Search, Don't Fight, Retreat

Lin En poured all the water out of the bucket to keep it from sloshing around and giving away his position when he ran.

The water itself was useless. The bucket was what mattered.

Then he tied the bucket to his chest.

It was quite light, didn't get in the way, and was just right.

He slung the bags of hardtack and protein blocks over his shoulder and tried them on. They were heavy, but he could still carry them.

Fantastic. This was the taste of a bumper harvest.

He pulled away all the moisture-proof cloth beneath the dust covers draped over the crates in the storeroom.

These were good things. With them, his quality of life had risen by a full fifty percent.

He tied the moisture-proof cloth and dust covers onto himself.

"Bro System." Lin En stood in the middle of the cave and chuckled. "Do I look like a proper Imperial soldier now?"

[You look like a scavenger who just looted a cultist warehouse.]

"Don't be ridiculous."

The cultist's clothes were too ominous, and he hadn't wanted them at first. But then he thought that if he kept them, he might be able to disguise himself as a cultist and escape at a crucial moment. So Lin En pinched his nose, bundled up the red robe, and stuffed it into the moisture-proof cloth.

He was packed from head to toe, as if he had suddenly gained two hundred pounds. Lin En pressed down hard, cramming everything onto his body.

The weight dragged down on his shoulders, but he didn't feel heavy at all.

This was the joy of a harvest.

He made another round through the cave to confirm that he hadn't missed anything.

The plates on the table had been used by the cultists. Too ominous. He didn't want them.

The tables and chairs couldn't be carried away. Forget it.

Take everything else! Take it all! Spoils of war—they were all spoils of war!

Anything he couldn't take, he scattered around.

When he reached the cave entrance, he looked back.

Under the dark red light, the crates he had opened, the bags he had torn apart, and the unknown powder scattered across the ground all seemed to silently accuse him of his wicked deeds.

Hehehe.

Lin En gave the mess an utterly nonstandard salute.

"The Emperor will thank you."

Although you're cultists, your supplies can count as a contribution to humanity.

The Emperor's subjects were merely requisitioning some cultist supplies. What was wrong with that? It wasn't as if they were good people.

Righteousness.jpg.

[Search, don't fight, retreat.]

Lin En left the cave and headed back along the flagstone path.

He walked very slowly, inching forward one step at a time.

Mostly because he was afraid of being discovered. He had too many things hanging off him.

The hardtack bag pressed against his back, the bucket knocked against his hip, the moisture-proof bundle on his body swayed back and forth, the dagger sheath occasionally bumped his knee, and the shoulder-guard strap made his arm go slightly numb.

Military armor was good, but it was too hard. Whenever the pieces knocked together, they kept clinking and clanging.

Sigh. Stealing things really was hard physical labor.

How did the Blood Ravens steal other people's things so silently?

He still had to thank his Chaos bros for the New Year's money.

Only after leaving the area illuminated by the red light did he dare take larger strides.

Clink, clank, clink, clank. He was like a walking general store.

"Bro System, hehehe, I feel fantastic right now."

[Because you stole something?]

"Don't~ be ridiculous! How can taking things from cultists count as stealing? I feel good because I have supplies now. Even if I stayed in this underground cave for a month, I wouldn't starve to death."

[You have thirty days. You wouldn't have died anyway.]

"Not dying and not starving to death are two different things."

Lin En spoke seriously.

"If humans get hungry enough, they'll start digesting themselves. That's way too Nurgle. If I had to starve for thirty days without dying, I'd rather just die."

[...You're right.] The system could not refute him.

Lin En smugly shook his head.

Luck was also part of strength.

He had stumbled upon the cultists' warehouse by accident.

Take it all, take it all. His pockets were full, his body was covered in loot, and he was returning fully loaded. Hehehe.

He had even pieced together a set of tattered armor.

He hauled the items one by one through the narrow crack, then found the underground river and fetched some water.

After walking for another twenty minutes and turning a corner, he returned to the passage he had traversed before.

He passed through the door and returned to the abandoned Hive City.

The Hive City was still flooded with bright light leaking down from above.

It was as if he had returned to the human world from the dark underground.

He returned to the well-preserved storeroom.

He spread the moisture-proof cloth in the corner of the storeroom, then covered it with the dust cover.

Good. This would be his bed from now on.

He opened his backpack, took out a piece of hardtack and a protein block, and took a bite.

Mmm! Delicious!

He had food and drink now!

No wonder the Blood Ravens were so cheerful. It turned out big shopping really was a lot of fun.

With supplies and equipment, fifteen days didn't seem so difficult anymore. It wasn't as if he couldn't survive.

He was one step closer to [Throne Liberation].

"Long live humanity." Lin En mumbled through a mouthful of hardtack.

The Four Gods were all garbage.

No one could defeat a young college student in his prime.

Long live humanity—!!!

*********

For the next few days, he survived on the daily necessities he had stolen from the cultists.

His supplies were quite plentiful, and he was doing pretty well.

Normally, when people in Warhammer 40,000 said that humanity was doing pretty well, it meant they hadn't died, been crippled, or been sacrificed. The standard was abysmally low.

But Lin En was genuinely doing pretty well.

He had food, drink, equipment, and a place to stay. By Warhammer standards, that was not a bad life anywhere.

Lin En chewed on hardtack and said indistinctly, "Bro System, would you say I count as rich now?"

[No. You've merely gone from a penniless pauper to a pauper with a few supplies. True wealth means having your own warship and planet and becoming an Imperial noble.]

"That's too far away."

[Not at all. You can accomplish that as soon as you go outside.]

After finishing breakfast, Lin En brushed the hardtack crumbs off his leather armor. "All right, then I'll try my best."

He was currently wearing Astra Militarum equipment, with a dagger at his waist and his helmet sitting properly on his head. No matter how one looked at him, he seemed like a proper regular soldier.

Lin En was very satisfied with his appearance.

He found a relatively flat spot on the wall and used his dagger to carve a line into the stone: "Lin En was here."

What a lack of manners.

But it was fun.

After carving it, he felt it was a little silly.

It didn't matter. The Hive City had already been abandoned for several thousand years. Probably no one would ever see it.

He heard the cultists' furious roars. They must have discovered that their supplies had been stolen.

"Who—!!!"

"The supplies! The supplies are gone! Someone has been in the storeroom!"

"Someone came in! Someone stole our supplies!"

"Who was it? Was it those green-skinned Orks—?!"

"Damn thieves—!!!"

"...Can't find them... Useless!"

"Search... every corner..."

The voices clamored as the cultists cursed from east to west and west to east throughout the cave for more than ten minutes before gradually quieting down.

But they didn't find Lin En. He had closed the metal door leading to the Hive City from the inside and was crouching in the storeroom, surrounded by supplies and feeling thoroughly pleased with himself.

Once fifteen days passed, he would be able to draw another card. Maybe he would get a combat skill this time.

He sat in the corner covered with moisture-proof cloth inside the shelter, took another bag of protein blocks from his package, tore open the wrapping, and bit into one.

Mmm! Delicious!