Dark Secrets

Just as some Imperial Inquisitors would cooperate with less extreme Chaos Space Marines or Xenos, the Imperium world of Manros, located beyond the edge of the Maelstrom, also traded with the Red Corsairs.

Local inhabitants took transports to the Ragefang.

Business-minded Space Marines from Vengar's two ships, looking to exchange goods, also arrived.

The Ragefang's hangar deck was filled with various items for trade, effectively becoming a marketplace.

Pearls from the walls of the Navigator's sanctuary had been taken down by Onaas's servants and displayed at the stalls, but Carly estimated that this trade would only yield a few dozen tons of fuel and food. Anything more would be locally produced automatic guns from Manros's hive cities.

Carly was also skilled in business, so she was in charge of selling the good items from the Navigator's sanctuary.

Kao was responsible for acting as her bodyguard.

As the Manros locals disembarked from their transports and milled about the deck, Carly looked over at Kao.

"Brother."

Kao looked up when he heard his sister call him.

His fierce gaze and cold expression made Carly shiver.

"What's wrong?" Carly took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from her brother's forehead.

Kao said in a deep voice, "Nothing... leave me be."

Carly recalled her brother's expression and state at that moment, finding it similar to the reactions of some Angels she had seen when they were servants.

The Fierce Angels were generally kind, at least to them, mortals.

But occasionally, they would act as if possessed, shrinking to the ground in a sweat, glaring at anyone who approached.

"Go call Kampa," Kao said to another mortal beside him.

The latter immediately ran off to fetch another Space Marine to take his place.

Kao, with a grim expression, got up and left.

His sister was about to ask him something when a customer approached the stall, admiring the lavish gifts the Navigator families had given their kin.

Carly looked up.

Before her stood a nobleman seated on a gilded dais, supported by over twenty slaves who bore his corpulent body. The dais was so heavy that these slaves had been modified to be almost mechanical.

The nobleman shifted his gaze from the gems to Carly's face.

"What would you like to buy?" Carly forced a smile.

The nobleman whispered a few words to a slave beside him, who appeared to be a steward. The slave then stepped forward and asked, "How much would it cost to buy you away from this Chapter?"

"If the Angel were here, he would have torn you apart for asking that," Carly said, still smiling, but her words were chillingly cold.

As soon as she finished speaking, Kampa, who had replaced Kao, walked over, carrying a Chainsword.

The nobleman quickly averted his gaze, pretending nothing had happened.

Kampa then leaned on his Chainsword, staring at the customers before him.

The nobleman was about to continue selecting jewelry when his eyes darted around. He suddenly caught sight of a painting on the vehicle behind Carly.

The painting depicted a battle axe and a warhammer crossed before a towering Space Marine, whose armor was tattered and whose expression was ferocious.

The nobleman shivered and pointed at the painting, asking, "Why do you have this up? It's disgusting!"

"That is our Chapter Master," Kampa said, approaching the nobleman with his Chainsword. "According to Chapter tradition, you have one chance to repent!"

"Ah! How valiant!" the nobleman quickly changed his tune, bowing on the golden dais in a Sky Eagle salute. "I will retract my previous statement for the price of twenty tons of grain."

Only then did Kampa stop.

The slaves also saw the painting, but their reaction was not as intense as the nobleman's. Puzzled by their master's trembling, they wondered what was so frightening about it.

The nobleman quickly signaled the slave overseer to take him away.

Several more people came to buy jewelry afterward.

Half an hour later, the obese nobleman's slave overseer returned, looking around furtively.

The slave overseer scanned the surroundings before quietly asking Carly, "What does that painting mean?"

Carly glanced back at Lu Jin's portrait and explained, "Because we are close to the Maelstrom, we always have nightmares and can't sleep at night. We don't know who was clever enough to paint our Chapter Master's image and hang it on the wall, and miraculously, we could then sleep soundly.

"Simply put, it wards off evil," Carly added.

Hanging Lu Jin's portrait on the Ragefang had become a new tradition.

Although it seemed strange and inexplicable at first glance, the fact was that hanging the portrait actually worked; they could indeed sleep in the Maelstrom.

They no longer heard strange whispers or felt like something sinister was following them.

Once this tradition spread among the crew, various terrifying supernatural rumors significantly decreased.

"Your Chapter Master looks quite fierce," the slave overseer said curiously. "Aren't you afraid of him?"

"Why should we be afraid?" Carly retorted. "This painting is from an enemy's perspective; we only see his majestic back."

She recalled the scene from before, when people hid in shelters during an attack by the Cunning Hounds, and Lu Jin stood before them, ready to face the Greenskins.

The slave overseer thought for two seconds, then suddenly removed the ring from his finger and handed it to Carly. "Can you sell me a few?"

Carly returned the ring. "This is a copy; you can have as many as you want."

Then she took out a large stack of portraits from the vehicle.

The slave overseer took only one, secretly hid it under his robe, and turned to leave.

Carly would not know at this time how great an impact this event would have on Manros.

One Solar Day passed.

Carly and Lu Jin walked side-by-side, reporting on their trades.

"We bought two hundred tons of grain, two hundred tons of daily necessities, and two thousand automatic guns."

"The locals on Manros really like jewelry or treasures from the Navigator families; any local noble would gladly spend a fortune on the ship."

"According to the battleship's ration standards, six tons of grain are consumed daily. Those two hundred tons of grain will last for one Solar Month."

"The Navigator sanctuaries were also attacked during the Greenskin rampage. Huron's people might have looted the sanctuaries while helping us retake the ships, so that's all the assets Onaas could sell."

Lu Jin listened carefully, calculating in his mind.

Carly suddenly thought of her younger brother, Kao. He hadn't been seen since they left the hangar deck.

"Kao has been acting very strange lately," Carly voiced her doubts.

Including how some Fierce Angels would have drastic personality changes on certain days.

"Kao is in the solitary confinement cell," Lu Jin said.

"Why is he confined?"

"Xenos put him there, saying he committed an offense."

"But my brother wouldn't commit an offense; he just says unpleasant things sometimes. Whether he was mortal or an Angel, he wouldn't..."

Lu Jin signaled for Carly to come with him to take a look.

Because he also found it strange.

Solitary Confinement Dungeon.

This was the darkest place on the Ragefang.

The solitary confinement cells for the Space Marines were located here.

Mortals would only occasionally come to place food and drink at the entrance of the cells and then leave. The Space Marines guarding the place would then give the food and drink to their battle-brothers.

As Lu Jin approached, he heard some roaring sounds.

Walking closer to one of the cells, he saw Kao inside, wielding a Chainsword and hacking ferociously at a steel dummy.

At this moment, Xenos entered the cell block carrying a wooden bucket. He froze when he saw Lu Jin and Carly.

The Ragefang, having suffered heavy casualties from a surprise attack by the Cunning Hounds, had no extra personnel to deliver food to the cell block. Xenos, who was supposed to be guarding, had gone to get food and drink. Lu Jin and Carly didn't encounter them when they entered.

"What is he doing?" Lu Jin looked at Xenos, though he already had many guesses.

He felt that the Gene-seed of the Fierce Angels did not come from Guilliman or some fallen Primarch, but from Sanguinius.

Kao's current state was very similar to how a Son of Sanguinius would succumb to the Black Rage, or another genetic disease called the Black Rage.

The Black Rage would cause a thirst for blood, a desire to drink blood, while the Black Rage would cause a loss of reason.

If it wasn't related to a genetic defect...

Lu Jin thought of the battle axe and warhammer on his back.

Then it had something to do with these two weapons.

But Kao hadn't lost his mind. He put down the Chainsword, opened the cell door, and walked out, meeting Xenos's gaze.

"Are you going to tell me?" Kao asked Xenos.

"Speak!" Lu Jin answered for Xenos.

So Kao, who had helplessly sought Xenos's opinion, spoke after a brief hesitation.

Lu Jin and Carly then learned the secret of the Fierce Angels Space Marines.

Sometimes, certain things would ignite the battle spirit of the Fierce Angels.

If it were during combat, they could unleash it freely, but in normal times, they could only relieve it in solitary confinement, through mutual combat or by hacking at targets.

Finding Greenskins to vent on was a better method.

But Lu Jin had not yet allowed anyone to fight Greenskins in the enclosed areas of the battleship, as he felt that combat could erupt at any moment, and it would be inappropriate to suffer casualties due to the tradition of fighting Greenskins.

"Sometimes, we just want to kill," Xenos said. "We want to kill anyone, including the mortals in the Chapter. If this were to spread, it would cause panic, and since it can be controlled and relieved, it's not a major problem."

Carly's face turned pale.

She now realized that the Space Marines, whom mortals viewed as guardian angels, actually wished to kill them at times.

"Are the missing pages in the ancient texts related to the Fierce Angels' genetic defects?"

Lu Jin recalled that when he was looking through the chapter's ancient texts during the Blood Feast, he noticed several pages were missing.

"I tore them out." Kao raised his hand, then lowered it and rubbed the back of his neck. "We were quite worried about you then..."

"In the future, you can go to the quarantine zone and kill Greenskins," Lu Jin said. "Carly, don't tell anyone about these matters. Not for now."

"Yes..." Carly nodded.

Lu Jin took his warhammer down from his back and looked down at it.

Among the skulls piled on the hammer's haft, various lost souls, including Ninos, still roamed.

To others, however, this weapon appeared unremarkable.

At times, Lu Jin would encounter Onaas and ask if she could sense anything unusual about his warhammer and battle-axe. The Navigator would reply that these two weapons didn't even have the slightest psionic reaction, and she couldn't sense anything.

These two weapons, born from the Blood God's hands, had not brought Chaos corruption.

And the reason...

On the hammer's haft, the lost souls seemed to sense Lu Jin's gaze.

Ninos stopped walking and looked up blankly.

Little Damian and his parents also stopped walking and looked up at Lu Jin.