Chapter 873: Lia and the Twin Stars (7)

Lia leaned her back against the door panel and slowly slid down to the floor, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.

Her stomach churned violently. She pressed her hand tightly over her mouth to keep from vomiting.

That was no longer just a "loss rate" on a digital report.

Those were living, breathing people!

A starving child and a desperate old man!

Just a few steps outside her door, they were "cleared" like trash!

The Liquidators... the Star Alliance... they had truly never looked at them as human beings.

Not even in the slightest.

Obedience? Working hard?

Her previous naive thoughts now seemed ridiculous.

In this system, their only fate was to be drained dry and then discarded, perhaps even "cleared" prematurely for some insignificant fault!

Continue staying in the room, pretending nothing happened, and waiting for the "clearing" that could descend upon her at any moment?

Or...

With trembling hands, she reached into the inner pocket of her uniform and fished out the ball of paper, now softened by the sweat from her palms.

She carefully unfolded it, and the scrawled handwriting on the paper came into view once again.

"... If you don't want to become Ashes in the mine, then rise up! Seek the 'Survivor'! Unite! Survive!"

"Survive..."

Lia murmured the last three words, her voice hoarse.

Everything that had happened outside the door just now had shattered all her wishful thinking.

There seemed to be only one path to survival; continuing to stay here would only lead to the outcome of becoming "loss."

Lia took a deep breath; the smell of scorched flesh from the Energy Weapon seemed to still linger in the air.

She stood up and moved to the door crack once again.

In the corridor outside, the crowd had already begun to disperse slowly under the soldiers' driving, everyone keeping their heads down as they left, no one speaking.

A young grey-dog soldier still stood in place, looking at the empty ground after the clearing, his fists clenched.

"Survivor."

Lia recalled the information on the paper; apart from those few slogans, there was no contact information.

This was normal; if such an organization left contact information, it would likely have been wiped out long ago.

She needed to wait, to wait for an opportunity to make contact.

Over the next few days, the news of a significant increase in quotas was officially announced, and reports of accidents and "loss" in the factories and mines increased significantly.

Rations were cut again, and the Nutrient Paste Lia received each day was barely enough to keep her from fainting from hunger.

Because all production data now needed to be copied and sent to the Liquidator office, Lia's work became even more burdensome.

Lia tried her best to complete her data entry work while keeping an eye out for any anomalies around her.

She noticed that the maintenance passage leading to the abandoned Refinery in the West District, which few people usually walked through, had recently seen some footprints that shouldn't be there.

She dared not act rashly.

The Liquidators' surveillance was pervasive; she had heard that someone in the neighboring district was taken away that very night just for looking in the direction of a Liquidator a few too many times, on the grounds of "suspected threat assessment."

The turning point occurred when Lia was returning to her living unit.

As Lia was walking back with that pitifully small tube of Nutrient Paste for the day, she saw a familiar figure, Hanke, the old mechanic from the neighboring unit; he was limping along, clutching something in his arms, his expression nervous.

Hanke had previously worked in the central pipeline system, but later became lame due to a work injury and had to pull many strings to get transferred to a marginal position.

He was an honest man and rarely argued with anyone.

Lia remembered that when the Liquidators executed that pair of grandparents a few days ago, Hanke seemed to have been in the crowd watching.

Just as Hanke was about to turn into a side passage, two patrolling grey-dog soldiers stopped him.

"Stop! What are you hiding in your arms?"

"N-nothing... officer... just some... some old parts..."

"Parts? All supplies must be registered now! Take it out for inspection!"

Hanke hugged the object in his arms tightly; it was a small box wrapped in an oily rag.

Lia recognized that kind of box; sometimes it was used to hold second-hand voltage stabilizers or filter cores salvaged from abandoned machines that could still barely be used.

On the black market, these things could be traded for a little extra food or medicine, which indeed counted as "stealing Star Alliance property."

If turned in, Hanke would be directly "cleared" by the Liquidators.

Just as one soldier reached out to snatch the box, the other, slightly older soldier, suddenly pulled his companion's arm gently and whispered.

"Forget it, mate, an old cripple, what important thing could he be hiding? Probably just some junk, trying to trade for a bite to eat. Look at how scared he is."

The young soldier paused, hesitated, looked at Hanke, then at his companion, and finally waved his hand irritably.

"Get lost! Old thing! Don't let us see you sneaking around again, damn it!"

"Yes... sir!"

Hanke scrambled into the side passage with the box and disappeared.

Lia saw all of this.

In the older soldier's eyes, a trace of helplessness flashed.

And the young soldier, after scolding him, watched Hanke's fleeing back, licked his dry lips, and whispered to his companion.

"... Damn it, these days... when will it end. My sister is at the Refinery, she fainted yesterday, the factory doctor said it was malnutrition and severe fatigue... the quota has been increased again, how can she hold on..."

The older soldier sighed and patted his shoulder.

"Sigh, talk less, do more. Don't forget a few days ago... that incident. We just execute orders, as for the rest... don't think too much."

Saying this, the two continued their patrol.

Lia stood where she was, never expecting that the two Greyhound soldiers would actually let Hank go?

The Greyhound soldiers were wavering too!

They were also recruited from the residents of the Lower District, and their own relatives and friends were suffering from the same exploitation.

The cruelty of the Liquidator not only intimidated the residents but also made these "dogs" who carried out the orders feel uneasy.

This was a signal!

Lia looked at the side passage where Hank had disappeared; the direction that passage led to... was precisely the abandoned purification plant in the West District.

A bold thought rose in Lia's heart.

Lia did not follow immediately.

Instead, she waited patiently until the dome's simulated light turned completely "dark," during the gap when the Patrol Squad changed shifts.

Lia changed into a dark, old coat, wrapped up her hair, tucked away that Nutrient Paste she hadn't even eaten enough of, and slipped out of her living unit.

Avoiding the main passage, Lia navigated through the Lower District, relying on her memory and her knowledge of the surveillance blind spots.

The area around the abandoned purification plant was unusually quiet, with almost no figures to be seen, only the shadows cast by rusted pipes and silent, abandoned equipment.

Lia's nerves were taut; she didn't know what she was looking for—perhaps a mark, a symbol, or... a person.

Just as she passed a section of broken pipe, a hand suddenly reached out from the shadows beside her, slamming over her mouth, while another hand tightly clamped around her body, dragging her into the darkness deep within the pipe.

Lia was scared out of her wits and struggled desperately, but the other person's strength was immense, and she couldn't move at all.

"Don't move! Don't make a sound!"

A voice suppressed to an extremely low volume rang out by her ear.

"Who are you? Why were you following Hank? Are you a spy for the Liquidator?"

Hearing the name "Hank," Lia's heart stirred; she stopped struggling and tried her best to shake her head.

The hand covering her mouth loosened slightly, but the arm clamping her remained powerful.

"I... I'm not a spy..."

Lia gasped, her voice trembling.

"I... I want to find the 'Survivor'..."

The figure in the darkness stiffened for a moment.

"What Survivor? Never heard of it."

The other person's voice was full of vigilance.

Lia steeled her heart, took the piece of paper that had already been worn soft from her pocket, and passed it backward.

"Because of this... and... this afternoon, I saw Hank being stopped by soldiers... I saw him come this way..."

The person behind her took the paper and was silent for a moment.

Lia could hear his heavy breathing.

After a while, he released his restraint but still stood in front of Lia.

In the darkness, Lia could barely make out that this was a tall man, and his face seemed to be covered by something as well.

"Do you know how dangerous this thing is?"

The man shook the piece of paper.

"Based on this alone, I could dispose of you right now to keep you from bringing trouble."

Lia's heart rose to her throat, but she forced herself to calm down, lifted her head, and despite not being able to see the other person clearly in the dark, she still tried to look directly in that direction.

"I know it's dangerous! But I'm even more afraid of being 'cleared' away like trash! What happened this afternoon at Channel 7... do you know about it? That child and the old man..."

The man was silent again.

A few seconds later, he spoke slowly.

"……We know."

"Then you should understand! No one can stand by and watch anymore! The Liquidator won't let anyone go! The Greyhound soldiers are starting to waver too! This is our only chance!"

Lia's voice couldn't help but rise a little.

The man reached out to cover her mouth again and hissed sternly.

"Keep it down!"

He listened vigilantly to the movement outside, and only after a while did he let go.

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to join you. I do data entry at the Ziyuan Tiaodu Administration. I... I might be able to access some information... detailed data on quota adjustments, transport ship schedules, even... the shift patterns of the Liquidator's Patrol Squad..."

This was the only "bargaining chip" Lia could offer.

The man in the darkness took a deep breath.

"……Follow me. Don't make a sound, follow my footsteps. If I notice anything wrong, I will leave immediately; you'll be on your own."

Lia nodded vigorously.