Shopping

Li Qinwu had been standing in line for half an hour, and his leg had started bouncing. Finally, it was his turn.

The Clean Water Guild employee held out his hand with a dark expression, saying nothing and showing no intention of communicating.

If Li Qinwu failed to pay within three seconds, a security guard's stun baton would be waiting for him.

Without wasting any time, he took out a 0.1 Fertilizer Voucher and handed it over.

Fertilizer Vouchers were this planet's special currency. The Imperium was too vast, encompassing millions of planets, and there was no single unified currency.

Trade between planets relied on barter, but for ease of administration, each planet had its own local currency.

These currencies came in all kinds of forms: metal coins, paper notes, work points.

Agri-World 496b was an agricultural planet. Everything here revolved around agricultural production, and fertilizer held paramount importance in that production. Thus, Fertilizer Vouchers, which could be exchanged for fertilizer, became this world's currency.

The employee took the payment and pointed at a black portable canister nearby. It was made of low-grade Ceramite and contained three liters of water.

Li Qinwu picked up the water and left. He needed to find a way to make a Water Purifier. Otherwise, every time he ran out of water, he would have to come here and queue up again. It was far too slow!

Afterward, he went to line up at the food distribution point. There were still several hundred people ahead of him, and the wait made him increasingly restless.

From a distance, he could see the relief station's food storage area. It was filled with cheap, dusty-gray Ceramite barrels containing food starch.

It was a paste made from potatoes, wheat, cornmeal, vegetables, salt, and chemically synthesized protein. For the minimum payment of a 0.1 Fertilizer Voucher, one could receive enough paste to feed an adult for three days.

Li Qinwu had eaten this stuff many times. In a word: disgusting. It was low-cost feed supplied to the Lower Hive by the upper-class lords, meant to keep the trash below fed so they would not cause trouble.

If they were not afraid people would deliberately waste food and water, they would not even charge the 0.1 Fertilizer Voucher.

Though the paste was awful, Li Qinwu knew that in the bizarre, monster-filled world of Warhammer 40,000, the scum of Agri-World 496b's Lower Hive could actually eat food made from plants. They were happier than 99% of the Imperium's population.

After all, that 99% ate Corpse Starch. It was miserable as hell.

More than twenty minutes passed. There were only thirty-odd people left in front of Li Qinwu. His turn would come soon.

But just then, some blind idiot shoved his way directly in front of Li Qinwu. He was cutting in line.

Li Qinwu froze for a moment, then flew into a rage. He patted the man on the shoulder, just about to say something when the man turned back viciously and pressed a dagger against his throat.

"Little bastard, shut your mouth if you don't want to die. Otherwise, I'll cut off your dick and stuff it in your mouth!!"

When the people around them saw a conflict break out, they moved farther away while remaining in line. The relief station staff glanced over but said nothing, clearly used to this sort of thing.

As long as the conflict did not affect them, even if all several thousand people here died, they would not bat an eye. They were just Lower Hive trash, after all.

Li Qinwu felt the dagger against his throat and blinked.

The line-cutter thought he had intimidated Li Qinwu. He glared fiercely and withdrew the dagger.

But the instant the dagger left Li Qinwu's throat, he sprang into action and drove a fist into the line-cutter's stomach!

With 12 Strength, two points higher than an ordinary person, the punch carried considerable force. The line-cutter let out a muffled groan, staggered out of the line, and fell to his knees.

He was shocked. He had not expected Li Qinwu to fight back, and rage immediately flooded his mind.

He drew his dagger again, intending to kill Li Qinwu in one strike. But the next second, a pistol pressed against his head, freezing every movement he made.

It was a rebel-made pistol, with a 15mm caliber and a five-round forward magazine.

It was heavy, terribly ergonomic, and inaccurate, but its 15mm short rounds were incredibly powerful. At close range, a single shot could drop a bear. Li Qinwu had scavenged it during one of his trips to the surface.

Without another word, Li Qinwu pulled the trigger. With a bang, before the line-cutter could even beg for mercy, the large-caliber pistol round blew his head into a spray of brains. His corpse hit the ground and twitched.

The people around them panicked for only a moment, then returned to calm with terrifying speed. Even the queue barely stirred. People merely cast occasional glances at the corpse on the ground.

Putting away his gun, Li Qinwu crouched and searched the body. He found a crude dagger, a little over two Fertilizer Coupons, and three Water Purification Tablets.

He pocketed the items and continued waiting in line as though nothing had happened.

After a while, several Lower Hive residents came over and stripped the corpse's clothes.

A while later, its shoes, socks, and underwear were stripped off as well.

By the time Li Qinwu collected his food and headed back, the corpse had vanished. It had probably been turned into skewers. Several people were even lying on the ground, licking the blood to take in as much precious salt and trace elements as possible.

That was the ecosystem at the bottom of Warhammer 40,000.

Afterward, Li Qinwu came to a shop so deserted that not a single person was waiting in line.

This was a boutique for high-end goods. Everything was extremely expensive, and the scum of the Lower Hive could not afford any of it.

Li Qinwu said to the listless clerk, "Give me a pack of incense candles, three cans of cooking oil, and a bottle of chili oil."

The clerk looked Li Qinwu up and down before drawling, "Fifty-five Fertilizer Coupons."

Li Qinwu took out sixty Fertilizer Coupons and slapped them on the counter. Only then did the clerk smile, taking out the requested goods, placing them in a bag made from processed plant fiber, and handing it over.

Carrying bags in both hands, he headed home. Several shadowy gazes from the corners locked tightly onto him.

On Agri-World 496b, a farmer earned roughly 150 to 200 Fertilizer Coupons, while a Lower Hive resident earned around 20.

The boutique was meant for Underhive Gangs bosses. For these Lower Hive rats, even looking at it was a sin.

Yet right before their eyes, someone had actually walked out of the boutique carrying purchased goods?

Several people followed behind Li Qinwu like hungry wolves stalking a fat sheep.

Li Qinwu left the crowded public area and entered an empty pipeline. He took out a lighter and cigarette, lit one, and walked deeper into the dark pipe as he smoked.

The pursuers watched as the tip of his cigarette flickered in the pitch-black pipe. They exchanged glances, picked up stones or steel pipes, and rushed toward the glowing ember.

Rapid footsteps echoed through the dark passage as the pursuers kept their eyes fixed on the cigarette's glow.

They closed in quickly, raised their weapons high, and swung down viciously!

Clang! Clatter!

The sound of metal striking metal rang through the dark pipe. Several pursuers had swung so hard that the bones in their hands nearly cracked, and they cried out in pain.

One pursuer grimaced and threw down his steel pipe. Confused, he reached forward and felt a metal pipeline wall.

He reached toward the glowing cigarette tip and found it wedged in a crack in the wall.

The pursuer realized something. His expression changed abruptly, and in the next moment, a beam of light suddenly shone from the side, forcing everyone to squint.

Li Qinwu held a flashlight in his left hand and a pistol in his right, the muzzle aimed directly at the terrified pursuers.

Bang! Bang! Bang!