Chen Xi took a letter opener bearing the Imperial Aquila from the Deployment Box he had brought and set it on the table. He said nothing, merely gesturing for the three of them to take a look.
The shop owner was the first to pick it up.
The letter opener was exquisitely made and compact. Its handle was just large enough for an adult to grip, and it rested in a sheath bearing the gear emblem of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Once drawn, its blade was only slightly longer than a palm. On the blade, which was barely a finger's width across, sat a small circular mark resembling a Power Field Generator. It looked exceptionally slender.
The guard was decorated with an Imperial Aquila, giving it a distinctly Imperium of Man, Warhammer-style aesthetic.
"This... can't be the real deal, can it?" After testing the blade and finding that it was not particularly sharp, the shop owner looked at Chen Xi with uncertain suspicion.
"There's a button on the handle. Why not try it?" Chen Xi looked at the shop owner as though he meant something more.
Yet faced with Chen Xi's prompting, the shop owner hesitated.
He set down the letter opener, picked up his wineglass, and, with a slight tremble, drained the red wine in one gulp.
Chen Xi and the shop owner's cryptic exchange made Mai Mai and Twilight realize something. Twilight immediately picked up the letter opener and pressed the cleverly designed button on its handle as Chen Xi had said.
Blue electrical light spread across the blade, as though coating the entire weapon in a pale blue film.
That was the standard manifestation of a Power Weapon.
An expression of disbelief appeared on Twilight's face, and he immediately swung the blade at the wineglass beside him.
It was as if the blade had cut through nothing at all. The glass split neatly in two, without the slightest sense of resistance.
"This is the real thing?" Twilight looked stunned, then abruptly raised his head to stare at Chen Xi. "Fuck, I knew you'd gone to work for Big E! Why didn't you bring your brothers along?"
"Do you really want to go? That's the Warhammer universe—a place where transmigrators would cry like Gretchins whose toes had been stepped on." Chen Xi remained composed, showing no particular reaction to Twilight's accusation.
Though he had said nothing, he had said everything.
The three did not blame Chen Xi for his deliberately mysterious attitude. After all, not everyone was willing to share something like transmigration with friends, even if the destination was the famously shitty Warhammer universe.
Moreover, faced with Chen Xi's almost explicit invitation, all three hesitated. Setting aside transmigrating into the Warhammer universe, transmigration itself was something that required serious consideration.
None of them had struck it rich, nor were they orphanage graduates whose parents had died for dramatic effect. They also lacked the suicidal tendency of wanting to understand the true meaning of life and truly live. There was no need for them to abandon their families and livelihoods to transmigrate.
But Mai Mai noticed something and asked Chen Xi, "If it's transmigration, does this come with a return ticket? It isn't one-way?"
"If it were one-way, I wouldn't be here, would I?" Chen Xi smiled.
"You're telling us this. Aren't you afraid we'll tell someone?" Twilight asked again.
Chen Xi merely spread his hands. "Do you think you can evade assassination by a Vindicare Assassin, or survive decapitation by Space Marines?"
Of course, Chen Xi could not possibly deploy units that powerful in the 3K Era. However, the exchange options Big E had provided included corresponding enhancements. Chen Xi could turn himself into an assassin from the Assassinorum, or even a Space Marine.
So, in a sense, he was not exactly lying.
After all, he had never said whether Big E would send someone after them, or whether he would do it himself.
The three of them clearly understood what Chen Xi meant, and none of them intended to ask further.
In the end, after all three had taken turns playing with the letter opener, it was placed back on the table. The three then looked at Chen Xi with blazing eyes.
"So just say it. What exactly is going on? Is the Emperor recruiting?" The shop owner simply tore away the pretense and asked Chen Xi the question they truly cared about.
"More or less. I do have slots that allow people to transmigrate into the Warhammer universe." Chen Xi was deliberately vague about the matter of transmigration. While he was willing to share the opportunity, he did not want those he invited to slip beyond his control.
"What kind of slots?" With his guess confirmed, Mai Mai was visibly excited.
Still, he restrained himself as much as possible, lest his excitement drive him to do something rash.
"Simply put, it's High Lord of Terra, except you can choose the piece you use—that is, the identity of the corresponding character." Chen Xi briefly explained the transmigration mechanism, then added, "Of course, you can also choose Cursed High Lord mode, but in that mode you can only deploy pieces. It's more like a tabletop battle.
Also, only your consciousness transmigrates. Your actual body remains in the 3K Era, so you don't need to worry about being physically transported over and caught by Slaanesh to be made into a sex slave, or being fed soup by Nurgle."
"What if Tzeentch starts causing trouble?" Twilight interjected.
"Tzeentch causing trouble is unavoidable. This is the Warhammer universe, after all. Expecting the Chaos Gods not to make things difficult for you is pure fantasy. But don't worry—Big E guarantees that our spirits and consciousnesses will not be affected by the filth of that world. As long as you don't fall to corruption yourself, there won't be a problem, and nothing will be brought back into this world." Chen Xi reassured them. This was also the most crucial point about transmigrating into the Warhammer universe.
As long as that was guaranteed, they would not be nearly as resistant to transmigrating into the Warhammer universe.
"One last question. How do we get there?" the shop owner asked again.
"Big E gave me a box. We can transmigrate through that box, and exchanges are conducted through it as well." Chen Xi explained the specifics to the three of them.
He was not worried that they would leak the secret. From any angle, they did not seem like people who would refuse.
Chen Xi had also used a fairly significant rhetorical trick here: he made the three believe that the box was controlled by him.
While the box was indeed under Chen Xi's control, that wording still allowed him to maintain the dominant position.
"What are we waiting for, then? Where's the box? I can't wait anymore!" Mai Mai finally could not hold himself back and began rubbing his hands together eagerly.
"There's no rush to transmigrate. Let me first introduce what things are like over there!" Chen Xi felt it was necessary to give the three of them a basic introduction, so they could understand what the situation was like in 40K.
And Chen Xi hoped that the characters they chose would fit the current circumstances aboard Rostov II and his subsequent development plans.
Before you continue