Medical Station

After establishing contact with the rebels, Li Qinwu planned to head back.

The rebels transported him into the combat zone on a beast that looked like a horse but was actually some kind of bioengineered animal. After that, he walked back to Second Lieutenant Rudosen's camp on his own.

As soon as he saw Second Lieutenant Rudosen, Li Qinwu pulled him into the military tent and whispered, "It's settled. I've established contact with the rebels. From now on, as long as we give them one PDF Automatic Gun, they'll return three tons of food.

"I need to return to the Lower Hive immediately. Drive me there."

The pile of things Li Qinwu had found last time, along with the Hideout upgrade items he had bought from Double Serpent Clinic, were still with Second Lieutenant Rudosen. He had to retrieve them quickly.

Those items were all sitting inside Second Lieutenant Rudosen's tent, untouched. Li Qinwu picked them up and slung them over his shoulders, while Second Lieutenant Rudosen readied his open-top military vehicle to take Li Qinwu toward the Hive City.

"Don't go into the Hive City. Head outside. There's a ventilation duct out there. I'm going back through that."

Li Qinwu stopped Second Lieutenant Rudosen from driving toward the Hive City. He was carrying all these bags, and returning to the Hideout through the Great Elevator was unsafe. It might attract rats looking to rob him.

He wanted to teleport back to the Hideout from the ventilation duct evacuation point. It would also be faster and safer.

Second Lieutenant Rudosen did not understand why, but he still followed instructions. He drove out of the PDF Camp and headed toward a secret ventilation opening outside the Hive City.

After arriving, Li Qinwu took his bag of junk out of the vehicle. Second Lieutenant Rudosen handed him something that looked like a radio.

"This is a high-power Bird Spectrometer communications radio. Even if you're twenty kilometers underground, the two radios can still contact each other.

"If anything happens, I'll use it to contact you. Our encrypted channel is 350234kmyy."

Li Qinwu hugged the radio and nodded.

"Keep an eye on Lieutenant Winchester's movements. If you get a chance, contact me. I'll take him out!"

Second Lieutenant Rudosen nodded, drove his open-top military vehicle away, and Li Qinwu watched him disappear into the distance before slowly walking toward the enormous Hive City ventilation opening.

However, he did not immediately step into the Ceramite-reinforced area to begin the evacuation countdown. Instead, he set his things down and headed into the forest off to one side, where there was an underground maintenance station.

The underground maintenance station's iron door was half-open. Li Qinwu knocked on it, pushed the door open, and was hit in the face by the stench of blood.

The Silent One, whom he had not seen for several days, was sitting cross-legged on the floor. A circle of strange symbols had been drawn in white lime on the ground before him, like a magic array.

On the magic array lay the corpse of an alien animal the size of a cat. Its belly had been cut open and its intestines pulled out. The Silent One stared unblinkingly at those intestines, as if trying to discern some secret of the universe from them.

Li Qinwu clicked his tongue and looked around the maintenance station.

He had searched this place before and taken away quite a few tools. Apart from being a little damp, it had been fairly tidy.

But after the Silent One moved in, the place's style had changed drastically. Strange, chaotic graffiti covered the floor and walls, making anyone who saw it deeply uncomfortable.

A pile of small animal corpses had been tossed everywhere, apparently some kind of divination material. The underground maintenance station reeked of blood and rotting animals.

Li Qinwu slapped the Silent One on the shoulder.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?"

The Silent One slowly raised his head and stared at Li Qinwu with shadowy eyes.

"I am exploring the secrets of this world. I am investigating the future. I am conducting psychic divination!"

Psychic Power was such a wondrous force. Not only could it unleash highly destructive spells, it could also divine the future.

Some powerful Psykers really could see scenes from the future, though whether those visions were accurate was another matter.

Li Qinwu kicked the animal carcass on the ground aside, hooked an arm around the Silent One's neck, and said:

"Come on, man, can't you be a little more decent? The world is so beautiful, yet you insist on making yourself look like some evil Chaos Wizard. Aren't you afraid a few righteous companions will randomly spawn beside you, yelling about love and peace before chopping you to pieces?

"I mean, shouldn't there be a little sunlight in your heart? It's not like you watched Tiga fight Ergastan as a kid and gave away all the light in your heart. Why make yourself so gloomy?

"We don't have any dark, heavy secrets. Everything's relaxed and bright, understand?"

The Silent One stared at Li Qinwu with a blank, innocent expression. The terrifying scars on his face were scabbing over, and combined with the damp, gloomy surroundings, the evil graffiti on the walls, and the stench of rotting animal corpses, he looked like an utterly innocent serial killer.

Li Qinwu sighed, feeling that the guy was beyond saving.

He dragged him out of the underground maintenance station, breathed in the fresh air outside, and handed him all the Holy Biscuits in his bag.

"Here. Food that resists Warp contamination, just like I promised."

The Silent One's eyes lit up. He accepted all the Holy Biscuits and carefully tucked them into his clothes as though they were treasures.

Li Qinwu said, "I'll come bring you more food in a few days. This is a rare opportunity, so keep blasting me with Warp energy and raise my Warp attributes."

The Silent One nodded and sat down cross-legged.

"Then get ready. I'm going to begin. If you can't endure it, or if a daemon tries to pull out your soul, shout once and I'll stop."

The Silent One held his hand in front of Li Qinwu and slowly released Warp energy.

Li Qinwu once again felt the agony of his soul being scoured. A tiny rift opened before him, leading to the psychic sea of the Warp.

As the Warp energy scoured him, his mental power and Warp resistance rose sharply.

While he endured the pain of being washed by Warp energy, the voice of that daemon from last time echoed from deep within his soul.

"Oh? That special soul from last time. You've returned?"

Li Qinwu could feel that on a higher-dimensional level, a huge daemonic hand was slowly reaching toward the flame of his soul in the Warp, trying to grasp it.

"Hehehe, unknown soul, you have set foot in the Empyrean many times. Is it because you seek power? Would you like to try serving my master, so you can gain power beyond your imagination even faster?"

The daemon whispered temptingly to Li Qinwu, while Li Qinwu conveyed a single thought with his soul: Who are you?

"Hehehe, I am a blade under the Blood God's command. I please my master with battle, blood, and my enemies' heads, and I have received a brief gaze from my master. The flames upon my blade therefore burn many times fiercer, hehehehehehehehe!!"

After hearing the daemon's description, Li Qinwu gave an acknowledging sound.

"So you're a Bloodletter. I thought you were some big shot. Turns out you're just a little nobody."

Bloodletters were the most basic daemons, core melee units under Khorne, one of the five great Chaos Gods.

They were red in appearance, wielded burning blades, excelled in close combat, and lived to behead enemies as sacrifices to Khorne.

This one said it had received Khorne's gaze once, proving that it had fought very bravely and attracted Khorne's attention. Put simply, it had received a blessing.

The Chaos Gods bestowed blessings upon those who fulfilled their desires or served them well, making them stronger.

Khorne loved the thrill of battle. As long as his followers slaughtered to their hearts' content, Khorne would bless and strengthen them.

This Bloodletter's claim that the flames on its blade burned many times fiercer was proof that it had been enhanced.

But a strengthened little nobody was still a little nobody.

When the Bloodletter heard Li Qinwu call it a little nobody, it was enraged for an instant. But because Li Qinwu's soul was too special, this brute who knew only how to Choppa actually suppressed its anger.

"Come, soul that craves power. Join the Blood God's ranks and fight for him.

"Slaughter all things, claim their heads, forge streams from blood, ascend to daemonic paradise, and revel in bloodlust forever!"

Li Qinwu asked, "Paradise? What paradise? J~M? I can't just take your word for it. I need to hear what the Daemonette on my right shoulder has to say."

Daemonettes were basic daemons under Slaanesh, another Warp god, and they were mortal enemies of Khorne.

Simply put, Khorne was an ultra-violent Choppa who hacked up everyone he saw, while Slaanesh's lot were a bunch of BDSM enthusiasts who liked making people. The two sides were openly hostile.

Mentioning Daemonettes in front of a Bloodletter was blatant provocation, and it instantly made this Bloodletter see red.

"You insolent insect, I'll crush you!"

The thing snapped. Li Qinwu felt a huge daemonic hand ruthlessly grab at the flame of his soul on the Warp level, intending to crush it.

Li Qinwu shouted, "Light's Radiance!" He stuffed the Holy Biscuit he had been holding into his mouth and gave himself the Divine status.

The next moment, golden, pure energy wrapped around him from flesh to soul. It was the protection of the God-Emperor, lord of humanity.

To Warp abominations, this pure force was as incompatible as water and fire.

When the Bloodletter's daemonic hand touched Li Qinwu's golden soul flame, it was as though it had touched a branding iron. Its soul essence felt unbearable pain. It let out a heart-rending scream and vanished into the depths of the Warp in an instant, and Li Qinwu's fragile soul could no longer sense its existence.

At that moment, the Silent One stopped releasing Warp energy. His face was covered in sweat as he staggered several steps backward, staring at Li Qinwu in shock.

This guy had actually made a daemon suffer and driven it away. Could Holy Biscuits be used like this too?

Li Qinwu slowly came back to his senses. His vision had been extremely strange just now. His physical eyes could see the real world, while his soul could sense the spiritual universe of the Warp.

The two visions overlapped, leaving him dazed, but it was all over now.

He opened the system panel and checked his attributes. His eyes suddenly lit up.

His energy attribute had risen to 20 points, Warp resistance had increased to 30 points, Psychic Power resistance had risen to 30 points, and Psychic Power proficiency had reached 30 points.

It was different. Li Qinwu discovered that the world he could perceive had changed!

The increase in mental power made his perception of the world much sharper. It was not limited to the real world either. As long as he concentrated slightly, he could sense traces of the Warp.

Most importantly, he could notice the soul flame that belonged to him, constantly flickering in the Warp!

It was like being able to see the existence of one's own soul. If this were an immortal cultivation world, then such a person would have already entered the path of cultivation.

Now that Li Qinwu could see his own soul flame in the Warp, it could be considered an introduction to Psychic Power.

He could slowly move that soul flame with his will, and immense joy filled his heart.

Next, once he made that soul flame stronger, he could absorb Warp energy and release it into the real universe, casting all kinds of spells. He would become a Psyker.

Li Qinwu stood up. His face was filled with unconcealed exhaustion, but his eyes and brows brimmed with delight.

He patted the Silent One on the shoulder and said, "I'm heading back first. I'll come see you again in a few days.

"Clean up the place where you live. Don't make it such a filthy mess. I might bring people nearby to unload goods after a while, and it won't look good if they see this."

The Silent One silently nodded, then watched Li Qinwu shoulder his bags and packages, stand atop the ventilation duct, and vanish into thin air more than ten seconds later.

A flicker of hesitation suddenly appeared in his eyes. In truth, he had held something back when teaching Li Qinwu about Psychic Power. There were many Psychic Power techniques that could be passed on, but he had not taught them.

Because he had realized that aside from his shallow knowledge of Psychic Power applications, he had nothing else to offer Li Qinwu.

He wanted to use that knowledge to maintain some leverage in his conversations with Li Qinwu, making Li Qinwu keep supplying him with food that could resist daemons while he gradually revealed more Psychic Power knowledge.

He was terrified that one day, Li Qinwu would no longer need him and abandon him.

But now, Li Qinwu had merely been washed by Warp energy twice, yet he could already make a Warp daemon that coveted souls suffer.

Furthermore, the soul flame he possessed in the Warp was growing larger and larger. Before long, that soul flame, currently the size of an ordinary person, would surpass his own as a Psyker!

Staring at the ventilation duct where Li Qinwu had vanished into thin air, the Silent One's face darkened.

The one thing that allowed him to speak to Li Qinwu as an equal was slowly disappearing. What should he choose?

Elsewhere, Li Qinwu successfully completed the countdown and returned to the Hideout. He set down the odds and ends he was carrying, then eagerly began constructing the Medical Station.

The Chemical Purification Equipment, Temperature Controller, and Mixing Precipitator—the three core items needed to construct the Medical Station—had all been gathered.

He picked up his tools and tinkered with them, disassembling and reassembling the three devices amid a flurry of hammering and clanging, then pulled over electrical wires and connected the power.

Ding! The Hideout has been upgraded. Medical Station lv1.

Li Qinwu hurriedly checked what the Medical Station could do. This thing was powerful. Even at level one, it had eight production slots and could produce eight items simultaneously.

That was because its core component, the Mixing Precipitator, contained eight test tubes, allowing it to produce or purify eight kinds of medicine at once.

The Medical Station lv1 formulas were as follows:

Input Poison Needle ×1, output Low-Grade Medical Synthesis Material ×1, production time: 20 minutes.

Input Rage Drug ×1, output High-Grade Medical Synthesis Material ×1, production time: 30 minutes.

The above two were core materials used by the Medical Station. They could be produced by purifying the injections Li Qinwu found on the battlefield.

Then came the things it could properly manufacture. The inputs and outputs were as follows:

Minor Strength Injection: increases strength by 5 points for one day. Side effect: accelerated metabolism and faster hunger. Input Low-Grade Medical Synthesis Material ×2, production time: 20 minutes.

Minor Endurance Injection: increases endurance by 5 points for one day. Input Low-Grade Medical Synthesis Material ×2, production time: 20 minutes.

Hemostatic, Painkilling, Antibacterial, and Anti-Inflammatory Injection: lasts 6 hours. Input Low-Grade Medical Synthesis Material ×1 and High-Grade Medical Synthesis Material ×1, production time: 30 minutes.

Minor Blood-Producing Injection, Void Blood Pump: as long as death is not immediate, one injection can regrow flesh and reconnect bones from nothing. Duration: 20 minutes. Input High-Grade Medical Synthesis Material ×3, production time: 24 hours.

Minor Medical Kit: input Low-Grade Medical Synthesis Material ×1.

Minor Surgical Kit: input Low-Grade Medical Synthesis Material ×1.

High-Purity Anti-Inflammatory Disinfectant Powder: input Low-Grade Medical Synthesis Material ×5, production time: 20 minutes.

High-Temperature-Resistant Chemical Poison: input Poison Needle ×3, production time: 20 minutes.