In the perilous Warhammer Universe, Lin Yu endured hardships and finally established a preliminary foundation for his survival. Only then did the tightly strung chord in his heart truly relax.
When he first arrived in this completely unfamiliar universe, mortal danger was ever-present, and he constantly hovered on the brink of life and death. After narrowly escaping danger in the first instance, his only thought was to quickly go into hiding and seek a glimmer of hope for survival.
Fortunately, with the powerful assistance of the Great Clock, he was able to survive alone and quietly develop an industrial system without being discovered by the outside world. Now that the immediate survival crisis was resolved, he could finally calm down and plan his next development blueprint.
However, as the pressure of survival suddenly disappeared, Lin Yu found himself lost in this unexpected relaxation. With the successful activation of his Super Gene, coupled with the Great Clock, an astronomical computer that could be called a cheat, he could now directly access Dark Energy and perform various operations that would appear miraculous to others.
Unlike before, he could only use the Great Clock to manipulate Dark Energy, and many functions were constrained as if by layers of shackles due to the lack of a main universe material to carry them, preventing the Great Clock from utilizing even a fraction of its capabilities.
Now, he felt as if he possessed infinite possibilities, yet for a moment, he didn't know how to wield this power.
After a moment of thought, Lin Yu stroked his chin with one hand, an idea forming in his mind. He decided to first bring this planet, named Alpha, under his control and achieve its unification.
After all, in his vision, he would surely embark on the path to godhood in the future. It would be unacceptable for a dignified Main God to lack a stable base, or even fail to unify the very planet he resided on.
Thus, he planned to use the resources produced by his industrial cluster to gradually infiltrate from the Underhive and Lower Hive, organizing manpower and resources. However, he knew that compared to his highly developed industrial cluster, the productivity of the entire Lower Hive and Underhive was negligible, so the immediate priority was to organize the personnel structure.
After all, with his current steel body, ordinary weapons could not harm him. It was a fantasy for those backward gunpowder weapons and the laser rifles, jokingly called “flashlights” by the PDF, to break his defenses, unless he was subjected to prolonged concentrated fire, only then might he be injured.
Moreover, with the Great Clock, it was still unknown whether the concentrated fire from these weapons could truly land on him, given the clever transportation through spatial wormholes.
The Blood Rust Market, one of the few “prosperous” places in the Underhive—the quotes were because its so-called prosperity was merely a cacophony of the pungent smell of rotting meat, the sour taste of poor-quality synthetic starch, and the clamor and chaos of black market weapon dealings.
The market’s light was dim and flickering, with dilapidated neon signs emitting faint glows, as if they could extinguish at any moment, plunging the place into complete darkness. The surrounding buildings were dilapidated, their walls covered in mottled marks, as if eroded by both time and violence.
The rules here were simple and brutal: either join a gang and survive in a dog-eat-dog environment, or become an unmourned corpse.
But tonight, the market was unusually quiet, eerily so. The usual arrogant thugs who brazenly collected protection fees or engaged in gang fights were now like startled rats, cowering in dark corners. They clutched their weapons tightly, knuckles white from the grip, eyes fixed on the end of the street, their faces etched with fear and tension.
The Bloodclaw Gang had arrived.
No one knew for sure what their origin was—whether they were detestable mutants, terrifying Genestealer hybrids, or some even more dreadful, unnameable entity.
Their skin was paper-white, as if they had never seen sunlight, and their finger bones had mutated into sharp claws, gleaming coldly in the dim light. A maniacal, hellish grin always hung at the corners of their mouths, sending shivers down one's spine.
Unlike other gangs, the Bloodclaw Gang neither robbed for money nor coveted food; their only pleasure was killing. After each attack, they would drag the bodies back into the depths of their lair, and the victims would vanish without a trace, as if evaporated from the world.
At this moment, the Bloodclaw Gang, like a pack of wolves, blocked the market’s only exit. Their figures flickered in the gloom, like harbingers of death.
“Tonight’s ‘tribute’.”
The leader of the Bloodclaw Gang bared a mouthful of serrated teeth, his voice like the shriek of a night owl, echoing through the market,
“Ten living people. Choose yourselves, or shall we pick?”
The market instantly fell into a dead silence, as if time itself had frozen. No one dared to move, fear, like an invisible net, tightly enveloped them. No one dared to attempt an escape, for they knew well the cruelty and terror of the Bloodclaw Gang; any resistance could lead to certain death.
Just in this suffocating silence, a dazzling blue light, like a meteor streaking across the night, suddenly illuminated from the darkness.
Lin Yu walked slowly, his tall figure strikingly conspicuous under the flickering neon lights. His power armor was not Imperial standard, but rather filled with a unique, high-tech design, with sleek yet rigid lines, like a work of art from the future.
He held an exquisitely crafted power sword, its blade made of adamantium, glowing with a 'rich gold' luster under the lights, exceptionally dazzling.
The laughter of the Bloodclaw Gang ceased abruptly, their gazes uniformly fixed on Lin Yu, eyes filled with surprise and disdain.
“Another one coming to die?” The leader tilted his head, his claws slowly scraping against rusted metal, emitting a grating sound, as if provoking, yet also warning.
Lin Yu did not reply, simply raising his arm. In an instant, an extremely futuristic sniper rifle appeared out of thin air in his hand, its body glowing with a faint blue light, as if containing endless energy.
“Bang!” A loud bang, like a clap of thunder, resounded through the market, and a bullet whistled from the muzzle like a meteor. However, before the bullet could fly far, a spatial wormhole, emitting a mysterious blue light, suddenly appeared in front of the muzzle.
Time… seemed to slow down.
The members of the Bloodclaw Gang fell one after another, like harvested wheat. Their expressions had not even had time to shift from arrogance to fear before they were taken by death.
The remaining Bloodclaw Gang members, seeing this, were terrified and began to fire wildly and indiscriminately. Some grim-faced members, as if driven mad by fear, brandished their claws and charged at Lin Yu recklessly.
However, all of it was in vain. In just under two short seconds, everything returned to peace. All the Bloodclaw Gang members lay scattered on the ground, blood spreading beneath them, staining the ground dark red. And in the area where Lin Yu had been subjected to concentrated fire, the dust gradually settled, yet he still stood there, spotless, as if the fierce battle had never occurred.
Everyone in the market was stunned, their eyes wide with disbelief at the scene before them. It was as if they had witnessed a god descending to the mortal world, effortlessly dispelling the fear in their hearts.
Just then, a scrawny boy suddenly rushed out of the crowd, like an agile fawn, and ran directly in front of Lin Yu, falling to his knees with a “thump.” His eyes gleamed, not with fear, but with the burning flame of hope.
“Take me with you!” The boy’s voice trembled slightly with excitement, “I… I can help you! I can fix things, I can steal things, I’ll do anything!”
The others awoke from their daze, as if infected by the boy’s courage. A limping old veteran pushed through the crowd, laboriously kneeling on one knee, his eyes revealing a sense of determination and resolve: “I fought in the PDF, I know how to use a gun. Let me follow you.”
A woman wearing a tattered headscar also pushed to the front, the fire of hatred burning in her eyes, tightly clutching a rusty dagger. She looked at Lin Yu, her voice trembling as she said, “The Bloodclaw Gang killed my sister. You avenged me… My life is yours.”
Lin Yu looked down at the figures kneeling before him, the Great Clock softly humming in his mind, as if rapidly calculating some possibility.
“…Following me won’t be any better than here,” he finally said slowly, his voice as calm as a bottomless lake.
“But at least it won’t be worse,” the old veteran grinned, revealing a mouthful of crooked yellow teeth, his smile filled with anticipation for a new life.
Lin Yu was silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping over everyone, then he finally nodded slightly.
“Then come along,” he turned, taking steady steps, and walked into the deeper darkness,
“But remember—the world never pities anyone.”
His voice echoed in the darkness…