Agri-world 496b, located near the Hive at the equator, saw the Planetary Defense Forces battling rebels on its plains.
Since the neighboring forge world had been invaded by Orks, the Adeptus Munitorum had demanded aid from Agri-world 496b, and the Planetary Governor had ordered an increase in taxes.
The already unbearable levies had made the lives of the farmers unbearable – now, with the tax increase, half of the farmers had risen up against the authorities.
The rebels had seized many agricultural complexes, turning machinery into weapons, and had launched an offensive against the PDF forces.
After crushing several garrisons, they had captured large caches of weapons, quickly strengthened, and challenged the Hive itself.
Hundreds of thousands of rebels attacked the fortifications on the plains before the city, but were repelled by the PDF. Battles on the plateau, riddled with craters and trenches, continued for years, turning the war into a protracted confrontation, which left room for people like marauders.
Eighty kilometers north of the Hive, ten rebels were resting in a trench. Suddenly, a heavy shell fell on them and blew them to shreds.
One rebel's homemade automatic rifle, tumbling end over end, fell into the plowed field – and attracted the attention of Li Qingyu, who had been crawling in the mud nearby for a long time.
"Looks good. It seems to fire second-category ammunition... I can get fifteen hundred fertilizer coupons for it on the black market from a contact."
Muttering this, he crawled towards the weapon.
Li Qingyu was from the 3k Period. He was playing Escape from Tarkov at home when the AI roared, "Turbo Bitch! Two hundred meters! Homemade with buckshot – to the head!" and the screen went black.
Angered, he deleted the game and switched to Arena Breakout, but there, ten "six-hundreds" with HK416s firing 995 ammunition simultaneously burned him to a crisp.
After deleting that one too, he wearily launched Delta – just as the scandal with the "Sphere of General Containment" and the evacuation limit broke!
He scrolled through his phone in annoyance until he stumbled upon a feminized image of the Emperor with the caption: "He who sees this image voluntarily goes to Warhammer 40k to serve the Emperor." That's when "lucky Li" ended up here – on an Imperial agri-world.
There's no need to explain how a person lives in the Warhammer 40k universe. Fortunately, the "Scavenger and Sweeper" System had also transferred with him.
It digitized Li Qingyu's body, turning characteristics into parameters, allowing him to gain experience, enhance attributes, and giving him a personal Sanctuary – a safe space beneath the Lower Hive.
The most important thing was that he could respawn infinitely.
No matter how he died, he would resurrect in the Sanctuary a moment later in full health, but without his gear.
Without fear of death, Li Qingyu began to live by the game's principles: go into battle "with a knife," look for valuable trophies, return to the Lower Hive, sell the loot to gang contacts, and upgrade his Sanctuary.
Returning to the present, Li Qingyu, with only a dagger, finally crawled to the homemade assault rifle and hugged it, examining it.
It was a rectangular, heavy rifle weighing about seven kilograms – a cobbled-together rebel creation with terrible ergonomics and poor weight distribution.
He checked the barrel. There were rifling marks – lucky! Such a gun was worth more.
He pulled out the magazine – twenty rounds. Judging by the size, they were homemade rebel nine by sixty-five rounds – a huge caliber, not for everyone.
But in the Warhammer 40k world, it was impossible otherwise: good old 5.56 and 7.62 were simply powerless against the monsters here.
After ensuring the weapon was intact, Li Qingyu activated the System interface to check its stats.
Name: Rebel Homemade Assault Rifle
Estimated Value: Approximately 2000 fertilizer coupons
Weight: 7.2 kg
Vertical Recoil: 54
Horizontal Recoil: 42
Ergonomics: 41
Weapon Stability: 42
Accuracy: 50
Hip-fire Stability: 61
Effective Range: 500 m
Muzzle Velocity: 950
Fire Mode: Automatic
Rate of Fire: 550
Cartridge Caliber: 9×65 mm
Shot Power: Medium.
Li Qingyu was pleased. The price – two thousand fertilizer coupons. And a farmer from the lower classes only spends a hundred and fifty a month. This gun was worth a year of peaceful life!
He slung the weapon over his back, lay there for another ten minutes, made sure no one was around, and carefully jumped into the trench – where the shell had exploded.
A dozen rebels had turned into a bloody mess. Flesh fragments and debris were everywhere.
Li Qingyu spat, suppressing a gag reflex, and began to search the corpses. He found: a twenty-round magazine, sixty 9×65 rounds, a dagger, an axe, a wrench, four packs of dry rations, and a full canteen – totaling one hundred and twenty fertilizer coupons.
Tossing the loot into a faux leather bag, Li Qingyu continued his inspection.
The trench was located right in a field – it had belonged to the PDF before, but was now occupied by rebels. And who knew if the defense forces would decide to retake it tomorrow – so he had come to take advantage of the lull between battles.
Moving further along the trench, Li Qingyu realized that this was not a front line, but a single combat cell where only about ten people had been stationed. All dead, no danger – he could calmly "harvest."
After a quick search, there were no valuable items – the backpack held goods worth at most two thousand three hundred coupons, the majority of which was his assault rifle.
"Ugh, what garbage..."
He grumbled, turning the finds over. Junk, food – nothing rare or valuable. It was time to leave.
But suddenly, he heard footsteps. The sounds were approaching – Li Qingyu tensed, raising his weapon.
From the direction of the Hive! Peeking cautiously out of the trench, he immediately pulled his head back in.
"Damn it... It's a PDF patrol!"
Ten soldiers – in PDF helmet and light armor, armed with standard assault rifles, their sergeant – with a lasgun and grenades. The most basic contingent of the Imperium.
Li Qingyu scrambled in the opposite direction. Even if he wasn't a rebel, no one would listen – any suspicious person would be shot on sight.
He darted towards the exit, intending to go around the field and return to the Sanctuary the long way – but as soon as he poked his head out the other side of the trench, he ran into half a hundred approaching rebels.
"That's it, we're screwed! Caught in a pincer!"