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In a pitch-black alleyway, the ground covered in filthy sewage, a "corpse" that had been lying silent in a pool of blood for quite some time suddenly stirred. A finger twitched violently.
It was Jamie, the drunkard who had been dragged out and "taken care of" by the Ferocious Shark gang earlier. Unexpectedly, he slowly stood up as if nothing had happened.
"Damn it. Thank goodness for the holy relic the Lord bestowed upon me."
Jamie looked nothing like the arrogant figure from before; he was now a stray dog filled with lingering fear. He touched the purple crystal hanging on his chest—originally the size of a quail egg, now shrunk to the size of a grain of rice—with a look of immense relief.
"Otherwise, I would really be dead."
The Ferocious Shark gang was known for their ruthlessness. Jamie had been stabbed several times, and every single blade had gone right through his body.
The scene just now was the power of this purple crystal erupting, slowly healing the fatal wounds inflicted by the gang and granting Jamie a new lease on life.
However, strangely, Jamie felt dizzy, as if he might topple back into the sewage puddle at any second. If he hadn't been holding onto the wall, he truly would have fainted.
His eyelids grew heavier and heavier until his eyes closed and he lost consciousness. But instead of falling to the ground under the influence of gravity, he floated eerily in the air. Soon, the necklace Jamie regarded as his lifeline also floated up, detaching from his neck and drifting slowly into the hand of a person who had appeared in the alleyway at some unknown time.
Kenmei looked at the pendant in his hand.
"A psychic construct, as expected. Found you, Tosak Rome."
Kenmei had noticed something off about this guy earlier, which was why he had stopped Elena from blowing up on the spot. He was playing the long game to catch the big fish.
Who would have thought this bastard would have the bad luck to spout nonsense about the "Wild Horse Gang" replacing the "Ferocious Shark" right under the noses of the Ferocious Shark gang members?
He got stabbed multiple times on the spot.
Elena, looking at the psychic necklace in Macarnos's hand, had a cold expression filled with anger.
"Damn traitor!"
Tosak Rome. Male. Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus. Served for over four hundred years. Executed 428,900 heretics. Dismantled 8,450 cults not sanctioned by the Imperium.
During his final mission (???), something happened. In the end, he personally killed two Battle Sisters and six Acolytes. Those two Battle Sisters were Elena's seniors who had always taken great care of her, so she was determined to take revenge.
When this intelligence reached Inquisitor Lord Horst Eisenhorn via secret report, he was furious. He dispatched Kenmei (in the guise of Inquisitor Macarnos Elfman) to execute the traitor before the impact of his betrayal on the Ordo Hereticus became troublesome.
Tosak Rome was also an experienced Psyker trained by the Imperial system. He specialized in using psychic powers during combat to absorb the life force of his enemies and feed it back to himself to accelerate healing from injuries.
In other words, the working principle of this crystal was actually devouring Jamie's own life force and feeding it back to heal his wounds when he got injured.
Kenmei shook his head helplessly. Sold out and still counting money for the seller—that was the effect of this strange psychic construct.
However, the power of this psychic energy seemed enhanced for some reason. The old Tosak Rome couldn't achieve such a refined level of manipulation.
Kenmei recalled his Main Mission, "Tainted Sanctity." Was there a blessing from a Chaos God involved here?
When the unlucky Jamie slowly woke from his slumber, he found his limbs firmly secured to a chair, locked tight by heavy restraints.
Five searingly hot spotlights were positioned in front of him. Click! Five sounds rang out in succession as the lights in this dark space turned on completely. The bright light was so blinding he couldn't open his eyes, and the temperature was steadily rising.
"I've been kidnapped?"
Realizing this, Jamie immediately began to struggle desperately, but it was futile.
Because this involved the reputation of the Ordo Hereticus, the entire incident had to be buried no matter what. Yes, what Kenmei intended to do was liquidate the entire underground gang network of Asheli.
But right now, Kenmei needed to know from Jamie what was so special about the "Wild Horse Gang" that they could receive the help of an Inquisitor and even be assisted in reaching the top of Asheli to become the kings of this underworld.
These lights were to assist Kenmei in the interrogation. Because Elena was present, he couldn't use psychic spells that the original Macarnos didn't know—especially any spells related to Kenmei's unseen mentor, Ahriman.
Usually, when the Inquisition handled cases, the goal was to instill fear. The fear of the interrogated was the key to breaking through their mental defenses, making them spill what Kenmei wanted to know on their own.
However, Kenmei didn't even need to do much. Jamie, already scared out of his wits, took the initiative to explain everything.
"I'm just a regular gang member! I just help the Wild Horse Gang with patrols every day!"
Jamie assumed he was being targeted by the Ferocious Shark gang because of his earlier comments, so he had zero qualms about selling out his own gang's intelligence wholesale.
"But I know something!"
"Actually, the Wild Horse Gang's real business is running several red-light establishments in the Middle Hive! The ones you've heard of—we run them all!"
"That Second-in-Command, I don't know where he came from either. Anyway, the Boss just told us little guys that he's the Second Boss from now on."
This was a true gang secret. Jamie had only overheard it by chance from the higher-ups.
Only then did Jamie realize that the Wild Horse Gang's dirty business had actually expanded to the Middle Hive—the place with the largest and densest population in the Hive World.
The Middle Hive.
That was where countless hardworking ordinary people lived. They lacked strong willpower and just wanted to survive. But despair always oppressed the human heart, and in those times, they needed comfort for their souls.
"Good grief. Doing business all the way up to the Middle Hive."
Kenmei instantly realized where the problem lay. The terrifying existence known as the Prince of Pleasure... the name itself symbolized far too many things. Slaanesh.
Kenmei also understood why Tosak Rome hadn't supported "Ferocious Shark" but instead chose the "Wild Horse Gang."
The birth of Slaanesh, the youngest Chaos God of the Warp, was the consequence of the Eldar race indulging their desires without restraint for ten thousand years. If all the ordinary people in the Middle Hive were plunged into indulgence, it would be equivalent to initiating a ritual for the Prince of Pleasure.
The entire Hive World of Adeli would be destroyed by this terrifying atmosphere of Slaanesh.