Chapter 2905 (_)The final struggle
The next day, Ali immediately started her action.
Today, she did not go to that abandoned and decaying deck, that is, FC-N-01. Instead, she sneaked back to deck FC-N-03, two floors above, through a secret crack passage that only their organization knew.
Blend yourself into the crowd and start walking quickly in a certain direction.
And since she can blend in with the crowd at will, it is of course because this is the deck area where the low-level coolies, boatmen and some slave workers on the flagship Vengeful Spirit live. The inspection and patrol forces are very loose, and the upper-level gentlemen
It's rare to come to this kind of place.
At the same time, this is also the living deck where Ali’s home was. She is very familiar with this place and can almost walk around with her eyes closed. Even without her legal identity, she still knows how to avoid the sight of some patrol soldiers and lower-level management.
and cross-examination.
but……
It is said to be the deck for living and living, but everyone knows that in the depths of the unimportant hull of the Vengeful Spirit, the crew and slaves at the bottom live in an abyss of despair.
The so-called residential area is not much better. It is not an exaggeration to compare it to a corner abandoned by the universe and the empire.
Anyway, as Ali moved forward quickly, looking around, she saw that on this deck, the dim fluorescent tubes could only barely outline the narrow steel passages called "streets" and the densely packed steel "
Just small cabins on both sides of the street.
This place looks even more crowded than the decayed and abandoned FC-N-01 floor, and I don’t know if it’s because the air filtration device is not powerful enough. The air here seems to be always filled with dampness and mildew.
The pungent smell of body odor, saliva, feces and unknown chemical gases?
Along with the boatmen, coolies and pedestrians who hurried past with numb eyes and dirty faces, Ali, who walked among them with her face hidden in her cloak, and whose mental outlook was completely different from those of those people, inevitably had some feelings.
A feeling of suffocation.
Yes!
Perhaps, in Ali's opinion, the bottom floor had been abandoned long ago and was filled with various poisonous gases, radiation, and wandering with various soulless people, wanderers, various cosmic parasitic monsters hiding in the darkness, and those escaping from the upper deck.
Does the FC-N-01 deck, where all kinds of criminals, killers and even cultists go down, make her feel more comfortable than here?
At least, the FC-N-01 deck is much emptyer and cleaner than here.
Look at the cabins on both sides of the 'street', that is, the so-called 'houses'. The internal space is cramped. Apart from the fact that they have been used for countless years and have been slept in by countless people, they have been occupied for a long time.
Except for the shiny iron bed, which is close to a fixed position inside, the other things are either too few or in a mess. How does it look like a 'home' should look like?
The key is that it’s too small!
In that kind of small dwelling, an adult has little room to turn around after entering, and there is not much room to move around. I'm afraid no one would like to stay in that kind of place except for sleeping, right?
certainly!
Some people may still like to stay there, because even in the 'daytime', Ali walking on the street can occasionally hear the heavy breathing and the occasional sound coming from some houses.
Suppressed moans and gasps.
Obviously, that kind of primitive happiness is the only way of entertainment for those coolies and boatmen who have not yet had time to change shifts to stay in their respective houses. It is also one of the important measures to maintain population stability on the ship!
After all, whether they are coolies, shipwrights, or even sailors, their average life span is surprisingly low, and their mortality rate is extremely high. Therefore, if the bottom class cannot continuously provide new people, the upper class Astartes will
The boss and the top brass don't have enough cannon fodder, slaves and leeks to order, squeeze and exploit.
"..."
Ali, who was passing by, didn't pay attention to the sounds, nor did she stop, because she was already used to that kind of thing.
Soon, she turned into another newly renovated street.
However, although they are newly renovated and the walls are covered with new armor plates, most of the houses there have no windows. Only the cold metal walls and the mottled rust on the ceilings remind the residents of their respective situations.
Ali knows why most of the houses on this street have no windows, because this is where the relatively wealthy lower-class people live. They worry that their extra money or food will be stolen when they go out to work and are not at home. After all, everyone’s houses are small.
, if there are windows, the difficulty of stealing will be relatively low.
Especially food, Ali knew, was extremely strictly distributed, basically only enough for each household and individual's daily intake, and those who had food reserves could be said to be wealthy households.
Although every deck area has basic urban functions, and some stores even sell various things and food, if the boatmen and coolies want to make their families live a decent life with their meager subsidies and salaries, then
Definitely don't think about it.
Even if you manage to save a little money, you can often only afford low-end synthetic products with poor nutrition, which can barely sustain the minimum needs of life. As for higher and better things, they are not available in a place like this.
Owned.
In comparison, water sources are not very scarce, but it is impossible to use them at will.
Therefore, many people simply ignore washing and other matters subconsciously, or only wipe their faces casually when they wake up and prepare to go to work every day. Some people simply omit that step. After all, people need to struggle to survive every day.
, even dignity is ignored, so decency is really not important.
This is why most of the people Ali saw walking on the streets were dirty.
In such an environment, disease and despair naturally follow each other. In addition, the medical facilities on the ship are rudimentary and medical resources have never been poured into the lowest level. In addition, the empire's technology is seriously deformed and lost. Therefore, those who are seriously injured or seriously ill can often only resign themselves to their fate.
, once seriously injured or seriously ill, there is often a narrow escape from death.
Anyway, Ali never expects those who have a headache to remove the skull and replace it with a metal head, a pain in the foot to remove the thigh and replace it with a mechanical prosthesis, and then they dare to cut off the whole head and install it on the mechanical body when the stomach hurts.
The medical skills of those 'miracle doctors'!
However, it is precisely because the crew and the slave workers jointly endured the harsh management and ruthless exploitation from the upper class that although they did not have a deep friendship with each other as neighbors, they also formed some kind of twisted mutual help relationship in the midst of suffering.
Most of the time, they are much more humane than those Astartes who are as high as gods.
But that is only relative, and their only advantage is limited to this. Here, there is more suffering and oppression that is still naked and without any humanity.
However, even if she knew, Ali didn't have any good solution to this problem.
After all, their strength is still too weak. At present, their first priority is to develop and grow and seize a small and medium-sized ship to escape from the flagship. Otherwise, if they are trapped on the Vengeful Spirit, they will
Just like those numb people coming and going on the street, they cannot see the future.
Therefore, it is just a fuss to think about things beyond your ability now.
"..."
She didn’t know how long she had been walking, but when she mixed in with the crowd and reached a certain area, she finally stopped and subconsciously stared silently at the abandoned armor plate and armor plate in the distance at the corner of the wet street.
I was in a daze at a very familiar small house with a second floor and a "balcony" welded together by steel bars.
Although the second floor and balcony are not much bigger than a pigeon cage, at least it is a house with a second floor and balcony, which is considered relatively high-end.
And the reason why she stared there was because it was her home...
Of course!
That was just the past, because her home was gone long ago.
From the day her parents left, her home was no longer a home, it was just a small, narrow house. Although it can still be seen that it still has many outlines from decades ago, Ali knew that,
The place had been assigned to someone else after she left, and it is now someone else's home.
Moreover, she also saw that in the small pigeon cage room on the second floor that once belonged to her, there was a man and a woman who were extremely dirty, with food crumbs on their cheeks, and their dark nostrils were dragging.
The little kid with a snotty nose and huddled behind that window sill.
From a distance, he looked like he was only three to four years old, and he was staring with curious and numb eyes at the equally numb people walking in a hurry on the street outside.
It can be seen that their parents must have gone to work and are away from home for at least 17 or 18 hours a day. Therefore, two children of that age must be unsupervised.
There's not much parents can do except keep them at home.
Ali is no stranger to that kind of thing, because most of the children on decks FC-N-02 to FC-N-09 are in a similar situation to them. No matter how good they are, they are not much better. And Ali
She had also been through this, and she felt it deeply and had already become numb to it.
but……
She hated that situation to the point of numbness, she hated the hypocrisy and cruelty of the Empire, Terra, and the Emperor, rather than the numbness of being content with the status quo and unable to change!
Anyway!
Although yesterday's partner, the 'Uncle Huang' who had played with her since she was a child and later devoted herself to the cause of resisting the empire with her and worked conscientiously with her for decades, had persuaded her and wanted her to slow down.
She waited until she could see the situation clearly, but she couldn't help it after all.
She couldn't continue to wait indifferently!
This is just like she secretly made up her mind yesterday. No matter how difficult the road ahead is, she must fight again!
After all, this is indeed the best opportunity in decades. It has never been seen in previous decades and may never be seen again in the future.
If they wait any longer, I'm afraid the Terra Empire's Great Crusade will be over, and by then they will have even less chance!
"!?"
Right here, she didn't know how long she had been looking at it stupidly. Finally, just when Ali was in a daze, she suddenly saw two patrolling ordinary soldiers of the Imperial Army appearing in the distance, and then they turned toward her.
The direction made a vague gesture that only she and her companions knew.
"..."
Upon seeing this, Ali, who knew it was one of her own, naturally looked around silently first, and after finding nothing unusual, she followed the two people calmly.
It didn't take long before the three people, who had walked several streets, started to have formal contact in a dark and deserted corridor.
"leader!"
"Hello, chief!"
Almost as soon as they entered the dark corridor, the two soldiers wearing imperial military uniforms with only simple armor and ordinary automatic guns stood up and saluted excitedly towards Ali.
It is not difficult to tell from their title to Ali that they are indeed her subordinates. As for whether they joined the Imperial Army after being absorbed into the organization by Ali, or whether they joined the Imperial Army first and were instigated by Ali's people to rebel, then
It is currently unknown.
But anyway, they are indeed ordered to lurk in the Imperial Army on the Vengeful Spirit. That is an indisputable fact. As for how many people like them there are, I am afraid even they themselves don’t know. Perhaps only Ali herself can
Is it clear?
After all, no matter what, she has been working hard for decades, and it would be abnormal if there were no results.
Of course, that kind of thing is not important.
“No need to be polite!”
"Say it!"
"How did you go about what you were told before?"
"Where is the thing?"
Ali didn't want to be long-winded and didn't want to waste time chatting with the two of them, so she asked directly.
"It's all done!"
"It's all here!"
The two of them looked outside the corridor and found that no one was paying attention. They quickly took out a package and stuffed it into Ali's hands.
"leader!"
"You have to be careful. This thing can only be used once. If you use it again, you are in danger of being discovered!"
“And it’s only valid for one month!”
While passing it over, one of the Imperial soldiers did not forget to remind him in a low voice.
"very good!"
"I know."
"I was still an officer in the Imperial Army back then!"
Nodding and saying, Ali said that they didn't need to worry, because she knew it well. After all, she had spent some time in the imperial army and her rank was not too low.
And to be honest, if she hadn't dared to accept the body modification of the Mechanicus, let alone life-extending surgery, which is still very popular and common in the empire, I am afraid that Ali would have sneaked into the imperial army by now.
High-level.
But she had no choice. She vaguely knew that her body seemed to have some peculiarities, but she did not dare to undergo any surgeries or modifications that would expose her. She could only retire from the Imperial Army early on the grounds of "old age" and use "
Apart from death, she didn't have many options.
"Next..."
"You have to find a way to get more weapons and ammunition!"
Then, after looking at the package in her hand, she felt very satisfied and nodded again, and then gave instructions to the two of them again before carefully putting away the tightly wrapped thing.
"Follow the old method and just deliver it to the designated location!"
"I will send someone to transport it on time."
After saying that, Ali didn't dare to delay any longer and planned to turn around and leave.
"ah?"
"Also, I need ammunition..."
"But the leader!"
"What are you planning to do?"
Hearing Ali ask for weapons and ammunition again, the two of them felt a little surprised. Then they looked at each other and said with some embarrassment:
"We've taken too much lately..."
"We were worried about being exposed!"
"The original body was injured recently, and the management above is in chaos, so no one is taking care of it for the time being. Otherwise, I'm afraid it will all be traced to us brothers!"
"yes!"
"Chief, it's not that we don't want to, but the things in the warehouse have a certain amount, and the daily losses also have a certain amount. Once it exceeds too much, the superiors will definitely send someone to investigate!"
"or……"
"Let's take it easy for now and wait until the warehouse is checked next month before stealing some?"
While talking and complaining, the two soldiers did not forget to make careful suggestions.
“Leave immediately if detected!”
"You all know the process, but the collection of weapons and ammunition must be accelerated and there must be no mistakes!"
"Do you understand?"
However, Ali ignored the two people's complaints and difficulties, and directly gave the order with a serious expression and a frown.
"Do you want to..."
"!!"
"yes!"
"We promise to get the job done!"
The two of them first looked at each other in surprise again, and then, as if they had thought of something, they all got excited, then stood at attention, saluted and promised.
"very good!"
"No matter when, we must remember!"
"The evil Terra has been oppressing us, the false emperor is also deceiving us, and the Astartes are using force to suppress us!"
"The rich will always be protected, the poor will never have rights, and those who awaken their psychic powers will be brutally slaughtered. The truth of the empire is a complete lie!"
"We must rely on our own hands to fight for our own happiness!"
"This will be our last fight!"
Then, perhaps seeing the hesitation of the two of them just now, Ali said with a straight face and in an extremely serious tone a certain doctrine and concept that their organization has always implemented and promoted.
"yes!"
"This will be our last fight!"
Sure enough, after hearing Ali's words, the two people were shocked again, and then they assured and reiterated with those fanatical expressions.
"I'm going back first."
"Be careful yourself."
Seeing this, she nodded, and Ali stopped caring about the two of them. She just gave a warning and then hurriedly turned around and left. Soon she disappeared outside, which was full of numb-eyed and dirty-looking boatmen, coolies and pedestrians. On the street.
…
At almost the same time, the two Astartes who had met Aly yesterday on the abandoned deck on the ground floor and then had a fight finally came to Gavir, the captain of the 10th company of the 16th Legion's Sons of Horus. Loken's office.
"Report!"
"Company commander!"
"Here we come!"
The two of them saluted immediately after entering, and then waited for the lecture from the 10th Company Commander Loken, who seemed to be busy with official duties.
"Okay, let's talk about it!"
"Meet her?"
Loken hesitated and stopped what he was doing, then started to operate, letting the automatic door of the office close and heaving a sigh of relief before asking.
Recently, due to the serious injury of the Warmaster and the fact that Abaddon had just taken over, the affairs on the ship were somewhat chaotic, so that his workload was forced to increase a lot. Therefore, he is really busy now. As for yesterday, I didn't even have time to meet these two people.
"Yes!"
"See you!"
The two of them did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly recounted the situation at that time, that is, the meeting between the two parties, the test and confrontation, and the final defeat.
And it is not difficult to see from their expressions that as Astartes space warriors, the two of them still seem to be very surprised and ashamed to lose to an ordinary woman?
"oh?"
"Lost?"
Looking at the two confidants in front of him, and then at the scars and repair marks on the opponent's armor, Loken smiled, then pondered for a while before suddenly asking:
"That……"
"What do you think of her?"
To be honest, if he hadn't come into contact with that woman more than 20 years ago and seen her many times, and guessed some clues, I'm afraid he would be more surprised and surprised than the two subordinates in front of him.
"this……"
"How should I say..."
The two looked at each other, and then had to bite the bullet and replied shamefully:
"She's strong!"
"Whether it's strength or speed, it can even withstand our attacks in a head-on collision. Although it seems that the body shape is about the same as that of ordinary people, it is by no means the strength that ordinary people should have!"
"But not psychic!"
"It's not even the weird power of Sister Silence..."
"It's very weird anyway. It's like fighting another Astartes..."
Then, one of the Astartes hesitated to express his own somewhat absurd opinion.
"That is to say..."
"Both of you lost when you tried together, and she didn't put in much effort?"
Loken nodded and was somewhat noncommittal about his men's questions. He just frowned and pondered.
"really!"
"She became stronger again..."
If his two elite men had not lied, the other party could easily defeat them and still have some strength left. In Loken's view, that level of strength was not much different from that of company commanders like them.
"Company commander!"
"Who is she?"
"besides!"
"She should be with the rebels, right?"
"Why did you go to help her?"
Finally, at this moment, the other Astartes couldn't help but speak.
Even though the rebels and cultists on the ship were all out of character, he still found it very unbelievable that his tenth company commander had contact with a rebel and that the other party was ridiculously strong.
"Don't worry about it yet!"
"I will tell you personally when I have the opportunity in the future..."
However, Loken shook his head solemnly, and then continued to ask:
"In addition to asking you about the original body..."
"What else did you say?"
With that said, Loken stood up, then walked to the side and began to read a file.
"She said..."
"Want to meet you?"
Seeing that Captain Loken refused to speak, the two looked at each other in confusion again, but they had no choice but to answer honestly.
"See me?"
Loken frowned again.
"Okay!"
"I'll see if I have time tomorrow."
Finally, thinking of Abaddon's decision, he finally nodded and agreed.
"You can go out now."
"remember!"
"This matter must not be disclosed to anyone!"
Then, Loken gave the two of them a stern look without questioning, and then waved his hand, indicating that they could leave.
As for when he wants to meet the woman and how he wants to meet, he hasn't decided yet.
"yes!"
"Then the company commander..."
"Should we leave first?"
Seeing that the company commander seemed to be hiding a lot of things but not saying anything, although the two were a little dissatisfied, they did not dare to ask more questions. They just stood at attention and bowed before turning around and leaving.
"What a troubled year..."
"I hope the original body will be fine..."
"If he can survive, maybe I should take the initiative to report it?"
Knowing that the two people had been gone for a long time, Commander Loken of the Tenth Company slowly put away the file about a certain 'dead' female officer, sighed, stuffed it into the bottom of his filing cabinet and
Lock it.
"Abaddon"
"hope."
"You made the right decision, right?"
"cough"
But in the end, Loken was still unable to make up his mind, and began to worry about the pros and cons of a certain decision made by Captain Abaddon, who was acting on behalf of the original body and managing the fleet.
————————————
(ω)Monthly ticket~~.
Chapter completed!