"We are not ordinary criminals."
Her voice was muffled by the insulated suit, but she was identifiable as an older woman.
"Angels of the God-Emperor's Mercy, we are all families of the spaceport officials and we beg for your help."
"She said they were families of spaceport officials?"
Sosh Yang asked Sol, his voice filled with surprise.
"She wanted to be let out."
Thor walked out of the darkness and peeled off the insulating suits of the corpses on the ground. As a result, the soldiers discovered that these were aliens.
"It seems that what she said is true."
Thor turned to the man in the cage and asked:
"Do you know why they kidnapped you?"
"I know, they want to use this to blackmail our husbands and children and make them betray the empire."
"What kind of conspiracy?"
"We don't know, they just imprison us here and provide us with basic meals every day."
"Who are you?"
Saul paid attention. Besides the old man, there was another person in the cell, a boy.
He cringed backwards, his eyes widening behind the dim viewing window of his insulated suit.
"I'm Marita, the former stationmaster of the airport transfer station."
The woman said, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"And this is my grandson, Nick, whose father is the current station manager."
The boy raised his head and looked directly into the angel's dark eyepieces and indifferent gaze.
"Those monsters came into the house at night and caught my grandma and me in this hot place. The food was not delicious at all and the water was smelly."
Then, the boy complained a little awkwardly.
"Grandma always said that the God Emperor would save us. Uncle Ironhide, are you sent by the God Emperor?"
In the communication channel, someone laughed. Soshiyang guessed that it was Armin.
Thor didn't respond, just walked away from the cage silently.
They then had a brief discussion.
"This is unreasonable."
Saul was the first to express his opinion.
"They can directly control these people with infection. There is no need to go to a lot of trouble to kidnap them so deep underground."
"Maybe there is another purpose?"
Soshyan tried to analyze.
"These are the family members of airport officials. Maybe they are preparing a way out for themselves, but...it is true that they can be infected directly."
As he spoke, he glanced back at the prisoners.
"Could they have been infected?"
"possible."
Sol nodded slightly.
"The best solution is to wait until the situation here is understood and then let the Legal Department take over the inspection."
"But what if they're not infected, leaving them alone isn't..."
Suddenly, Armin's voice cut in.
"Even so, we don't have the energy to take them with us, but it's safer here."
Armin then fell silent.
After making the decision, Soshiyang walked to the prison and said in a deep voice:
"We are performing an emergency mission and cannot take you with us. You stay here for now. Someone will come to rescue you after the mission is completed."
"Angel! Don't abandon us!"
There were dozens of prisoners in nearby cells, and they started shouting and making noises, getting as close to the cell grid as their courage allowed.
"I understand the difficulties of all the adults..."
The old man pushed the child forward.
"At least Nick he-"
"terribly sorry."
Before Soshyan could finish, there was a crackling sound and the alarm stopped.
The silence lasted only a moment.
With a burst of rock bed collapse, part of the stone chamber wall fell down, lava rushed through the cracks, and the hot and dazzling jets hit the exposed ground and spread quickly.
Only then did Sosh Yang realize the true source of the burning heat.
The alien directed the magma nearby, forming a self-destruction system.
"Anti-jailbreak device."
Thor started running and said calmly.
"Someone triggered it."
"Walk."
Soshyang issued the order through the team channel. He had no time to convince others with reason.
The prisoners began to scream and moan as they found themselves abandoned, but the Space Marines fell on deaf ears.
The magma here spreads rapidly, and more and more rock walls on both sides begin to collapse, flowing into the shining flow of heat and lava.
When the lava flow arrived, the screaming reached its peak and even the insulated suit began to burst into flames.
Soshiyang walked at the end, and he heard the cries, prayers and curses clearly. Armin also tried to connect to private communication several times, but he refused.
Suddenly, he stopped, turned around, and stepped through the scalding heat.
The current on the cage had been extinguished due to a short circuit. Soshiyang tore open the mesh door with his bare hands and reached out to the boy crying in his grandmother's arms.
"I'm not going anywhere without grandma!"
The boy shrank and shrank, but the old man pushed him out.
"God-Emperor's blessing, thank you for your mercy."
Suoshiyang silently grabbed the boy with one hand, then turned around and started running.
The rest of the team had already headed for the stairs, and the prison quickly turned into a hell. Everything was burning, including the people in the cage, and turned into screaming candles.
Soshyan didn't look back at this scene. He held the boy under his arm with one hand and started climbing with the remaining hand.
Soon, they escaped from this hell.
Sol did not ask Sosh Yang why he did this, and no one else questioned it.
Armin was relieved a lot, and now he was responsible for protecting the boy until he returned to the ground.
The team was gradually ascending, and the dim tunnels they passed along the way seemed to have been abandoned. Then they climbed up narrow stairwells and passed through increasingly low and crowded tunnels and rail locomotive lines.
Afterwards, they returned to the familiar mining area and found that their target was close at hand.
The mines here are cold and humid, which is very consistent with the characteristics of underground rivers flowing through them.
Just when Soshyang breathed a sigh of relief to be back on the right path, a violent explosion suddenly occurred in the tunnel where they were.
Waves of mud and rock crashed into the ten Space Marines, striking their armor and smashing them into the wall on the other side.
Armin reacted in an instant. He grabbed Nick and pulled him to his left, protecting the boy with his body.
Fortunately, the power of the explosion was not particularly strong and did not cause any substantial damage. However, when Sosh Yang gained a foothold, the ambushers came to cover him up.
Dressed in respirators and miner's attire, they rushed towards the Space Marines with morbid enthusiasm, eyes wide behind the respirator's goggles.
Laser cutters, impact drills and even crude one-handed mining picks are wielded in their hands.
But what concerned Soshyang even more was their war cry.
"For the shadows! For the Crow Lord!!"
Most of their mortal opponents could only fall to the ground and wait for death under the impact of the explosion, but they faced the Space Marines, and even if they were at the center of the explosion, they were not shocked at all.
Soshiyang pulled out his Holy Flame Sword and said only one word.
"kill."
:. :
