I'm in Warhammer, I just want to grow mushrooms

Chapter 150: Prophecy from the Subspace
(Author's note: This is an important chapter of the main plot and is not recommended to be skipped.)
Because of the transport ban on the Nidlevin sector, the hive city was spared?

Why is that?
Li Nuo and Tido vaguely guessed that it was related to the plague, but they were not quite sure why.

This story begins with a unique mechanical priest.

Her name is Koriel Zeth.

Jersey's teacher is Cass, and Cass's teacher is Lazlo.

The most outstanding work of these three masters and apprentices is "Thought Space".

In the 30k era, there were very few mechanical priests who used thought space, but in the 40k era, any mechanical priest who did not have thought space was definitely a low-end machine oil guy.

The Thought Space is a visual data space that belongs exclusively to the Mechanical Priest himself, similar to Sherlock Holmes's Mind Palace.

In the thought space, the mechanical priest can view his knowledge and memory through virtual images.

The thought spaces of different mechanical priests can form a local area network.

The Mechanical Priest commands combat units that are wirelessly connected to space through thought space.

In the game where the Mechanicus (Note 1) explores the Necronomicon's crypt, several Mechanicus sages communicate and deploy their troops in thought space.

During the Horus Heresy, during the Great Schism of Mars, Kelbor Har, a representative of the rebel Mechanicum, unleashed the Chaos Code, attempting to destroy all equipment, factories, and loyalist Mechanicus connected to Mars' utility grid.

The thought space developed by the three masters, Jersey, Cassi and Lazlo, shielded the Chaos Code from outside and made them immune to the corruption of the Chaos Code. As a result, they became the very few loyal mechanical priests who were not killed.

During the period between the end of the Great Crusade and the beginning of the Horus Heresy, Collier Jersey was developing an incredibly advanced technological creation.

This thing is called "Akashic Reader".

Akashic is a Sanskrit word that means "ether", or subspace.

Jersey discovered that there was an inestimable amount of historical information and knowledge within the warp.

She used psykers and mechanical devices to assemble a reader and attempted to read the information within the warp.

Due to the violent and crude nature of the Warp's energy, the development of the Akashic Reader was extremely difficult, and sudden deaths among psykers were commonplace.

In recent days, the Akashic Reader has successfully operated twice in a row, which is very rare, bringing two pieces of information of great value to Jersey.

The first successful run took place five days ago.

The experiment took place in a secret laboratory in Jersey.

On the granite platform, the golden throne reflects golden light under the force field light source.

Romu 31, Jersey's assistant and guardian, escorted the shaved-headed psyker to the throne, securing him with belt buckles and ropes.

The psychic's body was full of tubes, and potions of various colors were flowing in and out of his body. He looked listless and could only allow Romu 31 to control him.

The first to be activated is the theta wave amplifier, which will strengthen the psyker's connection to the ether.

Next comes the dopamine distributor, which stimulates the psychic's body and consciousness, allowing him to overcome the fear of death by a headshot and actively observe the condition of the ether.

As the trickle of ether entered his soul, passed through the junction between soul and body and reached the brain, the pipes connected to the psychic's head began to output obscure streams of information.

When these information streams pass through the logical pipeline of the Akashic reader, they are transformed into binary language that can be understood by machines.

In the past, when experiments reached this stage, either the psychic's head would explode or the machine would stop working.

But this time, things are different.

Jersey was surprised to find that the typewriter printed out a binary language that he could recognize on the parchment.

Although there was a lot of garbled code, Jersey still sorted out useful information from it.

"Stellar radiation waste zones, plagues, pathogenic strains, bone drinkers, overrun with plague."

The fragmented text seemed to be pieced together into some kind of prophecy.

Jersey searched the public database of Mars based on keywords and soon discovered anomalies in five star regions, including the Nidlevin star region.

The governors of these five star sectors all made their fortunes by processing radioactive waste and built a large number of stellar radiation waste zones.

They have also been harassed by the plague recently, but have not announced the results of the plague investigation to the public.

Jersey is an expert-level Mechanic Priest, a high-ranking member of the Mechanicus.

She used her authority to search for information related to the "Bone Drinker" and obtained historical archives related to this fungal alien.

The historical records of the Bone Drinkers thus came into her view.

In order to verify whether the Akashic Reader really brought him the prophecy, Jersey contacted the alien physiologists in the Nidlevin sector and asked them to search for the Bone Drinker on his behalf.

The search was conducted in secrecy, led by the local Mechanic Priest Morg.

The search results shocked Morgue and Jersey.

Nedlevin XV's head of tax affairs and head of military supplies affairs have actually been parasitized by the Bone Drinkers.

Referring to the spread rate of the Bone Drinkers recorded in historical archives, Jersey reasonably suspected that the Governor himself had been parasitized by the Bone Drinkers.

The mechanical priests of the Nidlevin sector are currently secretly inspecting every corner of the sector to confirm how serious the infection situation is in the sector.

"Oh, I see." Titus nodded slowly. "Our transport ban just happened to isolate the Bone Drinker strain from the Nidlevin sector. That's why you said we avoided a disaster invisibly."

"Yes, ma'am. According to the intelligence we have so far, as long as even one Bone Drinker sneaks into the Hive, we will have no peace." Delton opened the Bone Drinker's file on the Thinker for Tido and Li Nuo to check.

Tido felt a little scared while reading the information, and her brows were tightly furrowed.

Li Nuo had fought with the Bone Drinker before and knew a lot about the inside story. He showed his nervousness appropriately, but he was thinking about something else in his heart.

As Cloud Hammer, he had heard of Collier Jersey's name.

This is a female mechanical priest who knows how to maintain herself. Unlike most mechanical priests who smell bad, she is a typical cyber-style queen.

The Mechanicus promotes the theory that "the Emperor is the incarnation of the Om Messiah."

Jersey objected to this.

Not only did she not believe that the Emperor was the incarnation of the Om Messiah, she even denied the existence of the Machine Spirit.

Of course, she didn't reveal her inner thoughts publicly.

Following the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, Zerth survived the onslaught of the Chaos Code, but was soon assassinated by Kelbor Har.

In the end, she detonated the engine of the lava city and died together with the enemy. She took the results of her life's research into the grave and turned into dust in the magma.

After the Horus Heresy, the Adeptus Terra and the Adeptus Mechanicus recognized Zersi's self-sacrifice and inducted her into the ranks of the Loyalists.

Yes, a High-ranking Mechanicus who did not believe the Emperor was a Mecha-God and denied the existence of Machine-Spirit was judged loyal simply because she died together with the enemy.

The Warhammer world's loyalty standards are just that flexible.

"By the way, Delton, you just mentioned that Ms. Jersey's Akashic Reader successfully operated twice. What was the result of the second time?" Li Nuo asked while looking at the Bone Drinker's information.

Delton operated another Thinker.

A Low Gothic translation from Binary appeared on the screen.

After removing the meaningless garbled characters, a piece of text emerged.

Li Nuo's pupils shrank slightly after reading this text, while Tido looked confused.

"This feels like another prophecy." Tido muttered and read out the text:
"Let me tell you the truth, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the perfect cycle of the Beginning and the End, the Lord of Flesh and Machine.

"He will be the brightest light in the darkest hour, the dispeller of ignorance, the mentor of the blind.

"He will be the object of loyalty and allegiance, and he will bring the well-being of the Empire and the happiness that mankind prays for.

"A devastating war is inevitable, and peace is but an echo of the past. Strife, strife, blood, the galaxy burns in war, and the empire falls apart in lamentation.

"You must work together and treat him as a brother. Only in this way can the boundaries of the galaxy become one."

(Note 2)

Li Nuo's heart trembled when he saw this prophecy.

The special forces boy he created was called Alpharius, whose name came from the Primarch of the Alpha Legion.

The prophesied Omega is said to be Alpharius's younger brother. The two look very similar and often exchange identities and names to play tricks on others.

Before this prophecy appeared, Li felt that giving the orcs a Primarch's name seemed like nothing.

Cloud hammer, that's normal.

But now after reading the second prophecy, Li Nuo suddenly felt uneasy, always feeling that the special forces boy seemed to be carrying some kind of cause and effect.

This is not okay.

I have to find an opportunity to change the special forces boy's name.

Titus compared the two prophecies and found obvious differences.

The content of the first prophecy was disjointed, presenting only a few key words.

Although the second prophecy also has some garbled characters, it is generally smooth and the content is richer than the first.

"It seems that Ms. Jersey's Akashic Reader is about to be successfully developed." Tido sighed.

"No, ma'am, the opposite is true." Delton spread his hands. "After the second prophecy appeared, the Akashic reader exploded, and Ms. Jersey suffered heavy losses. It is said that it will take more than ten years to create a reader of the same specifications." Tido was secretly shocked, pulled the corner of Li Nuo's clothes, and whispered:
"Why don't we donate some money to support Ms. Jersey? If it weren't for her prediction, we would still be kept in the dark."

"Mmm Good."

Li Nuo nodded in response and added in his mind:
It would be great if I could just pay to buy the logical circuits of the thought space.

This thing is very strong and powerful.

The machines connected to it will not be contaminated by the chaos code. For this reason alone, Li Nuo is willing to pay the throne coins to purchase the thought space.

The premise is that Jersey is willing to sell.

Now it was a good opportunity to fund Jersey's reconstruction of the Akashic Reader. There was no reason to refuse.

Li Nuo and Tido discussed it and finally decided that Tido would come forward and discuss the funding with Jersey on behalf of Li Nuo.

After the two of them finished their discussion, Delton took out a scan report and handed it over:
"Gentlemen, I have some bad news to share. This is the scan report from this afternoon. During a routine inspection of the airport, agents discovered traces of Bone Drinkers on a cargo ship from the Menek Sector. Fortunately, the ship was only docked to refill fresh water, and the Bone Drinkers on board did not disembark."

The Menek Sector does not make a living by selling out the health of stars.

The appearance of Bone Drinkers on freighters from this sector is a sign that things are getting tough.

Unnoticed by the others, the Bone Drinkers have spread widely, with the main medium of transmission being the cargo ships travelling here and there.

Li Nuo and Tido could naturally imagine the negative impact that this would bring without Delton saying much.

"We need to increase inspections of ships transporting promethium refining residues. Also, supplies we rely on for imports will become scarce, so we need to stockpile more."

Tido took out the data pad and wrote down the key points she had thought of.

Li Nuo asked:

"Any movement by the Imperial Army?"

Delton shook his head slightly:
"Not yet. At least until they know the extent of the infection, they can't carry out a large-scale cleanup operation. The Bone Drinkers will flee at the slightest sign of trouble. If they can't be eliminated all at once, they will inevitably return one day in the future."

"In other words, we can only rely on ourselves to deal with the infiltration of the Bone Drinkers for the time being?" Li Nuo asked.

"Yes, my lord."

Li Nuo asked:
"How many Imperial worlds have received this news?"

Delton replied:
"Within the Solar Star Region, all the imperial worlds operated in conjunction with Zhongsi Academy have received warnings. The number of worlds is likely over a thousand."

Hiss—thousands of Imperial worlds know that the Bone Drinker Plague is spreading in secret, so won’t the prices of necessary survival supplies skyrocket?

Delton said in a deep voice:

"My lord, the Bone Drinkers' parasitic methods are quite stealthy, and they know how to conceal their biological signatures. Existing scanners cannot detect their presence. The agents were able to detect the Bone Drinkers in the cargo ship during routine inspections thanks to the new scanning module purchased with the last allocation. It greatly enhances the penetration and accuracy of the scanners. I recommend that all surveillance equipment in the hive be upgraded as soon as possible."

"Well, your suggestion is very pertinent."

Li Nuo took out his data tablet and recorded the matters of allocating funds to Delton and adding manpower.

He didn't want the starch industry he had worked so hard to build to be destroyed.

Therefore, spend the money that should be spent, and don’t save it. It would be a tragedy if you die with the money left.

The three of them discussed countermeasures and formulated an effective response plan.

Later, Li Nuo and Tido went to meet Fu Gais. After listening to the description, the latter realized the seriousness of the matter and immediately issued a notice to hold an internal meeting tomorrow.

Everyone attending the meeting must be equipped with a scanner that monitors the biometric characteristics of bone drinkers 24 hours a day to ensure that any bone drinkers lurking around them are discovered at the first opportunity.

During the early years of the Great Crusade, the VIII Legion and the Space Wolves conducted preliminary research into the Bone Drinkers.

The biological characteristics, reproduction methods, living habits, etc. of the Bone Drinkers are all recorded in the database of the Terra Military Affairs Department.

This data is now open to people at the Governor level, who can freely create corresponding scanners based on the data records.

The difficulty lies in setting the nest.

The total area of the lower nest is ten times that of the upper nest, and the population is a hundred times larger.

Faced with such a large group, it is almost impossible to accurately scan every individual.

Li Nuo came up with a plan.

Among the metabolic products of bone drinkers, there is a phosphate compound with a large molecular structure.

The "fungiophage virus warts" previously made by Li Nuo automatically release fungiphage viruses by monitoring this compound.

Now, Li Nuo has made a fluorescent reagent by simulating fungi.

This fluorescent reagent will be put into the sewage sedimentation tank of the lower nest.

If a fluorescent reaction appears in the sewage sedimentation tank of a Xiachao block, it means that the sewage in this block contains specific compounds.

In this way, as long as the sewage sedimentation tank is monitored at all times, the traces of the bone drinkers can be discovered in time.

Li Nuo made the fluorescent tracer that night. He estimated that in about half a month at most, the millions of sewage sedimentation tanks in Xiachao would be effectively monitored.

But this is not enough.

Far from enough.

After the Bone Drinkers defected to Chaos, their infectiousness and destructive power became several times stronger.

Historical records from the early years of the Great Crusade are outdated.

The Bone Drinkers are no longer just a Gestalt civilization.

The higher consciousness that controls them behind the scenes can use some means to twist the scattered Bone Drinkers into a tough hemp rope.

It's hard to say whether this rope can be used to hang the Empire, but there is no problem in using it to strangle himself and Epimet.

Li Nuo felt a sense of urgency and became more devoted to researching the antidote.

Before I knew it, seven days had passed at work.

That night, the artificial moon cast silvery moonlight, and the garden in the royal court area was covered in snow-white.

It was almost midnight, and the house was quiet inside and outside. Li Nuo sat alone in his private laboratory.

The large desk in front of him was piled high with textbooks from the Warhammer world, some from Terra's medical department and some from the Mechanicus.

The contents of the textbooks are closely related to genetics and are very basic. Anyone who wants to engage in gene editing-related work must memorize the knowledge in these textbooks.

For the sake of his own hive and his life, Li Nuo worked hard to learn the basics of genetic engineering.

All of this was for a simulation experiment that started two days ago.

【Day 2229011. 】

You choose the Sample22-Clone141-Frag515573 gene fragment as the experimental subject.

【你使用帝国医疗部通用sgRNA设计工具，提取TT011-PSV-113病毒的一段包含20个核苷酸的RNA序列。其5'端与实验对象互补配对，3'端与Cas9蛋白结合。】

You use CVCPSE-ABB-15 yeast as an expression vector.

【...】

On Day 2229015, you verify the functionality and toxicity of the gene-edited product, the artificial phage virus.

[It has been verified that this virus has a killing effect on bone drinkers.]

However, the spinal cords of humans infected by the Bone Drinkers suffered severe genetic damage when the Bone Drinkers were killed by the virus. Within two days, the human's spinal cord would be necrotic, and this injury would lead to the human's death.

"Well, the Bone Drinkers and the people are dead, and here we are again."

Li Nuo held his forehead and chuckled, his smile full of helplessness.

The Bone Drinker gene fragments he is using now come from the Bone Drinkers killed by the Space Beast Clan.

The good news is that a variant of the TT011-PSV virus, TT011-PSV-113, has changed from being able to only infect plants and fungi to being able to infect humans parasitized by the Bone Drinkers.

The bad news is that when the Bone Drinkers are killed by the mutant virus, the infected will die with them.

This problem troubled Li Nuo for many days, so much so that he tore through the textbooks but still couldn't find a solution.

The reason lies in the parasitic method of the Bone Drinkers.

After they infect a living organism, they fuse their own gene fragments with those of the host.

The two are entangled together and cannot be distinguished from each other.

Killing either one will cause the other's genes to collapse, spinal cord necrosis, and rapid death.

To avoid this, the genes of the Bone Drinkers and humans must be separated.

This is completely beyond the scope of what can be solved by drugs, and can only be achieved through one-to-one gene editing.

But in this world, there are not enough genetic equipment to perform gene editing on every infected person.

Li Nuo felt a little weak. He sighed and stood up to stretch his joints, preparing to go to the bedroom to play the orc simulator.

At this time, a line of system text pops up.

(End of this chapter)