*Clang!* You have given Lieutenant Rudolson 38 SIT tokens. Relationship improved: Lv.0 -> Lv.1.
Unlocked items: SIT semi-automatic pistol (800 talons), SIT assault rifle (3200 talons), SIT Class 3 body armor (1500 talons), SIT Class 3 helmet (1000 talons).
Special item: Middle Hive Personal ID (100,000 talons).
Hint: The Hive has strict access control. There are gene scanners at every gate. Without the proper identification, you cannot enter this area.
Lieutenant Rudolson seems to have connections and can enter your data into the Hive's gene database, upgrading your status to a Middle Hive citizen. But it costs a fortune.
Li Qingyu's breathing became heavier. Middle Hive citizenship! Amazing! Since arriving in this world, he had only seen the Lower Hive and the surface. He hadn't been to the Middle Hive yet.
What was there? As far as he knew, "quality" citizens with incomes of over two thousand talons a month lived there. He desperately wanted to get there – surely there would be plenty of items to upgrade his shelter. But the price... One hundred thousand! That's robbery. He didn't even have forty thousand now, not even half the amount.
He had to figure out how to make some serious cash!
Rudolson, having taken the tokens, turned on a lamp, sat at a campaign table, and opened his laptop. He began to transcribe names from the tags to submit a report to the Governor for compensation. Li Qingyu, meanwhile, used his knife to peel the burnt skin off the potatoes on the hotplate.
"Listen, old Rudy," he began, "I've got a little job coming up, and I need a more serious piece. Can you help me out as a friend?"
Rudolson froze, but then continued writing.
"Spill it."
Li Qingyu took a potato and began to scrape off the burnt skin with his knife.
"The Chem-Dogs and the Fertilizers down there are about to clash. Nepal offered me five thousand for my participation, and I agreed. But the Chem-Dogs have cyborgs, covered in iron, and regular bullets won't penetrate them. Do you have anything armor-piercing?"
Rudolson turned and looked intently at Li Qingyu, as if checking his words for fleas. Li Qingyu pried a baked potato with his knife and offered it to him.
They looked at each other for a few seconds. Finally, Rudolson took the potato, took a bite, and pulled a weapon case from the corner of the tent. Inside lay a rifle with a long barrel.
Checking the bolt, the lieutenant explained:
"SIT semi-automatic combat rifle. Caliber 8.9×55 mm. The heavy long barrel allows the use of high-pressure rounds. It pierces 15-millimeter armor from three hundred meters."
Li Qingyu whistled and reached for the weapon, but Rudolson pulled his hand back.
"Your debt is paid."
Li Qingyu nodded.
"Even Steven."
Only then did the lieutenant hand over the rifle.
Li Qingyu took it and lovingly stroked the stock. Black polymer, long barrel. It resembled an ancient M14, only more angular and brutal. He immediately checked the stats through the system.
Name: SIT Semi-Automatic Combat Rifle.
Cost: 4500 talons.
Weight: 5.5 kg.
Vertical Recoil: 71.
Horizontal Recoil: 61.
Ergonomics: 51.
Stability: 51.
Accuracy: 89.
Hip Fire: 42.
Effective Range: 800 m.
Muzzle Velocity: 1550 m/s.
Mode: Semi-auto.
Rate of Fire: 450 rpm.
Caliber: 8.9×55 mm.
Damage: High.
"And the ammo?" he asked.
Rudolson handed him three magazines of 15 rounds each and two boxes of loose rounds, 50 each. A total of a hundred.
"These are high-pressure AP rounds. You can only shoot them from this rifle; the assault rifle will jam or explode. But the rifle itself eats regular rounds without problems."
Li Qingyu scanned the ammunition.
Name: 8.9×55 mm High-Pressure Armor-Piercing (AP).
Cost: ~200.
Penetration Class: 5.
Hint: This is a rare and valuable ammunition in the SIT arsenal, capable of piercing light armor. Due to excessive pressure, it requires a special weapon with a heavy barrel, so the infantry doesn't favor it.
Li Qingyu beamed. Now everything was in order. The Chem-Dogs were clad in iron plates no thicker than a centimeter – this rifle would pierce them like paper.
They sat by the hotplate, ate potatoes, and chatted.
"And how much does the Governor pay for a soldier's head?" Li Qingyu asked.
Rudolson's gaze dimmed.
"Fifteen hundred talons."
Li Qingyu choked. So little? On this planet, a peasant earns two hundred, a citizen – two thousand. So a soldier's life is worth less than a clerk's monthly salary? Everyone says the SIT are the regime's dogs, but for the Governor to actually treat them like dogs... It's no wonder discipline is at zero, and the rebels have taken everything outside the Hive walls.
After finishing his potato, Rudolson laid out another cot and lay down.
"In the morning, my men will take you to the Middle Hive to the lift. Don't wander around there, go straight down. I don't need trouble."
Li Qingyu also lay down, propping his head on his hand.
"Any more work available?"
Rudolson thought for a moment and said:
"The Colonel has assigned the task of clearing the Reservoir in the west. Before the war, it was the main water source, with a pumping station. Now rebels have dug in there, about a thousand of them. They say two SIT companies died there. Considering the rebels' combat readiness, that's nonsense, impossible. There's clearly something there. I need you to find out what the hell is going on there within two weeks."
"Any details?" Li Qingyu asked.
"Yes. A survivor was babbling about distorted screams and..." Rudolson hesitated, "...ice on the ground."
Li Qingyu's pupils narrowed. Distorted screams – warp? Ice – psyker? He remembered that weak or uncontrolled psykers often caused a drop in temperature around them. Two companies of corpses... It seems a Chaos sorcerer has appeared at the Reservoir!