I summoned the Fourth Scourge in Warhammer

Chapter 177 Just Maintain Respect
Just as Taron Wick was filled with dread, the three strangely behaving "priests" stepped forward. The soldiers on the road heading to their deaths also made way for them, respectfully stepping aside.

The priest in the middle leaned down. His mechanical mask revealed no expression, but his voice was surprisingly calm: "Father Taren Wick, my last name is Ping, you can call me Pingjie."

“Father Ping…Father Ping,” Wick struggled to his feet, bent slightly, and asked in a cautious, almost humble tone, “Excuse me…what’s going on? Is an alien fleet about to invade this place?”

His optical sensors swept across the distant army of the Suicide Squad, which had begun to deploy heavy engineering machinery to expand the island's area out of thin air. Confusion overcame his fear: "But if aliens are really going to invade, why choose to build a defensive position on this desolate planet? Is there... something worth protecting here?"

“There are actually many reasons,” Pingjie said frankly, without any intention of hiding anything. “Let me think about it carefully… First of all, it is to test some of our newly developed weapons on the actual battlefield. Other battlefields are too crowded and inconvenient to conduct such tests. This place is located on the edge of the galaxy, so remote that even the Imperial Ministry of the Interior is too lazy to visit it. No matter what happens, it will not attract the attention of the Empire in the short term.”

"Secondly..."

“Wait!” Wick abruptly interrupted him. He took a deep breath of filtered air, nervously rubbed his two mechanical hands together, and said in an almost pleading tone, “Uh, um… could you please stop talking? I… I’m suddenly not so curious anymore…”

Taron Wick knew very well that in this cruel galaxy, the phrase "you know too much" was a completely unquestionable reason for execution.

Wick was now filled with regret, regretting that he had instinctively tried to investigate the other party's purpose. He knew perfectly well that these guys were strange in every way, and their whole bodies were full of secrets, yet he had taken the initiative to probe them on this remote planet where no one could help him. Wasn't he just rushing to his death?
“Alright then, let’s change the subject.” Pingjie seemed to see through his fear and readily agreed, “Father Wick, what’s your area of ​​expertise? Biology?”

Wick hesitated for a moment, then answered honestly, "I wouldn't say I'm too proficient in biological research, but I have indeed surveyed the food chains of many planets. In fact, my main research focus is on recording the general conditions of newly discovered planets for the Empire and providing feasible development suggestions..."

Upon hearing this, the two "priests" beside Pingjie's eyes lit up. One of them, Bonnie, even shouted, "Fantastic! Wick! This is absolutely fantastic!"

Wick, however, took this exaggerated praise as sarcasm and gave a bitter smile: "In fact, my work is basically useless. Whether the reports I submit get a response depends solely on whether Om Messiah, the God of Machines, blesses me. After all, the Empire prefers to reclaim lost planets that can be taxed immediately after being conquered rather than developing new worlds from scratch. My other colleagues all think this kind of work is completely meaningless, and only a priest like me... who prefers adventure and documentation, would do this kind of thing for a long time."

“How could it be useless? It’s incredibly useful!” Another priest, Leonid, stepped forward and grabbed Wick’s mechanical arm, pulling him away. “Come, come, it’s not convenient to talk here. Let’s go inside and discuss it in detail!”

Caught off guard by the three men's overwhelming enthusiasm, Wick was practically "invited" into their simple room by their combined efforts. He was seated in the head seat, while the other three eagerly took their places in front of him. Looking at these three, every gesture of theirs, every focus of their optical sensors, was filled with undisguised anticipation, and Wick was utterly dumbfounded.

Pingjie leaned forward and said earnestly, "Shall we begin, Father Wick? How about we start with your experience leading a exploration team to the outside of orbit of an unfamiliar planet, and recount all the lessons you learned from what you would do next?"

Wick hesitated. He scrutinized the three people before him, using all his analytical modules, but he couldn't detect even the slightest hint of hypocrisy or pretense in their overflowing enthusiasm.

They seemed... genuinely, very, and desperately wanting to hear about their neglected jobs.

An indescribable, burning emotion welled up in Wick's heart. For the first time in decades as a cyborg priest… he felt recognized, needed! Wick felt a warm current flow into his circuitry; the logic loops, long dormant from years of repetitive, monotonous work, began to stir for the first time. "Then… then I'll begin," Wick straightened his back, regaining his composure. "However, I might talk for a very long time…"

"No problem, no problem! We have plenty of time!" Bonnie made an exaggerated welcoming gesture. "Please! Please! Describe it in as much detail as possible!"

After a long time.

"...Through cross-comparison of samples and final calibration of the atmospheric circulation model, the preliminary exploration of a planet can be considered basically completed," Wick concluded. Looking at the three people before him, who had been incredibly focused from beginning to end, even their optical sensors flashing at high frequency to record every detail, a warm stream of data surged into the core of his logic.

How fortunate I am to have met three colleagues on this remote and desolate planet who truly understand the value of my work!

"A brilliant narration, Wick!" exclaimed the priest who had previously identified himself as Bonnie. "This will undoubtedly be a tremendous help to our work!"

“Yes,” Pingjie nodded solemnly, “This pioneering experience from scratch is invaluable to us, even more valuable than an Emperor-level Titan!”

“While I also hope that my research findings will be recognized,” Wick said, somewhat taken aback by the exaggerated praise, “this is really going too far.”

“If you don’t believe me, then forget it.” Leonid, who had been silent all along, stood up and stretched. “We’ve been in here for so long, we should get out of here, or those three kids will start making a ruckus again.”

Bonnie snorted: "If it weren't for the higher-ups insisting on assigning us guards in the game, we wouldn't need them at all. In a real war, our modified bodies are far superior to theirs!"

Wick wisely chose not to engage in this topic he completely couldn't understand. He walked out of the house with the three of them, feeling a sense of joy as if he had found kindred spirits. However, the next second, the scene before him stunned him so much that his logic seemed to malfunction.

Not far from the camp, a huge fire pit was burning fiercely, and soldiers were silently throwing the "corpses" of other soldiers into it one by one.

Wick raised his mechanical arm shakily, pointing to the terrifying crater: "What...what happened?! How...how could so many Star Guardians have died? There shouldn't be any such threat on this planet!"

“Uh…” Pingjie was momentarily speechless. He didn’t know how to explain to an “NPC” that this was a “collective suicide” by everyone in order to quickly reset their fatigue and build fortifications with maximum efficiency. He could only vaguely say, “Just… think of it as some kind of special combat method of theirs. If you can’t understand it, just respect it.”

(End of this chapter)