Battle Sister

Lin En raised the binoculars again.

The woman stood up from beside the fire.

Once she was standing, Lin En could see that she was very tall, at least 1.75 meters by his estimation. She had a well-proportioned frame and broad shoulders and back. Standing there, she looked like a sword thrust into the ground.

She stood there for a while, then walked a few steps in one direction, bent down, and picked something up.

Lin En adjusted the focus and saw that she had picked up a wooden plank.

It was probably meant to be used as firewood.

Sure enough, she carried the plank back to the fire, crouched down, broke it in two, and tossed it into the flames.

The fire flared up for a moment before returning to its original brightness.

There was nothing unusual about her movements.

She was not afraid of light or fire. She had none of the fanatical spasms or nervous tremors of a cultist, nor the self-loathing or breakdowns commonly seen in mutants. She was simply a human being, someone tenaciously struggling to survive in the apocalypse.

Lin En lowered the binoculars again.

He hesitated.

Should I go down?

Should I approach her?

She was a Battle Sister. If he could trust her, he would have a teammate.

An experienced teammate who knew how to survive in this world and could fight.

But what if she couldn't be trusted? What if she had already been corrupted or become a sentient mutant?

If he revealed himself and was discovered, she would hunt him down, and this secret base would no longer be safe. He would have nowhere to hide.

Lin En was very conflicted.

"Bro System, do you think I should go down?"

[You should decide that for yourself.]

"Can't you give me some advice?"

[Then observe her a little longer. Don't approach her rashly. Her current condition is unclear. Look and listen a bit more, and wait until she reveals more information before making a decision.]

"Good point."

Lin En took a deep breath, raised the binoculars to his eyes, and continued observing.

The fire was still burning.

The woman had sat back down in her original spot, her knees drawn up and her hands resting on them.

Her eyes gleamed in the firelight. Her pupils were narrow and vertical, like those of some kind of predator, yet her expression was calm—almost peaceful.

Lin En watched her for a while. After confirming that she showed no signs of madness, he lowered the binoculars again.

He pondered.

There was no way the woman could discover him. He had binoculars, and they were separated by such a long distance.

He would keep watching for the next few days.

He wouldn't go today.

Nor tomorrow.

Perhaps the day after.

Or perhaps a few more days later.

Better safe than sorry.

He tightened the backpack on his back, touched the dagger at his waist, adjusted his helmet, then ducked low and quietly left the shelter.

There was no harm in being more cautious.

In the giant cesspit that was Warhammer 40,000, only the ultimate survivor could stay alive.

********

Lin En carefully observed her for the next few days.

The woman did not leave.

During the day, she gathered firewood in the lower levels of the hive city, searched for supplies, and looked for water. At night, she returned to sit beside the fire.

Every so often, she would stand up and walk a few steps to loosen her muscles.

When she walked, her back was straight and her steps steady. She showed none of the furtive, nervous mannerisms of a cultist.

She found the few cans of thousand-year-old zombie meat that Lin En had thrown out.

Then she opened one without hesitation and ate it.

She ate it.

She ate it.

Lin En clicked his tongue in amazement.

Good grief.

The physical constitution of people in Warhammer really was incredible.

She wasn't an Astartes, whose stomach acid could dissolve anything regardless of whether it was food. She was only a mortal, yet she actually dared to eat canned food that had probably been sitting there for thousands of years.

On the third day, something went wrong when she started the fire.

There might have been something else mixed in with the firewood, because the smoke was especially thick and made her cough several times.

Lin En saw her wave the smoke away with her hand. She frowned, then changed direction and lit the fire again.

The expression on her face was incredibly genuine. Her entire face seemed to say, Why is this lousy firewood so hard to burn? It was exactly the kind of expression an ordinary person would make.

She occasionally performed some stretching movements to check the condition of her body.

Her movements were precise and her rhythm steady. It was obvious that she had undergone strict training.

Only after observing her for several days did Lin En confirm that the woman showed no signs of instability.

"Bro System."

[Hmm.]

"Battle Sisters... aren't they the kind who would never betray their faith even if it meant death?"

[Yes. Their faith is stronger than their flesh. Their flesh can be destroyed, but their faith is indestructible.]

"Even if she mutated?"

[As long as her brain hasn't mutated.]

"Then why didn't you say so earlier?"

[You didn't observe her more carefully. What if a new type of mutation had appeared? Still, judging from her behavior over the past few days, she indeed hasn't shown any signs of Chaos corruption.]

The Imperium of Man represented the ultimate in reason. The other four gods actually represented madness, and corruption could not be hidden.

Lin En took a deep breath.

He steeled himself. "Then I'm going!"

He had to take a gamble!

Risk his bicycle and turn it into a motorcycle!

Then upgrade Geely into a Lamborghini!

Lin En put away the binoculars, stood up from the observation platform, and dusted off his leather armor.

He packed enough dry rations to last five or six days into his backpack and filled his waterskin.

Next, he checked his dagger, shoulder guards, and helmet. Everything was ready.

He was a little nervous, but he could handle it.

Lin En strode downward with great determination.

In the world of Warhammer 40,000, trust was the most extravagant thing of all.

He hoped this Sister wouldn't let his trust go to waste!

Lin En reached the very bottom level of the hive city.

The cave system lay to the left from here.

The woman's position was to the right of the cave system's entrance.

Standing in the shadows of the cave system, Lin En saw the fire the Sister had lit in the distance.

The firelight danced in the darkness like a tiny, stubborn orange-yellow heart.

He didn't walk out immediately. He crouched in the shadows for another five minutes, observing her movements.

The Sister sat beside the fire with her knees drawn up, holding the last can in her hands.

Only a small piece remained inside.

She ate very slowly, swallowing one bite at a time and saving every morsel of food.

She was out of food. This was her last bit, and she had eaten this final can over the course of three days.

There was nothing unusual about her movements. She hadn't gone mad, harmed herself, or performed a sacrifice. She even prayed to the Emperor every day.

Lin En took a deep breath and stood up.

He had deliberately chosen the brightest time of day to meet her, hoping she would be able to see clearly that he wasn't a cultist or a servant of Chaos, but simply an ordinary, sane living human.

Lin En stepped out of the shadows.

He walked about twenty steps.

The firelight drew closer, and the woman's outline became clearer.

The Sister heard his footsteps.

She raised her head and looked in Lin En's direction.

Amid the interweaving firelight and gray-white illumination, her pair of narrow, vertical, reptilian pupils were especially striking.

But her expression was not the spine-chilling, fanatical distortion of a cultist's. Instead, she examined him with extreme calm.

Her posture shifted slightly. She leaned forward a little, moving her center of gravity onto the balls of her feet, ready to explode into combat at any moment.

She placed both hands on her knees, her fists held loosely.

She had no weapon, but her fists themselves were weapons.

Lin En did not approach too closely. He stopped about twenty meters away from her.

He had played the game and knew that the unified Imperial form of address for a Battle Sister was "Sister." So Lin En appeared before her during the brightest part of the day and spoke his first greeting:

"Hello, Sister."

Lin En was actually quite wary as well.

He had revealed himself between the entrance to the underground cave and the Sister.

If there was something wrong with her, he was ready to run at any moment.