Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 297 Dimensional Exploration (Ten Updates)
Dorothy crossed her arms, her heavy frame like a wall. She added in a muffled voice, "Those workers... are more desperate than the worst homeless people in Pacific Island. At least the homeless can find a corner to rot in."

There, they were born to be cogs in a machine, screwed in until they were dead, and then thrown away as scrap metal.

Valerie, who hadn't spoken much until now, finally opened her mouth. Her voice was calm, yet it carried a penetrating quality, the analytical tone unique to former company elites: "Back in Arasaka, I came across some projection models of the final form of mega-cities."

She paused, as if comparing a cold database with vivid memories, "Now that I've seen it with my own eyes... If Night City is allowed to devour everything without restraint like the corporate council, and technology continues to run wild in the direction of control and exploitation for hundreds of years, with social classes completely locked down and the lower classes piling up like garbage... then its final fate will probably be the nest we see."

Her words brought a brief silence to the lounge.

This metaphor is both too accurate and too horrifying.

Night City was already the epitome of chaos and oppression in their minds, while Hive City showed an even more desperate end that this model could reach on a time scale.

"Damn it," Jack spat, "after hearing you say that, I don't feel so happy about going back. Are we risking our lives just to prevent our hometown from becoming that kind of hellhole?"

“At least now we know how bad things can get,” Mann broke the silence, his tone firm. “And we have the possibility of changing some things.”

He was referring to their enhanced physical bodies and the potential for more support from Chen Yu.

The topic then shifted to "dimensional exploration," which Chen Yu mentioned at the end.

“Go to another world…” Falco pushed up his sunglasses, the lenses reflecting the gleam of data streams. “Won’t the fundamental physical constants be off? What if there are life forms in a pure energy state… or time itself is not running at the same pace? That would be a real problem.”

His tone carried the curiosity and caution characteristic of a tech enthusiast.

Rebecca's eyes lit up immediately. She slapped her thigh, making a soft metallic clanging sound: "Damn! Another world! There must be huge things we've never seen before that we can blast! Maybe even some local specialties!"
Just imagine, if we could get our hands on some of their unique weaponry or advanced technology, wouldn't we be able to do whatever we wanted in Night City? If we didn't like someone, we could just pull out our weapons and give them a surprise from another world!

She was already lost in fantasies of blasting her enemy to smithereens with unknown weapons.

Pila twisted his long neck uneasily, his voice trembling slightly: "Come on, Rebecca... I just hope it's not this kind of hellhole anymore, where you're constantly risking your life."

What if... what if there were a normal world? At least I could sleep peacefully without fear of being dragged away by some ghostly thing while I'm asleep.

Jack sat bolt upright, his business acumen instantly activating, his eyes gleaming like he was scanning for credit points: "Hey! Thinking only of violence? That's narrow-minded! Think about it, if that world had some local specialties, like…"

Eat a fruit that makes you unforgettable, or a gem that glows on its own and is absolutely impossible to find in Night City!

Let's bring back a few boxes of them, open a shop in the Lijiang Scenic Area or Xianzhang Mountain, and sell 'otherworldly artifacts.' Wouldn't that be a monopoly? Faster money than robbing a bank!"

He had already begun mentally calculating the potential profits and the costs of dealing with various forces.

Valerie calmly interrupted their reverie, her voice like ice water: "The unknown also means an equal level of risk. Since the sage entrusted us with this task, it means he has assessed its value and is aware of its dangers."

We can't just barge in like headless chickens. Intelligence gathering, equipment compatibility, emergency evacuation plans… all of these must be in place before we depart; missing any one of them could leave us there forever.

Her mindset had switched to the standard Arasaka high-risk mission assessment mode.

Mann listened to the team's noisy discussion, his rugged face expressionless, but his eyes were deep.

Returning to Night City means temporarily bidding farewell to this universe filled with steel prayers and eternal war, and returning to the city they both hate and know, woven from neon lights, cybernetic bodies, and ruthless capitalism.

But this time, they are no longer the street mercenaries who struggled to survive in the cracks.

They possess enhancement technologies from another world flowing through their veins, and their bones are etched with memories of even more brutal battles. They also bear the mission of expanding the territory for that mechanical sage.

This is both an unprecedented opportunity, a springboard to escape the quagmire of Night City, and a chance for them to be drawn into a deeper and more dangerous vortex.

He looked at his teammates—the restless Rebecca, the shrewd Jack, the nervous Pila, the composed Dorio, the technically gifted Falco, the shadowy Mowell, and the calm Valerie.

They were still the same guys who crawled out of the cesspool of Night City, but something had indeed changed after experiencing the flames of the Forged World and the darkness of the Hive.

The road ahead is unknown, and the outcome is uncertain, but at least their team is still here, and they are tougher, more ruthless, and more resilient than ever before.

He looked at his teammates, his companions who had struggled alongside him from the streets of Night City, now warriors capable of battling terrifying beings in the depths of the hive.

The road ahead is unknown, but at least they are still together, and stronger than ever before.

“Alright,” Mann straightened up, interrupting everyone’s reverie, “we still have work to do before we go back. Everyone, perk up and complete the test task assigned by the Sage. Then…”

He looked at the metal door of the lounge, which symbolically separated the inside from the outside, as if he could see through it to the distant, bizarre night city. "Then, we go home. To prepare for the next 'business trip'."

Everyone's expressions turned serious, and they nodded.

Returning to Night City is not the end, but a new beginning.

The task of dimensional exploration is like a door about to open; behind it may lie endless opportunities or deadly traps.

But in any case, they have already embarked on this path, there is no turning back, and they can only continue forward.

The murmurs in the lounge gradually subsided, replaced by a solemn anticipation for the future and a determination to silently gather strength to face the unknown.

In any case, they are at least doing better than the mercenaries on the streets of Night City now.

(End of this chapter)