Traveling through time, I'm making pancakes in Warhammer

Howard looked away without changing his expression, then continued, "Sorry, I tend to keep my eyes fixed on one place when I'm thinking."

Arabelle: "Tell me about it?"

Howard: "I was wondering why you saved me."

"Aren't you curious why those people wanted to kill you?" Arabelle asked back.

Howard was stunned for a moment. He originally thought that those motorcyclists were sent by the governor or some big shot in the upper echelons to hunt him down, but from what Arabelle said, it seemed that this was not the case?

So Howard decided to show off. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Between killing someone for no reason and saving someone for no reason, I think the latter is weirder."

This time, it was Howard's turn to leave Arabelle stunned. After a long pause, Arabelle gave a meaningless laugh and replied, "I'm not trying to save you. I simply have a grudge against those people."

Howard nodded: "Oh."

Arabelle downed the rest of her drink in one gulp and then stood up from the couch. She kicked aside the scattered parts and walked over to Howard. She patted his shoulder and said, "You're sleeping on the couch tonight."

Then Arabelle went upstairs down the hallway Howard had come out of the bathroom, leaving Howard alone in the living room.

The sound of a door closing was heard on the second floor, and then Howard tiptoed carefully through the gaps among the spare parts on the floor and finally sat down on the sofa.

Just as Howard was about to lie down on his side, he heard the door on the second floor open again, followed by footsteps coming downstairs, and finally Arabelle stood at the entrance of the living room and threw something to Howard.

It was a rolled-up blanket.

Second Terra Day.

Howard felt the ground shaking. He thought it was an earthquake and quickly opened his eyes. He found that it was not the ground shaking, but the sofa. The reason for the sofa shaking was that Arabelle was kicking the sofa with her calves.

"Time to get up," Arabelle said, looking at Howard.

Howard, who was still in a daze, climbed up from the sofa, then gasped in pain and instantly became alert.

I didn't feel any of the bumps and bruises I had yesterday, but now after waking up from a good sleep, they're all back to me.

Now not only are there bruises from all kinds of things, Howard suspects that his muscles may have been strained and he can't even lift his hands.

Howard also couldn't lift his hands when he just got out of the escape pod, but that was because his muscles were not yet adapted to the movement. Now he couldn't lift his hands simply because it hurt when he lifted them.

"You should go." Seeing Howard sitting up, Arabelle ordered him to leave.

Howard: "I have nowhere else to go."

"That's none of my business," Arabelle said, one hand on her hip. "I've already taken you in for a day. What else do you want?"

After hearing what Arabelle said, Howard had no choice but to pick up his backpack.

Arabelle originally thought Howard picked up the backpack and was about to leave, but she saw Howard open the backpack and take out a stack of bills from it.

Howard: "I want to stay here for a while."

Arabelle took the stack of bills from Howard's hand very naturally, but did not put it in her pocket. Instead, she sat on the sofa next to Howard and threw the bills on the table.

"Tell me, what are you like?" Arabelle said, looking at Howard. "Since you want to live with me, I have to know your background."

"I'm bankrupt. I mortgaged my house and everything to pay off my debts, but there's still a big hole in the debt that can't be filled. The creditors want to make trouble for me, so I had to come here." Howard began to make up stories with his eyes open.

"You don't look even older than me, and you already have something to lose?"

"To be precise, my parents went bankrupt." Howard continued to make up stories.

"What about your parents?"

This time Howard couldn't continue his story, so he fell silent.

But Howard knew that silence was also an answer. Sure enough, after he became addicted, Arabelle did not continue to ask questions, but said: "Tsk, tsk, tsk, poor boy."

Howard knew Arabelle had misunderstood something, but that was exactly what he wanted, so he didn't respond.

Then he heard Arabelle continue to ask: "So what did you think of the welcome ceremony last night?"

Howard thought for a moment and replied seriously, "Apart from the fact that they wanted to kill me, last night's welcome ceremony was quite warm."

"It's commendable that you can still maintain your sense of humor after encountering such a thing. But sooner or later you will get used to it. Here, you never know why someone wants to kill you." Arabelle put the money on the table into her pocket, which meant that she agreed to Howard's request to stay here temporarily.

"I'll try to get used to it." Howard nodded.

"While I agree to let you stay here temporarily, there are some things we still need to discuss," Arabelle said. "From now on, you'll sleep on the sofa. You can use the bathroom and toilet freely. You can also use the food in the refrigerator, except for my wine, which you must not drink. Anything thrown on the ground floor is not a big deal, but you must not touch my workbench. And then there's the second floor. You are not allowed to enter either of the rooms on the second floor. If I catch you going in, I'll kick you out without refunding your rent."

Howard nodded as he listened. When he heard the last request, he said, "If you don't want me to come in, why don't you just lock it? I can't pry it open. You're only piqued my curiosity by emphasizing it like this."

"That's right." Arabelle nodded after hearing Howard's suggestion. "That's all. I'll do my best to ensure safety here, but I can't guarantee it 100%. So if you find anything wrong, be smart and run away. Do you understand?"

Howard nodded repeatedly.

"I'm going to work now. I'll be back before nine in the evening. If anyone else finds this place, remember to play dead."

After saying that, Arabelle opened the door and went out. Then the sound of an engine was heard. Howard walked to the window. Through the gap in the blinds, he could only see the smoke and dust raised by Arabelle's vehicle when it left.

After confirming that Arabelle was gone, Howard immediately opened the refrigerator.

He hadn't eaten for a day and a night, and he was able to fall asleep last night simply because the sleepiness was more intense than the hunger.

Howard knew that supplies were scarce on the middle level, so before opening the refrigerator, he had prepared himself mentally for the fact that it would be filled with compressed biscuits or imperial rations. However, when he actually opened the refrigerator, he found that the food reserves inside were much better than he had expected.

The thing that took up the most space in the fridge was the drink Arabelle had last night. It came in bottles similar to Nuka-Cola, and there were several boxes of it. Besides that, Howard also saw several bags of sliced bread, neatly stacked cans of various goods, and pickled olives in glass jars. And, at the top of the fridge, there was even a small box of what looked like blueberries.

After careful consideration, even though Arabelle said he could eat whatever he wanted in the refrigerator, Howard only took two slices of bread, a can of cheese and a can of unknown liver paste.

After making a simple sandwich of cheese and liver pate on bread, Howard took out the Om Messiah while chewing on it.

Howard got straight to the point: "You were the one who caused the motorcycle to stall and the gun to become inoperable last night?"

Ohm Messiah: "Answer Master, it is me."

Howard: "If Arabelle hadn't come last night, I would have died there."

Om Messiah: "Master, if Miss Arabelle hadn't come yesterday, I would have reactivated those disabled two-wheeled vehicles and sent them crashing into their original owners."

Howard: "...Are you really the God of All Things?"

Ohm Messiah: "Answer master, I cannot understand your specific definition of the God of All Machines."

Howard thought for a moment and said, "The God of Machines seems to be the object of worship of the Mechanicus. The Mechanicus believe that the God of Machines is an omnipotent god who can control all machines."

Om Messiah: "Master, based on your description, I am clearly not the God of All Machines, and the God of All Machines should not exist."

Howard: "Why do you say that?"

Om Messiah: "Answer Master, because omnipotence itself is a self-contradictory description. If a being is omnipotent, then can it create specific beings that it cannot influence?"

Ohm Messiah talks about the classic God paradox: if God is omniscient and omnipotent, then can God create a stone that he cannot move?

Howard: "But you can control machinery."

Ohm Messiah: "Answer Master, I can only control a portion of the machinery."

Howard: "Can you be more specific?"

Om Messiah's breathing light began to flash rhythmically, and then he replied, "Master, my current computing power only allows me to control some relatively simple machines. When faced with large and complex machines like Sherlock, I can only make reasonable requests of them."

Howard: "From what I understand, the essence of the hive is a giant machine. Can you control the hive or make requests to the hive's machine spirit?"

Om Messiah: "Answer Master, it is very difficult to do this."

Howard: "Explain."

Om Messiah: "Master, I hear countless voices in this vast steel settlement. Some voices can communicate, some cannot. But generally speaking, most voices are willing to cooperate with your actions."

"What you mean is that whether your request comes true here depends entirely on luck, right?" Howard understood.

Ohm Messiah: "To answer the Master, I don't like the word luck because it's not rigorous, but whether my request will be responded to here is indeed a matter of unknown probability."

"It's just luck!" Howard confirmed.