Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 4 Cleaning Up the Town
Ultimately, based on the area where the heat signal was most concentrated and stable, the servo skull guided him to the entrance of a maintenance passage leading underground, located on the edge of the town square.

The heavy metal cover had long been corroded and jammed, but with a little force, the mechanical arm twisted and tore it open.

Below is a small pumping station or storage room, now inhabited by a larger and slightly larger mutated weasel colony. They have made this their nest, which is filled with gnawed animal remains and various indigestible wastes, emitting a nauseating stench.

"Physical cleaning to save energy to the maximum extent," Chen Yu gave a concise instruction.

The servo skull was the first to fly into the dark space, effectively interfering with and driving away the rats using weak electric shocks and ultrasonic pulses.

Chen Yu himself stood guard at the narrowest entrance like a gatekeeper, his mechanical tentacles transforming into a highly efficient net of death, precisely whipping and piercing, instantly eliminating any creature that tried to break through.

This was a silent, efficient, and one-sided cleanup operation; a few minutes later, there was no longer any sign of life in the nest.

After thoroughly eliminating all potential threats, Chen Yu began a systematic scan and assessment of the town's resources.

Servo-controlled skull scanning expands the scanning range.

"A small substation was discovered on the northwest side. The main structure is intact, but the main energy source—the rooftop solar panel array—is completely covered by sand and dust, and there are multiple aging and broken sections in the output lines. Assessment: Repairable, but some lines need to be cleaned and replaced."

"A deep water well and its associated pump have been discovered in the central plaza. The well itself is intact, but the core components of the electric pump are severely corroded, and the power supply has been completely interrupted. Assessment: Repairable; rust removal, lubrication, and power restoration are required."

"The current garage has the most stable structure, the entrance can be reinforced, and the interior space is highly usable. It is recommended to establish it as the main workshop and temporary base."

The energy level of the miniature fusion reactor within his body still hovered at a low warning level—the abnormal energy loss during the time travel was extremely alarming, far exceeding the theoretical value required to maintain his body's operation and spacetime jump.

He strongly suspected that most of the missing energy had been greedily absorbed by the ancient relic at his waist, which was now incredibly quiet and seemingly harmless.

Therefore, he had to be extremely frugal.

He activated the laser cutter on his wrist at its lowest power setting. The energy beam was so weak it was almost red. He carefully cut off the still-intact metal part of the garage roller shutter door, then used the power of his mechanical tentacles to bend and rivet it, creating a simple but sturdy metal barrier to temporarily block the workshop's only entrance.

Only after doing all this did he truly allow himself to relax his tense logical circuits. He had a relatively safe base, a clear source of energy and water (although both needed repair), and had cleared up the immediate troubles.

I've finally taken my first step in this unfamiliar world safely.

"It's going better than I expected," he said to himself, looking around the dilapidated garage that was about to become his new starting point. "At least here there are no warp whispers that I need to pray to be banished at all times, and I don't have to start calculating my ammunition stockpile as soon as I see a greenskin."

After careful consideration, Chen Yu ultimately did not choose the more conspicuous city hall or the large warehouse, which were also more structurally damaged.

The garage, which he had cleaned and initially reinforced, was the right size and had a sturdy structure. More importantly, it gave people a sense of security that "everything is under control."

For a mechanical priest, this is often more important than grandeur.

First priority: energy. His miniature reactor desperately needs an external energy injection to get out of its slump, but before that, he must first ensure the base has the most basic power supply.

He spent most of the day carefully cleaning the solar panel array above the substation, which was almost buried by sand and debris.

The mechanical tentacles have now become the most efficient cleaning and handling tools.

Next, using the old, almost falling-down tools he found in the garage, as well as the still usable wires and parts salvaged from the "dedicated" cleaning robot and abandoned vehicles, he began to carefully repair the main line connecting to the substation.

This process was tedious and boring, yet it brought him a strange sense of peace.

The purest satisfaction always comes from using the ancient knowledge of the Faculty of Mechanics—the profound wisdom about energy flow, material resistance, and circuit logic—to revitalize a long-dormant system.

"Praise be to the god of all machines, for the underlying logic of the universe is always the same." He murmured to himself, carefully connecting the last repaired section of the line to the terminal, and then solemnly pushing the rusty main switch shut.

A low, continuous hum gradually rose up, and the indicator lights on the substation control panel, which had been covered in dust for who knows how many years, struggled, flashed a few times, and finally lit up steadily with a warm yellow or green light!
"Success! Output power... stabilized at 17%, far below the design standard, but sufficient to maintain basic lighting, tool operation, and my low-power charging needs." A clear sense of accomplishment welled up in his processing core.

He prioritized directing the power to the lighting outlets in the garage workshop and to himself—a makeshift cable of varying thickness connected to the energy interface behind him. The long-awaited (though weak and unstable) sense of energy infusion made him almost sigh with the comfort of a carbon-based being.

The reactor's alarming energy decline has finally been brought under control.

Next step: water.

Rusting deep-sea pumps is a physically demanding task that requires even more patience.

He didn't have any replacement parts readily available, but that didn't stop him.

The laser cutter was set to its lowest power and carefully removed the completely rusted pipe section like a scalpel. Then, a similarly sized metal pipe was removed from the abandoned vehicle, secured with tentacles, and the wrist laser was used for precise high-temperature welding and polishing.

This consumed more of his energy reserves, but the result was worth it.

After the repaired circuit was connected, the old pump emitted a dull but powerful thud, as if a heart that had been dormant for many years was starting to beat again.

The murky groundwater was forcibly pumped up and became much clearer after passing through a multi-layered filtration system he made using discarded buckets, gravel, activated carbon fragments, and a ceramic filter he found by chance.

“See, resource scarcity is never the problem; the real issue is a lack of wisdom and practical skills,” he said to the suspended servo skull, a hint of barely perceptible smugness in his tone. The skull’s jaw clicked twice, seemingly in agreement.

With a stable power supply and basic water purification, the real "turning waste into treasure" project began.

(End of this chapter)