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Blazing fury scorched Ignis's will. His boundless hatred toward Slaanesh twisted his features, fire blazing from his eyes.
Someone like Bingbong—barely a small fry within a criminal organization—had never seen anything like this. He was so terrified he was on the verge of passing out.
"I–I don't know!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, desperately trying to defend himself, though such feeble protest could never satisfy Ignis. "I'm just a nobody!"
"A nobody?" Ignis's gaze burned so fiercely it was almost enough to ignite Bingbong on the spot. If he had a flamethrower in hand, the kid would already be on fire. "Would they really come out in force to rescue a nobody?"
"I really don't know!" He was practically crying now. "He–they wanted to recruit me as an inner member. They n–needed…"
Bingbong stammered and hesitated, which only fueled the Salamander's rage. Ignis roared at him, the sonic output of his armor making Cecilia clamp her hands over her ears.
"Needed what?! A secret ritual? Or a sacrifice?"
The moment those words were spoken, Bingbong began shaking violently. This time it wasn't just urine—everything came out.
"It was drugs!" he screamed in near despair. "He wanted me to buy their drugs so I could be promoted to a higher rank! I—I couldn't afford them, so I was stuck standing guard outside! Just catching Bangboo, that's all!"
The enraged The Salamander finally got the answer he wanted and tossed Bingbong to the ground.
"Pink-purple crystals, right."
"Yes! Yes!" Bingbong nodded frantically, kowtowing until his forehead split and bled. "But I couldn't afford them! They were way too expensive!"
How far had Slaanesh's hand reached, that her shadow appeared even in a place like this…
Ignis frowned deeply. Since Slaanesh corruption had already manifested here, purging it was absolutely necessary. But Cecilia's presence complicated things. Just thinking about the depraved acts Slaanesh cultists engaged in was enough to give him a headache.
"How many people have been using these drugs?" The Salamander forced his voice to steady.
"Just these few!" Bingbong replied hastily. "Our group isn't big. Only the older members could afford them. The one who turned into that monster was our boss—you already killed him. They only started using the drugs a few days ago."
That answer made Ignis feel even worse. Not long ago, they had just unraveled the truth behind a "Fantasy" auction. Barely a week had passed, and now new supplies were already circulating quietly. Worse still, none of The Salamander's intelligence channels had picked up on it.
That meant the Slaanesh cultists had opened an entirely new drug network—one unknown even to black-market tycoons like Markus or Jane Doe.
Things were becoming increasingly troublesome…
"I can lead you there. They hid the kidnapped Bangboo inside the Hollow. The one you're looking for is old—without an order, they wouldn't dismantle it so quickly." Bingbong crawled over and clung to Ignis's leg.
"You only kidnapped Bangboo?" The Salamander asked coldly.
"A few days ago… they kidnapped some people too. They've already been sent away."
Ignis felt his blood run cold. Now he understood why Fantasy was still being produced. Those damned Slaanesh cult vanguards were using Fantasy to tempt gangs, then trading drugs for living people.
No sales routes—just barter.
These people's fate was already sealed. But this couldn't be allowed to continue. They had to check the gang's base and see if any clues remained.
But there was a problem…
What about Cecilia?
He and Cerakos were Space Marines—grotesque and bloody scenes were tolerable. But Cecilia was just an ordinary girl. Considering the utterly inhuman conduct of Slaanesh cultists, sending her back first was the only option.
But without her, who would make Bingbong guide them?
This was difficult.
Cerakos clearly saw the source of The Salamander's hesitation and stepped forward to question Bingbong.
"Has your group harmed anyone internally?"
"No! Absolutely not!" Bingbong swore fervently. "We just wanted to make some money—small-time business. The Public Security can barely be bothered with us. We never dared hurt anyone."
"Then what about the others?" Ignis tightened his grip on the thunder hammer. One wrong word and Bingbong's skull would be shattered.
"Lack of money!" Bingbong looked helplessly at the Salamander. "Boss said the drugs were insanely expensive, and their savings ran out fast. The supplier said they could trade live people for drugs, so they kidnapped a few Outer Ring workers from the Faunus Quarter."
"Outer Ring people are discriminated against in New Eridu. Even if they go missing, the Public Security won't care much. Most of them sneak into the city to work without proper identification—if they disappear, there's no legal risk."
"Normally," Cerakos stepped closer, placing the power sword against Bingbong's neck again, "someone like you wouldn't be allowed to live."
"But I've decided to give you a chance."
The Son of Sanguinius lifted Bingbong's chin with the flat of the blade. "You take us to your base and find the missing Bangboo. After that, I'll allow you to turn yourself in to the Public Security."
"Or," his tone dropped, "I crack open your skull right now and see how many memories I can pull out of those parts inside."
Bingbong clutched his head and wailed. "I'll lead you! I will! Please—give me a chance!"
"Cerakos, brother…" Ignis signaled him with his eyes, referring to Cecilia.
"It's fine. You were telling the truth. If no one was harmed, she shouldn't see anything too terrible." The Lamenter sighed. "Still… I didn't expect to find Slaanesh traces here. This is bad."
If I told him there used to be a high-end Slaanesh club beneath the Faunus Quarter, I wonder how shocked he'd be… Ignis thought.
Chaos's incursion hadn't been long, but Slaanesh's growth was frighteningly rapid.
It was inseparable from New Eridu's developed entertainment industry and vast black markets. A city living beside apocalypse—dancing with disaster—needed entertainment to keep its people from mentally collapsing. And black industries were the inevitable downstream result.
Ignis had no intention of resolving the city's contradictions. But Slaanesh's invasion had to be stopped. This city already stood on thin ice—it couldn't bear anything more dangerous.
And those four Chaos Gods, twisted deities from the Immaterium, each had the power to destroy this place on their own.
His new life. His new friends. His… new lover.
Ignis desperately wanted to protect all of it. That meant these damned evils had to be purged.
"Alright…" He finally relented. If anything unsuitable for Cecilia appeared, he would knock her unconscious with psychic force immediately.
"You—clean yourself up and lead the way." The Salamander suppressed his rage and spoke to Bingbong.
The latter thanked him profusely, then stripped the pants off a corpse to change into them.
Only then did Cerakos have time to check on Cecilia. The young lady wasn't injured. Ignis's psychic shield had wrapped her tightly—she only felt warm golden light and saw nothing at all.
After the fighting ended, seeing corpses scattered everywhere did make her heart race—but as a Proxy, it was nothing more than that. In this line of work, you were bound to encounter the dead. Only the manner of death differed.
Once Bingbong finished changing into his dead companion's pants and wiped the tears and snot from his face, he approached them meekly.
"Shall we go?"
Seeing the two armored men nod, he turned and led the way.
The Hollow rift was nearby, inside the collapsed building. When Cecilia saw it, she took out her phone and recorded its location so they could find it again later.
But once they passed through the rift, the scenery changed.
It was still a construction site, but there were railway tracks nearby. Ignis's gaze even caught sight of a distant Leviathan Dreadnought. The old veteran was dismantling a building's load-bearing structure, its power claw replaced with a siege drill. Ignis remembered Gotthardt mentioning that Grace Howard was trying to help replicate some weapons—and this three-bit siege drill was one of the latest targets.
"How did we end up here?" Cerakos looked just as confused.
"Looks like this rift connects to other Hollows. No wonder it was hard to track." Cecilia checked her phone. "Are we in the Dead End Hollow now?"
"Yes. This is the real base." Bingbong confessed honestly. "Capturing Bangboo in other Hollows was just a smokescreen. Using multiple rifts we control, we can appear in many places quickly. Of course, the rifts are unstable. I heard quite a few people died figuring out the pattern."
He led them to their lair—an unfinished building that would probably be demolished by Belobog Heavy Industries sooner or later.
The first floor was filled with Bangboo fragments—or rather, Bangboo remains.
These round-bodied artificial intelligences had been cut open, all internal components stripped out. Empty shells lay scattered everywhere. There was no blood smell, yet it was deeply unsettling. Most Bangboo had little wariness toward humans—they were fond of people. Even wild Bangboo were eager to interact, sometimes to the point of flattery.
Silence.
"This is…" Cecilia covered her mouth, her face pale. She didn't own a Bangboo, but she had seen plenty. This soundless scene felt deafening.
"They cut open the Bangboo, remove valuable components, and sell them to black markets or buyers." Bingbong explained dejectedly. "But they leave the distress system intact to lure Bangboo working inside Hollows. Then they capture those Bangboo and bring them here."
"I didn't dare do this work. My family has had a Bangboo companion for years, so…"
"So, you were assigned to guard the fishing hook," Cerakos finished for him.
Bingbong nodded and led them through the silent slaughterhouse of machines.
"Captured Bangboo are usually kept upstairs until it's time to dismantle them. To catch them, we spray high-concentration active ether. It damages their electronic components and immobilizes them."
"And disables the automatic alarm, leaving only the final distress signal," Cecilia added. "Despicable methods."
"I–I'm sorry… I didn't want this… I just couldn't find work and needed money…" Bingbong tried to justify himself. "I really didn't dismantle a single Bangboo!"
The Salamander let out a contemptuous snort. "Spare me the excuses. If you wanted to live, New Eridu has no shortage of legal options. You were lazy and greedy, stumbled into a den of thieves, and became an accomplice. Once we're done, I'll personally deliver you to the Public Security. You'd better reflect properly in prison."
Hearing that jail was unavoidable, Bingbong deflated completely.
"No—someone's been here!" Ignis suddenly spotted two fresh thermal radiation signatures.
One belonged to a Bangboo about thigh-high. The other was a petite figure only around 1.42 meters tall.
He recognized both heat signatures immediately—Eous and Qingyi.
What were they doing here?
Phaethon had said Bangboo were disappearing on Sixth Street, and Qingyi was investigating. But those two actually dared to enter a Hollow with a Public Security officer? The legendary Proxy really just exposed themselves like that?
Following Bingbong upstairs, Ignis saw gang members unconscious all over the floor. There were no mutation signs—only bruises from blunt strikes and burn marks from electric shocks.
No doubt about it. These were injuries from Qingyi's electrified three-section staff, and they were fresh—less than fifteen minutes old.
Tracking the trail upward, Qingyi's steps grew heavier. Bingbong said the undismantled Bangboo were also gone.
At the rooftop, they finally saw Qingyi staggering forward. The small-statured automaton officer carried a pack stuffed with twenty or thirty Bangboo and dragged the immobilized Eous behind her, heading toward the Hollow exit rift.
Ignis called her name.
She turned slowly, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly—then collapsed face-first, unmoving.
"Get them out first!" Ignis hoisted Qingyi onto his shoulder and dragged the Bangboo-filled pack with his other hand.
"I'll help!" Cecilia carried Eous and followed closely. She recognized the Bangboo—it belonged to Miss Belle.
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