In Warhammer, please don’t mix Doraemon with the Omnissiah.

The night deepened around the garbage mountain in District 13.

This garbage mountain had been formed over tens of thousands of years by the endless refuse of the underhive, growing taller and wider every day, becoming ever more chaotic and disordered.

In the dim light of the underhive, it resembled a twisted god lurking in the dark, its presence gnawing grotesquely at everything around it. Among the black peaks of trash, shadowy figures flitted, strange growls echoed now and then, and eerie whispers drifted on the wind.

This place was not only the dumping ground for the hive city, but also the main path between the underhive, the hive outskirts, and the depths. People irradiated by the light of the wasteland above, and mutants from the darkness below, often appeared here.

And yet, the Eager Thief had chosen this place to meet Zhou Yun.

As Zhou Yun moved carefully through the shadows of the garbage mountain, he thought to himself.

Through his orange gloves he cautiously touched the Pocket Tornado at his waist and the pale-golden short blade on his other side.

On his head sat the Chōnōryoku Bōshi (ESP Hat), and floating in the dark around him under his telekinetic control were eighteen Catachan-pattern M36 lasguns.

With these tools, he felt slightly more secure.

These lasguns were standard issue for the Cadian Shock Troopers, and Zhou Yun had dug them out of an old warehouse in District 8. At first he could barely control twelve at once, but as he got more skilled with his telekinesis, he'd raised that number to eighteen.

His teleportation ability had also improved — before, he could only manage seven or eight meters, but now he could blink more than fifteen.

He also carried Soundprint Candy and Body Clay for disguises, and an Airgun Potion for sneak attacks.

What he really lacked were close-quarters weapons. In this galaxy, plenty of enemies were immune to ranged weapons — only melee strikes could hurt them.

His hand moved to the other side of his belt, where hung a short blade the length of his forearm.

Meitō Denkōmaru, priced at two hundred thousand.

It had many flaws, but its effect was outrageous.

This was one of the cheapest of the conceptual-grade tools. Its effect was simple: as long as it still had power, the user would gain supernatural swordsmanship and could never lose in a duel of melee weapons.

The downside was that it burned through power quickly, and the more intense the battle, the faster it drained. And its effect was limited to never losing — it couldn't deal damage on its own, only maintain a stalemate.

Even against a Khorne Daemon Prince, Meitō Denkōmaru could forcibly hold the fight to a draw.

A flawed, but potentially very high ceiling weapon.

Then there was a more modest, but stable tool.

Zhou Yun glanced at the dark red glove on his hand.

[Item Name: Superman Glove]

[Origin: 22nd Century Earth — Future Department Store]

[Production Date: 261.M3]

[Effect: Looks like an ordinary glove, but grants superhuman strength. With one hand you can stop a hundred-ton truck at full speed. Hard to control the force, though.]

[Price: 950,000]

Ninety-five hundred thousand — expensive as hell.

But the boost it gave was obvious.

At full strength, a single punch could send a hundred-ton freighter flying. Even against an Astartes, it was not lacking in brute force. The flaw was that the strength was hard to control — wearing it made it nearly impossible to handle weapons or small objects.

Suddenly, Zhou Yun caught a flash of blazing heat in the dark.

That was the flare of a heat-cutter.

His eyes sharpened slightly, and he circled a low trash hill, heading toward the light.

From a distance, he saw the hooded figure.

It was the so-called "Orleans Wing," the Eager Thief.

She was short — even shorter than Rag — yet she shouldered a heat-cutter as tall as herself. The cold wind from the hive outskirts swept over the trash mountains, ruffling her cloak, making her thin frame seem even more slight.

From what Zhou Yun could see, she was at most about 1.4 meters tall. In the underhive, that counted as stunted.

Or perhaps, she was simply young?

Zhou Yun had lived here long enough not to judge by appearances. A ten-year-old child could already be a skilled pickpocket here.

The Eager Thief seemed to notice him as well. She turned her head slightly, and her eyes, hidden beneath the hood, locked onto his.

Maybe it was his imagination, but Zhou Yun felt the darkness around her seemed… thinner somehow.

She was faintly glowing.

Glowing — now that was a serious mutation. Zhou Yun thought to himself.

He was already considering whether to snipe her from range with a lasgun.

Take out one or both of her legs to keep her from moving.

But he worried that would trigger her foresight.

Zhou Yun could resist foresight to some degree, but directly attacking her would still alert her.

And anyway… the Eager Thief was silently staring at him.

Zhou Yun lowered his gaze, checking that Rena and the Ark Gang members were in position.

He took calm, measured steps toward the Eager Thief.

"I'm here."

Zhou Yun met the hooded girl's gaze.

"What do you want to talk about? Who are you? Who's behind you?"

But instead of answering, the Eager Thief quietly took a step forward.

Then she reached up and removed her hood, revealing golden hair like a haystack under summer sun.

Her slightly dry hair was braided down her back all the way to her waist. Her face was lightly freckled, pretty but not as striking as Rena — just a plain, pleasant look.

Above those freckles were deep, almost black-blue eyes, clear like a lost fawn's, a clarity rare in the underhive, fixed on Zhou Yun.

Just from her appearance, she looked like a girl barely into her teens.

But Zhou Yun could feel that within that slight, simple body was housed some far greater will.

She gave Zhou Yun a perfectly executed Aquila salute.

"My name doesn't matter," she said.

Her voice was clear and tender as a summer sky after rain, shaking Zhou Yun slightly.

"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is Him."

"I am merely the vessel of His will."

(End of Chapter)

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