Beep, beep, beep—
The communicator buzzed incessantly.
Seth Knight pressed the answer button.
“Fuck you, Steve!”
“Did you die down in the Underhive, you useless waste of space?”
A sharp, arrogant, and impatient female voice roared from the speaker.
“I’m giving you two fucking hours to get your ass back to the Mid-hive villa!”
“Tonight is the family dinner, and we can’t do without a PDF officer as decoration!”
“If you dare to be late…”
“…don’t ever expect to get a single scrap of resources from me again!”
Drawing on the memory fragments provided by the Painted Skin Card, Seth Knight instantly pieced the relationships together.
Son of a bitch.
The original Steve was a parasite who had married into his wife’s family.
No wonder the woman was so fiercely aggressive.
It made sense; he had only managed to snag a lucrative gig as a PDF Major in the Mid-hive by relying on his wife’s family’s influence.
In the eyes of others, he was a textbook, top-tier freeloading gigolo.
It was all because he trained himself to be big, hard, and long-lasting.
“Got it. On my way,” Seth Knight replied hastily, cutting off the transmission immediately.
Back as decoration?
I’ll make sure you scream and scream tonight.
Son of a bitch.
First he gets targeted for no reason, and now this humiliation.
How was he supposed to live like this?
Rumble, rumble—
The Chimera Armored Transport slowly drove onto the elevator leading to the Mid-hive.
As for the other PDF soldiers?
Of course, they could only huddle by the fires in the Underhive barracks.
Though it was called barracks, which sounded impressive, it was actually just a garbage dump where the only thing they got to fill their stomachs was bland starch.
On an industrial world, real food was the ultimate luxury.
For instance, if Seth Knight dared to pull out a single instant noodle sausage from his system space, he could easily make an Underhive rat go on a suicide mission.
***
Raymonds was in an incredibly terrible state.
His sternum was shattered, and frothy blood bubbled continuously from his mouth and nose.
Like a neutered stray dog, he squirmed in agony in the mud.
“Deputy… give me a hand… healing stim…”
Raymonds reached out with a trembling, blood-soaked hand, grabbing toward the deputy Enforcer captain beside him.
*Smack!*
The deputy didn’t just refuse to help; instead, he kicked Raymonds’s hand away and ripped the silver double-headed eagle Enforcer badge—the symbol of authority—right off Raymonds’s chest.
He wiped the badge against his uniform and pinned it onto his own chest with shameless pride.
“The Imperium has no room for useless trash.” The deputy spat a thick glob of phlegm onto Raymonds’s face.
“A spineless coward who can’t even beat a PDF Major—you think you’re fit to be captain? It’s time for a change in leadership.”
“Losing that duel made you a disgrace to the Enforcers.”
“We all saw it. Captain Raymonds initiated a duel and succumbed to his injuries.”
Raymonds couldn’t believe his ears.
He roared, “You dare disobey orders?! I’ll report this to HQ! I’ll have you court-martialed!” This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
The surrounding Heavily Armored Enforcers burst into boisterous laughter.
They looked at Raymonds as if he were a clown, showing none of the subservience they usually had for their commander.
Soon, the gangers and scavengers who had been hiding and watching the show poked their heads out, whispering to one another:
“To think Raymonds, that rabid wolf, would have a day where he’s turned into a dead dog.”
“Who exactly is that PDF officer?”
“One punch!”
“Just one punch!”
“And he completely shattered the Enforcers’ balls!”
Hearing the mockery around him, Raymonds fell into absolute despair.
Shivering, he raised his wrist and activated his personal communicator.
A holographic projection flickered to life.
Raymonds’s wife appeared on the screen, her clothes half-undone and her shoulders bare.
From the background, the heavy panting of another man could be heard clearly.
“Darling… save me… Steve broke me…” Raymonds wailed.
The woman’s face twisted in sheer disgust.
“That thing of yours was already burned to uselessness by promethium last month. You’re a walking eunuch.”
“And now your body is broken too?!”
The woman sneered, “Don’t ruin my fun! Fuck off!”
*Beep—*
The call disconnected.
Raymonds broke.
He let out a gut-wrenching, agonizing shriek.
“It’d be a waste to let him die with all that gear.”
The surrounding scavengers looked at one another.
The Enforcers had already stepped aside, coldly watching Raymonds struggle in his death throes.
Everyone made it clear they wanted nothing to do with this mess.
The Underhive scum’s eyes instantly turned red with greed, and they swarmed forward!
Strip him!
Loot him!
“His cyber-mastiff! Strip it for parts!”
“This power pack is mine! Touch it and I’ll kill you!”
“Strip these stim-vials too! They’re worth at least two tubes of nutrient paste!”
Dozens of Underhive thugs frantically tore at the gear on Raymonds’s body.
Raymonds wailed and shrieked like a banshee.
Those standing on the outskirts watched this play out, then looked up at Seth Knight on the elevator, lingering fear clutching their hearts.
“One punch completely destroyed an Enforcer captain’s entire life!”
“Why on earth did Raymonds have to provoke him?!”
Just as the elevator’s protective gates were about to close.
“Wait!”
He had eaten the “godly carbs” his commander gave him.
A living god stood right before him.
And these Underhive bumpkins were only looting his gear?
The commander’s anger hadn’t been fully appeased yet!
A flash of extreme madness crossed the bald adjutant’s eyes.
He rushed back to the checkpoint.
“Out of the way!”
Swinging his rifle butt, the bald adjutant knocked the scavenging looters aside in short order.
He slammed his boot down onto Raymonds’s shattered chest, making him instantly hack up a massive mouthful of dark blood.
“You dared offend our commander, and you think you’re getting away with an intact corpse?”
The bald adjutant let out a sinister chuckle.
He pulled out a large bottle of high-purity promethium fuel.
He unscrewed the cap and poured every drop of it over Raymonds’s broken legs and his previously burned groin.
Raymonds shook his head frantically.
“No… please…”
“You dared cross the commander, so you must burn to ash!”
The bald adjutant struck a match.
The match fell.
*Whoosh!*
Blue-hot flames erupted, instantly engulfing the lower half of Raymonds’s body!
“AAAAAAH—!!!”
Raymonds let out a blood-curdling shriek that echoed throughout the Underhive.
Ignoring his injuries, he thrashed and rolled frantically in the sea of fire.
Soon, the sickening stench of burning flesh quickly filled the air.
This was fucking insane!
Rumble, rumble.
The elevator ascended rapidly.
The fires and screams of the Underhive gradually shrank into tiny black specks beneath their feet.
Seth Knight remained completely unfazed by Raymonds’s reduction to a charred corpse and the ensuing chaos.
That ungrateful cur had been a massive pain in the ass anyway.
However, just as he was about to close his eyes and rest…
*Beep—!*
The encrypted communicator in his pocket suddenly activated on its own in an incredibly eerie manner.
A completely emotionless, heavily blood-soaked synthesized voice came through the speaker.
“Steve, what is the status of the ‘sacrifices’ you were collecting in the Underhive?”
The synthesized voice suddenly grew incredibly violent.
“If tonight’s sacrificial ritual in the Mid-hive’s core power chamber goes even slightly awry, your soul will be flayed dry!”
Holy shit!
Seth Knight snapped his eyes open, his gaze turning icy cold.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
The original owner of this body, that freeloading, degenerate soldier…
Was actually a closeted Chaos cultist?!
And an extreme Khorne worshiper at that!