In a derelict sector of Verdia City, on the planet Ashford, the capital of the Stygian Sector.
Alexander's head emerged from a random circle, cautiously surveying the abandoned urban area.
Verdia City had a long history, its founding dating back to the Dark Age, before the Emperor had even begun the Great Crusade.
Over the long centuries, many city sectors had been abandoned, buried, and forgotten.
Many mutants, psykers, and cultists unwelcome in the Imperium would secretly hide in these buried sectors, lurking in the darkness.
Even so, scavengers like Alexander still took risks to enter these derelict areas.
After all, there was a good chance of finding valuable items buried here. With luck, one might even unearth ancient technological artifacts.
That would mean a huge windfal, provided the one who dug them up didn't lose their life in the process.
Alexander looked around, seeing only the crimson light of twin suns pouring toxic, radioactive sunlight through the cracked dome above, illuminating the collapsed buildings and abandoned machinery of this ruined city, and making the waist-thick, heavy pipes amidst the rubble faintly visible.
Noticing these pipes, Alexander slightly raised an eyebrow.
'Looks like promethium pipes? Could this be an abandoned old promethium plant?'
After confirming there was no immediate danger, Alexander climbed out of the random circle, took the golden ring off the wall, and stuffed it into the white pouch on his belly.
This circle, a full meter in diameter, was stuffed into the white pouch only the size of a palm.
He stepped over the rubble to the nearest section of abandoned pipe.
The pipe was half-buried in the ruins, its steel surface covered in powdery crimson rust.
But the double-headed eagle emblem and the crest of the House of Vorlak, the planetary governor, could still be faintly discerned.
The presence of Imperial and gubernatorial markings indicated this pipe was likely a product of the post-Great Crusade era.
Judging just by the corrosion on the casing, it had probably been buried for only two or three hundred years.
Alexander wrapped his arms around the pipe, exerting force, and brought the white pouch on his belly close.
"Store."
The pipe, a good two meters tall and five or six meters long, flowed like liquid into the white pouch on his belly.
[Item Name: Promethium Transport Pipe]
[Origin: Stygian Shield Sector - Ashford - Mechanicus Spire]
[Evaluation: Promethium is the lifeblood of the hive city; this is a blood vessel.]
[Production Date: 705.M41]
[Condition: Severely Damaged]
[Value: 500 Credits]
'So it is a promethium pipe. Pity it's so badly damaged.'
Alexander couldn't help but shake his head. This section of pipe was only worth 500 credits, still far from the price of the Anywhere Door.
Remembering the price of the Anywhere Door in the 'Future Department Store', Alexander felt a slight pang of stomach ache.
If he didn't save up enough to buy the Anywhere Door soon, he'd end up offering his biomass to the Great Devourer.
In his previous life, Alexander was a novice Warhammer fan living in the peaceful era of humanity's 21th century.
He had just gotten into Warhammer, bought the Leviathan box set, and before he could even open it, he found himself transported to this planet, Ashford.
The Imperium of Man, the Stygian Shield Sector, the civilized world of Ashford.
This planet's governor, Augustus Vorlak, could be called a weak governor, experimenting with anarchism in the 41st millennium of humanity, adhering to a persistent attitude of laissez-faire towards planetary management.
This had turned the planet's internal security into a complete mess, with all sorts of gangs running rampant.
But having been transported to this world, Alexander even felt somewhat fortunate.
Compared to proper hive worlds, death worlds, or even forge worlds, while Ashford had two toxic suns, it was still relatively habitable. The average life expectancy was almost thirty, nearly on par with Macragge.
If he was lucky enough, Alexander might even be able to live out a relatively short life in stability.
But after learning the time node of his transmigration, Alexander couldn't find any joy in it.
By the Emperor of Mankind, it was actually the 990s of the 41st Millennium.
In the not-too-distant 999.M41, the Leviathan Hive Fleet of the Great Devourer would pay a visit here.
The true target of the Leviathan Hive Fleet was the homeworld of the Blood Angels, Baal. The Stygian Sector just happened to lie directly in its path.
In the near future, the Imperial Guard, the Sisters of Battle, the Blood Angels, the Tyranids, and even the Necrons and their C'tan Pokémon would meticulously use the land of Ashford, ultimately burning the entire sector to a barren wasteland.
If Alexander didn't want to become an unfortunate casualty in this brutal war, his only option was...
The four-dimensional pouch on his belly — Doraemon's four-dimensional pouch.
Good news: Alexander had crossed over with a cheat.
Bad news: This cheat was pay to win.
Just like in the anime, those miraculous items that defied the laws of physics and could even create universes had to be rented or purchased from the Future Department Store.
Alexander could exchange items from the real universe for currency to buy or rent these tools.
The Dokodemo Door, the Time Machine, the Tomorrow Notebook, the Devil's Passport...
The prices of these most miraculous items were so high that Alexander could only look at them with despair.
He had to set his sights on cheaper items that could help him escape, for example, the Anywhere Door.
[Item Name: Anywhere Door]
[Origin: 22nd Century Earth — Future Department Store]
[Evaluation: The first and most famous secret tool. Please do not use while girls are bathing.]
[Production Date: 231.M3]
[Function: While the user holds the doorknob and thinks of a destination, the other side of the door will connect the two places. Opening it allows travel between the two locations.]
[Value: 11,650,000 Credits]
Eleven million, six hundred and fifty thousand. Alexander would need to haul tens of thousands of promethium transport pipes to gather that much.
Right now, Alexander only had a little over fifty thousand credits in his pouch. He was still far off.
The path of scavenging was long and boundless... Alexander sighed silently in his heart.
He shook his head and continued digging through the surrounding rubble, pulling out piles of abandoned machinery to recycle.
Only the larger, more valuable machines were converted into currency for the four-dimensional pouch by Alexander.
The smaller machines, Alexander would take back to the hive city to sell.
The threats he faced weren't just the future Tyranids, the mutants in the sewers, or the gangs in the city; there was also the ever-present gnawing hunger and poverty.
And, of course, the equally ever-present potential of Chaos...
In his previous life, Alexander was a Tyranid enthusiast. The only miniatures he had played were Tyranids and World Eaters.
Mainly because World Eaters were cheap to build an army; just a Christmas bundle and a patrol pack were enough to get started. He had chosen Chaos for the sake of his wallet.
Given that, it was hard to say Alexander had much faith in the God-Emperor, nor much resistance to Chaotic corruption.
Sometimes Alexander even felt that he might already be corrupted by Chaos...
"Friend, there is danger ahead."
A sublime, gentle, divinely resonant, and heart-warming voice sounded within Alexander's mind.
The voice was so moving that Alexander couldn't help but feel a surge of trust.
A soft white light appeared before his eyes. Deep within the light was a faint, winged figure.
"Please believe me. I promise you, by the name of Sanguinius, Lord of Baal, that there is indeed danger ahead."
The wings behind the figure slowly spread, pure white feathers gently drifting down. The voice, brimming with divinity, came from deep within the soft white light, the Warp effects absolutely maxed out.
"..." Watching the clearly Warp-born figure appear before him once again, Alexander couldn't help but take a deep breath.
"..." The divine figure in the white light also fell silent for a moment. "I really am Sanguinius."
"Yeah right, and I'm Robert Guilliman, Lord of Ultramar."