57: Chapter 57, B3 Floor

Accompanied by the dull sound of mechanical gears interlocking, the heavy elevator finally came to a steady stop.

Lin Li and the hovering STC-73 stepped out of the elevator, and the sight before him made him involuntarily hold his breath.

This was a space far more massive than the second underground level.

If the two levels above still carried a hint of roughness, this place completely displayed the ultimate aesthetics of Golden Age humanity regarding underground construction.

Directly opposite the elevator doors, about fifty meters away, was a wide glass curtain wall.

Through the glass, one could vaguely see an office resembling a command center.

Between the elevator and the glass wall, a dark-colored guide path was painted on the floor.

Lin Li cast his gaze toward the left side of the passage.

That was a vast area, open and unobstructed by any load-bearing columns.

Rows of metal incubation pods, emitting the faint blue glow of life-support fluid, were arranged neatly in the space like soldiers in formation.

In each incubation pod, a clone that had not yet awakened floated silently; they were of various appearances, and there were even some sub-humans with exaggerated builds.

"Holy crap!"

Lin Li scanned the area roughly, his eyes instantly lighting up,

"There are at least fifty units in this row, and there are at least six rows here! That's a full three hundred cloning pods?!"

"Now, I'll never run out of cannon fodder to fill the lines again! I can add three hundred people right away!"

Lin Li rubbed his hands together in excitement.

He suddenly noticed that at the edge of the incubation pod formation, there were two large, complex devices that looked somewhat like 3D printers.

"73, what are those things?"

73's red scanning light flashed by:

"Those are [Basic Incubation Pod Constructors]. Please note, Creator.

They can only utilize the alloys and biochemical materials stored in the Shelter to produce empty incubation pod hardware; they cannot directly generate clones out of thin air.

Furthermore, the empty pods they produce also require a biological preparation cycle before they can be put into use."

"Got it."

Lin Li remarked colloquially,

"So it's basically a machine used as a respawn point for players. That's not bad either; if players run too far in the future, they can carry the respawn point with them."

Besides these, there was still a large empty area in the left section.

Lin Li calculated inwardly that this place could be fully utilized; once resources were sufficient in the future, he would have 73 set up other production lines here.

Subsequently, Lin Li crossed the passage and looked toward the right side.

The right side was not an open space but was divided into two separate, enclosed rooms, one large and one small.

Lin Li first pushed open the larger door.

Blinding high-frequency lights turned on instantly.

Inside the room, rows of precision stainless steel multi-layered planting racks extended all the way to the ceiling, with nutrient solution circulation pipes interlaced between the racks.

"This... is this a hydroponic farm?!" Lin Li was both surprised and delighted.

"Yes."

73's flat electronic voice sounded,

"The full-spectrum grow lights and intelligent constant-temperature nutrient circulation system here can increase the growth rate of the vast majority of carbon-based plants by over 300%. However, it is regrettable that the system database shows the current seed inventory is: zero."

"What a pity."

Lin Li clicked his tongue in regret.

In the Warhammer wasteland, naturally grown food was definitely a luxury more expensive than gold.

If there were seeds here, it would immediately solve the Shelter's food problem, and any surplus could be traded with other factions for scarce foreign currency and munitions.

Closing the door to the hydroponic farm, Lin Li came to the slightly smaller room next to it.

As soon as he pressed the door-opening button, with a hiss, a strong scent belonging to high-end electronic equipment and disinfectant flooded his nostrils.

The room was arranged very neatly.

Various precision analyzers, centrifuges, and gene sequencing terminals, the names of which Lin Li couldn't even identify, were placed in an orderly fashion.

In the center of the room was a hovering metal dissection platform, with shadowless lamps above it.

"This is a [Micro-Genetic Engineering Studio] that meets the highest standards of the Golden Age."

73's voice carried a rare hint of amazement,

"These are truly nostalgic devices. It is said that the original Men of Stone were created in such precision workshops."

73's lens turned toward Lin Li:

"Creator, the value of this laboratory is immeasurable. But you currently need an expert in genetics to operate this set of instruments."

Lin Li swallowed his saliva, not daring to walk in and touch anything randomly.

He couldn't afford to pay for any part he might break in this place.

Lin Li cautiously backed out,

"First, bring in those mysterious metal canisters that the players snatched back from the Food Factory for storage. Also, add the highest level of biological lock to this door; absolutely do not let those handsy players come in and mess around. If they accidentally trigger a biohazard, it's all over."

After exiting the genetic studio, the only thing left on the entire third underground level was the office separated by a glass curtain wall at the end of the passage.

Lin Li walked to the glass door, identity verification passed, and the door slid open to both sides automatically.

To Lin Li's surprise, the layout of this office was somewhat retro, even giving him the illusion of returning to 21st-century Earth.

A wide solid wood desk, a leather single-seat sofa, and an entire wall of mahogany bookshelves filled with heavy paper books.

In the corner, there stood an eye-catching silver metal storage cabinet.

Besides those basic office supplies, Lin Li was only interested in that storage cabinet.

He had just taken a step, preparing to open the chest and roll the dice.

"Bzzzt—"

The air in front of the desk suddenly twisted, and a clear holographic projection appeared in the center of the room without warning!

It was the image of a middle-aged man who looked ordinary, perhaps even a bit balding.

He was wearing an old-era lab coat.

"Welcome, successor." The projection looked in Lin Li's direction and spoke slowly.

Lin Li was startled, his hand subconsciously reaching for the Adrastus-pattern pistol at his waist:

"Who are you? Are you talking to me?"

"Yes, I am conversing with you."

The middle-aged man's projection nodded slightly,

"Since you can stand here, it means you have activated the bottom-layer protocol of the Shelter. By inheriting this Fire Seed Shelter, you inherit the hope of all humanity."

"Hold it! Hold it!"

Lin Li waved his hand impatiently,

"Stop flattering me. I'm not that great, and I don't want to be any kind of savior. I'm just hunkering down in this dump to save my own skin."

The projection paused for a moment, then actually nodded humanely:

"Very pragmatic, and a very real desire for survival. That you could open up the third underground level in such destitute conditions suggests you rely on more than just luck. Perhaps this pragmatism is exactly what humanity needs right now."

"Who exactly are you? Why leave this projection?"

Lin Li frowned,

"If you are the previous owner of this Shelter, can you just open up all the production lines and high-level weapon depots for me? Just let me lie flat."

"You have many questions; I will answer them in turn."

The projection's voice remained calm:

"First, I am merely an interactive holographic AI projection recorded and stored here in advance."

"Second, the purpose of my awakening is to convey two key pieces of information to the successor."

"Third, I am just a message program; I do not have any system control permissions for the Shelter."

"Damn it!" Lin Li rolled his eyes and couldn't help but retort, "If you don't have permissions, why the hell are you talking here! Hurry up and finish your last words."

The projection ignored Lin Li's mockery.

"The first piece of information: For the entire Imperium of Man, our situation is already extremely dangerous. It is not because of aliens, nor is it because of rebellion."

The projection paused, then said word by word:

"It is because of... that immortal leader sitting on the Golden Throne. He is getting closer and closer to total deification within the Warp."

"Once he completes that twisted ascension, the Warp storms and reality tears he triggers... the consequences will be ten million times more terrifying than when the Aeldari's indulgence created Slaanesh in ancient times! Human souls will be completely devoured by him!"

Hearing this, Lin Li's head buzzed.

Good heavens! The immortal leader? Isn't that the guy who has been sitting on the throne for ten thousand years?!

The Imperium's official narrative claims the Emperor is protecting humanity, yet this thing is saying the Emperor is about to mutate into the fifth Chaos God?!

Loyalty, such loyalty!

Before Lin Li could digest this explosive statement, Dr. Z threw out the second bombshell.

"The second piece of information: For the edge of this galaxy, the terrifying existence known as the Hive Mind has already extended its tentacles deep within."

"One of the Hive Fleet branches, codenamed [Moloch], has covertly changed its course. According to the deductions and calculations I made during my lifetime, in the near future, this fleet, capable of devouring all life, will appear in the star sector where we are located."

"Survive, successor. For the last Seed of humanity."

After saying the last sentence, the projection flickered twice and, like a television losing power, instantly vanished into the air.

The office returned to dead silence.

Lin Li stood on the spot, his whole being numb, with a look of utter bewilderment.

"No way... isn't this too much information?!"

"The Emperor is going to become a Chaos God? A massive Tyranid fleet is about to smash into our faces? Is this something I, a wasteland petty warlord who just leveled up to 12 and only has a bunch of people wielding junk, can even deal with?!"

Either one of these two pieces of news, if taken individually, would be a doomsday-level disaster.

Mockery aside, Lin Li forced himself to calm down.

The first piece of news was too far away; even if the Emperor really was going to transform, it wasn't something he could manage right now.

But the second piece of news was a guillotine hanging right over his head!

If a Tyranid fleet really arrived in this star sector, let alone his tiny Shelter, even the Governor's Palace of Coastal City would definitely be gnawed away until not even bone fragments were left under the terrifying sea of bugs!

"Worrying is useless; when the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up."

Lin Li took a pragmatic deep breath,

"The only thing I can do now is to mass-produce troops crazily and develop my strength like crazy! As long as I have enough Gundams, I'll wipe out whatever bugs or demons you throw at me!"