Iron Hands, Ferrus Manus

Wang Zhong exchanged glances with the players behind him.

Late M30.

The Great Crusade was nearing its first millennium.

That meant...

"The Emperor is still out there?"

Wang Zhong pressed, "What about Terra?"

"His, His Imperial Majesty is of course still leading the Great Crusade..."

Jeremy looked somewhat bewildered, "Terra... is the holy homeworld, what about it?"

"What about Horus?"

Tax Brother interjected.

"Horus?!"

"Lord Horus is naturally the Emperor's most capable right hand..."

Jeremy grew even more confused, "Why are you... asking these things?"

The players knew where they stood.

Timeline confirmed: Late M30, the peak of the Great Crusade, the Horus Heresy had not yet begun.

This was the tail end of the Golden Age, though for those at the bottom of this hive city, the Golden Age was no different from hell.

"Second question," Wang Zhong continued, "Aurelian IV, who governs it now?"

"Who is the Imperial Governor? What are the local factions?"

Jeremy swallowed hard, enduring the pain as he began to recount:

"Aurelian... is nominally under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Eastern Fringe, but actual control lies in the hands of the four major groups."

"The Simans Chamber of Commerce controls commerce and civilian life, and the Alu Pharmaceutical Group acts as their lackeys..."

"The Adons Knight Family controls the military and mining, while the Khomo Psionic Family controls education and high-level talent..."

"There is also a branch of the Mechanicus, the Cult of the Machine Thought; they manage the technology."

"As for the Imperial Governor..."

Jeremy wore a smile uglier than a grimace, "He is just a tax-collecting mascot; once the tithe is collected, he doesn't care about anything else."

"As for internal planetary affairs, as long as there is no open rebellion, the Empire couldn't care less."

This intelligence basically aligned with the players' previous deductions.

"Third question," Wang Zhong pushed the muzzle of his gun forward again, "Eighty years ago, what happened here?"

"District 7 falling, have you heard this term?"

Jeremy's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

His pupils contracted, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably, as if he had heard something of extreme terror.

"You, how could you know... that, that is taboo..."

"Speak."

Wang Zhong's finger rested on the trigger.

"I'll speak! I'll speak!"

Jeremy broke down, his speech rapid:

"Eighty years ago... the Imperial Primarch, Lord Ferrus Manus of the Iron Hands, personally led the Iron Hands Legion to descend upon Aurelian."

"The planetary rulers at the time were the Black Royal Family; they worshipped some kind of... heretical deity and refused to join the Empire."

"The Arar Family was the strongest psionic house under their command, controlling most of the planet's psionic resources."

"The Primarch gave them an ultimatum: surrender, or be destroyed."

"The Black Royal Family chose to resist... and then..."

Jeremy's voice dropped, laced with deep fear:

"The Iron Hands Legion took only seven days to destroy the royal capital, Dawn City."

"The entire Black Royal Family was executed, the psionicists of the Arar Family were all arrested, and it is said they were sent to the Black Ships..."

"And District 7... that was the seventh administrative district of Dawn City; it collapsed entirely during the orbital bombardment and fell to the ground."

"Millions of people... gone in an instant."

"After that, the chambers of commerce seized the opportunity to rise, carving up the power vacuum of Aurelian among the various factions."

After Jeremy finished speaking, he slumped down as if completely drained:

"These things... no one dares to mention them publicly now..."

"The chambers of commerce and the knight families have destroyed all relevant records... who on earth are you..."

Wang Zhong holstered his laser pistol and stood up.

He looked at the players and spoke in the channel:

[Loyal to the Emperor Forever]: "The timeline is confirmed."

"It is the end of M30. The Primarch of the Iron Hands came here eighty years ago, slaughtered the local factions, and then the four major conglomerates took power."

[Mechanicus Oil-Lover on the Run]: "Consistent with Warhammer canon."

"The Iron Hands Legion was known for its cold efficiency during the Great Crusade, and there are many records of them destroying forces that resisted their control."

[Schrodinger's Loyalist]: "So this dump we're standing on was just slaughtered by a Primarch eighty years ago? No wonder it feels so oppressive..."

[Soul of Cadia]: "Wait, the Iron Hands Primarch... isn't that the one who later got his head chopped off by Fulgrim on Isstvan V?"

[Tau-kun, you are right, but Bolter is righter]:

"Yes, that's him."

"So he is still alive now, and Horus hasn't rebelled yet... Damn, does that mean we have at most a few decades until the Horus Heresy?"

The players felt a heavy weight in their hearts.

Knowing the timeline only made things feel more hopeless.

Because it meant that in a few decades, Horus would launch a rebellion that would sweep across the galaxy, half the Primarchs would turn traitor, the Emperor would be forced onto the Golden Toilet, and humanity would enter its darkest ten thousand years.

And they, five thousand players who had just earned a little over three hundred credits, what could they possibly change?

"For now, we cannot change the big picture."

Wang Zhong said in the channel, his tone calm:

"But we still have time to develop."

He looked at Jeremy: "Three final questions."

"First, besides the main gate, what other exits from the Refinery lead outside the facility?"

Jeremy dared not hide anything: "The Raw Material Transport Tunnel, in the northwest corner; your companions already went there just now..."

"There is also the Wastewater Discharge Pipeline on the west side underground, but there are filter screens and guard posts there..."

"And, there is an Emergency Maintenance Tunnel under the Central Control Room, but the entrance was collapsed by an explosion..."

"Second, what is the situation in the other sectors? Where is the guard weakest? Where are the valuable items?"

"The East District is the Raw Material Pre-processing Plant, there aren't many guards..."

"The South District is the Finished Goods Warehouse and Transport Station; there are more guards, and there are many freshly refined Promethium rods and high-purity metals..."

"The North District is the Employee Living Area, it has no value..."

"Third," Wang Zhong squatted down and looked into Jeremy's eyes, "do you want to live?"

Jeremy nodded desperately.

"Good."

Wang Zhong stood up and gave Tax Brother a look.

Tax Brother walked over, grabbed Jeremy, and shoved him toward the northwest corner: "Run with the worker groups. Whether you live or not depends on your luck."

Jeremy thanked him profusely and stumbled away.

Wang Zhong watched his back disappear behind the ruins, then suddenly raised his laser pistol.

Aim.

Pull the trigger.

"Hiss!"

A searing beam of light pierced through the back of Jeremy's head.

He didn't even grunt before collapsing to the ground.

The players were stunned.

"Brother Loyalty, what are you..." Xue Brother frowned.

Wang Zhong holstered his gun, his voice cold:

"He was a foreman. Even if he was just a bookkeeper, he was still part of the oppressive system."

"Besides, he knew too much—our anomalies, our ignorance of history, our thirst for intelligence."

"If we let him go and he returns to the merchant guild, he will sell us out completely."

He looked at the players:

"Remember, brothers, this is the Warhammer world."

"Mercy to the enemy is cruelty to oneself."

"We save the workers because they are the oppressed."

"We kill the foremen because they are the oppressors."

"It is simple, and it is very Warhammer."