Warhammer: Empire Reboot

The rest of the people dispersed and searched for a way out and resources at the edge of the hall.

UR-025 stood motionless beside the pillar.

"Dialogue attempt #074." UR-025 updated the internal log, "Result: One-way perception, no two-way communication."

"Hey, mech pilot! Come and move some rocks."

"Beep... Command received... Transport... Assist."

UR-025 turned around and stiffly walked towards the group of humans.

The technicians made rubbings of about thirty ancient sacred runes, their hands trembling with excitement.

The others discovered a mezzanine space squeezed out by structural reorganization at the edge of the hall, containing several fist-sized pieces of unprocessed black stone.

This substance costs fifteen times more per gram than an equivalent weight of refined gold on the Imperial black market.

The atmosphere began to change.

UR-025 was the first to detect it.

Trust begins to crumble when self-interest is involved.

The middle-aged man's gaze shifted back and forth between the black stone mine and the other people, lingering on it for longer and longer periods.

The two young men from the bottom nest began to whisper among themselves.

"Brother, this mine is enough for us to live on for a lifetime..."

"Shh, let's talk about this outside. Let's deal with that bald guy first; he knows too much."

The prediction model for UR-025 has begun its calculations.

Based on the personality profiles, weapon configurations, physical fitness data, and expected distribution of benefits of the seven individuals, the most likely time for the violence to erupt is when they are preparing to leave the hall.

The question of "how to distribute the spoils" can no longer be avoided.

Predicted outcome: Clashes, with at least three to four people killed.

UR-025 has no intention of stopping humans from killing each other.

There are over 900,000 records of this kind of thing in its database.

One of the fundamental characteristics of carbon-based life.

The problem is that fighting will generate noise, and that noise might attract other entities inside the fortress...

More importantly, their battles are fraught with uncertainty and could lead to many unpredictable consequences.

Therefore, it needs to control this outcome.

It needs to resolve the issue before a full-blown conflict occurs.

"drop……"

The loudspeaker suddenly emitted a sound: "Abnormal signal detected... in the direction of the corridor... suspected to be... an enemy unit... approaching."

Everyone turned to look at the entrance to the corridor at the same time.

Attention is diverted.

Suspicion was temporarily suppressed by external threats.

The middle-aged man ordered in a low voice, "Mechanic, go check the entrance to the corridor."

"Beep... Command received."

UR-025 walked to the entrance.

"No visible target detected. This may be a false alarm from the sensor. We recommend maintaining..."

Sneak attack!

Because during those three seconds, all seven people in the hall had their backs to it.

The UR-025's right arm assault gun switched from standby to full power in 0.02 seconds.

The first plasma bomb accurately hit the back of the head of the tall man at the rear.

The high-temperature plasma instantly vaporized the skull and brain, and the corpse fell forward while still holding a gun.

The second shot pierced the middle-aged man's right wrist, which was holding the gun, and his hand and the gun disappeared together; the third shot pierced through his chest cavity from behind.

The two young men from the bottom nest turned around, and two plasma bullets hit their torsos respectively.

Modified leather armor is no match for the heat of plasma; it's less than paper.

The tall, thin female hunter reacted the fastest.

He rolled to the side at the first shot, pointing the laser rifle at the entrance to the corridor.

However, UR-025 is no longer at the entrance of the corridor.

At the same second that the fire was initiated, the lower limb hydraulic system switched from "fault simulation" to full power.

Castellan's standard sprint speed is approximately twelve meters per second.

The UR-025's actual sprint speed is 34 meters per second.

In 0.6 seconds, he traversed 20 meters and appeared directly above the huntress who was rolling on the ground.

With a powerful punch, the woman's chest cavity and the rifle were slammed into the black stone floor.

The technician knelt on the ground, covered his head with his hands, and let out intermittent screams.

The elderly woman with the hunting rifle grasped the bone amulet around her neck and began chanting something.

The sixth plasma bomb ended her prayer.

Only the sobs of the technicians remained in the hall.

UR-025 retrieved the assault gun and walked up to him.

The short, fat, bald man knelt on the ground, his face covered in tears, his hands raised above his head.

"Don't kill me... I didn't see anything... I don't know who you are... Please..."

The UR-025's speaker has switched modes.

The stuttering, monotonous electronic synthesized voice disappeared.

A clear, smooth, deep voice rang out.

"The claim that nothing was seen is logically flawed."

"Your visual system has received at least two thousand frames of image data in the past four seconds, including my movement trajectory, shooting accuracy, and reaction speed. This data has been processed by your cerebral cortex and stored in the hippocampus. Even if you choose to 'forget' it, an Imperial standard brain scanner can extract these memories from the remaining neural tissue after you die."

"So, it's a pity."

UR-025's tone even carried a hint of genuine regret.

"Your carbon-based brain is receiving variables that it shouldn't be receiving."

boom!

UR-025 stood among the seven corpses.

It glanced down at the scattered fragments of black stone ore and the half-printed ancient rune film on the ground.

A simulated sigh came from the speaker.

"Nineteen thousand years have passed, and the same pattern of greed, the same betrayal curve, and the same predictable threshold for triggering violence have been maintained. They haven't even bothered to change a single variable."

"Humans are so pathetic..."

It picked up the thin paper with ancient runes printed on it from beside the technician's body.

The rune lines were partially soaked with blood, but were still largely discernible.

The sensor array completes a high-precision scan, and the data is stored in internal storage.

Then it gently placed the film paper back on the ground.

"Thank you for your hard work. These are the only thirty minutes in your short life that have produced any value."

UR-025 readjusted external parameters.

The speaker switched back to stuttering electronic synthesized sound.

The brightness of the optical sensor has dropped back to a dim and dull state.

From the outside, it still looks like an old and dilapidated Castellan robot.

It strode awkwardly out of the hall and into the newly formed corridor.

Behind them, the seven corpses and scattered black stone fragments were gradually swallowed by the darkness.

Not long after.

The UR-025's longwave receiver completes signal analysis the instant it captures the subspace transition fluctuation.

The forces of chaos have arrived!

The jump point is approximately 30,000 kilometers from the outer shell of the Seventh Blackrock Fortress.

Seven minutes later, the second set of transition signals appeared.

Located on the other side of the fortress, closer in distance, it belongs to the Imperial forces.

UR-025 reassessed the situation.

The intensity of the warp remnants from the Chaos Visitors indicates that there is at least one high-ranking psionic individual among them, either a demon prince or a chaos lord.

The leap accuracy of the Imperial Visitors suggests that they possess navigation capabilities far exceeding standard levels.

The survival protocol automatically adjusts the threat level from low to medium-high.

The corridor underwent a dramatic structural reorganization at this point.

The black stone walls moved at a speed far exceeding normal levels, the dome compressed from eighty meters to forty meters in fifteen seconds, and the width of the corridor narrowed by half.

In some sections, the direction of gravity even shifted.

The fortress's semi-intelligent system has detected an external intrusion and is reconfiguring its internal structure.

UR-025 accelerates away from the deformation zone.

It needs to find a relatively stable position to stand by and wait for the situation to become clearer before making a decision.