Chapter 12: The Harvest of the Pig-Grit
Kian waited for three full minutes, his shotgun leveled, as the metal floor groaned under the monster's weight. The beast was truly wedged. He began a slow, silent ascent to the fifth floor, moving like a shadow through the industrial haze.
From the stairwell, he saw the nightmare. Half the Chem-Sow was through the gap, its legs kicking frantically in the air, its "Pig-Grit" mask muffled by the plasteel plates it was currently trying to eat. It was vulnerable.
Kian didn't hesitate. He sprinted forward, shoved the twin barrels of his Pipe Shotgun against the unarmored joint of the beast's left knee, and pulled both triggers.
KRA-KOOM!
A spray of black, chemically altered blood painted the walls. The Chem-Sow let out a high-pitched, warbling squeal that shook the pipes. Kian reloaded with frantic speed, his hands moving with the muscle memory of a thousand Tarkov raids.
He fired again. And again. By the fourth shot, the 35mm heavy buckshot had completely shredded the joint. The beast's left leg hung by a few strands of mutated sinew.
"REEEEEEEE—!"
Driven by a surge of "Frenzy-Spur" chemicals, the Chem-Sow performed a feat of impossible strength. It wrenched its body backward, the sound of tearing metal and snapping bone echoing through the reactor. It ripped itself free of the gap, but at a terrible cost—its mangled left leg snapped off at the knee.
Kian scrambled back, jamming fresh shells into the breaches.
The Chem-Sow hit the floor with a wet thud. Even with one leg gone, it began to crawl toward him, its massive arms pulling its mountain of flesh forward with terrifying speed.
Kian fired a few more rounds, but the buckshot simply bounced off the thick scrap-plate nailed into the monster's back. Lead on steel. Useless.
"Fine. Let's see how much 'Onslaught-stimm' you've got left," Kian muttered.
He didn't waste more ammo. He began to "kite" the beast, staying just out of reach as the monster dragged itself in circles. He was waiting for it to bleed out, but after two laps, he realized the floor wasn't getting bloodier. The beast's "Frenzy-Spur" was pumping high-speed coagulants into its system. It wasn't going to die of blood loss.
Kian sighed. He reached into his pouch and pulled out three industrial detonators. He lashed them together with a strip of canvas, estimated the beast's crawl speed, lit the long-fuse, and dropped the "3-in-1" bundle right in the monster's path.
The Chem-Sow, blinded by its chemically induced rage, didn't even look at the hissing metal cylinders. It crawled directly over them.
BOOM.
The shockwave nearly knocked Kian off the catwalk. When the dust settled, the Chem-Sow was in pieces. Its torso had been hollowed out, its internal organs scattered across the deck like a butcher's nightmare.
"Clear," Kian breathed, the adrenaline finally receding. "Time to loot."
He started with the beast. He didn't have a bag big enough for the whole pig, but he wanted proof of the kill for Nephal. He used his combat knife to cut the Frenzy-Spur Manifold from the monster's spine.
It was a jagged piece of dark-iron tech, bristling with needles that delivered "Wrath-Chem" directly into the spinal cord. Kian noticed seven small ports on the device. He pried them open.
Inside were seven glass cylinders. Two were empty; five were filled with a pulsating, crimson fluid.
[Item: Refined Onslaught-Stimm]
Value: 800 Agri-Scrips
Description: A combat drug that ignores pain, induces hyper-aggression, and triggers rapid coagulation.
System Note: High-tier precursor for the Medicae Station. Can be refined into "Adrenal Bolsters" or "Regen-Serums."
"Jackpot," Kian whispered. "That's the high-grade stuff."
He bagged the stimms and the manifold, then returned to the first floor to finish the "Tattoo Harvest" from the Alchem-Hounds. With the proof of the kill secured, he began a full "Floor Sweep" of the map.
Level 1: He found a crate of Cogitator-grade Glassware—beakers and test tubes. It was worth 200 scrips, but more importantly, it was an upgrade material for the Medicae Station.
Level 2: Hidden behind a rusted bulkhead, he found the "Big Gold" of the raid. A Master-pattern Chemical Purifier. It was the size of a suitcase and glowed with a faint green light.
Value: 25,000 Agri-Scrips.
Utility: Essential for the Medicae Station (Level 2).
Level 4: He scavenged three Bio-Filtration Units from an old storage locker.
Utility: Essential for the Water Collector upgrade in the Sanctum.
Level 5: He found an Industrial Plasteel Drill. It was heavy as a boulder but could chew through Hive masonry like butter.
Value: 3,200 Agri-Scrips.
Kian was loaded to the gills. He was ready to head to the ventilation shaft on the fifth floor to extract, but he noticed something. The hole the Chem-Sow had smashed through the wall didn't lead to a dead end.
He walked to the edge of the breach. As he approached, a new prompt appeared:
[Trans-Sector Path Detected]
Target Zone: Alchem-Hound Territory (The Sump-Warren)
Travel Time: 10... 9... 8...
"So that's how it is," Kian mused. "The maps are connected."
He didn't have the ammo or the health to push into a gang stronghold today. He backed away, letting the timer expire, and headed for the extraction point.
[EXTRACTION SUCCESSFUL: MASTERFUL RATING]
Total Loot Value: 32,500 Agri-Scrips
Status: Wounded (Minor burns, bruised ribs).
Kian reappeared in the Sanctum, dropping his heavy pack with a groan. "A chemical purifier and Onslaught stimms... Nephal is going to lose his mind when he sees what I brought back."