161: Chapter 161 Labor Camp Inmates

The foreman looked at the crowd, "You have regained your freedom. For those willing to return to Mobius Prime, the Spark Alliance will arrange ships to take you back. For those willing to stay here, the Spark Alliance will also arrange legal civilian status for you."

As soon as he finished speaking, the previously quiet camp instantly erupted in chaos.

The five thousand prisoners began whispering and discussing among themselves.

However, when Colonel Andrei heard this news, he felt no joy at regaining his freedom; instead, he stood rooted to the spot as if struck by lightning.

"Go home?" Colonel Andrei stared blankly at the lunchbox in his hand, which had been licked clean, "If I go back to the main planet, I'll never be able to eat this delicious food called Roujiamo again... I'll have to go back to eating that unpalatable corpse starch nutrient paste every day..."

"What's the point of living then?!"

As a former Commander of the Astra Militarum who once possessed a high sense of honor, Colonel Andrei stood up abruptly, strode over to the foreman, flushed with excitement, and shouted, "I am willing to stay here and continue my reform! I'm not leaving!"

Following Colonel Andrei's declaration, the vast majority of the thousands of prisoners behind him also stood up, raising their hands and nodding frantically in agreement.

These five thousand ordinary soldiers were mostly poor wretches from the bottom of the Hive City.

Back home, they lived hopeless lives, never knowing if they would survive the day.

In their entire lives, where had they ever experienced such a heavenly job where they only had to work eight hours a day, weren't beaten after finishing their work, and were even provided with food and housing?!

Now, even if someone tried to chase them away, they wouldn't want to leave!

As a local native, the foreman naturally saw through the fact that these soldiers were completely moved by the welfare policy. He smiled and pressed his hands down, signaling everyone to be quiet.

"Don't be anxious!" The foreman said with a smile, "If you don't want to return to Mobius, you can completely choose to apply as civilians to join our outsourced engineering team!"

"As long as you sign an employment contract, from now on, not only will food and housing be provided, but every month, the engineering team will also pay you a salary of 500 kindle coins!"

"Of course, if there are those who don't want to work on the construction site, you can also go to the job market in Coastal City to find work yourself. Even for those who don't want to work, as long as you abide by the constitution, you can go to the civil affairs department to apply for a community room to live in for free and receive relief rations."

After hearing the foreman's explanation of civilian benefits, Colonel Andrei finally put his mind at ease. He had already decided that even if they beat him to death, he would never return to that hellhole of Mobius!

The next morning, as the labor reform period ended, this batch of prisoners began to go their separate ways to find their place in this new world.

Colonel Andrei did not go to the city; he chose to remain with the engineering team.

After all, in his life, apart from fighting, he only knew how to operate these engineering machines. Being a foreman here, eating Roujiamo every day—isn't this life much better than being cannon fodder in the Astra Militarum?!

However, just as Colonel Andrei was holding his lunchbox and queuing in the cafeteria for breakfast, a long convoy of armed transport trucks suddenly drove onto the newly built road outside the engineering team's camp.

The doors opened. Carload after carload of people wearing the uniforms of Mobius Prime officers were herded down by the Shelter guards like ducks, and they walked into the gates of the labor camp, crestfallen.

Colonel Andrei held his lunchbox and curiously craned his neck to take a look.

"Hmm?" Colonel Andrei's gaze fell on the officer walking at the very front. Why did that face look so familiar?

"Commander Du Long?!" Colonel Andrei rubbed his eyes, his face full of disbelief. It hadn't even been a month, so how could the planetary governor's own brother be captured by these country bumpkins and brought to the construction site to build roads?!

...

Mobius Prime, the hanging garden on the top floor of the Governors Mansion.

Artificial starlight simulated the sun, casting light onto a wide, comfortable lounge chair. Governor Cromwell was closing his eyes, enjoying this rare moment of tranquility. He was waiting. Waiting for that massive fleet to send back news of a triumphant victory.

In Governor Cromwell's deduction, as long as that group of country bumpkins entrenched in the scrapyard and the prison planet were completely crushed, the slight wavering within House Rofis caused by losing the prison would be completely smoothed over by this great victory. The family's ruling status in the Mobius system would become even more unshakeable.

"Calculating the time, the orbital bombardment should have ended by now." Governor Cromwell picked up the iced fruit wine on the small table beside him and took a satisfied sip.

Just then, a flurry of chaotic and rhythmic footsteps suddenly came from outside the garden. Immediately after, "Bang, bang, bang," the heavy garden gate was pounded violently.

Governor Cromwell frowned, but a smile of certainty flashed across his lips: "It's just a battle with no suspense, isn't it? This old butler, having followed me for so many years, is still so impatient."

"Come in." Governor Cromwell put down his wine glass and said unhurriedly.

The door was pushed open violently. The old butler scrambled in. He was trembling violently, his hair, which had been meticulously groomed, was now disheveled, and his face was as pale as a dead man's.

"M-Master!" The old butler fell to his knees beside the lounge chair with a thud, his voice becoming sharp and cracked due to extreme fear, "We lost! The space battle was lost! We were completely defeated!"

The smile on Governor Cromwell's face instantly froze. He stared at the old butler, his brow furrowed: "What nonsense are you spouting? What do you mean completely defeated? Did the fleet encounter a cosmic storm?"

"No! We were defeated!" The old butler shouted with a crying voice, "All the capital ships... those heavy defense cutters and modified gunboats were all captured by the enemy! Of the full expedition fleet of nearly thirty thousand people, those who finally escaped back to the main planet in small shuttles... are less than a thousand!"

Boom! This sentence was like a thunderbolt, striking Governor Cromwell's head hard!

What did he mean by all the capital ships were captured?! What did he mean by only a thousand people escaped from a fleet of thirty thousand?!

Governor Cromwell felt a buzzing in his ears, and his brain instantly lost the ability to think.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Governor Cromwell sprang up from the lounge chair.

Although he didn't understand specific space tactics, he had basic military common sense! That poor, shabby scrapyard on the other side didn't even have a few ships! His side was a massive fleet of nearly a thousand warships! This was a completely one-sided, crushing disparity in military force! How could they possibly lose? And to lose so thoroughly, even having the ships stolen?!

Governor Cromwell's eyes were red, and he lunged forward like a mad lion, grabbing the old butler by the collar and lifting him halfway up.

"Tell me! How exactly did you lose?! What did that trash Commander Du Long do?!" Governor Cromwell roared frantically, spittle spraying all over the butler's face.

The butler was so scared that his body went limp, and he stammered in reply: "The Defense Force soldiers who escaped said... as soon as the fleet approached the orbit, they were boarded by the enemy!"

"Those enemies are all suicidal maniacs! They flew suicide rockets without any weapons and crashed into us, engaging in hand-to-hand combat directly in the vacuum! They were all wearing the highest-grade Power Armor!"

The butler swallowed hard and added the most fatal detail, "The soldiers also swore that they saw with their own eyes... terrifying xenos with beast heads and massive bodies fighting alongside those rebels! Those xenos could rip open the ship's bulkhead with a single claw!"

Hearing the outrageous tactics earlier, Governor Cromwell was still angry and confused. However, the moment he heard the word "xenos," Governor Cromwell's brain, engorged with anger, suddenly and eerily calmed down. His tense muscles instantly relaxed, and he let go of the butler's collar.

"Xenos...? Aliens?" Governor Cromwell stepped back two paces, and a hint of pathological ecstasy flashed deep in his eyes.

This made sense! It all explained everything!

No wonder Colonel Andrei's ground forces were completely wiped out! No wonder Commander Du Long's massive fleet was boarded and captured! Because those rebels entrenched in the scrapyard were not some civilization pioneers protected by the God-Emperor at all! They were corrupted heretics colluding with alien monsters in secret!

In the Imperium of Man of the Warhammer universe, colluding with xenos was an absolute capital crime, ten thousand times more serious than failing to pay the tithe!

"Good! Very good! Since they dare to collude with xenos, then this game is completely checkmate!"

Governor Cromwell turned around, regaining the coldness and shrewdness of a governor, and decisively ordered, "Prepare the car for me immediately! Go to the Adeptus Arbites fortress! I want to meet with the sector marshal in person!"

"I will submit conclusive evidence to the Adeptus Arbites! I request that they immediately deploy Adeptus Arbites forces to issue a sanction order against that scrapyard for colluding with xenos!"

Just as Governor Cromwell was rushing to the Adeptus Arbites, the news of the fleet's disastrous defeat and the Commander's capture had spread like a plague through the streets and alleys of Mobius Prime.

After all, the scale of this expedition was too large. Countless nobles had poured real money into the military expenditures, and countless relatives of laborers in the bottom of the Hive City were serving in the fleet. Such a tragic defeat could not be covered up, no matter how the Governors Mansion tried to block the news. The entire capital Hive City instantly fell into great panic and turmoil.

At the same time. On Mobius Prime, in the dim inner chamber of the Ecclesiarchy cathedral.

Archbishop Anthony was still sitting at that large oak table, holding a quill, and by the flickering candlelight, he was unhurriedly reviewing a parchment document.

He was in a very good mood. According to his calculations, the governor's fleet should have already completed the orbital bombardment of the scrapyard by now. Once the fighting subsided, the church could use the pretext of consoling the souls of the dead to go there and amass wealth, or even naturally take over a portion of the ruins.

"Bang!" The heavy wooden door of the inner chamber was suddenly pushed open rudely. Archbishop Anthony frowned slightly. He hated being disturbed while reviewing documents.

He saw that the deacon, who usually paid attention to etiquette and image, was now rushing in like he had seen a ghost, scrambling and crawling. He didn't even have time to salute, directly collapsing on the edge of the large desk, gasping for air.

"Archbishop! Something... something terrible has happened!" The deacon's face was pale, and his voice was trembling.

Archbishop Anthony did not put down the quill in his hand, and without raising his head, he snorted coldly: "What is the matter that has you in such a panic? Could it be that that old fox Governor Cromwell's greed was too ugly, and he bombed the scrapyard so thoroughly that he didn't leave us even a piece of complete land?"

"No! It's not that!" The deacon swallowed a mouthful of blood-flecked saliva and screamed hoarsely, "It's the governor's fleet... it's been completely wiped out! They were annihilated by those scrapyard rebels!"

"Plop." The quill in Archbishop Anthony's hand slipped from his fingers without warning. A drop of pitch-black ink hit the expensive parchment, instantly spreading into a large, glaring stain.

Archbishop Anthony suddenly raised his head, and those eyes, which were originally deep and calm, were now filled with incredible shock!

"What did you say?" Archbishop Anthony grabbed the deacon by the collar with astonishing strength, "Wiped out? That was hundreds of warships! The enemy didn't even have a single decent frigate! You tell me how they were wiped out? Could the enemy use sorcery to make the warships vanish from the sky?!"

"It was boarding warfare!" The deacon said with a crying voice, pouring out the front-line intelligence that had been sent back, bit by bit. "Your Excellency! Those rebels are not just mud-legged peasants at all! They are all lunatics!"

"They built hundreds of iron-shelled rockets without any weapons. They rammed directly through the Macro Cannons and anti-aircraft fire nets! Even if the rockets were blown up, the people inside could still wear fully sealed Power Armor and continue to charge in the vacuum!"

"Hundreds of sets of Power Armor, my lord! Our Skitarii on the main planet don't even add up to a fraction of that! The governor's capital ships were cut open from the inside, Commander Du Long was captured on the spot, and they sailed all the capital ships back to the scrapyard!"

Hearing this outrageous battle report, Archbishop Anthony seemed to have all his strength drained away at once, and he slumped back into his high-backed chair.

In his mind, the terrifying words "hundreds of sets of Power Armor" and "flesh-and-blood charges in a vacuum" were echoing frantically.

This is a warlord?! Possessing such terrifying heavy infantry capability, possessing such fanatic faith that fears no death! This was definitely not a puppet that some fallen noble from Coastal City could cultivate!

Archbishop Anthony recalled the intelligence brought back yesterday by that low-level missionary.

"Simple camp? Fifty-meter-tall dilapidated concrete watchtowers?" Archbishop Anthony really wanted to tie that blind missionary to a stake and burn him alive!

That was not some dilapidated camp at all! That was definitely the camouflage for some massive underground military fortress! The other side deliberately showed that poor appearance just to play the pig to eat the tiger!

And what made Archbishop Anthony's back feel chilled the most was the rumor about the God-Emperor's angels performing miracles. Before, he had scoffed at this, thinking it was a low-level political scam.

But now it seemed, a fanatical army capable of mass-producing Power Armor and whose entire force was fearless in the face of death—if they didn't have some kind of power belonging to the God-Emperor standing behind them, how could they possibly achieve all of this?!

"We misjudged... we completely and utterly misjudged!" Archbishop Anthony's forehead broke out in a fine cold sweat, his hands gripping the armrests of his chair tightly.

He suddenly realized that the balance of power in this sector had tilted completely with this boarding battle! The Spark Alliance entrenched in the scrapyard was not a lamb waiting to be slaughtered at all, but a star-spanning behemoth that had just awakened!

"Quick!" Archbishop Anthony stood up abruptly and roared at the stunned deacon, "Go immediately and prepare the highest-spec gifts of the Ecclesiarchy! Select the most pious and eloquent priests to form a delegation!"

"No... I will go myself!"