49: Chapter 49 Investigation

Early the next morning.

In the wilderness a few hundred meters outside the Fire Seed Shelter camp, inside the military tent bearing the Imperial double-headed eagle emblem.

Neil, an Arbiter of the Coastal City Adeptus Arbites, was awakened by the low chanting of prayers coming from the neighboring tent.

As an Imperial veteran who had spent years dealing with heretics and criminals, Neil was long accustomed to the mandatory prayers that the Ecclesiarchy priestess insisted on performing every four hours, regardless of time or place.

But for some reason, the priestess's prayers today were much louder than usual, even carrying a hint of faint fanaticism.

"It seems that the warlord administrator who called himself Dawn yesterday, and his performance as a fanatical believer willing to die for his cause, really got to her."

Neil sat up on his narrow cot, rubbing his aching brow.

He simply put on his black Adeptus Arbites windbreaker, holstered his Bolter pistol at his waist, and walked out of the tent.

The wasteland's star had just risen.

The accompanying squad of soldiers were still on guard duty, and the camp had not yet begun distributing the rationed synthetic nutrient paste.

However, Neil had no expectations for that cheap food, which tasted like chewing on the innards of mutant cockroaches.

He looked up toward the Fire Seed Shelter in the distance.

A few wisps of cooking smoke were rising from the camp.

"Let's go see what this refugee camp, which claims it will fight Chaos to the bitter end, is all about."

Bearing the professional vigilance of an Arbiter, Neil strode toward the Fire Seed Shelter.

A few minutes later, he arrived at the perimeter of the camp.

At first glance, the camp was extremely sloppy, or perhaps even chaotic.

The outermost layer was a partially constructed wall made of surprisingly sturdy quick-drying concrete, but it was less than half finished.

Dozens of meters inside the new wall, there was still a ring of dilapidated wooden fences that hadn't been fully dismantled.

In the open space on the east side of the camp, a group of emaciated laborers were sweating profusely as they carried bricks to build barracks.

The interior of the camp was even more of a mess.

Various temporary shacks and houses of all sizes were crammed together without any planning. Neil even saw a strange little hut made of scrap metal that had been garishly painted with pink paint.

"It's just like a massive scrap recycling center." Neil frowned.

But soon, his attention was drawn to the center of the camp, where those wisps of smoke were rising.

A group of soldiers, who looked much stronger than the laborers, were gathered together in a noisy crowd.

As Neil approached, a rich, indescribable aroma of food rode the wasteland's morning breeze and aggressively forced its way into his nostrils.

"Gulp."

Neil's shriveled stomach, which had been maintained for years solely on nutrient paste and life-support stimulants, gave a violent spasm.

His dry mouth began to produce saliva at an incredibly rare and frantic rate.

He recognized this scent.

It was the pure aroma of carbohydrates, proteins, and natural fats that had not been contaminated by industrial synthetics or radiation!

In his life, Neil had only smelled this once, ten years ago, at a lavish internal banquet hosted by the Planetary Governor of Coastal City.

But that plate of supposedly priceless natural roast meat from back then seemed far less rich and alluring than the aroma before him now.

"Gurgle..."

Neil's stomach let out an incredibly loud protest.

For a moment, Neil even gripped his pistol handle in vigilance, suspecting he was suffering from some hallucinatory temptation created by a demon.

He hurriedly lowered his head and silently recited two lines of the "Imperial Liturgy" in his heart, but his legs disobeyed him and uncontrollably walked toward the large pot.

The players queuing for breakfast also noticed the black-coated NPC walking over.

But everyone was hungry, and the words about loyalty they had shouted when meeting people yesterday were all forgotten.

After all, people can be loyal, but stomachs cannot; if you're hungry, you're hungry.

"Oh, new plot content, brothers." [Why Panic When I Have Flash] held a broken wooden bowl and nudged Ming Shen beside him with his elbow. "Old Ming Shen, hurry up and see what kind of big shot this guy is?"

[Praise Ming Shen] was sitting on a wooden stool propped up by bricks, boldly slurping a bowl of steaming shredded meat noodles.

He looked up and glanced at the newcomer's iconic black trench coat and the scale badge on his chest, saying vaguely, "Holy crap, someone from the Adeptus Arbites. This is that old geezer mentioned in Flame Fist's post last night."

The surrounding players had all browsed the forum last night, so they naturally knew that a group of Imperial officials had arrived outside the camp.

Seeing this so-called Arbiter wandering over alone, the players immediately crowded around him like he was a rare animal, pointing and whispering.

"This Adeptus Arbites big shot doesn't look like much; his dark circles are worse than mine."

"Holy crap, is that a Bolter pistol at his waist? Looks so fierce! Wonder what blueprints it can drop."

"Hello NPC, do you have any hidden quests for me? I'm super good at grinding!"

Facing the chattering and presumptuous stares of the surrounding soldiers, Neil naturally couldn't understand what kind of gibberish they were speaking.

But looking at the disheveled yet excited state of these people, he somewhat understood why that administrator yesterday dared to say things like fighting to the last man.

"So, they are a group of genetically defective sub-humans." Neil concluded to himself, "Their language is completely incompatible with Imperial Gothic, their intelligence doesn't seem very high, but they are emotionally agitated. They are most likely some kind of cannon fodder specifically bred for the front lines."

Just then, Neil's stomach let out another loud roar.

His old face flushed, and he bit the bullet and walked to the big pot, looking at the man wearing an extremely ridiculous chef's hat and holding a large iron ladle.

Neil pointed at the rolling noodles in the pot, then pointed at himself, and made a stiff eating gesture.

Dumpling saw this and immediately chuckled. "Yo, the NPC is here to beg for food? You just want to eat, why didn't you say so earlier? Can our Fire Seed Shelter really be short of this bite of food for you?"

Dumpling deftly picked up a clean iron basin from the side and generously ladled a big basin full of noodles, topping it with a large scoop of broth made from mutant beast meat and a few pieces of all-natural jerky.

Neil took the iron basin with both hands; the scorching heat and extreme aroma almost made him lose his grip on the edge of the basin.

He followed the players' example and found an empty wooden stool to sit on.

But looking at the noodles in the basin and the two small wooden sticks handed over to him, he fell into an extremely awkward contemplation.

He had no idea how to use this kind of utensil that required fine motor skills.

At the high-level banquets in Coastal City, those nobles all used silver knives and forks to handle rare natural food.

Seeing the strange looks from the surrounding players, he simply steeled his heart, threw away the chopsticks, and rudely grabbed a handful of hot noodles with his hand and shoved them into his mouth.

Dumpling saw this scene and his face turned red with anger. "No, what's wrong with you? Why are you eating noodles like that? Get out, get out, you're not allowed to eat this."

Flash and Elbow Helicopter hurriedly stood up to stop him. "Brother Dumpling, calm down, he's a big shot!"

Neil couldn't hear what the players were yapping about, because when the first bite of noodles touched his taste buds, which had been withered for decades, "Boom!" The extreme satisfaction of carbohydrates, mixed with the deliciousness of the meat broth, exploded directly in his mind!

Neil's eyes instantly turned red.

He instinctively chewed frantically and swallowed it down, then followed the example of the players next to him, lifted the iron basin, and with a "slurp," took a large gulp of the rich broth.

"Praise the Emperor..."

Neil put down the iron basin, his eyes actually becoming rarely moist.

He whispered a sentence in Gothic that only he could understand, and then completely abandoned the dignity of an Arbiter, like a wild dog that had been starving for three days and nights, attacking that basin of noodles frantically.

"Holy crap... buddy, slow down, don't choke."

"Why is this NPC acting like a reincarnated starving ghost? Is the treatment for Imperial officials really that bad?"

The players watched from the side, dumbfounded.

In less than two minutes, Neil had licked the last drop of broth from the bottom of the basin clean.

He let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as if his dull, cruel life had suddenly found some brand-new meaning.

"This kind of pure food... could this camp be very wealthy?"

Neil wiped the oil stains from the corner of his mouth and stood up.

He didn't eat for free; instead, he solemnly took out three silver-shining coins from his inner pocket, along with a dozen copper coins stamped with the double-headed eagle, and carefully placed them on the wooden table.

"This meal is worth ten silver, but I only brought this much; I'll make up the rest next time!"

Afterward, he glanced at the group of sub-humans still watching him, turned around, and strode out of the camp.

Second underground level, main control room.

Lin Li was watching everything happening on the surface through the monitors.

When he saw Neil leave those coins, his eyebrows raised slightly.

"73, scan them." Lin Li pointed to the screen, "What is the purchasing power of those silver and copper coins on this broken planet?"

A red light flashed across STC-73's optical lens.

"Creator. You have severely underestimated the value of natural food on the dark side of the Imperium." 73 said with extreme venom, "Those three silver coins are high-purity local standard currency. On the black market in Coastal City, this amount of money is enough to buy more than ten tons of preliminarily refined weapon-grade saltpeter and primer raw materials."

"Holy crap? So valuable?! Why didn't you say so earlier?" Lin Li was stunned. A bowl of noodles in exchange for ten tons of gunpowder?

"On this planet today, or even in this star sector, pure water, natural food, and promethium fuel that have not been contaminated by radiation and genetic viruses are absolute hard currency. Their value far exceeds your imagination."

Lin Li's mouth couldn't help but twitch twice after hearing this.

"Damn it, that old fox named Ockham, he traded me a cart of smoked meat for so many broken stones earlier. I thought I had made a profit, but it turns out he was treating me like a pig to be slaughtered! Fortunately, he has already been killed by demons; otherwise, I would have definitely gone to dig up his ancestral graves!"

Just as Lin Li was heartbroken over being cheated by an NPC profiteer.

Surface camp.

The players, having eaten their fill, were already preparing for today's dungeon work.

The four-man mage team, who were determined to grind in the underground of the Food Factory, were the first to leave the camp on a tracked vehicle.

The remaining main force, organized by Liver Emperor, Ming Shen, and others, assembled again into several teams and headed toward the Mountain Tribe's mine in a grand procession.

However, there was an extra group of people behind today's clearing team.

Neil, that female priestess wearing clerical robes, and a full 12-man, fully armed Adeptus Arbites assault squad from Coastal City, riding in two armored personnel carriers, had forcefully followed them.

Facing this mob-stealing behavior by the NPCs, the players did not show any rejection.

Because just ten minutes ago, Lin Li had updated the task announcement in the backend.

[Hint: Imperial official forces (allied NPCs) will participate in this clearing operation. Players, please cooperate and do not cause friendly fire (Red Name Warning).]

The players were not disgusted at all; instead, they were drooling at the equipment in the hands of the assault squad.

"Holy crap, look at that gear on the NPCs! The edge of the shield has a high-voltage arc! That's a riot shield, right?"

"And that hammer! It's glowing blue! That's definitely a power hammer! One strike and even an Ork would be turned into meat paste!"

"I'm so envious... I wonder if, when the fight starts later, I can sneakily pick up a Bolter to take back and study."

Walking at the back of the team, Neil felt a strong sense of dissonance as he looked at the players in front.

He watched this group of people riding in those broken vehicles pieced together from crude scrap steel pipes and agricultural machinery tracks, belching black smoke; most of what they held in their hands were also rudimentary metal weapons.

"These people... they can eat such precious natural food so casually, so why are their weapons and vehicles as primitive as those of cavemen?" Neil was completely baffled, "And why do they paste prayers of the Ecclesiarchy all over those pieces of junk?"

"Do these pieces of junk even deserve to have them pasted on?" He shook his head, only able to attribute all this to the fact that these sub-humans truly had severe genetic defects in their brains.

One hour later.

Deep underground in the Mountain Tribe's mining area.

The air in the mine tunnel was even more turbid than yesterday, and one could even see wisps of dark red mist drifting in the air.

The assault squad did not rush to attack, but professionally formed a tactical formation, following behind the players.

The Ecclesiarchy priestess walked in the middle of the team, piously holding a bulletproof glass jar filled with pale gold preservative liquid in her arms.

Inside the jar, a severed head was soaking.

"Old Ming Shen, hurry up and look at the jar the priestess is holding." Flash had sharp eyes and muttered in the squad channel, "What is that thing? A biochemical weapon?"

Ming Shen pushed up his glasses, his eyes extremely solemn. "Don't talk nonsense. If I'm not mistaken, that should be a [Relic] of the Ecclesiarchy. It's likely the head of some deceased Imperial Saint. These NPCs intend to use the relic to suppress the corruption of Chaos."

Under the priestess's extremely keen psychic perception, the team hardly took any wrong turns in the maze-like mine tunnels, successfully clearing a few waves of sporadic mutant miners.

And in these small-scale skirmishes, the Adeptus Arbites assault squad following behind was completely shocked by the suicidal fighting style of these sub-humans!

They saw with their own eyes that the tall, leading Tauren, when encountering a strong Bloodletter, didn't even use his gun!

Instead, he lowered his head directly and used his two thick horns, like an out-of-control train, and slammed it fiercely into the demon's stomach, forcefully pinning the demon against the rock wall and smashing it into a pulp of rotten meat!

And those ordinary soldiers holding spears, even more so; the moment their companion's heavy shield was pierced, they not only didn't retreat, but laughed wildly as they rushed toward the demon's sharp claws, using cruel means to hack the demon into pieces!

"These people... are they really human?"

An assault squad member swallowed a mouthful of saliva, his hand holding the Bolter trembling slightly.

In their view, the extreme fanaticism this group of soldiers had for slaughter was even more terrifying than those Chaos mutants!

Not long after, the terrain of the mine tunnel began to slope sharply downward.