The Emperor’s Angel of Death

After leaving the Habry couple's gravesite, Hayes asked the old man for the address of the Peak family, but the old man didn't know. After all, tens of thousands of people lived in this area. However, based on Hayes' description, the old man guessed that they should live near the Ruins Heap, which was the most deserted place in the entire town. It was also where the reactor crashed when the factory area fell. There used to be very serious radioactive contamination. Even though the radiation level is now very low, residents still instinctively stay away from it. Only the most desperate people would live there, searching for garbage to sell amidst the sounds of Geiger counters.

So Hayes headed to that place. The streets were still crowded with people, and few people noticed these strangers wearing respirators. In fact, as the largest waste distribution center in the area, there were always many outsiders here, and there were many "oddly shaped" people inside. Mutation and deformity seemed to be the norm in the under-hive.

After walking on the street for a while, following the old man's directions, the three turned into an empty alley and walked to the end of the narrow alley, which was a right-angled alley parallel to the main road.

At this moment, Hayes' keen ears heard a painful gasp. He hesitated for a moment, took out a silver pistol from a slender holster close to his abdomen, then made a silencing gesture to the two behind him, and carefully moved to another exit of the alleyway, close to a wall.

In the faint light, four figures were struggling. One of them was lying on the ground, wearing an Astra Militarum uniform with obvious signs of damage, with a metal crutch beside him. It was obvious that his right leg was missing from the hip down. The other three were attackers. They were all young people, with very typical hive world thug and gang member attire: leather pants + leather jacket, wearing mohawk hairstyles, dyed red-brown or dark blue.

Soon, two people grabbed the fallen man's arms and dragged him up.

Hayes finally saw clearly that it was a man with a stubble-covered face, missing a nose, one ear, and obvious burn marks on half of his face. He immediately recognized that the other party must have been a soldier, he was too familiar with this kind of trauma.

Around the soldier's neck hung an old-fashioned player, which intermittently played Hayes' most familiar slogan—

"Doubt is a fatal flaw in any armor."

"Disloyal thoughts are as dangerous as a hundred bullets."

"Death itself is the reward."

"It is better to die for the Emperor than to live for oneself."

"A good soldier needs to know nothing but hatred."

That seemed like only the repeated hoarse voice of an old cogitator, but it brought Hayes back to the scene where he and his comrades were squatting in the cabin, joking and making noise.

At this time, the third one, who also looked like the leader, twirled the stick in his hand and smiled:

"Old thing, if you want to have a few teeth left to eat mud cakes, honestly hand over the medal. I don't have much patience."

"No—"

The old soldier groaned:

"Hope is a luxury, there is no choice between the Emperor and the abyss."

"You're still chanting scriptures to me!"

Just as he raised his stick, Hayes casually appeared in the dim light.

The person grabbing the old soldier's right arm immediately roared and pulled out the dagger from his waist.

"You're a f***ing—"

Before he could finish speaking, he fell down, a hole burned through his chest.

The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air. Hayes was very familiar with this smell. He used to hate it, but now he missed it a little.

The other two stared at Hayes and the pistol in his hand in disbelief, but Hayes no longer gave them any chance to explain. The pistol muzzle flashed twice in the dimness.

The dazzling light spots hit the chest of the young man grabbing the old soldier's right arm, and the other hit the leader's abdomen. The two people's eyes bulged out in shock. As the sticks clattered to the ground, the two corpses slumped to the ground.

Killing people was as commonplace as drinking water for Hayes now. There was not even the slightest fluctuation in his heart.

And Kalina, who had experienced a dark childhood, was also accustomed to death. Andina also grew up in the under-hive and had seen all kinds of chaotic scenes, so they were not surprised at all that Hayes directly shot and killed three people. Instead, they took the initiative to stand guard around the alley, observing whether anyone was approaching.

"Are you okay?"

Hayes crouched down to help the old soldier up and took the crutch from the side, but the other party seemed to be still immersed in the prayer and was still muttering to himself.

"Do not shrink back before death, do not be weak in front of heretics."

"Brother? What unit are you from?"

Hearing Hayes' words, the old soldier was stunned for a moment, then turned his head, and for the first time, there was a look of spirit on his gray face.

"You are"

"My name is Hayes, from the 310th Regiment. Our commander is Arnie."

"310th Regiment!?"

The man widened his eyes, then a smile appeared on his face, and then he grabbed Hayes' arm, and the two stood up together.

"I am from the 219th Regiment. If I remember correctly, we should have fought together in that ghostly place called Endymion."

Hayes also laughed and nodded vigorously.

"Ah, yes, yes, it seems that your regiment's position was on our east side at the time. I even went to your place with the company commander for a chat."

Although the two had met for the first time, they instantly erupted with intense emotion as if they were brothers.

"My name is Kang, and I belong to the regimental artillery."

With that, the man turned off the player hanging on his chest.

"Brother Hayes, are you from here too?"

"I'm not, I'm here to find someone. Do you know the Peak family?"

"Peak?"

The old soldier named Kang tilted his head and thought for a while.

"I have a little impression"

"They live near the Ruins Heap."

"Oh, oh, now that you mention it, I remember. He was behind me in the recruitment team back then. I used to see him and his younger brother often when I went to the Ruins Heap to pick up garbage. I roughly know where they live."

Then he took the initiative to lead Hayes and the others to that place. As for the corpses on the ground, there was no need to pay attention to them at all. After all, death was very common in the under-hive.

On the way, Hayes learned about what happened to Kang.

His unit first lost half of its people in a battle on Bloody Bones due to an accident during landing. Then, when they entered the battlefield, they were ambushed by an unexpectedly large number of enemies due to incorrect information. As a similar cannon fodder regiment, the 219th Regiment was almost defeated, but the commander of Kang's artillery unit turned the tide at a critical moment, risking close-range shooting tactics with bayoneted artillery, blasting the enemy's assault line and destroying the enemy's only armor with continuous artillery fire at extremely dangerous distances. Kang himself even operated a Basilisk to kill the enemy's command personnel with a precise shot. In the end, less than a thousand people in their regiment survived the battle, and Kang's artillery regiment had less than thirty survivors.

Also because of his bravery, Kang received a Courage Medal, the most "easy" medal for an Astra Militarum soldier to obtain, after the war. After that, their regiment was stationed in the same place, and Kang stayed in the field hospital for more than half a year before returning to his hometown with severance pay last month.