Chapter 68: A Deplorable Deed

"God-Emperor bless us."

Hahn withdrew his bayonet from the headless corpse of the gene-stealer. The lifeless body crashed to the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.

Still shaken, Hahn quickly moved on, heading to the next district. As a scout, he was responsible for advancing and reconnoitering the gene-stealer swarms alongside the main force.

In the lower hive of Thanatos Hive City, the remaining gene-stealers were being systematically exterminated by squads composed of travelers and auxiliary human militia.

After a month of thorough cleansing, the gene-stealers and their hybrids in the lower and underhives of Thanatos Hive were almost completely eradicated. Yet, some might still lurk in the shadows, hidden from the sweep.

Though a few unlucky survivors remained, they no longer posed any significant threat. After the patriarch of the gene-stealer cult endured both physical and psychological devastation at the hands of fifty travelers wielding a dazzling array of heavy weaponry, the campaign to purge the gene-stealer cult from Thanatos Hive was finally brought to a decisive end.

"So, what exactly did you do with those cultists in West Sisyphus Hive?"

In the office of the governor, Wang Ming questioned Xu Feng, commander of the Fourth Regiment, who had been tasked with clearing the chaos cultists from West Sisyphus Hive.

After completing their operations against the Imperial Titan forces on Diana, the Fourth Regiment had been assigned to purge the chaos cultists from West Sisyphus Hive.

"Not much. We just sealed off all the tunnels supplying food and water to the lower hive," Xu Feng replied nonchalantly.

"That’s not what I mean. I know about cutting off the supplies, but why did you post a notice offering food in exchange for cultist heads to the residents down there?"

Wang Ming was aware of the supply blockade, but he couldn't understand why the regiment had offered a bounty for cultist heads.

"Boss, I got the idea from a content creator on Bilibili. And honestly, don’t you think it’s effective?" Xu Feng explained. When he received the order to deal with the chaos cultists, he recalled a method from before his crossing, devised by an online creator who was always recruiting people to join him in traversing the world of 40K. So, he decided to implement that very method in West Sisyphus Hive.

"How wicked. After you started this, the chaos cultists in West Sisyphus Hive launched no fewer than sixty-eight large-scale attacks on the human auxiliary troops guarding the blockades. The auxiliaries wiped out approximately two hundred thousand chaos cultists," Wang Ming said helplessly, looking at Xu Feng, who wore an expression of innocence.

Although these sixty-eight attacks inflicted little damage on the auxiliaries, the consumption of ammunition was immense. After every skirmish, reports from the regiment commanders requesting resupply would pile up on Wang Ming’s desk.

Throughout this month, Wang Ming had become numb from requisitioning supplies from the marketplace.

"Your approach has driven the chaos cultists to utter desperation. Nearly every resident of the lower hive has turned against them. I even received reports of cultists declaring their return to the Emperor’s Light for a mere scrap of food," Wang Ming said, handing Xu Feng a report from his desk.

"Isn’t that a good thing?" Xu Feng responded, scanning the report about chaos cultists renouncing their ways and returning to the Emperor.

"It is, but it’s a bit ruthless. Some chaos cultists have even started fighting each other, trading their enemies’ heads for food," Wang Ming added.

In recent days, some cultists, desperate for food, had turned their rebellion-forged weapons against rival chaos cults, seeking to exchange their enemies' heads for rations from the Fourth Regiment.

"Well… doesn’t that just help the lower hive cultists exhaust themselves?" Xu Feng replied awkwardly. He hadn’t anticipated things would escalate this way.

"Alright then. But about this report you wrote, suggesting the remaining cultists be shipped off in one-way transports to the doorstep of the Titan Empire—what’s that about?" Wang Ming produced another report, handing it to Xu Feng.

"Wait, did I write that? I don’t recall anything about it," Xu Feng said, feigning ignorance as he studied the report, despite the clear evidence in his own handwriting.

"Truly wicked…" Wang Ming muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Uh, boss, if there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave," Xu Feng said, sensing his own methods might have gone too far.

"The one-way transports are ready, docked at Coulson Spaceport in Moers. You can use them whenever you need," Wang Ming called out just as Xu Feng reached the door.

Xu Feng froze.

"Good grief, so the boss is the most ruthless one of all," he thought, speechless, and silently offered a prayer for the Titans, soon to receive a rather explosive 'gift.'

After Xu Feng left, Wang Ming quietly took out his datapad and opened an electronic wooden fish app, tapping it a few times to earn some merit.

Now, let us shift our view to the exchange point in the lower hive of West Sisyphus, where the Fourth Regiment was trading food for cultist heads.

"Kurt, how much food and water do you think we can get for these Child of Life cultist heads this time?" asked a Khorne cultist, his body covered in the eight-pointed star of chaos and the sigils of Khorne, as he hefted a sack almost as large as a man and turned to his companion.

"Fifty heads should get us at least forty kilos of food and fifty kilos of water," the companion replied after some thought.

"Ha! That’ll keep our Supreme Blood God Cult alive for days to come," the cultist laughed, pleased.

Trading the heads of rival chaos cultists for food was something the Khorne cultists would never have considered before—their faith forbade such acts. They preferred to attack the imperial troops guarding the barricades, to fight their way out from the lower hive. But after thirty failed assaults, they too had turned to this practice they once despised.

The exchange point was crowded and lively, with many cultists bringing the heads of their rivals to trade with the Fourth Regiment for food.

"We’ve returned to the Emperor’s Light! Let us out, please!" shouted a group of people dressed in makeshift Imperial Ecclesiarchy robes, huddled in a corner of the exchange point, pleading with the travelers of the Fourth Regiment. They claimed to have forsaken chaos and returned to the Emperor’s Light.