Chapter 33: Buying Sunflower Seeds for a Fool

Leina noticed Zhou Yun’s gaze,

a look reserved for fools—filled with pity, mockery, and scorn,

and from that gaze, Leina even read the words: What a fine child, pity he’s a fool.

Before Leina could speak, Zhou Yun shifted his chair forward and spoke first,

“Do you eat sunflower seeds?” he said earnestly to Leina: “According to my hometown’s custom, after teasing a fool, you buy him sunflower seeds.”

Seeing Zhou Yun’s earnest expression, Leina felt rage surge through her, her face burning hot.

“I’m serious,” she gritted her teeth. “You should be serious too.”

“I am serious. I actually have an idea.”

Zhou Yun couldn’t help but smile and said:

“Let’s save up money and build a border wall along the Asford frontier, keeping all the Tyranid swarms outside.”

“For future tourism, we can tile every inch of that border wall with porcelain.”

Leina clenched her fists, her face flushed crimson,

took a deep breath, and spoke slowly: “I really want to blast your mouth into bloody pulp with a psychic shell.”

“Then you’ll have to wait in line,” Zhou Yun chuckled.

Leina snorted and looked at Zhou Yun: “I’m already building that Ark.”

“Huh?” Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow.

“Seven or eight years ago, based on a prophecy, I found the wreckage and blueprints of an ancient slave ship.”

Leina looked at Zhou Yun and said:

“Slave ships aren’t complex in structure and have few weapon systems—they were used by merchants.”

“With enough manpower, even hive workers can build one.”

“Since founding the Ark Faction, I’ve been organizing teams to construct this Ark—it’s nearly complete.”

To prevent Zhou Yun from asking questions, Leina rushed on without pausing:

“The slave ship was designed to carry more people—it can be packed even tighter, enough to hold the populations of all major districts under the Ark Faction’s control.”

“I don’t plan long-distance travel—only a short hop to the Baer system. The journey won’t take long, and supplies are easy to manage.”

Watching Leina’s serious expression, Zhou Yun rubbed his temples, exasperated,

something’s wrong—nine out of ten things are wrong,

though full of absurdities, the plan does have some feasibility,

provided you ignore the biggest problem.

“You’re not seriously planning to fly from the material universe to Baer using nothing but propulsion engines, are you?”

Zhou Yun lowered his hand from his temples and tapped the table.

“Which do you have: a Navigator, a Gellar Field, or an Warp Engine?”

“No Navigator.”

Leina shook her head:

“But the distance from the Underworld System to Baer isn’t far—it’s a short voyage. Many merchant ships navigate using complex, tedious stellar triangulation.”

“I’ve had formal mathematical training, and many hive workers have basic math skills. Baer is a neighboring system—we can work together to calculate precise coordinates.”

“The Gellar Field—I have my own solution.”

Here, Leina paused:

“Do you know what a Gellar Field generator draws upon to function?”

Hearing this, Zhou Yun froze.

“Psychics—draining the power of unconscious psychics.”

Zhou Yun murmured:

“Psychics weaken the barrier between reality and the Warp; in reality, this manifests as Warp incursions into the material universe.”

“But conversely, within the Warp, a psychic can create a small bubble of reality.”

“You’re sitting across from a psychic,” Leina pointed to herself.

She whispered: “We don’t have a Gellar Field generator, but if I continuously drain my own psychic energy, I can generate a Gellar Field strong enough to sustain a short voyage.”

Leina spoke calmly,

but generating a Gellar Field by brute-force psychic output without a generator is extremely dangerous,

essentially treating a psychic as a disposable resource,

and even for a short voyage, Leina would likely descend into madness or die outright afterward.

“You’re planning to cosplay the Emperor?” Zhou Yun said flatly, staring at Leina.

“No one can imitate the Emperor. What I sacrifice pales beside what He has already given.”

Leina lowered her head slightly, gently tracing the Scripture tattoos on her cheek.

“...” Zhou Yun studied Leina for a moment, then nodded slightly. “That’s true.”

“A good child full of kindness,” the winged figure in Bai Guang whispered.

“Many terrible things in the galaxy begin with a little kindness.”

Zhou Yun spoke inwardly to the winged figure in Bai Guang:

“Like Magnus’s psychic cannon, like Angron being driven into the Butcher’s Nails to protect his brothers, like the Ultramarines and Word Bearers on Calth.”

The winged figure in Bai Guang said nothing.

Zhou Yun turned his gaze from the figure back to Leina: “Then what about the Warp Engine?”

“Don’t tell me you plan to tear open a portal to the Warp using nothing but your own psychic energy.”

Leina shook her head: “I don’t have a Warp Engine yet, but I know where to find one.”

“At the very bottom of the hive, the Warp Engine from Asford’s first colonial ship still lies there.”

“How do you know that?” Zhou Yun frowned.

Asford’s first colonial ship was colonized in the Dark Age!

“The Emperor gave me revelation,” Leina said, head held high, confident.

THUD!!

Zhou Yun punched Leina’s head, producing a sharp crack.

Sounds good? Good head then!

“Ow! Why did you hit me?!” Leina clutched her head, glaring at Zhou Yun with wounded indignation.

“You called me here just to send me down to the Underhive to find some unknown Warp Engine, right?”

Zhou Yun’s lip twitched—he regretted not having killed this religiously brain-damaged illegal psychic earlier.

“That was the original plan...” Leina whispered.

Zhou Yun raised his fist again.

“No! Don’t hit me! Don’t!”

Leina waved her hands frantically:

“I didn’t plan for you to go directly—I just wanted to talk first.”

“Otherwise, even if you went, you’d almost certainly never find the engine’s location.”

Leina paused:

“I know someone who can confirm whether the Warp Engine exists—and where exactly it is.”

Zhou Yun frowned: “Where is this person?”

Leina pointed upward with her finger.

“She’s in the Upper Hive—somewhat of a mathematician.”

“I hope she doesn’t study numerology.”

(End of Chapter)