Enough to Pop Champagne

"And didn't you notice what he said?"

"What he said?" Assassin froze for a moment, then recalled, "Uh, you mean the route he just gave us? Main maintenance passage, three-way intersection, Gear-Alpha symbol... I remembered it."

"No." Ruan Wenbo shook his head, a hint of gravity in his voice. "I mean this line—[I've shut down most of the security systems along the way. You only need to watch out for the Genestealer cult]."

"What's wrong with that?" Assassin was somewhat baffled. Wasn't this just a perfectly normal NPC quest prompt?

"That line tells us at least two things." Ruan Wenbo raised two fingers and began his analysis. "First, we probably won't receive any support from the Holy Trinity Forge Workshop along the way. They'll only stay inside the workshop and hold their ground, even though attacking from both within and without would clearly be the most likely way to crush the enemy and evacuate quickly."

He raised his second finger. "Second, the enemies we encounter next probably won't be those fanatical but disorganized Cultists anymore. They'll be 'Genestealers.' Their organization, tactical discipline, and individual combat ability are more than a cut above the Cultists'."

"Sounds normal to me," Assassin said, his way of thinking still heavily colored by that of a Player. "Aren't rescue missions always like this? You reach the destination, and only then do the people being rescued start moving. Even though, in plenty of games, the firepower of the people you're protecting is way stronger than the Players'... As for the second point, we changed maps, so naturally the monsters leveled up too."

"Maybe that could be explained as 'game design' in a normal game, but I firmly believe this game isn't normal." Ruan Wenbo's gaze sharpened. "This Skitarii force is ignoring a more efficient tactic. That doesn't fit the Adeptus Mechanicus's usual style. There must be a reasonable logic behind it, one that fits this world's setting. I think there are two possibilities."

"The first possibility is that they suffered severe losses, and their remaining forces are too few to cooperate with our attack from the inside."

Assassin thought it over, then objected, "Doesn't feel like it, judging by that Priest's attitude just now. If things were really that dire, would he have been so flippant? Would he still have the mood to worry about whether the production line felt pain?"

"I don't think so either." Ruan Wenbo nodded in agreement with Assassin's judgment. "Then there's the second possibility: there's something extremely important inside the Holy Trinity Forge Workshop, important enough that it can't tolerate even the slightest risk. Even with rescue so close at hand, they have to guard the interior tightly and refuse to spare even a single soldier for outside support, ensuring that not one Genestealer can possibly infiltrate."

He paused, then added, "I deduce that this thing is most likely the [Relic] he mentioned when we accidentally connected to their channel for the first time."

"What could it be?" Assassin had clearly given up thinking for himself and simply followed Ruan Wenbo's train of thought. "Classic Adeptus Mechanicus plot, an STC Standard Template Construct?"

"Very likely," Ruan Wenbo said. "And there's something else that concerns me. He said he shut down 'most' of the security systems along the route. What about the small remaining portion? Could they still be operating—and treat us as intruders?"

"And now there are traps too... Why does this game suddenly feel normal?" Assassin muttered.

JK, who had silently followed beside them the whole time, suddenly cut in. "That's because when you first entered, you weren't familiar with this world's rules yet. It may indeed be incomparably real, but Players can avoid certain predicaments through the reasonable use of 'game mechanics'—for example, if you're hungry, you don't necessarily have to eat human flesh. You can also reset your status by killing yourself."

"After all, in this incomparably real world, the existence of Players like us, who cannot die or be destroyed, is itself a Bug."

Just as JK finished his summary, faint ripples of data suddenly spread through the air in the passageway where the group was advancing.

Then, under the wary gazes of the veteran Players, twenty slightly blurry figures materialized out of thin air behind their formation. Like projections suffering from a poor signal, they rapidly solidified in just a second or two, becoming Players dressed in ordinary Astra Militarum uniforms without even flak armor.

This sudden reinforcement drew everyone's attention. Ruan Wenbo turned around almost immediately and strode over.

Sure enough, just as he had expected,

After these newcomers had adjusted to the air of the Mid-hive, one of the new Players asked excitedly, "Are you veteran Players? I've been camping on the forums waiting for qualifications to be issued. The moment I saw a little red dot, I activated my qualification and came in!"

Ruan Wenbo's reaction, naturally, was heartfelt delight.

Against the Cultists of the Underhive, who knew nothing about warfare, the Players' immortality alone had been enough to completely overwhelm them. The Death Seekers Company could now easily rout them with nothing but machetes and entrenching shovels.

But against Genestealers, the situation was entirely different. According to the original Warhammer lore, the enemy possessed tight organization and cunning intelligence. Immortality alone was clearly not enough; once their defensive line was breached, they would be in tremendous danger. They needed sufficient firepower density and a resilient defensive line to contain the enemy's well-organized assaults. And now, the arrival of these twenty new Players had instantly increased the firepower of the Death Seekers Company—whose total strength was barely a hundred—by a full fifth!

A gentle, convincing smile appeared on Ruan Wenbo's face. Addressing the twenty new Players in a manner that sought their opinions rather than issued orders, he said, "Comrades, welcome to the Death Seekers Company. I'm Company Commander Ruan Wenbo. The situation is urgent, and I have a proposal. I'd like to hear your thoughts."

He cleared his throat and laid out his plan in full. "I'll split you up and assign you among our existing squads. The veterans in those squads will teach you the game's controls and pace. In the battles ahead, they'll prioritize helping you kill enemies. All you need to do is search the enemy corpses for usable weapons and equipment. If you really can't find anything..."

He patted his chest, his tone utterly resolute. "I'll use my merits to buy you new gear from the shop!"

The effect of those words was immediate. For newcomers, where else could they find such a godsend in a game? Veteran Players would guide them for free, teach them the ropes, and even a big shot had promised to cover their equipment. Naturally, they were more than willing. They nodded one after another, their faces filled with the joy of having found someone powerful to rely on.

As for the veterans, having more people in their squads to fill out the battle line and share the damage gave them no reason to refuse. They immediately and enthusiastically greeted the newcomers assigned to their groups, beginning to teach them basic tactical positioning and tips for using weapons.

Watching the harmonious scene before him as new and old Players rapidly blended together without the slightest barrier or rejection, Ruan Wenbo could not help feeling secretly pleased. The worst-case scenario he had imagined—new Players forming their own clique and refusing to integrate, while veteran Players put on airs and resisted the newbies—had not happened at all.

He felt that this unity alone was enough reason to pop a bottle of champagne in celebration. The only pity was that he didn't have any on hand.