even First Captain Abaddon may have been involved.
I saw him hand a silver coin to Erebus… perhaps some kind of warrior lodge token."
(End of Chapter)
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