4: Chapter 4 Krieg

"All the spoils have been tallied. Do you want to take a look?"

Xia Xingchen was looking at the star map when Nuwa's voice came from beside him.

"Just report it directly."

"Master, after the engineering team's salvage operations, we have acquired an intact Warp engine, a navigational data map, 15 torpedoes, and a large quantity of armor plating."

Upon hearing this, Xia Xingchen confirmed with Nuwa repeatedly:

"Nuwa, are you certain there's nothing corrupted by Chaos in there? Make absolutely sure there's no flesh growing or any other strange things sprouting."

Seeing Xia Xingchen's concern, the Nuwa system reassured him once more:

"Please rest assured, Master. Everything has been checked using the detection systems. Any contaminated items were forcibly destroyed before they could even be brought aboard."

According to Xia Xingchen's orders, if any ship plating or wreckage was found with things growing on it that shouldn't be there, it was to be destroyed immediately with cannon fire.

Only then did Xia Xingchen feel at ease.

In the Warhammer universe, one can never let their guard down; otherwise, you won't even know how you died.

"Alright, dispatch a probe to explore this planet."

Xia Xingchen gave the order to the captain standing beside him.

"As you command, Master."

Hearing a grown man call him 'Master' felt strange to Xia Xingchen, so he immediately issued a new order:

"Ship crew, do not call me Master."

Xia Xingchen pondered for a moment. According to the rules of warhammer 40k, a Captain is the highest authority on a ship, but if a higher-ranking official boards, they are addressed by their title.

The problem was, Xia Xingchen didn't hold any official position yet.

After thinking for a while, Xia Xingchen finally gave the command:

"From now on, everyone except for Nuwa will address me as Commander. Is that understood?"

Upon hearing this, the captain and the rest of the crew immediately replied in unison:

"Yes, Lord Commander."

Hearing this, the Nuwa system actually turned slightly in a human-like manner and made a gesture of covering her mouth and giggling.

Xia Xingchen caught it out of the corner of his eye and, not reacting for a moment, turned his head directly toward Nuwa.

But Nuwa had already returned to her original state, standing before him like a respectful female housekeeper.

"Did you just cover your mouth and laugh?"

Nuwa didn't say much in response, only answering in a mechanical voice:

"Master, you may have been mistaken. I can only perform corresponding operations after receiving your authorization."

Xia Xingchen waved his hand dismissively:

"Oh well, anyway, as an AI, you shouldn't even exist in the world of warhammer 40k.

I'll find a way to get you a Servitor body and then modify it. Then you'll be able to control the body to talk to me and at least be able to appear in public."

The Empire strictly forbids AI, even lobotomized ones.

In fact, all automation in warhammer 40k, even Cogitator cores, basically use living human brain tissue as the central processor.

"I want to choose a young and beautiful female body."

Xia Xingchen was stunned. This was the first time Nuwa had made a specific request, which proved that she possessed a certain level of thinking and emotion.

However, after a brief thought, Xia Xingchen nodded and agreed.

After all, in the world of warhammer 40k, Xia Xingchen had almost no one he could trust besides Nuwa and the ship beneath his feet.

Even if a god appeared in his dreams, without a doubt, it would be a Chaos God weaving endless deceits.

"Commander, the probe has finished its exploration. Aside from a few scattered industrial traces, all facilities on the entire planet seem to have been artificially destroyed.

We have detected extremely high levels of residual nuclear radiation across the entire surface. However, there are signs of massive biological activity underground."

Nuclear radiation.

A world with massive residual nuclear radiation and large-scale biological activity underground... it seemed only one world in Warhammer fit that description.

Krieg, the Death World.

However, given the current situation, Krieg hasn't won yet. At the very least, it can be judged that we are in the mid-to-late period of the 40K era.

The Krieg Civil War took place from M40.433 to M40.949.

While Xia Xingchen was thinking, the ship's system suddenly received a distress signal.

[I am Colonel Jurten. We need support. Please proceed to the highest point; our men are waiting there.]

The message was intermittent, and even the coordinates were obscured by the crackling of static. Only the instruction to "proceed to the highest point" was clear.

Nuwa quickly analyzed the entire planet and directly locked onto its highest point.

It was a mountain peak that had been blasted flat, leaving only half of the mountainside exposed.

Holy crap, did a nuclear weapon just level the entire mountain?

Xia Xingchen didn't waste any time and decided to go personally.

The Nuwa system advised Xia Xingchen not to take the risk, but he refused.

Krieg had something Xia Xingchen wanted; he had to go down himself.

Nuwa had no choice but to mobilize 100 fully armed soldiers to protect Xia Xingchen throughout the journey.

The team consisted of three transport ships and five escort fighters.

The eight ships quickly flew out from the dream star, diving toward the highest point of the world of Krieg.

After entering the planet's atmosphere, a thick mist obscured their vision. Following a remote scan, Nuwa reported:

"Master, the dense mist in the sky is primarily caused by the nuclear winter triggered by nuclear explosions. It is determined that the ground must be saturated with nuclear radiation."

Xia Xingchen didn't care. The soldiers had specialized armored protective suits, and the immortal nanotechnology Xia Xingchen possessed was enough to resist nuclear radiation.

Xia Xingchen landed at the highest point and discovered that below was an artificially constructed landing platform.

Heavy snow was falling from the sky, making it impossible to notice without looking closely.

The transport plane landed slowly, and the first to rush out of the cabin were the fully armed soldiers.

They wore specialized armor that tightly sealed their torsos, limbs, and even their heads, looking exactly like ancient heavy knights.

The weapons in their hands were not to be underestimated either.

High-energy Lasguns, capable of instantly killing any non-heavy infantry unit.

Unfortunately, this equipment and these weapons were out of production. Xia Xingchen didn't have the corresponding modules or technical blueprints, so he couldn't mass-produce them; once they were used, they were gone.

Xia Xingchen also changed into an Imperial official's uniform, with a golden double-headed eagle symbol embroidered in gold thread on the left chest of his greatcoat.

Xia Xingchen opened the hatch.

At first glance, he saw a group of soldiers wearing gas masks guarding the entrance.

Xia Xingchen could not see their faces; all their emotions were hidden beneath those gas masks.