30k Little Yang Xiu?

".Wait, you know him?" Old One-Eye looked at Zhou Yun in surprise.

His expression seemed to say: Did you just snatch away the chance to show off that I'd been waiting for all this time?

He shook his head and said, "The Emperor taught us humility. It seems I haven't learned it well enough."

Zhou Yun's mouth twitched slightly.

He wondered where Old One-Eye had heard of this person.

Ignatius Carkas, a poet from the Great Crusade era, ten thousand years ago.

He was one of the chroniclers sent by Lord Marshal Ma to record the history of humanity's expedition, following the 63rd Fleet of the Great Crusade.

For a poet, being assigned to a fleet during the Great Crusade to record the conquest of the fleet and the Astartes was an almost unattainable honor.

Even more honorable was that the main force of this fleet was the Moon Wolves, one of the Space Marine Legions, who would later rename themselves the Sons of Horus.

And the most honorable of all was that the commander was the Emperor's answer, the pinnacle of the Primarchs, the beloved Horus Lupercal.

He had recently been appointed Warmaster by the Emperor, the leader of the entire Great Crusade.

For a poet, what more could one ask for?

Without Erebus, it might have truly been so.

Before launching the Great Crusade towards Terra, Horus had massacred almost all the chroniclers of the 63rd Fleet.

And Ignatius Carkas was among the first to die.

If Zhou Yun were to describe Ignatius Carkas, he'd be like a 30k version of Yang Xiu.

Ignatius Carkas's insight was exceptionally keen, the problem was that it was too keen.

He had three famous quotes in his life:

"The empire we build will crumble in an instant! Remember my words! It is inevitable!"

"Even an actress as talented as Lady Hecuba could not match Erebus's brilliant performance today."

"First Captain Abaddon, what was the silver coin you gave Erebus when you met him?"

Based on these alone, Zhou Yun could feel the poet's sharp insight and his near-insane ability to court death.

If you saw it, you saw it, but you had to say it out loud.

These three sentences could offend both loyalists and traitors simultaneously.

For the last sentence, he even said it in front of Abaddon himself.

Abaddon, the First Captain of the Sons of Horus, almost broke his neck on the spot.

Later, he wrote a booklet called We Only Seek Truth, primarily condemning the hypocrisy of the Sons of Horus and their contempt for mortals.

This successfully attracted the attention of the Warmaster, and he was fortunately assassinated by the Warmaster's killer.

"Back then, the words of loyalty and truth still echoed in our ears, yet we closed our ears due to pride,"

the winged figure within Zhou Yun's white light sighed regretfully.

"If he had followed the fleet of the Blood Angels, he might have written We Only Seek Bloodthirst and Ghouls," Zhou Yun shrugged and said quietly.

Ignatius Carkas was not a loyalist. The reason he wrote and said these things was simply because he believed it was the truth and what he wanted to say.

No matter which Legion he was assigned to, he wouldn't have a good outcome.

A deathly silence filled the air.

".If you had become a chronicler, you might not have lived as long as he did," the winged figure in the white light said, trembling slightly.

Zhou Yun glanced at the white figure, who was trying hard to impersonate Sanguinius, within the white light.

He remembered that on the day of the Siege of Terra, when Sanguinius fell, the Blood Angels witnessed his soul being devoured by the four gods.

This meant that unless the four gods spat out what they had eaten, and the Emperor painstakingly pieced his soul fragments back together, Sanguinius could not possibly exist intact in the 40th Millennium and converse rationally with him.

It was possible for a whole Sanguinius to exist in 40k, but for Sanguinius to be whole in 40K was somewhat impossible.

As for whether it was a trick of Tzeentch, a Chaos illusion, or a warp entity worshipped by humans, Zhou Yun felt it was hard to say.

"In any case, it doesn't seem like the original Archangel," Zhou Yun shook his head and muttered softly.

"What?" Old One-Eye, hearing Zhou Yun's words, blinked and asked.

"Nothing—What about Ignatius Carkas?" Zhou Yun waved his hand and asked.

"A booklet by Ignatius Carkas might be in Old Sector Eight, and someone is willing to pay a high price for it," Old One-Eye said in a low voice.

Zhou Yun almost burst out laughing: "Alright, fine. I'll have Rag find him PDF equipment, that's one thing."

"You want me to search an entire collapsed sector for a small booklet? This booklet might have turned to dust over the past century."

"It's not entirely without clues. You should know, this job came from the Upper Hive."

"The big bosses upstairs like to research this kind of thing, so the information is very complete."

Old One-Eye pointed upwards and said:

"It's a fifty-page folio notebook, bound in black lambskin. It's said to have been produced on Terra ten thousand years ago and was found in good condition the last time it appeared."

"It was placed inside a device specifically designed for preserving ancient books, with independent power, internal stasis, and a shell made of ceramic steel. Theoretically, it can operate stably for several hundred years."

"The report says the last owner of this notebook was from the Corpse Guild, possibly at one of their branches in Old Sector Eight."

Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow at this, sizing up Old One-Eye.

Upper Hive? The middle-class folks in the Upper Hive wouldn't be this knowledgeable, nor could they afford an artifact produced on Terra ten thousand years ago.

Zhou Yun guessed this job likely came from the nobles in the Apex Hive, and probably not just any nobles.

Could Old One-Eye actually have connections to the Apex Hive?

Zhou Yun couldn't help but size up the bar owner again.

There were many rumors circulating about this bar owner in the surrounding sector.

Some said he was a former gang legend who once led his gang to invade the Upper Hive; others said he was a fugitive rebel hiding in this bar; there were even rumors that he was once part of the PDF.

In short, the more bizarre the story, the more likely it was told.

"The reward for this job is substantial. I know you need money, and I believe only you can pull this off."

Old One-Eye lowered his voice and said:

"I won't take too much from you, just ten percent. After all, ten percent of the success would be enough to make a fortune."

Zhou Yun pondered for a moment. Since he had to go anyway, he might as well investigate while he was there.

He nodded slightly to Old One-Eye and said, "Alright, I'll go look for it at the Corpse Guild."

"Thank you. I'll arrange transport for you tomorrow." With that, Old One-Eye took another bottle of wine from the liquor cabinet and poured it into Zhou Yun's glass.

"This one's on me. I wish you success in retrieving the notebook, and may we both get rich together."

The crimson wine bubbled in the glass. Zhou Yun smiled, raised the cup, and drank it down in one gulp.

That's all for today, I'm off to paint the Broodmother!