Chapter 6: How About I Get You Five Hundred Terminators

"Brother Zhou Yun, why are you hitting me?"

Rague frowned with a face so ugly Zhou Yun couldn't stomach his drink, and said, full of grievance,

From the crevices of the wrinkles on his face, a few streaks of fresh blood seeped out.

Seeing that what flowed from Rague's face was human blood and that blank, bewildered look on him, Zhou Yun shook his head.

Looks like this old fellow has nothing to do with the gene-thieves,

It's just that the ruined district he sold him the location to happens to be one of the gene-thieves' operating areas.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yun couldn't hold back and threw another punch at his face.

Rague scrunched up that ugly mug of his and put on a wronged look; he reached out and wiped his face, wiping away the fresh blood on it, then sat down at the bar as if nothing had happened.

"Two bowls of wine, and a plate of synthetic protein blocks."

Old One-Eye glanced at him, took out a blackened protein block from the cabinet and tossed it in front of Rague.

"Brother Zhou Yun, this synthetic protein block has four ways to prepare it — did you know that?" Rague said with a grin.

"The character 'hui' has four ways of being written — did you know that?" Zhou Yun asked, sipping his wine.

"I can't even write one of them."

Rague picked up the protein block and stuffed it into his mouth; the sticky protein block shuttled back and forth between his coarse teeth:

"But I know your chance to strike it rich is coming soon."

Hearing this, Zhou Yun's brows knit slightly: "Strike it rich? Your boss has a job for me?"

"A big one." Rague snickered, then took a gulp of the crimson wine from his cup.

He drained the wine from his cup in one go and smacked his lips.

"Old One-Eye's craft has gotten even better — even Amasec can't compare!"

"What are you blowing smoke about? You've actually drunk Amasec?" Old One-Eye shot him a look of contempt.

"One day I'll get to drink it, won't I?" Rague said with a chuckle, then looked at Zhou Yun: "The boss wants a batch of weapons."

"Sure, what type?"

Long ago, Zhou Yun had exchanged for a gadget called the "Ring of Anywhere" that could slip through walls, letting him come and go freely among the various buried ancient ruined districts,

Paired with an almost limitless-capacity four-dimensional pocket, many weapons and machines buried within were hauled out by him,

Naturally, gangs had the greatest demand for those weapons, and the ones Zhou Yun dug up were all manufactured in ancient times, their quality far surpassing the crude junk made in the Underhive.

Back and forth like this, Zhou Yun built himself a bit of a name among the Underhive gangs.

"The boss wants a batch of Agrippina Mark III infantry autoguns — let's start with two hundred." Rague said with a wide grin.

". Fine."

Hearing Rague's words, Zhou Yun first froze for a moment, then nodded seriously:

"How about I get you five hundred Cavalier-pattern Terminator power armours while I'm at it?"

"You can get that stuff too?" Rague gaped, staring at Zhou Yun in utter shock.

Looking into his eyes, Zhou Yun understood he had no idea what he was talking about — he just thought it sounded impressive.

"That's not all, I can get you a power spear once wielded by a Great Angel too." Zhou Yun said with a perfectly sincere face.

". Brother, are you pulling my leg?" Rague blinked and asked.

"So you do know I'm joking?" Zhou Yun said, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

The Agrippina Mark III infantry autogun, an infantry autogun produced by the famed forge world of Agrippina,

This thing — not even the Astra Militarum thinks much of it, let alone the Adeptus Astartes; it's mainly used by some second- and third-rate planetary defence forces.

But even planetary defence forces aren't something the gangs in the Underhive gutters can touch,

Could gangs really have any use for such high-grade goods?

"Are your two hundred guns meant to fight your way up to the Upper Hive and give our Lord Governor a piece of your mind?"

Zhou Yun shook his head:

"Just get some home-made rifles — if you want this stuff, you'd have to rob a PDF depot."

"You actually hit the nail on the head, old man — it is a PDF depot." Rague snickered.

Hearing this, not only did the corner of Zhou Yun's eye twitch, even Old One-Eye, who was drinking behind the bar, nearly spat out his wine.

Robbing the PDF — that is, the planetary defence force's depot — this is no longer a question of how big one's guts are,

This is digging at the Governor's head and shitting in front of the Adeptus Arbites.

No matter how hands-off that Lord Governor is, he couldn't possibly turn a blind eye to something like this.

"Hold on." Old One-Eye raised his head and looked at Rague: "You lot know about the Old Eighth District business?"

"Old Eighth District?" Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow; he remembered Old One-Eye mentioning it just now.

"The Old Eighth District is an old district from over a hundred years ago, in the Upper Hive; there was a plague back then, and plenty of people died."

"The Governor at the time, worried the plague would spread to the Spire, had the entire district bombed."

"The whole Old Eighth District fell from the Upper Hive and plunged deep into the Underhive."

Old One-Eye shook his head and said:

"Along with the sick, the residents, and the PDF sent to suppress the unrest — all of them were buried down there."

"By rights, there should still be a PDF garrison in there — yeah, our planet's planetary defence force is equipped with Agrippina Mark III infantry autoguns."

Hearing Old One-Eye's words, Zhou Yun frowned:

"You want me to go to the Old Eighth District and dig these weapons out for you?"

"Well, well, so that's the scheme you've been playing — but the plague—"

The words crucible, garden, virus, and Father popped into his head.

And on top of that, this district is actually called the Old Eighth District... hiss...

"It's been over a hundred years, everyone's already dead, where would you even get a plague?" Ragg waved his hand.

"The scavenger who discovered the entrance to Old Sector Eight is still alive and well right now, and other people have gone in to scout it too."

"It's not true that there's zero risk, but Old Zhou, the boss is paying a pretty hefty sum for this job."

As he spoke, Ragg used his finger to trace out a number for Zhou Yun.

Listening to what Ragg was saying, Zhou Yun hesitated slightly.

In his memory, this Ashford and the Underworld galaxy had indeed had bug incidents, green-skin incidents, and even Necron incidents,

but it seemed they really hadn't had a Warp incursion? Perhaps that so-called Old Sector Eight really had nothing to do with that god stirring the cauldron in the Warp?

Moreover, the gang behind Ragg only wanted two hundred rifles, and the PDF garrison might have more than that many weapons.

All of these could be exchanged for currency in the Fourth-Dimensional Pocket, and even after the gang paid up, he could still go exchange it for supplies and sell them to the Fourth-Dimensional Pocket.

The Jakkals encountered this time in the abandoned city district, the expanding Ark Gang, and that white figure calling himself "Saint Guilliman" all claimed the Swarm was coming,

Zhou Yun had to get the Arbitrary Door made as soon as possible.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yun gave a slight nod: "I'll take this job."

Hearing these words, not only did Ragg show a pleased look, even a flash of joy passed through the one remaining eye of Old One-Eye.

Old One-Eye waved his hand and said to Ragg: "Ragg, scram to the side for now, I have something to say to Zhou Yun."

"Huh? Got it." Ragg, carrying his plate of synthetic protein blocks and crimson wine, slinked off to a corner of the bar.

"I have a job for you." Old One-Eye looked at Zhou Yun and said.

"Why does every single person have a job for me?" Zhou Yun couldn't help but say.

"The capable do more work, the Hua Di Huang Sect teaches us to be diligent."

Old One-Eye grinned, stared at Zhou Yun, and asked:

"Do you know Ignace. Kalkas?"

"I do, a poet from the Great Crusade era, a remembrancer attached to the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet." Zhou Yun answered immediately.

Old One-Eye nodded: "It's normal that you don't know, only the old masters up in the Upper Hive would"

"... Wait, you know?"

(End of this chapter)