Since He Stretched His Head Out, It Would Be Impolite Not to Chop It Off

However, as factory production capacity increased, shortages of basic supplies also began to appear.

Huron's civilian factories were all used to produce high-value materials like vitamin pills and gene-seed, rendering them helpless when it came to basic bulk materials such as steel, plastic, duracrete, and chemical substances.

In the projected hive city reconstruction project, hundreds of millions of tons of various types of steel would be consumed in a single day, not to mention all sorts of other basic supplies.

Civilian factories only produced two million tons of starch a day, and their steel production capacity was even lower; even if all civilian factories were thrown into it, it would still be a drop in the bucket.

This was why Odinson demanded that restoring the functions of the hive city be the primary task. Currently, the import of external materials into the hive city relied entirely on the pathetic trading volume of the nobles. Most of the material sources were the recycling of waste, which was simply abstract.

Fortunately, the various ruins of the hive city provided quite a few supplies, and there were also many supplies in a large number of enclosed and isolated hive city areas; otherwise, Odinson's primary task would have been to build the outskirts of the hive city first and transport supplies back from the outside.

However, although the bulk of the work now was repairing the hive city, the construction of the hive city outskirts was not neglected either.

Highways, water pipes, power lines, mines, smelters, and so on were all in the planning stage, striving to be built and put into operation as soon as possible to ease the resource pressure on the hive city.

This was also why Armenius took the initiative to propose making greater use of engineering machinery; otherwise, relying solely on human labor, a mere five billion people thrown into this massive-scale project wouldn't even make a ripple.

Odinson proposed instead: "In addition to this, we should select a level in the underhive and prioritize the construction of several standardized residential areas. On the one hand, this will verify technical issues and summarize experience, and on the other hand, it will produce results first to boost the morale of the worker groups."

Old John's eyes lit up: "This method is indeed quite good. I think that when subsequently refining the organizational structure of the workers, we can organize workers from different regions together, making them responsible for the infrastructure work in their original living areas or nearby. This way, they can see the improvement their work results bring to their families' lives, raising their enthusiasm."

The underhive construction project was a long-term goal. Many things that Huron had grown accustomed to in his past life did not exist here: water supply and drainage, highway network, rain and sewage diversion, unified power grid, garbage disposal, public lighting, public transportation, network facilities, community service... well, none of the above existed.

The first phased goal of underhive construction was to build trunk infrastructure covering most areas, including highways, water supply, sewage, electricity, communication, and monitoring, while simultaneously establishing power plants and air purification and circulation systems to ensure that the basic living environment in the underhive would no longer continue to deteriorate.

As for the remaining further improvement measures, they could only wait until later.

Huron looked at the scene of concerted effort in the conference room, and could not help nodding slightly.

The system's function was indeed powerful, able to make everyone pull in the same direction.

In most chapters, mortals basically lacked the qualification to sit at the table to eat, let alone discuss construction plans jointly with the Astartes.

As for Old John's previous doubts about Armenius's proposal, planted in most chapters, he would directly be slapped with labels like "weakness" and then either lose power or forfeit his life.

How could it possibly be like now, where an Astartes not only explained the rationality of the plan to mortals, but also explained specific solutions?

After the general details were finalized, everyone began to busy themselves. The unified government had just been established, and everything was waiting to be rebuilt.

Aside from construction work, tasks involving public security, people's livelihood, production, and the military were all a tangled mess, making the Astartes wish they could split themselves in two for use.

Yet against this background, Old John did not follow Odinson to study after the meeting; instead, he awkwardly sought out Huron.

Yes, awkwardly.

Huron felt like he had seen a ghost, actually perceiving such a vibe from a grown man.

He could barely keep it together, and could only take the initiative: "Old John, is there something you need?"

Old John's tone was somewhat hesitant: "Uh, Chapter Master, it's just, well, previously the Ecclesiarchy bishop, uh, after being detained, um..."

Stammering for a while, Old John chose self-abandonment: "He said he had important intelligence to discuss with me, and ended up trying to bribe me with his hidden assets."

Huron: "Just this?"

Old John: "Ah?"

Although Old John looked terrified, in Huron's view, this was indeed a trivial matter.

Such bribery tactics would sooner or later be used on government personnel. Huron didn't expect everyone to strictly do things by the book and never take crooked paths, otherwise he wouldn't have specifically established the Audit Office and the Supervisory Commission.

So he simply asked some straightforward questions: "Was the intermediary government personnel or a remnant of the Ecclesiarchy? Did he say where the assets were hidden?"

Old John answered honestly: "It's an Ecclesiarchy remnant, and I've already arrested him. He said the assets are stored in the neighboring Culln Sector, and he'll give them to me after he gets out."

"Good grief, playing the empty-glove wolf trick now, are we?" Huron was somewhat speechless. "Right on cue, write up a report about this for the Public Security Bureau. Bribing government personnel, concealing assets to resist asset seizure, knowingly violating the law—crime compounded. Since he stretched his head out himself, it would be polite to chop it off."

Huron had originally planned to find an opportunity to kill that bishop anyway; now, as it happened, he had specially found a justifiable reason for him. It was simply incomprehensible, and not killing him would do a disservice to the bishop's cleverness.

"Understood, Chapter Master." Old John felt immensely relieved and left the office with a light step.

Huron then drafted an investigative authority authorization for the Supervisory Commission, having the supervisory committee follow Old John's lead to thoroughly investigate who was acting as the intermediary in the middle.

He simply didn't believe that an Ecclesiarchy remnant could contact the bishop without anyone's help, and even specifically find the highest echelon below the Astartes.

Just right, the main force of the Supervisory Commission's investigation was an Astartes squad, and he wanted to see what kind of reaction these people would have when facing the God-Emperor's angels.

After drafting the authorization and sending it to the Supervisory Commission, Huron briefly zoned out.

Having just established a unified government, such an incident occurred, which also made him somewhat frustrated.

He asked himself that he treated everyone well, racking his brain to ensure everyone enjoyed tangible benefits as much as possible; how could someone still be so restless?

They even went against the wind, specifically singling out the Ecclesiarchy bishop whom he had explicitly ordered to be placed under key surveillance.

The higher the waves, the more expensive the fish, is that it? Then don't blame me for going for the kill.

Internal government issues had no impact on ordinary people. Following the issuance of the new construction plan, Liam, as the deputy manager of the Carter District Engineering Team, was following the engineering team under the protection of the armed police to visit various places and collect information.