88: Chapter 88 Carmen's Doubts

He hoisted the heavy, semi-mechanical body with one hand as if carrying a chick and sprinted out of the Nomads' outpost.

The wind of the wasteland whistled in his ears.

In less than half an hour, Lin Li had dragged him back to the Fire Seed Shelter.

The moment he entered the camp gates, the players, who had been busy with their own tasks, swarmed over like cats smelling fish.

"Oh my god! Is the boss out restocking again? He actually brought back a cogboy this time?!"

"The red robes, the mechanical tentacles—this vibe is spot on! Definitely a high-level NPC!"

A new player rubbed his hands together, his eyes shining.

"It's a good thing [ikun True Fan] and those engineering big shots have moved to the mining district base. Otherwise, with their habit of wanting to dismantle every machine they see, this NPC's underwear wouldn't even have a single screw left on it by tonight."

"Wait..."

Another player stroked his chin, beginning a deep analysis.

"If the boss brings back a Tech-Priest, doesn't that mean our camp can unlock a higher-tier tech tree? Can we mass-produce Space Marine Bolters and Power Armor now?"

An old player nearby rolled his eyes.

"Keep dreaming. Those high-end weapons are made on heavy industrial production lines, not hand-crafted. Besides, as for drawing blueprints, 73 down in the basement can do that too."

"In this game's lore, 73 is a Men of Iron remnant from the Golden Age. Its computing power definitely isn't weaker than a priest who's been modified into a cyborg."

Lin Li heard the chattering of The Fourth Calamity around him but didn't bother to address their speculations.

He strode across the square to a row of brick-and-concrete buildings on the west side of the camp and dropped Kane on the ground like a piece of trash.

This was originally the old workshop of the Niuma Squad.

They had moved to the eastern mine base, leaving this place empty.

Lin Li pointed to the room smelling of engine oil and rust. "This will be your territory from now on!"

After saying that, Lin Li didn't bother with any further explanations. He turned and walked directly toward the central command post, taking the elevator deep underground.

Kane scrambled up from the ground in a sorry state, smoothing out his messy red robes.

Red light flickered behind his mask, which was covered in optical lenses.

He looked at the curious 'babies' around him who showed no reverence and even tried to reach out and touch his mechanical tentacles; for a moment, he was actually quite bewildered.

But he was a pure scholar; he didn't care about these worldly looks at all.

He pushed open the door of the old workshop, his gaze sweeping over the few crude lathes and workbenches scattered inside.

"Though simple, the basic infrastructure is decent enough..."

A hint of excitement could be heard in Kane's electronic voice.

For a logic-school heretic exiled for a hundred years, as long as he was given a place to Shelter from the elements that wasn't monitored by the Inquisition, he could rebuild his own research platform in the shortest time possible—even if he only had a pile of scrap metal!

...

Shelter Basement Level 4.

In the vast underground space, the crisp sound of metal striking metal echoed.

Lin Li stepped out of the elevator and found STC-73 busy among a pile of parts.

"73."

Lin Li got straight to the point.

"That red-robed Mechanicus kid who just arrived upstairs has an unclear background. Allocate some computing power to increase the camp's surveillance authority and keep a close eye on him. Give me a daily report on what he builds and what he does."

73's red optical lenses flickered.

"Understood, Creator. However, please allow me to express my deep contempt for the so-called modification technology that forcibly implants crude, low-quality metal into flesh and blood. It is an insult to Golden Age aesthetics and a violation of the bottom line of technology."

"Fine, fine, you're the greatest."

Lin Li rolled his eyes, not in the mood to listen to it show off its unrealistic technological superiority in this universe.

His gaze turned to 73's side.

Standing there in neat rows were ten metallic machines, each about two meters tall.

These machines had limb proportions similar to humans, but their overall structure appeared much more rugged.

They had no skin covering, leaving their matte gray alloy skeletons exposed.

Key areas on the torso and limbs had a large number of modular interfaces reserved.

"Are these the newly built general-purpose robots?" Lin Li walked around one of them and tapped the hard chest plate with his finger.

"Yes, Creator. Fully customized according to your requirements."

73 reported.

"They possess high-strength hydraulic servo systems, and the interfaces reserved on them can not only mount heavy armor but also connect to various calibers of individual weaponry at any time. Now, please name this series of robots, Creator."

Lin Li looked at the robots' slightly hunched shoulder design, extremely long metal arms, and short necks.

This form immediately reminded him of primates on Earth.

"This posture... let's call them [Ape-Type General-Purpose Robots]." Lin Li settled on the name casually.

"Understood, the Ape-Type series has been entered into the database."

73 recorded the name.

"May I ask, Creator, should I handle unified central control, or should I implant established independent work programs into them?"

Lin Li thought for a moment. "Use the established programs for now. Their first task is to assist you in setting up a heavy vehicle production line here on this spacious Basement Level 4."

As the various player Legions moved their respawn incubation pods to their wilderness bases, more than half of the space on the once-crowded B4 level was suddenly vacated.

Combined with the ultra-large hidden gate leading directly to the surface, it was simply an excellent underground munitions factory.

"Primarily produce 220mm self-propelled howitzers and heavy armored personnel carriers mounted with large-caliber autocannons," Lin Li instructed.

He couldn't help but feel a bit of regret.

If it weren't for the limited size of the exit to the surface, he would have even wanted 73 to hand-craft strategic bombers here.

Leaving Basement Level 4, Lin Li returned to the Main Control Room No. 1 on the B1 level.

He leaned back in his chair, opened the computer terminal, and began reviewing the daily base construction reports sent by the three Legion commanders.

The report from [Scourge Legion] was the most detailed.

Since the mountain mine's original infrastructure was relatively complete, this group of Liver Emperors, under the command of Ming Shen, had already begun optimizing the old equipment and had initially restored ore mining and crude smelting production.

Furthermore, their production model was the one that best aligned with Lin Li's vision.

They gathered nearby natives, giving them Shelter and food, and even wages, to have them perform low-tech manual labor like mining and smelting.

Meanwhile, the players went through the underground to the northern wilderness to fight Orks or scavenge in the junk mountains.

In contrast, [Galactic Empire Stormtroopers]'s sewer depression and [Brotherhood of Steel]'s river mouth pass were still in the grueling infrastructure phase, though with the help of machinery, progress wasn't slow.

After reading the reports, Lin Li cut the screen and switched the surveillance view back to the Shelter's surface camp.

With the influx of a large number of new players, the various professional knowledge these people possessed in the real world began to produce all sorts of wonderful chemical reactions on the wasteland.

In the surveillance footage, a corner of the camp square was crowded with people.

A foreign player was sitting on a rock.

He had dragged over an honest-looking native scavenger from somewhere, and the two were engaged in a comical, cross-server communication with wild gestures.

This foreigner seemed to be a linguistics big shot fluent in multiple languages on Earth.

After logging in, he didn't go to get a gun to kill monsters, nor did he go to move bricks to earn money; instead, he spent all his game time on cracking the NPC language.

After a few days of frantic effort, he had actually figured out the pragmatic logic of low gothic and could even conduct basic introductory communication with the natives!

After all, low gothic was originally a language that fused multiple interstellar dialects with casual grammar, so the barrier to entry wasn't high.

And now, this linguistics big shot was running a wasteland English corner in the camp, charging other players to teach them this local language; even many Legion players specifically came back to attend his classes.

On the other side of the camp, in a simple shed.

A new player who majored in applied chemistry in reality was using refining equipment that originally belonged to ikun True Fan to carefully filter a pile of yellowish powder.

He even spoke on the camp channel:

"Brothers, on my first day online, I've successfully extracted high-purity white phosphorus using wasteland phosphate slag! Next step is to prepare napalm! Wait for my combat experimental data!"

Seeing this, Lin Li's eyes suddenly lit up.

"That's right!"

Lin Li slapped his thigh hard.

"White phosphorus bombs are listed as banned weapons on Earth because they're too cruel and inhumane. But this is the damn Warhammer universe! Here, even gene-viruses and orbital bombardments are commonplace. Where's the rule saying you can't use white phosphorus bombs?"

"This kind of good stuff that burns to the bone once it sticks, with high temperatures and added toxicity, is simply a tailor-made artifact for dealing with those resilient Orks and the Tyranids that might appear in the future!"

Lin Li couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Anyway, those xenos aren't human, why talk humanitarianism with them? These players really are all talents!"

...

Meanwhile.

Deep in the secret laboratory beneath the Gaobo Food Factory.

Carmen stood before a shimmering clone incubation pod.

This machine was something he had exchanged from Lin Li using precious Nano-Repair Fluid.

The purpose was to study the gene sequences of these perfect clones in an attempt to solve his own irreversible genetic collapse as a Thunder Warriors.

But at this moment, Carmen's brow was tightly furrowed, his scar-covered face full of confusion.

He looked at the data feedback on the terminal panel in his hand and murmured softly to himself:

"Incorrect... this is all wrong."

In Carmen's understanding, even a body manufactured with the Empire's most advanced cloning technology, as long as it possessed physiological activity, would surely give birth to a faint soul ripple, casting a tiny ripple in the Warp.

However.

The biological tissues cultivated in this machine were extremely perfect, with amazing cell vitality, yet... there was not a single trace of a soul!

"This isn't a conscious clone at all. This is more like a set of cold data that has grown a piece of flesh out of thin air in the material world!"

Carmen looked at the quiet shell in the glass pod.

"No soul, no self-awareness. This is completely a pure vegetative shell!"

This creation, which defied the common laws of life, made Carmen involuntarily think of the legendary products of the Golden Age—the Stone Men.

Those ancient androids who were betrayed by the Men of Iron and eventually perished.

"Such a perfect fleshly creation!"

Carmen took a deep breath, a hint of fanaticism flashing in his eyes, but it was accompanied by even deeper questions.

"But why? Why would that Lord create these vegetative shells that have no combat power and not even consciousness?"

"And..."

"Since there are no souls in these shells, then the active, even somewhat neurotically fanatical souls within those soldiers on the surface... where on earth do they come from?!"

Carmen felt as if he had touched upon a terrifying secret, one massive enough to overturn the entire Empire's understanding.

The deeper he researched, the more questions he had.

Carmen rubbed his aching temples, thinking he must find a time to go and consult that ancient Golden Man in person.

But as soon as this thought arose, it put Carmen in a difficult position.

After the last encounter, he saw it very clearly.

That Lord was a pure realist who only recognized exchanges of equal value.

"But... what could a Golden Man possibly lack? What chips do I still have in my hand that can be used to exchange for this level of forbidden technology?"

Carmen fell into deep thought, his face clouded with worry for a time.