Chapter 394: Sorry, Your Majesty, I Thought You Had a Conscience Again

That's the truth—Zhou Yun never expected Daxiong's bullet would actually shatter Khorne's leg.

He'd just thought, why not aim for the thigh? If it actually injured him and made the Blood God limp for a few days, he could enjoy the joke of "Big Brother on the Golden Throne, Second Brother on the Brass Throne."

But he hadn't expected—the Emperor had unleashed such immense force, and Khorne's thigh happened to bear a crack left behind by Skarbrand long ago.

Then, with one shot, Khorne was left with a crippled leg—now it was truly "Big Brother on the Golden Throne, Second Brother on the Brass Throne."

Moreover, Zhou Yun's shot brought him considerable gains.

Although the bullet primarily conveyed the Emperor's domain of erosion and destruction, Zhou Yun had also secretly infused it with his own domain of Greedy Dissolution, gnawing away a portion of Khorne's flesh and transporting it into his fourth-dimensional pocket.

That flesh wasn't real flesh—it was composed of Khorne's emotions, concepts, and tendencies, similar to the portion of power the Emperor had severed and given to Zhou Yun.

【Item: Fragment of Khorne's Domain of Heartless Killing】

【Origin: The Warp—Domain of Heartless Killing】

【Evaluation: The northwestern domain of the Eight Corners of Chaos, born from the collective impressions, anger, and hatred of mortals toward war and slaughter—a crimson joy preceding the inevitable end of all life. In the dark galaxy, only war exists; many believe the galaxy's sole purpose is combat and killing, and as long as blood flows, nothing else matters. This fragment comes from Khorne, the occupant of the Heartless Killing Domain.】

【Production Time:???】

【Status: Fragment】

【Value: 888, 88, 88 yuan】

【Suitable as supplementary material for juvenile behavioral correction and re-education】

【Add juvenile behavioral correction and re-education material?】

Zhou Yun consumed only a small portion—he ate only what the bullet had directly touched.

This made him slightly regretful, since the bullet had been forged from the Old Hag's Blade.

And Zhou Yun possessed only three Old Hag's Blades: Incani, Efraini, and Thousand Faces; only three bullets existed.

The bullet now lodged in Khorne's thigh clearly wouldn't be retrievable.

The Old Hag's Blades were forged from the finger bones of the Eldar Old Hag Goddess, who was long ago swallowed whole by Slaanesh when the Eldar fell.

Over ten thousand years have passed; to reclaim the Old Hag Goddess, one might as well pray Slaanesh suffers indigestion—or start rummaging through Slaanesh's toilet.

The only way to replenish the bullets now is to recover the other two Old Hag's Blades.

One, called Dusk Spear, is currently in the hands of the Eldar Prince Irel. That one is easier to obtain.

The fifth Old Hag's Blade lies within Slaanesh's bedchamber; retrieving it will be difficult.

Slaanesh's attitude toward Zhou Yun has been relatively favorable.

After all, Zhou Yun has consumed Inader; Sighochi's incantation has blurred the distinction between Zhou Yun and Inader's existence.

As long as Zhou Yun lives, the Eldar Death God Inader can never be born—effectively eliminating a major threat to Slaanesh.

But the Old Hag's Blades remain Slaanesh's Achilles' heel; if Zhou Yun dies, the Eldar Death God may still be born using all five Old Hag's Blades.

After all, the infinite loop and the Eldar souls within it still exist.

"Those bullets work well."

The brown-haired boy seemed to sense Zhou Yun's thoughts and spoke up:

"Mori-Black's finger bones traded for one of Khorne's legs—ha! Even Asuryan couldn't have imagined such a feat."

"These bullets transmit both your power and mine, and Daxiong the Daemon's marksmanship is flawless—we must replenish our ammunition."

"I'll retrieve the remaining two Old Hag's Blades."

This made Zhou Yun raise an eyebrow.

"How?" Zhou Yun asked. "Just storm Slaanesh's bedchamber?"

The Emperor is indeed powerful—powerful enough to stand equal against any Warp deity.

Slaanesh is the weakest of the four; remove all external factors, and Zhou Yun even believes the Emperor could make Slaanesh never want to play Eros again.

But the Emperor has never truly ascended—he is not the Dark King capable of ending the entire universe.

If Slaanesh hides within his own bedchamber, buried deep in his domain, the Emperor theoretically cannot touch him.

Unless Slaanesh himself exposes a weakness.

Like Mortarion opening the gates of Nurgle's Garden during the Plague Wars, or like Khorne this time, embedding his will within Skarbrand's body.

But such opportunities are rare; if the Emperor forcibly invades Slaanesh's bedchamber, the other three gods will surely seize the chance to strike.

"I plan to steal them," the brown-haired boy said calmly. "I possess the galaxy's most skilled thief's tool."

"He excels at concealment—even gods struggle to detect his presence. He excels at prophecy, easily locating the Old Hag's Blades."

"... ut he's also extremely righteous," Zhou Yun stared blankly at the brown-haired boy. "You call my beloved Batman the galaxy's most skilled thief's tool?"

"It's a talent, unrelated to justice or morality."

The brown-haired boy shook his head slightly as he walked toward his workbench.

"Besides, he's not Batman. I never designed him after Batman."

As he spoke, he gazed at the blind assassin pawn on his workbench.

Zhou Yun clearly saw the pawn trembling; faintly, he heard its words.

The blind assassin's speech was fragmented, like that of a mentally unstable patient.

Zhou Yun barely understood—it seemed the blind assassin was refuting the brown-haired boy.

The blind assassin kept repeating: "I am not a thief. I am the Midnight Wraith. Justice. Terror, terror..."

"Calm down, calm down," the brown-haired boy leaned close to the blind assassin, whispering into his ear: "This is for justice."

"You said you wished to atone, didn't you? Evil must be punished. My child, you must atone through labor."

As he spoke, the brown-haired boy lifted the tattered cloth covering the assassin's eyes and gently traced his finger across them—the assassin's eyes instantly restored, regaining sight.

The assassin's scream was clear enough for Zhou Yun to hear—he clutched his eyes, wailing and begging, pleading with the Emperor to blind him again, not to make him see.

"I beg you, Father!!!"

"I'm sorry, child. This is necessary."

The brown-haired boy merely shook his head and tossed the pawn into the bronze-colored river, into the tides of the Warp, lost to wherever they carried it.

"..." Zhou Yun stared, face twitching.

He took a deep breath and said to the brown-haired boy: "You always shatter my illusions the moment I start imagining you have a conscience."

"It has nothing to do with conscience. It's necessary." The brown-haired boy shook his head slightly.

Then he raised his gaze to Zhou Yun: "Or would you like me to bring Khorz back?"

"No need," Zhou Yun shrugged. "He's indeed the best candidate to retrieve the Old Hag's Blades."

"Then what was the point of your earlier condemnation?" The brown-haired boy sounded almost exasperated.

"First, he's not my son. Second, I just wanted to stand on the moral high ground and point fingers at you—it makes me falsely believe I have more conscience than you."

"Having more conscience than me isn't worth pride," the brown-haired boy reminded him, his self-awareness so precise.

"That's why I said 'falsely believe,'" Zhou Yun waved his hand. His own self-awareness was equally clear.

The brown-haired boy fell into a slight silence at Zhou Yun's words.

Even quieter than him was the corpse of the silver-haired boy beside him.

The silver-haired boy's eyes were closed, yet both the brown-haired boy and Zhou Yun could faintly sense the disdain radiating from him.

"... igh." The brown-haired boy sighed softly, then asked Zhou Yun: "How much is the portion I cut from myself worth?"

"Sorry, I ate too fast—I didn't savor the flavor. Cut me a bit more," Zhou Yun patted his fourth-dimensional pocket, face unchanged.

"Do you think I don't want to? Cutting it away reduces my own burden."

The brown-haired boy shook his head, his tone weary:

"The more I cut away and give you, the greater my resistance becomes, and the harder it is to maintain balance."

"So you want me to rise up and destroy this entire universe?"

"Or do you think that after I end the world, I'll create a new Neo-Imperial Age like that medieval fantasy world over there?"

"Sorry, this galaxy isn't kind enough for that. The Dark King's symbol is only ending and death—not rebirth after destruction."

"Tsk." Zhou Yun, seeing the Emperor had no more coins to give, couldn't help but click his tongue.

But jokes aside, Zhou Yun still told the Emperor the price of the portion He had severed.

"..."

The brown-haired boy sucked in a sharp breath, then picked up the parchment on the table with disbelief.

The parchment contained the future price list of the Bazaar, recorded by the silver-haired boy's corpse.

The brown-haired boy stared intently at the items Zhou Yun had heavily marked.

Those items were the ones both the brown-haired boy and Zhou Yun believed could absolutely save this world.

The Emperor had severed part of himself to quantify exactly how much material was needed to exchange for those items.

"Merchant!!!"

"Fucking capitalist exploitation is too much!!!"

The brown-haired boy roared, slamming the parchment onto the table:

"The portion I cut away is worth only 1. billion?!"

"I need three full, elevated versions of myself to exchange for Liar 800?!"

"Why don't they just come and rob us?!"

"Merchant!!! A bunch of merchants!!!"

(End of Chapter)