Warhammer Survival Guide

Chapter 112 A Terran Year

in the afternoon.

The control tower room of the D-4 takeoff and landing platform.

Through the thick bulletproof glass, one can see the bustling scene below.

Hundreds of conveyor belts continuously transported the planet's highly processed black fuel blocks and golden wheat grains into the abyss-like cargo hold of the "Terra Nexus".

At this moment, Márquez was standing in front of the control panel.

His sophisticated mechanical right claw was hovering above a data board, the data probes attached to its fingertip trembling slightly.

Thousands of data interactions are taking place every second.

Luo Wei stood behind him, his hands hanging at his sides, maintaining the standard subordinate's posture.

He has just finished reporting on the final revised plan regarding the wheat loading schedule.

Marquez exclaimed, "The efficiency curve has seen a jump of 3.4%."

The multispectral scanning beams in his eyes focused on Rowe's face.

"In the Plenty II, an environment filled with inefficient manual labor and low mechanical maintenance rates due to superstition, you not only maintained the stability of the supply chain, but also extracted additional capacity through an almost ruthless calculation."

Just as Rowe was about to respond politely, he heard Marquez continue, "Rovy Dane, your way of thinking is fundamentally different from everyone else here."

"You know how to convert human lives into fuel, and you know how to turn morality into cost."

"This trait is called a talent in the lower-level schools of writing on Terra. In the logic of the Cult of Mechanics, it is called divine reason."

""

Luo Wei kept his head down.

His gaze fell on the gold thread at the hem of Márquez's robe, and he replied, "You flatter me, Your Excellency Tax Commissioner. I was merely fulfilling my tithe duties."

"You're a talent, Lowe. In your operation logs, I see the rudiments of high-level logic belonging to the Ministry of the Interior."

"This agricultural world is full of acid rain and radiation. Your staying here is a serious misallocation of resources."

Marquez raised his mechanical claw and pointed it at the colossal ship overhead that blotted out the sky.

"Come with me."

These three words sound like an instruction.

"My department is responsible for the allocation of supplies in the three sub-sectors of the Gothic Sector. They need auditors like you who can handle complicated and messy accounts and have an iron will."

"I can apply for a level-two life extension surgery for you, or I can implant a primary cortical enhancement chip to free you from the inefficient physiological need of sleep."

Seeing that Rowe remained silent, Márquez thought that Rowe would be as excited as the assistants and servants he had recruited before, unable to speak.

So he offered his most attractive condition: "I assure you, you will see a wider world."

"You will serve directly in the sacred Terra Executive Council. Your value will be elevated from millions of tons of wheat to astronomical resource allocation."

This is a proposal that could drive any mortal mad.

For the indigenous people of Fengrao No. 2, this was a true leap to heaven.

Leave this godforsaken place where the average lifespan is only forty years, and go to the stars and the sea to gain extended lifespan and supreme power.

Even though Luo Wei was somewhat prepared, hearing such generous terms firsthand still caused him to experience an uncontrollable surge of emotion.

To be fair, he did yearn for the outside world.

More than three months after he arrived in the past, he has been rolling around on this mud ball.

They constantly faced the risk of being executed, starved to death, or burned at the stake as heretics.

They lived a life of constant anxiety, unable to sleep during the day or at night, as if walking on thin ice.

Marquez's invitation was a ticket to the safe zone.

This means that he will no longer have to live a life of constant anxiety.

This means he no longer needs to eat those compressed biscuits mixed with sawdust every day.

This means he can escape this agricultural planet, which could be devoured by plague and aliens at any time.

But he can't leave.

At least, not yet.

Because in his meticulous ledger, there was still a crucial "bad debt" that had not been properly dealt with.

Alicia is all alone, at the heart of the maelstrom of the Governor's Spire.

All around him were family elders eyeing him with predatory intent, and greedy, corrupt officials from the Executive Yuan.

Once he leaves, the young governor will immediately lose his sharpest weapon and his only shield.

She may be forced to compromise.

It may completely collapse in a brutal power struggle.

In the ancient merchant ronin families, in their ruthless struggles, the losers often met a fate more tragic than death.

Once the struggle is lost, she will no longer be a person, but an "object" used to exchange for benefits.

She will be packaged up and sent to those bloated, fat rulers of the hive.

They might also become playthings for some old nobles with perverse tastes.

Without Loewe's meticulous care and pruning, this proud "Silver Frost Rose" was destined to be swallowed up by the mire of power, until it withered and died.

This is by no means Luo Wei's blind arrogance.

Governor Alicia, despite having an army and guns at her disposal, lacked sufficient experience in power struggles.

Faced with a complex web of interests, she was like a blind man wielding a heavy hammer but unable to find a nail.

And Lo Wei was her eyes.

His mind, emanating from another world, allowed him to easily see through the false accounts used by officials to cover up their greed and expose their conspiracies.

It can accurately identify aliens and heretics hiding in the shadows.

Moreover, hidden within the sunless underground laboratory lies a terrifying trump card that even the Empire and Chaos cannot comprehend:

The Wall of Gluttony.

In short, once Lowe leaves, the governor himself will be in danger, and a purge will follow.

In his quest for power, and for that damned tithe, he offended far too many people:

Case's old men are still lurking in the shadows;

The corrupt elders of the Executive Yuan are waiting to see him make a fool of himself;

Young Master Valentine and his family;

In other agricultural war zones, there were hungry wolves who coveted and envied his position as granary manager;

And the patriarch of the "Children of the Stars" cult who issued a death warrant for him and has yet to be captured.

Once he loses his protection and coordination, this anger will be unleashed on the people of the eastern granary.

At that time, old John will surely be hanged at the entrance of the administration building.

Buck will definitely be transferred to the most brutal front lines to serve as cannon fodder.

Susan and her widows' group will surely be sold on the black market and become playthings.

The special waste recycling team he personally assembled, composed of death row inmates, would certainly be treated as waste and thrown into the fermentation tank.

Perhaps they dare not touch Father Alpha, after all, the priest is backed by the Mechanicus.

But they would do everything in their power to ostracize and suppress this "heretic" technician, starve his servants, until the flame of this "mad" priest was completely extinguished.

Of course, the more important reason why Loewe rejected Márquez was:

He heard the other person mention "cortical enhancement chips" and "life extension surgery".

After a brief moment of thought, Lowe said sincerely, "Your Excellency Tax Official, I am humbled by your appreciation. But I must confess to you that although my way of thinking is close to divine logic, my body—is still mortal."

A faint red light flickered in Márquez's eyes, as if he were analyzing the meaning of the sentence.

Lowe gave a wry smile, pointed to his stomach, and explained, "You just said that you've eliminated sleep, eliminated inefficient physiological needs. That's exactly what I fear."

"In dealing with Bill and that laborer, what you saw was my calm calculation regarding asset preservation. In reality, however, my heart was filled with turmoil."

"I didn't execute him, not only because he was useful, but also because I couldn't bring myself to do it. I can't face death like you can, without my heart rate changing."

Luo Wei took a half step back, his face showing weakness.

This was a carefully crafted disguise for his survival.

"I have my reasons. The thought of having my organs removed and my brain emptied fills me with a physiological fear when I face the sacred mechanical ascension."

"I am still just an ordinary person, craving the taste of delicious food and the peace of sleep. Before your sacred and absolute reason, this body of mine is filled with impurities and errors called 'humanity.'"

"If I go with you now, this weakness will become a shortcoming in your department. I am not ready to completely dedicate myself to pure reason."

Upon hearing this, Márquez was speechless and paled.

The servo skull behind him also stopped writing, with the quill pen hovering in mid-air.

A few seconds later, Márquez emitted a crackling sound of electricity.

"Fear. It's an overreaction of a living organism's self-protective mechanism, and it is indeed an inefficient variable."

Márquez seems to have accepted this explanation.

In his algorithm, a subordinate who might make a mistake due to fear of being reformed does indeed need to have the risk reassessed.

"I understand. The core of your logic hasn't been refined yet. That's a pity."

After thinking for a moment, Lowe made his request: "Please give me a little more time, Your Excellency Tax Commissioner. I am a native of Plenty II, and I still have a deep attachment to this land. Please give me another cycle: wait until a Terran year."

"This year, I will try to overcome this weakness. I will try to make this planet produce more value."

"If I am still alive by then, and my thinking is closer to divine logic, please come and get me again."

This is a delaying tactic.

They neither completely rejected this big shot, thus preserving a way out for the future, nor did they have the time to develop.

The red light in Márquez's eyes gradually stabilized.

"Data updated. Rowe Dane has been added to the high-priority watch list."

"If you remain stagnant due to weakness a year from now, I will simply turn you into a machine servant. That would be much easier."

"Yes, ma'am."

Luo Wei lowered his head and breathed a sigh of relief.

Give him a year, and that's enough time for him to do a lot.

Just as Luo Wei thought the conversation was over and was about to take his leave.

Marquez suddenly spoke again: "Wait a moment, you need to do something for me."

"Go and notify the technical priest in charge of maintaining the machinery, the one named Alpha. Tell him to come here immediately. Bring all his servo skulls and his complete set of data interfaces."

"Now?"

"Immediately, this is mandatory conscription."

Luo Wei was a little confused.

Why the sudden need to find Alpha?

Could it be that there was a problem with the data from "Grey Mule-1" just now?

Or was it that the freak "Wall of Gluttony" was detected as having heretical signals by the oracle on the spaceship?

Luo Wei dared not ask any further questions and hurriedly accepted the order and left.

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