They had to act. They had to crush this undercurrent that dared challenge their thousand-year divine authority before it could take root, using the bloodiest, cruelest, most public means possible. If they could not find the "Ghost" distributing the evidence, they would burn everyone who might have come into contact with him to ashes, along with the entire breeding ground of resistance.
And so an unprecedented, brutal purge of the entire Underhive descended with overwhelming force.
Thousands upon thousands of fully armed city guards swarmed into the Underhive like black locusts pouring out of the depths of hell. They kicked down every rickety sheet-metal door, asking no questions and examining no evidence, shooting anyone who dared raise their head and look them in the eye. Gunfire thundered deafeningly through the cramped metal alleys, tearing fragile mortal bodies into clouds of bloody mist.
They sealed off every underground water source and food distribution station with an iron fist. Heavy blast doors were welded shut, and every ventilation shaft was guarded by heavily armed troops. Countless civilians were penned like livestock inside dark districts without light, water, or food, left to endure hunger, panic, and deadly disease spreading wildly through the crowds.
Within just a few days, the Underhive had become hell on earth.
Every day, hundreds upon thousands collapsed from hunger and despair on streets awash with sewage. Driven by a desperate instinct to survive, they shattered every boundary of human decency. For a moldy lump of Nutrient Paste, even one covered in rat droppings, neighbors who had once supported each other through hardship would plunge rusty daggers into one another's chests without hesitation; to give her child one more mouthful of water, a mother would bite through another scavenger's throat.
Screams, wails, and dying curses mingled with the pungent smell