Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Main planet number one, nest city number five.

This is the core area of ​​the entire galaxy, where industrial pollution is most severe.

A colossal creature dwells deep within the nest city.

The base of the Ironforging Guild, the absolute territory of the Dark Mechanicus on the first main planet.

One hundred thousand dark priests draped in crimson robes, along with millions of cyborg servants, tirelessly maintained the operation of this industrial behemoth.

Before the base's towering, hundred-meter-high adamant gold gate, the air trembled violently.

Lawson stepped out of the static force field.

Behind him followed closely Er Gou and San Gou, both clad in dark silver Iron Cavalry-style Terminator power armor.

Behind them, the forty-two White Tiger team members maintained an absolutely neat wedge-shaped tactical formation.

The oppressive feeling emanating from this extremely small force was directly tangible.

Several low-level servants who were moving waste nearby were overwhelmed by this terrifying pressure. Their basic logic circuits overloaded on the spot, and they convulsed and collapsed in the acid rain, splashing up a patch of foul-smelling mud.

Lawson strode toward the heavy, five-meter-thick, adamant gold gate.

Above the gate, thousands of scarlet optical sensors instantly lit up, locking onto the uninvited guests.

The piercing dualistic hymn air raid sirens blared across the broadcast network.

Thousands of heavily armed machine guns poured out from the hidden fire fortresses, their plasma cutting guns and rotary cannons preheating and emitting a dull hum.

Lawson stopped and coldly glanced up at the flashing red lights.

The forty-two White Tiger team members behind him simultaneously chambered their rounds.

The standoff lasted only three seconds.

A series of chaotic, high-frequency metallic friction sounds emanated from inside the gate.

Immediately afterwards, the armed servants lowered their guns and retreated into the shadows.

The heavy gate, capable of withstanding the frontal bombardment of a railgun, slowly slid open to both sides amidst a deafening clang of gears.

At the end of the passage, the Great Sage of the Dark Mechanicus, Xerath, appeared, crushing through the metal floor.

"Great Lord Astartes, please come in."

Krus led the way, and Lawson followed him into the base camp.

The assassin stepped forward and placed a large, high-backed steel chair on the open ground.

Lawson sat down with an air of authority.

The Xerox came to a stop opposite him.

His six legs bent slightly, adjusting to a height he considered to be in a state of "equal dialogue".

The Xerox electronic microphone emitted a piercing, synthesized dual tone.

He believed he absolutely had the leverage to sit down and negotiate with this newly crowned hegemon.

"Your feat of sweeping away 100,000 demons from the bottom hive and massacring the nobles of five hive capitals has been synchronized to my database in real time through the Thinker Array. This is indeed an impeccable victory of force."

Krusa manipulated his legs to take half a step forward, the heavy mechanical toes drawing a string of dazzling sparks on the metal ground.

"But governance and production cannot be separated from the blessing of the god of all machines."

Krusas's tentacles waved in the air, pointing at the massive factory equipment around him: "A mortal's brain would overload and go crazy processing the logistics data of a single block. You've taken over three planets, and you must rely on my Thinker Main Array for global scheduling. The energy distribution of the geothermal power plants, the raw material supply for the macro-cannon production line, the filter pressure differential of the atmospheric circulation system... all are under my control."

The red-light goggles of the X-ray machine gleamed with a shrewd light.

"Moreover, the way we pass on technology and knowledge—the direct insertion of cortical memory imprints and the hidden binary network protocol—is a technological barrier that you laymen can never crack. We can serve you and keep this planet running."

Krus raised his head, which was covered in mechanical parts, slightly and threw out his bottom line.

"But this is cooperation. Don't expect me to submit. As a bargaining chip, I want all the mutated population and bottom scum on these three planets as material for my sacred experiments. I also want the ultimate control over the three armories. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement, perfectly fair."

"The Thinker Array?"

Lawson spoke calmly: "Xerath, do you think I'm using an abacus to command this intergalactic war?"

Lawson couldn't be bothered to explain swarm intelligence to this pile of junk.

He simply raised his right hand slowly.

Lawson reduced the dimensionality of a piece of data in the system database, turning it into a high-density data packet, which directly and forcibly penetrated the firewall of Kassadin and was projected onto the optical sensor retina of the great sage.

"Sizzle, sizzle!"

The mechanical tentacles on Xerox's back twitched violently.

The plasma welding torch at the end went out of control instantly, spewing out a foot-long stream of chaotic flames that burned a large hole in the adjacent metal wall.

His optical lens frantically rotated its focus, attempting to decipher this completely unfamiliar underlying architecture.

"What kind of logic algorithm is this?" Kassadin exclaimed. "This data flow architecture... it's simply heretical!"

Lawson stopped tapping his fingers on the armrest.

"This is a record of a gene chimera experiment."

A massive holographic projection suddenly unfolded in front of Xerath.

The image is old.

It was a set of genetic modification data from a secret underground laboratory in the Indian subcontinent during the Earth era.

The crimson optical lenses in Xander's eye sockets flickered wildly, at a frequency so fast they seemed about to explode.

The shrunken brain in the nutrient solution in his chest began to throb violently, bubbling up with large, murky bubbles.

“Perfection…what a brutal yet inspiring act of blasphemy…”

Krus's voice carried an undisguised fanaticism and morbid obsession.

For the Dark Mechanicus, this bloody experiment that breaks down the boundaries between organic and inorganic matter is the sweetest poison.

"You actually used a virus as a medium for neurons to conduct electricity... What a brilliant idea! You managed to obtain this long-lost, forbidden knowledge that can't even be found in ancient Martian texts..."

Krusa's gaze toward Lawson changed.

He waved his tentacles like a madman who had seen a priceless treasure.

“My lord, you are indeed a kindred spirit! You hold the truth in your hands! But I will not hand over my entire forging world based on a single incomplete set of biological experimental data. That is far from enough. You must give more.”

"That was just an appetizer, Xasu. Just kidding."

Lawson stopped smiling and leaned forward slightly.

An immense sense of oppression instantly enveloped the entire casting hall, almost as if it were a tangible force.

Lawson took out an old, heavy, but spotless alloy data plate from the armory space.

The data panel traced an arc in the air and landed on the alloy workbench in front of Xerox.

"Take a look at this."

Krus reached out a mechanical tentacle with suspicion.

A data spike with complex barbs popped out from the socket at the end of the tentacle and connected to the interface of the data board.

Only 0.1 seconds had passed.

"Bang! Boom!"

The two thick exhaust pipes on the back of the X-X exploded into a cloud of thick black smoke, as its core processor burned out the safety relief valve in the instant of overload.

His massive, cyborg body convulsed violently.

The speaker emitted a piercing shriek, like thousands of fingernails scraping a blackboard simultaneously.

"No! This is impossible!"

The Great Sage stared intently at the data panel, his eight optical eyes operating at full power, as if the true form of the God of Myriad Machines had descended upon him.

"100% complete? A complete data chain without any missing parts? This is a complete STC!!"

Kassadin has gone completely mad.

All of his robotic arms stiffened at that moment, and the synthesized electronic voice became shrill and distorted due to extreme blood flow.

"Suppressor-type Storm Bomb Gun... My machine spirit... Praise be to Om Messiah! Look at this feeding design..."

As he read the data, Kassadin let out a nervous scream.

"Dual-stage delayed detonation? The shaped-charge jet burns through heavy armor, and then detonates a second time inside the target after a three-millisecond delay... This... This is equivalent to turning every ordinary bomb into the ultimate combination of a miniature molten metal and armor-piercing projectile! Ignoring the Space Marines' terracotta armor! One shot can turn the flesh inside into mincemeat!"

Xerox's tentacles flailing wildly in mid-air, as if trying to grasp at those ethereal data streams.

"And this... an adaptive rifling system? Applying the force field decomposition technology from the Space Marine power sword to gun barrel ballistics? Short-range spin reduction increases tearing wounds, long-range spin enhancement ensures absolute accuracy?! This is simply a miracle in the history of weapons design!"

Krus suddenly raised his head, his red optical eyes fixed on Lawson, who was sitting in the chair.

"And what's even more terrifying is that it's perfectly compatible with all existing .75 caliber standard ammunition in the Empire! It doesn't require replacing existing logistics production lines or remaking molds; it only requires modifying the parameters of some production machine tools to directly boost the firepower of the entire infantry by three levels!"

Kexas rolled forward half a meter.

"My lord... do you even know what level of sacred artifact you're holding? If those ancient sages on Mars knew of the existence of this STC, they would launch a bloody expedition that would sweep across the entire star sector without hesitation! They would mobilize a million-strong army of Mechs to seize it! Just to enshrine this tablet in the deepest part of their Temple of Machines!"

"So I showed it to you."

Chapter 130 The Dark Mechanicus Bows Down, Power Armor Confiscated

Lawson stood up and put his hands behind his back.

“You can assist me in building this STC production line. In return, you can personally participate in the casting process of this miracle.”

Krus was initially excited, but he keenly caught the extremely jarring word in Lawson's words.

"assist?"

Krus was unhappy.

"My lord, besides me, and my high priests who have been proficient in dualistic chants and immersed in mechanical technology for hundreds of years, who else on this planet can command such a sacred creation?"

"Your pathetic mortal engineers, just one glance at this STC's extremely complex low-level binary code and their fragile brains will instantly overload. Without us, this STC is just a piece of scrap metal!"

Lawson turned his head and spoke softly to the thick shadows outside the passage.