"My name is Leman Russ," Zhou Yun said solemnly.
The moment they heard that name, all three people present lost it.
"You don't need to use such a perfunctory fake name to fool us," Monger said, shaking his head.
"It's fine if you don't want to tell us your real name." Malkit smiled gently.
"Do you have some kind of obsession with Leman and Russ?" the winged figure in the white light asked.
One name had fused together two of the Empire's Primarchs, and two Primarchs who were at odds with each other at that.
The Dark Angels' Primarch, Lion King Leman El'Jonson.
The Space Wolves' Primarch, Wolf King Leman Russ.
The name Leman Russ was as absurd in 40K as someone being named Jesus Shakyamuni or Aisin Gioro Chongzhen.
"How is it a fake name? My parents named me after their respective preferences," Zhou Yun said with a straight face.
"Your father admired Primarch Leman El'Jonson, while your mother admired Primarch Leman Russ?" Monger asked curiously.
"No. My dad likes cats, and my mom likes dogs." Zhou Yun grinned.
"Russ might find that very funny, but Leman definitely wouldn't let you off," the winged figure in the white light said gloomily.
Monger and Malkit exchanged glances. Though Zhou Yun could not see their faces beneath their hoods, he could still sense their utter bewilderment.
"I now think you're on the same path as us."
Monger turned to Zhou Yun and said:
"Just for that remark, you deserve to be sent to the stake and slowly roasted for three days and three nights."
"The PDF base is up ahead."
After passing through the maze-like streets of the abandoned hive city, Malkit and Monger led Zhou Yun, who called himself "Leman Russ," to the side of some ruins deep within the hive district.
Monger, Malkit, and Zhou Yun hid behind a spacious house some distance away, watching the scene ahead.
A mountain of rubble lay wedged between the hive city's floor and ceiling, like an impassable Wall of Sighs.
At the foot of the rubble mountain, the local gang had already set up a temporary stronghold.
Small generators roared and rumbled, feeding electricity into abandoned houses near the street and lighting newly installed bulbs one after another.
Old Sector Eight had once been part of the Upper Hive, home to the hive city's middle class.
They were bureaucrats who handled the hive city's daily affairs, senior managers of factories, and providers of political and economic services needed by the nobility.
Their living conditions were far better than those in the lower hive. There was more space here, better buildings, and broader streets.
There was almost no chance to sneak in through the complicated streets.
Furthermore, the gang members had piled rubble into low walls between the houses, clearly prepared to defend the place to the death.
After all, the equipment inside the PDF base beyond that rubble mountain made countless gangs drool.
Zhou Yun narrowed his eyes slightly.
He noticed a small excavator, already fully assembled, parked beside the rubble mountain.
"They actually got a small excavator in here?" Monger muttered quietly as he crouched beside Zhou Yun.
"Looks like this gang has a mechanic who knows what he's doing." Zhou Yun nodded.
He saw two or three men dressed as hive workers adjusting the small excavator beside it.
"What were you planning to do to get in?" Zhou Yun asked the two robed men.
"My brother planned to corrode a tunnel through the pipeline district and enter the PDF base from above," Monger said.
Zhou Yun's eye twitched. He glanced at the size of the rubble mountain before him and estimated the thickness between the pipeline district and the PDF base.
"By the time you dig through, The Emperor will have gotten up from his throne," Zhou Yun said, the corner of his mouth twitching.
"I think so too." Monger nodded in complete agreement.
"You two, stop egging each other on." Malkit shook his head helplessly. "We need patience. A great deal of patience."
"Then I'll figure out how to get in by myself. You two can go back and keep digging slowly," Zhou Yun said with a shrug.
"You have a way in?" Monger asked Zhou Yun.
"It would be best if no one died," Malkit said gently. "We don't want to attract too much attention."
Hearing that, Zhou Yun could not help rolling his eyes. He had not expected that the first time he worked with cultists, the cultists would demand that nobody die.
How should he put it? Very much the style of Nurgle followers.
"Uh, do you have any clever witchcraft that could make them have diarrhea or something?" Zhou Yun asked, rubbing his chin.
Monger and Malkit exchanged a look.
"My blood is toxic. If we add it to their water source, it should make them have diarrhea... right?"
Monger sounded uncertain.
"Diarrhea? Just diarrhea?" Zhou Yun froze for a moment and looked at Monger strangely.
You're a Nurgle follower, and your blood can only give people diarrhea?
Noticing Zhou Yun's odd gaze, Monger fell silent for a moment before saying:
"Some unlucky people might also get infected with parasites or something."
A Nurgle follower's blood could only give people diarrhea and parasite infections. No matter how he thought about it, that seemed a little...
"It's fine. Monger's blood toxicity is embarrassingly weak. It's never poisoned anyone to death."
Malkit said calmly:
"If it weren't corrosive, Monger's blood wouldn't be lethal at all."
"Once it's mixed into water, the blood gets diluted, and the corrosiveness won't pose much of a threat either."
"Brother!" Monger said dejectedly.
Zhou Yun's mouth twitched slightly.
Why did he feel that these two cultists were a bit amateurish?
Malkit was so good-tempered that he did not seem like a cultist at all, and he was excessively patient.
As for Monger, as a Nurgle follower, aside from its corrosiveness, his blood could only give people diarrhea and parasite infections.
No wonder Ashford had never seen much cultist trouble. So this was the level of your professional competence.
For a moment, Zhou Yun looked at the two cultists with pity. At this level, it could not have been easy to be cultists in the hive city.
"But look, there are guards near their water source. How are you going to add Monger's blood to it?" Malkit said, pointing at the water source.
Six or seven gang members were patrolling there.
"Ah! I've got an idea!" Zhou Yun chuckled and pointed at the excavator beneath the rubble mountain.
The mechanical hand on the hat atop his head extended a finger as well.
Rumble—
A burst of mechanical grinding rang out, and the small excavator parked beneath the rubble mountain suddenly raised its mechanical arm high.
The hive workers gathered around it and adjusting it jumped in fright, all taking several steps back.
"What are you doing?" a nearby gang member barked.
"We didn't touch it!" the hive workers hurriedly explained.
Then, under the shocked gazes of the workers and gang members, the excavator slowly turned its front toward several gang members.
"Could the machine spirit have manifested?!" one hive worker shouted, remembering the machine spirits he had heard others speak of.
"Machine spirit rejoices!" another hive worker could not help shouting as well.
Then the excavator's mechanical arm swung down heavily, knocking a gang member beside it unconscious.
The excitement on the hive workers' faces instantly turned into terror.
"The machine spirit is displeased!"
Before you continue