Astonishing Wisdom!

In the Ark Gang stronghold, inside a small room on the third floor.

"So, you weren't a bug assassin sent to kill me." Lena, the Ark Gang's leader, frowned.

"So, you weren't a Genestealer patriarch either?" Zhou Yun raised a brow as he looked at Lena.

Lena, the Ark Gang's patriarch, was an illegal psyker.

Zhou Yun sat across from her, observing her.

There were no signs of madness or mutation on her face. Her faintly blue-stained eyes gleamed with reason.

A passage had been tattooed onto her cheek in pale golden ink:

"Rejoice, for I have brought you the glorious gospel."

"God walks among us."

Zhou Yun knew those words came from the Scripture of the Word written by Lorgar. They were the first two sentences of the entire book.

The book written by that traitor primarch elaborated in detail on the worship of The Emperor and his divinity. It was the foundation of the entire Imperial Creed.

Zhou Yun had checked with X-ray Vision. This Ark Gang leader was indeed a pure human, not the leader of the Chicken Thief cult.

She really was just an illegal psyker who had slipped away from a Black Ship.

But.

She seemed to know something about Tyranid Hive Fleets and Genestealers.

"Genestealers."

Lena's gaze shifted slightly.

"That's a fitting name. It describes them perfectly. Is that the Empire's official term?"

Zhou Yun gave a slight nod in response to Lena's question.

"Then what about those things that fell from space? The ones that descended in spore pods from living starships?" Lena asked Zhou Yun.

"Tyranids. The Tyranid Leviathan Fleet. They are predators from beyond the galaxy, trying to devour everything they see."

"They're coming soon," Lena whispered, her voice trembling slightly.

Silence filled the tiny room as the two stared wide-eyed at each other.

Zhou Yun looked Lena up and down, confusion in his eyes.

"It's one thing that you know Genestealers exist, but how do you even know the Tyranids are about to descend on Asford?"

"I saw it." Lena gently brushed the Scripture of the Word tattoo on her cheek with her fingertips.

A psyker's Prophetic Ability? Zhou Yun blinked.

Many psykers possessed some degree of prophetic ability and could glimpse fragmented scenes of the future.

Of course, what they foresaw was not necessarily real.

There was one in the Warp known as the Changer of Ways. He loved manipulating prophecies that were half true and half false, luring people into the roughest turns of fate.

Lena noticed Zhou Yun's gaze.

She placed a hand over her flat chest, lifted her chin proudly, and declared,

"I, Lena, have received enlightenment from the God-Emperor."

"He showed me visions of the future and told me to save more people of Asford!"

"..." Zhou Yun stared fixedly at Lena.

How many did that make now?

Counting Zhou Yun himself, who had been visited in a dream by "Sanguinius."

The Genestealer patriarch, vanguard of The Great Devourer.

Then Monger and Malkit, those two who seemed to have been blessed by a "Nurgling."

And now Lena had appeared, claiming to have received enlightenment from the God-Emperor. That made five already.

Were there a few too many chosen ones in Asford? Were all these big shots planning to fight a proxy war in this tiny hive city?

"I really was enlightened by the God-Emperor!"

Seeing Zhou Yun's deeply suspicious expression, Lena immediately widened her eyes.

"I'm a devout believer in The Emperor, and so were my mother and father. I wasn't tricked by some Warp ghost or monster!"

"Every time I see a prophecy, I sincerely pray to The Emperor and ask him to protect my mind."

As she spoke, Lena assumed a devout expression and praised The Emperor's divinity.

"I pray to The Emperor, that he may protect my soul from harm amid the tides of the Empyrean."

"Then you must be an officially certified legal psyker, right?" Zhou Yun asked, tapping the table.

A great silence filled the little room.

"I received the God-Emperor's guidance to save more people of Asford. I couldn't leave on a Black Ship." Lena shook her head firmly.

"Then since you received enlightenment from the God-Emperor, you must be able to hear his voice, right?" Zhou Yun asked again.

"You hear voices after receiving enlightenment?" Lena blinked blankly.

"Are you someone chosen by The Emperor?" Zhou Yun asked, the corner of his mouth twitching.

"I think I am!" Lena straightened her back and answered with considerable conviction.

"There are no traces of Chaos corruption on her." The winged figure glowing white at the corner of Zhou Yun's vision spoke softly.

Zhou Yun glanced at him and shook his head.

Either Lena had merely seen some prophecies from the Warp.

Or both she and the white-glowing fellow at the corner of his vision were part of Tzeentch's grand scheme.

"What exactly are you, then?"

Lena suddenly raised her voice and questioned Zhou Yun with the Voice of Temptation.

Zhou Yun showed no reaction.

"I'm already immune to that trick." His voice was calm.

The bit of will Lena projected into his mind was utterly insignificant compared to the winged figure radiating dazzling white light.

The instant it entered Zhou Yun's mind, it was diluted within that brilliant white radiance.

Lena immediately deflated, slumping against her chair as she complained quietly.

"I thought that if I caught you off guard and released the Voice of Temptation with all my consciousness, it might do something."

"Who exactly are you? Why did you disguise yourself as Lag and infiltrate my side? And why did you suddenly attack me?"

"I suddenly attacked you?" Zhou Yun raised a brow. "Who told you to start screaming out of nowhere?"

"Didn't I think you were a Genestealer assassin? They've tried to assassinate me several times already." Lena snorted.

"You thought? Are you an Ork now? You just thought?"

"I thought you were a Genestealer patriarch. Your propaganda had the exact same style as the Genestealers', and you suddenly sent someone to find me."

"Find you?" Lena froze and blinked.

Then realization dawned on her, and she slapped her forehead.

"You're... Zhou Yun, right?"

"You—aaaaaah!"

Lena viciously rubbed her hair.

"So it was you! Me looking for you had absolutely nothing to do with Genestealers!"

"Lag told me you were very skilled at exploring the ruined districts and had been needing work lately."

"If there was work involving exploration of the ruined districts, I could look for you."

"I happened to have some, so I told him to bring you over."

"Lag told me you wanted to see me." The corner of Zhou Yun's eye twitched.

So Lag had been keeping things from both sides. He was probably trying to skim a profit from the middle.

"That guy Lag..." Zhou Yun rubbed his brow with a headache.

Zhou Yun even began to suspect that Lag had been corrupted by Tzeentch.

But that couldn't be right. Worshipping Tzeentch required intelligence.

The Changer of Ways would be better off corrupting an Ogryn who could only count to ten than corrupting a guy like Lag.

"Damn it, dock his pay." Lena also slammed a fist onto the table in anger.

"So why were you looking for me?" Zhou Yun leaned back in his chair and looked at Lena.

"The Tyranids are coming. I have an idea to save more people."

Lena looked at Zhou Yun with a serious expression.

"I'm going to build a ship, load more people aboard, and run away early."

"..."

Zhou Yun was too stunned to speak.

He was certain now.

Lena might have been deceived by Tzeentch, but she definitely had not been corrupted by Tzeentch.

With wisdom this astonishing, even a Nurgling would shake its head, while Magnus would give her a thumbs-up and call her an expert.