Praise the Lord of Change

[Mechanicus Oil-Lover on the Run]: "Analysis: The speech emphasizes knowledge and change, suggesting characteristics of a follower of the Chaos god Tzeentch."

"If the other party is a Chaos cultist, their plan must contain a deeper objective, far beyond merely liberating the workers."

[Loyal to the Emperor Forever]: "Who cares what their objective is! Our objective remains the same: loot!"

"But if they dare to treat us like pawns in their schemes... hmph!"

He quickly relayed the situation in the regional channel, emphasizing the anomalies regarding Ren's side, demanding all squads increase their vigilance, avoid the warehouse area during the operation, and prepare for the possibility of a backstab from their supposed allies.

"Plan adjustment! Squads One and Two, stick to the original plan. As soon as the explosions start, charge the designated targets immediately. Dismantle and recover them at maximum speed!"

"Squad Three, handle guerrilla tactics, clear out the overseers along the way, and create maximum chaos to cover Squads One and Two!"

"Squad Four, technical team, provide mobile support and keep a close watch on the warehouse direction!"

"Direct Command Squad, with me. We're going to see exactly what kind of allies have attacked, and while we're at it... find a chance to see what Ren and his lot are really up to!"

Time ticked away in oppressive anticipation.

Inside the Refinery, the remaining overseers and guards seemed to sense the unusual atmosphere; patrol frequencies increased, and their shouting grew more irritable.

The players lurked in the shadows, fingers resting on trigger guards, their breathing slowed.

The two-hour mark was fast approaching.

Suddenly.

"BOOM!!!!!!!"

Not just one, but a continuous chain!

Dull, massive explosions, as if the very viscera of the earth were being torn apart, erupted simultaneously from multiple directions outside the Refinery!

This was followed by the piercing shriek of alarms and the sudden, dense, rapid-fire cracks that could never have come from the outdated firearms held by the overseers!

Gunfire! Intense gunfire! It came from outside the perimeter walls and from other factory zones further away!

"Enemy attack!! Enemy attack!!"

"It's a rebellion! Those bastards are attacking!!"

"Hold the gate! Call for reinforcements! What the hell is going on over at Arlu City?!"

The roars of the remaining overseers and the sound of chaotic footsteps instantly filled the space.

"Now!!!" Wang Zhong roared in the regional channel.

"Redeem equipment!!!"

The next moment, thousands of corners within the Refinery lit up with dense white light!

As if by magic, groups of miners wearing tattered work clothes, who looked harmless a minute ago, suddenly had automatic rifles and machetes appear in their hands out of thin air, their bodies clad in makeshift armor.

Their eyes shifted from numbness or feigned fear to the ferocity and excitement of starving wolves!

"Brothers! Start looting!!!"

"For Imperial Coin!!!"

"For the mechs!!!"

"Tear that Smelter apart for me!!"

The wailing, ghost-howling war cries instantly drowned out the echoes of the explosions.

Over four thousand nine hundred players, like a burst dam or a school of piranhas catching the scent of blood, surged toward their respective targets according to their assigned groups!

At the northwest corner, Soul of Cadia took the lead, a short burst from his automatic rifle causing the chest of a stunned overseer nearby to erupt in a spray of blood.

"Cadians never retreat! For the Smelter! Charge!!"

The players behind him surged like a tide toward the massive Promethium Smelter, worth eighty thousand coins. Some quickly established a defensive line, muzzles pointed outward.

Others pulled out cutters and crowbars, beginning to search for structural weaknesses under the remote guidance of Mechanicus Oil-Lover on the Run.

At the eastern conveyor belt control tower, Tau-kun, you are right, but Bolter is righter had already engaged a small squad of guards.

"Tau-kun is right! But my Bolter is righter! Rat-tat-tat-tat!"

He roared his nonsensical slogan, suppressing the enemy with precise bursts.

The technical team players braved stray bullets to begin dismantling the core modules of the control console.

The entire Refinery instantly turned into a chaotic battlefield.

The players' strange cries, the sound of gunfire, and the clashing of metal.

The angry curses and screams of the overseers, and the sound of equipment being violently dismantled.

Wang Zhong, leading his Direct Command Squad and one hundred hand-picked elites, did not participate in the looting. Instead, like a sharp blade, they thrust toward the direction of Ren's warehouse—the area where the explosions and the fiercest peripheral fighting were taking place!

The sporadic overseers they encountered on the way posed no obstacle at all.

The players were now well-equipped, held a numerical advantage, and possessed that desperate "dying only costs 5 coins, looting is pure profit" mentality, often overwhelming the enemy with dense firepower in a single encounter.

"Something is wrong..."

The closer they drew to the outer refinery district, the tighter Wang Zhong's brow furrowed.

Traces of explosions, bullet holes, corpses strewn about...

The intensity and equipment level of this external assault far exceeded his expectations.

This was absolutely not the firepower a common worker riot could possess!

When they finally peered through the thick smoke and firelight to see the area near the warehouse where Ren was located, the scene before them made everyone's scalp tingle instantly!

On the open ground surrounding the warehouse, someone had used an unknown dark red paint to outline a massive, complex geometric pattern that made one dizzy just by looking at it.

In the center of the pattern stood Ren and the workers, holding hands and chanting hymns in a bizarre, tongue-twisting cadence.

The sweet, metallic stench in the air was thick enough to induce nausea, and the very scenery of the space seemed to be slightly twisting and flickering!

Even more terrifying were the objects piled at the key nodes of the pattern.

There were still-twitching corpses of overseers, precision mechanical parts scavenged from who knows where, and even the remains of some workers!

System Warning: High-intensity Warp fluctuations detected! Chaos ritual field detected! Detected... the faint gaze of the God of Knowledge?!

The cold system prompt sounded like a funeral knell to Wang Zhong at this moment!

"What the f***!!! Tzeentch, you old schemer!!!"

Wang Zhong finally couldn't hold back, cursing out loud, "You put a Chaos ritual in the newbie village?!"

"I @#￥%...!"

As if responding to his roar, Ren in the center of the ritual suddenly raised his head!

His eyes no longer had whites or pupils, replaced by two swirling, flickering balls of ghostly blue flame filled with eerie knowledge!

His voice became neither male nor female, carrying multiple echoes as it resounded across the area:

"Praise the Lord of Change! Praise the Orbit! Knowledge and change are endless!"

"Your chaos, your desires, your plans... all are within the calculations!"

"On this night of transformation, using disorder as firewood and souls as ink, we write a new chapter leading to the truth!"

"Hum!"

A massive, teeth-grinding hum erupted, and the blood-colored pattern exploded with blinding blue light!

Space twisted violently, like a piece of crumpled fabric!

Vaguely, it seemed as if some massive, twisted shadow, filled with malice and infinite knowledge, was about to cross a boundary and descend here!

"You bastards!!"

Tax Brother raised his shotgun, ready to blast, "Heretics!!"

"Don't shoot! Hit the center of the ritual!"

Xue Brother remained relatively calm, his laser rifle's sight already locked onto the core of the pattern.

Wang Zhong's mind raced; while his rage burned, a more terrifying thought emerged:

Tzeentch cultists... they wouldn't go to such lengths just to help workers revolt or simply summon a demon to hack people to death.

Their plans, their knowledge...

What exactly was their target?

This refinery? Aurelian? Or...

He glanced at the system map, where light dots representing other player squads were frantically looting, then looked back at the gradually forming Warp rift.

"Damn it..."

Wang Zhong gritted his teeth, "Everyone! Focus fire on that ritual pattern! Disrupt it! Don't let them complete the summoning!"

"No matter what these blue bastards are trying to do."

"We're going to ruin it first!!!"

The muzzles of the direct-subordinate squad spat out angry fire in unison, shooting toward that patch of blasphemous blue light and twisted space.

The night of the Purge was destined to be anything but calm.

Looting, rioting, Chaos rituals... on their twelfth day in the Warhammer universe, the Fourth Calamity miners touched the truly insane backdrop of this dark galaxy in a way they never expected.

And deep within a certain corner of the Warp, a certain Newborn Chaos God was slurping up today's exceptionally rich feast of emotional energy while scratching its head:

"Uh... how did Tzeentch's followers end up here??"

"But... the quality of this energy today is really high..."

"Whatever, players, keep it up! I'm rooting for you!"

"By the way... Xiao Zai, record the energy frequency and structure of the Tzeentch ritual. Who knows... maybe we can use it later?"

"Knowledge is power, after all."