"No wonder there are so many armed people on the streets," Li Qingyu thought. "So, the Underhive gangs are dividing territory."
The Hive is a giant city where tens, or even hundreds, of billions of people live in close proximity.
The Planetary Governor often lacks the power or desire to control the inhabitants of the Lower Levels. Naturally, someone must fill the power vacuum – hence all these gangs.
Li Qingyu decided to accept the quest. Knowing the treacherous nature of traders in such games, the more quests you complete, the higher their disposition, and the more valuable goods they put on display.
And the quest rewards get fatter. Work is only beneficial.
"Ten guns, you say?" Li Qingyu asked. "I'll look on the battlefields above. Wait for news."
"May the God-Emperor protect you, my good guest."
Having taken the quest, Li Qingyu left the Fertilizer Gang's base and headed for the surface through the steel tunnels.
After five minutes of travel, a green timer appeared in his field of vision.
"Deployment in progress. Map: Northern Combat Zone. 10, 9, 8, 7..."
When the countdown reached zero, a whistle sounded, and Li Qingyu disappeared from the tunnel. Everything swam before his eyes, his vision went black.
When the image returned, he was already standing in the middle of a field thirty kilometers from the Hive.
This was the power of the "Raid" System. After selecting an entry point, he was teleported to an absolutely safe location, saving him a lot of travel time.
The same applied to returning. The evacuation point in the ventilation shaft was more than twenty kilometers from his shelter, if you went through winding paths deep underground.
On foot, the journey home would take several hours, and with a backpack full of trophies, you could kick the bucket!
So, getting to the exit point and teleporting directly to the base was very convenient.
Having successfully landed, Li Qingyu began to survey the area.
It was some kind of farm. Most of the buildings were destroyed by shells, only two three-story concrete barracks remained intact.
Crouching, Li Qingyu approached the buildings under the cover of night and pricked up his ears. Silence. No one inside.
He climbed in through a window and began looting.
Agromir 496b had two moons, so visibility at night was decent. Accustomed to the darkness, he could see quite clearly.
In the moonlight, Li Qingyu examined the room. It was a farmers' dormitory, with sixteen such rooms in the building. The workers cultivated the surrounding fields.
He searched all the cabinets and drawers but found nothing valuable. Rebels and the Imperial Guard had passed through here repeatedly, so everything useful had long been taken.
However, reaching the farthest room on the third floor, he felt under the bed and found a wooden statue of the Emperor, the size of a thermos.
"Damn it! Gold dropped!"
Li Qingyu opened the interface: this crude wooden handicraft was indeed glowing with golden status.
Name: Wooden Statue of the Emperor.
Market Value: Worthless.
Description: A sacred image of the Emperor, carved by a farmer. Although the craftsmanship is terrible, the creator's faith was sincere. The statue carries a weak charge of faith and can be used to create an Emperor's Shrine.
Hint: An important item for upgrading the Shelter.
Li Qingyu was delighted. Finally, an upgrade for the base!
The Shelter had an option to build a Shrine, and this item was required. If you put ordinary water or oil into the Shrine, you get Holy Water and Holy Oil.
Holy Water purifies the body from Chaos corruption, and Holy Oil applied to the face protects against mental intrusion. If you anoint cold weapons with it, you get a bonus to damage against demonic creatures.
Happy as a clam, he shoved the statue into his backpack and headed for the second barracks. But it was empty there, not even a rotten rag left. Everything had been cleaned out.
"No, this won't do. Too poor."
Li Qingyu shook his head and opened the map in the interface. There were two options.
Three kilometers to the north – a line of trenches. There might be military supplies and weapons there, but it was a rebel-controlled area, so there might be a garrison.
Four kilometers to the northwest – a grain terminal. Before the war, harvests were brought there; now, rebels were also stationed there. Most likely, it was their transit point, so there were even more people there.
"Where to go?"
Li Qingyu hesitated. He only had a knife for a weapon. One rebel with an assault rifle – and it's game over.
He loved places where a battle had just ended the most. One side routed the other, a pursuit began, and no one cared about the battlefield. Then he would emerge, greedily loot everything, and make a run for it.
As if in response to his thoughts, the roar of fierce gunfire and explosions came from the direction of the trenches. The night instantly awakened!
He reflexively fell to the ground, hid behind the ruins, and listened.
Mostly Imperial Guard autoguns were firing. As for the explosions – it wasn't heavy artillery, but a large-caliber autocannon. Most likely mounted on armored vehicles.
"Imperial Guard infantry and armored vehicles. This is a night raid on rebel positions!"
"Oh yeah, baby, thoughts are material!" Li Qingyu was ecstatic. He was going to collect junk from the battlefield, but he didn't rush. He had to wait for the right moment, or he'd get caught in the crossfire himself.
The cacophony of shots and explosions continued for about twenty minutes. The autocannon was particularly active: "boom-boom-boom-boom" non-stop. They were firing live rounds, caliber forty millimeters, no less.
What kind of vehicle mounts such cannons? Judging by the standard equipment of the Imperial Planetary Defense Forces, it should be a "Chimera."
While he was thinking, the sounds of battle began to shift. This meant someone had been driven from their positions.
Judging by the sound, the rebels had been driven out of the trenches and were fleeing towards the grain terminal, and the Imperial Guard was pursuing them, pressing their advantage.
He shot out of cover like a bullet and rushed towards the trenches.
Now both sides were engrossed in pursuit and flight, with no time for looting. He had to clean everything up before the Imperial Guard returned.
Indeed, when he reached the trenches, there was no one there except corpses, the smell of gunpowder, and blood. Soldiers and vehicles had moved on, the cannonade shifting towards the terminal.
Li Qingyu jumped into the trench, ripped an autogun from a rebel's corpse, hung it around his neck, dashed to the next, grabbed a second, a third.
As he collected the weapons, he assessed the scale of the carnage. The battle involved about a hundred men. The Imperial Guard deployed about a company of soldiers and one "Chimera," attacking under the cover of night.
There were about two hundred rebels, but the element of surprise played its role – the losses were monstrous. The trenches were littered with bodies, riddled with bullets or torn to shreds by autocannon shells.
Soon, Li Qingyu had seven rifles hanging on him, plus he stuffed twelve magazines, taken from corpses, into his pockets. Weight 53 kg. The yellow overload warning activated, speed dropped by 30%.
These seven rifles plus the three in storage would be enough to complete Nepal's quest. Li Qingyu decided not to be greedy and to make a run for it.