The next day, Li Qingyu drove Teresa back to the church. As a farewell, he handed her a bunch of keys, over a thousand credits, and a bundle of sacred pancakes.
"These are the keys to the distillery and your dormitory. When you go home for the holidays next time, your parents will likely have moved upstairs."
Teresa thought her mother had never baked cookies, but she gratefully accepted everything he gave her.
"Then, Uncle, I'll go to class."
Teresa bowed to Li Qingyu and turned to leave, but he gently patted her shoulder, stopping her.
"This pancake," he said, "your mother baked with great difficulty, obtaining rare ingredients. She asked me to tell you that only you can eat it. Don't share it with your friends or mentors, or your mother will be very upset."
The advice seemed even stranger to Teresa. She thought that if her mother had really baked it for her, she wouldn't have minded her sharing it with other nuns.
But since her uncle said so, she had to take it seriously.
"Understood, Uncle. I'll hide them away, in the furthest corner of the room, in an iron box. No one but me will try them."
Li Qingyu smiled and told her to go to class.
If this girl maintained such caution – with his help, she might achieve quite a lot.
After that, Li Qingyu drove, took the Grand Elevator, and returned to the distillery.
First, he entered the Haven and contacted Captain Rudolf via comms, informing him that he wanted to purchase two spots in the Mid-Hive – for Little Joel's parents.
The Captain confirmed: everything would be ready in three days.
Li Qingyu left the Haven, called Little Joel's parents, and told them about Teresa, adding that their status as residents of the Mid-Hive would be restored in three days, so they should prepare to manage the distillery.
He also gave them a spare key. They were deeply touched and thanked him endlessly.
Then Mrs. Teresa, clenching her fingers, hesitantly asked, "Sir, perhaps Joel could also…"
Big Joel, hearing his wife going too far, immediately elbowed her, cutting her off.
"Forgive me, sir! She's a simple woman, she doesn't understand what she's saying. Please don't hold it against her!"
He was nervous. He was a man who understood how the world worked.
After all, their lives were owed to Li Qingyu. He had given them a chance to return to the Mid-Hive – it was a favor, not a right, and they had to use it cautiously.
Moreover, despite his kindness, Li Qingyu remained a man from the Lower Hive, one of those who had recently killed hundreds from the Fertilizer Gang, reclaiming territory.
He kept Little Joel close not just for training recruits, but also as a hostage, to remind his parents of their place. Even if they lived in the Mid-Hive, their son was still under his control.
Li Qingyu noticed their tension and calmly said, "Little Joel will stay for now. I need his military skills to train recruits. When he finishes with the first batch, if he wishes, I will pay and send him up to you. Let the family be reunited."
Currently, Li Qingyu's affairs were distributed as follows:
Little Joel was training two hundred recruits; Knife was managing the affairs of the former Fertilizer Gang, now called the chemical plant; the Kai family was responsible for the production side of the distillery in the Lower Hive; and rebels from neighboring districts transported raw materials, supplying the rebel camp with the necessary ingredients for distillation.
The business was expanding, and management had a buffer. Therefore, if Little Joel decided to leave the Lower Hive for his family in the future, Li Qingyu would not hold him back.
Big Joel, assured that the master was not angry, exhaled in relief and immediately dragged his wife into a corner to scold her properly.
Li Qingyu did not interfere in their family squabble. He gathered his equipment – he decided to visit the rebel camp and investigate the chaos with the spoilage.
He took the sacred pancakes, half a bottle of sacred alcohol, several blood packs, a surgical kit, painkillers, syringes, and energy drinks.
He chose light weapons: a pistol and six magazines, hidden under his belt beneath his work overalls. No one would notice.
He also put on a vest with explosives – detonators were sewn directly into the fabric. They could be removed one by one, or the whole thing could be detonated at once.
When he had packed everything, he got into his vehicle and drove out to the surface through a ventilation shaft. He sped through the firefight zone and, without much thought, reached Parson's rebel camp.
The camp now looked lively: more people had arrived, many capable young men who had come from other units. The past battle, though bloody, had taught them – without strength, you couldn't survive, couldn't protect your home.
Therefore, thick trenches now stretched around the camp, one after another, with log bunkers with narrow embrasures between them. It was almost impossible for an outsider to penetrate them with fire.
With such defenses, only heavy artillery could cope; an infantry battalion would simply drown.
Parson had definitively become the leader of the rebels. Seeing Li Qingyu, he warmly welcomed him, seated him in his house, and ordered food and fruit to be served.
When everything was brought, Li Qingyu, while eating, asked, "Parson, you're a local, you know a lot. I came to investigate the desecration. Have you heard if some strange cult has appeared in any villages? Or if people, and livestock, have started behaving abnormally?"
He asked the question more out of politeness – not expecting anything specific. But Parson suddenly became serious and nodded.
"Yes. Something is wrong in Matsun."
Li Qingyu put down his utensils, his face darkening. "What exactly happened?"
Parson shifted uneasily.
"Matsun is north of us, two thousand people live there. Before the war, it was a horse farm, and then their horses served our rebel cavalry. Even under Ded Sen, we sent people there to trade: grain for horses. None of them returned. Ded himself went to investigate, but upon returning, he only said one thing – Matsun had fallen into darkness. And he told us to pick stallions for breeding ourselves."
Li Qingyu asked quickly, almost in a whisper, "Fallen into darkness… What did he mean?"
Parson frowned, paused, and looking around, replied heavily, "Among those who went there was my friend. He later secretly told me: the inhabitants of Matsun are no longer human. Their bodies are changing, turning into monsters. The whole village is permeated with rot and stench. This place no longer belongs to the world of the living – not even the light of the God-Emperor penetrates there."