Chapter 221: Shadow Wolf?

Watching Zhou Yun applaud, Mephiston and the restaurant owner both twitched their eyelids.

"Don't believe his nonsense—just a Sheath Fortress and a few scattered outposts, where's any galaxy? What Terra?"

The restaurant owner hurriedly said,

The voice broadcasting from the speaker seemed to possess a strange hypnotic power; many who heard it fell into delusions and madness, believing in that so-called "Emperor's" worldview.

Zhou Yun slightly lowered the brim of his cap and gave the restaurant owner a reassuring glance: "I just think he speaks well."

"Didn't you say you'd rather sink into the dream of Sheath Saint Guilliman? Why are you unwilling now that it's the 'Emperor'?"

The restaurant owner snorted: "When I merely suspected, I could pretend the false was true."

"Now that I've truly seen everything, how could I mistake the true for false?"

"We are indeed blasphemous alien monsters, not true children of Guilliman—but we still understand the Five Virtues, still know harmony and brotherhood between beings, still know we must treat our own kind as family."

"I believed this for decades; everything else was false, but this morality was real."

Saying this, the restaurant owner sighed, stood up before Zhou Yun, and unfolded his three arms.

"Every day, with clear eyes, I look upon this body and feel pain. I once believed I was a Blood Angel clad in crimson power armor, fighting to purge the flesh-eating ghouls that drank the blood of mortals within Angel's Keep."

"But when I awoke, I found it all false—all false. There were no flesh-eating ghouls drinking mortal blood in Angel's Keep, no feasts of blood, no ancient ghouls ruling them, no pale wizards risen from death. They were true noble warriors, full of honor and radiance!"

Sitting beside Zhou Yun, the pale wizard disguised as an Ogryn—no, Mephiston—shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Zhou Yun's gaze also shifted slightly.

Were they truly not there? No, they weren't.

The restaurant owner shook his head:

"I cannot deceive myself. I will keep running this restaurant here, waiting for death. Perhaps soon, true children of Guilliman will arrive—I look forward to dying beneath their bolter fire."

"If you wish to sink into someone else's new illusion, go ahead—it's at least comfort. If not, feel free to come eat here sometimes. I still have some food stored, enough for us until death arrives."

With these words, the restaurant owner walked back into the kitchen, leaving Zhou Yun and Mephiston outside.

Zhou Yun silently pressed down on the brim of his cap.

His thoughts instantly sharpened.

Item: Sherlock Holmes Suit

【Item Name: Sherlock Holmes' Deduction Cap】

【Origin: 22nd Century Earth—Future Department Store】

【Manufactured: 251. 2】

【Function: Mimics Sherlock Holmes' deduction cap, sold bundled with the Clue Magnifier, Radar Staff, and Detective Pipe. The cap sharpens the wearer's mind, enabling them to organize clues discovered by the bundled tools and deduce solutions to events.】

This was one item from the Sherlock Holmes Suit Zhou Yun had exchanged for; it enhanced the clarity of his thinking, making his mind more effective.

Sigh, improving intelligence is indeed the most immediate boost.

In an instant, Zhou Yun felt as if he had become an Astropath with a superhumanly enhanced brain, separated from ordinary humans by a reproductive barrier.

These cunning beings' radically different worldviews clearly stemmed from competing gene-thieves vying for the position of chieftain.

After the death of the gene-thief chieftain, eligible individuals within the tribe began competing for succession.

But Zhou Yun had never heard of such radically divergent worldviews emerging among candidate chieftains before.

Zhou Yun speculated this might be because their veneration of Sheath Saint Guilliman was not solely directed toward the Hive Mind.

The worship of Sheath Saint Guilliman partly pointed toward the Hive Mind,

and partly toward Guilliman himself, toward the legendary Black and Golden Angels of Baal, toward Guilliman's own words: "My Black Fury."

In short, Sheath Saint Guilliman's composition was too mixed.

After the original chieftain's death, the faith in Sheath Saint Guilliman shattered; the new chieftains likely each claimed only a fragment of it.

So, which one was the one Zhou Yun needed to find?

Zhou Yun used the superhuman intellect granted by the deduction cap to ponder for a moment.

Then he pulled a magnifying glass from his fourth-dimensional pocket.

Ding-dang-dang-dang! Sherlock Holmes Suit: Clue Magnifier!

【Item Name: Sherlock Holmes' Deduction Cap】

【Origin: 22nd Century Earth—Future Department Store】

【Manufactured: 251. 2】

【Function: Mimics Sherlock Holmes' Clue Magnifier, sold bundled with the Deduction Cap, Radar Staff, and Detective Pipe. Through this lens, one can perceive clues related to objects, aiding in solving events.】

The item's superhuman intellect told me: it's time to use another super tool!

Zhou Yun lifted the lens to his eye.

He saw a black tower hanging upside-down beneath the ground, its exterior style resembling the original aliens of Baal.

He saw a room at the tip of the hanging tower, its walls covered in intricate engravings of black metal.

The engravings were complex, chaotic yet radiating a unique beauty.

Zhou Yun saw the aliens worshipping the Black and Golden Angels, saw them wailing in disaster.

But the scenes depicted were too blurred; Zhou Yun could not discern finer details.

Then he noticed a throne in the room, beside which stood a larger four-armed Tyranid creature.

"The clue is here?" Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow slightly.

The inverted tower wasn't hard to find—it could be seen at a glance from outside.

This tower was one of the largest structures in Sheath Fortress, its style suggesting a place of worship; perhaps the aliens once worshipped the Black and Golden Angels here.

Coupled with the throne and four-armed Tyranid revealed by the magnifier, and the restaurant owner's earlier words—that the lower and middle sections of Sheath Fortress were largely occupied by the "Emperor."

Is it really that fake "Emperor"?

Is the answer really this simple?

Even without the deduction cap, Zhou Yun could easily grasp this.

But he felt it was too simple—he had suspected the fake "Emperor" was backed by the Hive Mind!

Still, he had to go. Since the murals on the tower recorded how the ancient alien priests once worshipped the Black and Golden Angels, perhaps Zhou Yun could uncover something there.

"Found a clue?" asked Mephiston, the Blood Angels' Chief Archivist, seated beside Zhou Yun, noticing his expression of discovery.

"Yes. Let's go kill the Emperor."

Zhou Yun pressed down his deduction cap, smiling as he said:

"I witnessed it myself—Mephiston killed the 'Emperor.'"

Mephiston's eyelid twitched slightly; he sighed.

His reputation among the Blood Angels was poor; he was already suspected.

If anyone heard Zhou Yun say that, he'd face even more suspicion.

Saying nothing, Mephiston rose to his feet with Zhou Yun.

"Boss, your food is delicious."

"If I get the chance, I might come eat again."

Zhou Yun called toward the kitchen.

"Good!" the rogue boss shouted back: "I just fear you'll go mad like them and never return."

"That won't happen. I've left you a gift."

Saying this, Zhou Yun reached into his fourth-dimensional pocket:

"Use it only when there's truly no other choice—I still want to eat your food once more."

With that, Zhou Yun and Mephiston walked out of the restaurant.

The boss inside the kitchen hesitated a moment, then slowly stepped out.

He saw a bolter placed on the table where Zhou Yun and Mephiston had sat.

The restaurant owner fell silent for a moment, then picked up the bolter and examined it.

The massive weapon was inlaid with a bloodstone, its surface wrapped in exquisite gold carvings.

The carvings depicted Guilliman's deeds, the warrior's code, and the Five Virtues.

"Focus, Humility, Mercy, Restraint, and Forgiveness."

The restaurant owner recited the Five Virtues engraved on the bolter.

Conflicting illusions swirled in his vision, causing him immense pain—but he still managed to find the truth within.

He gripped the bolter tightly; its surface burned faintly, as if scorching his blasphemous body.

"A great mercy. A dignified exit."

"I have no right to swear to Guilliman—but I swear to my own morality and truth."

"If the time comes when I must use this bolter, I will grant myself mercy."

The restaurant owner placed his three arms over his chest, pressing the bolter against his mutated breast.

The burning sensation seemed to turn warm.

Selyanus is dead.

Gavriel Lokken, company commander of the Shadow Wolf Tenth Company, gripped his power sword, his jump pack on his back, filled with rage.

The Warmaster ordered Company Commander Hastas Selyanus to negotiate with the fake "Emperor," hoping it would submit to the Great Crusade fleet.

But the fake "Emperor" cruelly murdered the noble Selyanus—with a group of invisible, strange warriors!

Thus, the Warmaster issued the command: grant them enlightenment. Lokken obeyed without hesitation, vowing to avenge Selyanus with the blood of those invisible warriors.

Lokken's power sword tore violently from the chest of an invisible warrior, blood gushing forth.

These warriors' invisibility caused slight distortions in light and shadow—he had seized that flaw.

The invisible warrior let out a shrill scream and collapsed heavily to the ground.

Yet the invisible warrior's scream was so inhuman, like the chirping of an insect, that it startled Luo Ken.

He stared in horror as the invisible warrior transformed into a mutated abomination covered in some chitinous carapace, still retaining a hint of human form.

He also discovered his power blade had become a biological claw, fused tightly to his arm.

And his jump pack had turned into a twisted, stunted alien wing.

All of this left "Gavriel Luo Ken" dizzy and disoriented.

"Luo Ken, are you slipping into another hallucination?" A pair of sharp claws rested on Luo Ken's shoulders; a monster clad in thicker chitinous armor stood behind him.

"Just a little."

Luo Ken shook his head, and the monster became a noble Shadow Wolf Warrior clad in Terminator power armor:

"I'm fine now. Azeckel Abaddon, First Company Captain."

(End of Chapter)