Sacred Number 13

Street Number Nine, Residential Sector Eighteen, District Nine, Room Thirteen at Baal's Blood Inn.

The streetlights dimmed, signaling the arrival of night.

The wide street unfurled like silk between the towering buildings of the Hive City, dotted with countless small stalls.

Many residents of the Upper Hive had not returned home after nightfall, instead strolling leisurely through the streets.

They walked alone, or with lovers, or as a couple with their children.

From time to time, they bought food, trinkets, or small crafts from the street vendors.

Even more people headed into the churches, praying devoutly to the Emperor, thanking Him for protecting their lives for another day.

Zhou Yun stood by the window of Room Thirteen, observing a scene unseen in the Lower Hive.

He had been tormented by numbers recently.

When choosing a room, he had deliberately selected Room Thirteen.

Thirteen, what a beautiful number.

The Emperor—no, the Great Horned Rat's holy number.

"Demonic garbage! Die, die, die!"

"Tzeentch garbage! Ruined, ruined!"

"Great Horned Rat! Yes! Yes!"

Zhou Yun prayed devoutly to the Great Horned Rat.

"The Great Horned Rat's power will punish Tzeentch! Vermin, yes! Yes!"

"What kind of strange faith is this? Wait, why is the Emperor the Great Horned Rat?"

As Zhou Yun prayed devoutly, the noisy Warp heretic in the white light was denying the truth of the Great Horned Rat and the Emperor being one.

"No, I can tell you with certainty that there is no god called the Great Horned Rat in the Galaxy," the winged figure in the white light quipped.

"Isn't he sitting on the Golden Throne?" Zhou Yun chuckled in reply.

Just then, he saw Lena outside the window.

Lena seemed to be holding something and ran into the inn, panting.

Zhou Yun walked to the door with some curiosity and opened the door bearing the number thirteen.

Lena burst in from the corridor, her face flushed, her eyes sparkling with a lively light, nearly bumping into Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun stared at Lena, seeing joy, happiness, and delight in her eyes.

"Guess what I found?" Lena let out a breath, her voice made melodious by her joy.

Lena's current demeanor, infused with joy, seemed to have dispelled her usual dazed aura.

Honestly, she looked rather alluring right now.

Oh god, could this big idiot Lena have been corrupted? This was the first thought that popped into Zhou Yun's mind.

He subtly placed his finger on the Pocket Tornado.

"Guess!" Lena's eyes widened as she looked at Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun could even smell a faint fragrance on her and see the strands of her hair glistening with sweat.

Slaanesh! Slaanesh's influence is trying to corrupt this healthy and upward-looking Imperial youth.

A murderous intent flashed in Zhou Yun's eyes.

"Wait, wait, wait!"

The murderous intent in Zhou Yun's eyes startled Lena. She quickly took a few steps back and took something out from her clothes.

A model?

A starship model?

Zhou Yun stared blankly at the crudely painted plastic starship model in Lena's hand.

"If you're not going to guess, why are you trying to attack me?" Lena said, still shaken.

Zhou Yun carefully examined the plastic starship model, its paintwork as rough as a child's creation.

It was a golden starship, slender and beautiful in form, with a large crimson gem at the front and golden wings adorning both ends.

"What is this?" Zhou Yun asked, stunned.

"It's the Crimson Tear!" Lena said.

"It's the Crimson Tear!" the winged figure in the white light exclaimed.

Zhou Yun blinked in confusion.

"It's the Archangel's flagship, the magnificent Gloriana-class Battleship, the Crimson Tear!"

Lena held the starship model high, saying excitedly, "I made this with my mom when I was little!"

"I buried it under a steel plate in District Nine, I didn't expect it to still be here!"

Oh, it turns out it's a model of the Gloriana-class Battleship Crimson Tear from Sanguinius's glory days.

Seeing that not-so-bright aura return to Lena, Zhou Yun let out a sigh of relief.

It seems this idiot hasn't been corrupted.

"Did you find anything today following Nama Karl?"

"Mrs. Nama Karl is normal, just like yesterday."

Lena shook her head and said:

"Oh, but I've confirmed her movements."

"The factory where she works is having overtime tomorrow to ship a batch of weapons, and she's responsible for the accounting. She won't be home tomorrow night."

"Are you planning to act tomorrow?"

Zhou Yun frowned and handed over the file he got from Augustus Flax:

"Take a look at this."

Lena blinked and took the file bag from Zhou Yun's hand.

She opened it and was surprised:

"Mrs. Nama's file, this detailed? Where did you get it?"

"I have my own channels, take a closer look," Zhou Yun said to Lena.

Then he turned his head to look at the wall.

A calendar hung on the wall, It marked not only the local calendar of Asphodel but also the calendar of Terra.

This was because some Imperial holidays were set according to the Terra calendar, For example, Sanguinius Day was a holiday in December of the Terra calendar.

Zhou Yun was very familiar with this Terra calendar; it was the solar calendar from many long years ago.

According to the Terra calendar, tomorrow was October 9th.

It had a nine in it. But it wasn't an extreme date like September 9th.

If it really were September 9th, Zhou Yun would probably have recited a poem like September 9th Remembering Battle Brothers and would absolutely not have taken action tomorrow.

But October 9th. It was more like Zhou Yun's nerves were a bit on edge.

For ease of calculation, it was also marked how many days into the year it was according to the Terra calendar.

"October 9th, the 282nd day of the year."

"It doesn't seem strange."

Zhou Yun stroked his chin.

There was only one nine in these numbers, and 282 wasn't a multiple of nine.

387, 420, 489, six thousand five hundred and sixty-one Blood Coins, four years and one hundred and fifty-three prayers, October 9th, 282 days.

These strings of numbers intertwined and echoed in Zhou Yun's mind, But Zhou Yun couldn't find any pattern in them.

Some of these numbers were multiples of nine, some contained a nine, and some were completely unrelated to nine.

Nine was Tzeentch's sacred number.

If He was truly using mathematics to transmit corruption, He should have used nine.

After all, other numbers might lead to other Chaos Gods, causing interference instead.

Zhou Yun was even considering whether he should write sevens, representing Nurgle, all over his body to counteract Tzeentch.

"Hmm, I don't feel like there's anything wrong with this data," Lena said, pointing at the file in her hand.

"In this file, I see a woman so devout she's willing to spend most of her savings, a wife whose husband died for the Imperium, and a kind lady."

"She does have a unique interest in mathematics, but it's not enough to suspect her of being corrupted, is it?"

Zhou Yun listened to Lena's words and fell silent for a long time.

Lena the idiot couldn't possibly be corrupted by Tzeentch, given her lack of intelligence. She must be telling the truth.

Could it be that Zhou Yun was just being too sensitive?

Zhou Yun glanced at the winged figure in the white light in his peripheral vision: "What do you think?"

"No signs of corruption detected, at least not yet."

The winged figure in the white light said in a low voice:

"But corruption is always insidious and hidden."

"Who could have imagined that so many Primarchs and Astartes would be corrupted before the Great Heresy began?"

Join the group, join the group, we'll be drawing a Lictor at 8:30.