Chapter 5: Your Day of Ascension Too?

Promethium burned in the boilers, transforming into electric current that ignited the dim yellow lights, illuminating the district shrouded by layers upon layers of buildings.

Stalls growing wildly crowded the roads narrow, while slop, garbage, oil stains, and other waste invaded the pathways; Zhou Yun tried his best to dodge these filths as he wove between the stalls.

Cooking oil splattered out in bloody-yellow stars, meat skewers sizzling with oil rolled on the stove, and beside the furnace sat fat candies boiled in lead cans; though they carried slow-acting toxins, they were also one of the city's rare sources of sweetness.

Zhou Yun only took two greasy meat skewers and stuffed them into his mouth; if one didn't scrutinize the origin of the meat, they actually counted as decent food.

He pulled two cheap lho cigarettes from his pocket and tossed them into a grease-caked jar on the stall.

Afterwards, he followed the narrow street westward, passing through an archway forged from scrap iron and throngs of crowded people, until he reached a three-forked intersection.

On the three corners of the intersection stood three towering statues carved from bluestone; they pierced through layer upon layer of crowded, chaotic buildings, like three sharp blades that had sliced through the hive city.

The identities of two of the statues had long been forgotten; some said they were the first Ecclesiarchy missionaries to preach on Asford Prime, while others claimed they were the initial two clan heads of Governor Flax's family.

But regardless of which story was true, after enduring long years, there was no way to verify any of them.

Whether missionaries or governors, none could withstand the erosion of ten thousand years of time.

Only the third statue, the tallest and most sacred of them all, remained such that any Imperial resident needed only one glance to recite His sacred name with full devotion.

Faint crimson sunlight poured down from above the statue, falling upon its spread wings, upon the spear held in its hand, and upon its face which bore both mercy and solemnity.

Sanguinius, the Demigod Son of Hua Di Huang, Lord of the Ninth Legion, the Great Angel of the Imperium.

But Zhou Yun had not come here to admire the majestic presence of the Sanguinius statue; he had come for the small tavern beneath its spear tip.

At the position pointed to by Sanguinius's sharp spear stood a crude shed constructed from pulp-wood and quick-set concrete.

The sign hanging on the shed depicted a cup filled with red wine, and beside it was written the tavern's name: Sharp Spear.

Before Zhou Yun even stepped inside, he heard bursts of noisy shouting and cursing emanating from within the tavern.

The tavern's wooden door was kicked open by a group of people dressed in common hive worker attire, dragging out a thin man with a gray, ugly face tattooed with the local gang symbol of the Old Rat.

"Lag, you damn bastard, did you eat mutant shit?"

The lead hive worker cursed, pounding his fist again and again on the head of the gang member with the ugly face.

Zhou Yun glanced at the scene, seeing that gang member reach out toward him and cry out with tears in his voice: "Brother Zhou Yun, Big Brother Zhou Yun, save me!"

While begging for help, he still didn't forget to issue threats: "This is my brother Zhou Yun; he has face even with our gang boss; just you wait!"

Those few hive workers stopped their hands, all lifting their heads to stare at Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun shrugged his shoulders and kicked the gang member in the head.

"Beat my share too; I'll treat you all to drinks later."

Hearing there would be alcohol, the workers let out a cheer, and the blows raining down on the gang member's head became even more vigorous.

Zhou Yun pushed open the tavern door and walked up to the bar counter.

Behind the counter was the owner of this Sharp Spear bar, a burly man who was blind in one eye.

It was said he had once gone to the upper hive through somewhat illegal means and lost an eye there; people nearby called him Old One-Eye.

This name always reminded Zhou Yun of that famous Tyranid executioner.

"Smoke? Drink?" Old One-Eye asked, a lho cigarette dangling from his mouth.

Lho cigarettes were not real tobacco; they were actually a byproduct of the promethium industry, essentially an addictive anesthetic containing tobacco flavoring that could cause blindness if inhaled excessively.

However, this stuff was cheap and allowed people to temporarily forget their dark lives, while also helping hive workers alleviate their unbearable high-pressure work, naturally making it a necessity or even currency for many in the city.

Under Augustus Flax's negligence, order in the city's lower levels had long since collapsed, comparable to Gotham City from the 2000s.

It was just that although that Lord Governor had also lost his parents early, he wouldn't put on a perverted tight-fitting suit to become a nighttime vigilante.

Often, lho cigarettes were even more useful than the currency issued by the Governor.

So Zhou Yun waved his hand, signaling Old One-Eye to serve him a glass of wine.

Old One-Eye wiped a not-so-clean wine glass and pushed over to Zhou Yun a cup of liquid bubbling with crimson foam.

This was certainly not expensive red wine; it was just local brew concocted by Old One-Eye himself using waste from the promethium industry.

It might even have some weird formulas added in; who knew how much 'technology and harsh stuff' it contained.

However, during his days in the hive city, Zhou Yun had long learned that what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over.

As long as he didn't know what was in the formula, he could gulp down a large cup without his eye twitching or his heart turning red.

"That bastard Lag, what mutant-raising trouble did he get up to this time?" Zhou Yun asked, glancing at the gang member being beaten outside the door.

That guy was named Lag, a low-ranking member of the Lower Hive Rat Gang, and it was he who had sold the location of that ruined city district to Zhou Yun.

"Who knows? He's always asking for a beating; if he gets beaten, then he gets beaten."

Old One-Eye said while holding his cigarette:

"The God-Emperor teaches us honesty, but he will probably never learn it."

Zhou Yun nodded in deep agreement.

"Oh, then is there any fresh news these past two days?" he asked after gulping down half a cup of the crimson liquid.

"Something fresh; a scavenger discovered the abandoned Old District Eight."

Old One-Eye answered:

"Oh, and news from the neighboring major district; that Ark Gang which rose up in recent years has conquered the adjacent major district."

"Ark Gang," Zhou Yun muttered; he seemed to recall that gene-stealer, who had been smashed into an insect pancake, had murmured this name before.

Thus, Zhou Yun recalled the information about the Ark Gang from his mind.

It was a gang with some religious nature that had risen only in recent years; originally, it had established itself far from the major district where Zhou Yun was located, only recently expanding to the vicinity.

It was said the gang boss was a devout believer of Hua Di Huang; he claimed he was there to deliver punishment upon evildoers on behalf of Hua Di Huang.

Furthermore, he said that devils from among the stars were about to extend their claws toward Asford, to swallow the entire Asford alive and devour it.

Only by joining the Ark Gang and forging an Ark to the stars could one ascend when the devils from among the stars descended, and only then could one obtain salvation.

Eh...

Zhou Yun paused slightly,

He carefully chewed over these words,

Ark, the Emperor's Guidance, the Day of Ascension, Ascension, and Redemption—this damn thing is way too familiar.

That so-called Ark Gang, could it be a disguise for the Genestealer Cult?

Zhou Yun's eye twitched slightly; he was already thinking about running away and moving house.

Just then, a wail sounded from outside the door,

"Brother Zhou Yun, how can you leave me to die without saving me!"

Zhou Yun punched that ugly face.

Finished posting for today, I'm going to paint my Tyranid.

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(End of this chapter)