Middle Hive Ecology

Early the next morning, Lieutenant Rudosen said he was going on patrol and told him to find a sentry named Little Joel at the camp entrance. He would take him to the Great Elevator.

Li Qinwu gave a grunt and roasted four potatoes on the electric stove for breakfast.

PDF discipline was truly terrible. Lieutenant Rudosen had actually let him stay in the main tent just because they had some connection. What if he had been a spy? Wouldn't that have been the end of him?

After finishing the potatoes, Li Qinwu naturally stuffed the electric stove into his backpack, cramming it until it bulged as though the thing had belonged to him all along.

When he stepped out of the main tent, he saw a young PDF infantryman standing guard in the camp.

"Little Joel?"

Li Qinwu asked.

The young soldier shouted, "Yes, sir!"

Li Qinwu hurriedly waved his hands.

"I'm not an officer."

Little Joel was clearly a raw recruit. He scratched his head, unable to understand how someone coming out of the company commander's tent could possibly not be an officer.

Li Qinwu did not bother explaining further.

"Rudosen told you already, right?"

Little Joel nodded.

"Sir, please come with me. I'll take you into the Hive City."

He led the way, and Li Qinwu could not be bothered correcting him anymore. He simply followed him onto a rail train.

There were quite a few wounded soldiers aboard the rail train, all being transported into the Hive City. Li Qinwu looked at the Hive City towering into the atmosphere. No matter how many times he saw it, it was still astonishing!

People in Warhammer 40,000 could casually build structures dozens of kilometers tall. What kind of terrifying technological power was that?

And yet, even so, the Imperium of Man had been battered half to death by aliens, daemons, and every other kind of monster and menace. It was absurd.

More than ten minutes later, the rail train stopped. They had arrived near the Great Elevator in the Middle Hive.

There was genetic screening after passing through a gate here. Nothing happened when anyone else went through, but the moment Li Qinwu passed through, red lights flashed and a shrill alarm sounded. Then enforcers carrying shock batons came over.

Every time, Little Joel had to step forward to explain and present his PDF identification before he could lead him through the Middle Hive.

Li Qinwu curiously looked around the Middle Hive. To be honest, he was a little disappointed. He had thought the Middle Hive would be like the third millennium, with neon lights and greenery lining the streets.

But there was nothing of the sort. Everything was drab and gray, filled with gray Ceramite buildings. The people coming and going were all factory workers, and none of them looked particularly spirited.

Then again, that made sense. This was the world of Warhammer 40,000. Other than the nobles in the Spire, how could anyone possibly live comfortably?

Little Joel led Li Qinwu toward the Great Elevator. As Li Qinwu looked around, he asked, "Joel, does your family live in the Middle Hive?"

Little Joel nodded.

"Yes, in the Middle Hive Military District. Families of PDF soldiers like me are assigned housing. Praise the Planetary Governor."

Li Qinwu asked again, "Joel, is your family's income enough to live on?"

Little Joel's face immediately filled with worry.

"My monthly military pay is 1,000 Fertilizer Coupons."

"My father works at a chemical plant and earns 2,100 Fertilizer Coupons. My mother makes handwoven goods at home and earns 120 Fertilizer Coupons a month."

There were four people in his family: his father, mother, himself, and his younger brother. Their monthly expenses were around 2,500, and they still had to pay 500 Fertilizer Coupons in taxes every month. They could save about 200.

But his younger brother would soon come of age and need to pay tuition. The money they saved would just be enough for his younger brother's tuition, allowing him to earn an elementary school education before going to work at the chemical plant.

Li Qinwu clicked his tongue. Sure enough, this was the Warhammer World.

To farmers working the land outside, Middle Hive residents earning over 2,000 a month made five times what they did. It was practically a paradise.

But the living environment inside the Hive City had been designed so that people earning 2,000 had to live the way people earning 2,000 did. Food, drink, taxes—after finally saving a little money, education for the next generation, illness and medical bills, or finding work would leave them with nothing again.

Middle Hive families were extremely fragile. One serious illness could make it impossible for a family to stay afloat. Once their finances collapsed and they could not pay taxes, they would be stripped of their Middle Hive citizenship and driven into the Lower Hive.

Otherwise, why would there be so many people in the Lower Hive? That was simply the distinctive flavor of Warhammer 40,000. Agri-World 496b truly was a merciful world.

After walking for more than twenty minutes, the two arrived at the Great Elevator. Some elevators went upward, toward heaven, while others went downward, toward hell. This one was clearly headed down.

At that moment, more than a thousand people were waiting near the Great Elevator. Some worked in the Lower Hive safe zone and rode the Great Elevator up and down every day, their expressions indifferent. But most were pitiful people who had been stripped of their citizenship.

These people wore Ceramite shackles on their hands, often in families of three or four. They cried and begged loudly, but all they received were the enforcers' shock batons.

These pitiful people had been crushed by this high-pressure society and could no longer pay their taxes. Every time a thousand people accumulated, they would be sent down to the Lower Hive by the Great Elevator.

Li Qinwu withdrew his gaze and spotted a special symbol on a shop along the street: two overlapping red snakes with a red cross in the middle.

Li Qinwu grabbed Little Joel and asked, "What does that shop do?"

Little Joel glanced at the shop. "Oh, that belongs to the Two-Snake School, a medical business. There's a Two-Snake Doctor inside. He can treat almost any illness, and you can buy anything related to health from him."

Then his expression fell.

"But their prices are too high. They're just far too expensive..."

Li Qinwu stroked his chin, staring fixedly at the Two-Snake School sign. Could there be something inside that could upgrade the Medical Station?

Upgrading the Medical Station required three important components: chemical purification equipment, a temperature controller, and a mixing sedimentation machine. He already had leads on the first two, but he still had no idea where to get a mixing sedimentation machine.

Could he buy one from the Two-Snake School's shop?

"Sir, the Great Elevator is here."

Little Joel reminded him while Li Qinwu was lost in thought.

"Oh, right. You can head back."

He placed two potatoes in Little Joel's hands, waved, and strode into the elevator.