Shipping goods from the game to the World of Warhammer

Chapter 80 Mysterious Space

The Bloodaxe Clan pressed their advantage, pushing back all the way.

On the third day after the final battle, Snagrim couldn't wait to raise the war flag of the Evil Sun Clan in the town square.

Of course, the flag was planted upside down in the ground, and some itchy-handed jerk had painted a crooked blood axe symbol on it with red paint.

After losing their main strongholds, the remaining forces of the Evil Sun scattered like disassembled clockwork parts. Some fled north into the depths of the wasteland, while others surrendered on the spot and switched sides, saying that they had always wanted to join Blood Axe.

Orcs' loyalty is inherently tied to their fighting strength; they follow whoever has the bigger fist. In the Greenskin society, this isn't called betrayal, but rather being pragmatic.

Zazik and Snagrim integrated the entire planet's greenskin armed forces in less than a week, an efficiency that even surprised Rhodes. Of course, a significant portion of the credit for this efficiency goes to those mushroom-fryers.

The Bloodaxe's logistics guys have learned the basic production process. Although they are terrible at controlling the heat and the appearance of the stir-fried food is, by human aesthetic standards, far inferior to Rhodes's, at least the buff effect is real. After eating it, you can start fighting. It's simple, brutal, and perfectly in line with the Greenskins' logic.

Rhodes himself wasn't idle either.

Bloodaxe's acquisition of control over the planet meant he finally had a stable foothold here that wouldn't be interrupted. The Protoss structures he had warped out of the flagship had been functionally limited; space on board was limited, and energy supply had to compete with the flagship's own systems for resources, making it impossible to deploy many structures that required large-scale deployment.

Now that we have the entire surface of a planet, the situation is different.

Rhodes selected a plot of land about ten kilometers southwest of Bloodaxe Town. The terrain was a shallow basin eroded by the wind, surrounded by low rock walls, naturally forming a semi-enclosed area. The ground was relatively flat, and the rock structure was hard enough to serve as a building foundation.

He allocated this area to the Protoss.

The first to warp down were the Crystal Tower.

Pale blue energy pillars rose from the ground, the low-frequency resonance characteristic of crystal towers echoing throughout the basin, mingling with the sounds of blacksmithing and arguing coming from the distant orc town, creating a truly magical soundscape. After several crystal towers were erected, the energy network spread out, and the warp speed of subsequent buildings increased significantly.

Warp gates, Protoss nexus, control cores—one Protoss structure after another took shape within the basin.

Of course, Rhodes did consider the compatibility issues between the Orks and the Protoss.

Putting a group of orcs who are always ready to fight and a group of highly disciplined Protoss warriors on the same planet is bound to cause trouble.

So he simply made a timetable.

Every three days, the Bloodaxe Clan can send a designated number of Orc Boys to the training grounds outside the Protoss base for combat drills, with the Protoss responding in squads of Zealots and Stalkers.

The time, number of people, and area were all clearly written out, and a huge chart was drawn in a way that orcs could understand. It was posted on the notice board in the town center square, with each time period marked with a different color of paint.

Red indicates the time periods during which you can play, and gray indicates the time periods during which you cannot play.

For green-skinned people, you only need to recognize the color.

As for the issue of risking his life, Rod wasn't too worried.

The warp drive's teleportation function can automatically teleport a unit back to the base's medical area when it detects that the unit's vital signs have dropped to a dangerous threshold. The Protoss have shields, and the Orks have bootleg Waaaaaagh warp drives; plus, they're incredibly tough, so killing one of them would be extremely risky.

To Rhodes' slight surprise, after the Protoss warriors settled in, their first action was not to check the base facilities or devise a defense plan, but rather to collectively seek out Rhodes.

Leading the charge was the fanatic commander, the same one who had led the Blade Squad to cut through the rotary cannon position during the assault on the western flank of the Evil Sun stronghold.

Rhodes hadn't memorized its name yet; Protoss names weren't very user-friendly for human pronunciation, so he temporarily gave it a code name in his mind.

Let's call the fanatics at the very front "Guide Number One".

The fanatic stood before Rhodes, his eerie blue eyes beneath his visor fixed on him. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke.

Its voice took shape directly in Rhodes' consciousness through psionic conduction, bypassing the intermediate links of language and hearing.

"EnTaroAdun," Commander, we have been following Kara's guidance. Kara told us that you are someone who needs assistance, and we obeyed that guidance and joined your battle.

He paused for a moment.

"But Kara didn't tell us why."

The Templar spoke calmly, without questioning, as if stating a fact that had not yet been answered.

We want to know why.

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Rhodes remained silent for a moment.

He leaned against the edge of the Stargate's base, arms crossed, his gaze shifting from Lan Yi to the remaining Apostles and Hunters standing behind it. They stood in neat rows, the blue light beneath their visors fixed on him, quietly awaiting his reply.

How should this be explained?

To be honest, if you explain the complete Warhammer 40k universe and the nature of the warp to the Protoss, they will most likely understand. After all, the Protoss have experienced being swallowed by the Void in their own civilization history, and they are very familiar with the story of the Xel'Naga.

But there's no need to say too much. Too much information can easily lead to unnecessary follow-up questions, and besides, there are some things that even Rhodes himself hasn't fully figured out.

He organized his thoughts.

"In this universe, there also exist things similar to the Fallen Xel'Naga."

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The other person's eyes lit up slightly.

"They are not exactly the same, but they are similar in essence. A group of beings that transcend the material world, feed on spiritual energy, and use corruption and destruction as their means. Their influence has permeated every corner of this universe."

Rod's tone was calm, as if he were telling a story.

"I'm trying to stop all of this. At least, within my power."

That sounds nice.

But Rod knew in his heart that he didn't have such lofty goals in the first place.

Initially, in the besieged luxury suite in Esperan, all he could think about was how to survive the night. Later, after fighting his way out of the Chaos Rebellion, all he could think about was how to safely return to the flagship.

Later, his agricultural reforms in Esperan and the development of Stardew Valley's industries were ultimately just to build up his own wealth and prevent the Vandreich dynasty from becoming destitute.

But once you start doing it, you can't stop.

From Esperan's farmland to the stir-fried mushrooms on this green-skinned planet, from the first Zergling he redeemed from the system to the Protoss army under his command, every step was not something he actively planned. It was more like he was being pushed forward by some kind of inertia. Looking back now, he finds himself in a dilemma.

Retreat? Retreat back to being a wandering merchant, living a life of idleness and waiting to die? With the resources he currently possesses and the strength he has revealed, it's unlikely anyone would give him the chance to quietly drift through life.

Go forward? Then we can only keep moving forward, do what we can, block what we can, and take it one step at a time.

After hearing his explanation, the Protoss did not ask for any further details.

Guide Number One remained silent for about five seconds, then bowed slightly, making a gesture of approval from the Protoss.

"En taro, Kara's guidance is not without reason. Since it led us to your side, then what needs to be protected here is our battlefield."

After saying that, they turned and left, returning to their respective posts.

There were no oaths of allegiance, no impassioned speeches, only a simple confirmation of facts.

Rhodes stared at their departing figures for a moment, then shook his head and turned back to continue dealing with the base construction.

Two days later, the main framework of the Protoss base was basically complete.

The Crystal Tower's energy network covered the entire basin, the warp gate's blue light screen was operating stably, even the barracks had completed their warp-in, and the first batch of new fanatics were warping in.

Rhodes stood next to the control core; the building list on the panel still had a few items left to complete.

He summoned the probe that had always been by his side, the old buddy that had fought in the Green Pirates war.

The probe still bears the scratches left by the orc's sword. Although it has been repaired, the repair marks are still visible from certain angles, like an old scar that has healed.

Rhodes specified a coordinate on the panel, a vacant lot in the northeast corner of the basin, where a Protoss Nexus was to be placed.

The probe emitted a low-frequency hum to indicate confirmation of the command, and then drifted toward the target location.

It hovered above the designated coordinates, and the warp projector at its base glowed with a pale blue light, initiating the standard architectural warp procedure. An energy field outlined the hub's silhouette on the ground, and spatial folds began to form in the warp tunnel.

Then the probe stopped.

It wasn't a malfunction; its hovering engine was still running, and the machine was maintaining a stable hovering posture. However, the warp projector at the bottom suddenly changed from light blue to a color that Rhodes had never seen before.

Deep gold with a hint of green.

That's not Protoss technology's color scheme.

Before Rod could react, the ground beneath his feet shook.

It wasn't an earthquake; the tremors were too regular, like something deep underground had been activated, emitting a single-frequency pulse.

Then the second pulse came, stronger than the first.

The projector at the bottom of the probe turned completely dark gold, and the spatial folds of the warp tunnel did not unfold as intended, but instead extended downwards, as if being pulled down by some force from the earth.

Rhodes felt himself being pulled by some force.

The mental link between him and the Protoss units was suddenly disrupted by an external force, and all the information flow from Protoss buildings and units turned into white noise in that instant.

Immediately afterwards, everything went black before his eyes.

It wasn't the kind of darkness that comes with losing consciousness; it was more like something had completely replaced the space around him.

The sensation underfoot has changed.

Just moments ago, the ground in the basin was rough, but now it's an extremely smooth material underfoot, cool but not cold, like some kind of treated stone or metal alloy.

The air has changed too.

The complex odor outside, a mixture of fungal spores, animal scents, and ozone from the crystal tower's energy field, completely disappeared, replaced by a completely odorless air that was almost dry.

Rod blinked.

The vision begins to adapt to the surrounding environment after a few seconds, in almost no light conditions.

He was in a confined space.

There were walls all around, but the material was indistinguishable; in the darkness, one could only rely on touch to determine their location. Rhodes reached out, his fingertips touching the nearest wall.

The texture is the same as the floor underfoot, extremely smooth, with no gaps, as if it were formed from a single piece of material.

The temperature is lower than body temperature but not bone-chilling. When you press it with your fingertips, you can feel an extremely subtle vibration, so low that it is almost imperceptible, but it is definitely there.

It's like something is still running.

Rhodes looked around. There were four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. There were no doors, no windows, and no visible entrances or exits.

The space wasn't large; it was estimated to be no more than five meters long and wide, and the ceiling was about three meters high, just enough for him to stand up straight without bumping his head.

The system panel is still there.

Rhode checked the panel in his mind; all functions were working normally, the amount of universal energy had not changed, and the store could be accessed normally, but...

All units on the panel are available, but they cannot communicate or locate themselves.

Rhodes took a deep breath and leaned his back against the wall.

The moment he leaned against it, the wall behind him lit up.

There were no lights on; the walls themselves were emitting light.

Deep golden lines began to appear on his back where it touched the wall, spreading outwards like blood vessels.

The patterns spread to the ceiling, the floor, and the surrounding walls.

Within seconds, the entire enclosed space was covered by these deep golden patterns, like a system that had been dormant for an unknown period of time finally receiving a start signal.

Although the light was not strong, it was enough for Rhodes to see his surroundings clearly.

The wall material was not any alloy or stone he recognized. It was a dark gray color similar to basalt, but the surface texture was closer to some kind of biological material, with extremely fine, skin-like bumps and ridges.

Those golden patterns are embedded beneath the surface of this material, as if they were cast in when the space was built.

As Rod looked at the direction and distribution of these patterns, a thought flashed through his mind.

This doesn't look like something made by humans.

It doesn't seem like it was created by space necromancy.

It's more like something left behind by a civilization that is older and more primitive than the fear of death.

As Rod was processing his judgment, the floor beneath his feet shook again.

After the tremor, the golden patterns on the opposite wall began to rearrange, like liquid metal flowing on a solid surface. The patterns intersected, branched, and recombined, eventually coalescing into a pattern in the very center of the wall.

Rod stared at the pattern for several minutes.

He didn't recognize the symbol, but he could roughly guess who the style belonged to.

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