After the team was assembled, they continued to advance. According to the intelligence relayed by Robert, the two scouts at the very front quickly saw the huge, rust-eaten three-way intersection at the end of the dim passage.
In the center of the intersection, above a heavy blast door, a huge "Gear-Alpha" symbol shimmered with the cold light of metal under the emergency lights.
They unhesitatingly ignored the other two paths leading to the residential area and chose the middle one.
Considering Robert's specific emphasis on "traps" and "disrepair," the two vanguards walked very cautiously, only moving after each step was firm, their lasguns constantly aimed at the darkness ahead.
However, after walking for a while, these two players fell into confusion.
As players serving as scouts, they both possessed quite meticulous characteristics.
Robert had clearly stated that the information given by the Tech-Priest included "the road is in disrepair."
But the passage they were on had clearly been repaired.
Although the repair work was quite crude, with welds and patches devoid of any aesthetic appeal, it felt extremely sturdy both to walk on and to look at.
"Strange, the information is wrong," one scout player with the ID AlphaBravo muttered in a low voice, "Could that Priest be an allied intelligence officer? Or is there an error in our company commander's relay?"
"It's also possible there are enemies ahead," Name responded, "They repaired the road. Be on alert."
"Hmm."
Indeed, after they advanced about a hundred meters with increasing caution, they discovered people.
Turning a corner filled with steam pipes, the area ahead suddenly opened up into a small gathering plaza.
Dozens of people were gathered in the plaza, and what surprised the two players was that, at first glance, these people all appeared to be normal humans, without any obvious limb mutations.
It should be known that the cultists they had mainly fought in the Lower Hive all had more or less features of skin necrosis and limb deformities.
And after learning of Robert's conjecture that their main enemies in the Mid-Hive were the genestealer cult, these two players had expected to see even more terrifying and twisted limb mutations than in the Lower Hive.
"Strange, could this place not have been infiltrated by genestealers yet?" AlphaBravo wondered.
"I wouldn't be so sure…" Name's gaze swept over the crowd and landed on a wall on the opposite side of the plaza.
There, a giant heretical symbol had been crudely painted with red paint.
The pattern could roughly be described as a circle, with a ferocious, snake-like beast occupying two-thirds of the design, its giant mouth agape, poised to devour the remaining one-third, a decayed and broken gear.
Just as they thought they had gathered enough information and were preparing to retreat and report, a gentle voice sounded behind them without warning.
"My two brothers, why do you not join us?"
The two players' bodies instantly stiffened, but being seasoned veterans, they quickly calmed down.
Since they had been discovered, it was better to go along with the other party's words; perhaps they could extract more intelligence.
Anyway, they could resurrect, so they weren't afraid of death.
"Join what?" Name slowly turned around and asked.
A person wearing a loose black robe, with most of his skin shrouded in shadow, was smiling at them.
His smile was sincere, but in the dim environment, it seemed particularly eerie.
"Join this activity," he spread his arms as if embracing the entire plaza, "To celebrate the worker brothers discovering the truth, to celebrate freedom, to celebrate liberation—to celebrate the immortality and eternity of the soul."
"We are Astra Militarum," AlphaBravo said bluntly, pointing to his distinctive uniform and flak armor.
"So what?" the other party retorted, his smile undiminished, "Are not the Astra Militarum workers who take up arms? You, like us, serve the void lord; what difference is there?"
"The Emperor does not have the title 'void lord'," AlphaBravo frowned and countered.
"He does!" The other party's tone suddenly became firm.
"He does not!"
"He does!"
"He…"
"We'll join," Name promptly stopped this meaningless theological debate.
The other party immediately became happy: "That's good! I will lead the way for you and explain our doctrine to you at the same time!"
Then, led by the black-robed man, they passed through the crowd.
Along the way, the black-robed man rambled on, explaining the doctrine to them.
He first denounced the corruption and inaction of the upper-class nobles, denouncing how they, for meaningless enjoyment and bottomless greed, plunged the workers, who were also the Emperor's subjects, into endless torment and suffering.
As he spoke, he extended his hand from within his black robe.
The scene made the two players' pupils instantly constrict—although they had been in this game for so many days, making them accustomed to the blood and gore of the battlefield, seeing this hand, with its pale bones worn out from excessive labor, still shocked these people from the 21st century.
"Even so, we remain loyal to the God-Emperor!" The other party's tone was resolute, full of pride and conviction, "The upper echelons embarked on a path of betrayal for their pursuit of pleasure, while our faith grows ever stronger in suffering!"
"The upper-class nobles, out of fear, denounce us as heretics and cultists… How laughable, how can they understand our will?" the black-robed man sneered, "Whether it's those Chaos cults or gangs, they are all cut from the same cloth as the nobles.
They, too, are human, yet they are extremely eager to quickly shed their humble origins, but we are proud of it."
His voice gradually became high-pitched and fanatical: "The material wealth they crave will eventually decay, and even this universe will ultimately be annihilated by entropy!
Only by being embraced, reshaped, and having body and soul absorbed by that magnificent and extraordinary existence can true eternity be attained—at that time, there will be no more distinction between high and low, every human will be as close as brothers, advancing for the great and glorious liberation of all races in the universe!"
The two players suddenly awoke with a start at this voice!
Only then did they realize that their minds had unknowingly fallen into confusion, enveloped by an inexplicable sense of daze.
Undoubtedly, this was something only psychic powers could accomplish.
They looked around and found that at some point, they had been completely surrounded by everyone in the plaza, without a single gap.
Everyone stared at them with eyes mixed with pity and fanaticism.
Immediately after, everyone spoke in unison, their voices converging into a chilling torrent:
"You rich people! Weep and wail over the misery that is coming upon you!
Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.
Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire.
In the last days, you have hoarded wealth!"
"Workers harvested your fields, but you withheld their wages.
Those wages are crying out, and the cries of the workers have reached the ears of the void lord!"
Name sighed and said, "There's a cult psyker… This is going to be tough."
AlphaBravo nodded: "Let's self-destruct."
The next second, two high-explosive grenades were simultaneously activated in the center of the crowd.
Boom—!
The violent explosion consumed everything, fire and shockwaves tearing the fanatical believers to shreds, and completely obliterating the grand chanting.