177: Chapter 177 Agricultural Planet

On the green screen, a young face wearing red Leader Power Armor appeared.

Marshal Miller looked at Lin Li and spoke directly, getting straight to the point:

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Excellency Dawn. I am Marshal Miller, the Supreme Sector Marshal of the Mobius system's Adeptus Arbites."

Lin Li, on the other end of the screen, remained silent for a moment, seemingly surprised by the personal visit from the Adeptus Arbites Marshal.

"It is an honor to meet you, Marshal."

Lin Li's tone was neither humble nor pushy.

"May I ask, what is the purpose of your ship forcibly taking off? Are you here to act as a lobbyist for Governor Cromwell?"

Marshal Miller shook his head, a meaningful smile tugging at the corners of his lips:

"No, I am here to deliver a gift to you."

"A grand gift that will help you better handle the Ecclesiarchy, especially that greedy old fox, Archbishop Anthony, when you take over Mobius Prime."

As the communication ended.

A small black shuttle flew out from the belly of the Adeptus Arbites ship, rapidly approaching the sea breeze no. 9.

Several Arbiters of the Adeptus Arbites, dressed in black robes and carrying several sealed parchment dossiers, entered the bridge of the sea breeze no. 9.

They solemnly handed the dossiers to Lin Li, then turned and left without a word.

Lin Li weighed the heavy scrolls in his hand, his brow furrowing slightly.

He reconnected the holographic communication with Marshal Miller, staring into the Marshal's eyes as he asked:

"As the saying goes, a free gift is often the most expensive. Marshal, if I accept this gift, what price must I pay?"

Marshal Miller looked at Lin Li, his tone becoming unprecedentedly serious and heavy:

"Protect all the planets in this system. If the Tyranids descend, spare no cost to prevent them from falling into the hands of the xenos!"

This sentence clearly had a hidden meaning.

After speaking.

Marshal Miller cut the communication directly.

The Adeptus Arbites ship turned its bow, descending back toward the black fortress on the surface.

"What is going on?"

Lin Li looked at the black screen of the communicator, completely confused.

He lowered his head, directly tore open the wax seal on the scrolls, and unfolded the documents inside one by one to examine them.

When he saw the contents of the documents clearly, his pupils shrank violently.

...

Meanwhile, while the battle was raging in the low Earth orbit of Mobius Prime and various legions were frantically seizing landing points.

At the other end of the system.

An unarmed second-hand shuttle was lonely penetrating the atmosphere, slowly landing on the surface of the agricultural world, Ceres.

Piloting this shuttle was a famous CG collection player in Shelter — [Nikon Da Niao].

As an old mage who only loved taking screenshots and looking at scenery, he was a miraculous existence among the The Fourth Calamity, second only to the fishing enthusiasts who dared to go anywhere, see anything, and photograph anything.

Because the Fire Seed Shelter currently not only possessed various genetically modified plants to provide high-energy food but could even synthesize edible starch directly from carbon dioxide in the air.

Therefore, Lin Li and the vast majority of combat players paid no attention at all to this backward agricultural planet that produced conventional grain.

Coupled with the fact that the planet's orbit happened to be on the far side of a gas giant, furthest away from the main battlefield.

So, it was not until today that it finally welcomed its first player visitor.

"Hiss —"

The moment the shuttle's hatch opened.

A heatwave mixed with the smell of damp earth and livestock feces hit him directly in the face!

"Holy crap, it's hot!"

As soon as Nikon Da Niao walked down the boarding ramp, a dense layer of sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.

The temperature on this agricultural planet was extremely high.

And with the added high humidity, the stifling heat made it hard to breathe.

The perceived temperature on the PV panel soared directly to an exaggerated 45 degrees!

Wearing a lightweight protective suit, Nikon Da Niao wiped his sweat while raising his high-precision optical camera, snapping away at the surroundings.

In the lens.

In the distance from the landing point, a gray city surrounded by tall walls could be vaguely seen.

And nearby, there were vast, endless wheat fields that appeared as a monotonous golden yellow.

Amidst the rolling waves of wheat.

Occasionally, one could see several agricultural Servitors with missing limbs and crudely implanted mechanical prosthetics, wielding tools and mechanically harvesting crops in the fields like tireless machines.

"The composition is good; it has a very wasteland pastoral punk vibe."

Nikon Da Niao put away his camera with satisfaction and, braving the scorching sun, walked along the dirt road toward the city.

As an outsider who descended from the sky in a spaceship, Nikon Da Niao, after presenting his forged trade permit, successfully entered the city and soon met the highest Administrator there.

An Imperial Duke named Louis King.

To Nikon Da Niao's surprise.

This high noble, bearing the title of Duke, looked very shabby.

Duke Louis King was wearing an old, washed-out formal suit, his figure was very thin, and his eye sockets were deeply sunken.

But his attitude toward Nikon Da Niao, this off-world merchant, was surprisingly amiable, lacking any of the overbearing airs of Governor Cromwell.

The Duke led Nikon Da Niao into a simple reception room and ordered a servant to bring some simple black bread and water as hospitality.

Nikon Da Niao took a bite of the coarse bread and asked curiously:

"Lord Duke, you have planted so many endless crops outside on this planet, even the hillsides have been cultivated; food here should be very abundant, right?"

Hearing this question.

Duke Louis King shook his head with a bitter smile and took a sip from his water glass.

"Abundant? That is merely a superficial illusion."

The Duke's voice carried a deep sense of fatigue.

"In the centuries that the Empire has continued to collect harsh tithes, this planet's originally rich natural ecosystem has long been completely destroyed."

"To meet the quotas from above, more and more forests and rivers have been filled in, turned into monotonous, vast wheat fields and giant fenced cages used for high-density farming of Grox."

"But even so, even if we drain the planet dry, we still cannot meet the massive demand!"

The Duke sighed, a glimmer of despair flashing in his eyes.

"Especially after the Great Rift tore through the galaxy, this sector was completely cut off from external supplies. The problem of feeding the ten billion people on Mobius Prime rests entirely on our agricultural planet."

"The crazy increase in production quotas has made the originally simple agricultural life of the local residents even more arduous and harsh."

The Duke pointed to the serfs who had collapsed on the ridges outside the window.

"The accountants of the Departmento Munitorum, although they have been using various chemical agents to optimize the planet's biome, attempting to squeeze out maximum crop yields, in some remote areas, they still have to rely on ancient manual farming methods."

"Although this method, which emphasizes natural growth, is stable, the masters above do not care about that. The harvest quota that the serfs here need to meet is no less than that of the people in the mechanized farms. They work eighteen hours a day, yet they cannot even eat a single bite of the wheat they grow."

After hearing the Duke's bitter, heartfelt words.

Nikon Da Niao couldn't help but look at this thin NPC Duke with higher regard.

After all, in the players' past stereotypes, the nobles in the Warhammer universe were all brutal vampires who only knew how to suck blood and were bloated with gluttony.

But this one before him was clearly different; he seemed to be genuinely worried about the serfs at the bottom.

"Therefore, although it looks peaceful and abundant on the surface, there are undercurrents surging in private, harboring immense danger."

The Duke frowned.

"Not to mention, with the continuous growth in the demands of the main star system and the fleet, large-scale starvation and riots have begun to spread gradually on this planet; the entire agricultural system is already on the verge of collapse."

Nikon Da Niao keenly captured the keyword.

"Wait a minute, there are riots here too?"

Nikon Da Niao leaned forward curiously.

"I see those serfs outside are so hungry they can't even stand steadily; do they still have the strength to rebel?"

"Yes, and the situation is very strange."

The Duke lowered his voice, his face turning somewhat pale.

"Except for this capital city, several other large food processing cities have basically seen organized violent riots."

"Those who lead the riots have astonishing strength; they don't look like serfs who have been starved for a long time at all, and furthermore..."

The Duke recalled the battle reports sent back by the Defense Force, a glimmer of fear flashing in his eyes.

"Moreover, those rioters seem to have traces of some kind of xenos mutation. Not only have they grown extra bone plates, but many of them have lost all their hair! They have become bald!"

"Bald?!"

The moment Nikon Da Niao heard these two words, the black bread he was holding dropped onto the table with a thud.

A buzz went off in his brain, as if countless lightning bolts had struck!

"Astonishing strength... xenos mutation... lost all hair?!"

As a high-level player who had thoroughly read Warhammer lore, Nikon Da Niao felt a chill shoot straight from the soles of his feet to his scalp!

His scalp tingled!

That was definitely not hair loss caused by malnutrition!

That was the characteristic of a fourth-generation hybrid infected by Tyranid genes!

"It's Genestealers!"

Nikon Da Niao jumped up from his chair violently, screaming out loud.

"It's a Genestealer Cult!"

After speaking.

Nikon Da Niao swept a wary glance at Duke Louis King's bald head, as if looking at a monster.

Subsequently, under the Duke's gaze full of confusion and bewilderment, he didn't even say goodbye, directly smashing open the door of the reception room and sprinting toward the outskirts of the city!

"Oh my god! I'm dead, I'm dead! This damn planet has been completely infiltrated by bugs!"

Nikon Da Niao ran all the way out of the city, rushed into his shuttle at top speed, and locked the hatch tight.

Because this planet was located at the edge of the system and no high-altitude communication satellites had been deployed here, there was severe signal delay, making it impossible to call the main force directly via internal voice chat.

Nikon Da Niao decisively chose to log off right there and then!

The moment his consciousness returned to the real world.

He immediately opened the official game forum.

In the campaign section, which was filled with discussions on how to attack the Mobius Governor's Mansion, Nikon Da Niao directly posted a bolded warning thread using the highest-level red font!

[Genestealers discovered on the agricultural planet! The Tyranid vanguard has started spawning troops!]