Clean Water Guild Reno

Creak, creak, creak!!

Gears the size of buildings turned, lowering a pure-metal platform as large as several football fields toward the surface.

The Great Elevator could carry over two thousand people, dozens of tanks, and thousands of tons of supplies at once. It was a crude, insane mechanical creation.

The people on the Great Elevator were split into two groups. One consisted of several hundred people heading to work in the Lower Hive safe zone, quietly standing in the corner. Li Qinwu was among them.

The other group consisted of a thousand people surrounded by hundreds of Arbites. They were exiles stripped of their Middle Hive status, Ceramite shackles on their hands. Each of them wailed as though their lives were about to end.

Li Qinwu shook his head and pulled out a cigarette to light. A man beside him gave a snort, sounding as if he were talking to himself, yet also addressing Li Qinwu.

"Those unlucky bastards. I bet half of them won't survive."

Li Qinwu glanced at him.

"Who are you looking down on? If ten percent of them make it, then the Lower Hive folks must be warm and welcoming, beautiful and kind-hearted."

The man had not expected Li Qinwu to reply. "Oh? How so?"

Li Qinwu pointed his cigarette butt at the thousand people.

"Every last one of them will get robbed the moment they step off. At least ten percent will die in the conflict.

"Over the next five days, they'll get mugged, picked on, and played with by Lower Hive people. Another thirty percent will die.

"Over the following ten days, hunger, cold, disease, and filthy water will kill another thirty percent.

"The rest will get snatched by gangs to become thugs, test subjects, or expendables. Another thirty percent will die."

The man froze.

"That's not right. Doesn't that make one hundred percent?"

Li Qinwu grinned.

"Hehe, I lied. Not even ten percent will survive!"

The man blanked for a moment, then laughed as well.

"Interesting. Let's get acquainted. I'm Reno, the person in charge of the Lower Hive Clean Water Guild."

Li Qinwu took out his cigarette pack, pulled one free, and handed it over.

"Scavenger Li Qinwu. If you need something found, something done, or someone killed, I can handle it as long as the price is right."

Reno accepted the cigarette, staring at Li Qinwu in surprise. He clearly had not expected the stranger he had casually struck up a conversation with to be such a ruthless man.

Then he noticed the two long objects wrapped in rotten cloth on Li Qinwu's back. Those were guns!

Clack, clack, clack!!

"The Great Elevator is about to reach the surface. The Machine Spirit is stable. All personnel, prepare to disembark. Praise the God-Emperor."

An announcement came from the loudspeakers aboard the Great Elevator, and the crying grew even louder.

Reno looked at Li Qinwu's casual air. In this cruel world, people with that sort of bearing were rare.

After a brief hesitation, he said, "A few of my workers were having fun in the Lower Hive safe zone when a madam brought some people and robbed them.

"If you can use our Clean Water Guild pipes to break the legs of that madam and her thugs, I'm willing to pay a price."

Ding! Contact Reno unlocked!

Li Qinwu's brows jumped. Just like that, he had unlocked a new contact? This was only some random guy he had chatted with.

"Tell me the details."

Reno said, "The madam runs a red-light district near the edge of the safe zone. My workers often go there for fun.

"For some reason, the madam and her thugs robbed my workers. That was a serious blow to my reputation, and I need to retaliate to protect it."

Li Qinwu asked, "Why use your Clean Water Guild's steel pipes to beat people?"

Reno explained, "I need those rats to know the retaliation came from me, so they'll be deterred from causing me trouble in the future.

"The Clean Water Guild's water pipes have steel stamps on them. As long as you hit hard enough, you can leave a deep enough mark on someone."

Li Qinwu understood and got to the point.

"What can you pay?"

Reno said, "How about a hundred Water Purification Tablets?"

Li Qinwu whistled. A hundred Water Purification Tablets was merely an accounting matter for a minor Clean Water Guild manager like Reno, but in the Lower Hive, Water Purification Tablets were hard currency just like food.

No matter how filthy the water was, toss in one Water Purification Tablet and the impurities would settle and disinfect, turning it into drinkable water. They could be used directly as currency.

After some consideration, Li Qinwu asked, "Do you have standard chemical filter cores?"

Reno nodded. "Yes. I'll add ten chemical filter cores."

With that, Li Qinwu accepted the mission.

Ding! Mission accepted!

Reno of the Clean Water Guild needs you to help him reclaim his reputation.

Mission objective: Use a Clean Water Guild water pipe to break the madam's legs 0/1.

Use a Clean Water Guild water pipe to break the legs of the madam's thugs 0/5.

Mission reward: Water Purification Tablets ×100, chemical filter cores ×10, Reno's Favorability lv0 upgraded to lv1.

Li Qinwu grinned and accepted the mission.

"Good. I'll take a look when I have time."

Reno nodded.

"If you work efficiently, I can give you more jobs in the future."

As he spoke, the Great Elevator suddenly jolted. They had reached the bottom.

The massive iron doors opened with a clatter, slowly revealing the greedy eyes of thousands of Lower Hive people. They looked at those inside the Great Elevator with Ceramite handcuffs on their wrists as though they were looking at meat.

Li Qinwu followed the staff away. He also deliberately exposed his water-pipe shotgun, preventing any blind fool from coming to cause him trouble.

As for the thousand prisoners, the Arbites removed their shackles and drove them out of the Great Elevator with several blows from their batons.

Some still refused to leave, curling up in corners and clutching whatever they could as they bawled. Many even held children in their arms.

They begged the Arbites to take them back to the Middle Hive. They said they would work hard and repay the taxes they owed.

But what answered them were crackling electric batons. A jab to the kidneys with one of those could drop even a bear.

Li Qinwu, already far from the safe zone and about to enter the pipes, glanced back at the Great Elevator. The Arbites had dumped the thousand prisoners there before taking the Great Elevator back up.

The Lower Hive rats who had been waiting for so long cheered and charged forward with all kinds of weapons, beginning the looting.

They snatched bags, clothes, and even children. The thousand prisoners were torn apart and trampled by thousands of Lower Hive rats. In the blink of an eye, more than half were dead or injured.

They called upon the God-Emperor, screamed in terror, and fought desperately, but all they faced were the greedy gazes of the Lower Hive rats.

Li Qinwu shook his head and entered the pipes, disappearing from sight.

The safe zone did not provide safety for everyone. It merely forbade attacks on workers from the Middle Hive and prevented Underhive Gangs from approaching the Great Elevator, lest they ruin the Machine Spirit's mood.

Within the safe zone, you could kill people freely as long as you exercised restraint. Here, restraint meant not killing more than a hundred thousand people at once. This was Warhammer 40,000!

Back at the Hideout, Li Qinwu connected the electric stove gifted by Second Lieutenant Rudosen to the power supply and roasted several potatoes.

Ding! Hideout kitchen lv0 upgraded to lv1.

That was right, the electric stove was a Hideout upgrade item. Thanks to Second Lieutenant Rudosen for the important upgrade item!

Li Qinwu then sat at the workbench, clamped down the PDF Semi-Automatic Combat Rifle, and began disassembling it for maintenance.

He was going to use it to hunt Chemical Pigs later, so he needed to understand its condition.

A few minutes later, gun parts covered the workbench, with one thick, long barrel standing out in particular.

The rifle was in excellent condition. It had probably fired just over a hundred rounds since leaving the factory, just enough to pass its break-in period. The gun oil had been properly applied, and there was no rust.

Li Qinwu wiped away the gun oil with a rag, brought over a bottle of Holy Oil, and began lubricating the rifle's internal parts.

After wiping every component with Holy Oil, he reassembled the rifle, raised it, and kissed the bolt.

"Good wife, I'll be counting on you later."

After soothing the Machine Spirit, if the rifle had one, Li Qinwu began loading ammunition.

Rudosen had given Li Qinwu one hundred Armor-Piercing Rounds. Li Qinwu himself had more than six hundred standard rounds, level-three ammunition, with some left over from his previous scavenging run.

Li Qinwu loaded one fifteen-round magazine full of AP Rounds, loaded the other two with standard rounds, then stuffed thirty spare AP Rounds and two hundred spare standard rounds into his pockets.

He put on the PDF body armor and helmet he had acquired last time, assembled a light full kit, and prepared to head down for the black-market merchant mission.