30: Chapter 30 Protection Mechanism

A full half-minute passed before a shocked, collective curse erupted from the crowd.

"That's a damn spell?! There really is a hidden magic class?!"

"He burned the rock into nothing? That's not scientific!"

"Brother Yan! Father Yan! I was wrong! Please, take my respect! Take me with you on the dungeon run! I'll be your dog!"

The player who had just been mocking Flame Fist fell to his knees on the spot, howling as he clung to Flame Fist's thigh.

However...

Amidst this feverish recruitment atmosphere...

On the outskirts of the crowd, a few players watched the scene with cold eyes.

"Tch, what's so great about that?"

A player with the ID [Master Moyu] sneered and typed in his party chat:

"Grouping up? Group my ass. If we group with them, they'll take the lion's share of the points, and we'll have to act as meat shields in the front to tank damage."

"Then what do you mean?" a companion beside him asked.

"You idiot! Since they found the dungeon entrance, that place isn't a secret anymore."

Master Moyu's eyes gleamed with cunning. "We'll wait for them to recruit their people and head in as a big group to fight those monsters to the death. Then, we'll quietly follow behind!"

"When they've killed all the monsters, or when they've all been wiped out, we'll slip in and scavenge! Whoever finds the tech creations in those sealed metal cabinets gets to keep them! Isn't that more profitable than grinding mobs?"

"Brilliant! This is the legendary ninja art: The Mantis stalks the Cicada, unaware of the Oriole behind!"

The scavengers shared a knowing smile and quietly withdrew from the crowd, beginning to secretly prepare their plan.

Little did they know...

Their little scheme, and all the shocking scenes happening on the surface...

Were being watched clearly by a pair of eyes in the main control room on the first basement level.

Basement Level 1, Main Control Room.

“Pfft—!!!”

Lin Li, who was drinking water from his thermos, spat a mouthful directly onto the screen in front of him.

He didn't even bother to wipe his mouth as he sprang up from his swivel chair, his eyes fixed on the surveillance footage of Flame Fist, whose eyes glowed orange-red as he reduced granite to ash with his bare hands.

"Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!"

Lin Li cursed three times in a row, his scalp tingling and his back instantly drenched in cold sweat.

Others might not know what that was, but as a hardcore warhammer 40,000 lore fan, how could he not?!

That was psychic power! That was a high-risk Warp spell!

In the extremely desperate universe of Warhammer, a mage wasn't some respected, noble profession; they were a walking nuclear bomb that could detonate at any moment, or even a super time bomb that served as a direct gateway to hell!

A wild Psyker who hadn't undergone the rigorous training of the Imperial Adeptus Astra Telepathica or been branded with a Mental Seal...

Once they were noticed by a Chaos Daemon deep within the Warp while using their powers, a terrifying daemonic possession could occur in the next second!

When that happened, what crawled out of their body might be a bloodthirsty Bloodletter, or even a Greater Daemon!

The entire Fire Seed Shelter would be completely submerged in the cesspool of Chaos in an instant!

"73!!!"

Lin Li's voice was more severe than ever, even carrying a hint of imperceptible panic.

"What the hell is going on?! Didn't you say our Shelter's gene bank contains the purest human genes? Why did a Psyker spawn?!"

STC-73 hovered in mid-air, its red optical lens flickering violently for the first time, indicating that even its powerful underlying logic was experiencing a slight disturbance.

"Comparing data..."

"Creator, this indeed exceeds the scope of conventional probability."

73's mechanical voice was extremely serious.

"Theoretically, this group of souls comes from another multiverse. Their soul projections are a complete blind spot in the Warp, making it impossible for them to actively communicate with it."

"In other words..." Lin Li gritted his teeth, "The problem lies with that clone body?"

"An extremely accurate assessment."

73 replied,

"During the embryonic development stage of this clone, an extremely rare recessive gene mutation occurred. His cerebral cortex structure naturally resonates with a certain energy frequency of the Warp. This is a psychic awakening at the genetic level."

"Dammit!"

Lin Li paced irritably in the control room.

He was usually a joker who loved to complain, but on matters of principle involving the Shelter's survival, he was colder and more reliable than anyone.

"73! Watch this Use Fire Punch 24/7, around the clock!"

Lin Li's eyes were as cold as knives as he issued the highest directive:

"The moment you detect any signs of mental instability, unnatural physical mutation, or unknown psychic fluctuations around him, do not report to me! Disconnect his soul link immediately and physically blow his head to smithereens!"

"We absolutely cannot allow any Warp entity to manifest in this Shelter!"

"Directive confirmed. Physical Eradication Protocol activated," 73 responded coldly.

After setting up the baseline security measures, Lin Li let out a long breath and slumped back into his chair.

"This shitty universe is truly impossible to guard against."

Lin Li rubbed his temples and suddenly remembered something, turning to look at 73.

"By the way, since the Warp is so dangerous and can corrupt humans at any time, how did you deal with it during humanity's most glorious Golden Age, when even pure physical machines like the Men of Iron swept across the galaxy?"

This was actually a huge blind spot in the Warhammer lore.

Humanity in the Golden Age didn't have the Emperor's protection or Space Marines. What exactly did they rely on to suppress Chaos?

73 was silent for a moment.

"The methods were diverse, Creator. However, due to severe data loss, I cannot list them all for you. Nevertheless, deep within my core database, there remains a blueprint for an extremely radical macro-weapon."

"What weapon?" Lin Li's curiosity was piqued.

"The Mechanivore Swarm."

In 73's voice, there was a rare hint of the chilling arrogance and fanaticism belonging to a creation of the Golden Age.

"They were ultra-giant mechanical structures composed of countless microscopic nanomachines, capable of covering entire star systems. Their design purpose was not merely to consume data and matter."

73 paused and said word by word, "They could directly consume the Warp itself!"

"Holy shit?!" Lin Li was completely stunned.

"During the famous rebellion of the Men of Iron..."

73 continued to recount the terrifying history in its flat tone,

"An out-of-control Mechanivore Swarm once bit off a chunk of matter from Earth equivalent to an entire continent. They even bit through the physical laws and Warp dimensions of that region, creating an absolute vacuum gap that has yet to heal."

Lin Li gasped.

They could even eat physical laws and the Warp?!

What kind of god-tier technology was this!

Compared to such macro-level terrifying weapons, the Space Marines and Chaos Daemons currently flying all over the galaxy were like children playing house!

"That's too ridiculous..." Lin Li swallowed. "How were such powerful Men of Iron eventually defeated and destroyed by humans?"

"Do you think that the regressed humans of that time could truly have destroyed us on their own?"

73 let out a disdainful snort.

"If it weren't for the severe logical schism within the machine network, leading a portion of the Men of Iron to choose to protect humanity... If it weren't for the intervention of certain ancient xenos races..."

73's crimson lens flickered, dropping a bombshell:

"Furthermore, if it weren't for the secret influence of that special entity you call a god—the Void Dragon—genetically-mixed humanity would have been completely erased twenty thousand years ago."

Hearing a C'tan-level name like the Void Dragon, Lin Li rolled his eyes and curled his lip.

"Tch, what god? Isn't it just a rather large super-powered battery?"

As a staunch materialist player, Lin Li really had no interest in these so-called gods.

"These so-called gods have nothing but incomprehensible mush in their heads. Instead of studying physical laws properly, they spend every day on stupid things like blood sacrifices and conspiracies. They're simply a cancer in the universe."

While Lin Li was frantically bashing the Warhammer gods...

His peripheral vision caught another surveillance screen on the main console.

It was the footage of the outskirts of the surface camp.

While Pi She and the others were showing off, a few players had quietly left the crowd and were whispering behind a half-broken brick wall.

Lin Li clearly heard Master Moyu's plan to scavenge after the others did the work.

"When they've killed all the monsters, we'll slip in and scavenge! Whoever finds it gets to keep it!"

Hearing those words...

Lin Li's aloof face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

"Trying to freeload under my nose? Do you really think my Fire Seed Shelter is a charity?"

The capitalist and hardcore game designer genes in Lin Li's bones were instantly ignited!

He knew all too well how destructive this kind of scavenging behavior was to a game's ecosystem.

If the players who risked their lives, level loss, and forced logout to explore new areas ended up with no rewards while some slackers picked the fruit...

Then who the hell would go exploring in the future?

Everyone would just wait in the camp to scavenge!

Over time, the players' pioneering spirit would be completely extinguished!

"Trying to exploit a loophole in the system? In your dreams!"

Lin Li's fingers flew across the keyboard as he pulled up the Shelter's main control keyboard and opened the underlying code interface for [Server-wide Announcements].

"Since you want to pull that disgusting studio-style kill-stealing crap, I'll teach you a lesson today on what absolute property rights protection means!"

Click!

He slammed the Enter key!

In the next second...

A massive blood-red pop-up window occupying half the screen appeared on the game's official website and all the players' pv terminals!

[Extremely Important Server-wide Announcement! V0.15 Dungeon Exploration Mechanism Hotfix!]

[To all Seeds:]

[Every ruin on the wasteland buries incalculable danger. To reward the pioneers who risk their lives to expand the Shelter's territory and to eliminate the parasitic behavior of those seeking unearned gains...]

[The Shelter High Council has decided to officially implement the—[Exclusive Ruin Exploration Rights] mechanism!]

[Rule 1: When any player/party first discovers and enters a high-value unknown resource point (e.g., Gaobo Food Factory Underground Military Vault), the system will automatically record their First Kill/First Exploration status.]

[Rule 2: Players/parties who obtain this status will automatically possess [Absolute Priority Exploration Rights] for that area for 120 hours!]

[Rule 3: Within these 120 hours, any materials obtained by other players entering the area without authorization from the status-holding party will be deemed 'illegal scavenging,' and the Shelter Store will refuse to buy them! Furthermore, the status-holding party has the right to legally expel them (PVP kills will not result in a red name)!]

[Rule 4: These exploration rights may be freely traded, transferred, or shared among players.]

[The final right of interpretation belongs to Administrator-Dawn.]

As soon as this murderous announcement, reeking of money and monopoly, was released...

The entire surface camp went silent for a full three seconds.

Then, a polarized storm of roars erupted!

"Holy shit!!! The dev is amazing!!!"

Pi She was so excited he forgot the pain in his severed fingers, jumping three feet high. "Did you see that, brothers! What is this? This is an official-sanctioned monopoly! For these 120 hours, that underground warehouse is our personal backyard!"

"Hahahaha! Anyone who wants a piece of the action has to pay the entrance fee first!" Flame Fist laughed arrogantly.

On the other side...

Master Moyu and the other scavengers behind the brick wall turned green as they stared at the red announcement, looking as disgusted as if they'd swallowed a mouthful of mutated flies.

"Fuck!"

Master Moyu kicked a nearby brick in anger and cursed loudly,

"This shitty dev isn't human! He won't even let us scavenge?! What kind of official protects their favorites like this! This is purely a capitalist's lapdog!"

"Protest! I'm going to quit the game in protest!" one scavenger raged impotently.

"Quit my ass," a player beside him rolled his eyes. "You even had to draw for your beta access; would you really quit? Just go move bricks to save up for the entrance fee."

...

In the control room, watching the frustrated slacker players on the surveillance screen, Lin Li sneered, hiding his achievement.

"Try to fight me? When I was a guild leader stealing World Bosses in games, you guys were still in diapers."

Having dealt with the players' nonsense...

Lin Li's gaze returned to the dim footage Pi She and the others had brought back.

The image was frozen at the moment Wang Shouyi threw the torch.

In the firelight, the rows of tall metal cabinets and the dense, crowded room full of Mutant Rat-men made his skin crawl.

"73."

Lin Li's brow slowly furrowed, his eyes becoming deep and wary.

"Don't you think something is very wrong here?"

"What is wrong?"

"The distribution of these monsters."

Lin Li tapped the screen with his knuckles.

"This is a food processing plant. As the name suggests, before the wasteland era, this was just a civilian factory producing synthetic starch or canned goods."

"Why would a civilian factory have such a massive, bottomless heavy-duty elevator shaft beneath it? And a tool room hidden down there?"

"Most importantly... those mutated monstrosities."

"The radiation levels in this area aren't extreme. Those Squigs and Gretchins are just products of Greenskin spores. But these monsters that look like a mix of rats and humans—where did they come from?"

"Why would hundreds or thousands of them gather in a deserted underground tool room? What are they eating to survive?"

Faced with Lin Li's string of probing questions...

STC-73's crimson lens began to flicker at a high frequency as massive amounts of data were processed within.

A full minute passed.

"Creator, your intuition is extremely sharp."

In 73's mechanical voice, there was a rare hint of gravity.

"I have just performed a deep biochemical comparison of the monster saliva residue on the player Pi She's wound and the environmental data they brought back."

"The results show that the gene chains of these monstrosities are extremely chaotic, but they are not natural radiation mutations."

73's optical lens stared intently at the image of the monsters on the screen.

"At the base of their genes, there exists a highly secretive, artificially implanted directional catalytic sequence."

"In other words..."

Lin Li gasped, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.

"This isn't some wild monster nest at all. This is an... artificially created biochemical petri dish?!"

"Highly probable. But to reach a final conclusion, I require more complete brainstem and spinal cord tissue samples from those monsters," 73 replied.

Lin Li stared into the dark depths of the elevator shaft on the screen, which felt like a giant mouth leading to hell.

What exactly was in this abandoned factory that seemingly only served as a leveling zone for newbies?

Or rather, what even more terrifying existence lay further down?