Warp Essence

"That was your Warp Essence."

On the streets of the Lower Hive District, Zhou Yun and Lena walked side by side.

District Nine had been corrupted by Tzeentch. There might still have been a certain number of corrupted people within that district.

The PDF had now sealed off the entire district and begun a cleansing operation alongside priests from the Ecclesiarchy. It was even said that the Adepta Sororitas would be getting involved.

But before the Adepta Sororitas entered District Nine, Zhou Yun and Lena had already returned to the Lower Hive with the pass Augustus Flax had provided them.

Lena held the route records in her arms, her eyes brimming with impatient excitement.

Zhou Yun's attention, meanwhile, had been drawn elsewhere.

When he had been corrupted by Tzeentch, he had vaguely seen his reflection in the Warp.

It had been a blurry, round blue figure that seemed not to have ears yet.

Even after Zhou Yun had sold that black notebook using the Fourth-Dimensional Pocket, completely severing the corruption,

he could still see that round blue figure.

He could see it in the reflections of glass, in burning flames, and in the hazy dusk.

That figure seemed to be his own reflection.

The winged figure in the white light had said that it was Zhou Yun's Warp Essence.

"I'm not a Primarch." Zhou Yun shook his head in rebuttal.

Zhou Yun roughly knew what Warp Essence was.

Warp Essence was the true Warp form hidden behind the Primarchs' humanity.

Some people speculated that the Primarchs' true essences were lesser Warp gods, stuffed by The Emperor into human bodies.

Awakening one's Warp Essence meant becoming a lesser god once more.

Corvus Corax had awakened his Warp Essence and thereby gained enough power to crush Daemon Primarch Lorgar in battle.

Zhou Yun did not know whether that claim was true, but he was not a Primarch, much less a lesser god of the Warp.

"Don't be as stubborn as Guilliman."

The winged figure in the white light sighed.

"You saw it yourself. Your reflection in the Warp does not take human form."

That was true.

Zhou Yun stroked his chin, recalling the figure reflected in the Warp.

Blue, round, and earless.

Familiar. Extremely familiar.

Wasn't that Doraemon?

Could his Warp Essence be Doraemon?

A cat-shaped Nanny Robot from the 22nd Century?

Zhou Yun wore an odd expression. "I think I know what my reflection in the Warp is."

"But I haven't awakened any Warp Essence because of it."

As he spoke, he spread his hands.

When Corvus Corax awakened his Warp Essence, he could immediately pin Lorgar down and beat him senseless.

Why had Zhou Yun not changed at all?

"Knowing and awakening are two different things."

The winged figure in the white light shook his head.

"Even if you grabbed Guilliman by the ears and shouted at him, 'Your essence is in the Warp. You're a genuine demigod!'"

"Guilliman probably still wouldn't awaken his Warp Essence."

Zhou Yun nodded, half understanding.

"The key is how you define yourself. You must find your place in the Warp."

The winged figure in the white light continued.

"Tzeentch's corruption stimulated your instinct for self-preservation, allowing you to become dimly aware of your Warp Essence."

"You could call that a blessing in disguise. By rights, you should have already gained some abilities you did not possess before."

The more Zhou Yun listened, the stranger his expression became. "Abilities? What kind of abilities?"

"Uh, probably things like flight, sensing others' emotions, spatial teleportation, being handsome, innate knowledge, numerology, turning into a raven, slipping into darkness, foreseeing the future, Psykana Talent, and so on."

The winged figure in the white light spoke vaguely.

Zhou Yun could not help frowning as he listened.

"How are you so familiar with this?" Zhou Yun could not help asking.

This figure seemed to know a little too much about the Warp.

Did Sanguinius possess this kind of knowledge?

Could he be some one-eyed, sunburned Ogryn in disguise?

"Among all my Primarch brothers, I was one of the earlier ones to realize that I was not purely a product of the material world, and thus gain a rudimentary understanding of my Warp Essence."

The winged figure in the white light spoke quietly.

"Without even using the superhuman intellect Father granted me, I could have realized it through common sense alone."

"The pair of wings on my back absolutely could not fly according to aerodynamics. They could only do so by drawing upon Warp power."

At that, Zhou Yun chuckled softly.

"Your next step is to find the new abilities you have gained and use them to further understand your Warp Essence," the winged figure in the white light said.

"I don't feel like I've gained any abilities at all." Zhou Yun shook his head.

The Fourth-Dimensional Pocket had been an ability he possessed from the moment he transmigrated, so it obviously had nothing to do with his Warp Essence.

As for the new abilities the winged figure in the white light spoke of, he had no clue whatsoever.

Zhou Yun shrugged and temporarily tossed those complicated matters to the back of his mind.

He only felt tired now. He wanted to hurry home and sleep.

Speaking of going home—

"Big Dummy Lena, did you handle the matter I entrusted to you before we went to the Upper Hive?"

Zhou Yun looked at Lena and asked.

Before they had gone to the Upper Hive, an Eager Thief had paid a visit to his home. Although Zhou Yun had discovered and chased the thief away, there was no guarantee the Eager Thief would not return.

So Zhou Yun had entrusted Lena with spending some money to arrange for Ark Gang members to patrol nearby.

He did not want to make a trip to the Upper Hive only to have his home robbed. Although most of Zhou Yun's property was in the Fourth-Dimensional Pocket, his house only contained a few changes of clothes and daily necessities.

"Don't worry, I arranged everything."

Lena patted her chest as she spoke.

"Wait, what did you call me?"

"Want some sunflower seeds, ma'am?" Zhou Yun chuckled as he passed beneath an archway forged from scrap iron.

Lena gave an angry snort, then could not help asking,

"What exactly did you do back then? I only saw you take that notebook and stuff it into your clothes."

Remembering that night, Lena's eyes were filled with confusion.

"Just assume I used some kind of nifty tool." Zhou Yun smiled.

After passing through the scrap-metal archway and squeezing through a crowded stretch of pedestrians, he would be home.

"You're trying to brush me off again." Lena frowned.

"I—huh?"

Before Zhou Yun could retort, he froze in place.

Standing on the roadside not far from his home, he stared speechlessly at his front door and said,

"I think you're the one trying to brush me off."

Zhou Yun pointed at the iron door of his house.

A smooth, perfectly round hole had been eagerly cut into the iron door.

Cooled, solidified molten iron had flowed down from the hole like twisted vines.

Less than two centimeters from that hole was the door's lock cylinder.

The lock cylinder itself had not suffered the slightest damage.

Zhou Yun could only marvel at the Eager Thief's exquisite skill.

Lena also stared blankly at the hole in Zhou Yun's door. "This..."

An Eager Thief had visited Zhou Yun's home?

She had clearly arranged for people to patrol outside Zhou Yun's house.

But where were the patrols? Why were they nowhere to be seen?

"If you don't explain what's going on today, I'll use your illegal psyker armor plate to plug this hole tonight."

Zhou Yun said, the corner of his eye twitching uncontrollably.

"Wait, let me see who was on duty today—"

"Why is the person missing?!"

Lena frowned, pulled a small notebook from her pocket, and hurriedly flipped through it.

".Oh!"

Lena's eyes lit with sudden realization.

"So Rag was on duty today!"

At that, Zhou Yun also revealed an enlightened expression.

"So it was Rag! No wonder. That bastard screwed me over again!"