"You damn vampire! There is no such thing as relief rations!"
The speaker was a man with an unshaven beard and a weathered face, but he was much stronger than his peers.
Soshyan immediately noticed the badge on the man's collar. Although it was heavily covered in stains, he could still tell that it was the badge of the Astra Militarum.
The tattered clothes this man was wearing could also be vaguely seen as the training uniforms of the Astra Militarum.
Seeing this man jumping out, West raised his eyebrows, with a look of disdain on his face.
"Lieutenant Ventry Kos, as a retired officer of the Astra Militarum, you really give face to the Minister of Military Affairs."
"Pooh!"
The former Astra Militarum lieutenant suddenly spat at West, with no trace of fear on his face.
"What you said is all nonsense! They may be cowardly, stingy, or cunning, but who made them become like this?"
He pointed at West and shouted:
"It's you! It's you landowners and grain merchants!"
This man's blue-grey face showed a look of anger that was almost crying, and every word he spoke was expressed through gritted teeth.
"If you can't collect enough food, burn down the houses! Force them to do hard labor and labor, and kill people if they disobey! You also open casinos privately to trick the homesteaders into gambling, and when they lose all their money, you lend them money and take it away.
Their fields! You also raise prices during natural disasters,
Usury! Raise the price of farm tools to dozens of times the purchase price!"
While cursing angrily, the man's eyes widened, his teeth clenched, and his words were almost squeezed out from between his teeth.
"What do you tell them to do! What should they do!!"
After saying that, the man sat down on the ground, lowered his head and let out a suppressed cry, and hit the ground hard with his fist, even leaving blood marks.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
Suddenly, a shadow enveloped him. The man looked up and found a giant in silver-gray armor standing in front of him. The armor was covered with thunderclouds, bringing a terrifying aura of destruction.
"You just said that there are no relief rations?"
"My lord! My lord! There are some! They are all greedy."
"Shut up!"
Soshyan's sullen voice made West immediately shut his mouth and tremble with fear.
Then he turned to the man on the ground.
"tell me."
"No! I swear on my life! What they distributed was definitely not relief rations, but a small amount of grains and native plants wrapped in mud! Sir, most of the native plants in this world are toxic to a certain extent. If you eat too many of them,
You'll die! They send those things, it's impossible to
I’m not trying to save people! I’m trying to kill people!”
The man huddled at Soshyan's feet, with tears on his face.
"My wife and daughter both... died from eating those things!"
"Nonsense! You are all talking nonsense! You obviously ate so much food! But you didn't eat anything!"
West is still defending himself.
"Don't try to deceive the angels with your pity! You are rebels! You are rebels who deserve to be killed! You attacked the empire's taxation agency. This is an ironclad fact!"
"me……"
The old man who led the team suddenly stood up unsteadily, and then fiercely pulled out a knife from his cane.
In an instant, the space warriors touched their weapons one after another, and the guards also pointed their guns at them.
But no one expected that the old man would stab the knife into his abdomen and then pull it to the right with a roar.
"you--"
Soshyan was also stunned. He saw thick blood overflowing from the huge tear in the old man's abdomen, and the strong smell of blood in the air floated into his nose through the helmet.
"S-Sir!"
The old man's legs were trembling, but he gritted his teeth and held on. He put his hand into his abdomen and suddenly pulled out a piece of intestine.
From the protruding veins on his forehead, you can imagine the level of pain he was enduring, but he actually endured it, holding his intestines in his hands full of blood, and carried them in the direction of Soshiyang.
"Look, there is absolutely not...a grain of grain!"
After saying that, the old man fell backwards. The people screamed and rushed to help him.
The old man's eyes widened, and his face, which was full of wrinkles and dirt, showed a deep sadness. After his chest rose and fell twice for the last time, he became motionless.
"He...why."
Such a tragic scene deeply shocked Soshiyang, even more shocking than the blood and flesh flying and the hail of bullets on the battlefield.
Why would a mortal who should be extremely fragile and of little value in his mind do this?
What pushed him to this point?
Soshiyang turned his head and looked at the landlord who had his head shrunk and his face was as pale as a corpse. He slowly clenched his hand armor...
"You should collect his body."
Suddenly, Sol, who had never spoken a word, stood up and pointed at the dead old man.
"We have learned about your experience and will report it all to the Sector Governor. The Empire will give you a fair judgment. Before that...as long as you put down your weapons, we swear by our glory that before the Empire's judgment comes,
Ensure your lives are safe."
The retired lieutenant of the Astra Militarum understood what Thor said. After being silent for less than ten seconds, he nodded.
Then Saul turned to West and said:
"Once they lay down their weapons, they will no longer be militants. If you don't trust them entering the city, you can resettle them outside the city and provide them with clean water and food. Even if they are really guilty, they will have to be handed over to the Imperial Ministry of Justice for trial.
, not you."
"Of course, of course!"
West nodded hastily.
"but--"
Soshyan wanted to say something else, but Thor's whisper reached his ears through the helmet's communicator.
"We don't have time to struggle in moral whirlpools, Soshyan."
He could only swallow the words in his throat.
Not long after the rebels who entered the city carried the old man's body back to the jungle, a large number of rebellious serfs and farmers walked out of this natural bunker and came to the designated resettlement area outside the city with weapons held high.
After a brief inspection by the guards, their weapons were confiscated, and they were then able to go to a makeshift shack to receive food and clean water.
Just when all this was happening, Soshyan and his party had already left the city, and headed for the abandoned mine under the leadership of the steward sent by West.
Before setting off, Soshyan once asked Sol.
"Why don't you let me punish him."
He, of course, refers to West.
Soshyan has been able to confirm that these landlords are definitely the real driving force behind this rebellion.
But facing the angry Soshyan, Sol's answer was.
"Soshyan, have you been to the lower deck of the Starfire?"
The young chapter leader was stunned for a moment, and he suddenly realized that he had never set foot in other areas of the battleship beneath him.
"No."
Facing Soshyan's frankness, a smile appeared on Sol's face at that time. This smile was like an adult watching a child's childish behavior.