51: Chapter 51 Aftermath

Fire Seed Shelter, outer perimeter of the surface camp.

On the open ground outside the camp, more than forty player corpses were neatly laid out.

Some of these husks were mangled, others charred black; they were all left behind after forced log-offs during the bloody battle at the mine.

That Ecclesiarchy priestess, wearing clerical robes, was kneeling before these bodies.

Holding a holy scripture in her hands, her eyes filled with hot tears, she piously performed the final requiem mass before burial for these fallen warriors.

"The God-Emperor protects your souls, heroic martyrs. Your blood has washed away the filth of the heretics..."

The priestess's ethereal and mournful prayers echoed across the wasteland.

Neil of the Coastal City Adeptus Arbites stood to the side.

He looked at Lin Li, who looked somewhat haggard beside him, and couldn't help but sigh, reaching out to pat Lin Li on the shoulder.

"My condolences."

There was sincere respect in Neil's voice, "They were the most loyal and fearless warriors. The Empire will remember their sacrifice."

Lin Li lowered his eyelids slightly, instantly channeling his inner Oscar-winning actor.

"Your Excellency, Arbiter."

Lin Li took a deep breath, his tone filled with a touch of desolation and helplessness,

"Do you know why our group ended up stranded in this godforsaken wasteland?"

Neil's eyes flickered.

From the moment they made contact yesterday, he had sensed that this group was definitely not local wasteland scavengers.

Whether it was their strange language or their fanatical lack of fear toward Chaos.

"If you can, please speak." Neil made a gesture of listening.

"We... are a group of exiles fleeing taxation."

Lin Li began his practiced bullshit,

"You know how harsh the Imperial Tithe is. Just because a High Lord of the Administratum accidentally added an extra zero on the parchment, our home planet was drained of its last drop of blood; we simply couldn't survive."

"We spent everything we had to buy a dilapidated smuggler ship to escape. But as soon as we crash-landed on this junkyard planet, we were besieged by swarms of Orks."

Lin Li pointed at the crude wooden sheds behind him, "We lost all our heavy equipment and life-support systems, salvaging only a tiny bit of pure food. We can only linger on in this ruin."

Neil nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this.

In the dark corners of the Empire, such tragedies of entire populations fleeing due to bankruptcy from the Tithe occurred in different star systems almost every day.

Moreover, there were indeed signs of Orks spreading on a massive scale on this planet recently.

This logic formed a perfect loop.

Lin Li pointed at the players' corpses on the ground again, his tone becoming sorrowful.

"As a high-ranking official of the Adeptus Arbites, you must have noticed. My soldiers' mental state seems... not quite normal."

Lin Li cleverly explained the players' goofy behavior:

"That's because in our desperate situation, to fight the Orks, we injected them with excessive, low-quality combat neural drugs. This destroyed their sanity and sense of fear."

"But the one thing it didn't destroy was their absolute loyalty to the God-Emperor!"

Neil turned to look inside the camp.

A few lifestyle players who hadn't gone to battle and were responsible for guarding the camp were standing by the perimeter wall, pointing and gesturing at the funeral.

Not only was there no sadness on their faces, but some were even heartlessly laughing and playing around.

After hearing Lin Li's explanation, Neil couldn't help but be touched.

"So they are a group of broken individuals whose brains were damaged by drugs, causing them to lose normal emotions."

Neil sighed inwardly, "Even so, when Chaos descends, they still instinctively choose to use their lives to defend the glory of the God-Emperor."

Seeing that the atmosphere was sufficiently built up, Lin Li sniffled sharply and forced out a few tears.

"I once swore to them that I would lead them to build a new home in this wasteland. A home where we wouldn't have to worry about the Tithe every day and could eat our fill."

Lin Li covered his face, his voice choked with sobs, "But now... they died so miserably to protect this land! I am an incompetent administrator!"

Watching Lin Li's devastated appearance, the last shred of doubt in Neil's heart completely vanished.

For an Arbiter like him, whether what this warlord leader named Dawn said was true or false no longer mattered.

What mattered was that this group was loyal and dared to sacrifice their lives without reservation to purge Chaos.

In the dark corners of the Empire, where heresy ran rampant and hearts were unpredictable, that was enough.

Although this manager, full of flowery words, had stayed in the safe rear during the battle and hadn't taken action.

But as a leader who needed to oversee the big picture, Neil could fully understand this approach.

"The God-Emperor will forgive all and bless all."

Neil patted Lin Li's shoulder heavily again, his tone solemn: "Leader Dawn. I must confess to you that due to certain political reasons, I cannot use my official status as an Arbiter of the Adeptus Arbites to provide direct military asylum for your illegal exile camp."

"But..."

Neil changed the subject,

"When I return to Coastal City, I will, in a private capacity, provide your coordinates within the inner circles of those large merchant guilds."

"I will clearly tell them that there is a group of absolutely reliable and trustworthy humans here. If this can attract some merchant caravans to trade for the supplies you urgently need, it might make up for your heavy losses this time."

Lin Li was overjoyed upon hearing this, but on the surface, he maintained an appearance of being moved.

"Praise the God-Emperor! Thank you for your kindness, Your Excellency, Arbiter!"

Neil waved his hand:

"This is what you deserve. Additionally, the Chaos corruption in the Mountain Tribe mine has been completely cleared. Given that Ockham is dead and you have performed meritorious service in this battle."

Neil pointed toward the eastern mountains:

"You have the right to take over and inherit the ownership of that mine. Of course, provided you are willing to take over that mess."

Afterward, Neil glanced subtly at the assault squad captain in the distance who was ordering soldiers to pack up tents, and lowered his voice.

"However, I must warn you. Inheriting the mine means you will also inherit the taxes that Ockham was required to pay."

"You should have heard something about the greed of the Planetary Governor of Coastal City. Once he knows that this place has a new owner and can produce high-quality ore, his tax collectors will soon come knocking."

Neil's tone was solemn: "Prepare yourself for dealing with him. He is not an easy character to handle."

"I understand, thank you for the warning." Lin Li nodded solemnly.

In the distance, the engines of the military shuttle began to roar.

The captain of the defense force took a deep look at Lin Li, said nothing, but gave a stiff Imperial military salute before turning to board the ship.

Accompanied by a massive gust of air, the shuttle lifted off, turning into a small black dot as it flew toward Coastal City in the east.

Lin Li stood in place, watching the shuttle disappear into the horizon, the sorrow on his face instantly wiped clean.

"I give myself full marks for this performance."

Lin Li rubbed his chin, calculating inwardly:

"Although I successfully fooled these guys and got the mine legitimately, provoking that greedy Planetary Governor for no reason is not a good thing."

In the Warhammer universe, offending the Planetary Governor is equivalent to rebellion.

Once the other side sends troops to suppress, with the current firepower of the Shelter, they would definitely be wiped out.

"As for the merchant guild Neil mentioned... it's purely hypothetical. It's better to rely on oneself than others; I still need to quickly mass-produce troops and tech up."

Lin Li snapped back to reality, turned to the few players in the camp who were still watching the commotion, and shouted:

"Don't just stand there! Drag all the corpses of our fallen brothers back to Room 3 on the first underground level! Recycle them into biomass, and prepare to reshape their bodies!"

Upon hearing this, the players immediately pushed small carts over, skillfully transporting the remains of their companions as if they were hauling pork.

Lin Li waved again, calling over Black Rat, who was in the distance directing slaves to lay the foundation.

"Black Rat."

"Here! My Lord!" Black Rat was now in awe of Lin Li to the extreme.

"The demons and cultists in the mine have been completely cleared out." Lin Li said in a flat tone, "Starting tomorrow, I intend for you to take the surviving miners back to continue mining there."

Upon hearing this, Black Rat's legs almost cramped up.

But he didn't dare to refuse at all.

"But remember this."

Lin Li's eyes were cold,

"I want efficiency and output. Don't pull that old, bloody, exploitative routine of Ockham's on my turf. Feed and clothe the miners, and distribute resources according to labor. If anyone dares to whip people without authorization, I will throw them directly into the mixer to mix mud. Do you understand?"

"Understood! Absolutely understood!" Black Rat nodded his head like a chick pecking at rice, "I guarantee I will manage the mining area perfectly!"

"Go to work."

Dismissing Black Rat, Lin Li glanced at the eastern sky.

In the fierce battle last night, more than forty main combat players were almost wiped out; now they were all counting down to respawn in the cultivation pods.

However, a large amount of loot, the private vault of that old leech Ockham, and those two precious tracked vehicles were all still left abandoned outside the mine!

If scavengers wandering the wasteland were to snatch them, Lin Li would be heartbroken.

"No choice, I have to let these lifestyle players who stayed behind make a trip."

Lin Li turned and walked toward the few players chatting in front of the beverage stall.

The cook named [This Dumpling Is Also Delicious] was holding a large iron spoon, bragging to a female player next to him named [Daidai Jiaobu].

"Seeds."

Lin Li walked over, put on his stern NPC face, and said in a low voice,

"It will take time for the loyal warriors to return. But I need you to immediately form a logistics squad, head to the eastern mine, and recover all the vehicles and loot left there last night."

"This is a glorious and important mission." Lin Li began to paint a big picture.

Dumpling was stunned for a moment, then looked at Daidai Jiaobu, who was equally bewildered beside him.

"Holy shit, the faction leader came over to issue a quest personally?" Dumpling typed excitedly in the squad channel, "How about this for prestige?"

Daidai Jiaobu was a female player specializing in sewing and crafting; she had never even killed a mutant rat before.

She asked timidly: "Officer... didn't they just finish fighting demons over there? If we go... won't it be very dangerous?"

"What are you afraid of!"

Before Lin Li could answer, a female player [Luluchiu] with an impressive figure, wearing a tight wasteland jacket, jumped out directly.

"The monsters were all cleared out by those lunatics last night! We're just going to pick up the leftovers!"

Luluchiu slapped the handgun at her waist aggressively,

"Do it! We definitely have to do it! The system just popped up a quest notification; the points given for this trip are more than what I get from selling twenty cups of Wasteland Snow King juice here! Only an idiot wouldn't go!"

"Exactly! Count me in!"

A muscular blacksmith player nearby with the ID [Dog Brother Is Here] also came over, "I've been wanting to see what that mine that can dig up saltpeter looks like for a long time!"

"Very good."

Lin Li nodded with satisfaction, "The mission coordinates have been sent to your pv terminal. Take your weapons and set off immediately."

Thus, this bizarre four-person logistics squad, consisting of a cook, a tailor, a girl selling drinks, and a blacksmith, marched off toward the eastern mine in a rush.

At high noon in the wasteland, the sun was so scorching it felt like it could roast a person's skin off.

The four arrived at the entrance of the Mountain Tribe, drenched in sweat.

As soon as they approached, a pungent burnt stench and a nauseating smell of blood rushed toward them.

Outside the massive metal archway of the Mountain Tribe, corpses burned to charcoal were piled up in disarray.

Dark red blood had dried and caked on the sand, attracting large swarms of mutant flies.

"Ugh." Daidai Jiaobu covered her nose and mouth, almost vomiting, "What kind of atrocities did those combat lunatics commit last night? This smell is just too intense."

"Forget about the smell, look over there."