When Emrys opened his eyes again, thick industrial exhaust fumes, mixed with a pungent, rotten smell, seemed to rush straight to his crown.
After a brief moment of dizziness, Emrys coughed violently, feeling an agonizing burning pain from his throat all the way to his lungs, causing him to show a bitter smile.
"It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury to frugality. I finally got the lottery winner experience."
In just ten days, this body was already struggling to adapt to the harsh environment of the lower hive.
After he had somewhat adjusted to the side effects of the environmental change, Emrys finally had time to observe his surroundings. It looked pretty much the same as before he left, with hardly any significant changes.
Of course, it could also be that the lower hive's environment was too severe, and he lived in the exhaust emission zone, so he couldn't really discern any changes.
"I wonder how much time has passed in the main universe during this dimensional crossing."
As Emrys pondered, he looked down at his tightly clenched right hand. A tube of azure blue potion lay quietly in his palm, and he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief: "After the effects of the Temporary Compound No. 5 wear off, I'll inject the Permanent Compound No. 5, just to avoid any mishaps."
Before injecting the Permanent Compound No. 5, he planned to stay in his safehouse and not go anywhere.
After all, who knew what dangers he might encounter by going out in a lower hive with traces of cult activity?
Emrys' motto in life was to never do anything risky.
Secondly, he also wanted to sort out the gains from this trip. Besides the Permanent Compound No. 5, he still had one tube of Temporary Compound No. 5 and a few gold bars left.
Emrys weighed the gold bars, which were about ten grams each, and was a little troubled: "I hope this stuff will be of some use."
Logically speaking, gold is a very precious metal, generally considered a universal currency in human society.
But in the Warhammer Universe, he wasn't so sure.
The Imperium of Man's territory was vast, almost spanning the entire Milky Way Galaxy, with an astronomical number of worlds under its control. Even if gold was rare, it shouldn't be scarce.
However, with The Boys' level of technology, he really couldn't think of anything else that could serve as a toll.
As for products from the 20K era, Emrys had considered them, but… the risk was too great!
Whether it was weapons, food, industrial products, etc., once exposed, the consequences would be unimaginable. Who knew if it would attract the attention of some unknown Warp entities?
Therefore, Emrys could only continuously narrow down the scope, finally settling on gold—a metal that, while scarce, wouldn't trigger any risks.
"Ultimately, I'm still too weak."
Emrys sighed softly. If he were a planetary governor, or born into some noble family, he wouldn't have to worry about these problems.
"You can't sleep on what the OGs said: a regular dude with a bag is a target. No cap."
A powerless scavenger in the lower hive could be easily crushed. Before he had enough power, he absolutely couldn't expose the existence of the Traveler System!
Suddenly…
The crude house, welded from sheet metal, was kicked down from the outside!
As Emrys stared in astonishment, he saw a familiar person: a diagonal knife scar cut across his brow bone and lips, his entire face twisted and ferocious with anger. It was the scum from the Hammer Skulls gang!
Goodfellas, they actually came looking for him!
What do you call it when there's a path to heaven you don't take, but you barge into hell without a gate?
Staring at the dazed Emrys, the scarfaced brute grinned menacingly, thinking the kid was too scared to move: "You little brat, you're good at hiding, you made me look for you for ten whole days!"
"Ten… ten days?"
Emrys was slightly taken aback. So the time in both Worlds was 1:1.
"Because of you, you little beast, I lost a lot of face!"
The brute gritted his teeth, veins throbbing on his forehead, his sinister, brutal gaze seemingly wanting to devour Emrys alive: "I'm going to chop you into pieces, one cut at a time!"
As he spoke, he drew out the knife that had been stained with countless amounts of blood, its blade already dyed dark brown, and its edge chipped.
"You little beast, you can scream to your heart's content, wail, regret! Pray or whatever!"
The brute looked down from above, raising his arm to bring the knife down, a cruel expression in his eyes.
His face was flushed as if with blood, dark veins bulging hideously. He anticipated and craved blood, even imagining he could already hear the little beast's wails under the knife, its tearful cries, its terrified screams, and its agonizing death between pleading and despair.
Clang!
The sound of metal clashing rang out!
The chipped knife struck Emrys' shoulder, but the imagined spray of blood and pained screams did not occur.
It was like striking a piece of refined steel. The force transmitted along the blade caused the brute's tiger's mouth to tremble violently, and the knife nearly flew out of his hand.
Just moments before, the brute had been immersed in the pleasure of his sadistic fantasy, but in an instant, he was dragged back to reality.
He stared dumbfounded, his eyes full of disbelief: "Wh-why? What kind of sorcery did you use?"
"Sorcery? Brother, your faith isn't pure."
Emrys' smile became even more benevolent, the power of psychic energy subtly surging: "This is the Emperor's blessing, you idiot!"
"I'll… you…"
The brutal brute was completely enraged by his attitude and swung his knife to chop again.
But, in that instant, the psychic energy, transformed into telekinesis, directly enveloped the brute, twisting his entire arm off!
Crack!
Amidst the crisp and chilling sound of bones breaking, the brute's entire right arm was twisted into a pretzel.
Flesh mixed with bone fragments, and the excruciating pain made the brute instantly recognize reality, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks, his entire face contorted with fear.
"Ah—"
Before he could even scream, the brute felt as if something had been stuffed into his throat.
Emrys looked at the brute gently, extended a finger, and lightly placed it on his lips: "Shh… quiet down, it wouldn't be good to disturb others."
"YOOOOOOWCH!"
The brute struggled in terror, wanting to escape this 'demon'.
But, as soon as he took half a step, his right leg was directly crushed, blood and shattered bones splattering, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.
Pain, it was too painful!
The brute's snot and tears flowed freely. Unable to speak, he could only look at Emrys in terror, begging with his eyes for the other to spare him.
"You want to live?"
Emrys read the man's thoughts and asked with a kind smile.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!"
The brute nodded frantically, the plea in his eyes thick and humble.
"Then, when others begged for mercy from you, did you spare them? Huh? Did you?!"
Emrys admitted he wasn't particularly benevolent, nor was he a moral paragon, but at least… he wouldn't wantonly torture and kill others without reason.
They were all scum surviving in the lower hive, but the difference was… some were doing it to survive, while others were purely to satisfy their desires.
Emrys belonged to the former; the brute and the Hammer Skulls belonged to the latter.
There was a difference between voluntary scumbag and scumbag!
Hearing these words, and seeing Emrys' chilling gaze, the brute finally gave up all hope.
The plea in his eyes gradually extinguished, replaced by madness, hatred, venom, regret, and other emotions filling his heart.
If only he had chopped the little beast back then, how could he have fallen into such a state?
He hated it!
"Don't look at me with that kind of gaze."
Emrys' eyes were cold as he looked at the brute, saying softly: "At least, I'm willing to give you a quick death, aren't I?"
As his voice fell, psychic power surged!
A suffocating telekinetic force enveloped the brute, then, under his terrified and horrified gaze, directly crushed him into a pulp!
Emrys took a deep breath, then looked outside: "Next up, it's the Hammer Skulls gang."