Chapter 38: Make the Fool Eat Gourd Seeds!

Asford, Fardia City, Upper Nest,

Block 33, Ninth District, Eighteenth Residential Zone,

Zhou Yun stood beside this broad street, gazing at the exquisitely crafted metal signpost,

according to Leina’s words, the Ninth District was an old area of Fardia City’s Upper Nest, so ancient its history stretched back over ten thousand years,

this large district also marked the boundary between Upper Nest and Lower Nest, and the two had entered the Upper Nest through its massive entrance gate.

Even as an old district with deep history and proximity to the Lower Nest, the streets here remained wide and the buildings immaculate,

the air still carried the scent of chemical purifiers, yet compared to the Lower Nest, it was refreshingly clean,

the lighting was bright enough to replace the sun, with buildings connected by straight arched bridges, horizontal walkways, and covered corridors, all adorned with luminous lights that shimmered like a constellation at a glance,

beneath these structures lay shops and private workshops, while neatly arranged stalls along the roadside sold goods produced by these workshops,

after living so long in the cramped alleys of the Lower Nest, Zhou Yun felt dizzy upon arriving in the Upper Nest,

it even reminded him faintly of the city he had lived in during his past life.

Zhou Yun walked east along Block 33, observing the goods sold along the street,

Asford’s major factories primarily produced military equipment, yet everything sold on these streets came from private workshops,

these private workshops purchased raw materials from starships arriving from alien worlds, processed them, and sold the finished goods on roadside stalls.

The prices of these goods could turn any Lower Nest dweller pale and make their fingers tremble.

but Zhou Yun had money,

Leina the big fool—no, Leina—had bought two Upper Nest access passes from him,

at four times the price, one of which belonged to Zhou Yun himself.

Yet when Zhou Yun received the passes from the PDF guards at the Upper-Lower Nest checkpoint,

Leina still widened her eyes in shock, exclaiming repeatedly,

she marveled both at Zhou Yun’s connections to powerful figures who could make the PDF bend the rules, and at how utterly worth every credit it was.

This made Zhou Yun’s conscience stir uneasily,

yet the moment he took the massive sum from Leina, his conscience settled instantly.

After arriving in the Upper Nest, Leina did not move,

instead, she found a roadside stall with near-perfect familiarity and sat down, as if waiting for someone.

While Leina waited, Zhou Yun wandered the nearby streets.

Though his pockets held considerable money, it was all local Asford currency, useless outside Asford,

the Empire was vast, nearly every planet had its own currency system, or formed currency alliances with neighboring star systems.

Asford’s currency was anchored to bloodstones stored in the Viceroy’s vaults, each Asford coin exchangeable for a fixed quantity of bloodstone,

a blood-red gem commonly found on Baer, resembling the blood of Saint Guilliman, even the Blood Angels often wore them as adornments,

thus, Asford’s currency was called Bloodcoin.

Zhou Yun exchanged seventy percent of his money for bloodstones, including the funds from the automatic infantry rifles and the two access passes,

then sold the bloodstones through his fourth-dimensional pocket, netting a total of 660,000.

Zhou Yun’s savings now reached 1.4 million.

He retained thirty percent in Bloodcoin for daily expenses.

Zhou Yun stopped at a roadside stall,

a food stall,

Asford’s native sun emitted toxic radiation, making normal crop cultivation nearly impossible,

food supplies came almost entirely from nearby agricultural worlds, harvested from endless farmlands shrouded in thick yellow-green fertilizer atmospheres.

The food sold at this stall was almost entirely processed from gourd crops,

sliced into chunks, their pulp dull yellow and oily, resembling fat, of an unknown gourd variety,

and palm-sized, roasted seeds of giant gourd crops.

Zhou Yun could easily imagine how massive these gourd crops must be,

almost certainly giant, high-yield varieties cultivated on agricultural worlds.

“Want some roasted gourd seeds? Or grilled gourd pulp?” asked the Upper Nest woman tending the stall, beaming brightly.

Zhou Yun glanced at the woman and noticed her mental state was clearly far superior to that of Lower Nest residents.

He pulled out several Bloodcoins and bought a chunk of oily, dull-yellow gourd pulp and a bag of roasted gourd seeds from her stall.

Zhou Yun carried the roasted gourd seeds back to Leina’s stall and sat across from her.

“Eat?” Zhou Yun pulled out a palm-sized seed from the bag and waved it at Leina.

He pushed the bag toward her and cracked open the massive seed with his teeth himself.

The giant seed was satisfying to eat, releasing a rich aroma of plant oils in Zhou Yun’s mouth.

Leina stared in surprise at the seed Zhou Yun offered.

These seeds were huge—only nine fit in the entire bag,

“I ate these as a child. I remember they were expensive even for the Lower Nest.”

Leina picked up one seed and said hesitantly:

“You shouldn’t have spent so much.”

No problem—the money was all taken from you.

Zhou Yun chewed the seed but did not voice this thought.

He swallowed it and nodded to Leina. “Just eat yours.”

“In our homeland, offering gourd seeds to a friend like you is tradition.”

Hearing this, Leina even gave Zhou Yun a look of gratitude.

But before she could put the seed in her mouth, she suddenly remembered,

“Wait, didn’t you say last time—”

“That your homeland’s tradition was to tease fools by buying them gourd seeds?”

Leina the big fool—no, Leina—immediately widened her eyes.

“Cough. Cough.” Zhou Yun cleared his throat and smoothly changed the subject: “What are we waiting here for?”

“Oh, we’re waiting for that calculator and mathematician.”

Leina pried open a seed and nibbled it slowly.

So easily fooled. Even easier than Ogre.

Zhou Yun glanced at Leina,

he realized her overall intelligence was normal, even notably sharp,

he had seen her handle gang affairs and calculate accounts with exceptional efficiency,

this at least proved Leina was not mentally impaired in any physiological sense—indeed, she looked perfectly normal.

But… she seemed to display a strange dullness and foolishness in certain matters,

this appeared more psychological than physiological,

psykers were often affected by the Warp, slipping into mental illnesses,

such as mania, irritability, depression, autism, eccentricity…

Leina might have been deeply warped by the Warp,

but her symptom was… occasionally becoming an idiot?

Zhou Yun even suspected this occasional idiocy was her psyche’s instinctive self-protection, cleverly shielding her from true madness,

after all, Ogryns were generally more resistant to Chaos corruption than other humans.

Zhou Yun’s mind spun with wild thoughts.

“Look, she’s here—the calculator and mathematician I told you about.”

Zhou Yun followed Leina’s pointing finger.

(End of Chapter)