Chapter 2: The First Step to Changing Destiny
The Emperor betrayed the oath he swore with his blood and promised with his soul.
The long-planned reckoning of the Chaos Gods descended, and a multicolored storm engulfed the laboratory.
Each gestation pod was pulled into the High Heaven by a vortex, flying towards its destined planet.
Ninglu suddenly opened his eyes, thinking to himself.
【The first step to changing destiny. Now it depends on whether my cheat is powerful enough.】
The Warp, also known as the Sea of Souls, High Heaven, the Immaterial Universe, or the Realm of Chaos, is referred to by different names depending on one's culture.
The Sea of Souls is composed of pure energy; it is like a mirror of the real universe, formed by the emotional and spiritual reflections of all sentient beings in the material universe.
As Ninglu opened his eyes, a powerful surge of conviction erupted within him.
【My destiny is my own to control. Neither the Chaos Gods nor Huang Laohan can decide my fate.
I'm going to the Misty Star Region, to Vostronia, the main planet of the Vostronia Star System!】
Black mist rose, enveloping him. His strong conviction propelled the black mist to spin faster, and the multicolored vortex was affected, gradually deviating from its preset trajectory.
Tzeentch, the "Fate Weaver," was the first to notice the change in the threads of destiny. The Eleventh Primarch had broken free of the vortex and was not falling to his destined place.
"Change... everything is within the plan..."
The other three gods then also noticed the strangeness of the gestation pod. They watched with interest until the black mist disappeared.
Ninglu waited nervously. Although he had been chosen by the "Disordered Country," he knew that the authority of the Primordial Essence gradually increased with his Sequence level.
In the real world, the "Disordered Country" would not offer him much help.
But here, in the Warp, emotion and conviction were the most potent forces.
Ninglu used conviction as power to leverage the "Disordered Country."
Even if the Primordial Essence's status was lower than that of the Chaos Gods, it was close to the same level.
Their combined effort might change the planet he would fall on; this was his first step towards changing his destiny!
While the gestation pods of the other Gene-Seed Primarchs were still sliding in the Sea of Souls, the Eleventh Primarch's gestation pod shot out of the High Heaven like an arrow.
The gestation pod plummeted rapidly. Through the blinding smoke ignited by the intense friction with industrial exhaust, Ninglu saw the Hive City piercing the toxic atmosphere, which eased his mind slightly.
Immediately, the gestation pod smashed into a viscous, muddy river channel.
The silver-gray shell shook, and the glass partition shattered.
Ninglu stood steadily inside the pod. He suddenly extended his right hand and precisely grasped a silver-gray fragment, about the length of an adult's palm and two fingers wide.
The rapidly spinning and sliding mud did not affect his perception. He noticed the absence of any living creatures or plants in the river or along its banks, and he smelled the pervasive toxic, acidic odor.
Ninglu's head spun for a moment, then quickly recovered.
The gestation pod's rotation slowed. Ninglu's brain rapidly completed calculations, and just before it hit the bank and bounced in another direction, he leaped out.
With a slight bend of his knees, he steadied himself.
Ninglu stood up, looked towards the Hive City through the swirling industrial dust, and then began walking in that direction.
In the shantytown on the outskirts of the Hive City, people who had lived unprotected for a long time had more or less some physical mutations.
Many residents of the Bottom Nest also came to live in the shantytown. The foul sewage ensured a relatively fertile agricultural environment and abundant fungal harvests.
A man with a stony growth on his neck was the first to notice the outsider.
It was an outsider who shouldn't have been in the shantytown. His skin was a healthy, natural yellow, gleaming as if he were a statue by an artist.
His long black hair fluttered in the wind, his eyes were as dark as ink, like a deep pool, and his nose bridge was high.
Although he appeared to be only a four or five-year-old boy, the Gene-Seed Primarch's face was sharply defined, and his handsome features possessed an inherent sense of majesty that made people afraid to look directly at him.
The Mutant lowered his head, feeling both inferior and timid, then a glint of greed flashed in his eyes.
Such a boy could fetch a lot of money; many important figures in the Upper Nest enjoyed toying with such tender-skinned children.
Once such a thought arose, it was impossible to suppress.
He immediately dropped the fungi he had picked up and pounced on the boy. Several other Mutants also moved with the same intention.
The boy did not turn and flee. He dodged a swinging club, and the silver-gray fragment in his hand slashed the Mutant's thigh.
With a scream, all the Mutants in the shantytown were drawn to the scene. They greedily pounced on the boy.
Ninglu weaved through the crowd of Mutants; no one's attack landed on the boy.
The Mutants initially thought it was because the boy was small, so they all half-crouched. Having regularly engaged in cultivating fungi, sifting through garbage piles, and ambushing vagrants, they were familiar with this posture and often fought in this stance when scrambling for spoils.
Their attacks still missed. The boy seemed to anticipate their every move; side thrusts, iron rods thrown at the back of his head—all intentions failed.
The boy did not look back, as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
An hour later, a group of people lay on the ground in the shantytown, each with their legs severed, unable to move.
Ninglu's gaze searched among the people, then he stripped off the cleanest, most intact clothes, casually cut them, and put them on.
He then walked over to the Mutant with the growth on his neck, kicked him, opened his mouth, and then pointed at the iron rod on the ground.
The Mutant stared in horror at the Monster before him. After several seconds, he realized that the other party was asking what this thing was called, and he quickly opened his mouth.
Ninglu's superhuman brain rapidly mastered the local Low Gothic language at an astonishing speed; it was a localized version of Ancient Terra's Slavic language.
Five hours later, he had learned the basic language from these people.
Ninglu gazed at the remaining living Mutants and fluently asked in the local Low Gothic:
"Is this world Vostronia?"
All the Mutants nodded simultaneously, fearing that a moment's delay would lead to the fate of the corpses beside them.
He pointed to the Hive City not far away, "Is that Hive City Tezvoc?"
The Mutants again nodded quickly and simultaneously.
Ninglu stepped forward, casually ending the Mutants' suffering. These witnesses who had seen him come from the ash wasteland to the Hive City might cause him trouble if they lived.
He knew that since Vostronia pledged allegiance to Mars during the Age of Strife, technology and knowledge had continuously flowed in, rapidly developing it into a highly industrialized world.
Locally manufactured weapons were excellent, especially the laser guns, which were most famous. In the future, the Vostronia Firstborn's combat strength would rank among the top ten in the Astra Militarum.
Vostronia was locally ruled by a dual system of nobles and the Mechanicus. The weapons held by the "oil boys" could still cause trouble for his growing self.
Ninglu found a relatively clean black backpack, though by Lower Nest standards, it was still filthy.
He filled the backpack with fungi and also put in a tattered piece of clothing to change into.
Then he walked towards the Hive City. He had checked once before, and all the potion ingredients for the "Lawyer" on the Profane Slate were glowing, meaning all materials could be found in the Hive City.