Hold Prison

In the lower decks of the Abominable Worm.

When Fu Qinghai realized that the dazzling white light surrounding him had flickered out just as it had ignited, he knew something had gone wrong.

The signal on the comms channel was poor, and Fu Qinghai could not determine where the problem lay.

Fu Qinghai stood where he was, focusing his mind to think.

The only possibility he could conceive was that the enemy had ambushed other warships on the far side of the planet, and those enemy vessels had raided the Sotharan docked in orbit, causing the teleportation to be interrupted.

But besides the Sotharan, the White Scars' Dagger was also in orbit.

Forget it, no use dwelling on it.

Fu Qinghai cast aside his distractions, steadied his mind, and continued walking forward.

Since he was already here, he might as well explore and see what exactly was being kept in this lower deck compartment.

Fu Qinghai walked up to the first cell surrounded by a magnetic field-generating iron pillar, and to his surprise, he discovered a woman kneeling inside.

A slender, tall red-haired woman clad in tight-fitting white armor, her hands bound behind her back, kneeling on the floor with her legs parted.

A striking mane of fiery red hair was tied into a ponytail at the back of her head.

Under the harsh, pale light from above, she kept her head bowed, her face hidden in the shadows, kneeling there motionless, her expression unreadable.

Aeldari...

Fu Qinghai stared at the pointed ears peeking through the woman's fiery red hair.

Is she dead?

Fu Qinghai reached his Power Glaive, its power field not yet activated, through the iron bars and nudged the Aeldari woman's chin upward with the tip of the blade.

A pair of cold eyes looked back at him.

"Is it a good view, human?"

Fu Qinghai nodded, "It's quite good."

The Aeldari woman had moon-white skin, proud eyebrows, a sharp chin, a delicate upturned nose, and two blood-red tooth-shaped war markings on her cheeks, with a symbol consisting of a triangle connected to an inverted "Ψ" on her forehead.

Fu Qinghai retracted the Power Glaive and asked with slight curiosity: "You speak Low Gothic?"

Judging by her appearance, she was at most nineteen or twenty, but the Aeldari had long lifespans incomparable to humans; she could easily be hundreds of years old.

The Aeldari girl remained in that cold, staring posture, clearly not intending to answer his question.

Fu Qinghai shrugged and asked again:

"Where are your weapons?"

The Aeldari girl was taken aback by his words, blurting out in surprise:

"You are going to release me?"

Fu Qinghai said: "I ask, you answer. Don't answer a question with a question."

I'm not going to indulge your bad habits, Fu Qinghai thought to himself.

Rumor had it that the Aeldari were incredibly arrogant; they had once dominated the galaxy, and in their eyes, humans were merely upright apes from a blue planet tens of thousands of years ago, unworthy of the Imperium of Man.

Listening to Fu Qinghai's indifferent, provocative tone, the Aeldari woman gritted her teeth and whispered:

"Locked inside the bulkhead behind you."

Fu Qinghai turned around, his mechanical arm unfolding from his back as his will commanded, the scorching jet of a welding torch sweeping across the bulkhead. With a clamp and a pull from the large pincers, a hidden compartment was pried open.

Inside lay three items quietly.

A strangely shaped bone-white helmet, a bizarre-looking pistol, and a slender blade with a curved tip.

Sure enough, this Aeldari girl was a Howling Banshee.

Howling Banshees were a specialized warrior caste of the Craftworld Aeldari, masters of high-agility melee combat. While they might not match a Space Marine in raw strength or armor, they were second to none in technique and speed.

These warriors, who worshipped the Aeldari god of war, Khaine, were each an efficient killing machine.

As for why the Word Bearers would keep this Aeldari girl here, Fu Qinghai, having witnessed the altars in the slaughterhouse, knew the answer without even thinking.

Unlike humans, where only one in millions is a Psyker, every single Aeldari is a Psyker, though their talents vary in strength.

Capturing Aeldari for sacrifices was far simpler than screening for Psykers among the vast human population; as long as you had the ability to capture them, every single one was a Psyker.

"Turn around," Fu Qinghai commanded.

Lured by the prospect of freedom, the Aeldari girl obediently shifted her knees and turned her back to Fu Qinghai.

Fu Qinghai reached his Power Glaive through the steel bars and flicked the tip upward. A flash of deep blue light passed, and the bindings on the Aeldari girl's wrists were sliced cleanly away.

"Aren't you afraid that I will kill you once I get my equipment back?" the Aeldari girl asked coldly as she stood up, her hands finally free.

She was so tall... Fu Qinghai looked at the Aeldari woman who stood at least two meters tall. Accustomed to looking down at mortals, this was the first time Fu Qinghai felt like he was looking someone in the eye.

Contrasting her height, the Aeldari physique was extremely slender, though it was said that the quality of their muscle fibers far surpassed that of humans.

"Why would you kill me?" Fu Qinghai asked with a serious tone.

"Good question." The Aeldari girl's tone carried a clear note of mockery: "I also wanted to ask why you humans attack us for no reason."

One could tell from the term "Xenomorph" used for aliens that the Imperium of Man was an extremely xenophobic and conservative nation. The Imperium was hostile toward all non-human races; whether you were an elegant and beautiful Aeldari from the Craftworld Fleet or some other bizarre humanoid creature, the Imperium collectively labeled you as "Xenomorphs."

Before Roboute Guilliman signed an alliance agreement with the Aeldari Farseers, the attitude of the various territories of the Imperium toward the wandering Craftworld Aeldari was simply to attack and expel them.

Fu Qinghai said: "You should ask that question to the Council of Terra, which truly represents the Imperium of Man, or any sector lord, instead of asking me."

After saying this, Fu Qinghai tossed a pistol, a long blade, and a helmet into the prison cell.

The Aeldari girl looked at the pile of equipment thrown before her, unable to believe that Fu Qinghai had actually returned her gear. She looked up at the Astartes Monk before her and asked in confusion:

"You are very different from the other humans I have met... What is your purpose in saving me?"

Fu Qinghai removed his helmet, spread his arms, and said:

"First, I have no prejudice against other alien races, beautiful Aeldari lady. Second, I just think that we currently, temporarily, have a common enemy, don't we?"

"You were captured and brought here by the Chaos Space Marines of the Word Bearers. I know what your fate would be: used as a sacrifice by them to summon daemons from the Warp."

"And as it happens, my enemies are also this bunch of traitors. The enemy of my enemy is my friend; at least at this moment, we have common interests."

Fu Qinghai spoke reasonably and eloquently.

Fu Qinghai felt that his persuasion was very logical and sound; he had always considered himself a reasonable person.

What he said earlier about not indulging the Aeldari's arrogant bad habits was just a negotiation tactic of suppressing before elevating. After all, everyone knew that blindly acting like a sycophant led nowhere.

To increase his persuasiveness and rapport, he even took off his helmet, mimicking the way Talal negotiated with mortals.

Talal had once told Fu Qinghai that mortals felt nervous and anxious when an Astartes Monk spoke to them through a loudspeaker behind a hideous, cold helmet. Taking off the helmet to reveal a face helped alleviate their tension.

The only thing Fu Qinghai worried about was that this Aeldari woman was also a woman.

It was well known that the creature known as a woman was not very reasonable, regardless of race.

Faced with this sincere statement from Fu Qinghai, the Aeldari girl nodded slowly, then crouched down and began to put on her equipment.

Fu Qinghai quietly let out a small sigh of relief.

If she still held a grudge over the previous conflicts and contradictions between her Craftworld Fleet and the Imperium of Man, then Fu Qinghai's actions would have been inviting trouble for himself.

A Howling Banshee was not some grunt that could be easily dismissed; it would inevitably lead to another fierce battle.

The most critical point was that he had never encountered a Howling Banshee in actual combat and did not know what kind of devious methods they possessed.

The Aeldari girl put on what Fu Qinghai had thought was a helmet, but was actually a mask.

It was a bone-white, long mask with a high crest extending upward from the forehead. The back of the mask was decorated with brownish-red hair like a lion's mane. The faceplate featured a menacing visor and an enlarged horizontal-grille respirator. Fu Qinghai had heard that this respirator was a loudspeaker, which, together with the psychic amplifier installed in the crest, released the Howling Banshee's Psychic Scream to shatter the enemy's mind.

Wearing the mask and picking up her pistol and long blade, the Aeldari girl transformed from an ethereal, icy beauty into a ferocious warrior.

Blue arcs of a Power Field flickered on the slender long blade, slicing through the iron bars of the prison with a single light stroke.

The masked Aeldari girl glanced at Fu Qinghai and turned to walk out.

"Hey, where are you going?" Fu Qinghai couldn't help but ask.

He really wanted to remind this Aeldari woman, who had been locked in the dungeon, that this transport ship was currently parked on a desolate planet.

"None of your business." The Aeldari girl's voice, filtered through the loudspeaker, became hard and coarse, genderless.

After saying this, the Howling Banshee warrior tapped her toes lightly on the ground, and her figure vanished into the dark corridor.

Well, let alone expecting her to offer herself in gratitude... faced with this heartless behavior from the Aeldari girl despite his life-saving grace, Fu Qinghai shrugged helplessly.

At least he had created some trouble for the Word Bearers.

Then, Fu Qinghai put his helmet back on and turned to walk toward the next prison cell.

Let me see what is locked in here.

In this instant, Fu Qinghai actually felt the thrill of opening a blind box.

The next cell contained a skeleton.

Oh... is it already dead? Excuse me.

Fu Qinghai headed to the next cell.

Several prison cells in a row were completely empty.

Until the very last cell, where Fu Qinghai saw an old woman in plain clothes sitting cross-legged on the ground.

Hearing Fu Qinghai's footsteps, the old woman looked up, revealing a kind smile as she watched him.

The face inside Fu Qinghai's helmet tightened, and he frowned.

"Who are you?"

This was a transport ship of a traitorous Space Marine legion, a bottom-level prison where a group of evil and cruel Chaos Space Marines kept special prisoners.

Here, an old woman had appeared.

This scene felt eerie and chilling just to think about.

"I am Agu, Agu Ella Graham. You can also call me Farseer Agu, young man." The old woman in plain clothes smiled kindly.

Fu Qinghai thought to himself, I'm wearing a helmet, how do you know I'm a young man...

"Prophet," she says, getting more and more like a charlatan.

Fu Qinghai scrutinized the elderly woman, confirming she was not some alien creature disguised as a human.

"This... uh, elder, why are you being kept here by them?"

The old woman smiled and said, "Who said I was being kept here?"

Hm? What did that mean?

Fu Qinghai was slightly taken aback, then he realized what she meant and reached out to give the iron bars a gentle push.

With a soft creak, the cell door swung open.

The door wasn't locked, which meant this old woman was staying here of her own volition?

Fu Qinghai slowly stepped back, and the Power Field on his Power Glaive hummed to life.

"Who exactly are you?" Fu Qinghai asked in a deep voice.

The old woman chuckled and said, "I already told you, I am the prophet Agu. I came here guided by prophecy, which told me that a brand-new existence capable of attracting the attention of the four gods of the Warp was about to be born on this planet, so I came."

After that cryptic and confusing statement, the old woman changed the subject and said:

"Hehe, young man, there is no need to be so tense, nor is there any need to waste time on an old relic like me. I have already seen that your commander is caught in a bitter struggle; you should go and help him, hehehe."

Fu Qinghai frowned, his expression serious as he slowly retreated. He couldn't be sure what this superstitious old woman actually was, but staying vigilant was never a mistake.

Did she mean Vlahos was caught in a bitter struggle? Or was she referring to Ogedei up in orbit?

Fu Qinghai decided to ignore this mysterious old woman for now and go outside to see for himself.