The next day.
Actually, the lower hive doesn't have a clear "tomorrow."
After all, the Sun is not visible here; above are intricate steel pipes and low-lying 'clouds' formed by radiation.
The only time a lower hive scavenger would bother to remember is the weekly concentrated discharge of various garbage and waste gases from the upper-hive and middle-hive.
Usually, many scavengers would gather at various garbage discharge points, like a swarm of scavenging maggots, awaiting the rare 'Harvest Day.'
In the past, Emrys wouldn't stay in his safehouse but would guard the garbage discharge point a day in advance.
As for now, he no longer needed to do so; he could sleep until he woke up naturally.
Before he had the system, he had to work himself to death. If he still worked himself to death after getting the system, wouldn't the system have been for nothing?
Woken by hunger, Emrys gulped down a serving of nutrient porridge.
To be honest, the taste was somewhat unpalatable—a flavorless paste that even scratched his throat.
In the past, such a serving of nutrient porridge would have been a dream for many lower hive, but ever since his coming home from The Boys, it truly seemed beneath him.
"Oh well, just eat it. At least I don't have to eat garbage, right?"
Emrys comforted himself mentally, frowning as he swallowed the last bite of nutrient porridge.
"It should be about twenty-four hours since the last injection."
After filling his stomach, Emrys refocused his attention on his psychic abilities, but this time, the situation seemed slightly different.
In the crude safehouse, the temperature seemed to have dropped slightly, and frost had condensed on the walls.
"I can use them safely?" Emrys' eyes flickered, immediately overjoyed, but fearing it was a false alarm, he closed his eyes and focused his mental power.
The ability that was initially impossible to control by conscious will could now be successfully stirred by him, albeit extremely weakly, completely incomparable to the performance of 'Theta-Class' psyker. But there was no doubt: his 'psyker' power had grown!
This discovery brought a look of joy to Emrys' face, but also a hint of worry.
"If I can continue to grow, does that mean I might have a chance to become an 'Alpha-class' psyker in the far far future? Who knows, maybe I'll get to train in a galaxy far far away."
The joy was that an Alpha-class psyker, while not able to walk sideways in the Warhammer Universe, at least had the ability to protect himself.
But the worry was that Alpha-class Psykers, in the mainstream perception of the Imperium of Man, are considered an extremely dangerous and rare type, with an inherently unstable mental state.
The slightest mistake could lead to being devoured by Warp demons, thereby triggering a disaster capable of destroying an entire world!
"Forget it, what's the use of thinking so far ahead?" Emrys suddenly gave a self-deprecating laugh, raised a hand, and patted his face: "I'm just an Theta-Class right now. What does Alpha-class have to do with me?"
There was no need to be troubled now by things that might happen in the future!
Emrys shook his head, casting out all distracting thoughts, and took out the 'Permanent Compound No. 5' he kept close to his body. He licked his lips, his eyes showing fanaticism: "A permanent Theta-Class psyker level! I can finally barely manage to have a slight ability to protect myself in the lower hive!"
With that, he unhesitatingly injected the entire dose into his body.
The familiar sensation surged again, and a sapphire blue glimmer filled Emrys' entire pupils.
Unlike before, this time, his soul seemed to be drawn, briefly detaching from his body.
Under the pull of an unseen force, he journeyed to the home of all living souls, to that Immaterium, a place of surging, infinite power, as if blended with multicolored dyes, presenting a chaotic 'Warp'!
He was like a burning fire, so conspicuous in the Warp, which was composed of the emotions and thoughts of all beings and filled with chaotic emotions!
Clusters of repulsive, terrifying abominations seemed to sense his presence.
That burning Fire of a soul was so dazzling in the eyes of the abominations that they swarmed from all directions, like sharks smelling blood.
"This is the world a psyker perceives?!"
Emrys' face was pale, and a look of horror and dread flashed in his eyes.
Although he had guessed that the Warp might be terrifying, that fear, which struck directly at the soul, could only be understood through personal experience, revealing how ridiculous and naive his previous mental preparations had been!
The Warp – a world that shifts like a tide, filled with Abomination, anger, violence, lust, and other emotional fluctuations generated by sentient life, and where extreme negative emotions give rise to Warp Abominations, a world devoid of matter, life, and even time and rules!
"Focus your consciousness, control your emotions!"
Emrys, using memories from his past life, began to consciously control the psychic overflow.
Of course, he did not notice that a cold, White Sun had appeared in the Warp at some point, and its cold light tore apart the surging Abominations!
Opening his eyes again, Emrys' consciousness detached from the Warp.
He returned to the material world, breathing the pungent radioactive waste gas, and for the first time in his life, he was grateful to be alive in the material world.
The entire world seemed to have changed in his eyes, yet nothing seemed to have changed.
At the same time, Emrys clearly perceived that his soul had left an indelible mark in the Warp!
Each use of psionics would stir ripples in the Warp, thereby attracting the attention of daemons.
The stronger he was, the more dangerous it became!
"Haaaaa, it is a double-edged sword."
Emrys rubbed his throbbing forehead, his face full of bitterness: "If not to escape the lower hive, I would never want to touch the Warp. But beggars can't be choosers."
Composing himself, he carefully buried the remaining Temporary Compound No. 5, then put on his tattered clothes again, ducked his head, and crawled out of the safehouse.
Today was the scavenger's 'Harvest Day.'
As a lower hive scavenger, he naturally couldn't miss this 'great' festival, could he?
Emrys knew a truth: never flaunt your wealth.
Especially in an environment like the lower hive, where scum was everywhere, if someone was found to be profitable, their body would likely be found by the wastewater pipe the next day.
The junkyard he was going to was in the southwest corner, and Emrys arrived there shortly.
But... the scavengers who used to cling like maggots to the towering piles of garbage, sifting through for usable items, were nowhere to be seen.
The vast junkyard was eerily quiet!
This was illogical!
It was 'Harvest Day' in the lower hive today, and many scavengers would certainly gather in the junkyard to search for usable items.
But now, the entire garbage area was silent, permeated with an atmosphere of death.
"Something happened!" Emrys smelled the blood in the air. This was the first thought that came to his mind.
His face slightly changed. He lowered his body, trying to eliminate his footsteps, and slowly groped forward like a worm along the narrow gaps between the mountains of garbage.
Soon, Emrys saw the 'reason.'
He finally understood why, despite it being 'Harvest Day,' there were no scavengers.
The answer lay behind this garbage pile: countless heads of scavengers had been severed and then, in an extremely cruel manner, piled into a low hill.
Streams of congealed blood had soaked the entire ground, making the earth emit a crimson, pungent smell.
The countless skulls, artificially piled up, had grotesque and distorted facial expressions, and their pale, terrified eyes seemed to tell of the horrors they had endured.
Emrys froze, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.
He knew very well who had created this hill of skulls that would make Genghis Khan proud, this bloody tomb burying hundreds of lives.
Khorne craved blood, combat, and skulls, one of the four Great Gods in the Warp!
Only cults that worshipped 'Khorne' would commit such an outrage!
"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!"