NOVEL WEB Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Sacred Number 13
District 9, Block 18, Street 9, Room 13 of the Baal's Blood Inn.
The street lights dimmed, signaling the arrival of night.
The wide streets spread like silk between the hive's tall buildings. Small stalls were scattered like stars, and many of the Upper Hive residents lingered outside even after dark, strolling either alone, with lovers, or with children in tow.
From time to time they stopped to buy food, trinkets, or small crafts from the stalls, while others went into the churches to thank the Emperor for yet another day of protection.
Zhou Yun stood at the window of Room 13, watching a sight impossible to see in the Underhive.
He'd recently been tormented by numbers, so he'd deliberately chosen Room 13.
Thirteen—a beautiful number.
The Emperor—or rather, the Horned Rat's sacred number.
Damn the daemons! Die, die, die!
Damn Tzeentch! You're done for!
Horned Rat! Yes! Yes!
Zhou Yun prayed devoutly to the Horned Rat, believing its power would punish Tzeentch. Vermin, yes! Yes!
"What kind of weird faith is this… wait, why is the Emperor the Horned Rat?"
As Zhou Yun prayed, the winged figure in white light scoffed at this absurd conflation.
"No—I can tell you for certain there's no god in the galaxy called the Horned Rat," the winged figure said dryly.
"Isn't he just sitting on the Golden Throne?" Zhou Yun chuckled in reply.
Just then, he spotted Rena outside, holding something and running breathlessly into the inn.
Curious, Zhou Yun opened the door marked with the number 13.
Rena charged in from the corridor, her face flushed, eyes sparkling with excitement, nearly crashing into him.
Zhou Yun stared at her, reading joy, delight, and elation in her eyes.
"Guess what I found?" Rena panted, her voice melodic with happiness.
At this moment, her lively aura washed away her usual dullness. She actually looked… tempting.
Damn—had this foolish girl already been corrupted? Zhou Yun's first thought leapt to suspicion.
His fingers quietly brushed the pocket tornado.
"Guess!" Rena demanded, wide-eyed.
He could smell her faint scent, see the strands of hair damp with sweat…
Slaanesh! It's trying to corrupt this upstanding Imperial youth!
A flash of killing intent flared in Zhou Yun's eyes.
"Wait, wait, wait!"
Rena jumped back, startled by his glare, and quickly pulled something from her clothes—a… model?
A crudely-painted plastic model of a starship?
Zhou Yun froze, staring at the roughly-colored golden ship in her hands.
"No guess? Why were you about to hit me?" Rena asked nervously.
Zhou Yun studied the model—a long, elegant golden starship with a giant crimson eye on the prow and gold wings flanking it.
"What's that?" Zhou Yun asked blankly.
"It's the Red Tear!" Rena said.
"It's the Red Tear!" echoed the winged figure in white light.
Zhou Yun blinked in confusion.
"It's the flagship of the Great Angel—a Gloriana-class battleship, the Red Tear!"
Rena raised the model high, her voice full of excitement.
"My mom and I made it when I was little!"
"I buried it under a steel plate in District 9… and it's still there!"
Oh—it was just a model of Sanguinius' Red Tear.
Seeing her usual clueless air return, Zhou Yun relaxed.
Good—she wasn't corrupted.
"Did you see anything about Nama Carl today?" he asked.
"Mrs. Nama Carl was just like yesterday—everything normal," Rena shook her head.
"Oh, but I did confirm her routine. Tomorrow her factory is working overtime to ship a batch of weapons, so she'll be at work all night."
"You planning to act tomorrow?"
Zhou Yun frowned, pulling out the dossier he'd gotten from Augustus Flax and handed it to her.
"Take a look at this."
Rena blinked and took the file, flipping it open in surprise.
"This detailed? Where did you get it?"
"I have my ways. Read carefully," Zhou Yun said, then turned to the wall.
On the wall hung a calendar, showing both Asford's local date and Terra's calendar.
Some Imperial holidays followed Terra's calendar—like Sanguinius' Day in December.
Zhou Yun was familiar with it; it was just the old solar calendar from millennia ago.
According to Terra's calendar, tomorrow was October 9.
A nine—but not the extreme date of 9/9.
If it were 9/9, Zhou Yun would have recited On the Ninth Day Remembering My Battle Brothers and sworn not to act.
But 10/9… his nerves were still on edge.
For convenience, it also listed tomorrow as the 282nd day of the year.
"October 9, 282nd day. Doesn't seem odd."
Zhou Yun stroked his chin.
Some numbers had nines, some didn't. 282 wasn't a multiple of nine.
387,420,489; 6,561 blood coins; four years, 153 prayers; October 9; 282nd day…
All these numbers swirled in his head.
Nine was Tzeentch's sacred number. If Chaos was using math to corrupt, it should feature nine.
Maybe he should just write sevens all over himself to counteract it…
"Seems fine," Rena said, flipping through the file.
"I see a woman devout enough to donate nearly all her savings. A wife whose husband died for the Imperium. A kind lady. She does love math, but nothing suggests she's corrupted."
Zhou Yun stayed quiet for a long moment.
This foolish girl couldn't possibly be corrupted—she wasn't smart enough. So she was probably honest.
Was he just being too paranoid?
Zhou Yun glanced at the winged figure in his periphery. "What do you think?"
"No sign of corruption—at least not yet," the figure said quietly.
"But corruption is always subtle… until the Heresy began, who would have guessed so many Primarchs and Astartes would fall?"
(End of Chapter)
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