The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Although it wasn't quite dusk, the sky had already turned a dirty dark brown. Or rather, since the second day, day and night had become indistinct. The massive Tyranid chimneys spewing spore-filled smoke at the horizon were the culprits, trying to devour the entire atmosphere, though it seemed this would take some time.

In the grimy sky, one could occasionally see their spore cysts burning with a yellow-orange light as they passed through the atmosphere.

Everyone had grown used to it, which meant more enemies were arriving on the ground. Fortunately, the anti-aircraft weapons deployed in the city were still operational, ensuring no spore cysts directly hit the urban areas, but this was only limited to the city proper.

Days of siege had compressed the defenses to the final city wall of Trident City. To withstand the Tyranid onslaught, a large number of engineering vehicles were used to quickly construct a moat. However, the river didn't mean absolute safety—on the third day, Tyranid creatures attacked the city along the two rushing rivers, even entering the urban area through the riverbed, causing thousands of casualties, keeping the Space Marines busy for quite some time to deal with them.

After that, the rivers became a key defense point, with a large number of sharp iron stakes hammered into them, and a large number of modified mines that could be detonated in the water were deployed.

But these were just comforting measures. Anyone with a little military common sense knew that Trident City was doomed, surrounded by the Tyranid swarm, attacking day and night. It was only a matter of time before it was breached, unless extremely strong support was received. This cruel war made many civilians feel like they were just fodder in a cage, waiting for the monsters to come and devour them.

The orbital support that had been available at the beginning had been absent for several days. The higher-ups had no explanation, only telling everyone to hold firm, and there would be a solution.

That's what they said, but even for the people who knew nothing about the war, looking at the increasingly close sound of gunfire, the constantly shrinking residential area, and the ever-decreasing rations, they couldn't help but grumble.

In this situation, even the command had to put some valuable troops into maintaining order, especially the professional troops, the auxiliary forces of the Star Knights. After all, the militiamen were locals, and they were easily influenced by rumors, so putting them on the front lines was safer.

Hayes's regiment was assigned to "internal affairs" on the third day, mainly responsible for four streets in the northern district of Trident City. The area was mainly residential and some small workshops, especially textile workshops. The area was also one of the two cloth trading areas in Trident City, with 1.6 million people in Hayes's regiment's jurisdiction alone.

Such a large population naturally made it difficult for just one regiment to maintain order, especially with the current widespread despair among the people. All kinds of crimes were emerging in an endless stream, but their task wasn't to catch thieves, but to ensure stability. Therefore, they were mainly responsible for curfews and patrols, preventing gatherings of people, or anyone publicly promoting heresy, and regularly arresting "defeatists", occasionally cooperating with the wartime management committee to carry out "purge" operations, mainly searching for places suspected of illegally hoarding food, medicine, or other war resources.

Compared to fighting the terrifying Tyranid creatures on the battlefield, this was definitely a leisurely job, but it didn't mean there would be fewer troubles, especially for a junior officer like Hayes.

For example, right now, he had to rush to deal with a trouble.

Walking on the narrow street, Hayes's pace was fast. This road was sandwiched between the arched windows of the rich area and the square windows of the civilian area. Since it was almost curfew time, there were almost no people on the wide street, only those who had committed crimes for various reasons were being urged by the shouts of the escorts, forming a long snake-like line, moving unwillingly.

The highest authority of the wartime management committee was three Astartes company commanders, who formulated the rules for the entire city's defense during wartime, but each person implemented different standards in their respective jurisdictions.

The standards of the Flesh Tearers were undoubtedly the most severe, even harsh.

Therefore, many people were arrested every day, and the only punishment for these arrested people was to be sent to the front line to perform suicide missions, in the official saying—exchanging courage for redemption.

Of course, some people darkly believed that this was the Astartes' way of consuming the population, reducing the pressure on defense and logistics.

There were even more terrifying rumors that the Blood Angels (the people's name for the Flesh Tearers) had secretly established a "human meat factory", and those who committed crimes were actually thrown into it, becoming military rations for the army.

Hayes had heard about these things, but he certainly didn't believe it. However, he also felt that the Flesh Tearers adults were indeed a bit too harsh on mortals. As the war situation continued to deteriorate, their emotions seemed to be deteriorating as well. Many militiamen died in their fits of rage on the battlefield. Hayes personally saw a militiaman with a leg injury moving ammunition slower than others, and he had just encountered a Flesh Tearer who had retreated from the battlefield. He was directly kicked away by one of them, smashing into an ammunition box and dying with broken bones—their attitude was the root cause of these suspicions, but what could he say?

In the Imperium, the Astartes were, for the most part, supreme.

Along the way, you could see many patrols, most of them were a few regular soldiers with a dozen militiamen, and some better ones were sitting in modified armed trucks. Since electricity was also starting to become scarce, the houses on both sides of the road looked dark, with only a few candles showing through, mainly in the rich area. Occasionally, you could see some nervous faces flashing by the windows.

In addition to the patrols, the most common were the cleaning crews, but their task wasn't to sweep the streets, but to drag away corpses—those who starved to death, died of illness, were killed, or committed suicide. Every day, thousands of corpses would appear in the dark corners of the streets. Those people in black robes would put these corpses into body bags and transport them away to be burned in a concentrated manner.

Sometimes, in the places where they appeared, there would be suppressed crying from the dark houses and streets, but excessive sadness would be considered to be promoting defeatism. Compassion was so precious and expensive at this moment.

Suddenly, halfway through, a burst of impassioned sound rang out from the brass speakers on both sides of the street. Hayes didn't have the slightest curiosity about this, because he had almost memorized those things.

".Loyal citizens of the Imperium! As we conclude today's hymn, your loyalty and gratitude will be rewarded. Glory to the Throne! We have received reports of yet another glorious victory. The vile alien invaders have been routed, driven back by holy sword and bombardment, conquered by the indomitable will of the Imperial soldiers! You should pause to give thanks to the great Imperial Army, Navy, and the valiant Death Angels, who have given their lives in battle to protect your homes and loved ones from alien predation! However, such victories are only more assured when each of us adheres to our duties as citizens of the Imperium! Whether you are an artisan in a sweltering factory, a craftsman in a textile workshop, or a glorious militiaman, even a hard-working pipe worker in the sewers, you should remember that you also have a battle, a battle to combat lawlessness and disorder. We must launch a campaign against anarchism, heresy, and defeatism, which unfolds in every district, every street, every house, and even every tent. Just as the Death Angels obey the Emperor's command, you must also obey the Angels' command, obey the priests, enforcers, and interrogators around you, protect your city and faith, and ensure that your spirit is pure and not contaminated by losers! Under the light of the Throne, we are about to begin the next hymn. Remember, sin roams the path of laxity, error is the refuge of the weak, and transgression is treason."