I, Yuhaka, am hungry!

Upon hearing Yulis's explanation, Hephaestus nodded with a look of sudden realization and said, "I see. That would indeed attract a lot of people, and then releasing the swarm virus at that time would infect many people... Uh? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Suddenly seeing Yulis and Takaka staring at Hephaestus with shocked expressions, as if they had seen something terrifying, Hephaestus felt a little embarrassed and looked at the shocked Yulis and Takaka, saying, "Um...did I say something wrong?"

"You actually dared to poison the food?!" Euryss said to Hephaestus with a shocked expression. Hearing Euryss's words, Hephaestus also looked bewildered, obviously not knowing why. After all, for Hephaestus, it was a very common thing for the swarm to poison food with viruses on agricultural planets. Was there something wrong with what he said?

Before Hephaestus could say anything, Takaka, standing to the side, looked at Hephaestus with a cold expression and said, "Under the gaze of the spirit of all things, poisoning food and dishes, or putting insects and excrement in them, will incur the wrath of the gods."

"Huh???" Hephaestus was also shocked, her mouth agape. She was actually being lectured by the Zerg?!

This made Hephaestus look at Yuhaka in disbelief. Then Hephaestus saw Yuhaka looking at him with a disappointed expression and saying, "Hephaestus... that's too much. You actually tried to poison Yuhaka's food."

"Eh?! Wait, wait a minute?! Commander, I meant putting the Zerg virus in the food, not poisoning what you're eating?!" Seeing Yuhaka's disappointed expression, Hephaestus panicked and quickly explained that he didn't mean that, but something else entirely. However, to Hephaestus's surprise, after hearing his explanation, Yuhaka looked at him with even more disappointment and said, "Zerg virus, awful O^O, Hephaestus, you're bad!"

"Why has it become even more complicated after the explanation?!" Hephaestus seemed a little confused after hearing Eohaka's words. What did he say wrong?

............................................

............................................

In any case, it was only after Hephaestus's painstaking explanation that the misunderstanding was cleared up, causing Eohaka's expression to change from "OO" to "OwO".

According to Yulis's explanation, they did not poison the laborers and refugees during the communion ceremony, as it was unnecessary. The reason was that they had already used other methods to inoculate the laborers and refugees with the gene-stealer version of the "Dragon Virus," so they did not need to rely on food to spread their virus.

The method used is quite simple: anti-radiation agents, specifically those used to resist nuclear radiation. Generally, these agents come from large pharmaceutical companies in Khar, but the military takes them over. However, the military's superiors withhold a portion of the agents and sell them on the black market, while the rest are sold at high prices to refugees and laborers.

There were protests from refugees and laborers, since these anti-radiation drugs are supposed to be distributed to laborers and refugees free of charge, but the fact that they are not being distributed to them free of charge is a big problem, isn't it?

However, the protesting refugees and laborers were scared away by the Gauss rifles. After all, the military strength here was not insignificant, and those refugees and laborers who only relied on mining tools and SCVs had virtually no way to resist a fully armed army.

Of course, the workers did report these issues to the executives of the Kemorian consortium, but unfortunately, these reports disappeared without a trace, like sand falling into the ocean, without any response.

The reason is that the executives here received substantial bonuses. As for where the bonuses came from, I don't need to say more, right?

Upon hearing Yulis's words, Hephaestus was also furious about the corruption within the Tyrannical Empire. If she could, she would probably send her ship to bombard the military base here.

However, Yulis did not tell Hephaestus that she had bought all the anti-radiation drugs from the military here. After all, these drugs had already been used to spread the virus, and if Hephaestus knew, he would probably be very conflicted.

Eurythus did not tell Hephaestus about these matters.

"Yes, that's the current situation. If you can give me a little more time, my comrades in the army will quickly deal with the humans at this military base. Then, this entire place will become our church's development base." With that, Yulis closed her notebook and then said to Yuhaka and Hephaestus, "So, would you like to visit our underground factory with Lady Yuhaka and Miss Hephaestus?"

"A factory?" Hephaestus was taken aback when he heard this, after all, he didn't expect there to be a factory here.

Seeing Hephaestus's stunned expression, Yulis seemed to understand something and explained to him, "Oh, those were just small weapons production workshops. The place we're going to next is a heavy vehicle factory. I also need Miss Hephaestus's help to make some big things for us."

Hearing this, Hephaestus immediately became interested. After all, Hephaestus was the Gorgon-class battlecruiser that liked to engage in heavy industry the most. After all, Hephaestus had a fully automated production workshop in its ship's rigging, so manufacturing various heavy vehicles was not a problem for it.

Led by Yulis, the group then arrived at the heavy factory where large vehicles were manufactured. Here, Yuhaka and Hephaestus could see a large number of workers conducting module modification tests on SCVs. Hephaestus saw the workers adding bipedal mechanical legs to the SCVs, and upon seeing this, he initially thought they were trying to create a War Wolf. However, when he saw the workers attaching heavy front armor plates bearing the Holy Order emblem and two-armed models to the front of the SCVs, Hephaestus realized that these guys had no idea they were making War Wolf vehicles, and other strange things.

This immediately piqued Hephaestus's curiosity.

P.S.: I still haven't reached 6000 words, but the content is indeed almost finished. Some of the settings are proving to be troublesome, and it's really giving me a headache.

PS2: If the church setting of Yuuyu is complete, I think it can be used in Warhammer Fantasy or other StarCraft-type strategy games or movies.

Volume 2 [StarCraft II: Back to Home]: Chapter 1833 [The Genestealer Church - Development and Undercurrents]

Seeing the walking SCV with four mechanical arms and short legs in front of her, Hephaestus fell silent. She originally thought it was a Wolf Warrior, but she didn't expect to make such a thing. What is this thing?

Seeing Hephaestus's blank expression, Yulis explained to him, "This is a walking combat mech that has been simply modified from an SCV. Due to limited weaponry, we only have a portion of the equipment available for this combat mech. Currently, we intend for this armor to be used by engineers and maintenance technicians."

"Huh? For maintenance technicians and engineers?" Hephaestus looked at Yulis with a puzzled expression after hearing her explanation. After all, combat mechs are usually used for combat operations, right? Why would they be used by engineers and maintenance technicians?

In response to Hephaestus's confusion, Yulis explained, "Yes, that's right. It's for maintenance technicians and engineers. Miss Hephaestus, you can see what's equipped on that mech, right?"

"What is it equipped with? Huh?! What is that?!" Hephaestus pointed to a pair of mechanical arms on the walking mech equipped with a multi-functional power clamp and a dual welding torch. These kinds of things are usually found on SCVs, so why are they on this walking mech?

“That’s right, it’s the tool used by SCVs.” Yulis nodded, indicating that this tool was indeed used by SCVs. The reason for using the original SCV repair module on this modified SCV walking mech was because Yulis and her team currently had very few weapons and equipment, and basically none of them were usable.

Therefore, this walking mech is basically equipped with industrial tools—such as circular saws for cutting steel and drills for drilling through ore.

"We also plan to use this mech to repair war machines on the battlefield. Powerful armament will give this mech a stronger survivability. If necessary, we will strengthen the mech's armament so that it can demonstrate its due destructive power." As she spoke, Yulis looked at the powered mech modified from an SCV in front of her with a proud expression.

Hephaestus was somewhat surprised after hearing Yulis's explanation. After all, repairing vehicles and defensive structures on the battlefield was always a dangerous task, as the enemy would target SCVs for attacks. SCVs lacking defensive capabilities would naturally find it difficult to withstand concentrated enemy attacks. Of course, apart from the old Federation's older SCVs which had reinforced steel plating, modern SCVs generally did not have this type of steel plating protection. This plating could have greatly improved the SCV's defensive capabilities, but because the manufacturers considered this plating unnecessary, they had removed it.

However, this is also why SCV's defensive capabilities have decreased by about 50%.

(The SCV in StarCraft 1 has 60 health points, while the SCV in StarCraft 2 has 45 health points.)

"Uh, while having multiple mechanical arms is a good thing, wouldn't it be difficult to operate?" Hephaestus remarked, looking at the four-armed mech. Before Yulis could explain, Hephaestus saw an engineer with two mechanical arms board the four-armed mech and begin operating it. Seeing the engineer controlling the mechanical arms as if they were his own, Hephaestus said to Yulis, "...Okay, I know why there are four arms now..."

Yulis: "Huh??"

Yuhaka: "OwO?"

..............................................

..............................................

After seeing the mecha, Yulis led Yuhaka and the others to a spacious underground factory. There, they saw the chassis of a huge vehicle parked in the empty factory. Upon seeing this, Hephaestus exclaimed, "Wow! What a huge chassis! It's even bigger than a siege tank or a transport vehicle!"

The vehicle chassis in front of Yuhaka and her group was enormous, measuring over ten meters long and more than ten meters wide. The massive tracks alone were taller than Yuhaka and her group; even marines would have to look up at the towering tracks. Yulis, standing nearby, explained to Yuhaka and her group, "This is the chassis of a giant excavator. Although the excavator was scrapped, the chassis was still intact, so we took it down."

Upon hearing this, Hephaestus looked at Euryss with an incredulous expression and said, "Wait?! How did you get such a large chassis here? There doesn't seem to be any other entrance here, right?" Euryss explained to Hephaestus, "Regarding that, we used the ability of imaginary space to secretly bring this thing here. No one can detect it, so you can rest assured, Miss Hephaestus."

After receiving the reply, Hephaestus was also incredulous at the way Euryth and the others were acting. However, Hephaestus quickly figured it out. After all, there was even more physics-defying Protoss technology here. Hephaestus was no longer concerned about the magic that Euryth and the others were using. But Hephaestus was more curious about what Euryth wanted to do with this huge chassis.

"Miss Eurythus, what are you planning to build on these huge chassis?" Hephaestus asked Eurythus, who was standing beside him, with this curiosity in mind. Hearing Hephaestus's question, Eurythus explained, "About that, we want to build a large transport tank with heavy armor and install a bulldozer blade on the front, and then install multiple turrets on the tank to make it easier to attack the surrounding enemies, right?"

Upon hearing Yulis's words, Hephaestus's mouth gaped open as if he wanted to shout "Holy crap!" This wasn't a transport tank; it was clearly a mobile battle fortress!

Hephaestus, looking somewhat troubled, said, "Um, Miss Yulis, if that's the case, the weight will become extremely heavy. Some environments and even some urban terrains on Korhal cannot support such a heavy transport tank."

In response to Hephaestus's words, Yulis nodded and said, "Yes, our engineers mentioned something similar to me, but it's alright. We have the ability to add anti-gravity capabilities to transport tanks, so we don't need to worry about the above situation." Hephaestus looked surprised upon hearing Yulis's words, clearly not expecting that Yulis and her team possessed such technology. Hephaestus, seemingly without objection, stroked his chin and said, "Hmm... if that's the case, there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

After Hephaestus said there was no problem, Eurythus asked him if there was enough space for him to unleash his skills. Hephaestus replied that there was no problem, and then, under everyone's gaze, Hephaestus unfolded his ship rigging. The huge ship rigging appeared behind Hephaestus, and it looked several times the size of Hephaestus himself.

However, this posed virtually no problem for Hephaestus, as the massive ship equipment weighed almost nothing to him.

After Hephaestus deployed its ship equipment, a large number of Barbarians emerged from it. These Barbarians were dressed in engineering uniforms and carried a wrench or a hammer; they were Hephaestus's engineering team.

"Alright! Everyone, the construction of the heavy factory will be left to you!" At Hephaestus's call, the barbarian chicks, carrying tools and dressed in engineer's clothes, raised their little hands to show they understood, and then scattered to begin their work.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the barbarian chicks began to build up the factory facilities in the empty factory at an incredible speed. In less than half an hour, the barbarian chicks had built up all the important facilities of the heavy factory.

Seeing the facilities of the heavy factory, Yulis looked excited and said, "Wow! As expected of Miss Hephaestus, she's got everything needed for the heavy factory sorted out so quickly. Now we can save more time to deal with other things!" Hearing Yulis's words, Hephaestus scratched the back of his head a little embarrassed and said, "Ahaha~ I'm not that amazing, it's all thanks to those kids. But I'm still a bit interested in the super-heavy transport tanks, so let me help out~"

After setting the goal, Hephaestus also helped Eurythus and his group increase the construction speed of their heavy industry, since they could produce enough war machines. At the same time, Hephaestus was also able to build various war vehicles and weapons of the Terran Empire, which would greatly enhance the Order's combat capabilities.

.........................................

.........................................

A few days later, at 03:00 AM

Near the new city built on a wasteland in Khar, there is a heavily armed military base. After all, the new city and the mining industry here are very important to Khar, so it is normal to have such a strong military presence here. Of course, it is not because of concerns about unruly people rebelling that so many troops are deployed.

Because it was nighttime, the area around the military base was shrouded in darkness. As for things like moonlight, forget about it. With so much radioactive dust floating in the air, it was almost impossible for sunlight to reach the base, let alone for a moonlit scene.

As thunder roared across the sky, a torrential downpour began. The Marines patrolling and on guard duty at the military base, their faces contorted with disgust, remarked, "Damn it, raining in the middle of the night. I should have canceled that inaccurate weather forecast subscription a long time ago."

A Marine standing nearby, overhearing the other's words, chimed in, "I told you that thing was useless, but you wouldn't believe me." Then, the Marine sighed slightly and said to the other, "Ha... never mind, let's hurry up and find a place to take shelter from the rain. This acid rain with radioactive dust is just too awful. I'd rather get a few scoldings from my superiors than patrol in this awful weather."

Upon hearing the Marine's words, the other Marines present nodded in agreement. After all, it would be a great loss if they were to contract radiation sickness from radioactive dust. They didn't join the army to get radiation sickness. Of course, their meager military pay couldn't afford the high cost of treating radiation sickness.

Soon, they arrived at a bunker built in the wilderness. Although they wouldn't encounter Zerg or Protoss on Korhal, there were still bandits. The rusty metal door opened with a piercing noise, and the patrolling Marines came in one after another.

After entering, everyone let out a sigh of relief, since they no longer had to stand in the rain outside.

After everyone sat down, they went about their own business, some smoking, some eating snacks. After a short while, the Marine in charge remembered that it was time to make a regular communication with headquarters. He turned on his communicator and said to headquarters, "Headquarters, headquarters, this is the third patrol team. Report complete."

After speaking, the Marine waited for a reply from headquarters, but after a short while, he only heard a buzzing noise. This puzzled him greatly. Could it be that his communication system had been damaged by the acid rain?

Thinking of this, the Marine asked the others, "By the way, how's your communication system? Mine seems to be broken."

Hearing his teammates' words, everyone started trying to contact headquarters using the communication systems on their powered combat suits, but without exception, they all received static. Seeing that everyone's communicators seemed to be malfunctioning, the Marine scratched his helmet and said, "What's going on? Everyone's communication systems are broken?"

Faced with this situation, one of the Marines tried to contact his teammates using his communication system, and the call was connected. Seeing this, the Marine captain looked puzzled and said, "That's strange. The communication system isn't damaged. What's wrong? Could it be due to the thunderstorm?"

The Marine Corps captain was dumbfounded when he realized this, but they were too lazy to deal with the situation. After all, this wasn't the first or second time such a thing had happened, so they didn't care. They would just go back when the rain subsided or stopped.

However, even amidst the thunder and lightning, the Marines present felt a sense of unease, as if something terrible was about to happen.

Just then, they seemed to hear the sound of tracks turning, mixed with the sound of heavy footsteps, which made them look puzzled.

"Hey, did you guys hear that? It sounds like we're hearing treads and footsteps outside?"

"Hmm? You heard the sound too?"

"How can you say it's not a hallucination?"

The Marines present discussed the sounds coming from outside. They didn't believe anyone had come, as this was the inner patrol area, while the outer area was patrolled by high-speed Hellfire tanks. It was practically impossible for them to hear the sound of tracks. Moreover, the drivers of the Hellfire tanks wouldn't transform them into mechs; it would be too foolish. The Hellfire tanks were incredibly mobile, and unless there was a problem with the tires, they wouldn't move in mech form.

However, the crowd didn't seem to pay much attention to the faint sounds coming from outside. They thought they must have misheard something, and the appearance of human troops here might mean that the capital had sent additional troops, just like the Char soldiers sent before. It was said that those Char soldiers had been captured by the insect swarm while guarding Char, which caused them to flee in a sorry state.

Those Char soldiers who escaped were also sent here. Being sent here was essentially a farewell to their future, and in a sense, it was a punishment.

Just then, a Marine stood up and walked toward the bunker's firing port, jokingly saying to the others, "Well, maybe it's the undead army that the Terran Empire sacrificed itself, wandering in the wilderness looking for the Terran Empire's enemies." Hearing the Marine's words, everyone present couldn't help but burst into laughter. After all, what era are we living in? How could there be such a thing as ghosts?

Seeing his teammates burst into laughter, the joking Marine also looked out of the bunker's firing port with a smile. He saw only endless darkness. The Marine couldn't help but feel uneasy, as such extremely low visibility was a terrible thing for soldiers, especially on the battlefield. Visibility is the first condition for gaining the upper hand, and the second condition is range. For a Marine carrying a Gauss rifle, this was of paramount importance.

Just as the Marines were complaining about the darkness outside, a bolt of lightning suddenly streaked across the dark sky. The flash of light allowed the Marines to see what was happening before them. In their sight, a vehicle resembling a small mountain appeared in the distance, and around that mountain were many similar vehicles. Moreover, they saw many giant-like figures among those vehicles approaching them.

After a thunderous roar, the Marines snapped out of their daze and told the others what they had just seen: "Hey guys, I think I just saw something weird?"

Hearing the Marine's words, one of the Marines laughed and said, "Strange things, are they the so-called undead of the Terran Empire wandering in the wilderness?" The Marine didn't get angry at his comrade's teasing and argued with everyone, saying, "No, it's not those. I think I saw some strange human troops. Those human troops don't seem to be Terran Empire troops."

After hearing the Marine's explanation, the Marine who had just been teasing him stood up and walked towards him, saying, "Come on, what human enemies are there now? Besides, this is the heart of the Terran Empire. Who could possibly sneak in here?" Then, as if remembering something, the Marine added, "Oh, I almost forgot. Raynor's Rangers came to Korhal back then, but their leader is dead now. It couldn't be some headless flies coming to Korhal to avenge their leader, could it?"

Soon, the Marine reached the firing port and looked into the darkness in the distance, saying, "Hmm? Where's that strange roaming army you mentioned?"

The Marine had barely finished speaking when thunder roared in the distance, followed by the sound of artillery fire. Before the Marine could react, the powerful artillery blasted the entire bunker, along with the Marines inside, into dust.

In the distance, firing was a massive super-heavy tank, its twin 200mm cannons on the turret billowing smoke. On the turret, Yulis, wearing a captain's hat and a nun's habit, waved to the people around her, signaling them to continue. Soon, the super-heavy tank rolled over the bunkers that had been blasted to smithereens and headed toward the military base ahead.

Everything unfolded during this stormy night...

P.S.: Six thousand times, I've added it here. Although there's still some content, at least this time it should be finished quickly.

P.S.: There's a problem with the computer's screen adapter cable, so I have to use a tablet to type. Fortunately, I can still catch up with the schedule. If the adapter cable arrives tomorrow, it will be back to normal. After all, it's still a bit difficult to get used to typing on a small screen instead of a big one. Although there are digital screens, they are very bright, and my eyes feel uncomfortable after looking at them for a long time, so I'll just leave it at that.

Volume 2 [StarCraft II: Back to Home]: Chapter 1834 [The Genestealer Church - Slaughtering the Unbelievers]

At a military base located in the Khar Desert, a heavily fortified military base stands, surrounded by thick and tall walls. Although there are no enemies here, mutated creatures and bandits are still a major headache. While the bandits dare not attack here rashly, it doesn't mean they dare not use other methods to attack. If the Empire's resistance force—"Renault's Rangers"—were to come here, they might very well be attacked.

Moreover, the refugees and laborers who attempted to rebel also posed a threat. If they wanted to rebel, the heavy industrial machinery could also threaten their soldiers. The military was cautious about this, as it was normal for them to be afraid of death when they had an officer who liked to exploit them.

In the internal monitoring room of the military base, several people were stationed there. However, the monitoring personnel were playing cards and showed no signs of paying attention to the content displayed on the monitors.