47: Bugs got into the house? No, that's just extra food.

[Holographic Operations Cabin - Threat Assessment Interface]

Red alarm pop-ups stacked like snowflakes before Li Cang's eyes, painting the entire console a deep crimson.

In the center of the screen, the newly captured anatomical diagram of the "Four-armed Monster" was slowly rotating, every bone and muscle scanned with perfect clarity.

Species Identification: Unknown High-Risk Xenos.

Threat Assessment: Extreme (Possesses rapid evolution and swarm infection capabilities).

Estimated Quantity: Hive City Underhive shows signs of nesting.

Li Cang rubbed his temples, looking at the hideous monster model, yet a ridiculous smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“I knew it.”

“The so-called 'unknown threat' of the [Survival] season—who else could it be but these Cosmic Locusts?”

Although the system displayed them as “unknown,” as a transmigrator, he was all too familiar with this creature.

Genestealers, the vanguard of the Tyranids. They were the prelude to destruction, the death knell of galactic extinction.

If any other civilization player saw these things popping up in their base's basement, their mental state would have collapsed on the spot.

It meant an endless war of attrition; it meant being devoured whole if one wasn't careful.

But Li Cang was no ordinary player.

He played Warhammer. In this world where everything was terrible, as long as an indescribable Chaos God wasn't sitting on your face, it wasn't a dead end. In fact, this was an opportunity.

“C-19.” Li Cang patched into the frontline command channel.

“No need to send anyone down there.”

“Since that veteran likes it there, let him hold it.”

“Seal off all passages leading to the Underhive, leaving only that pump room hall as... a feeding slot.”

Command Confirmed: Executing 'Isolation Protocol'. Deploying Engineering Servitors to weld blast doors.

Li Cang’s fingers tapped on the console.

“D-01 kills below, the bugs feed themselves below. Isn't this a natural 'training ground'?”

More importantly, these bugs were full of treasures.

Chitinous carapaces were high-quality armor material, acidic blood was a potent corrosive, and that hyper-regenerative gene... was exactly the kind of research material those lunatics in the Adeptus Mechanicus dreamed of.

He turned his gaze toward the upper levels of the Hive City, toward the shipyard currently under frantic construction.

Archmagos Ul-02 of the Adeptus Mechanicus was currently directing countless Servitors, dismantling and reassembling this ancient Hive City like ants moving a house, turning it into a starship capable of flying to Mars.

Progress: 15%.

Too slow.

At this rate, before the ship was even finished, the Pan-Pacific Empire's next wave of total assault might arrive—or the bugs below would finish their meal and swarm up first.

“I need to give these dawdling metal-heads a little motivation.”

Li Cang grabbed a newly generated [Unknown Xenos Biological Sample Analysis Report] and threw it directly to Ul-02... [Hive City - Upper Shipyard]

Archmagos Ul-02 was floating beside a massive Plasma Welder, his four mechanical Mechadendrites calibrating the curvature of the ship's keel.

Suddenly, his data reception port vibrated.

A file was forcibly inserted into his logic core.

[Data Packet: Unknown Xenos Biological Sample - 001]

[Characteristics: Quadruple-helix DNA structure / Chitinous super-alloy shell / Acidic blood]

[Source: Deep Underhive]

“Zzt—!!!”

Ul-02's optical lens contracted sharply, emitting a mechanical zooming sound. His augmented brain instantly entered an overclocked state.

This biological structure... this perfect evolution for killing... it was simply a miracle of bio-engineering!

Although the Adeptus Mechanicus despised the flesh, considering it weak, they possessed a near-pathological obsession with "perfect biological weapons" capable of self-evolution and self-repair.

This wasn't just heresy; it was... knowledge.

“Organism...”

The Archmagos's voice broadcasted, carrying obvious urgency and static interference, even trembling slightly.

“This sample... where is it?”

“The machine spirit... hungers... to analyze it.”

Li Cang's voice rang out at the right moment, tinged with a lazy air of being in total control.

“Right in the basement. Probably a few hundred of them, still alive.”

“But my soldiers are preparing to use melta bombs to seal the bottom completely. It's too dangerous, after all, and we're about to evacuate.”

“No!!!”

Ul-02 let out a piercing electronic shriek, like a cat having its tail stepped on.

“That is... sacrilege! That is waste!”

“The hardness of that biological carapace... the formula of that acid... it could not only optimize biomass Fuel but even be used to reinforce the ship's armor coating!”

The fish had taken the bait.

Li Cang's voice turned cold.

“I don't have time to help you catch bugs. My ship isn't finished yet, and I feel very insecure.” “Unless...”

“Transaction... updated.”

Ul-02 instantly grasped Li Cang's meaning.

For the Adeptus Mechanicus, nothing was more important than acquiring new knowledge.

Except, perhaps, acquiring even more new knowledge.

The previous "full assistance" was just polite talk.

Now, the real transaction began.

“We... accelerate.”

“We will allocate the 'Iron Cloud's' spare computing power and Engineering Skitarii.”

“Ship completion time... reduced to 24 hours.”

“In exchange... we want priority salvage rights to all xenos corpses in the Underhive.”

Li Cang smiled.

“Deal.”

...[Holographic Operations Cabin - Resource Panel]

Protocol Updated: Olympus Treaty (Supplementary Clause):

Adeptus Mechanicus commits extra computing power; Strike Cruiser construction speed +200%

New Resource Output: High-Energy Xenos Biomass (Recovered and converted by the Adeptus Mechanicus)

Li Cang watched the suddenly accelerating progress bar on the screen, feeling great.

The resource loop was established.

D-01 was having a blast killing below, satisfying his desires.

The Tyranid threat was contained in its infancy, serving as a training ground.

The corpses could be sold to the Adeptus Mechanicus for engineering acceleration and supplies. This was the ecological cycle of the wasteland.

He took a moment to check the tactical channel.

It was filled with chaotic distress signals intercepted from all over the world.

“...This is the Radiant Federation... Island base under siege by Murlocs... shields overloading... requesting backup...”

“...Greenskin tribe... bugs... so many bugs... my Squigs have all been eaten... can't Waaagh! anymore...”

Li Cang watched these cries of agony and silently took a sip of water.

Everyone was having a hard time.

But because he had the "Adeptus Mechanicus" as a backer, plus the "Hive City" as a super resource node, and the "Tyranids" as a threat he had converted into a resource... unknowingly, in this hellish start of a season, he had built a unique survival advantage.

“Don't be in such a hurry to cry.”

Li Cang turned off the communication channel, his gaze landing on the red planet Mars on the star map.

“Once I get into the sky, that will be the real dimensional strike.”

Suddenly, the system's red light flashed again.

Warning: Main Pan-Pacific Empire Fleet detected.

Fleet Movement Distance: 2,000 km estimated.

Contact Time: 18 hours.

The Pan-Pacific Empire hadn't given up.

They were massing, preparing for a desperate last-ditch attack in the final moments before Li Cang's ship took off.

“18 hours...”

Li Cang glanced at the ship's progress bar.

Time Remaining: 23 hours.

There was a 5-hour gap.

If this wasn't resolved, his ship would be turned into scrap metal in the shipyard.

These five hours were the distance between life and death.

Li Cang's gaze turned cold.

He looked at the [Primarch Gene Laboratory] in the corner, which had been operating silently and had just finished its upgrade.

“C-19.”

“Take your First Legion and clear out the 'inventory'.”

“We need more... Black Carapaces.”

Before the ship took off, he wanted the First Legion to complete one last expansion.

But this time, there was no time for slow cultivation.

He would have to use those immature, even risky, "fast-track" technologies.

In this "Survival" season, any price was acceptable for the sake of staying alive.