Titans

Li Qinwu left everything that followed alone and dutifully took a shuttle down to the hive city.

The hive cities on an industrial world were far larger than those on an agri-world, and a single planet had several of them!

Every hive city was a super-factory, with a cluster of space elevators connected to its summit.

But the war had destroyed the space stations, and all the space elevators had been wrecked.

Countless factories connected the hive cities across the gaps between them, their chimneys as dense as blades of grass on a lawn.

Such horrifying industrialization had turned the entire planet into a desert. The factories had sucked up all its water for industrial use, and even the oceans had become expanses of desert.

The shuttle slowly came to a stop in the hive city, and the pilot reminded Li Qinwu:

"My lord, please remember never to remove your helmet with its filtration system, no matter where you are.

"Even inside our planet's hive cities, the pollution is severe. Breathing unfiltered air for too long will cause lung disease."

Li Qinwu acknowledged the warning and stepped off the shuttle.

This was the hive city's airfield, where hundreds of shuttles were parked. The soldiers Inquisitor Thraxol had brought disembarked and gradually assembled into square formations.

Officers' shouts rang out across the airfield. The moment each soldier landed, they were issued a filtration mask, filter cartridges, protective clothing, and chemical-resistant boots.

They put on their equipment right there, then attended a lesson on the spot. Each session lasted forty-five minutes and focused entirely on how to survive on an industrial world.

Survival was a very serious matter on an industrial world, something that had to be treated as an academic discipline.

How did you maintain a respirator? How often did you