Reno, a junior supervisor in the Clean Water Guild, had sent his workers to find some technicians, only for them to get honey-trapped by a madam. Reno felt that his authority had taken a hit and needed to win back his face.
What kind of organization was the Clean Water Guild?
In the world of Warhammer 40,000, humanity had developed into an interstellar civilization and controlled millions of planets.
These planets had different environments. On some Industrial Worlds, industrial toxic gases filled the atmosphere, and the water sources were completely polluted.
At times like that, organizations responsible for water purification became especially important.
On some planets, the Clean Water Guild was a state-owned enterprise. On others, it was privately owned. On still others, it was a joint venture, or even an organization controlled by gangs.
Agri-World 496b had a fine environment. The natural conditions on its surface were good enough that people could move around without protective suits. There was little demand for clean water, so the Clean Water Guild held little influence. It was active only in places with heavy water demands, such as Hive City, making it a modest civilian enterprise.
At that moment, on Red-Light Street in the Safe Zone, Li Qinwu squatted in a corner smoking, his eyes fixed on the three-story garbage building ahead.
The madam was a fat old woman. She stood outside the garbage building with several technicians, soliciting customers.
Li Qinwu looked past the madam and technicians toward the first floor behind them. Several men were playing cards there. They were the garbage building's enforcers.
Li Qinwu spat on the ground, looking down on the madam with utter contempt.
Old Li had lived in the underworld, and he believed in honesty. I made money killing people, you made money making people; neither of us was nobler than the other, but you couldn't go back on your word!
That bitch of a madam even picked her customers, and every now and then she pulled a honey trap. What if she scared a customer into impotence?
Faced with such immoral criminal conduct, Old Li had to come down hard!
Li Qinwu took several deep drags from his cigarette, tossed the butt to the ground and crushed it out. He put on a gas mask, took a gas grenade in each hand, pulled their safety pins, gripped their activation levers, and walked toward the garbage building step by step.
"Oh, young man~ Come in and have some fun~ My girls are each prettier than the last~"
The madam twisted and posed as she solicited customers. Behind her, Jenny, Alice, and Lena cooperated by swaying their hips and showing off their legs, drawing the attention of the Lower Hive rats passing by as they struggled to make a living.
But the Lower Hive economy had been declining lately. The Spire lords were busy dealing with the rebels outside and had no energy for eating, drinking, or entertainment. Too little garbage was being dumped from the Waste Outlet, and the garbage-picking rats had no income either. They had no way to take care of Jenny, Alice, and Lena.
That was why Jenny, Alice, and Lena had grown thin from hunger. Left with no choice, the madam had honey-trapped several workers from the Middle Hive.
The rats passing by greedily watched Jenny, Alice, and Lena, but whenever the three women went up to solicit them, they immediately fled.
It infuriated the madam. If there was still no income, she feared she would have to go back to honey-trapping people.
Just then, the madam spotted a man walking straight toward her. Her eyes lit up at once. A customer had arrived!
She had just opened her mouth to solicit him when Li Qinwu flung out the gas grenades in his hands.
The two gas grenades flew into the first floor of the garbage building. The instant they left his hands, their levers sprang open, and upon hitting the ground, they began spewing yellow-green toxic smoke.
The gas spread quickly. Within five seconds, the first floor was flooded with poison. The enforcers inside felt as if chili water had been poured into their lungs and began coughing violently.
The madam had been stunned by Li Qinwu's sudden move. Then her expression changed drastically, and she reached behind her to pull something out.
But Li Qinwu was faster. After throwing the gas grenades, he held a water pipe in his left hand and a large-caliber homemade pistol in his right.
The madam raised her hand and aimed something at Li Qinwu. It was actually a small-caliber pistol!
But Li Qinwu's water pipe was already in position. He raised it high and swung down viciously, smashing the hand holding her gun.
With a crack, the madam's hand bones broke. The pistol fell to the ground, and she let out a scream like a slaughtered pig.
Li Qinwu did not hesitate. He raised the large-caliber pistol, aimed at the madam's knee, and fired!
Boom! The madam's knee was blown to pieces, and she fell to the ground screaming.
Jenny, Alice, and Lena were stunned. Then they reacted. Not only did they not run, they pulled Little Knives from their underwear and charged at Li Qinwu.
Life in the Lower Hive was cruel. A job was truly, truly, truly important. Lose your job, and all you could do was wait for the Lower Hive rats to drag you into a corner and torment you to death!
So the instant Li Qinwu appeared as a problem, these frail women did not think of running. They chose to fight desperately.
Either kill Li Qinwu, the problem, and preserve their current lives, or die and at least get it over with quickly. That was the resolve Lower Hive people had prepared themselves for in order to cling to life.
But Li Qinwu's resolve was even greater!
He smashed Jenny's crown with the water pipe. Her skull caved in deeply, and the pressure inside her head launched both eyeballs outward. She collapsed to the ground, twitching.
Alice charged over shrieking like a madwoman, trying to stab Li Qinwu with her Little Knife. Li Qinwu dodged the blade and slammed the water pipe into her stomach.
Alice cried out in pain, her waist folding over, but she still tried to sway forward and stab Li Qinwu. Li Qinwu smashed the water pipe into her neck.
With a crack, Alice's slender neck bent at an angle, and her life shut off on the spot.
Lena, meanwhile, threw herself to the ground and tried to grab the madam's small-caliber pistol.
Her hand had just closed around the gun, and before she could raise it, Li Qinwu stepped on her hand, pinning both her hand and the pistol to the ground.
"Aaaahhh!!"
Lena screamed and opened her mouth to bite Li Qinwu's foot. Li Qinwu blew her head apart with one shot.
Li Qinwu picked up the small-caliber pistol and tucked it into his pocket, then looked toward the enforcers on the first floor.
By then, the first floor had been turned yellow-green by the gas. More than a dozen enforcers had run outside and rolled on the ground, clutching their throats as they coughed and dry-heaved nonstop. They had already lost their ability to fight.
Li Qinwu wore a gas mask, so the poison did not affect him. Holding the water pipe, he felt around for the Clean Water Guild logo, walked over to an enforcer, raised it high, and swung it down viciously at the man's leg.
And so, the scene filled with horrifying cracks of breaking bones as Li Qinwu broke every enforcer's legs.
Afterward, Li Qinwu walked over to the madam. She was dragging her broken hand and shattered leg as she crawled away.
Li Qinwu took off his gas mask and tossed it aside. Squatting in front of the madam, he grabbed her by the hair and asked, "Do you know who you messed with?"
The madam's eyes were full of terror. The pain from her broken limbs had left her face streaked with tears and snot.
"I-I-I... I was wrong. How much did Reno pay you? I'll give you three... no, ten times that much!!"
Li Qinwu nodded.
"Good. You know."
Then he kicked the madam's bloated body over. Amid her terrified screams, he used the water pipe to break the leg that had not been shot.
By then, quite a few Lower Hive people had gathered around to watch. They were rats, decomposers, scavengers.
They greedily watched everything before them. They measured all things with greedy eyes.
Li Qinwu had completed his job and was in high spirits. Seeing so many people around, Old Li, being a man of the scene, naturally had to say something.
After clearing his throat, Li Qinwu pointed his water pipe at the crowd and shouted, "Kids, remember to conduct business with integrity!"
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