Warhammer: Empire Reboot

But the structure is intact.

The fact that the servo muscle bundles can produce the correct elastic feedback during manual stretching tests indicates that their physical structure has not failed.

Although the defensive capabilities of the terracotta plates have decreased due to wear and tear, they still far exceed those of any Imperial Star Force standard armor.

After the assembly was completed, Lawson ordered all remaining armor fragments to be retrieved: loose pieces that could not be assembled into a complete suit of armor, leg armor and shin guards that were too worn but whose physical structure was not completely destroyed, and arm components that were broken but retained servo muscle bundle segments.

"The damaged parts are sorted, packed, and stored separately."

"Just because we don't need them now doesn't mean we won't need them in the future. Once the technology is mature, every single one of these parts will be a treasure."

Jia San complied.

The usable parts of more than eighty damaged armors were disassembled, labeled, and sealed one by one, and then transferred through the armory space to a dedicated area of ​​the stronghold warehouse.

The real problem lies with the powered backpack.

Each power armor is equipped with a standard MK VII power backpack on its back, which is the heart of the power armor.

The backpack integrates a miniature fusion reactor, a cooling system, a central control unit for servo muscle bundles, and the core processor for the life support system.

Without a power backpack, power armor is just a heavy, lifeless metal coffin.

Not only will it not enhance the wearer's abilities, but its own weight of over 300 kilograms will also crush the wearer.

All 117 powered backpacks were either damaged or out of service.

Lawson had his assassins remove the fuel cores, high-purity isotope fuel blocks, the standard fuel for the Imperial micro fusion reactor, from all the power backpacks.

Approximately forty pieces still retain usable fuel equivalent.

The remaining fuel from these forty pieces was collected and repackaged, barely managing to assemble twelve fully fueled cores.

Enough for twelve powered armored vehicles to operate at full capacity.

Having fuel doesn't mean you can start the engine.

Through the perspective of Armor 3, Lawson carefully examined the twelve assembled power suits, especially the core control unit in the power backpack.

Following Lawson's instructions, Jia San disassembled the outer shell of a power backpack for inspection.

The main structure of the fusion reactor is intact.

Although the cooling pipes have slight oxidation, their sealing should still be within acceptable limits.

The physical circuit board of the servo control module showed no obvious breakage or burns.

But the core chip in the center of the control module is about the size of a thumbnail and is translucent amber in color.

Lawson stared at it for a long time.

The color is wrong.

A normal core chip should be a clear amber color, with faintly visible data patterns flowing slowly within it, like something alive. That is visual evidence of the existence of a mechanical soul.

The chip in front of me was a grayish amber color. It was murky, lifeless, and completely devoid of luster.

Mechanical soul: In the Empire's technological system, the core chip of all advanced equipment carries a mechanical soul.

According to the doctrines of Mechanism, it is a fragment of divine consciousness bestowed upon creation by an omnipotent god. From a practical perspective, it is closer to a very ancient form of semi-autonomous artificial intelligence.

It is responsible for managing the coordinated operation of all subsystems of Power Armor.

When Astartes tries to raise its arm, the mechanical soul calculates and executes the corresponding servo muscle activation sequence through the black carapace neural interface, with a delay of no more than five milliseconds.

This is the fundamental difference between power armor and power swords.

The power sword's force field generator only requires one switch; press it to cut and release it to stop.

However, power armor is a sophisticated whole with thousands of subsystems working together. Without the real-time scheduling of a mechanical soul, the wearer cannot even raise their hand.

Lawson then had Jia San disassemble and inspect the core chips of three more power backpacks.

They are all the same grayish amber color.

The mechanical soul has vanished.

This is not uncommon; the essence of a mechanical soul is a symbiotic cycle.

Humans nourish the spirit, and the spirit nourishes the armor.

After the wearer dies, data input is permanently interrupted, and the data structures in the chip begin to slowly degrade.

Centuries of complete power outages, zero input, and continuous erosion from subspace radiation would be too much for even the most advanced manufacturing process of the Imperial chips.

The chip is still there, but the soul inside is gone.

Lawson's thoughts paused slightly when he touched upon a certain idea.

An empty shell.

The hardware is intact, but the software is missing.

It's like a computer whose hard drive has been formatted. The processor isn't broken, the memory isn't broken, the motherboard isn't broken, the graphics card isn't broken, only the operating system has been deleted.

What if I could install a new operating system?

For example, swarm intelligence?

The thought flashed through Lawson's mind, but he suppressed it in less than a second.

Now was not the time to think about this, but the thought was firmly etched into his mind.

"Let's take it first and talk about it later."

During their telepathic communication, Lawson instructed Jia San: "Keep these empty chip shells safe. Don't damage them. They'll be useful later."

"All will be transferred via the armory space. The twelve power armors and twelve fuel cores will be stored separately. The core chips will be sealed and stored separately. They will be sent to the armory at the forge base. Highest priority."

Chapter 56 Half a Space Necropod

Each power armor, weighing over 300 kilograms, was moved into the base warehouse by the suicide soldiers through the armory space.

Lawson took one last look at this battlefield, forgotten for hundreds of years, through the perspective of Jia San.

117 Space Marines from an unnamed chapter.

They fought here until their entire army was wiped out.

Such stories unfold daily in every corner of the galaxy during the endless wars of the empire.

Lawson took their armor, leaving behind their bones.

In the Warhammer universe 40,000 years ago, the dead don't need armor, but the living do.

The two little devils are still in the hands of Jia San and Jia Wu.

According to the oath, their obligation is to "lead me to all the undiscovered Imperial standard weapons depots and ammunition storage points on this wrecked ship."

The word "all" is absolute within the framework of the True Name Oath.

As long as there are undiscovered imperial armories on the wrecked ships, they must continue to lead the way.

But Lawson was already considering something else.

He has decided to take down these two little devils.

Promise to let them go?

Lawson did indeed say so.

But he said "after it's finished".

The power to define "completion" rests with him.

As long as they believe there are still undiscovered armories, the mission of these two little devils will never be "complete."

Jia San and Jia Wu didn't show their killing intent, but the two little devils sensed it.

Fekus and Zikrus exchanged a glance.

The only survival strategy is to make yourself still useful.

"There's one more place!"

Fekus spoke first: "A strange place, one we've never seen before."

Zikrus added, "There's something there, definitely something good, but we don't know what it is because we can't get close."

Lawson paused for a moment, his mind already prepared to issue the execution order.

"Where?"

"Southwest of the wrecked ship."

Fekus's single eye spun rapidly as he recalled the location: "About thirty kilometers away, there's an area there."

“They are rejecting us.”

"The energy of the subspace was pushed away there."

It searched its meager vocabulary: "It's like water meeting a piece of red-hot iron. We get a headache when we get close enough, and if we get any closer, it feels like our whole body is on fire..."

Lawson's expression changed.

Reject subspace energy.

In the Warhammer universe, very few things can do this.

The Emperor's divine power, blessed relics, and the Sisterhood's faith—none of these could have appeared in the heart of a wrecked spaceship out of nowhere.

The process of elimination leaves only one answer.

Black Stone.

The Empire's official name is Netherstone or Negation Stone, one of the rarest and most mysterious substances known in the universe. It is an anti-subspace barrier that ignores all conditions.

The only race in the entire galaxy that uses blackstone on a large scale as a building material is the Space Necromancers.

"lead the way."

Three hours later.

The two squads, Jia Liu and Jia Ba, along with a rear guard composed of ordinary suicide soldiers, advanced southwestward, following the two little devils.

Fekus and Zikrus were much more efficient at leading the way than when they were searching for the armory.