Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 97 The Frustrated Squad (Fourth Update)

Deep within the abandoned town's workshop, the hum of the dimensional teleporter gradually subsided, eventually settling into a steady operating sound, with only the cooling system continuously emitting a faint hissing noise.

Chen Yu's crimson optical lens was locked on the main control interface, and the data flow had stabilized.

The life signals of all members of Mann's team were clear and stable, confirming that they had successfully arrived at the preset coordinates.

The last visual signal transmitted back from the servo skull focused on Ignis's familiar dark red armored figure.

Thus, the first phase of the mission, namely live teleportation and coordinate verification, has been successfully completed.

The successful confirmation did not stir up much of a ripple in his mind.

For him, this was merely the successful acquisition of a necessary data point in the experimental process.

His attention quickly shifted to the next critical step: ensuring that the Dimensional Transporter could flawlessly execute the recovery procedure after a 72-hour cooling and regeneration cycle.

Several mechanical tentacles silently emerged from the shadows of the workshop, beginning a comprehensive overhaul of the equipment, meticulously calibrating each energy circuit, and rigorously analyzing the structural stress borne by the core resonant unit during this transmission.

Every leap across dimensions is a severe test for precision components, and the recycling process must not be compromised.

At the same time, he activated the preset command sequence inside the servo skull that had accompanied Mann's squad through the journey.

These instructions were already encapsulated before the experiment was launched, and their trigger condition was "successfully arriving at the coordinates and establishing initial contact with the receiving unit".

The instructions were interconnected. First, they granted Ignis, the commander of the Guardians of the Faith, the authority to access camp resources and provide Mann's squad with the most basic living necessities to ensure the survival of these experimental samples during the observation period.

Subsequently, the Servo Skull unlocked a separate data packet in its local database, providing Mann's squad with a highly streamlined and strictly anonymized Warhammer universe background summary document.

The aim is to give them a basic understanding of the extremes and dangers of their environment, preventing them from making out-of-control decisions due to complete ignorance.

Finally, it was strictly ordered that during the retrieval phase, the specific data carrier prepared by Ignis according to Chen Yu's earlier instructions must be brought back.

At this moment, the direct, real-time link between Chen Yu and the Warhammer World camp has been completely severed.

He is like a scientist who has dropped a probe into deep space; all he can do now is wait for the probe to return safely with the collected samples at the scheduled time.

He turned around and reallocated the main computing resources to in-depth analysis of the massive amount of data transmitted this time, while also setting aside some threads to continue monitoring the various events happening locally in the cyberpunk world.
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On the other side of the Warhammer world, in a simple barracks on the edge of the Dead World camp, Mann's squad was experiencing unprecedented boredom, oppression, and information isolation.

After a day of heightened vigilance and maladjustment, they discovered that Ignis's warnings were not unfounded.

Their activities were strictly limited to a radius of fifty meters centered on their barracks. Although there were no obvious physical barriers around them, the silent patrols of the red-robed Christian guards and the ever-turning cannons of the strangely shaped weapons on the watchtowers clearly defined the invisible boundaries.

Any attempt to approach the border would immediately attract the attention of the Christian Guard. Although they did not use weapons, their cold and uncompromising attitude was enough to deter anyone from going near.

Attempts to communicate with these apologists in a language are largely futile.

They either didn't respond to the language used by Mann's squad or only replied with monotonous binary code, the information of which had to be translated through a servo skull, often resulting in brief commands like "forbidden," "back off," or "wait." Apart from Ignis herself, they were virtually unable to communicate effectively with any other unit in the camp, as if they were on an island of steel and silence.

Rebecca was the first to find it unbearable.

With nowhere to vent her energy, she could only pace back and forth in the narrow open space, or swing her fists at the metal walls of the barracks, the reinforced bones and muscles striking the steel plates with a dull "thump thump" sound.

"Damn it, this is worse than being in prison! At least in prison you can fight!" She grabbed her two-tone short hair in frustration, her green prosthetic eye flashing with anxious light. "That tin can guy talks about a death world, saying there's nothing but sand and rocks outside, what can't we go there? I think he just doesn't want us to see anything!"

Pila squatted in the corner, fiddling with his long arms, trying to make some trivial adjustments with the miniature tools he carried, but quickly lost interest: "Can't even find a network signal... Qiwei, Sasha, how's it going on your end? Can you crack their internal network? Even just connecting to see the news would be helpful!"

Sasha and Qiwei sat side by side on a simple metal bed, their foreheads gleaming with a faint light, a sign that their electronic warfare prosthetics were operating at full speed.

After a long while, Qiwei opened her eyes first, shook her head, and her usually calm voice carried a hint of frustration: "No. Their network protocol... is completely unfamiliar, and the underlying logic is different from everything we know."

The signal is closed, physically isolated. We can sense the powerful energy flow and data exchange around us, but we can't intervene, as if separated by an invisible wall.

Sasha added, her voice even softer: "Moreover, the electromagnetic background noise here is peculiar, with a kind of... regular fluctuation, not like it's naturally occurring, but more like interference caused by the continuous operation of some large equipment, which itself constitutes a kind of shielding."

Falco used this time to record environmental data in as much detail as possible: air composition, temperature fluctuations, gravity parameters, and the trajectories of the two dim suns on the distant horizon.

He compared this data with the limited information provided by the servo skull in an attempt to piece together a fragmented picture of this world.

Dorio remained silent for most of the time, standing against the wall like a rock. Her enhanced senses were also gathering information, but she was more focused on the camp's operational model, the patrol patterns of the Faith Guard, and the models and possible weapon configurations of those huge vehicles.

This is her instinct as a shield for the team.

As captain, Mann was under the most pressure. He not only had to calm his teammates down, but also had to consider the deeper meaning behind Chen Yu's actions.

He gathered everyone together and had them sit around in the center of the barracks.

“Calm down, everyone.” Mann’s voice was deep and strong. “The boss didn’t send us here just to lock us up for three days. This is part of a test, a test of our mental resilience and discipline in a completely unfamiliar and restricted environment. Every move we make here is probably being recorded.”

He pointed to the servo skull floating in the corner, waiting to be deployed: "The boss gave us some information. Take this opportunity to look at it carefully. We need to understand what kind of world we live in in order to know what we might face in the future."

Upon receiving the command, the servo skull flashes red light in its eye sockets, projecting a holographic image into the air.

The content of the video was pre-packaged by Chen Yu and was extremely brief.

The first presentation showcases the blurred borders of a human empire spanning the stars, emphasizing the fundamental concepts of human supremacy and eternal war.

The text then briefly explains the core beliefs of the Mechanicus: their worship of the god of machines and their eternal pursuit of lost technology and standard building templates. Finally, it uses a somber tone to emphasize the extreme danger and endless conflict inherent in this world.

Although this information was limited, it was enough to unfold a vast, harsh, and unfamiliar picture of the universe before them.

(End of this chapter)