Chapter 494: War Hammer: What Do You Mean You Conquered the Zerg

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

The moment those words landed, something stirred in Lin En's mind.

This voice, this clear and pleasant female voice, he felt he had heard it somewhere before.

In some movie, or in those bizarre, kaleidoscopic dreams he could no longer remember.

"Never met her," Lin En said, his voice much tenser than he had expected.

"But I always feel that you are someone very important to me."

He paused: "Very, very important."

Lei Ou almost choked on his coffee.

He gave Lin En a huge negative review in his heart.

This was too blunt, blunt as if it were a line plucked directly from some third-rate romance novel.

He had even begun calculating how to tell Lin En in the most tactful, most straightforward way later:

"Brother, your pick-up lines are too low!"

But what happened next dealt an unprecedented shock to Lei Ou's worldview.

"I feel the same way," Lei Na said.

Her voice was very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something.

But in those purple-black eyes of hers, there was not a hint of perfunctoriness or politeness.

She looked at Lin En, as if confirming something very, very important.

Then she smiled lightly, the arc of her smile just right, and in Lin En's eyes, beautiful enough to make his heart tighten.

Everything after that was as if fast-forward had been pressed.

The two exchanged contact information right in front of Lei Ou.

That very night, Lin En took the initiative to message Lei Na for the first time.

The next day, they had dinner together and went for a walk by the river.

The third day, they went to see a movie and went to the private club Lei Ou recommended, but this time without Lei Ou.

Lei Ou discovered something was wrong on the fourth day.

He saw a photo in Lin En's social media feed.

Lin En and Lei Na stood side by side in the night scenery of The Bund, and Lin En wore a smile he had not seen in a full three months.

Lei Ou stared at that photo for a long time, then, unbelievably, as if confirming the exact date of the world's end, sent Lin En a message:

"Are you two together?"

Lin En replied with only one character: "En."

Lei Ou stared at that character for thirty seconds.

"How long have you known each other?"

"Four days."

Lei Ou threw his phone onto the sofa, feeling he might need to get some psychological counseling.

Regarding the matter of my top-notch female cousin falling for my unlucky brother.

Things developed even more outrageously after that.

The two were glued together every day, dating together, walking together, shopping together, even traveling abroad together.

Lin En actively arranged the itinerary, going to several places Lei Na had mentioned, and adding places he wanted to go himself.

Lei Na did not refuse, cooperating throughout.

On the streets of Paris, before the ancient ruins of Rome, under the aurora of Iceland, their figures standing side by side were captured by countless shutters.

When Lei Ou learned of these, he was having dinner with Vivian.

He put down his knife and fork, remained silent for a long time, then said: "I might need to get to know my brother all over again."

Vivian asked him what was wrong.

He said: "My brother who hadn't smiled in three months is now posting travel photos on his social media, and standing beside him is my female cousin."

Vivian blinked: "Your sister never goes traveling with anyone, does she?"

"Yes," Lei Ou said softly.

"So I'm really curious, what exactly is going on between them?"

Three months later, both sets of parents met.

Lin En's parents had originally worried whether their son would be bewitched by something strange again, but when they saw Lei Na, all their worries vanished like smoke.

Lei Na's conversation, learning, temperament, and that casual gentleness when she looked at Lin En.

Made both elders feel that their son might have saved the Galaxy in his previous life.

Lei Na's parents were also very satisfied with Lin En.

Although Lin En was just a "common" programmer in H City, his background was not insignificant.

And he had a kind of unhurried "steadiness."

Lei Na's father privately told Lei Ou: "This child is not simple."

Lei Ou thought to himself, yes, a person who hadn't smiled in three months suddenly smiled upon seeing my sister—indeed not simple.

The engagement ceremony was held at a private club in H City.

The scale was not large; only close relatives and good friends from both sides were invited.

Lin En stood on the stage, looking at Lei Na across from him, and all those messy things in his brain completely disappeared.

He only knew that the woman standing in front of him was the one he was determined to marry and no one else in this lifetime.

This feeling was very strange.

They had known each other for only three months; he couldn't even say clearly what exactly he liked about her.

But he just knew; that kind of certainty came from a place he couldn't find an entrance to.

Lei Ou was the best man; he watched as Lin En put the ring on Lei Na's finger.

He always had a feeling that these two people seemed to have known each other for a long time already.

The wedding was set for three months later.

The date, the hotel, the guest list, the best man and bridesmaid list, the honeymoon trip — everything was advancing in an orderly fashion.

As the best man, Lei Ou was dragged by Lin En to run through all the wedding planning companies in H City.

He watched Lin En seriously compare the color of every kind of table flower, taste-test every wedding banquet dish, confirm the wording on every single invitation.

"Don't you think you're being too serious?" Lei Ou asked.

"You only get married once in a lifetime." Lin En said.

Lei Ou opened his mouth, wanting to say "You haven't even met my sister a few times and you got engaged; now you're being serious."

But he didn't say it out loud, because he saw that when Lin En spoke those words, there was light in his eyes.

Time quickly arrived at one month before the wedding.

According to plan, the two began their honeymoon trip.

The first stop was Paris, the second stop was Rome, the third stop was Iceland, the fourth stop was... Nottingham.

Nottingham was Lei Na's suggestion.

"You've always really liked Warhammer, right?" She said to Lin En on the plane.

"Nottingham is the birthplace of Warhammer; Games Workshop's headquarters is there; I set the last stop there."

Lin En was also stunned; he indeed really liked Warhammer.

During those three months of "severed heart meridians," he had even worn out several Warhammer rulebooks flipping through them.

But he didn't remember mentioning this matter to Lei Na.

"When did you find out?"

"Lei Ou told me." Lei Na smiled.

"He said you've liked those weird things since you were little."

Lin En didn't ask further; he just looked at the cloud layer outside the window, and a hard-to-describe warmth surged in his heart.

When they arrived in Nottingham, it was a rainy day.

British-style drizzle, both dense and cold, made the entire city appear exceptionally melancholy.

Warhammer World's flagship store was much larger than Lin En had imagined.

The huge activity hall displayed all kinds of Warhammer models and scenery; the air everywhere was filled with the smell of resin and pigment.

They booked the entire activity hall, cleared out the retail store, and drank a lot of beer at Bugman's Bar.

Bugman's Bar is the best dwarf-style bar in the Warhammer World.

Wooden long tables, heavy wine cups; flags and shields of various Warhammer races hung on the walls.

Lin En sat at the bar counter, holding a cup of Bugman's XXXXX in his hand, looking at the Warhammer elements covering the walls, and suddenly felt a bit dazed.

All of this was too perfect.

Perfect to the point of not seeming real.

Lei Na sat beside him, quietly drinking juice, occasionally raising her head to look at him.

Her gaze was always very gentle, like a deep, still pool.

That night, they went to another exhibition area of Warhammer World.

The exhibition area displayed the world's best Warhammer models and scenery.

Lin En walked slowly among those models, his gaze finally landing on a huge display platform.

That was the Tyranid display platform.

The display platform's name was "Retreat from Hive World Grundy VII".

The scene was the moment the Imperial Guard evacuated the planet Grundy VII at the last minute.

The background was city ruins covered by the Bug Swarm; the sky was dyed a sickly purple by Tyranid spore clouds; on the horizon were countless Bug Swarm units surging forward.

The retreat ship's engines had already ignited, but several dozen soldiers still hadn't managed to board the ship; they used laser guns and bayonets on the ground to make a final resistance.

That was a battle destined to be unwinnable.

But Lin En's gaze did not fall on those soldiers.

He stared at those Bug Swarms surging forward on the display platform.

Knife Worms, Gun Worms, Warrior Bugs, Excavation Pythons, Flying Warrior King Bugs...

Many familiar Tyranid units were there.

Their postures varied; some were running, some were tearing and biting, some were spraying acid, some were flying.

But looking at them, what surged in Lin En's heart was not fear, nor was it hatred.

It was a sense of kinship.

He felt those insects were very close/kin.

Those hideous, bloodthirsty, all-devouring insects, in his eyes, were just like... family.

This thought made even him feel ridiculous.

He stared at those bug swarm models, his gaze stopping on a warrior bug.

That warrior bug stood in the center of the swarm, the patterns on its carapace not quite the same as its fellows around it.

Its posture was more upright than ordinary warrior bugs, its body curves more fluid, even the arc of its bone blades possessing a subtle, feminine elegance.

Lin En looked at it, suddenly feeling his heart clench as if gripped by something.

A sourness welled in his nasal cavity, his eye sockets beginning to swell.

He did not understand why he would be like this.

He was merely looking at a plastic model, a plastic insect painted with purple and blue paint, yet felt like shedding tears.

"What's wrong?"

A voice came from behind.

Lin En turned his head, seeing a man standing beside him.

It was a tall, handsome, wheat-skinned Southeast Asian man.

But strangely, Lin En always felt he could not see his face clearly.