Chapter 61: Gene Thief Bishop?

“I didn’t choose to become a mutant.”

Mong Ge said with bitter resentment.

Rana merely tilted her head, as if unwilling to listen to Mong Ge.

Mong Ge’s expression twisted sharply.

“Is it our fault for becoming mutants?”

His voice grew hoarse as he said:

“Before I was seven or eight, my brother and I looked like normal humans, living plainly in the Lower Nest.”

“I’ve forgotten what my father looked like; I only remember he was a low-level foreman in a factory, relatively well-off in the Lower Nest.”

“My mother left a deep impression on me—when our scalps began bleeding and swelling for no reason, she frantically and anxiously applied medicine to us.”

Mong Ge took a deep breath:

“But when the swellings burst and wild, beast-like horns grew out, my mother was terrified.”

“She tried filing off our horns, chopping them off with a kitchen knife, and finally even tried yanking them out with iron pliers.”

“My brother protected me, but he was left bleeding and battered by our terrified mother—those broken horns on his head came from that.”

“When my mother realized our horns couldn’t be fully removed, she finally went completely mad.”

“She dragged us outside and shoved us into the sewer before my father returned—if my brother and I hadn’t been lucky, we’d have been dead long ago.”

Mong Ge’s face twisted slightly, as if he angrily pounded the ground.

“Maybe it was the uncleaned water, or toxic food or air, or the poisonous light of the star—but whichever triggered our mutation, what did we do wrong?”

“We were just seven- or eight-year-old children then, and even now we’re still fighting for the sake of Asford.”

Rana listened to Mong Ge’s words, then subtly shifted her body, putting more distance between herself and Mong Ge.

Mong Ge’s face showed faint signs of collapse.

It wasn’t surprising he broke down—

although Rana had never verbally expressed hatred toward Mong Ge or directly opposed Zhou Yun’s cooperation with them,

her actions still betrayed her deep revulsion and loathing for mutants,

especially since Mong Ge and Marqit were mutants corrupted by Chaos,

Rana’s revulsion was instinctive; she’d rather hide behind Zhou Yun than glance at them even once.

Yet Marqit and Mong Ge, seemingly influenced by the Benevolent Father, showed a certain fondness and care toward children,

Marqit merely smiled at Rana’s disdain and ignored it,

but Mong Ge couldn’t bear it.

He tried speaking to Rana several times, but she always acted as if he didn’t exist.

After the group reached this settlement, Mong Ge even shared his food with Rana and Zhou Yun.

Rana and Zhou Yun exchanged a glance and both silently refused to eat.

Mong Ge finally shattered completely, endlessly muttering things like “Being born a mutant isn’t my fault,” “I didn’t do anything wrong,” “We’re saving Asford,” and so on.

As for Rana’s discrimination against mutants, Zhou Yun’s view was:

Rana has been clever since childhood, far smarter than Leina.

Zhou Yun didn’t even consider Rana’s attitude toward Mong Ge to be discrimination—

as a mutant who worshipped Nurgle, this was what Mong Ge deserved.

Zhou Yun walked over to the two with his food.

“Which one?” he asked.

Mong Ge glanced at the food in Zhou Yun’s hand—

roasted giant black rats, worm jelly, and mushrooms.

He chose the roasted giant black rat—the most expensive and meatiest option—as if in revenge.

Zhou Yun then turned to Rana.

Rana hesitated slightly, then took the cheapest mushrooms from Zhou Yun’s hand.

Zhou Yun sat down on the empty space between them and calmly stuffed the worm jelly into his mouth.

This worm jelly resembled an ancient Terra delicacy called tǔsǔn dòng.

Although the raw materials differed, both belonged to the phylum Starworm.

These worms were rich in monosodium glutamate—the main component of MSG—and thus provided intense umami flavor.

As a result, this worm jelly was highly popular in the Lower Nest and Bottom Nest.

Zhou Yun glanced at Rana, who was chewing on mushrooms beside him.

These boiled mushrooms were actually quite bland; their only advantage was some moisture.

Zhou Yun broke off a piece of worm jelly and offered it to her.

Rana took it, hesitated a moment, then broke off a piece of her mushroom and gave it to Zhou Yun.

Mong Ge watched the two, feeling a sense of isolation.

Zhou Yun glanced at him and said, “Eat your giant black rat.”

Mong Ge sullenly bit into the greasy, roasted black rat.

At that moment, a commotion erupted among the crowd.

At the far end of the narrow road, a tall tower cart slowly approached, dragged by over a dozen robed four-armed followers of the Divine Emperor.

On top of the cart stood four preachers carrying loudspeakers.

Among them stood a bald woman, holding a staff taller than herself, draped in a finely woven purple robe.

Her face was beautiful, her eyes slightly upturned, with a faint row of plate-like protrusions on her forehead.

Beneath her slender eyebrows, her eyes carried a mesmerizing power, faintly tinged with purple.

The Bishop of the Gene Thief Cult, the Right Claw of the Clan Chief, a powerful psychic.

Born for infiltration, forged for corruption, she was the most skilled Gene Thief at infiltrating humans.

Zhou Yun silently pulled Rana back, subtly hiding them within the crowd.

“Pay attention to the person in the robe on your far left,” said the winged figure in Bai Guang.

A beam of light flashed before Zhou Yun’s eyes, marking the person.

He was wrapped in a gray-brown robe, hunched over, entirely hidden in the shadow of his oversized clothing, gripping a cane with rough hands.

He looked like an ancient, hunched old man.

“A Cult Guard of the Gene Thief Sect.”

As a player from his past life who had experienced Tyranids, Zhou Yun was familiar with various Gene Thief units.

He quickly identified him as a Cult Guard—a bodyguard of the Bishop.

These guards appeared frail but inherited many genes from the Tyranid Hive Fleet, capable of swift, stealthy movement like Lictors.

In actual combat, they were fast and brutal; even ordinary Astartes might not survive them.

More beams of white light flashed, marking additional Cult Guards of the Gene Thief Sect.

Too many.

Zhou Yun quickly assessed the situation:

Even if Mong Ge led an attack here, he couldn’t kill the Gene Thief Bishop.

Mong Ge’s side consisted only of cultists, mutants, and countless Plague Zombies—numerically superior, but vastly inferior in quality.

The tower cart carrying the Gene Thief Bishop advanced slowly; she showed no urgency to preach.

Instead, she had her followers distribute food and purified water to the surrounding crowd.

Suddenly, a gaunt man brushed past Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun caught sight of the man pulling a crude automatic pistol from beneath his robe—

BOOM!!!!

(End of Chapter)