The sages sent by Angstrom were stationed in an almost abandoned factory area. It was obvious that the red pirates did not treat the original facilities of the planet well, but they did not damage them excessively. The top priority was to restore them.
production capacity, because the logistics lines of the expeditionary force are shifting further and further, the forces on this planet must become "self-sufficient" as soon as possible.
Although there are strict traffic controls in the war zone, Arni's status as commander allows him to enter and exit most areas freely, so when his armored vehicle arrived at the factory, there were no obstacles along the way.
It is said to be a factory area, but because reconstruction requires a lot of manpower and material resources, a small city has been formed. Various shacks and dilapidated houses spread like locusts outside the towering chimneys, and dirty slave workers wearing metal collars work in the narrow streets.
They trudged through the streets, their skin stained with oil, passing scribes, servitors, and Mechanicus priests.
Most of the slave workers here are surrendered prisoners, and what is waiting for them is to use their fragile lives to atone for the emperor's sins for the last time.
Of course, there are "ordinary people" living here, most of them are low-level technicians or affiliated personnel serving the Mechanicus, there are even small businessmen, and priests representing the state religion.
The state priests in gorgeous silks walked past the stalls surrounded by slaves and servitors. They sang hymns sparsely, trying to attract the attention of the crowd. Groups of private skulls circled overhead, whispering wildly.
"People from the state religion are here too?"
Arni noticed the national church team outside the car window, and Suhrab beside him nodded.
"This planet will need more people for future development. The state religion has organized many jihadists this time. They will be the main force in colonizing and recovering the world in the future."
"Ha, I'm afraid the state religion just wants to get an extra piece of the big cake after the war."
Arni sneered. No one knew the quality of these state church priests and the so-called state church families better than him. They pretended to be simpler than the last, but lived more luxuriously than the last. He knew that a "highly respected" bishop had three illegitimate children alone.
more than ten.
At this time, Suhrab also laughed and said:
"By the way, Master, the Werner family is also here, and they can also contribute to this operation."
Arni frowned when he heard the name of his future married family.
"They? What are they doing here? They will only cause chaos."
"Hey, you can't say that. What we need most for this plan is troops. Their fanatic followers may not have enough combat power, but their numbers are definitely enough. Also, Master, your fiancée Danica is here too.
"
Arni's brows furrowed even more tightly.
"What is she here for?"
"Look at you, you are her future husband, isn't this a matter of course?"
Arni pouted and didn't say anything, but when he recalled the other person's face, he felt a little inexplicable expectation. After all, he hadn't seen a serious woman for a long time.
The armored vehicle moved forward without slowing down. The water splashed when passing by the puddles splashed on the slave workers, but they didn't even have the strength to be angry. They just glanced numbly and continued to be urged by the whipping servitor.
walk.
Soon, they arrived outside the main door of the factory. The driver parked the car and opened the hatch. Arni and his followers got out of the car. Each of them wore a breathing mask. The Mechanicus' disregard for environmental safety is well known.
Yes, they are accustomed to the clean air of the nest and have very low resistance to most toxic gases.
There are fewer people here, and the dull servitors are pacing back and forth, carrying fuel barrels on their backs, or dragging huge tool boxes with their hydraulic mechanical arms.
One or two of the servitors are equipped with bionic electronic eyes. When the light begins to dim, they stand out like shining gems.
Then, the heavy factory door opened, and Arni felt a chill as soon as he stepped through the threshold. The air-conditioning in this place surrounded him, and he subconsciously wrapped his military coat tightly.
"Commander Arni, welcome."
A male mechanical priest with little modification walked over, with a servo skull floating above his shoulder.
"My name is Lux-13, and I am the second-level attendant of Sage Fei Patrick."
"Hello, Father Lux-13, I have something I need to talk to the sage about."
"The Sage is checking the progress in the servitor manufacturing workshop. Please follow me."
Following the priest, Arni found that they needed to pass through a food processing workshop first.
If it weren't for those termite boring machines, he really wouldn't want to set foot in such a dirty and filthy environment. This place was so dirty that it didn't look like a place where food could be produced. The walls and floors were covered with a thick layer of grease.
The porters were busy packing the produced food with dull eyes, most of which were corpse starch and ration bars.
And these things were all transported out of several noisy huge machines. Rows and rows of raw materials were put into the machines, and then the most boring protein food was made using technology he did not understand to supply the Astra Militarum.
them.
But that's not all.
Arni tried his best not to watch those processes, but he could still see from the corner of his eye that the servitor was throwing a lot of corpses into the meat grinder.
Those corpses were simply ordinary human corpses. Some corpses still had scars from being hit by laser guns, but most of them looked like mobs that had been wiped out.
Suddenly, Arni felt that he had stepped on something. He stopped and looked down at the black stains.
At first he thought it was just a metal fragment, but then he realized that it was a wing made of black iron, an Aquila emblem split into two, the style and size of which were the most common among the Astra Militarum.
Because he stopped suddenly, the priest who was leading the way immediately turned his head, staring straight at him with his light green mechanical eyes.
"What's the matter, Captain Arny?"
Arni's heart was pounding and he tried hard to resist the urge to vomit, but he restrained himself and moved his feet away.
"It's okay, keep going."
Afterwards, they passed through the food processing plant and came to a deeper facility. The light here was very dim. Only the lighting balls in the eye sockets of the servo skull shone in the darkness, shining with desperate light in the cold.
This place is much cleaner than before, and the military boots squeak when walking on the smooth floor.
After entering here, the servo skulls also began to play binary chants in a loop.
Although Arnie just found it a bit harsh.
Servitors were not unfamiliar to him, but he had never thought about or seen how those living machines that obeyed instructions were created.
The overall structure of this place is very large, and the main body is still made of cut rocks. The walls and pillars are dark gray, and they are covered with climbing frost, which shows that the temperature in this place is very, very low.
"Throne!"
Suddenly, one of Arni's followers suddenly shouted and raised his head with a frightened expression.