As soon as Li Qingyu stepped outside, the doctor rushed out after him.
"No! Don't go! We'll negotiate!"
"Let's say fifteen per hundred grams! Don't leave, do you hear me!"
"Alright, twenty! Twenty, is that a deal?"
"Well... twenty-five! Wait, that's my final price, I swear!"
Li Qingyu walked without slowing his pace, ignoring the shouts behind him. He was heading towards the Ecclesiarchy temple. The scene seemed painfully familiar. Last time, when he bought a centrifuge here, this scoundrel had run after him in the same way, begging for a discount.
Ignoring the pursuer, Li Qingyu walked resolutely towards the church. Only when the statue of the God-Emperor came into view did the doctor give up.
"Alright, alright! Forty! Let it be forty!"
"I'll buy it at forty per hundred milliliters! But with one condition: you don't sell it to anyone else! No other doctors!"
Li Qingyu stopped and turned to the cosmic squid.
"If you buy the entire volume – please do. But if not, the remainder will go to competitors."
The doctor again adopted his signature pose: he bent over and rubbed his hands with a nasty grin.
"Don't worry, no matter how much alcohol you have, I'll swallow it all."
The deal was closed right on the street. Li Qingyu unloaded the bottles onto the ground, and the doctor wrapped them in his dirty white robe, creating a makeshift bundle. He counted out two thousand. As soon as Li Qingyu took the money, a voice sounded in his head: "Quest completed. Doctor Two Snakes' relationship level increased: Lv. 0 → Lv. 1. Unlocked items: Large Medical Kit (1200 durability) – 5000; Large Surgical Set (8 uses) – 5000; Strong Painkiller (8 doses) – 5000."
And also: "Fluid Extractor (200,000), Microscope (50,000), Microbial Culture Chamber (400,000)."
Li Qingyu glanced at the last three items – items for base upgrades. Expensive. Damn expensive. But they were necessary for improving the medical station.
He felt disgusted. Damn it, he earned money from this ghoul just to give it back to him? He decided that if the opportunity arose, he would obtain these devices elsewhere. It was physically unpleasant to give his hard-earned money to this slug.
Taking the alcohol, the doctor looked at Li Qingyu and smiled sweetly again:
"If you can bring me a ton of alcohol at once, I and all the patients in the district will be eternally grateful."
*Ding!* New quest: "Doctor Two Snakes wants to monopolize the medical alcohol market. He needs a stable supply channel. If you deliver one ton of alcohol to him at once, you will win his friendship."
After reading the description, Li Qingyu raised his head and stared at the golden statue of the Emperor.
"Outside – the valiant PDF guarding the borders, inside – the merciful doctors of the Two Snakes school... Father Emperor, what a life you have!"
A few minutes later, after paying the entrance fee, Li Qingyu entered the Ecclesiarchy temple. Inside, as usual, a crowd of fanatics was bowing. He wanted to find someone to deliver little Joel's sister's letter, and he noticed the same monk he had bribed last time. It turned out that each preacher here had their own assigned spot. Convenient. Amidst the noise of prayers, Li Qingyu sidled up to the monk and offered a cigarette.
"Glory to the Emperor. How's life?"
The monk squinted. A familiar style of communication... Ah yes, this was the guy who asked him to deliver a letter to Sister Teresa. He took the cigarette without lighting it and deftly hid it in the folds of his robe.
"Glory to the Emperor. I thank Him that, knowing of my stomach upset, He has sent me corpse starch instead of food. Now I can't shit at all. May His light shine!"
Li Qingyu bit his lip to keep from laughing. He took out the letter and, with a practiced motion, showed the hundred credits hidden under the envelope. The monk stuffed the money and the letter into his robe, grunted "wait here," and disappeared through a side door leading to the inner chambers. At that moment, the preacher at the statue began chanting slogans again. Loyalty, purity, holiness – it was sickening. The crowd below echoed the cry. The temple filled with such a roar that it was impossible to hear the interlocutor.
Li Qingyu shrugged. Since he had come, he had to play along. Clearing his throat, he shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Hey, Golden Grandpa! When you killed Horus, did you remember what happened before?!"
"Physically, Horus was a man, and you, Emperor, played the role of a woman. But emotionally – you were an ambitious careerist, and Horus craved love and closeness!"
"In feelings, you were the man, and Horus was the woman! This distortion of flesh and spirit became the cause of the rupture!"
"Horus gave you all his love, and you didn't reciprocate! That's where his hatred was born!"
"But when Horus died, you also lost the only one you could love with all your heart!"
"Emperor! What were you thinking when you killed Horus?!"
"About millennia together? Or about anger and longing because you betrayed humanity and lied to your sons?!"
"Horus loved you without reservation, he wanted to dissolve into that forbidden paternal love, but you... you weren't looking for feelings!"
"Your words 'The Primarchs must expel the xenos and revive humanity' extinguished the last spark in his soul!"
"Horus hated you, but those thirty years flashed before his eyes!"
"He knew he had to kill his father with his own hands, kill the one he dreamed of being with forever."
"And, realizing he was betrayed, he cried!"
"He couldn't forget the past millennia, he couldn't forget how you asked him which constellation he liked, how you gave him a ring with a centaur..."
"If things had turned out differently, Horus would have gladly gone into the sunset with you, laughing with happiness!"
"Emperor, what do you say to that?!"
This madman's nonsense drowned in the general roar of the crowd, and no one could make out the words. Except for one man, standing with his back to Li Qingyu. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
"What an unfortunate couple..."
This was the same unfortunate fellow who had heard the "voice of the Warp" from Li Qingyu last time. He thought about reporting it, but he knew the Ecclesiarchy's methods – if the heretic wasn't found, the informant would be blamed. So he remained silent. And now – again.
He knelt, afraid to move, praying the madman would finish his blasphemous whisper and leave.
But, listening closer, he realized there was something to it. He didn't know who Horus was, but the words about his feelings for the Emperor were spoken with such pain…
Li Qingyu had no idea his "Warp whisper" had found a listener. The side door opened, and the monk returned.
Li Qingyu was about to ask about a reply letter, but the monk stepped aside, letting a girl pass.