"But this… how… how did you even do this?"
Will stared at his own hands, hands that now looked capable of crushing rock. The sense of power in them was so real it frightened him.
"Heh. Magic. Pretty amazing, right?"
"M-Magic?!"
The moment he heard that word, the color drained from Will's face, and his body began trembling uncontrollably.
In Imperial doctrine, anything called "magic," unless it came from a sanctioned psyker, meant Warp sorcery.
"You… you're a psyker? Or—"
"Stop right there."
Zhou Yuan extended a tendril and waved it in front of Will.
"How could that low-grade Warp junk compare to my magic? Mine is pure, natural, pollution-free, one hundred percent mana-powered green energy. It has absolutely nothing to do with your Warp."
"And kid, my cells are flowing through your body now. That not only made you stronger, it also turned you into a Warp-insulated lifeform. From this day on, you're one of mine. Those filthy things won't be corrupting you anymore."
As an outsider from another world, Zhou Yuan's power system stood completely apart from the Warhammer universe. That was also why he had the confidence to steal people right out from under Chaos.
"Insulated… can't be corrupted…"
Will did not fully understand those technical terms, but he could feel that the power inside him was pure. Warm.
"Th-Thank you!" Will lowered his head again. "Since this life was given to me by you, then from now on, no matter whether you're a xenos or anything else, my life is yours!"
"Good." Zhou Yuan nodded in satisfaction. "But before that, take me to see your sister."
"My sister?" Will blinked.
"What? You don't want to?"
"No! Of course I do! If you can save Claire, I'll do anything!"
In truth, during the swallowing and reconstruction process, Zhou Yuan had conveniently read Will's memories as well.
And what he had seen there about the girl named Claire had alarms blaring in his head.
Heart failure. Bedridden. And… the ulcerating red rash that had only started appearing recently.
More importantly, there was the timing: the siblings arrived in town, the town broke out in plague, half the people died, and yet these two children survived.
In some other world, that might be called protagonist luck.
But in Warhammer 40,000—especially on the edge of Ultramar, at a time like this—it usually meant only one thing:
Grandfather Nurgle's attention.
The survivors are often the real source of infection, Zhou Yuan muttered to himself.
That little girl might be a living Nurgle conduit, or some kind of latent psyker. If I don't deal with this fast, the whole town could be finished.
At that thought, Zhou Yuan no longer wanted to waste time.
"Alright, lead the way. But…"
He looked Will up and down—a two-meter-tall slab of muscle that looked ready to tear through a wall.
If he walked back into town like that, the guards would probably gun him down as a mutant before he even reached the gate.
"You're way too conspicuous like this. You need to tone it down. We're going there to treat someone, not to storm a fortress."
"Ah?" Will looked down at his own massive body, at a complete loss. "Th-Then what do I do? Can I change back?"
"Of course. You've got plenty of my slime cells in you, and one of a slime's greatest traits is plasticity."
Zhou Yuan reached out a tendril and lightly tapped Will between the brows.
"Relax. This is the Slime Mimicry Operating Manual, version 1.0."
Immediately, Will felt a strange instinct appear inside his mind.
Contract… compress… disguise…
In just a few seconds, he had shrunk back into the frail-looking boy he used to be.
Only Will himself knew how much terrifying explosive power was compressed beneath that seemingly skinny frame.
"Pretty neat, right?" Zhou Yuan grinned. "Now you can change size whenever you want. Essential technique for pretending to be weak before crushing people."
Will clenched what looked like a thin, weak fist, his eyes full of shock.
"This is… incredible. Then let's go. But… what should I call you?"
"My name's Zhou Yuan. I'm older than you, so just call me Big Brother Yuan."
"Got it, Brother Yuan! Let's go."
Some time later.
The two of them slipped into the ramshackle shack with walls full of drafts.
The room was dim, lit only by a kerosene lamp that was almost out of oil.
Though the place was bare to the point of poverty, the single wooden bed in the corner had been cleaned with unusual care. There were even a few wilted wildflowers placed beside it.
But the moment Zhou Yuan stepped inside, he smelled something.
Not the stench of the dump.
Not the reek of sewage.
It was a sweet, cloying odor—like overripe fruit fermenting and rotting in oppressive heat.
Damn. That smell is way too on the nose.
"Brother?"
Hearing the door open, the girl on the bed turned her head.
She was thin as a skeleton, her skin so pale it was almost transparent, yet there were two unnaturally rosy patches on her cheeks.
"You're finally back… I was so worried about you."
As Claire spoke, she pushed herself up with both hands and slowly sat upright on the bed.
Will's eyes widened. Just yesterday, Claire had needed him to help her even lift an arm to drink water, yet now she could sit up on her own?
"Claire, you… you can move?" Will's voice shook. "Are you feeling better?"
"Mm. I feel… better than ever before."
Claire's voice was airy and dreamy, as though she were drifting somewhere between waking and sleep.
"Brother, do you remember that dream I told you about before?"
"That… garden?"
"That's right!"
At the mention of it, a disturbing light suddenly flared in Claire's eyes. She even started waving her thin, bony arms excitedly.
"I dreamed of it again today! That garden… it became even clearer. It was so warm there. Everywhere was rich, fertile soil, and the air was filled with a sweet scent that made me feel so safe…"
"And deep inside the garden, I saw a huge figure!"
A smile of almost fanatical bliss appeared on Claire's face. In the dim lamplight, it looked especially unsettling.
"It was a vast, bloated figure, but full of kindness. I couldn't see His face clearly, but He kept watching me—looking at me with eyes warmer even than Father's. I could feel it. He understands me!"
"But it's a shame. Just as I was trying to get closer and see Him clearly, I woke up." Claire sounded genuinely disappointed. "But at the very moment I woke up, I suddenly understood something."
She lowered her head and looked at the ulcerated, pus-dripping red patch on her arm. There was no disgust in her eyes anymore. Instead, she looked at it as if it were a gift.
"Why do we resist sickness? Pain isn't a curse. It's part of life. If I just accept it—if I become one with it—then I can finally attain true… peace."
"For so long, I kept yearning for a healthy body. But maybe that was wrong. Why can't I make peace with my illness instead? My suffering isn't some curse. It's a part of what I am. I shouldn't reject it."
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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