34: Chapter 34 The Storm Is Coming

The group returned to the camp.

"Holy crap, what's going on? The boss went out for a hidden quest and managed to abduct dozens of NPCs along the way?"

"They look so miserable, just skin and bones, covered in whip marks. This 'battle-damaged' modeling is too realistic."

The players set down their bricks and hammers, gathering around and chattering.

Their undisguised, burning gazes—like they were looking at rare animals—scared the group of newly liberated slaves into crawling under the vehicles.

In their understanding, these burly men in uniform gray clothes who spoke gibberish were soldiers that even the Mountain Tribe chief would fear.

"Scatter a bit, don't scare the NPCs."

Ming Shen pushed away a few players who had gotten too close. "These are the new logistics recruits for our camp. From now on, they're our brothers."

Just then,

The player [This Dumpling Is Also Delicious] came huffing and puffing from the stove area, carrying a massive iron pot.

Seeing the skeletal NPCs, he didn't say a word and immediately started boiling water.

Using protein powder exchanged from the Shelter mall and some minced meat scraps, he quickly brewed a large pot of thick, incredibly fragrant meat porridge.

"Come, come, you're all starving, right? Have something hot first."

Dumpling tapped the edge of the iron pot with a long-handled wooden spoon, calling out in standard Mandarin.

The slaves couldn't understand a word of Mandarin.

Though their eyes were green with hunger and they were swallowing their spit, not one dared to step forward. They only looked at Lin Li with bewilderment and terror.

On the wasteland, eating a stranger's food often meant being poisoned, then skinned and butchered.

Lin Li sighed, stepped forward, and explained to the slaves in low gothic.

"Line up and go to the man with the spoon to receive food. Everyone gets some. No fighting."

Hearing this, the eyes of the fifty slaves instantly turned red.

Holding simple wooden bowls, they tremblingly accepted a scoop of the steaming meat porridge.

As the first mouthful of high-purity protein and fat went down, several young slaves couldn't hold it back anymore. Tears mingled with the grime on their faces and dripped down.

Some ate until their knees buckled, wanting to kneel toward Lin Li and Dumpling.

"Stand up straight and eat!" Lin Li barked coldly.

The slaves jumped in fright and quickly straightened their backs, licking even the bottoms of their bowls clean.

"Rhine." Lin Li turned and beckoned.

Rhine, who was nearby helping players sort scrap, hurried over and bowed respectfully. "My Lord."

"These people will be under your command from now on."

Lin Li pointed at the group of slaves who were gorging themselves.

"Take them to the west side of the camp. First, use scrap wood to build some barracks that can keep out the wind and rain. If you need tools, ask those soldiers who talk nonsense; they'll give them to you."

Rhine looked at these miserable people who came from the same background as himself and nodded vigorously.

After handing off the resettlement work to the NPC, Lin Li was about to take stock of the gunpowder raw materials he had just traded for.

Suddenly, from two different directions in the camp, an incredibly piercing mechanical roar erupted simultaneously.

"Chug-chug-chug-chug—"

It was the sound of an engine knocking violently.

Immediately after, two cheers that nearly blew the roof off erupted at the same time.

Lin Li raised an eyebrow and walked toward the noise.

In the east corner of the camp, black smoke was billowing from the Rat-man Technology shack.

The chemistry PhD [ikun True Fan], his face covered in black soot, was holding up a transparent glass bottle like a madman.

The bottle contained a small amount of pale yellow liquid that gave off a pungent odor.

"We refined it! Brothers! We succeeded!"

The PhD was incoherent with excitement.

"After three rounds of crude distillation, we finally managed to separate usable diesel and heavy oil from the pyrolysis oil of waste plastics! Although the octane rating isn't up to standard, it can definitely burn!"

On the other side of the camp, the Niuma Squad's camp was also in a frenzy.

That farm machinery repairman called Second-hand Old A6 was crouching next to a metal monster cobbled together from scrap iron shells and various crude gears.

As he pulled hard on a belt, this internal combustion engine—connected to a huge charcoal combustion furnace—actually emitted a steady, rugged roar.

"Wood gasifier, modified for a single-cylinder engine! It's a success!" Old A6 wiped the soot from his face, grinning from ear to ear.

The members of the two tech teams heard each other's commotion and immediately gathered together.

"Old Zhen, can your oil supply high-horsepower engines?"

Ming Shen pushed up his glasses, the light of an industrialist shining in his eyes.

The PhD patted his chest:

"As long as there's enough waste plastic and crude oil, production isn't an issue. But is the torque on your charcoal engine enough? On wasteland terrain, wheeled vehicles won't get far."

"To hell with wheels, we're going with tracks."

A6 interjected excitedly.

"I've already drawn the blueprints for the track drive gears. If our two groups cooperate to build a chassis that can mount both types of engines, we can use it for transport or modify it into a combat vehicle. Isn't this just the Warhammer version of 'Multi-turreted Steam-Steel'?"

Listening to the players hammer out a R&D plan for a universal tracked vehicle in just a few sentences, Lin Li was secretly overjoyed.

He knew the capitalist mode of operation all too well.

If he didn't add fuel to the fire now, he'd be doing a disservice to these hard-working 'oxen and horses'.

Lin Li calmly opened the management backend of the pv terminal and tapped his fingers rapidly.

"Ding—"

Every player's PV in the entire camp vibrated at once.

[Faction Bounty: The Starting Point of the Steel Torrent]

[Objective: Research and manufacture the first tracked vehicle capable of stable travel on the wasteland and equipped with heavy weapon mounting capabilities.]

[Reward: Official indefinite purchase of finished vehicles. For every successful delivery, the manufacturing squad will be rewarded with 500 Core Points! And will be awarded the exclusive title of 'Seed Engineer'.]

The moment this announcement came out,

It wasn't just Niuma Squad and Rat-man Technology; all the players in the camp with STEM backgrounds went crazy.

Five hundred points per vehicle—this was practically a money-printing machine.

The entire camp instantly entered a white-hot phase of industrial acceleration.

Lin Li hid his contribution and fame, taking those dozens of carts of precious sulfur, saltpeter, and strong acid raw materials quietly into the elevator.

Basement Level 2, the Armory Workshop.

"Material purity is up to standard."

73's red light scanned across the assembly line.

"Synthesis of smokeless propellant and primers has begun. Estimated in two hours, mass supply of Heavy Stubber ammunition can be achieved."

"Great job."

Lin Li breathed a long sigh of relief.

"My 'firepower deficiency phobia' is finally cured. Make more guns, one for every player."

However, 73's optical lens showed no emotional fluctuation. Instead, it turned and stared fixedly at Lin Li.

"Creator, please stop your blind optimism. I must issue the highest-level survival warning to you."

The smile on Lin Li's face stiffened slightly. "What now?"

"Because of the activities of your reckless clones on the surface."

73's voice held a cold severity.

"The violent roar of internal combustion engines, the pungent chemical odors from crude oil refining, and the excitement radiating from your so-called infrastructure carnival."

"The energy fluctuations from all this combined are, in the perception network of the Orks, more dazzling than a supernova explosion in the dark night!"

Lin Li's heart sank abruptly.

"Orks have a perception network? Don't they find prey with their eyes?"

"You underestimate this green plague that has ravaged the galaxy for tens of millions of years."

73 pulled up a holographic projection showing an incredibly ugly Ork variant with scrap metal wires plugged into its head.

"This is a special class in Greenskin society—the Mekboy. They have an obsession with machinery encoded into the very base of their genes."

73 explained coldly,

"They don't need low-level equipment like radar; they can directly smell the scent of high-purity Promethium fuel. Their crude eardrums can understand the vibration frequencies of human generators."

"Right now, the surface camp of the Fire Seed Shelter is like a massive piece of bloody meat. Those Greenskin warbands that were wandering around will surge here in ecstasy, like mutant sharks smelling blood."

Lin Li felt his hands and feet go cold. He had originally thought he had a few more days to slowly mass-produce troops and build vehicles.

But he had underestimated the abnormal intuition of these green monsters in the Warhammer universe.

War might break out tonight.

Lin Li took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

He was an extremely pragmatic person. Since he couldn't avoid it, he had to face it head-on.

"73." Lin Li's gaze became as sharp as a blade.

"Concentrate all production capacity and all computing power on the manufacture of Heavy Stubbers and armor-piercing explosive rounds! Work 24 hours a day. Even if the assembly lines start smoking from friction, they are not to stop!"

"As you command."

Then, Lin Li opened the management permissions of the pv terminal and switched directly to a full-frequency red-text broadcast.

At the surface camp, players were still arguing heatedly over vehicle building and points.

Suddenly, everyone's pv terminal woke up again, covered in a blinding blood-red.

It wasn't a normal quest prompt, but a cold-blooded war mobilization order.

[Highest Level Faction Mobilization: The Storm Is Coming]

[To all Seed Pioneers:]

[Our industrial roar on the surface has awakened the green nightmare in the depths of the wilderness.]

[Hundreds of Greenskin Ork warbands may be advancing toward the Shelter at full speed.]

[This is not a drill. This is not a regular dungeon. This is a brutal siege that, if handled carelessly, will result in the total destruction of the Shelter!]

[Emergency Defense Mission Issued:]

[Objective: Players are to immediately cease all non-combat activities. Head to the dry riverbed area three kilometers west of the Shelter. Production players are to focus entirely on producing war supplies.]

[Requirement: Use the riverbed as a base to dig trenches! Establish interlocking fire networks! Build defensive fortifications!]

[Reward: All players participating in the construction of the defensive positions will receive temporary usage rights for a Heavy Stubber and unlimited ammunition. At the end of the battle, massive Core Points will be awarded based on kill counts and military supplies provided.]