In the Bottom Hive, hunger was merely the most insignificant part of countless miseries.
The industrial waste and chemical byproducts eliminated by the corporations in the Upper Hive were all dumped into the Lower and Bottom Hives.
Toxic substances accumulated over months and years, eroding the air, water sources, and soil of the lower levels. Mutated diseases and plagues ran rampant, with new types of viruses emerging endlessly.
People's skin became ulcerated from long-term exposure to toxic substances. Children were often born with various deformities; some lacked limbs, while others had malformed bony protrusions growing from their foreheads. Yet, these were considered 'normal phenomena.'
Thirty-year-old 'elderly' people coughing up blood could be seen everywhere in the alleys, curling up in corners in agony, waiting for death to descend.
There was once a man who called himself a doctor and opened a crude clinic. It was a tin shack only ten square meters in size, filled with medical equipment scavenged from the junkyard.
The clinic was packed with people riddled with illness. They waited in the cramped space, sometimes for an entire day. The doctor used the most primitive methods for diagnosis and treatment; there were no antibiotics, no painkillers, and the most advanced medical device was a chain saw.
Yet, even such a crude clinic was viewed by the people as a place of salvation. Because after treatment there, miraculously, one-tenth of the patients actually survived.
Of course, that doctor ultimately could not escape the fate of a Bottom Hive resident. He contracted an unknown virus transmitted through unknown means. After a series of attempts to save himself, he died in despair, convulsing in a high fever.
After the clinic closed, the people were left to fend for themselves. Some tried to save themselves with unidentifiable drugs found in the junkyard, while others chose to numb themselves with low-quality hallucinogens. Others simply gave up on treatment and silently waited for death.
Infectious diseases ran rampant in the Bottom Hive.
One particularly terrifying disease was known as 'Black Blood Disease.' The blood within the patient's body would turn black, and black veins would appear on their skin, spreading across their body like tree roots. When the disease flared up, the patient would cough violently, spraying out black blood that was highly infectious.
Once a sick person was discovered, the residents of the entire block would be doomed. Subsequently, they would be quarantined in abandoned buildings to wait for death. There was no medicine, no treatment, only endless pain and waiting.
The water sources in the Lower Hive were severely polluted, taking on a strange green or brown hue. Residents had to use crude filtration devices to treat the water, but it still contained large amounts of heavy metals and harmful substances. Long-term consumption led to the accumulation of toxins in the body, causing various organ failures, and in severe cases, turning people into mutants.
Here, crime was a way of survival.
In the Lower Hive, the law was less effective than the rules set by the gangs; force and wealth were everything. Various gangs carved up territory, controlling the distribution of food, water, and medicine.
Gang wars frequently erupted between blocks over a small piece of territory or a batch of supplies. Violence, robbery, murder, and extortion were daily occurrences here; compared to this place, Gotham City was as innocent as a child.
The Hive Enforcers of the Lower Hive existed in name only. Those men in uniform were not law enforcement, but rather looked like a larger criminal syndicate. No ordinary person dared to contact the Enforcers, as it would only bring them greater trouble.
However, the most terrifying thing in the Lower Hive was not disease or crime, but the endless despair that had no end in sight.
Every day, people chose to end their own lives. They jumped into factory furnaces, swallowed wastewater discharged by the factories, or simply lay across the tracks to be crushed. In their view, death was a release.
But the demons of the Warp would tell them that in the Warhammer world, there is no release.
As for those still struggling to live, they hovered on the edge of death every single day. Tomorrow, to them, was an ethereal concept. Perhaps it would be a continuation of pain, or perhaps tomorrow would simply never come.
Struggling in the darkness all day long, the light in their eyes had long since faded—or perhaps, they never had any light to begin with.
Meanwhile, the people of the Upper Hive continued their extravagant lives, as if everything below them did not exist. Two worlds, one Hive City. The distance between heaven and hell was merely a difference of a few hundred meters in altitude.
Of course, even if things were already desperate, there was still plenty of room to fall further.
If you accidentally awakened strange abilities, then congratulations: you could go to a true living hell, the Warp of the physical world—the Bottom Hive.
The people of the Bottom Hive had no despair, because the people of the Bottom Hive had no hope.
Today, however, the Bottom Hive seemed slightly different.
During his shift, a colleague approached Oak furtively, his eyes filled with unease and fear.
"Have you heard? The Upper Hive sent a large number of elite troops down here," the colleague whispered, afraid of being overheard.
Oak didn't stop the work in his hands, but his heart skipped a beat. The people of the Upper Hive never cared about the life or death of the Bottom Hive unless something major had happened.
"What's the situation?"
The colleague looked around to ensure no one was paying attention before continuing, "Something terrifying appeared in the Bottom Hive. Even the big shots in the Upper Hive couldn't sit still."
"How terrifying?" Oak frowned.
"I don't know, but I heard part of it has already spread to the Lower Hive," the colleague's voice trembled. "My cousin works at the waste disposal plant. He saw with his own eyes several fully armed Upper Hive soldiers torn to shreds by something."
"Oh, right! He also heard incredibly horrifying roars. It must be some kind of monster!" the colleague added, as if suddenly remembering.
Oak felt a wave of fear. A monster that required the Upper Hive to dispatch elite troops was no ordinary creature.
"What should we do?"
The colleague gave a bitter smile. "What can we do? Live like usual, or wait to die."
Just then, a deafening roar came from the distance.
"WAAAGH!"
The sound was like thunder, shaking the metal walls of the factory. Oak had never heard such a terrifying sound.
The factory instantly descended into chaos.
"What is that?" someone shouted in terror.
"It's over. It's Orks!" an older worker looked deathly pale. He had heard descriptions of green-skinned Orks in the black market. They were a brutal alien race that took pleasure in war and slaughter.
"How could there be green-skinned Orks here?" Oak couldn't believe his ears.
A worker who had just run in from outside, gasping for breath, explained, "It's the work of the 'Blood Bone' gang in the Bottom Hive! To seize the territory of the 'Rust Zone,' they got their hands on a batch of Ork spores."
"Are they crazy?" Oak felt a wave of dizziness.
"They thought they could control those Greenskins and use them to defeat their rivals," the worker's voice was filled with despair. "But those idiots couldn't control them. After leveling the Bottom Hive, the green-skinned Orks turned on them and are now advancing toward the Lower Hive."
The screams and explosions outside the factory were getting closer.
Oak thought of his child at home, and his heart almost leaped out of his chest. He had to go back immediately and escape this place with his child.
"Everyone, evacuate immediately!" The factory supervisor finally issued the order, but it was too late.
The factory gates were smashed open by a tremendous force, and several massive, green-skinned creatures charged in. They held crude weapons, their eyes flashing with a frenzied desire for slaughter.
"WAAAGH!" The green-skinned Orks roared in unison, immediately beginning an indiscriminate massacre.
Oak hid behind a machine, watching helplessly as a colleague was cleaved in half. Blood splattered against the wall, forming a grotesque pattern.
He had to survive—for his child.