250: Chapter 251 Is he also mentally ill?

Lin Li, who was using his highest authority to lurk on the official forum, was completely dumbfounded after seeing the reply from Mudslide of the Merchant World.

"73?"

Lin Li raised his head, thoroughly confused.

"Since when did these players get their hands on a real Imperial void ship? How come I have no idea about this?"

The blue indicator light on 73's eyes flickered twice, and it ruthlessly emitted a sharp, electronically synthesized voice:

"Creator, your memory is currently weaker than a mutant fish in nuclear wastewater."

"While you were obsessed with studying battle reports, this player named Mudslide and a few others formed a caravan. Using the supplies they accumulated last time on the industrial world of Gorgon, they traded for a decommissioned, old void ship from the underground black market."

73 pulled up the backend transaction records,

"Although that ship is so old it's practically falling apart, its core Warp engine is still in decent shape, and it truly possesses the capability for inter-system travel.

However, they are severely lacking in personnel configuration.

Especially for the most critical position of Navigator; with the players' current faction reputation, there is absolutely no way to recruit any native Navigator to join them."

After listening, Lin Li nodded helplessly:

"That is indeed a big problem."

In the social system of the Warhammer Universe,

Navigators are essential, mutated humans who lead fleets safely through Warp storms.

The Navigator houses they belong to hold transcendent status.

In the High Lord Council of Terra, there is even a seat for the Navigator houses!

The social status of these people is sometimes far higher than that of a sector governor or lord.

And what about the players?

In the eyes of the natives, while they may be strong, within the Imperial system, this group of The Fourth Calamity is basically just a bunch of rogue mercenaries without official standing, possessing zero social status.

Trying to get a noble Navigator to lower themselves to join the players' makeshift team is harder than ascending to heaven.

Lin Li rubbed his chin and pondered for a moment:

"In that case, if we want to successfully head to other star systems to expand, the key to breaking the deadlock must come from those Space Marines, or from the biological warships of the bugs."

Just as Lin Li was calculating how to extract surplus value,

73 suddenly emitted a short, sharp alert tone:

"Warning, Creator. Surveillance arrays indicate that some members of two Space Marine Chapters have already arrived outside the surface gate of Shelter."

"What's worse is that they seem to have just run into Captain Roshiam and the others, who came to conduct their post-war debriefing. System logic deduction: There is an eighty percent probability of a serious physical conflict breaking out between the two sides!"

"Hmm?"

Lin Li's brows twitched, and he stood up abruptly,

"What are those big guys doing coming to my base? They aren't here to collect taxes from me, are they?"

In terms of the operational style of Space Marine Chapters,

many chapters have a habit of collecting local taxes to replenish battle losses in personnel and supplies after helping a world win a war.

Especially that Carcharodons Chapter outside.

These guys usually wander through the void, and their favorite thing to do is the Red Tithe.

To put it bluntly, it's blatant robbery!

The key is that when they do this, it is actually reasonable and legal under Imperial law.

First of all, they traveled from far away to help you repel the Tyranids, sacrificing many battle-brothers.

Is it too much to ask to take some strong civilians to replenish their ranks after the war?

Is it too much to take a few warehouses of rare mineral resources after consuming so many bolter rounds?

If a chapter like the Blood Ravens has to sneakily 'borrow' because they lack tax collection permits, then a chapter like the Carcharodons, which possesses ancient Imperial charters, is just robbing in broad daylight.

As for why they didn't come to rob before the war and waited until now,

it was likely because the combat power displayed by the Scourge Legion previously made them temporarily suppress their impulses.

Now that the battle is decided, they naturally want to come and collect the compensation that belongs to them.

"These bandits actually dare to try and extort me."

Lin Li snorted, immediately threw on his coat, and strode out of the control room, "Let's go, let's go up and see."

...

When Lin Li took the elevator to the surface of Shelter,

the scene before him made him speechless.

At this moment, on the wide metal plaza outside Shelter, there was no firefight taking place.

Instead, it was surrounded by three layers of onlookers—a large group of players.

These players were all holding melon seeds, dried meat, and drinks, excitedly standing on tiptoe to watch the show in the center of the circle.

"Holy crap! They're fighting, they're fighting!"

"Come on, come on! Place your bets! The betting is open!"

"I'm betting ten points! I bet that big shark guy named Chapter Master Tyberos wins! That guy has actually killed people!"

"Bullshit! I'm betting on Chief of Staff Ushtan! That's our own NPC; he definitely has a home-field advantage!"

Lin Li looked at this group of The Fourth Calamity who loved watching the chaos and sighed helplessly.

Relying on his strength, he forcibly squeezed a path through the crowd and arrived at the innermost part of the circle.

In the middle of the open space surrounded by the players,

two super-strong men, both about three meters tall and like iron towers, were engaged in a fist-to-fist, no-frills, unarmored brawl!

One side was none other than the Legion Commander of the Thunder Warriors—Ushtan.

The other side was the 'Red Wake'—Chapter Master Tyberos, who had removed his tattered Terminators armor.

In reality, if one only considers pure physical strength and explosive speed, Space Marines are far inferior to this group of first-generation killing machines!

Especially in a brawl like this without Power Armor protection.

You have to know, back in the day, Thunder Warriors didn't have the Black Carapace implanted to connect to Power Armor; they relied entirely on their perversely powerful bodies to carry heavy first-generation Power Armor and slaughter their way through the Unification Wars of Terra!

One can imagine that pure physical strength.

And the current battle situation perfectly confirmed this.

"Bang! Bang!"

The dull sounds of flesh colliding echoed like war drums.

Chapter Master Tyberos was being suppressed and beaten by Ushtan the entire time!

Ushtan's punch speed was so fast it created afterimages, each punch carrying the whistling sound of tearing air.

Chapter Master Tyberos could only rely on instinct to defend, unable to find any room to fight back.

This made the Carcharodons Chapter Master, who was known for his fierce melee combat, feel incredibly frustrated and depressed.

Lin Li squeezed into the crowd and immediately saw the Thunder Warrior Carmen, who was clapping and cheering on the side.

"Carmen, what's going on?"

Lin Li asked with a frown,

"Why are you fighting?"

Carmen turned around, and seeing that it was the Lord, he quickly put away his smile, stood at attention, and reported:

"My Lord! We were originally preparing to return to base to debrief and then lead the team back to our station, as per your orders. But we happened to run into this group of Space Marines at the gate."

Carmen curled his lip, looking disdainful,

"We didn't intend to cause trouble either. But that big guy was just too annoying; as soon as he came up, he stared at us with a look of looking at inferior beings, and even brazenly demanded to count our numbers and take us away."

Lin Li casually asked two of the melon-eating players nearby, and the accounts he received were basically the same.

Lin Li instantly understood.

The history related to the Thunder Warriors had been deliberately erased by the Emperor.

In this era, even most high-ranking Custodians might not know the true background of the Thunder Warriors, let alone these Space Marines who spent their time in the fringe star systems.

Obviously, Chapter Master Tyberos had mistaken these large, non-Power Armor-wearing Thunder Warriors for some kind of mutated inferior cyborgs or some other ragtag chapter.

His tone was full of contempt.

Furthermore, the Thunder Warriors themselves were extremely dissatisfied with the Empire.

With two powder kegs colliding, as long as there was even the slightest spark, it was perfectly normal for a fight to break out.

On the plaza, the two were exchanging blows faster and faster, fists stirring up the air.

But Chapter Master Tyberos was consuming a huge amount of stamina, his steps were becoming chaotic, and he had clearly fallen into a completely disadvantageous position.

This was within Lin Li's expectations.

As Thunder Warriors who had all their genetic defects repaired and reached a perfect form,

Ushtan definitely had the power to fight even against the current Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes in pure physical combat.

Seeing that Chapter Master Tyberos was about to be unable to parry and, unable to save face, was about to resort to a lethal blow,

Lin Li stepped out at the right moment and shouted to the entire arena:

"Alright! That's enough! You can stop now!"

Ushtan heard that it was Lin Li's voice.

The originally immensely violent killing intent instantly receded. He didn't hesitate in the slightest; his feet stomped hard on the ground to slide backward, instantly breaking away from the combat circle, and he stood respectfully with his hands lowered.

But on the other side, Chapter Master Tyberos had been worked into a real rage.

He didn't have a deep impression of Lin Li.

In his concept, Lin Li was just a Psyker or mortal leader capable of releasing miracles, nothing special.

Therefore, the moment Ushtan stopped, Chapter Master Tyberos not only didn't stop, but instead, using his momentum, his sandbag-sized heavy fist, carrying a whistling sound, smashed fiercely toward Ushtan's face!

Ushtan saw this, and his eyes turned cold.

But he strictly followed Lin Li's order to stop and still did not counterattack, only slightly turning his head to dodge.

Just at this critical moment!

Everyone only felt a blur, an afterimage too fast for the naked eye to capture, sweep past!

Then came a dull, booming sound of impact!

"Bang!"

The iron-tower-like Chapter Master Tyberos actually had both feet leave the ground, and like a kite with a broken string, he flew backward for several meters!

He slammed heavily into an armored vehicle parked on the side of the road, smashing a huge dent into the thick door!

The whole scene was silent.

The players' melon seeds fell all over the ground.

Everyone turned their heads in astonishment to look at the center of the combat circle.

They saw Lin Li standing steadily in front of Ushtan.

One of his hands was still maintaining the motion of a casual swing, and he was looking coldly at Chapter Master Tyberos, who was struggling to get up from the armored vehicle.

Death Spectres Captain Roshiam, who was watching the battle from behind the crowd, saw this scene, and his eyes under his helmet widened instantly!

He had originally thought that the group of player clones and this mysterious warrior were already strong enough.

It turned out this seemingly normal mortal leader had actually used only one hand to forcibly knock away the enraged Chapter Master Tyberos?!

A bad premonition suddenly rose in Roshiam's heart.

"Those who can command a group of madmen are often even more powerful madmen..."

Roshiam swallowed, thinking in horror,

"Their leader possesses such terrifying power; could he also be a clone?! Oh no! Could he also be a madman?!"