Chapter 14: The Imperial Frontier: Faith in the Emperor

The orbital elevator descended rapidly amidst the rumbling sound of operation. The mechanical platform continued to match the gear indentations on the surrounding shafts, moving downwards in coordination with the front and back. Scarlet warning lights flashed on both sides, and between the eye sockets of the decorative skull sculptures , also flashing those disturbing warning red lights.

The old orbital elevator is full of rust, and almost everything is covered with traces of time. Even the Imperial Star Eagle logo is almost invisible. Only a little bit of the golden surface is left. The remaining parts It has long been rusted by this low nest that never sees the light of day.

Vito leaned next to the control servitor. His entire head was covered by some kind of metal hood, connected to countless intubations and lines. All his limbs were missing. He was alone and fixed on the electronic control platform. superior.

But at least he could still operate normally and let this orbital elevator, which had not been maintained for God knows how long, carry him to the lower nest.

In the orbital elevator shaft that leads deep underground, Vito listened to the clicks outside the elevator and the occasional strange echoes. Most people would have been frightened at this moment. To be honest, normal Imperial people would not go to the Low Nest, but obviously , Vito is not a normal person, so this is not his first time going to the Low Nest.

Vito skillfully found this elevator that was in disrepair, but as expected, there was not even a law enforcement officer from the Department of Justice around the elevator, so Vito happily borrowed the elevator.

The elevator moves deeper underground, as if heading toward the terrifying abyss of the Eye of Terror, which is indeed true in a sense.

The elevator stopped, the flashing red light danced around the gate, and the rusty gate slowly lifted.

The warning siren echoed in Vito's ears, and the red light illuminated the ground outside. Vito patted the soulless servitor on the shoulder, "Thanks, buddy."

Vito did not wait for the servitor to respond, and he did not respond. The linear program programmed in his mind by the Mechanicus did not include how to respond.

Vito looked around at everything around him. He was surrounded by underground structures that had been abandoned for who knows how long, huge storage tanks, towering metal domes and rusty machinery.

Well. The Lownest, the most chaotic and sinful place the Empire has ever known.

It is filled with mutants, heretics, cultists and dissidents, and various hive gangs. These lawless people who wander outside the light of the Emperor live and breed here.

Even the law enforcement officers almost never go down here. If the upper echelons of the empire need to do something in the lower nest, they usually find mercenaries instead of going down to handle it themselves.

Under the dim dome space, only a few distant, almost dreamlike lights illuminate the underground world. It is very quiet here, as if the world has died, and I am walking among a cold corpse.

Vito turned his head and looked at the giant energy storage tanks on the side. He couldn't tell what those tanks were used to contain, but judging from the huge Mechanicus mark on their surface, he had better not use his brain to open them and take a look.

His long boots inlaid with silver patterns stepped on the surface of the long bridge. He looked at the ground far below the bridge and said, "It's really high."

As he spoke, he noticed something with his peripheral vision. Firelight, or candlelight to be precise, was at the end of the long bridge.

Vito curiously walked to the source of the candlelight, which was a shrine enshrining a god, a god who looked a little familiar but not familiar at the same time.

Vito squatted down and looked at the god carefully. It had to be said that the level of the sculptor needed to be improved, but Vito could still roughly see its face.

A human, roughly a human, this human god is sitting on a chair, a throne? A sculpture of an emperor? No, this is not the image of the Emperor.

Vito reached out to touch the sculpture, but heard footsteps.

He stopped and turned to look at the people in the corridor. Candles were lit on both sides of the dim corridor, and several people appeared in the flickering candlelight.

Several low-nest residents with different shapes came over, each carrying weapons of varying quality and quality.

"Everyone, how can I help?" Vito stood up with a smile and quietly pressed the trigger of the bolt gun with one hand.

The leader pointed at Vito with a mechanical finger, "Why don't you salute and pray to the Lord of Redeemer, outsider."

Vito tilted his head slightly, showing a confused expression, "The Redeemer? Who is it?"

The leader walked up to Vito and stared at Vito nervously, his face as pale as that of a dead man.

"You are a heretic too! This is the image of the Emperor himself! You must pray to him!"

The gangsters gathered around, and Vito looked at them. Everyone had a snake symbol tattooed on their arm, and they were the same group of gangsters in the star port on the ground.

"Pray! And believe in Him! Only in this way will you be saved!" The leader chattered, looking like a paranoid missionary of the state religion, a paranoid missionary with a gun.

"Can I ask, what if I refuse?" "Then we will punish you on His behalf!"

The leader yelled, pulling out his gun and pressing it to Vito's chest.

The latter did not panic when looking at the muzzle of the gun, but looked at the low-density gang members in front of him with great interest.

Vito smiled politely, "Can I ask a question?" "Question? About what?" the leader asked, his eyes still hysterical and bloodshot, looking like he had taken drugs. Maybe it was. It's because of taking medicine.

Vito still had a smile on his face, looking at the remaining gang members, "As far as I know, you belong to the Pious Society. I guess there is more than one gang here, right? Just like most low nests."

"Yes, there are too many pagans, just like you!" The leader shouted, his mechanical fingers clicking, "But for the Emperor! We will let them understand the truth! We will be redeemed! Redemption from the stars!"

Vito's smile turned into irony, "Then, in such a chaotic low nest, gangs often clash and bleed and die, just like most places in the empire."

"I think, what if an unfortunate gang conflict also occurred here at this time today?" "What do you mean?"

The leader asked, but Vito showed a sincere smile, "Then please allow me to explain."

Gunshots, violent gunshots rang out, and the leader's back was pierced by a bullet. The gangsters were surprised, but Vito grabbed the leader's collar, and the grenade gun ejected from his armpit and fired two shots in a row, and a gangster's head and shoulder were blasted into pieces.

Turning the gun, another shot, the gangster's arm was neatly broken, and he pulled the trigger blindly while screaming, and the bullets bounced everywhere in the metal corridor.

The remaining two finally reacted and started firing at Vito, but the latter used the leader's body as a human shield, and the flying bullets hit the body's skin and flesh, but Vito rushed to the two men.

Vito threw the body to one of them, and the weight of the body made him shake unsteadily. In this moment, Vito raised the muzzle of the explosive gun and accurately broke his leg.

The gangster fell to the ground, and his head was blown apart while screaming. The last person fired in fear, but fear only brought chaos, and the blind and aimless shooting did not hit Vito at all.

The latter rushed to the other party at a very fast speed and hit him in the face with the butt of the gun.

Vito grabbed his collar and pressed him tightly against the armrest. Half of his body was completely stretched out. It was only because of Vito's grip that he didn't fall.

Vito raised the muzzle of the gun and shot the last dizzy head.

"Second question, how many local gangs are there? What are their names?" "What?!" "You heard the question clearly, my friend, if you are willing to answer, I will let you go."

"Emperor! Are you crazy?!" "In terms of the degree of madness, you are better than me, answer the question now."

Vito loosened his fingers, and the gangster fell down a little. The latter screamed in horror, "Three! Three! In addition to us, there are also the Hammer Gang and the Crime Syndicate! One of them controls the factory, and the other controls the trade network with the upper nest!"

"Thank you for your cooperation, I wish you a good day."

Vito loosened his fingers, and the gangster screamed and fell down, and an echo came a few seconds later.

Vito leaned against the handrail and looked down, "Oh, it really was a heavy fall."

He pulled back and looked at the shrine with his head tilted jokingly.

"Well, things are more complicated than I thought."

He said so, then shot the shrine to pieces, and then smiled, "Then it will be more complicated."