Li Qinwu's dagger was pressed against the PDF squad leader's neck, but it didn't penetrate an inch.
Unlock extraction point, unlock contact person—holy crap, this is too awesome!
Li Qinwu currently had only one extraction point: a massive ventilation shaft leading to the underhive, large enough for two Leman Russ tanks to drive through side-by-side.
Near it was a forest, through which he could descend to the bottom of the hive and return to a hiding place in a certain area of the underhive.
He also had a contact person, a black market dealer from an underhive gang, who bought everything—mostly junk—and sold everything—mostly junk.
Now, being able to unlock an extraction point and a contact person, Li Qinwu couldn't refuse.
He quickly helped the PDF squad leader, Rudolfson, up from the ground, wanting to check his injuries.
But Rudolfson kept resisting and shouting.
"Traitor! Die!"
Li Qinwu, annoyed by him, slapped him twice across the face.
"Damn it! I'm not a traitor! I'm just an underhive scavenger! Here to pick up junk on the battlefield!
By the Emperor! If I were a traitor, the dagger would already be in your throat!"
At Li Qinwu's shout, the other man stopped struggling, looking at him with surprise.
"Now stop moving, damn it, let me stop the bleeding, and then we both need to run. You don't want to be caught by the rebels and raped to death, do you?!"
Rudolfson fell silent. Li Qinwu began to examine his wounds: a gunshot wound to his right hand, which was mangled, and another to his calf, which was bleeding.
Li Qinwu tore a strip of cloth from a corpse, wrapped it around Rudolfson's hand, then fashioned another strip into a sanitary pad shape and directly inserted it into the bullet hole in Rudolfson's calf.
Rudolfson nearly jumped up in pain, his teeth almost shattering, but thankfully he didn't move. Li Qinwu wrapped several more strips of cloth around his calf, violently staunching the bleeding.
He wouldn't die for now, but how were they going to evacuate?
Rudolfson looked to be over 70 kilograms; Li Qinwu couldn't possibly carry him on his back, could he?
Moreover, there were so many weapons here; not taking them back would mean coming for nothing.
He looked around and suddenly saw a small metal cart in the corner of the trench, likely used to transport soil during its construction.
He immediately pushed the cart onto the trench, then picked up the remaining four standard automatic rifles, removed the magazines, ejected the chambered rounds into the cart, and then helped Rudolfson into the cart.
"Don't give me any trouble. I'll take you to the PDF line and then I'm gone."
With that, Li Qinwu dragged the cart, intending to run.
"Wait a moment…"
Rudolfson suddenly spoke. Li Qinwu turned back to look at him.
"My comrades' tags, take them."
Li Qinwu's series of actions had confirmed it for him: he really wasn't a rebel, otherwise he would have been dead long ago.
Perhaps this really was just an underhive scavenger; he had heard of such things before, some underhive rats sneaking through damaged sections of the hive city to steal things on the surface.
Li Qinwu thought for a moment, returned to the trench, pulled dog tags—identification tags—from the chests of dead PDF soldiers, and returned to throw them to Rudolfson.
"You owe me one."
What followed was a long journey of pulling the cart. Li Qinwu, pulling a 70-kilogram man and five guns, was so exhausted he felt like spitting blood.
However, it must be said that Agri-World 496B had an excellent environment, with a blue sky, green crops everywhere, and many forests.
This scene, common in the 3rd Millennium, was a rare luxury in the 40th Millennium, and the people on this Agri-World could see such sights all the time.
Li Qinwu ran through the cultivated fields, pulling the cart. When his stamina bar was depleted, he would stop to recover, and once restored, he would continue running.
During this process, his strength increased by 1 point, from 10 to 11, and his endurance increased by 2 points, from 10 to 12.
On the way, Li Qinwu stopped in a small hollow to rest. Rudolfson had fainted from excessive blood loss.
He took out water and food from his backpack and began to eat, then opened the map in his mind to check the mission distance.
He had a map in his mind, similar to the one in Dark Zone that you check by pressing M. It was quite detailed, marking extraction points and mission location information.
At this point, the mission location was only 2 kilometers away; 2 kilometers further was the PDF's defensive line, and beyond that, the towering hive city reaching into the atmosphere.
The extraction point, however, was a full 20 kilometers away. He groaned, feeling like his legs would break today.
After eating two packs of biscuits and drinking half a bottle of water, bringing his fullness and hydration to 100%, Li Qinwu continued on his way.
By now, it was dark. The sky of Agri-World 496B was dotted with countless stars, and occasionally, some colossal object could be seen streaking across the horizon—these were orbital space stations and warships.
Li Qinwu was now about 300 meters outside the PDF defensive line. There were many landmines and barbed wire here, and in the distance were watchtowers and searchlights. Occasionally, PDF soldiers could be seen patrolling.
Li Qinwu pushed Sergeant Rudolfson off the small cart and slapped him twice to wake him up.
"Sleeping Beauty! We're home!"
Rudolfson was still a bit groggy. Li Qinwu poured the remaining half-bottle of water from his military canteen onto his face, which sobered him up.
He immediately saw the searchlights in the distance, realized he was at the PDF camp, and was overjoyed, opening his mouth to shout.
Li Qinwu quickly covered his mouth.
"Shh! Don't shout! I haven't left yet; you can shout after I'm gone!"
He didn't want to be caught by the PDF; these planetary governor's lackeys might treat him, an underhiver who had snuck out of the hive city, in who-knows-what way.
Rudolfson swallowed, indicating he wouldn't shout, and only then did Li Qinwu remove his hand.
Rudolfson looked at Li Qinwu with complex emotions.
"I owe you my life. What's your name?"
Li Qinwu pointed to his face.
"Yes, you owe me your life, so you must remember this face of mine, and remember my name: Scavenger Li Qinwu. Remember it, and find an opportunity to repay me in the future.
Now I'm leaving. Count to 100, and only call for help after I'm far away. See you around."
With that, Li Qinwu grabbed the small cart and ran, running very fast.
Rudolfson watched his retreating figure and mumbled, "Scavenger Li Qinwu, huh? I'll remember you… Wait, where's my lasgun?!"
Li Qinwu ran furiously, depleting his stamina bar more than 10 times before stopping to catch his breath. He looked at the four automatic rifles and the lasgun in the cart, so happy he wanted to roll on the ground.
"Time to eat, time to eat! This feels awesome!"
Li Qinwu hummed a little tune as he ran towards the extraction point. He was in a good mood, as if his stamina bar was regenerating a bit faster.
Before the sun rose, he arrived at the underground ventilation shaft in a certain forest.
This was a massive pipe, made of rusted metal and ceramite, part of the hive city.
Perhaps the hive city was so vast that its designers had forgotten about the ventilation shafts; the unmaintained pipes were severely damaged, with one path leading directly to the bottom of the hive.
When Li Qinwu entered the pipe, a green 10-second countdown appeared in his vision.
When the 10-second countdown reached zero, his figure suddenly vanished, reappearing in a dark room in the underhive.
A line of information appeared in Li Qinwu's vision.
Evacuation successful, outstanding operation, brought out supplies worth 36,300 fertilizer vouchers, mission completed, unlocked contact person Rudolfson.