6: Chapter 6 The Harvest from the Confiscation

Mechanicus Priest Kalen's bionic eye swept over as he replied calmly:

“According to the records, seventy-two hours before the rebellion officially broke out, the former Governor, Lothar von Dreck, activated the maximum authority emergency asset transfer protocol.”

“All precious metals, liquid credit points, high-value bonds, and mobile rare assets were transported to the starport via a dedicated channel. They were taken by three armed cargo ships registered under the name of Rogue Trader Reck Vance and departed the system's orbit at the same time the rebellion occurred.”

“Hmm?!” Fu Haoran felt something was wrong.

“The rebellion had just started, maybe it hadn't even begun, and the family fortune was already moved out?”

“Usually when people run away, don't they wait until they see the situation is hopeless and the enemy is at the gates before hurriedly packing their bags?”

“Who would be so certain of losing just as the fighting starts that they move everything out in advance?”

“Unless...”

Suddenly, all the clues connected.

“No wonder the coup went so smoothly... No wonder the old Governor's resistance was so perfunctory... No wonder when I first entered the meeting room, everyone looked at me like I was a piece of meat that had jumped onto the chopping block myself...”

“Good, very good.” Fu Haoran gritted his teeth.

Wade stood to the side, eyes downcast, keeping his thoughts to himself.

Suddenly, a guard soldier searching carefully in the deepest corner of the vault shouted: “My Lord! There's a hidden door here! It's locked tight!”

Fu Haoran's spirits lifted, and he walked over quickly.

The door was embedded in the wall, perfectly integrated, made of high-density alloy. Ordinary cutting tools were completely useless against it.

“Father Kalen, can you open it?”

Kalen stepped forward, a mechanical finger extended, and a tiny probe popped out from the tip to enter an almost invisible interface next to the door.

A few seconds later, with a soft click, the lock was released.

Behind the door was a small storage room.

Fu Haoran was the first to walk in. His gaze swept around, and then he froze.

Inside, there were no gold or silver treasures as expected, but weapons and armor. However,

they were completely different from the Imperial standard equipment he was familiar with.

Several spears leaned against the wall, their streamlined bodies covered in a dull layer of material that looked like biological keratin, with strange muzzle structures.

Several sets of armor hung there, designed in a sinister style, with sharp bone spurs extending from the joints and surface textures like some kind of scales.

There was also a pile of equipment and parts with an organic feel and unknown purposes, emitting a faint and unsettling glow.

“This is...” Wade followed him in, brow furrowed, his hand instinctively resting on the pistol grip at his waist.

Father Kalen's electronic eye locked onto the items, the red light flashing rapidly. His cold electronic voice carried a rare hint of absolute severity and caution: “Confirmed as Xenos technological creations.”

Clearly, the former Governor knew full well that these things were hot potatoes, which is why he didn't take them.

Fu Haoran scanned the room, and the bit of hope that had just risen cooled by half again.

Are these things valuable?

On the black market, they might fetch an astronomical price.

But for the current Fu Haoran, they were more like a death sentence.

Once discovered, a charge of possessing Xenos Technology would make him finish even faster.

It turned out the raid yielded nothing of use, only a pile of time bombs that could explode at any moment.

“My Lord,” Wade's voice pulled him back to reality, his tone heavy, “I just received an emergency report from the Logistics Department. Because we failed to control the Promethium Factory, the Corpse Starch production line has completely stalled.”

“The Hive City's central grain reserves... are only enough to maintain the basic consumption of the entire city for thirty days. The private granaries of the Upper Nest nobles refuse to open for sales at fair prices.”

Fu Haoran's heart sank suddenly.

Once the food ran out, his three-year suspended death sentence might not even last three months.

Unless he took back the Promethium Factory!

“Those nobles are forcing me to take action against the Underhive!”

While Fu Haoran was having a headache, the soldier searching the storage room shouted: “My Lord, come quickly and look at this.”

Before Fu Haoran could clearly see the massive object in the corner, Mechanicus Priest Kalen stepped forward excitedly, gently stroking the machine in front of him as if caressing a lover.

In Fu Haoran's vision, a system prompt popped up:

【Category: Standard Template Construct (STC) - Fragment】

【Content: ceramite Basic Synthesis and Shaping Protocol (Simplified Version)】

【Status: Operational (Requires connection to standard power and raw material input)】

【Production Capacity Limit: Monthly production of 10 tons of standard ceramite alloy】

An STC fragment?!

Fu Haoran felt a surge of joy.

Even if it was just a fragment, and even if the production capacity was pitifully low, he knew all too well what this thing meant in the Empire.

It represented standardization and reliability!

More importantly, the STC before him was equivalent to a 3D printer!

Father Kalen's bionic eye also finished scanning, and his electronic synthesized voice carried a rare human-like fluctuation:

“Confirmed, physical carrier intact, basic protocol readable.”

“Only the ceramite smelting and shaping functions are retained.”

“What a pity. An STC not within the Holy Technology Catalog has limited value to the Adeptus Mechanicus.”

In Kalen's eyes, the STC before him was a white elephant, but in Fu Haoran's eyes, it was a treasure found.

“The Planetary Defense Force is not the Astra Militarum after all. It's very hard to obtain Imperial armored vehicles, let alone those main battle tanks.”

“If I replace all the surface armor of 2K-era vehicles with ceramite, it should be just barely enough.”

“Then give the elite troops some protective gear; it'll be enough to hold out for a while.”

Fu Haoran's mind calculated rapidly.

10 tons was just enough to arm the main weapon structures of an elite infantry company, or to build two light armored vehicles.

“It's a bit little, but better than nothing.”

“Why didn't the predecessor take this?” Wade wondered.

Kalen pointed to a scorched mark on the inner wall of the metal box: “Detected traces of forced data stripping and counter-measure program burning.”

“Inference: someone attempted to crack or transfer the core protocol, triggering the Adeptus Mechanicus's preset security countermeasures, resulting in partial data corruption and binding the fragment to a specific verification code. Unauthorized movement could trigger self-destruction. Thus, it was abandoned.”

Fu Haoran understood.

It wasn't that they didn't want to take it, but that they couldn't, and it might even blow up in their hands.

But for Fu Haoran, this instead became an opportunity.

“Wade, pick a team of the people you trust most and who are the most tight-lipped to take over here.”

“From now on, this room is the highest restricted area of the Governors Mansion. Without my direct order, not even a mosquito is allowed in.”

“My Lord, are you going to...” Wade seemed to have guessed something.

Fu Haoran didn't answer, but instead said to the Mechanicus Priest: “Father Kalen, prepare a set of portable tools for me, and bring that medical Servo-skull that belongs exclusively to the Governor.”

Ten minutes later, Fu Haoran changed into casual clothes, with a silver-gray medical Servo-skull hovering beside him.

The surface of the skull was engraved with the gear emblem of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and four precision Mechanical Arms extended from the sides, their tips flashing with a pale blue energy glow.

He pulled up the system interface:

【Skill: Cross-Dimensional Travel】

【Status: Ready】

【Point Cost: 100】

Click confirm.

His vision distorted, the gloom of the Governor's office faded, replaced by a familiar ceiling.

It was the 2K era, in a rental house in Eagleland.

Just as Fu Haoran was about to get out of bed to make some money, system prompts suddenly flooded the screen:

【Detected highly compatible Hive-like world (not colonized by the Empire)】

【Triggered Side Quest — The Great Foundation】

【Quest Requirement: Establish a core industry in this Hive-like world (either food processing, energy transit, or material trade), obtain stable production capacity, and lay the foundation for Hive City supplies in the warhammer universe】

【Quest Reward: 5,000 General Points, unlock cross-world bulk material transfer permissions】

Fu Haoran sat up abruptly, looking out the window in disbelief.

Below was a street in Eagleland, busy with traffic. Where was there even a hint of the Hive City's gloom?

“System, look clearly, this is Eagleland, not a Hive City world!”