Li Qingyu barely managed to jump into the cabin of the large elevator before the doors slammed shut with a bang, cutting off Lieutenant Rudoson's worried gaze.
Once inside, he immediately began waving his hand in the direction where Joel was.
"Joel! Joel! Here! Look at me!"
Joel's family consisted of five people: his father, mother, Joel himself – the eldest son, then his sister, and his younger brother.
Now they all, lost in the crowd of exiles, looked pathetic. Joel sat in a wheelchair, his face a sickly gray hue.
He had completely lost control of his legs and had even lost the ability to take care of himself.
His parents looked no better: their faces were gaunt and gray. The younger brother cried non-stop; although he was just over ten years old, he already understood the horror that awaited them.
As for his sister, it seemed she had managed to avoid exile to the Underhive. That was the only good news.
Hearing a familiar voice shouting his name, Joel slowly raised his head. Seeing Li Qingyu waving to him from behind the cordon of enforcers, he seemed to come alive – a spark of hope flashed in his clouded eyes.
"Commander..." he breathed out. "Commander!!"
Overcome with joy, he pushed the wheels of his chair, trying to roll closer, but his father sharply grabbed his shoulder.
"Don't you dare!" the man whispered. "The enforcers will beat you!"
Their family had already been "introduced" to shock batons during the confiscation of their property. In the Warhammer 40k universe, no one had ever heard of civilized justice.
Only now did Joel notice that his shout had attracted the attention of one of the guards. The guard raised his baton, but seeing that the young man had fallen silent, he merely snorted coldly and put away his weapon.
Joel could only look at Li Qingyu with tear-filled eyes, not daring to utter a word.
Li Qingyu squinted. He took out a cigarette – he was going to approach the enforcer and try to negotiate.
The plan was simple: get Joel out of the crowd of convicts right now to descend with the Underhive personnel. This would give them a chance to survive.
The huge cargo lift was divided into two zones. One was for employees descending to work in the Depths. They occupied a small area near the doors, and as soon as the doors opened, these people would calmly exit and disperse.
Only after that would the enforcers release the exiles.
The rats of the Underhive – local bandits and marauders – did not risk attacking the personnel and patiently waited for the workers to leave before pouncing on the defenseless convicts.
If Joel's family had been allowed to leave with the workers, it would have saved them from the first wave of slaughter.
But as soon as Li Qingyu took a step, without even opening his mouth, one of the enforcers snatched his baton and struck him, aiming for the head.
Li Qingyu recoiled, dodging. The guard raised his shock pistol, aiming it directly at his chest.
"One more step and you're dead!!"
Li Qingyu's face darkened. Seeing that there would be no negotiations, he silently moved back to the workers and began to wait.
A few minutes later, the lift lurched, the descent stopped, and a mechanical voice sounded from the speakers:
"The lift has arrived at the lower level. The Machine Spirit is stable. Everyone prepare to exit. Glory to the Emperor."
The massive doors crawled sideways, revealing thousands of greedy eyes. The Underhive rats were already waiting.
They stared at the prisoners shackled in ceramite manacles, laughing and shouting promises to turn the fresh meat into mince.
The prisoners sobbed and begged for mercy, but they were met with batons. The crowd of marauders cackled.
Hundreds of workers, accustomed to such scenes, calmly disembarked from the platform and walked towards the safe zone shops. Not a single rat dared to interfere with them.
When the personnel had left, the enforcers began to unfasten the manacles on the convicts' hands one by one, accompanying the release with a brutal jab in the ribs, pushing people out.
Chaos ensued. People were maimed right at the exit, many falling to the dirty floor in convulsions.
Joel's family was no exception – each received a shock and was now writhing on the ground, twitching in pain.
As soon as they were thrown out, Li Qingyu rushed forward. He ran to Joel's parents and began slapping their cheeks, trying to bring them to their senses.
The lift would soon rise again, and then the bloody bacchanalia would begin.
"Get up! Come on, get up!" he growled. "Do you want to live? Get up, quickly!"
He slapped Joel's father, pressing his fingernail into the point above his lip until the man woke up and stared at him in horror.
Li Qingyu pointed at Joel in the wheelchair.
"Grab your son and stick with me! Fall behind and you'll die!!"
Without waiting for a response, he ran to the mother, dug his nails into her face, forcing her to wake up from the pain.
The woman screamed, and he shoved the younger one into her hands.
"If you want to live, don't fall behind!!"
Roaring this, Li Qingyu pulled out his shock pistol, raised it, and pulled the trigger. A burst of fire tore through the air.
"Tra-ta-ta-ta-ta!"
The high caliber did its job: at that distance, each bullet pierced three bodies.
The Underhive rats, accustomed to impunity, did not expect such resistance. This madman was drenching them in lead!
The crowd suffered monstrous losses – one magazine claimed the lives of at least sixty people.
The rats faltered. They were paralyzed by fear and shock.
Many recoiled, looking at him with primal terror. Li Qingyu reloaded his weapon with lightning speed and opened fire again.
"Tra-ta-ta-ta-ta!"
The front ranks fell, flooding the square with screams and groans of pain. A real slaughter.
Why was he killing so ferociously? Because the lift doors behind him were already closing. The enforcers were returning to the safe world, leaving them to the mercy of the Depths.
In a moment, the rats would have pounced on them, tearing apart everything alive.
The only way to survive was to scare these beasts to death from the very beginning!
Inserting the third magazine, Li Qingyu turned to Joel's parents, frozen in horror.
"Damn it!!" he yelled. "If you want to die, stand there like statues! If you don't, run after me, you bitch, run!!"
Shouting this, he gripped the rifle tighter and rushed into the thick of the enemies.