Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 12 The Interrogation of the Motor Oil Guy
A rhythmic metallic scraping sound broke the surrounding silence as it approached from afar, as if a metronome from another world was slowly drawing near.

On the rooftop, the skull that had remained silent had its eyes gleaming red. It gracefully turned its head, its jaw opening and closing as if giving a silent report, just like a capable assistant reporting to a superior.

Inside the garage, Rebecca and Pila's hearts leaped into their throats once more. They held their breath in unison, staring intently at the movements outside the hole in the wall.

The footsteps carried an undeniable steadiness, each step precisely timed to the intervals between heartbeats, unconsciously causing one to adjust their breathing to synchronize with them.

The first thing that catches the eye is a deep, dark red, a color like congealed blood, which does not dim even under the scorching desert sun.

Then, an extremely tall and imposing figure slowly approached, almost completely blocking the light from the doorway.

He was shrouded in a strangely tailored, dark red robe with a strong religious feel. The hem of the robe swayed gently with his steps, vaguely outlining the inhuman, solid, and mechanically powerful silhouette beneath.

Several metal tentacles of varying thicknesses—equipped with various indescribable tools or weapons at their tips—writhed and coiled slightly behind him and beneath his robes like resting metal pythons, gleaming with a cold, hard metallic luster.

Most astonishingly, the ends of two exceptionally thick tentacles were casually wrapped around the corpses of three members of the Chaotic Blade Society, as easily as if they were carrying a few bags of groceries, while the other tentacle was steadily wrapped around a large, heavy, and seemingly valuable industrial battery.

His face was hidden beneath a simple, complex helmet, with only a pair of composite optical lenses emitting a steady crimson glow, like two burning embers. He first calmly scanned the intruders cleared from the street, meticulously assessed the battlefield, and finally fixed his gaze precisely on the direction of the garage where they were hiding. His gaze seemed to penetrate the walls and see through every trace of fear in their hearts.

"Good heavens..." Pila gasped, her voice trembling. She instinctively pulled Rebecca back against the cold wall, as if that would provide her with a tiny bit of security. "What... what is this thing? A cybernetically modified madman? Or a war machine created by Arasaka or military technology?"

His fear was obvious, but his action of protecting his sister was driven by an instinctive sense of responsibility. His other hand had already quietly reached for the only small-caliber pistol hidden in his lower back, even though he knew perfectly well that this thing probably couldn't even scratch the paint off the other person.

Rebecca was also terrified, her throat dry and her heart pounding as if it would burst out of her chest, but she still forced a low rebuttal, more like trying to bolster her courage: "At least he helped us take down the scum of the Chaotic Blade Society... he seems more reliable than that bunch of trash..."

And that robe, tsk, it's quite stylish, like that of... a super skilled craftsman?

She tried to find something reassuring in this terrifying image.

Chen Yu's gaze swept across the battlefield, and the internal system instantly completed the efficiency assessment and resource consumption calculation, concluding that it met expectations.

The data stream from the servo skull confirmed that the cleanup was complete and marked two low-threat life signals still remaining in the workshop.

He strode towards the garage with a steady, imposing gait, each step causing the ground to tremble slightly, like a moving red fortress. Under the gaze of those crimson lenses, Rebecca and Pila felt an invisible pressure, unconsciously backing away until their heels bumped against the scattered tools, making a soft clanging sound.

He stopped in front of the ripped-open garage door, his massive body almost blocking the entire entrance.

A mechanical tentacle suddenly emerged as if it had its own life, moving so fast it almost left a blur, and precisely inserted itself into the weak gap in the temporary barrier.

With a sickening metallic groan and twisting sound, the heavy barrier that Rebecca had struggled against so fiercely was easily twisted and torn off like a toy being ripped apart by a giant beast. It was casually thrown onto the open ground with a heavy and ear-piercing bang, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Light suddenly flooded in, completely illuminating the two people in the warehouse who had nowhere to hide and whose faces were deathly pale. It also fully revealed Chen Yu's awe-inspiring figure—nearly two and a half meters tall. Beneath his red robe was a solid body combining machinery and an unknown alloy. The faintly visible joint structure and energy pipelines exuded an inhuman sense of power. The metal tentacles that swayed slowly beside him, like living things, gleamed with a merciless cold light.

The sound emanating from beneath the mask was processed, smooth and devoid of human emotion, yet strangely not purely mechanical noise. It carried a deep, direct indifference, as if born from long-term interaction with machines rather than humans, along with an indescribable sense of weariness.

"Unauthorized intrusion into my workshop. State your reasons." His words were concise and precise, revealing an engineer's displeasure and efficiency-driven scrutiny in the face of unexpected interference and forced production line shutdown, but not purely a bloodlust.

Rebecca's heart tightened at the interrogative tone. Her rebellious spirit overcame some of her fear, and she blurted out, "Hey! Be reasonable! We only came here because we were being chased! Who knew there were people in this godforsaken place! And there wasn't even a 'No Trespassing' sign at the door!"

She regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth, her palms sweating, fearing that the terrifying tentacles would pierce her through the body at any moment.

Pila quickly grabbed her sister and preemptively explained, speaking rapidly and urgently in an attempt to show cooperation: "This... sir! Sir! We really meant no harm! We're a transport company, and we accidentally offended the Chaotic Knife Society. Our vehicle broke down, forcing us to flee here!"

We didn't take anything, really, and we're leaving right away! We won't hold you up!

He tried to make his words sound believable, even gesturing to their nearly empty bags and toolkits to suggest they posed no threat.

Chen Yu's crimson camera scanned the two people carefully, and data streams rolled rapidly in the field of vision, analyzing their body temperature, micro-expressions, muscle tension, prosthetic body type, and energy level.

"Biosignal analysis: High stress response, low level of weaponry, no significant threat characteristics." The steady synthesized voice sounded again, and he seemed to relax his guard slightly, but his efficiency-first attitude remained unchanged. "Identity. Origin. Purpose. In addition, provide all valid intelligence regarding 'Night City' and the surrounding area. The level of detail will affect subsequent assessments."

A tentacle rose, pointing steadily at Pila, gesturing for his reply. The movement carried an unquestionable air, and the precision sensor at the tip of the tentacle even slightly adjusted its focus.

(End of this chapter)