The seventh floor of the station. In the back room, Li Qingyu and the psyker sat opposite each other.
The psyker held the wafer in his hands and pecked at it in tiny pieces, like a sparrow.
He took literally a molecule of starch at a time and chewed it in his mouth for a long time. If even a crumb fell on the floor, he immediately fell to his knees and licked it up with his tongue. Li Qingyu watched this with a twitching eye.
When Li Qingyu first gave him the wafer, the guy took a bite – and immediately soiled himself. Literally. An uninitiated person might have thought a strong laxative had been mixed into the bread.
But Li Qingyu understood everything. He clearly had a wild, unregistered psyker in front of him.
Zero self-control, no mental defense, no knowledge of his power. A perfect target for demons.
Judging by how he mutilated himself, his mind has long been violated by warp entities. Pale skin, claws – signs of physical mutations.
Chaos contamination level – forty to fifty percent.
And then – bang! – a piece of holy flesh. Purification to zero. From such bliss and relaxation, the sphincters could fail – it's normal.
Seeing that they weren't going to kill him yet, and that this guy would be eating the wafer for a long time, Li Qingyu remembered the pile of abandoned weapons below and decided to act:
"Hey, bro. Are you going to kill me or what? If not, I'm leaving. I won't get in the way."
The chewing psyker froze, then suddenly lunged and grabbed him.
"No! Don't leave! Please, stay! I'll do anything!"
He was so terrified of demons that, having found a source of silence, he didn't want to let him go for anything.
Li Qingyu rubbed his chin.
"Anything?"
"But you have nothing to keep me with. No car, no house. Unlike my cozy little house in the Underhive: people there are kind, polite. I love that place!"
Having said this, he tried to stand up, but the psyker pinned him to the spot again with his power.
Realizing he was immobilized, Li Qingyu grinned:
"You think you can hold me with force? Wake up. You can take my body, but not my heart!"
"What good is your telekinesis to me? I'll smash my head against the wall – and that's it, I'll be reborn at the base. How will you stop me?"
The psyker's face contorted in panic. Indeed, he needed to hold onto this man's heart – otherwise, he would escape!
Maybe tie him up with a chain?
No, unreliable. It must be the heart!
Hesitating a little, the psyker crouched down and reached for the belt on Li Qingyu's pants.
He turned pale and yelled:
"Chotto matte! We can negotiate! I know how to get rid of the voices for good!"
The psyker froze, but didn't remove his hands.
"Let me thank you first."
"Thank your mother! Get off me!"
After a short struggle, Li Qingyu played his trump card – he told him about the Sacred Oil – and preserved his honor.
Upon hearing about the oil, the psyker's eyes lit up with fanatical fire.
"Give... give it to me! Give me the oil!"
Li Qingyu smiled with his signature businessman's smile:
"Hey, take it easy. I'm a businessman."
He rubbed his fingers together, imitating the "money-money" gesture.
"Exchange."
Confusion reflected on the psyker's face.
"Exchange?"
Li Qingyu shrugged.
"Yeah. You give me something, I give you something. I have plenty of oil."
"W-what do you need? Take everything! Take everything here!"
It seemed the torture had severely damaged his sanity. He spoke like a child – frighteningly direct.
Li Qingyu squinted:
"Teach me how to be a psyker. Deal?"
Pure stupidity could be read in the interlocutor's eyes.
"Psykering? What's that?"
He didn't even know the name of his power. This is normal for the illiterate inhabitants of the Imperium.
"It's your superpowers. Teach me – and I'll help you get rid of the demons."
The psyker's face contorted in horror.
"No, no, no! Don't learn this! Don't! You'll see hell! Demons will get into your head! It's evil!"
He screamed, and blood gushed from his terrible wounds again.
Li Qingyu crossed his arms over his chest.
"Buddy, use your power. Do you hear the voices?"
The psyker obeyed, waved his hand – and the wall next to him disintegrated as if hit by a large-caliber projectile.
"Huh? There are none? There really aren't!"
The psyker draws power from the Warp. Roughly speaking, he steals energy from demons and releases it into reality.
If the mind is weak and used frequently, demons notice you and start to devour you. It's simple.
This was the case with this guy: each use of his power amplified the whispers until a branch of hell opened in his head.
But now – silence. Absolute silence, no matter how much he conjured!
"A-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
The psyker went mad with joy. He began to tear down walls with shockwaves, turning the room into ruins.
If there are no voices – does that mean he has complete control over his power? Does that mean he is omnipotent?
The poor fellow had never seen an Astartes and didn't know the might of the Imperium. After killing a hundred mortals, he thought himself a god.
He looked at Li Qingyu, and greed flickered in his eyes.
Li Qingyu noticed this and said coldly:
"Teach me – and I'll come again. And I'll bring more of this food."
He pulled out a second wafer from his pouch and threw it to the psyker.
The latter caught it, and a strange spark flickered in his eyes.
His mind cleared, his brain started working, and bad ideas began to form. For example...
Li Qingyu grinned:
"I know what you're thinking. You can try."
"But I warn you: I'm the only one on this planet who can get rid of the voices. Think about whether it's worth doing what you've planned."
He perfectly understood the guy's train of thought. This is Warhammer 40k, everything is grim here. He's probably already planned his capture, torture, and resource extraction.
Li Qingyu didn't care. If he died, so be it. Next time, he'd bring a hundred kilos of explosives and blow up this monster remotely.
The psyker hesitated. Was it worth subjugating this man and forcing him to provide food?
Scary. What if he's stubborn? He'll die but won't give in? And the voices will return?
His head started to churn again.
Seeing his turmoil, Li Qingyu delivered the final blow:
"I have three vials of oil – four hundred and fifty milliliters. Hidden where only I know."
"Teach me to use the power – and I'll give them to you. Deal?"
The psyker swallowed greedily.
"Okay, let's do it! Give them to me! I... I'll teach you!"
Li Qingyu nodded, threw a "wait here," and went downstairs. But after a couple of steps, he looked back – the psyker was trailing behind him.
"What are you doing?"
The psyker stared at him.
"I'm with you."
Having found salvation from the demons, he wasn't going to let him out of his sight for a second.
Li Qingyu's eyes gleamed slyly.
"Good. Let's go."