33: No money? Then go print more!

Li Cang pressed the massive [Start Construction] button in the center of the interface.

On the light screen, two independent, emotionless confirmation windows popped up one after another, each carrying a mechanical coldness as they requested his final confirmation.

[Confirm consumption of 400 GP to initiate military construction: Autopistol Enhancement Kit Production Line?]

[Confirm allocation of material batches [Standard Steel x5000 units], [Refined Steel x1000 units], and [Chemical Raw Materials x800 units] to this production line?]

Li Cang's fingertips tapped sequentially in the void.

There was not a single shred of hesitation.

With his final confirmation, the golden digits representing his GP balance in the upper right corner of his personal interface blurred and skipped for an instant, plummeting from a decent "600" to a glaring "200."

At the same time, in his storage interface, the list of material reserves that had just surged due to looting seemed to have a large chunk gouged out by an invisible giant hand. The ends of several resource bars instantly turned red, flashing low inventory warnings.

Two new project icons immediately appeared in the construction queue of his personal interface, beginning their long countdowns.

[Military Construction: Autopistol Enhancement Kit Production Line | Status: Under Construction | Estimated Completion Time: 11:59:57]

[Construction Project: Primarch Genetic Laboratory (Prototype) | Status: Under Construction | Estimated Completion Time: 23:59:56]

For a moment, the operation pod fell into absolute silence.

The faint sound of the life support system's circulating air became exceptionally clear.

Li Cang leaned back, his spine, which had been tense all night, finally making contact with the cold ergonomic chair with a slight friction sound.

He could clearly hear his own slightly heavy breathing, as if that series of operations on the virtual interface had exhausted all his mental energy.

Just then, at the edge of the main control screen, an inconspicuous icon flashed silently, turning from a healthy green to an orange-yellow.

Li Cang's gaze was immediately drawn to it.

It was a data interface he had never paid attention to before—[Civilization Overview].

In the corner of this interface, there was a real-time percentage progress bar named "Comprehensive Civilization Load."

Just before he confirmed the construction of the production line, this number had stayed at a safe 65%. Now, it had soared to 89%.

The background color of the progress bar was still green, but the final nineteen percent was now stained with a glaring orange-yellow.

Li Cang's brow furrowed, and he clicked on the annotation next to the progress bar.

Lines of cold system prompts provided the answer.

[Comprehensive Civilization Load: A data metric measuring the total operational pressure of all current industrial, scientific research, and military projects.]

[When the load exceeds 90%, the operational efficiency of all projects will begin to show a perceptible decline.]

[When the load reaches 100%, there is a probability of random industrial accidents, factory shutdowns, pipeline bursts, and energy short circuits.]

[When the load exceeds 120%, the civilization will enter a total collapse countdown.]

"So there's a restriction like this..." Li Cang's eyes narrowed, his index finger unconsciously tapping the armrest of the chair.

This discovery instantly caused him to break out in a cold sweat.

He had just been immersed in the joy of being about to obtain a stable output of ammunition, without realizing that his civilization's fragile engine had been pushed to the brink of overload by him.

This explained why he couldn't start dozens of projects simultaneously without limit.

This system, from its underlying logic, prevented a gambler-style play of "getting rich in one wave and taking off instantly."

It forced every participant to think like a true ruler, to weigh and balance every resource, and to calculate the cost of every investment.

His current state was like an old computer running thirty large software programs at once; the CPU usage was in the red, and it could blue-screen and crash at any moment.

The twelve-hour waiting time was no longer leisurely "garbage time" for him.

On the contrary, it had become a Sword of Damocles hanging over his head.

He had to "reduce the load" for his civilization or find a new "energy source" during this time; otherwise, if an emergency occurred, he wouldn't even have the margin to start a single new project.

He forced himself to calm down and opened the detailed post-war report of Squad D-01 and the Crystal Energy Federation, which he had already read several times.

This wasn't the cold "Asset Depreciation Table" from before, but a combat log filled with the scent of gunpowder, automatically generated by the system based on battlefield data.

[Squad: D-01]

[Mission: Clear Crystal Energy Federation Remnants]

[Mission Result: Success]

[Friendly Losses: None (Note: power armor of members D-02, D-04, and D-07 sustained over 30% damage; they have entered the automatic repair sequence. Estimated repair time: 3 hours)]

[Ammunition Consumption: 87%]

[Energy Consumption: 41%] [Combat Effectiveness Assessment: Exceeded expectations. Demonstrated extremely strong armor penetration and melee killing capabilities when facing enemies with energy shields.]

Li Cang's gaze was fixed firmly on the line "Ammunition Consumption: 87%."

He clicked on the detailed data flow chart for this item.

A curve representing ammunition stock maintained a steady decline for the first ten minutes after the battle began, but in the final three minutes, it suddenly turned into a nearly vertical cliff.

This meant that if the battle had been a bit more intense, or if it had lasted even two minutes longer, his Thunder Warriors would have completely run out of bullets and fallen into the predicament of only being able to fight in melee with Chainswords and fists.

The decision to build an ammunition production line was incredibly correct and urgent.

He continued scrolling down and saw the individual combat data for each warrior. He clicked on D-01's personal log.

[D-01:]

[Movement Distance: 1.8 kilometers]

[Engagements: 17]

[Effective Hits: 94 rounds]

[Decapitation Target: 1 (Enemy Commander 'Sarriel')]

[Severely Wounded Targets: 3] [Damage Sustained Statistics: Kinetic strikes x44, Energy weapon hits x12 (all deflected or tanked by power armor), Energy shock x1 (resisted by will)]

[Combat Style Analysis: Classified as 'Efficient Assaulter.']

[Tends to cut into enemy formations via the shortest path, prioritizing high-value targets.]

[Repeatedly ignored non-lethal damage during combat to ensure the achievement of tactical objectives.]

Li Cang looked at the analysis of "repeatedly ignored non-lethal damage" with a complex gaze.

He clicked on the video file attached to this analysis.

A short segment of first-person perspective combat footage instantly occupied the entire light screen.

The image shook violently, and the heavy sound of metallic footsteps and the ear-piercing roar of a Chainsword could be heard.

On the left side of the field of vision, a blue energy bolt whistled through the air and slammed hard into D-01's left shoulder.

The entire screen went white for a moment, and the harsh sound of electrical current drowned out everything.

Li Cang saw that on the HUD interface, the icon representing the left shoulder armor instantly turned red, and the structural integrity plummeted from 100% to 47%.

However, D-01's movements didn't pause in the slightest. He didn't even glance at the damaged shoulder plate; instead, he used his intact right arm to precisely drive the Chainsword in his hand into the chest of an Elven Mage who had just poked his head out from behind cover.

The video ended abruptly there.

Li Cang silently closed the recording.

This was exactly the source of the Thunder Warriors' formidable combat power, and also that "at all costs" madness deep within their genes.

They were perfect killing machines, but perfect machines were often the first to wear out.

He closed the post-war report and pulled his attention back to the core issue at hand.

Weapons and ammunition would only allow him to survive "now." The [Primarch Genetic Laboratory] currently under construction was where his hope for the "future" lay.

The [Astartes Project], which had been forcibly suspended due to "insufficient theoretical level," remained like a thorn buried deep in his heart.

"Adeptus Mechanicus... Mars..."

Li Cang's fingertips tapped rhythmically on the physical edge of the console.

One, two, three.

His gaze, meanwhile, pierced through the light screen in front of him and settled on the gray node representing the [Olympus Treaty].

No longer hesitating, he directly opened the [history creator] interface.

This was an interface even more profound and complex than the "Civilization Blueprint" or the "Military Factory."

Its background was no longer a star map of a tech tree, but a void of chaos—a digital nebula formed by countless tiny data streams, slowly rotating and bottomless.

In the very center of the interface, there was only a solitary search box and a button next to it that constantly emitted light—[Construct New Epic].

Li Cang took a deep breath and, using a mental command, entered two words into the search box: [Mars].

The moment the command was issued, the entire data nebula began to churn violently.

Countless irrelevant definitions of the term "Mars" from different civilization history fragments were ruthlessly filtered and excluded by the system.

[Detected LV.0 Mythological Civilization 'Ancient Rome' war deity 'Mars', excluded.]

[Detected LV.1 Industrial Civilization 'United States of Gaia' best-selling food 'Mars Energy Bar', excluded.]

[Detected LV.2 Void Civilization 'Interstellar Frog Race' colonial planet No. 13 'Red Marsh (Mars)', excluded.] ...Seconds later, when the data storm subsided, a single result locked within a blood-red frame surfaced before Li Cang with unquestionable weight.

[Target Locked: Mars (Lost Colony / Mechanical Ark)]

[Coordinates: Terra Sol System - Fourth Planet]

[Current Status: Unknown. Shrouded by eternal Plasma Storms and an Information Black Zone.]

[Civilization Tendency: Strong mixed signals of 'Technology', 'Machines', and 'Religion' detected.]

This is it!

Li Cang clicked the [Construct New Epic] button without hesitation.

A brand-new window popped up; it was a precise setting interface, much like a director's storyboard.

[Deduction Theme] — [First Contact and Treaty Conclusion].

[Core Objective] — [Establish formal diplomatic relations with the current ruling power of Mars and sign the 'Olympus Treaty'.]

[Time Anchor] — [M230.050].

"The eve of the Great Crusade..." Li Cang knew this period of history.

This was the dawn when the Emperor allied with the Adeptus Mechanicus, laying the most important industrial foundation for the rising Imperium of Man.

He chose the midpoint of this time period to ensure he had enough room to maneuver.

When he finished all the basic settings, a number appeared at the very bottom of the interface that made his heart skip a beat.

[Basic Deduction Computing Power Investment (Estimated)]: [5000 GP]

Even though he was already mentally prepared, looking at his remaining balance of only 200 GP, Li Cang couldn't help but let a bitter smile play on his lips.

To him, this number was practically astronomical.

He clicked on the small question mark icon, wanting to know why the system was charging so much.

Lines of cold system prompts provided the answer.

[Interstellar-level deduction (Terra -> Mars), complexity x200%]

[Involves T2-level 'Tech-Specialized' civilization, information parsing difficulty x300%]

[Involves high-concept narratives such as 'Lost Technology' and 'Faith Conflict', logic deduction load x500%]

[In summary, the basic fee for this deduction is 5000 GP.]

"This is robbery..." Li Cang muttered under his breath, but he knew in his heart that the price was reasonable, perhaps even cheap.

But the system hadn't completely blocked the path.

Below the expensive fee, it also provided several "cost reduction" options.

[Option A: Reduce deduction precision.] (Will lead to blurring of key events, significantly increasing the probability of diplomatic failure)

[Option B: Shorten deduction duration.] (May miss the critical time window for contact with high-level members of the Adeptus Mechanicus)

Li Cang directly ignored these two options.

In a deduction concerning the fate of a civilization, any bit of wishful thinking could lead to total defeat.

His gaze fell on the last, and only feasible, option.

[Option C: Satisfy "Prerequisites" to significantly reduce deduction complexity and cost.]

He clicked on it.

Three clear prerequisites, like three insurmountable chasms stretching out before him, were listed.

[Prerequisite One: Interstellar Navigation Capability.]

[Requirement: Your civilization must possess a basic fleet capable of completing a Terra-Mars voyage. You cannot appear in Mars' orbit out of thin air; that would be seen as an invasion.]

[Prerequisite Two: A Qualified Diplomatic Envoy.]

[Requirement: You must appoint one or more hero units or special troop types with high intelligence, high logical reasoning ability, and a deep understanding of the 'Imperial Truth' as enovys.]

[You cannot send a Thunder Warrior to debate scripture with a group of Tech-Priests immersed in data and logic.]

[Prerequisite Three: A "Stepping Stone" of Sufficient Weight.]

[Requirement: You must hold an item capable of attracting the attention of the highest levels of the Adeptus Mechanicus as a token to initiate diplomacy.]

[A complete STC (Standard Template Construct) creation from the Golden Age of Human Technology is the best choice, and almost the only choice.]

Li Cang read through them one by one, his expression becoming increasingly solemn.

Of these three, he satisfied not a single one.

Interstellar navigation capability?

Right now, he couldn't even fly out of the atmosphere.

The "Space Elevator" and "Orbital Shipyard" icons in the Civilization Blueprint were still a bottomless gray.

A diplomatic envoy?

He only had a group of killing machines whose heads were filled with nothing but combat and glory.

He could even imagine the scene: D-01 standing in the council hall of Mars, facing a group of red-robed Tech-Priests, and then with his voice distorted by electromagnetic streams, spitting out two words: "Kneel down."

An STC creation?

That was something that only existed in legends.

It was the Holy Grail that every power in this dark universe dreamed of.

This was no longer a simple resource gap, but a complete epic quest chain consisting of three massive tasks.

Each task was a hundred times more difficult than all the problems he had solved before combined.

Inside the operation pod, there was a deathly silence.

—But this was still within expectations.

Clear difficulties were far more preferable than vague power.

Because as long as the problem was defined, there must be a way to solve it.

He closed the [history creator] and created a new highest-priority project note on his personal interface.

He didn't write any flowery prose, only entering three simple terms.

One: Fleet.

Two: Envoy.

Three: Relic.

These three mountains were his entire objective from now on.

His gaze fell back onto the two construction progress bars that were slowly increasing.

A meal must be eaten bite by bite, and a path must be walked step by step.

Before looking up at the sea of stars, he had to first sharpen the most reliable blade in his hand.

At the same time, he also had to start working on finding that "voice" that could speak for him.