Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 420 Inspecting the Womb of Life
Having achieved his goal, Chen Xi left the still-under-construction Grand Cathedral of the State Religion.

However, he did not return to the Governor's Palace, but instead went to Rostov III to inspect the production status of the 32 Life Womb Factory.

The entire subsector's workforce now relies on this place for supply, so there can't be any problems.

As Chen Xi's landing craft pierced through the dense industrial clouds of the Rostov III, the entire view of the Life Womb Factory could be seen through the porthole.

This colossal facility, covering thirteen square kilometers, resembles a steel temple of the Mechanicus, with its hexagonal honeycomb structure nested layer upon layer. The quick-concrete buildings, covered with terracotta armor, gleam with a cold, hard metallic luster under the dim light.

Towering chimneys spewed thick smoke, mingling with industrial fumes in the atmosphere to create a perpetual haze.

Countless pipelines, like blood vessels, meander and coil on the building's surface, while steam valves intermittently hiss and spew out pungent condensate gas.

The factory is surrounded by automated turrets and searchlight arrays, while surveillance drones hover at low altitudes, their scarlet scanning beams occasionally sweeping across the acid-rain-corroded helipad.

At the main entrance, the giant hydraulic gate slowly opened and closed, and transport vehicles went in and out. The clanging sound of the robotic arms loading and unloading cargo could be faintly heard even through the thick bulkhead.

Chen Xi stared at the enormous structure, his brows furrowing slightly.

The entire subsector's workforce now relies on this place for supply, so there can't be any problems.

The shuttle landed on a landing platform on the edge of the factory, the steel deck humming under the weight of the landing supports.

Chen Xi stepped out of the cabin and boarded the waiting commuter vehicle. The tracked chassis made a soft clicking sound as it rolled over the reinforced glass walkway.

The commuter bus finally stopped in front of the elevator in the central atrium. Chen Xi stepped inside, and the elevator immediately started and descended vertically.

Through the observation window, countless cultivation chamber matrices extend downwards along the well wall, disappearing into the dark depths of the earth's core, like an abyss constructed of glass and steel.

Inside each two-meter-high transparent oval culture chamber, embryonic developmental cells float quietly in a pale green nutrient solution, with data cables winding around them like nerve endings, flashing with faint pulse signals.

These cables are writing pre-defined knowledge modules into the gradually forming cerebral cortex of the embryo—a memory indoctrination technique that the Mechanics excels at, capable of shaping a complete cognitive system before the body matures.

When the embryo completes its development and breaks out of the burrow, it is already an adult human with standard knowledge reserves.

The Mechanic Church relies on this technology to mass-produce workers, low-ranking priests, and even some great sages—for example, Belisarius Caul himself originated from an inconspicuous incubation chamber.

However, even mechanical engineering cannot guarantee that every batch of products will be flawless.

Occasionally, exceptional individuals emerge, capable of skillfully utilizing the knowledge within their minds from birth, which is considered proof of talent in the doctrines of the Mechanicus.

Conversely, those individuals who are slow to adapt to preconceived notions will be labeled as defective.

Interestingly, Belisarius Caul was also deemed a defective product at birth, but he eventually rewrote his destiny through tireless efforts and became the longest-lived mechanical sage in the history of the Cult of Mechanics.

The moment the elevator doors slid open, a warm and humid airflow rushed in.

The unique sweet and fishy smell of the bio-electrolyte, mixed with the pungent odor of oxidized metal ions, wafted over, creating a suffocating turbid current in the confined space.

Chen Xi's breathing mask instantly became covered with a fine layer of water droplets, and the humidity sensor on the edge of the mask immediately lit up with a yellow warning light.

The holographic projection of 32 appeared and disappeared in the rising mist, gradually coalescing into shape like a ghost.

The mechanical sage's signature scarlet robe took on an eerie purplish-red hue under the cold, blue light emanating from the cultivation chamber array, and the intricately embroidered binary runes on the robe appeared and disappeared with the fluctuations of the projection.

Three mechanical cats nimbly climbed and scurried across her body, their bodies, crafted from fine gold, reflecting a cold light, and making subtle "click" sounds at their joints.

One of them was combing the data interface on the shoulder of the 32-projector with a barbed mechanical tongue, while the other was curled up on the tool belt around her waist, its electronic eyes flashing with curiosity.

The sounds of gears turning, the hum of servo-driven skulls flying, and the pulsation of the incubation chamber's circulation system intertwine to create a surreal yet strangely harmonious industrial scene.

Chen Xi raised his hand and used the back of his tactical glove to wipe the water droplets off his mask, the anti-fog coating of the mask making a slight rubbing sound.

“Old man,” his voice came through the speaker of the breathing mask, with its characteristic electronic distortion, “it’s time to upgrade your humidity control system.”

The projection of 32 showed a slight upturn of its lips, and a data ripple appeared on the holographic image.

32 gently stroked the mechanical cat perched on her shoulder with her slender mechanical fingers, while pointing with her extended mechanical tentacles at the assembly line flashing indicator lights in the distance: "The existing production capacity has reached the design limit, and the embryo cultivation cycle has also been compressed to the physiological limit - on average, each embryo only needs three months to develop into a standard adult."

Currently, the production line can produce 200 units per hour with a stable pass rate of 93%, but unless the factory is expanded, production capacity cannot be increased further.

Accompanied by 32, Chen Xi's military boots stepped across the grating floor, which was slippery due to condensation, and the metal heels made a crisp sound as they hit the ground.

The A3 culture chamber array they are inspecting is synchronously entering the wake-up process.

The entire area resonated with a low, mechanical hum, and the indicator lights on the surfaces of thousands of culture chambers turned from blue to green as the nutrient solution circulation system began to emit a regular suction sound.

Thousands of servo skulls shuttle between the incubation chambers like a swarm of mechanical bees. Their red-glowing mechanical eyes constantly project scanning beams, precisely monitoring the vital signs, neural development progress, and knowledge transfer completion of each chamber.

These floating mechanical creations share information in real time via data links, ensuring that each embryo develops into a qualified adult body according to a preset growth curve.

The scene resembled a massive and sophisticated human body production line, where cold mechanical structures and warm living beings formed a bizarre yet efficient combination.

However, the products here are not simple industrial parts, but human individuals with complete consciousness—although their consciousness has been strictly regulated and shaped from the moment they are born.

Once an embryo has completed all its development and knowledge transfer processes, its culture chamber will look like the one in front of Chen Xi right now: the pale green nutrient solution inside the chamber will be quickly emptied by the suction system, and the data cable connected to the surface of the embryo will automatically disconnect, making a slight "click" sound.

Then the hydraulic device of the hatch was activated, and with the hissing sound of air pressure being released, the hatch slowly opened, "spitting" the adult body covered with nutrient fluid and mucus onto the transfer platform.

The newborn individuals are then transported by conveyor belt to a centralized cleaning center, where an automated spray system thoroughly cleans and disinfects them, along with a basic physical examination. This area also includes a short acclimatization zone to allow these newborns to gradually adapt to the external environment.

Typically, within one to two hours, these "products" can establish a basic framework of self-awareness and gain a preliminary grasp of the professional knowledge system that has been instilled in them.

The monitoring system showed that they began to instinctively exhibit pre-set obedience patterns and respond appropriately to instructions.

After a final stage of simple adjustments and skills testing, these "products" can be assigned to various production positions based on their assigned professional skills.

From assembly line workers to junior technicians, from new recruits in the Papacy to basic priests, they will all become standardized, qualified laborers in this vast industrial system, embedded in the empire's production machine like precise gears.

"Speaking of which, would we be considered to be using child labor?" As Chen Xi walked among the massive array of incubation chambers, the soles of his boots echoed crisply against the metal grid.

He looked up at the adult bodies that had just been "born" and sent to the production line, and said half-jokingly, "These guys may look like adults, but they probably don't even have a three-day adaptation period from leaving the incubation chamber to entering the factory, right?"

The mechanical prosthetic eye of the 32 flashed a few times and emitted a slight buzzing sound.

She knew very well that Chen Xi was using lame jokes to ease the oppressive atmosphere—after all, the scene in front of her was exactly like the villain's stronghold in an old-school science fiction movie.

So she chimed in, "That's alright! Look at those clone pilots in the next sector, they're the real 'living like ants, flourishing in spring and withering in summer'!"

"The clone pilot won't live past the full moon, will he?" Chen Xi smiled knowingly; they both knew what the other was talking about.

But jokes aside, Chen Xi quickly steered the conversation back on track: "Seriously, if you were to expand the factory, to what extent could you increase efficiency?"

The 32 mechanical tentacles drew a holographic projection in the air, displaying a densely packed production schedule.

“It depends.” Her electronic voice carried a sense of helplessness: “All my production lines are fully booked right now. If you want me to expand, I can’t even squeeze out the capacity of the production equipment—unless you can order new equipment from other foundries.”

Rostov III is not, after all, a legitimate foundry.

Although 32 has been desperately building large intercontinental factories on this planet, so far, the factory coverage on the planet's surface has barely reached 30%, which is far from meeting the production needs of the entire sub-sector.

Not to mention the sheer variety of goods Chen Xi wanted was overwhelming: from Astartes power armor to Knight armor parts, from Guardian Army equipment to Astral Army standard weapons, to civilian products, and even the resource-intensive Titan assembly line.

Speaking of Titans, since obtaining official authorization from the Cult of Mechanics, Chen Xi can now openly produce Warhound-class and variant models.

However, the manufacturing process of such a behemoth as the Titan is extremely time-consuming. From the casting of parts to the final assembly, it often takes several years or even decades for the entire production line to complete a Warhound-class ship.

What's even more troublesome is that producing a Titan means temporarily suspending the production plans for other weapons and equipment—this resource crowding-out effect makes 32 wish he had more mechanical brains every time he adjusts the production schedule.

However, Titan's production plan had to continue.

This is not only because Titans are irreplaceable strategic weapons on the battlefield, providing necessary combat power to the Titan legions in the Rostov subsector, but also because in the political ecology of the Empire and the Mechanicus, the forge world with Titan production capabilities often has greater say.

The 32-bit processor rapidly calculates various production scheduling schemes, while mechanical tendrils continuously adjust parameters on the holographic projection.

She knew that for the Rostov sub-sector, maintaining the Titan production line was not only a matter of military strength, but also an important political bargaining chip.

A secondary sector capable of producing Titans autonomously will gain a drastically different status and influence within the Cult of Mechanics and the Imperial bureaucracy, which is crucial for future development plans.

"I will try to optimize the production line congestion issue." 32's electronic voice carried a hint of helplessness: "But it is indeed difficult to squeeze out additional production capacity to expand the Life Uterus Factory in the short term."

The mechanical cat in her arms projected a light that flashed with data streams, displaying the real-time load status of various factories—almost every production line was operating at full capacity, and some were even operating beyond capacity.

Unless Chen Xi can persuade other forging worlds to provide key equipment, it is almost impossible to rapidly increase clone production under the current conditions.

“Speaking of which, I do have an idea that might solve the problem.” 32’s mechanical tentacles excitedly drew several holographic projections in the air, and data streams flowed across her scarlet robe.

She enthusiastically explained her plan to Chen Xi, her electronic voice unconsciously rising a few decibels: "Didn't you previously have Gloria build an orbital star ring for the world?"
Could you build one for our planet too? I remember we discussed this plan, and you even promised to!"

A detailed orbital star ring design was immediately displayed on the projection screen, and the 32 mechanical fingers quickly pointed out several key nodes: "We can make some adjustments on this basis - while building the orbital star ring, we can directly order a complete set of life womb production equipment from Gria."

Let them pre-install and debug the equipment on the orbital star ring, so that once the star ring is built and transported to its destination, these new factories can immediately begin operation!

Several robotic cats seemed to be infected by their owner's mood, happily twirling around on her shoulder.

The 32-inch holographic image tilted slightly forward: "This will not only solve the problem of equipment transportation and installation, but also shorten the construction period to the greatest extent possible."

Once the star ring is in place, the new life-giving womb factory can immediately begin production—wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone?

Chen Xi looked at her friend's gleaming mechanical prosthetic eye and gently stroked her chin.

He completely understood 32's obsession with the "rings"—it had almost become a kind of obsession for her recently.

However, to be fair, this solution can indeed solve multiple problems at the same time.

The star ring design in the projection was still slowly rotating, and the nodes labeled "Life Womb Module" were flashing an alluring blue light.

"Hmm... I'll think about it," Chen Xi finally said, her voice carrying a thoughtful tone.

He knew that this decision was not only about production efficiency, but also involved a new round of political maneuvering with Gria to forge the world.

But seeing 32's expectant look, he had already begun to plan how to persuade those stubborn mechanical priests.

(End of this chapter)