The Gilded Birdcage

After leaving that black market recycling shop, Li Wei did not rush to head to the so-called Gilded Rose.

He was a modern man who understood one fundamental truth: dress your best to get the best respect.

He looked down at himself.

Although this military greatcoat stripped off a dead man was warm, the corpse stench that would not wash out no matter what, along with holes stained with grime, were symbols of being seasoned in the Bottom Hive. In the upper-class nobility district, however, this made him a walking target.

Before he even reached the club's entrance, automatic turrets equipped with olfactory sensors would likely clear him out as mobile garbage.

I need a change of clothes. Li Wei felt the heavy money pouch in his pocket.

That was the black market shopkeeper's entire worldly wealth, amounting to about two thousand coins.

In the Bottom Hive, this money was enough to buy ten lives.

In the Upper Hive, it might only be enough to buy a decent pair of underwear.

Li Wei spent an hour weaving through the bustling commercial district of the Mid Hive.

He avoided regular shops hanging Adeptus Mechanicus gear symbols, ducking into a gray zone specifically serving mercenaries and unregistered citizens—Tailor's Alley.

The air here smelled slightly better, lacking that pungent sulfur scent, replaced instead by the smell of cheap synthetic perfume.

Stepping into a shop named Gentleman's Armor, he was greeted by a servo-skull suspended mid-air.

This thing was a human skull fitted with a mechanical optic and a vocalizer, with a few long tape measures dangling beneath it.

"Welcome, base... oh no, esteemed guest." The servo-skull emitted a harsh synthetic voice, its logic circuits clearly lagging between assessing Li Wei's attire and the money pouch at his waist. "Do you require armor plating? Or formal wear?"

"I want an outfit that looks like I handle business for bigwigs."

Li Wei ignored the skull's offense. "Not too flashy, and not too shabby. Preferably something that can conceal this gun." He patted the outline of the automatic rifle beneath his coat.

The red light in the servo-skull's eye socket flickered as it circled Li Wei.

When it drew close to Li Wei, its flight engine suddenly emitted an unstable hum, as if suffering interference, wobbling backward by a meter.

"Detected... unknown magnetic field interference. You are advised to stay away from precision equipment." The servo-skull drifted rapidly toward a shelf, as though Li Wei were a virus source.

Ten minutes later, Li Wei walked out of the shop. He looked brand new.

That tattered greatcoat had been thrown into an incinerator.

Replaced in kind was a dark gray turtleneck trench coat, made of a synthetic fabric called plasteel fiber that was both rain-resistant and wear-resistant, and could even withstand the glancing blows of small-caliber stray rounds.

Underneath was a crisp high-collared shirt, and on his feet he wore a brand-new pair of hard-soled tactical leather boots.

To obscure his face, he had also bought a pair of wide sunglasses and an unassuming flat cap.

This outfit cost him eight hundred coins.

Now, he no longer looked like a refugee, but rather like a courier or private investigator roaming the gray zones.

Li Wei gazed at his reflection in a roadside metal storefront.

"Dressed like a human for once." He smiled self-deprecatingly.

Who would have thought that beneath this glossy skin lay an empty shell lacking even an ID card or a soul?

With the outfit sorted, the next hurdle was the journey.

The Sky Ladder leading to the Upper Hive was strictly regulated.

Every single gate was guarded by Adeptus Arbites sentries or private security forces.

Li Wei did not squeeze onto those freight elevators meant for commoners.

He arrived at a checkpoint marked Commercial VIP Lane.

There were fewer people here, and... the guards here understood the rules better.

Two sentries in deep blue uniforms were leaning against a railing chatting idly, holding stun batons.

Seeing Li Wei approach, one of them lazily raised a hand.

"Halt. Show your pass or guild badge."

Li Wei stopped in his tracks.

He removed his sunglasses, his cold eyes fixing on the guards.

As the distance closed, that familiar, sickening pariah aura silently spread outward.

The smiles on the two guards' faces froze.

They instinctively furrowed their brows, feeling a churning sensation in their stomachs.

"Damn it... what's wrong with this guy?" A guard stepped back half a step, his hand resting on his stun baton. "Are you sick? Don't bring any plague up here."

"I'm handling business for Chief Valorian." Li Wei lied without changing expression.

He invoked the name he had pried from the black market boss's mouth.

While lying, he reached out with absolute naturalness, two golden Throne Gelt flashing between his fingertips and sliding gently into the guard's jacket pocket.

"Urgent dispatch. Can you bear the responsibility if you ruin the chief's mood?"

This combination of plays struck with extreme precision.

First, dropping a bigwig's name (borrowing tigers' might for intimidation).

Second, financial lubrication (bribery).

Third, physiological revulsion (the guards' instinctual desire to chase him away quickly without checking his papers further).

The guard touched the coins in his pocket, glanced at Li Wei's professional if not overly luxurious attire, and was ultimately defeated by that nauseating sensation.

"Get lost, get lost." The guard waved a hand and unlocked the turnstile. "Don't cause trouble up there. Lord Valorian's name isn't useful every single time."

"Many thanks." Li Wei put his sunglasses back on, strode across the turnstile, and stepped into the resplendent elevator car.

The elevator began to ascend.

This time, there was no longer that creaking, rickety sound.

This elevator leading to the Upper Hive glided as smoothly as if it were traversing the clouds.

The elevator car even sprayed a faint scent of incense and played soothing classical music.

Through the transparent reinforced glass curtain wall, Li Wei watched the world beneath him gradually shrink.

That crowded, filthy, smoke-filled Mid and Bottom Hive

slowly turned into a grayish-black backdrop.

While overhead, the legendary bliss zone was revealing its true appearance to him.

It was another world.

Massive spires pierced the heavens, punching through the industrial exhaust clouds blanketing the planet's surface.

Here, one could see long-lost sunlight.

Golden sunlight spilled over palaces built from marble and crystal, refracting dazzling light.

Enormous aerial gardens floated between the towers, waterfalls cascading down from a thousand meters high to transform into rainbow-like mists.

No black smoke, no noise, only luxury refined to the point of ultimate tranquility.

"Paradise." Li Wei murmured, gazing out the window.

Yet he knew this was merely surface illusion.

When the elevator doors opened once more, a cloying, suffocating scent rushed over him.

It was not floral fragrance, but an expensive synthetic pheromone mixed with a certain... decaying sweetness.

Li Wei stepped out of the elevator station.

This was the fringe of the bliss zone, as well as a gathering place for high-end clubs, casinos, and brothels.

The streets were no longer made of rusted iron plates, but paved with pristine white tiles.

Roadside lamps were exquisite angel statues, the statues' eyes burning with genuine flame.

Pedestrians on the street were no longer workers bearing bitter expressions.

Nobles in silk robes hugged scantily clad modified female companions and flirted; wealthy merchants covered in gold studs swaggered about with two-meter-tall Ogryn bodyguards; there were even several Tech-Priests draped in red robes with countless mechanical tentacles extending from their backs, pointing and chatting at holographic dancers by the roadside.

This was a den of debauchery.

This was also the filthiest place in the entire hive city—except that the filth here was wrapped in gold and perfume.

Li Wei lowered the brim of his hat, weaving through the crowd.

His pariah constitution appeared even more out of place here.

Those nobles with acute senses and gene-modified bodyguards wore looks of disgust as he passed, stepping aside one after another.

"Where's that sewer rat smell coming from?" A noble covered his nose and complained.

"Don't mind him, probably some mercenary who just finished cleaning up corpses."

Li Wei turned a deaf ear.

Guided by the black market boss's directions, he crossed two bustling streets and finally arrived at his destination.

The Gilded Rose club.

This was a massive Baroque-style building.

The exterior walls were decorated with countless golden rose reliefs, each rose pistil being a real eyeball (biological monitor) that rolled restlessly, keeping watch on everyone who approached.

Standing at the front entrance were two three-meter-tall combat servitors.

Their arms had been modified into massive power hammers, and they draped red velvet cloaks over their bodies, looking both absurd and terrifying.

Li Wei stood across the street, gazing at the gold-inlaid door that seemed to lead to another realm.

He touched the data-slate inside his chest.

Inside it was packed the secret that could cause this group of pigs indulging in the clouds to drop dead instantly.

"Valorian..." Li Wei took a deep breath of the cloying air, feeling his stomach churn.

"I hope you are as greedy as the rumors say, and as terrified of death as the rumors claim."

He straightened his collar and stepped toward the maw of that wealth-devouring beast.