The grinding of metal tore at his ears. Giant gears, the size of multi-story buildings, groaned as they rotated, lowering a solid metal platform – several football fields in size – into the planet's depths.
This enormous lift, capable of transporting over two thousand people, dozens of tanks, and thousands of tons of cargo at once, was a crude, insane, but majestic creation of the Mechanicus.
The passengers divided into two groups. On one side – several hundred workers heading to the Underhive. They huddled quietly in a corner, and Li Qingyu stood among them. On the other – thousands of convicts in shackles, surrounded by security officers. They wept as if their lives were already over.
Li Qingyu shook his head and lit a cigarette. The man next to him smirked – either to himself or trying to strike up a conversation with his neighbor.
"I bet half of these poor souls won't last a day?"
"Who are you trying to fool?" Li Qingyu smirked. "If even a tenth survive, I'll believe the Underhive is full of kind souls and angels."
The stranger was surprised but asked:
"Why so?"
Li Qingyu flicked his cigarette butt towards the convicts:
"As soon as they disembark, they'll be stripped bare. Ten percent will die in fights."
"In the next five days, local gangs will rob them, beat them, use them for amusement. Minus thirty percent."
"Then ten days of hunger, cold, and dirty water. Another minus thirty."
"The rest will be taken for experiments, as fighters, or slaves. Another minus thirty. That's it, the count is closed."
"Wait, that's a hundred percent?" the interlocutor exclaimed.
"Heh-heh. No one will survive," the mercenary smirked.
The man laughed.
"An interesting perspective. I'm Reynolds, a representative of the Water Purification Guild in the Underhive."
Li Qingyu took out a pack and offered a cigarette.
"Scavenger Li Qingyu. Find, fix, kill – any whim for your money."
Reynolds shook his head with a smile, looking at his interlocutor. His gaze slid over the weapon on Li's back.
*Clang-clang-clang!*…
"The Great Lift is arriving at level zero. Machine Spirit is stable. All prepare for disembarkation. For the Emperor."
The voice from the loudspeaker amplified the convicts' weeping.
Reynolds looked at Li Qingyu, astonished by his calmness.
After a moment's thought, he said:
"My workers got drunk at a brothel on the edge of the safe zone, and the local 'Mommy' and her thugs robbed them. If you take the Water Purification Guild's pipe and break their legs – I'll pay generously."
*Ding!* Contact "Reynolds" unlocked!
Li Qingyu raised an eyebrow. A contact from just one conversation?
"Tell me the details."
"Mommy opened a red-light district right on the border of the safe zone. My guys often go there. She ordered her people to rob them. It's a blow to my reputation, I have to respond."
"Why the Guild's pipe specifically?" Li Qingyu clarified.
"So they know who sent the greeting. The pipe has a stamp. If you hit hard enough, the imprint will remain. As a warning."
"What's the payment?"
"A hundred water purification tablets."
Li Qingyu whistled. For the officials above, it's pocket change, but down here, aquatabs are hard currency. They purify even sewage, disinfect it. You can pay with them everywhere.
"Do you have filters?" he asked.
"I'll add a dozen," Reynolds replied.
Excellent deal. Mentally, Li Qingyu pressed "accept."
*Ding!* Quest accepted.
Reynolds of the Water Purification Guild wants you to restore justice.
Objective: Break Mommy's legs with a pipe (0/1). Break her enforcers' legs (0/5).
Reward: Tablets ×100, Filters ×10, Relationship with Reynolds: Lv.0 → Lv.1.
Li Qingyu grinned:
"Deal. I'll stop by when I get the chance."
"If you do it cleanly, there will be more work," the guildsman remarked.
The platform shuddered – the bottom.
The hermetic doors opened, revealing thousands of eyes of the Underhive inhabitants. They looked at the convicts like fresh meat.
Li Qingyu dissolved into the stream of workers, letting his cloak spread out, revealing a shotgun made from a water pipe. That was enough to deter the idiots from approaching.
The bailiffs unfastened the convicts' shackles and drove them out with batons. The unfortunates begged to be returned to the Middle Hive, promised to pay their debts, but only received blows from stun batons in response. The floor of the hundreds lit up the entire room.
When the lift began to crawl upwards empty again, the Underhive rats rushed at the prey with roars. The hunt began. In minutes, a thousand people were torn to death.
Li Qingyu shook his head and went into the dark pipes.
"Safe Zone"... A mockery of a name. Safe only for machinery and personnel, so that blood doesn't offend the Machine Spirit.
Here you can kill until the corpses number less than a hundred thousand. That's Warhammer 40k.
…
Returning to his shelter, Li Qingyu connected the electric hotplate – a gift from Lieutenant Rudolson – to the power supply and threw in a few potatoes.
*Ding!* Shelter Kitchen: Lv.0 -> Lv.1.
The hotplate was considered an item for base improvement. Thanks to the lieutenant!
Then he sat down at the workbench, clamped the SIT semi-automatic rifle in the vise, and began disassembly.
The hunt for the chemical pigs is soon – the weapon must be perfect.
After a few minutes, the table was covered with parts. The barrel gleamed.
The rifle was almost new, with a hundred shots fired, perfectly lubricated. Li Qingyu removed the old lubricant, applied holy oil, and reassembled the weapon.
"Well, my dear, don't fail me," he whispered, touching the barrel with his lips.
Having made peace with the Machine Spirit, he turned to the ammunition. He had a hundred armor-piercing rounds and six hundred regular Class 3 rounds. He loaded one magazine entirely with armor-piercing rounds, two with regular ones. The rest he distributed into pouches.
Putting on the SIT body armor and helmet, he took a look at himself. Decent gear for a small war.
Time to head out for the black market assignment.