Chapter 18: Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne

The next day.

In reality, there is no clear meaning of 'tomorrow' in the Underhive.

After all, you can't see the sun here; looking up, there are intricate steel pipes and low 'clouds' formed by radiation.

The only time that makes Underhive scavengers worth spending brain cells to remember is probably the once-every-seven-days concentrated discharge of various garbage and waste gas from the Upper and Mid-hives.

Usually, many scavengers gather at various garbage discharge points, like a group of carrion-eating maggots, waiting for a rare 'Harvest Day'.

In the past, Alvin wouldn't have stayed in the 'doghouse' but would have guarded the garbage discharge point a day in advance.

As for now, he didn't have to be like before and could sleep until he woke up.

Without the system, he had to be a beast of burden and work himself to death; with the system, if he still worked himself to death, wouldn't the system have come in vain?

Alvin, awakened by hunger, gulped down a portion of nutrient porridge.

The taste... to be honest, it was a bit hard to swallow; it was a paste without any flavor, and it even scratched his throat a bit.

In the past, having such a portion of nutrient porridge would definitely be the day many Underhive guys dreamed of, but ever since returning from The Boys world, it was truly a bit beneath his standards.

"Eh, just make do with it; at least I don't have to eat garbage, right?"

Alvin comforted himself in his heart and swallowed the last mouthful of nutrient porridge with a frown.

"It should be about twenty-four hours since the last injection."

After filling his stomach, Alvin refocused his attention on 'psionics', but this time the situation... seemed slightly different.

In the simple 'doghouse' welded from iron sheets, the temperature seemed to have dropped slightly, condensing frost on the iron sheets.

"I... can use psionics?" Alvin's eyes moved slightly, and he was pleasantly surprised, but he was also afraid it was a false joy, so he immediately closed his eyes and gathered his mental power.

The 'psionics' that he originally couldn't control with his own consciousness at all had now actually been successfully pried open by him by a thread; although it was extremely weak and completely incomparable to the performance of 'Epsilon-level' psionics, there was no doubt that his 'psionic' power had grown!

This discovery made Alvin reveal a look of joy, but also added a few worries.

"If it can continue to grow, does it mean... I will have the opportunity to grow into an 'Alpha'-level psyker in the future?"

The joy is that an Alpha-level psyker, not to mention walking sideways in the Warhammer universe, at least has the power of self-preservation.

But the worry is that an Alpha-level psyker, in the mainstream cognition of the Imperium of Man, belongs to an extremely dangerous and extremely rare category, and is born in an extremely unstable mental state.

If there is any mistake, they will be devoured by Warp demons, thereby triggering a disaster sufficient to destroy an entire planet!

"Forget it, what's the use of thinking so far?" Alvin suddenly laughed at himself and raised his hand to pat his face: "I'm just an Epsilon-level now; what does Alpha-level have to do with me?"

There is no need to worry about things that might happen in the future!

Alvin shook his head, threw all distracting thoughts away, took out the 'permanent Compound V' he treasured, licked his lips, and revealed a fanatical look in his eyes: "Epsilon-level psyker, I can finally barely have a trace of self-preservation ability in the Underhive!"

Having said that, he injected the entire potion into his body without hesitation.

A familiar feeling emerged again, and a glimmer of azure light occupied all of Alvin's pupils.

Unlike the past, this time... his soul seemed to be attracted and briefly detached from his body.

Under the traction of invisible power, he went to the destination of all living souls, that 'High Heaven' that surged with infinite power, as if mixed with colorful dyes, presenting a chaotic state!

He was like a burning flame, so conspicuous in the 'High Heaven' composed of the emotions and thoughts of all living beings, filled with chaotic emotions!

Groups of disgusting and terrifying demons seemed to have sensed his existence.

That burning flame of a soul was so dazzling in the eyes of the demons that it was like sharks smelling blood, gathering from all directions.

"Is this... the world felt by psykers?!"

Alvin's face turned pale, and a look of horror and fear flashed in his eyes.

Although he guessed that the Warp might be terrifying, only by experiencing it personally could he understand how ridiculous and naive his previous mental preparation was!

The Warp... a world that changes like tides, filled with hatred, anger, violence, pornography, and many other emotional fluctuations generated by intelligent life, while extreme negative emotions gave birth to Warp demons, a world without matter and life, and even time and rules!

"Gather consciousness, control emotions!"

With the help of his memories from his previous life, Alvin began to consciously control the overflow of psionic energy.

Of course, he didn't notice that a cold, pale sun appeared in the Warp at some point, and its cold radiance tore those demons that came surging... to shreds!

Opening his eyes again, Alvin's consciousness detached from the Warp.

He returned to the material world, breathing the pungent radiation waste gas, and for the first time in his life, he was glad that he lived in the material world.

The whole world seemed different in his eyes, but it also seemed as if nothing had changed.

At the same time, Alvin clearly perceived that his soul had left an indelible... brand in the Warp!

Every time he used psionics, it would stir up ripples in the Warp, thereby attracting the attention of 'demons'.

The more powerful, the more dangerous!

"Psionics is a double-edged sword."

Alvin rubbed his throbbing brow, his face full of bitterness: "If it weren't for getting rid of the Underhive, I wouldn't want to touch the Warp for the rest of my life."

Organizing his emotions, he carefully buried the remaining tube of temporary Compound V, put on his tattered clothes again, and crawled out of the 'doghouse' with his head tucked in.

Today is the scavengers' 'Harvest Day'.

As an Underhive scavenger, he naturally couldn't miss this 'great' festival, right?

Alvin knew a truth: don't show off your wealth.

Especially in an environment like the Underhive where there is scum everywhere, if someone is found to be profitable, it is very likely that the next day, you will see that person's corpse next to the wastewater pipe.

The garbage dump he was going to was in the southwest corner, and Alvin arrived not long after.

But... the scavengers who used to cling to the high garbage piles like maggots, picking through usable items, were now nowhere to be seen.

In the huge garbage dump, it was eerily quiet!

Unreasonable!

You must know that today is the Underhive's 'Harvest Day', and there must be many scavengers gathered in the garbage dump to search for usable items.

But now, the whole garbage dump is quiet, permeated with an atmosphere of dead silence.

"Something happened!" Alvin smelled the blood in the air; this was the first thought that surfaced in his mind.

His face changed slightly, he lowered his body, and tried his best to eliminate the sound of his footsteps, slowly groping forward along the narrow gaps between the mountains of garbage like a worm.

Soon, Alvin saw the 'reason'.

He finally knew why, despite it being 'Harvest Day', there were no scavengers.

The answer was behind this pile of garbage; countless scavengers' heads had been cut off and then piled into a low hill in an extremely cruel way.

The stream formed by blood had soaked the entire land, making the soil exude a scarlet, pungent smell.

Countless skulls piled up artificially, their facial expressions ferocious and twisted, and in their pale, terrified eyes, it was as if they were telling what kind of terror they had experienced.

Alvin was stunned, his pupils shrinking to the size of pinpoints.

He knew very well who had done this 'monument of skulls' piled up with skulls, this bloody tomb burying hundreds of lives.

Khorne... longing for blood, battle, skulls, one of the four great gods in the Warp High Heaven!

Only a cult that believes in 'Khorne' would do such a thing that angers both gods and men!

Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne! ===== CHAPTER 19 =====