The moment the announcement refreshed, the entire ruined base fell silent.
Only the wind howled through the jungle, mingling with the cries of unknown mutant creatures in the distance.
Then.
"Holy------shit!!!"
The roar nearly blew the crumbling roof off!
Every player—whether crouching, standing, or leaning against a wall—jumped to their feet.
Their eyes were as wide as those of Hive City underhivers watching free nutrient paste being handed out!
The regional channel was instantly flooded with messages!
[Soul of Cadia]: "A Chapter! A Chapter system! I'm starting a Chapter! I'll call it the Last Men of Cadia! Who's with me?!"
[Did White Scars speed today]: "Body modification! Neural interfaces! I'm getting a prosthetic!"
"I'm gonna be Cybertron—uh, no, the Mechanicus—no, that doesn't sound right either. Anyway, I'm gonna get stronger!"
[Tau-kun, you are right, but Bolter is righter]: "Psychic Awakening! 1,000 coins! I'll sell everything I own to give it a try!"
"What if I have an S-rank talent?!"
"Soon I'll be a walking psychic artillery platform!"
[Mechanicus Oil-Lover on the Run]: "The new store categories are extremely valuable."
"The Xenos tech style is unlike standard Imperial designs, despite the equipment being marked as risky. It may offer an asymmetric tactical advantage."
"The risks of an unknown tech tree are extremely high, but its potential rewards are incalculable."
"I recommend that Chapters pool their resources and invest with caution."
[Want Silent King's Crown but cannot afford]: "I only care about... all this stuff is fucking expensive!!!"
"My entire fortune is just 928 coins. That's barely enough to buy Basic Enhancement Types I and II!"
"And the store's tempting me with power armour and rail rifles! I can see them, but I can't afford them!!"
[Slaanesh Chosen Reserve]: "Vessel Reshaping! Change my appearance! At last, I won't have to keep this sourpuss face the system gave me!"
"I'm going to make myself drop-dead gorgeous! Even in the Warhammer World, beauty is a kind of power!"
[Schrodinger's Loyalist]: "I want to start a Chapter, save up for a psychic awakening, and buy a new gun... I can't make up my mind."
"I want it all!!!"
[The Emperor's tax must be paid, even if the world ends]:
"If we're thinking about starting a Chapter, buying equipment, and building up the base... brothers, our Imperial Coins are going to be worthless at this rate! We need to find new ways to earn coins, fast!"
The players erupted.
The new features and products were like showing a group of children who'd only just learned to walk a treasure vault full of fancy toys, weapons, superpower manuals, and team-building handbooks.
Most of them couldn't afford anything yet, but having those options was a world of difference!
For the first time, hope had taken tangible form.
Wang Zhong watched the channel go wild and his companions' faces flush with excitement. His own heart pounded, too.
But he quickly forced himself to calm down.
He was Loyal to the Emperor Forever, the undisputed leader of this loose-knit group.
He had to think ahead.
"Quiet down! Listen to me!"
He posted in the regional channel.
The flood of messages slowed a little.
"The update is great! But don't let it go to your heads!"
"We have to take things one step at a time, and eat one bite at a time."
Wang Zhong spoke quickly. "The system made it clear: everything costs Imperial Coins!"
"Where are we right now? In a godforsaken abandoned base!"
"The little bit of money we've got came from risking our lives in the industrial district!"
"We'll run out in just a few days if we live off our savings!"
"So our top priority isn't deciding what enhancements or modifications to buy, or what psychic powers to awaken!"
He raised his voice. "It's making this wreck of a base somewhere we can actually live!"
"We need to make it defensible and give it room to grow. It'll be our first foothold on Aurelian!"
He pointed around them. "Look! The buildings have collapsed! There's no perimeter wall! The watchtower's crooked!"
"If a mutant beast or a stray Ork Boy comes around at night—and there might not even be any Orks on this planet—we'll be seeing each other again at the respawn point!"
"Brothers!"
Wang Zhong looked around at them all. "This is our first base, and it won't be our last! But we have to get this first step right!"
"Any of you brothers have a civil engineering background?!"
"Renovation work counts, too!"
"Anyone played Cities: Skylines or Dyson Sphere Program? Step forward!"
The crowd stirred.
Dozens of players hesitantly stepped forward.
Their IDs ran the gamut: [Ten Years of Bricklaying], [Design Institute Draftsman], [I Reckon This Wall Can Be Built], [Chief Planner of Dyson Sphere]...
"Good! You're in!"
"And have the tech team help out, too!"
Wang Zhong swept his hand through the air. "You're getting the highest temporary authority!"
"Take everyone, survey the terrain, assess the ruined structures, and put together a Phase One base renovation plan!"
"Nothing fancy: keep out the wind and rain, provide basic defenses, divide the area into living quarters, storage, and workshops, and clear a safe perimeter!"
"Everyone else, follow the tech team and construction team!"
"Move bricks, clear rubble, and gather usable materials! We've got the people and the muscle—we just need a plan!"
"Get moving! Let's build ourselves a home!"
Wang Zhong's orders were blunt but effective.
The system update had scattered the players' attention, but he quickly brought them back to the reality of their ramshackle base.
The construction team and the tech team, led by [Mechanicus Oil-Lover on the Run], quickly joined forces and got to work.
[Ten Years of Bricklaying] took a few people and some crude measuring tools newly redeemed from the store to survey the foundation and remaining structures.
[Design Institute Draftsman] picked up a relatively flat metal sheet and began sketching with a pen redeemed from the store.
[I Reckon This Wall Can Be Built] had already led a group to clear the ruins of the largest prefabricated building, sorting the salvageable metal beams and panels into separate piles.
[Chief Planner of Dyson Sphere] stood on a slightly elevated mound of dirt, pointing into the distance and lecturing the people beside him.
"...In the long term, we should use the base as our core and expand outward step by step. We can surround the Hive City with wilderness, setting up resource-gathering sites, watchposts, and defensive nodes..."
"Of course, first we need to deal with the immediate problems of toilets and a canteen..."
Some of the other players went to the surrounding jungle to chop down the sturdier trees. Others moved stones or tried to dig useful parts and relics from the ruins.
In an instant, the entire base became a massive, bustling construction site.
Their tools were crude, their pool of skilled workers was limited, and the players' knowledge of construction varied wildly.
But they had plenty of people, plenty of enthusiasm, and...
"Over there! Right! Prop up that beam!"
"Careful! I think the wall footing's loose!"
"Can someone get some water? We need it for the mud—uh, I mean, the binding agent!"
"Forget the binding agent! It's too damn expensive in the store. Let's tie it down with vines first!"
Shouting, clanging metal, and the sound of trees being felled blended together.
Wang Zhong, Tax Brother, and Xue Brother were busy, too. They took a small squad and began patrolling the base's perimeter, marking out the security zone and setting up simple warning devices.
"Brother Loyalty, look," Xue Brother said, pointing at the grey-green jungle in the distance. "The ecosystem here is bizarre."
"The plants look half-dead, but some of them are aggressive."
"A brother just got caught in a thorny vine. It took a lot of effort to get him loose."
"There are mutant creatures, too," Tax Brother added. "We heard some noises, but didn't go closer."
"They didn't sound like ordinary animals."
"That's normal," Wang Zhong said with a nod. "This is the Warhammer World, especially out here in the frontier wasteland. It'd be stranger if there weren't any weird things."
"Tell everyone not to work too far from the base. Keep at least five people together, and make sure they redeem some weapons."
He paused and looked toward the bustling scene at the heart of the base, a faint smile appearing on his face. "Still... this is nice."
"Yeah," Xue Brother said with a smile. "It's a lot better than getting whipped while mining in the industrial district."
"We're still working, but this time we're working on our own home."
Before you continue