Ashford, Verdian city, Upper hive,
Ninth District, Eighteenth Residential Area, Street 33.
Alexander stood by this wide street, looking at the exquisite metal street sign.
According to Reyna, the Ninth District was an old area of Verdian city's Upper hive, with a history that could be traced back tens of thousands of years.
This large district also served as the dividing line between the Upper hive and the Lower Nest, and it was through the heavy gate at this district's entrance that the two had entered the Upper hive.
Even as an ancient district closest to the Lower Nest, the streets in this area were still spacious with clean buildings.
The air around still carried the scent of chemical reagents used for purification, but compared to the Lower Nest, it was still considered fresh.
The lights were bright enough to replace the sun, and buildings were connected by straight arch bridges, crosswalks, and skywalks, adorned with bright lights. At a glance, it looked like twinkling stars.
Beneath these buildings, there were various shops and private workshops, and along the roadside, neat stalls sold the products of these workshops.
Having lived in the crowded alleys of the Lower Nest for so long, Alexander felt a bit dizzy upon suddenly arriving in the Upper hive.
It even reminded him somewhat of the city he lived in during his previous life.
Alexander walked east along Street 33, observing the goods sold on the streets along the way.
Ashford's large factories primarily produced military goods; everything sold on these streets came from private workshops.
These private workshops purchased raw materials from merchant ships arriving from other stars, processed them into goods, and sold them by the street.
The prices of these goods were enough to make any Lower Nest resident pale and their fingers tremble.
But Alexander had money.
Reyna, that big fool—oh no, Reyna—had bought two Upper hive passes from him.
At four times the price, and one of them was even for Alexander.
But when Alexander received the passes from the PDF guards at the Upper and Lower hive entrance, Reyna's eyes still widened, and she exclaimed in astonishment repeatedly.
She marveled at Alexander knowing such an important person who could get the PDF to act, and also at how worthwhile the money spent was.
It made Alexander's conscience feel a little uneasy.
However, upon receiving the huge sum of money from Reyna, his conscience immediately settled.
After reaching the Upper hive, Reyna did not rush to act.
Instead, she almost skillfully found a street stall, sat down, and seemed to be waiting for something.
Alexander took advantage of Reyna's wait to wander around the nearby streets.
Although he had a good amount of money in his pocket, it was ultimately only local Ashford currency, which would be of little use outside of Ashford.
The Imperium was too vast; almost every planet had its own currency system, or formed a common currency alliance with a few neighboring star systems.
The currency of the Ashford Star system was anchored by the Bloodstone in the Governor's vault; each Ashford coin could be exchanged for a certain amount of Bloodstone.
It was a blood-red gem commonly found on Baal, resembling the blood of Sanguinius, and even the Blood Angels often used it as adornment.
Ashford's currency was therefore called Blood Coins.
Alexander converted seventy percent of his money into Bloodstone, including the money from the automatic infantry rifles and the two passes.
He then put the Bloodstone into his four-dimensional pocket and sold it, earning a total of 660,000.
Alexander's savings also reached 1.4 million.
He also kept thirty percent of the Blood Coins for living expenses.
Alexander's steps stopped at a roadside stall.
This was a food stall.
Ashford's local sun had radiation toxicity, making it almost impossible to grow normal crops.
Food supplies almost all came from nearby agricultural worlds, from those endless agricultural seas enveloped in thick yellow-green fertilizer atmospheres.
The food sold at this stall was almost all processed from vegetable crops.
There were unknown vegetables types, cut into chunks, with yellow, oily pulp that looked like fat, and palm-sized, roasted seeds of giant melon-type crops.
Alexander could roughly imagine how large these melon crops were.
They were most likely giant, high-yield crops grown on agricultural worlds.
"Want some roasted melon seeds? Or baked melon pulp?" the Upper hive woman guarding the stall asked with a bright smile.
Alexander looked at the woman and noticed that her mental state was significantly better than that of the Lower Nest residents.
He took out a few Blood Coins from his pocket and bought a piece of oily, yellowish melon pulp and a bag of roasted melon seeds from the woman's stall.
Alexander carried the roasted melon seeds and returned to the stall where Reyna, the big fool, was, sitting opposite her.
"Eat?" Alexander took out a palm-sized melon seed from the bag and shook it at Reyna, saying.
He pushed the bag towards Reyna and cracked open the huge melon seed with his teeth.
The giant melon seed was very satisfying to eat, releasing a fragrant, plant-oil flavor in Alexander's mouth.
Reyna looked at the melon seeds Alexander offered with some surprise.
These melon seeds were very large; only nine were placed in one bag.
"I used to eat these melon seeds when I was a child. I remember their price wasn't cheap for the Lower Nest."
Reyna picked up a melon seed and said with some hesitation, "You shouldn't have spent so much."
It's fine, the money was all scammed from you.
Alexander chewed on the melon seed, not saying the thought aloud.
He swallowed the melon seed, nodded at Reyna, and said, "Just eat it."
"In our hometown, it's a tradition to treat friends like you to melon seeds."
Hearing this, Reyna even gave Alexander a grateful look.
But before she could put the melon seed in her mouth, she suddenly remembered,
"Wait, didn't you say last time..."
"That your hometown's tradition is to tease me, a fool, and buy melon seeds for fools?"
Reyna, the big fool—oh no, Reyna—suddenly widened her eyes.
"Cough, cough..." Alexander coughed twice and subtly changed the subject: "What are we waiting for here?"
"Oh, we're waiting here for that Actuary and mathematician."
Reyna cracked open a melon seed and nibbled on it, saying.
She was fooled so easily... easier to deal with than an Ogryn...
Alexander glanced at Reyna.
He found that Reyna's intelligence was generally normal, even somewhat outstanding.
Alexander had seen her handle gang affairs and calculate accounts with very high efficiency.
This at least indicated that Reyna was not a fool in the physiological sense; in fact, she certainly didn't appear to be.
But... but she seemed to have a strange slowness and foolishness in certain matters.
This seemed to be more of a mental issue than a physiological one.
Psykers are always susceptible to the influence of the Warp, falling into some kind of mental illness.
Such as madness, irritability, depression, autism, stubbornness...
Reyna might have been deeply affected by the Warp.
But her symptom was... occasionally turning into an idiot?
Alexander even suspected that this occasional idiocy was Reyna's mental, instinctive self-protection, cleverly preventing her from falling into true madness.
After all, Ogryn are, for the most part, more resistant to the corruption of Chaos than other humans.
Alexander's mind was filled with wild thoughts.
"Look, she's here, the Actuary and mathematician I told you about..."
Alexander looked in the direction Reyna pointed.