Opening the Key Room, Looting for a Living

Li Qinwu strolled to the outskirts of the Water Pattern Monitoring Station. Instead of approaching immediately, he first took out a poison tablet and stuck it against the inside of his teeth. Then, humming a tune, he walked into the Water Pattern Monitoring Station, singing as he went.

"Haji mold, north and south green beans~ Ashiga still wants trouser milk dragon~"

With a whoosh, a figure leaped down from the seventh floor of the Water Pattern Monitoring Station and landed in front of Li Qinwu, bloodshot eyes fixed on him.

The Silent One. They had not seen each other for nearly two days, and this guy looked even worse than before.

He stretched out a withered hand and grabbed for Li Qinwu's throat.

"The demon's voice... it's back! Give me... the Holy Oil... give it to me!"

Just as his zombie-like hand was about to touch Li Qinwu's neck, Li Qinwu smilingly pulled out the Holy Oil from his clothes.

A few minutes later, on the seventh floor of the Water Pattern Monitoring Station, the Silent One wailed and cried. After every couple of sobs, he took a swig from the Holy Oil bottle, making anyone watching feel sick to their stomach.

"Waaah, I thought you weren't coming back! You vanished in a flash, and my heart went cold in a flash! Waaah, glug glug!"

The Silent One whimpered like a little girl, then took another swig of Holy Oil after whimpering for a while. Half of the 150ml bottle was already gone.

Li Qinwu smacked his lips. Watching this guy drink oil right in front of him made him nauseous.

"Good boy. I said I'd come back, so I came back. Now these are all yours."

He placed the other two bottles of Holy Oil in front of the Silent One. With a whoosh, the Silent One snatched them into his arms and hugged them tightly, as though afraid someone might steal them.

Li Qinwu said, "Alright, enough of this pointless crap. I gave you the Holy Oil I promised you. Now it's your turn to repay me."

After drinking the Holy Oil, the Silent One's body was filled with Divine power, and the demons' noisy whispers disappeared.

He carefully screwed the cap back onto the Holy Oil bottle and looked at Li Qinwu. "Not enough. I want more!"

Li Qinwu pointed at him.

"If you want something, you have to give something. Trust is the foundation of a long-term partnership.

"Now, let's complete one deal first. Then we'll have an endless stream of deals in the future."

The Silent One asked, "An endless stream of Holy Oil?"

Li Qinwu nodded.

"There'll be enough Holy Oil for you to drink until you get fatty liver and gallbladder inflammation."

The Silent One's lips twitched. Looking at Li Qinwu and recalling the mysterious way he had suddenly vanished last time, he chose to yield.

"But I don't know how to teach you to use Psychic Power. I was born with it."

Psychic Power was the process of channeling Warp energy into the real universe and releasing it. A Psyker was essentially just a conduit.

The stronger a Psyker's soul and body were, the larger the conduit, and the stronger the Psychic Power they could use. The weaker the Psyker, the narrower the conduit.

Theoretically, every human could become a Psyker. Their conduits were simply too narrow to bring Warp energy into the real world and release it, unless they forcefully widened them.

But if ordinary people forcibly widened their conduits, they would easily die. More likely, they would be warped into monsters by the evil energy of the Warp.

None of that mattered to Li Qinwu, though. If he became contaminated, he could just kill himself and refresh his status.

Li Qinwu said, "I have an idea. Come on, use Psychic Power on me. Don't kill me in one shot. Release it slowly."

Yeah, this was the only way Li Qinwu could think of to learn Psychic Power: have a Psyker contaminate him with it.

His Search-Shoot-Extract System could increase proficiency. The more he did something, the higher his proficiency became.

Psychic Power was contaminating. As long as he got close enough to it, he would be contaminated, like standing near a sewage outlet. When it discharged waste, a few drops would always splash onto him.

As long as he reached a certain level, he would be able to use a psychic spell. Once he learned even a tiny psychic spell, he could grind Psychic Power proficiency.

The Silent One asked, "Are you sure? This demon ability is extremely dangerous. You'll be noticed by demons too, and a Psychic Blast might kill you!"

Li Qinwu stepped a few paces closer.

"Come on, quit talking and get to it!"

Seeing this, the Silent One could only comply. He raised a hand in front of Li Qinwu and slowly released Warp energy.

He did not try to shape the energy into any kind of spell. He simply released the purest form of energy.

What did being hit by Warp energy feel like? Li Qinwu felt as if he were being struck by a river—except it was his soul being struck by the river.

Li Qinwu felt that the Warp energy was incredibly violent, difficult to control, oppressive, unsettling, and savage, as though it carried mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Rot, depravity, pain—every emotion imaginable crashed into Li Qinwu's soul all at once, twisting his expression into a grimace.

The Warp was a projection of the emotions of intelligent beings living in the real universe. If people in the real world were happy, the Warp would be a gentle, warm ocean, and the gods within it would all be benevolent gods.

If people in the real world suffered and lived in oppression, then the Warp would be a raging sea of lava, and the gods within it would all be Chaos Gods.

It was obvious which kind the world of Warhammer 40,000 belonged to.

Li Qinwu endured the impact of the Warp energy and the agony of feeling as though his soul were about to be torn apart.

He persisted. The longer he held on, the closer he would get to Psychic Power!

Every muscle in his body tensed, and painful groans escaped his mouth. He estimated that he could hold out for another minute or two, intending to call a stop before he could no longer endure it.

But at that moment, a voice rang out in his mind.

"Hm? An interesting soul. I've never eaten a soul like this before..."

Then Li Qinwu felt some presence trying to pull his soul out of his body.

Li Qinwu shouted and kicked out, sending the Silent One flying.

The Silent One cried out, clutching his stomach as he rolled around on the floor. Li Qinwu also collapsed onto the ground, twitching and rolling his eyes.

So close. Just a little closer, and some wild demon would have pulled his soul out.

Luckily, he had reacted quickly and cut off the Warp energy. Otherwise, the moment that demon pulled out his soul, the system would probably have judged him dead and respawned him at the Hideout.

Second Lieutenant Rudosen was still outside waiting for his signal. If he had to go back, redeploy, and run all the way here again, it would be a huge hassle.

The Silent One looked at Li Qinwu resentfully.

"If you wanted to stop, couldn't you have used your mouth?"

Li Qinwu lay face-down on the floor, still feeling dizzy—not physically, but in his soul.

"Fuck, a demon nearly yanked my soul out just now!"

The Silent One sat down, clutching his stomach.

"See? I told you Psychic Power was dangerous. A bunch of demons are waiting in the War... uh, Warp, right? That's what it's called?

"They're waiting for us in the Warp. The moment we use this evil energy, they eat our souls."

Li Qinwu checked the Search-Shoot-Extract System. A smile appeared on his lips, because it had all been worth it.

His energy had become 16, increasing by three whole points.

Warp Resistance had increased to 20, Psychic Resistance to 21, and Psychic Power Proficiency to 21. All three had increased by ten points!

He vaguely sensed that the light of his soul in the Warp had become a little brighter and stronger.

After the two of them tidied themselves up and calmed down, Li Qinwu said, "Do you have to live here? Can you live somewhere else?"

The Silent One shook his head.

"No. My previous base was a rundown little village in some forest, but the demon in my head forced me to come out and kill people for fun, so I came here where there were more people.

"Every few days, people come here and deliver themselves to me for slaughter. Every time I kill 888 people, the demon gives me a little time to breathe, a tiny bit of peace. Sigh..."

Li Qinwu muttered inwardly, Eight? Looks like the demon targeting the Silent One belongs to Khorne.

Khorne was one of the five great Chaos Gods in the Warp. He loved seeing blood flow like rivers, and his sacred number was eight.

The demons under him were the same. They loved seeing blood flow into streams.

Li Qinwu said, "In that case, buddy, move somewhere else. Remember the ventilation shaft I took you through last time? There's an underground maintenance room there. Move in there.

"It's very hidden. Neither the rebels nor the PDF wander around nearby. Other than being a little damp and unfriendly to people with rheumatism, the place has pretty good feng shui. Stick a board in the ground and it'll make a fine grave.

"Of course, none of that matters. What matters is that it's close to my place. When we work together in the future, it'll be convenient for me to bring you Holy Oil. So, Little Silent, want to be my neighbor?"

The moment Little Silent heard that he could become Li Qinwu's neighbor, he nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, yes! As long as I can be a little closer to you, watashi... watashi!!"

He suddenly became excited, and Li Qinwu quickly backed away.

"Don't act like that. You're scaring me. Anyway, hurry up and pack your things. We're leaving."

The Silent One nodded and began gathering his belongings.

Li Qinwu was very satisfied. Establishing a connection with a Psyker would be greatly beneficial for developing his Psychic Power.

Li Qinwu let him pack on his own, then wandered down to the bottom floor and found a thick Ceramite door.

This was the underground gate of the Water Pattern Monitoring Station, the only entrance leading belowground. It could only be opened with a mechanical key.

The Ceramite door was pitch-black at the moment, and there were explosion marks on the surrounding floor. When the rebels had occupied the place, they had probably tried to blast the door open by force. But the door was too sturdy, and their homemade explosives had not been powerful enough.

Li Qinwu took out the mechanical key that Reno the water merchant had given him. After inserting it into the keyhole and turning it, the sounds of motors and gears working filled the air, and the door opened.

There was still power in the Water Pattern Monitoring Station. The passageway was lit by incandescent lamps, providing plenty of light.

Li Qinwu strode inside and happily began stripping the place clean.

As everyone knew, key rooms in Search-Shoot-Extract games were loaded. Big-ticket valuables, classified documents, little black items, ice picks, Cabinet Hearts, gold cards—any of them could drop in a Key Room.

So Li Qinwu looted with great care. Extremely, extremely great care!

Every drawer, every pocket, every container—he opened them all to take a look.

The underground section of the Water Pattern Monitoring Station had three areas: the living area, the control area, and the equipment area.

Basement level one was the living area. It had ten dormitories, with six bunk beds, drawers, desks, and other furnishings. The station's ordinary workers rested here.

After rummaging through the place, Li Qinwu found the following valuables: 1,500 Fertilizer Coupons, two watches, and five bottles of alcohol.

He then found the following in the living area's medical room: eight hemostatic bandages, five small medical kits, three bottles of painkillers, and one large surgical kit.

Hemostatic Bandage, Durability 1/1. Could remove bleeding from one limb.

Small Medical Kit, Durability 120/120. Could heal 120 HP of an injured body part.

Painkillers, Durability 3/3. Could remove pain for two hours.

Large Surgical Kit, Durability 8/8. Could restore HP to a damaged limb, excluding the head and chest.

Li Qinwu whistled. It was his first time getting medicine, and he had found so much all at once!

These medicines would probably be ordinary, inefficient drugs for normal people. But for him, they restored health according to system rules!

For example, if a landmine blew off his leg, he could use one point of durability from a surgical kit, and the leg would grow back out of thin air. It was absurdly powerful!

Li Qinwu carefully placed these precious medicines into his backpack. Until he found a way to replenish his supplies, these things were his lifeline.

After packing everything away, he headed toward the last room on basement level one.

This was probably the supervisor's residence. The huge room contained only one bed, and even the daily necessities inside were luxurious.

After searching around, Li Qinwu found several small valuables: one gold ring, estimated value 3,500 Fertilizer Coupons.

One crystal craftwork, estimated value 2,500 Fertilizer Coupons.

One antique parchment book with gold-thread binding, estimated value 4,500 Fertilizer Coupons.

One bottle of high-end perfume, estimated value 1,500 Fertilizer Coupons.

The abundant haul made Li Qinwu stomp his feet in delight. It took him quite a while to calm down before he headed to the next level.

Basement level two was the control area. There were not many rooms here, only one enormous control room.

The control room contained all sorts of strange equipment, as well as monitors that looked outdated but sturdy.

There was not much worth looting in this area. Following the map display, he found the main console and pulled out a palm-sized object that looked like a mechanical hard drive.

The moment he picked it up, the system immediately displayed a notification: Acquired quest item, Memory Panel.

This palm-sized item contained information about the underground water veins of the Hive City. To Li Qinwu, it was worth 100,000!

After putting away the Memory Panel, Li Qinwu went down to basement level three. There were many massive machines here, welded into the walls and extending straight into the water. They were probably the Water Pattern Monitoring Station's core monitoring equipment.

On basement level three, he found several high-end transformers, a bundle of more than thirty meters of high-end electrical wire, several high-brightness incandescent lamps, and a full-durability Posu Battery.

He rearranged his backpack and loaded all those treasures onto himself, then panted heavily as he climbed upstairs.

The moment he put all that equipment on his back, he triggered red encumbrance. His legs trembled even when he walked.

After slowly making his way to the first floor, he found the Silent One already waiting there. He was also carrying bags and bundles, ready to move.

Li Qinwu set down his things and said, "In a while, my friends from the PDF will come take over this place. Ignore them and head straight to the ventilation shaft.

"When I have time later, I'll come find you. We'll continue 'studying' Psychic Power, and I'll bring enough Holy Oil for you to resist the demons."

The Silent One frowned and anxiously clutched the Holy Oil in his arms.

"You promise you'll come find me before I use all of these up. Promise me!"

Li Qinwu let out a laugh.

"Come on, is there another Psyker on this planet? Even if there is, would I know who it is? Who else could I go to besides you?

"Relax. These bottles of Holy Oil will last you a long time. I'll definitely come find you again within three days."

The Silent One lowered his head.

"It's a deal. We have a deal..."

Then he shot away at incredible speed, flying low over the ground and disappearing into the distant forest.

Only after he had completely gone far away did Li Qinwu take out his small-caliber pistol and fire three shots into the air.