3: Chapter 3 Standard Manufacturing Templates

Another two Terra standard hours passed.

Warlord Oguluk could finally no longer hold on; he was trampled to death.

With their leader dead, the remaining Orks lost all will to resist. They either fled and were torn to pieces by the Cheng Yus, or exploded in fear and rage, taking a pile of Cheng Yus down with them.

This did cause quite a bit of damage to the massive starship.

A Warlord's starship capable of causing significant trouble for the border sectors of the Human Empire had been defeated in such a stifling manner.

Many weapons filled with the Mekboys' whimsical ideas had not even been used before the battle ended.

"Restore order, clean up the battlefield. Food will be distributed uniformly by me. This is the first rule I have set: under no circumstances are you allowed to eat humans, and especially, do not eat yourselves!"

After two population booms and subtracting combat losses, the number of Cheng Yus had reached around 150 million.

If rules were not established, the starving clones might very well lose their sanity and break free from the control of the main body.

However, there was also good news. After consuming the brain of yet another Mekboy, the Cheng Yus received a surprise.

This battle starship had not come for a fight. They had previously conquered a non-Imperial human colony and obtained intelligence regarding an STC.

STC, which stands for Standard Template Construct. As long as there are raw materials, it can continuously output finished products. It is the pinnacle of human technology from the Golden Age, a magic that can turn stone into gold.

The Orks were here to find this STC, although they generally disdained so-called 'humie' technology.

However, the operational efficiency of this STC was maddening.

As long as you input carbon-containing compounds, such as carbon dioxide or methane, and add light energy, it can output starch.

An STC for synthetic starch; it is no wonder even the Orks were tempted.

Main Body immediately gave the order: explore the entire planet, search the mountains, scan the seas, dig holes, unearth the ancestors of the xenos, find that STC for me! By the way, survey this planet; I want to see what the overall situation is.

...

The STC had not been found yet, but a new situation arose on the starship.

In the lower gravity deck of the starship, the Cheng Yus encountered an attack by Aeldari pirates. The enemy's combat power was strong, and it was a surprise attack, instantly causing the loss of dozens of them.

"Stupid Orks, you don't even know you're harboring ghosts in your own home!"

Although this small group of Aeldari was formidable, they were quickly extinguished by the tidal wave of Cheng Yu's attacks.

Most of the Aeldari chose to sacrifice themselves to the Laughing God on the spot to prevent a miserable fate after death.

But a few Aeldari chose to surrender... After all, humans and Aeldari are not considered sworn enemies.

"Main body, do Aeldari count as humans?" the animalistic clones wanted to eat them.

"Yes, they are long-eared humans. Bury them, do not eat them. And I will interrogate those few Aeldari to see what they know."

Cheng Yu knew that Orks were actually plants, so he had no psychological burden eating them, but Aeldari... forget it. Once the STC is found, these days of eating raw meat and drinking blood will surely be over.

Cheng Yu transferred his consciousness to a clone that had just made contact with him. He could repeat this replacement process to achieve the effect of the main body being immortal and indestructible.

With great power, people become arrogant and look at other creatures as if they were vermin.

"Monkey, what is your name? Are these all your clones?"

The leading Aeldari youth's eyes were even more arrogant than Cheng Yu's, and he was speaking the Aeldari language, which Cheng Yu did not understand. The clones had already eaten many xenos, but none of them knew how to speak the Aeldari language.

Cheng Yu currently only knew how to speak Low Gothic and a few local dialects from this sector.

"Click!" Cheng Yu beckoned, and a clone handed over an Ork pistol. He fired a shot at the Aeldari youth, and unsurprisingly, it jammed. Ork weapons were indeed unreliable in human hands.

"What are you doing? We have already surrendered..." the Aeldari youth was still chattering away.

"Bang!" The Ork bolter fired, and the Aeldari youth's skull shattered.

Wonderful... His soul would enjoy eternal rewards in the palace of Slaanesh.

"Respected ladies and gentlemen, is there anyone here who speaks Gothic?"

Cheng Yu saw that the remaining few Aeldari remained silent, so he aimed the muzzle at another Aeldari.

"I can!" an Aeldari girl raised her hand weakly.

"Very good, but I have no interest in listening. Where you came from, where you are going, and what you are hiding here for—write it all down in Low Gothic and give it to me. No whispering to each other; write your own."

"But none of them know the human language..." the Aeldari girl still had that weak demeanor. In fact, Cheng Yu was not sure if the other was male or female; the Aeldari were too beautiful, making it hard to distinguish their gender.

"Take the others..." Cheng Yu made a throat-slitting gesture with two fingers. The clones understood and immediately executed all the other Aeldari.

Although the main body and the clones shared a telepathic link and the clones would know what to do even without an order, Cheng Yu was afraid of scaring this Aeldari girl, so he decided to act like a normal creature.

...

Another Terra standard hour passed, and the population of Cheng Yu had reached 200 million.

The growth was slow because the 3rd and 7th Army Groups of Cheng Yu had encountered a macro-cannon strike from orbit, killing tens of millions at once.

However, the enemy fired one shot and then went quiet. It was unclear if they had missed or what, but in any case, there was no follow-up; there was no continued bombardment, nor was there a landing operation.

Cheng Yu, the main body, could not be bothered to care. He only wanted to find the STC and then leave this desolate death world.

The Aeldari girl's statement was also handed over. She was indeed female; her name was read as Arya Drukhari, and she was about 160 years old by human calculations.

Sneaking onto this ship had no special purpose; it was just an Aeldari pirate coming-of-age trial... to kill that Ork Warlord.

She was somewhat of a noble, and the others were her sparring partners. By the way, the youth killed by Cheng Yu was her fiancé.

However, Arya stated in her confession that she did not like her fiancé at all, so she would definitely not hold a grudge. If Cheng Yu was willing to let her go home, her family would pay a considerable ransom.

"Then she is useless, shall we kill her?" a clone asked.

"Do not kill her. Keep her as a canary; it's nice to have something pleasant to look at," the main body replied.

Just at this moment, good news arrived. The STC capable of mass-producing starch had been found, though its size was a bit large.

Cheng Yu immediately teleported to the scene... It was indeed very large, even bigger than the Ork's battle starship. No wonder it was found so quickly.

From the outside, this STC looked like a huge black pyramid. The clones were able to confirm that this thing was an STC because it was written in Simplified Chinese on it: "This is a Starch Synthesis Tower", "The circular hole on the top is the carbon-containing compound inlet", "The square hole on the side is the starch outlet", "Living creatures are not allowed to crawl inside, you will die", "Do not dismantle or research, it will explode".

A fully idiot-proof operation mode; it lived up to its name as a product of the Golden Age.