As Gadriel descended, he saw Li Qinwu below, stark naked and covered in blood, looking up at him.
Gadriel shuddered in midair and nearly landed flat on his face. His superhero landing was slightly off, and his knee hurt.
"Lord Inquisitor."
Gadriel rose guiltily to his feet.
"Uh, well... have you eaten?"
Li Qinwu stared straight at Gadriel, his mind brimming with wicked ideas.
Keeping a stern face, he said:
"Lord Gadriel, tell me, what glitters gold, has a 40 mm caliber, and goes bang-bang when you pull the trigger?"
Gadriel broke out in a cold sweat.
"Lord Inquisitor, I can explain."
"Explain! How are you going to explain this?
That was the Emperor's Bolt Pistol! Priceless, the only one in the world, and you lost it!
God-Emperor above! Just how careless do you have to be to lose something so valuable?"
Li Qinwu's barrage of sarcastic jabs made Gadriel feel as miserable as when his company commander had stripped him of his squad leader position in the game.
Swift Shadow walked over just then.
"Bro, this isn't the time for that. We're surrounded by twenty Foot-washing Acolytes who are itching to attack!"
Li Qinwu waved a dismissive hand.
"Relax, it's fine. We're in a cutscene. The NPCs won't move around."
Gadriel looked somewhat surprised when he saw Swift Shadow.
"Whoa, what's one of the Emperor's Children doing here?"
Then he looked at Yellow Sand, whose armor was painted solid yellow without any Chapter insignia.
"Hmm? A brother from a secret Chapter?"
Yellow Sand made no response at all. Instead, he used the cutscene to steady his breathing and recover his stamina.
Li Qinwu coughed. Rather than continuing to hound Gadriel, he said:
"Stay sharp, Lord Gadriel. These twenty enemies are no pushovers. The strongest among them are on par