"When the shadow of The Great Devourer shrouds all of planet Asphodel, it will already be too late."
The winged figure calling himself Sanguinius flickered in and out before Zhou Yun's eyes.
This time, just as he had said, Zhou Yun had indeed encountered some danger.
But Chaos had always loved using kindness to lure people into corruption.
A lover's affection, a wise man's teachings, the bond between brothers, Grandfather's care.
Sometimes that kindness was a disguise, and sometimes it came from the heart. But either way, the gifts of the Warp always had a price, and one would only sink deeper and deeper.
To save their Warmaster, the Sons of Horus placed him within the Serpent Lodge temple on Davin, resulting in his corruption.
Magnus pursued the power of the Warp too fervently, and one psychic cannon blast shattered The Emperor's dream of the Webway.
Fulgrim became obsessed with the power of the Thallax Sword, only to be controlled by the daemon dwelling within it.
Even Primarchs with superhuman wisdom could be beguiled by it. Zhou Yun did not believe he possessed the wisdom to distinguish truth from falsehood, nor did he have the nerve to gamble on it.
He pulled a small knife from his Fourth-Dimensional Pocket and walked over to the Chicken Thief cultists who had been knocked unconscious by the Air Gun Potion.
The blade swept across their throats, sending these not-yet-deeply-corrupted Genestealers to meet The Great Devourer.
Looking at the corpses sprawled on the ground, Zhou Yun felt a headache coming on.
If he left these bodies here, other Genestealers might find some clue and track him down.
If only there were a way to dispose of the bodies without leaving any trace behind.
Hmm?
Zhou Yun blinked, an idea suddenly surfacing in his mind.
He crouched down, grabbed a corpse, and stuffed it into the Fourth-Dimensional Pocket on his stomach.
[Item Name: Corpse of a Hybrid Neophyte] [Origin: Shield of Hades System - planet Asphodel - Fortia City] [Evaluation: A Genestealer corpse with relatively little mutation. Warm in nature, pungent and slightly salty in flavor. Effects include unblocking channels and relieving pain, countering toxins and dispersing lumps, and genetic contamination. Not suitable for consumption.] [Production Date: 978.M41] [Condition: Intact, excellent quality] [Value: 10,000 yuan]
It could unblock channels and relieve pain, counter toxins and disperse lumps, and cause genetic contamination.
Just as Zhou Yun was about to mock the Fourth-Dimensional Pocket's evaluation, his gaze was drawn to the income of ten thousand yuan below.
It was actually worth more than an entire damaged Promethium Extraction and Transfer Station!
He promptly began working diligently, stuffing the remaining corpses into his Fourth-Dimensional Pocket as well.
Eight Chicken Thief corpses had contributed more than a hundred thousand yuan in total.
The lead Chicken Thief, which had been crushed into a bug pancake and was more heavily mutated, had alone recycled for over twenty thousand.
Zhou Yun felt a pang of regret. If it had not been flattened into a pancake and damaged its quality, it should have fetched even more.
Including the money he had made scavenging earlier, Zhou Yun now had nearly two hundred thousand yuan in his pocket.
He could not help swallowing.
To be fair, he was not a greedy man.
But the more money he accumulated, the closer he came to the Anywhere Door, and the greater his chances of making a run for it.
If I could hunt more Genestealers...
Zhou Yun hurriedly shook his head and suppressed that dangerous thought.
Those were Genestealers, Chicken Thieves—not a bunch of chickens in suspenders that could sing, dance, and rap.
These were merely Hybrid Neophytes with almost no mutation, among the weakest Chicken Thieves and those closest to human appearance.
If he encountered more Hybrid Neophytes, more deeply mutated hybrid believers, or even the apex predators of the Genestealer Cult...
Then before the Tyranid fleet even arrived, Zhou Yun would be going to meet The Great Devourer.
Thinking this, Zhou Yun reached into his pocket and took out a bottle of potion.
[Item Name: Air Gun Potion] [Origin: 22nd Century Earth -- Future Department Store] [Production Date: 241.M3] [Function: A liquid potion. After dripping it onto a finger, point that finger at the target and shout "Bang" to fire a shockwave. Powerful enough to knock someone unconscious. Each finger can fire only one shot.] [Evaluation: You can't shoot people without a gun? What kind of inconvenience is a gun!]
This item was far less powerful than a shock gun or air cannon. Its power was only enough to knock ordinary people unconscious. Against monsters like Hybrid Neophytes, whose flesh had been warped by mutation, several shots were needed to subdue them.
But it was cheap and highly concealable. Zhou Yun was not going to run into something like an Astartes, which was practically a legend in the hive city.
He applied several more doses of Air Gun Potion to his fingertips and carefully blasted the surrounding area with shockwaves, trying to erase all traces of himself.
Then he bolted from this ruined district as fast as he could, lest the Genestealer Cult catch up to him.
Several minutes after Zhou Yun left,
A hooded figure with mechanical implants covering its face silently approached the site of the recent battle.
It was a Sanctus, an assassin of the Genestealer Cult, born to eliminate anyone who threatened the safety of the brood.
It possessed night vision beyond that of mortals, multi-jointed limbs that could crawl through shadows, and pliable muscles capable of squeezing through the narrowest cracks.
Their eyes were the Patriarch's eyes, and the living daggers in their hands were the Patriarch's claws. It had come here to investigate and answer the Patriarch's doubts.
But the ground here seemed to have been swept by a violent gale, leaving almost no traces behind.
It gripped its living dagger warily.
Since there were no traces on the material level, it would examine the psychic residue lingering in the air.
In the world invisible to the naked eye, it discovered a patch of pure white feathers drifting gently down through the air.
Those feathers were so magnificent, as though forged from platinum, yet softer than any goose down.
Those feathers were so pure, utterly out of place in this filthy world. Those feathers were so noble, as if they had received the holiest blessing in existence.
It caught a scent coming from the feathers, as though they had been steeped in ten thousand years of prayers and incense within a cathedral.
Oh, it could no longer hear. It could not hear the Patriarch's voice, nor could it hear the voice of the Four-Armed Emperor.
It began to sob, vaguely realizing what an ugly form it had become and what a grievously wrong path it had taken.
It prayed for forgiveness, prayed for redemption, and then He sent down this fire.
In a dark corner of this ruined district,
That enormous shadow lurking in the darkness—over six meters tall, as though the embodiment of all corruption and blasphemy in this world, both demigod and devil—watched this scene.
It watched as the Sanctus, serving as its eyes and tracking psychic traces, suddenly froze in place, and its connection with it abruptly severed.
Then blazing golden flames burst from the Sanctus's corrupted, mutated head, pouring from its eyes, mouth, and ears as they roared fiercely.
Until it burned into a heap of ashes glittering with pale golden sparks.
The massive figure let out a low, fearful hiss.
Then, in an instant, the Patriarch's roar rang out in the minds of every Genestealer.
"Find him! Kill him!"
Caw, esteemed readers, I'm begging for everything!
Before you continue