164: Chapter 164 Schools of Logic

Since the most intense fighting was concentrated in the towering upper-level aristocratic spires and the core factory districts, the security situation in the planet's lower-level slums and black markets was unexpectedly better.

Although food supplies in the lower levels were still extremely scarce, the factories had shut down completely, and these laborers, who had been exploited for half their lives, finally didn't have to work day and night.

At this moment, in a dilapidated tavern in a corner of the starport, groups of gang members and unemployed mechanics were everywhere.

They drank pungent, inferior alcoholic beverages, slapped the tables, and spouted off about their glorious combat achievements from the past two days.

"Did you hear? That stingy industrial noble in the West District was raided by a group of workers the night before last!"

"That's nothing? Yesterday, I followed the boss of the Iron Finger Gang and personally killed three of the nobles' private guards outside the third smelter! I can still remember the feel of that laser gun!"

Amidst this noisy, impassioned clamor, the three merchant players—Mudslide, Heisi, and Legend of Lu Shi—sat quietly at a round table in the corner.

They didn't speak, just silently ordered three mugs of murky, inferior beer and pricked up their ears to gather information.

Before long, a plump waitress wearing revealing clothing and a cheap mechanical prosthetic eye in her left socket walked over with a tray.

Legend of Lu Shi skillfully took a few bills from his pocket and handed them over as a tip.

"Beauty, I'd like to ask about something."

Legend of Lu Shi asked in a low voice, "What exactly is going on here? How did such a perfectly fine industrial planet suddenly become so chaotic?"

The waitress's eyes lit up. She took the money without hesitation and stuffed it into the unfathomable cleavage of her chest.

She leaned down and gave Legend of Lu Shi a flirtatious wink.

"This story, it's a long one."

"How should I put it? At first, it was just a group of lower-level technicians leading workers on strike, protesting in the streets, shouting for increased food rations and sleep time. That sort of thing is normal here; it happens a few times every year."

"But this time, I don't know what happened. During the protest, a gang member suddenly mixed into the crowd and fired a cold shot, killing an Astra Militarum guard. Then, those sons-of-bitches guards just raised their guns and opened fire on the unarmed technicians!"

The waitress shrugged, "Blood was shed, so things spiraled out of control. The riot escalated directly into a war."

Speaking of this, the waitress paused, puffed out her ample chest, and her tone became mysterious:

"However, I do know some gossip from the upper levels about this riot."

Legend of Lu Shi understood, took out two more large bills from his pocket, and stuffed them directly down her neckline.

"Let's hear it."

The waitress smiled and kissed Legend of Lu Shi on the face.

Leaning closer, she whispered in his ear in an extremely low voice:

"It's said that behind this riot, there are some dangerous guys who don't recognize the Omnissiah pushing the situation in the dark."

"And there's one guy among them who is very powerful! The second day after the riot escalated, he single-handedly infiltrated the Forge Temple in the core area, used a bomb to blow the temple down, and personally killed a Priest Excellency responsible for production here!"

After the waitress twisted her waist and left, Legend of Lu Shi immediately leaned into the center of the table and repeated the intelligence he had just gathered to his two companions without missing a word.

"Brothers, what do you think of this intel?" Legend of Lu Shi tapped the table.

Mudslide stroked his chin, his brows slightly furrowed:

"This mastermind pushing things forward only revealed one core piece of information: they don't recognize the Omnissiah!"

"In the territory ruled by the Adeptus Mechanicus, the words 'don't recognize' are very problematic. I highly suspect that this is the Logic Sect, which shares the same origin as that oil-lover in Shelter, playing tricks in the dark!"

Heisi nodded in deep agreement:

"Hmm, that makes sense! Isn't that oil-lover in our camp officially described as a member of the Logic Sect? Since some people from that sect have ended up here, it's quite reasonable for a few high-level members to be lurking on this industrial planet."

Legend of Lu Shi, however, shook his head and retorted:

"No, logically it doesn't make sense. It's not that simple. What is their purpose in creating this bloody riot?"

"Even if these Logic Sect people rely on inciting gangs and workers to temporarily seize control of this planet, as soon as interstellar communications in the surrounding sectors are restored and Astra Militarum reinforcements from the capital arrive, they will still be completely wiped out as rebels. What is the point of this doomed riot?"

Just as the three were discussing in low voices, completely baffled, the door to the tavern was suddenly kicked open!

Several bloody gang members rushed into the tavern laughing wildly, shouting loudly:

"Boss! Bring a barrel of your best wine! Today, the bill for everyone here is on me!"

The gang leader jumped onto a table and shouted at everyone in the tavern at the top of his lungs,

"Tell your friends the great news! That dog-shit Governor who drinks the blood of laborers all day was executed in public half an hour ago!"

"The rebel brothers who led the charge have now completely occupied the Governors Mansion in the upper levels!"

Once this news broke, the crowd in the tavern instantly stirred, followed by an explosion of deafening cheers!

In a Forge World, no matter how much gangs stir up trouble, they generally wouldn't dare to touch the Governor appointed by the Imperium.

Because killing a Governor is equivalent to publicly slapping the Imperial Administration in the face; the nature of the situation had completely changed!

Someone immediately asked loudly: "Which hero pulled off this feat?!"

"It is said that it was the Truth Gang! They have heavy firepower!"

Hearing this explosive news, the trio of merchant players sitting in the corner were all stunned.

"The Governor is dead?!"

Heisi was taken aback, "Wait, are there Governors on Forge Worlds? Aren't they all managed by Tech-Priests?"

Mudslide immediately provided some popular science:

"If the position of Governor exists, it means that legally, this is not a planet controlled entirely and independently by the Mars Adeptus Mechanicus. It is a world controlled by the Imperial central administration, understand?"

"On this kind of dual-system planet, the Governor is nominally the highest authority, in charge of administration and taxation. Those Tech-Priests only exist as technical consultants and factory owners. Now that the Governor has been killed and the Priest has been blown up, the planet is effectively paralyzed!"

Legend of Lu Shi's eyes lit up instantly. A merchant's intuition allowed him to keenly grasp the huge benefits.

"The Governor is dead! This place is leaderless!"

Legend of Lu Shi slapped the table excitedly,

"If we play our cards right, this might be a god-given opportunity for our Fire Seed Shelter to take down this industrial planet while it's in chaos!"

Mudslide, however, poured a bucket of cold water:

"Difficult. Everyone here is heavily armed with gangs and various rebel forces; the water is too deep. Plus, our boss's next strategic plan seems to be sending troops to the capital of Mobius, so he probably doesn't have time to deal with this place."

"Who cares if he has time to send troops or not!"

Legend of Lu Shi grinned,

"In any case, when we go back, we will immediately post the intelligence and price list here on the official forum!"

"Those tycoon guilds will definitely be interested in this kind of large-scale city battle instance! When the time comes, we can sell the exclusive exploration rights to this industrial world to them at a high price and collect an intelligence fee!"

The three hit it off immediately.

They inquired about price information in the tavern for a while longer.

Then they ran to the black market, found a seller of smuggling ships, and went all-in with the money they had just earned to buy a large merchant ship.

Due to the impact of the war and riots, various luxury goods and artworks on this planet had rapidly devalued, with prices hitting rock bottom.

Meanwhile, the prices of weapons, ammunition, high-energy fuel, and antibiotic drugs had skyrocketed to astronomical levels.

This was the chaotic world that profiteers loved most!

The three used the remaining change to bottom-fish for a large batch of devalued luxury goods, various electronic scrap in decent condition, and even low-cost recycled a pile of smashed Servo-skulls in the black market,

preparing to take them back and try their luck with Stone Man Hong.

The spaceship took off fully loaded and began the return journey.

During the voyage,

Mudslide opened the forum and quickly posted an intelligence thread:

[Exclusive Release! The comprehensive riot on the Industrial World Gorgon, and a list of commodity price fluctuations!]

In the post, Mudslide used both text and images to detail the current paralyzed state of this industrial planet, the major event of the Governor being killed, and the drastic fluctuations in the prices of various supplies caused by the war.

This post immediately sparked heated discussion among the players.

[Devil Muscle Thor]: That's not right. Why is the fighting on this planet so fierce, and why are all kinds of supplies rising in price, but the price of food and nutrient paste hasn't risen? Is the game's price system bugged?

[5A-Grade Combo] replied instantly: You don't understand this. In a war, there are dead people and corpses everywhere in this Hive City. There is meat everywhere, there is food everywhere. Food certainly won't be in short supply, you get what I mean.

[Devil Muscle Thor]: Ugh! Damn!

... Fire Seed Shelter, underground main control room.

Lin Li, who was lurking on the screen, naturally also saw this information-packed post from Mudslide.

Through this post, Lin Li gained a basic understanding of this industrial world named Gorgon.

"A densely populated heavy industrial planet."

Lin Li pondered to himself,

"The top level is controlled by the Governor representing the Imperium and the Tech-Priests representing the Adeptus Mechanicus, while the bottom level is filled with all kinds of intertwined gangs. This social structure is inherently like a powder keg."

"Now a riot has broken out, and in a very short time, it has rapidly evolved into a bloody conflict and all-out war against the upper-class nobles. Even the Governor and high-level Priests have been killed."

Lin Li stroked his chin.

"For things to escalate to this point, it is absolutely impossible for it to be just a spontaneous uprising of workers and gangs. There must be a powerful third-party force secretly directing and providing weapons!"

"This is like the late Qing Dynasty. If it weren't for those foreign guns and cannons pushing things from behind, could those peasants holding spears have defeated the Banner troops? This is completely illogical."

But who this mastermind was, there was still too little intelligence, making it difficult to speculate.

"Perhaps, I can call Kane over to ask?"

"If those who are creating chaos on this industrial world are indeed the Logic Sect that worships scientific heresy, then Kane, as a proper conservative oil-lover, will certainly know some inside information."

Thinking of this, Lin Li stood up and walked out of the main control room.

It was evening, and the sun was setting.

In the large squares outside the surface of Shelter, a large number of players were gathered, chatting with each other.

Some were building fires to research wasteland dark cuisine, while others were setting up stalls to trade the scrap metal they had looted. The scene was as lively as a vegetable market.

Just as Lin Li walked to the edge of the square, he saw a player named [I Love Zhou Qiunan] running back from the wilderness, panting.

He was covered in sweat. Seeing a bucket of murky, dirty water used for washing rags by the side of the square, he didn't say a word, lunged over, and was about to scoop it up with a ladle to drink.

"Hey, hey, hey! Zhou Qiunan! Don't drink that!"

An old player setting up a stall nearby quickly reminded him,

"The water in that bucket isn't clean! There is freshly boiled water in the water room over there, go drink that!"

Zhou Qiunan ran to the water room, took a bowl, and scooped up a large bowl of freshly boiled water.

"Damn! So hot?!"

Zhou Qiunan held the bowl, grimacing in pain from the heat,

"This boiled water was just made, who can drink this! But I'm dying of thirst right now!"

Just when Lin Li thought this kid was going to get a fan to cool it down, he saw this guy's brain short-circuit.

He actually carried the bowl of boiling water, walked straight back to the side of the square, and poured the boiling water in his hand into the bucket of dirty water with a splash!

After pouring it, he picked up the ladle and was about to bring it to his mouth.

"Not... buddy, what are you doing?!" The player next to him looked on, stunned.

Zhou Qiunan turned his head with a serious face and explained righteously:

"You don't understand, right? Boiling water at 100 degrees can kill bacteria! I poured the boiling water into this dirty water, so the bacteria in the dirty water are scalded to death, aren't they? Can't I just drink it now!"

"..."

"..."

The few players watching nearby fell into a collective silence.

"Awesome."

"Brother, you really understand scientific sterilization."

"This logic... is too rigorous, I am actually unable to refute it. May I ask how this big genius got the beta tester qualification? Did you use your lifespan for the lottery?"

A group of players expressed their awe for this ruthless man named Zhou Qiunan.

But at this moment, another player suddenly jumped out of the crowd and shouted:

"Are you sick?!"

Zhou Qiunan was stunned for a moment:

"What's wrong? Is my sterilization method wrong?"