The Bizarre Adventures of the Oil Man, but Starting with Warhammer 32K

"This sage from Huangquan No. 8 is surprisingly well-behaved."

he commented.

This assessment wasn't exactly praise, but it was exactly what he was thinking. As the sage who had first suggested to the Casting Director that the Space Marines might be a hidden danger, he didn't really want to see his idea come true.

But even after confirming the situation of Leon and the Space Marines, he still felt uneasy. He thought for a moment, and finally stood up and went to where the forger was.

The senior sage in charge of casting still looked displeased with him: "You didn't make an appointment to meet me."

"When will this happen again?"

The deputy foundry supervisor choked back.

Apart from the casting director who is a great sage, the two of them are the only two high-level sages on this planet. Although they belong to different fields, there has always been a subtle competitive trend between the two.

For them, greeting each other in binary code at the Forge Council was just the simplest routine. Commanding their men to engage in full-scale violence on the Forge World was the slightest sign of showing off their skills.

If it weren't for the fact that the casting director, who was not very influential, only requested that internal strife not break out, I'm afraid that the planet might be divided because of the conflict between these two people.

However, the orc invasion came too suddenly. When the foundry director who received the news from Mars told the two about the orcs fighting on the moon, the two senior sages had to turn their previous subtle confrontation into subtle cooperation.

It's hard to say how sincere this cooperation is. But at least they won't hold each other back. Having received news of the Greenskin invasion before the invasion of Diamond Star and begun preparing for evacuation, the two men have already been shipping their treasures out one ship after another under various pretexts.

However, the later the evacuation is, the more critical it becomes for the Deputy Supervisor of the Foundry.

Most of the production lines, data, and resources that had been shipped out previously were what blacksmiths needed.

For the Deputy Foundry Supervisor, who has invested most of his assets in the Crusaders, the Titan Legion that Mars personally requested is his most important token of allegiance.

When they evacuate Maxim and arrive on Mars, these will become the key to determining their status on Mars.

The forger scoffed. "Then why would we, the high-ranking sages who oversee the military, come to me, a forger whose only job is to produce weapons for you?"

"I'm just here to make sure your work is complete. Aside from the critical production lines we'll take away, everything else will be destroyed. I don't want the greenskins to take over Om Messiah's sacred production lines and cause trouble for us."

"Don't worry, it's all done."

The forger waved his hand. "Aside from the self-destruct sequence, I've also placed bombs on every production line that can't be taken away. I'll activate them once the Titan Legion's transfer is complete, ensuring the greenskins can't piece together a single steel plate."

"That sounds good. What about the Titan Legion?"

"Ha. Five days ago, she activated a Titan. According to my analysis, there's an 84% chance she was using this to express her dissatisfaction."

"Another self-startup without a power-up ceremony? Her control over this Titan is truly astonishing."

"Maybe, but what good would that do?"

The foundry worker stood up and looked out the window.

Today's Forge World was bustling with activity, as the Titan Legion was scheduled to "set out" today. Many idle Mechanicus priests came to watch, eager to witness the seldom-seen divine machinery.

"This demonstration of control over the Titans is as feeble as the recent rhetoric circulating on the Forge World that 'this Forge World is about to be abandoned.'"

The forger said disdainfully, "Although they may have grasped part of the truth, actions that have no practical effect will not have any impact on the truth."

"She may already know that this Warlord-class Titan will be transferred back to Mars."

The Deputy Casting Supervisor speculated, "By then, the Martians will undoubtedly choose a Titan crew they've trained themselves to pilot this Titan. Do you think she's likely to rebel in that situation?"

"As long as she's still a member of the Mechanicum, she certainly won't. If she obeys, at least she can evacuate to Mars with the Titan Legion. Even if she's no longer the captain of a Warlord-class Titan, she can still save her life. If she stays here for the Titans, how can she resist the invading greenskins?"

The foundry master's words were quite firm. In fact, the deputy foundry supervisor also agreed with this logic.

As one of the strongest armies of the Mechanicus, the Titans held a preeminent position within the entire Mechanicus. This preeminence even exempted them from obeying orders from within the Mechanicus when fighting on the battlefield.

In order to reduce the risk of not obeying transfer orders, the casting director often assigns crew members who are close to him as Titan pilots.

But becoming a Titan captain actually requires a lot of talent. On a planet like Maxim, which is unable to train qualified Titan crews on a large scale, it is easy for the Titan Order to not obey the orders of the Foundry Council.

Director Augustus, originally transferred from Mars, was unconcerned with the power struggles on Maxim. As two "senior sages" on Maxim, promoted by Director Augustus to maintain their status, their actual abilities were higher than those of ordinary sages, but they hardly reached the threshold of true senior sages.

This level of uncertainty often puts them in an awkward position when competing for power with the Titan Order.

Although they had won the support of several small Titan crews, they still had to make compromises when facing Christina, the captain of the Warlord-class Titan and the legion leader of the Titan Order.

But that was the case in the past.

The original focus of the dispute was nothing more than the right to deploy Titans. Since it has been decided to bring Titans to Mars as a token of allegiance, the opinion of the Titan Order is no longer important.

As long as the Titan Order does not intend to start a civil war, they will just throw their Titans onto Mars and they will not have to worry about these problems.

Chapter 62 "Betrayal" (Part 2)

The only thing they have to consider is how to maintain their status as high-level sages after arriving on Mars even though their level is not high enough.

Completing the mission assigned by Mars is one of the most important things, but plundering as much of Maxim's resources as possible without the knowledge of the mechanical priests on Maxim is even more crucial.

Although they had been preparing for a long time, and both he and the foundry masters' preparations sounded flawless, the Deputy Foundry Supervisor still felt a faint uneasiness in his heart.

He stood anxiously alongside the forger, watching the Titan army slowly emerging from underground through the elevator shaft.

Leading the charge were ten Warhound-class Titans, followed by four Reavers. The finale was the thirty-meter-tall Warlord-class Titan. This divine machine, accompanied by its light infantry, the Titan Guard, made an impressive entrance.

The mechanical priests watching around burst into a small cheer, and some even knelt down devoutly and began to worship the sacred creation in front of them that was forged by the mighty power of Om Messiah.

On a planet incapable of producing Warlord-class Titans, witnessing such divine machinery was undoubtedly a gift from Om Messiah. The onlookers began to envy the military chaplains following the Titans, envious of their privileged access to serve this extension of Om Messiah's might. However, the chaplains following the Titans remained silent, their heads bowed, their minds focused on advancing.

By this stage in the plan to evacuate Maxim, it was no longer possible to conceal it from everyone. These so-called military priests were all confidants carefully selected by the two senior sages.

They called them trusted confidants, but in their eyes, these priests were not as important as a production line or resources. However, now that they could disguise themselves as chaplains accompanying the Titan Legion, they were happy to use the excuse of the Titan Legion's "expedition" to allow these priests to follow them out of Maxim.

For the senior sages, this was simply a way to recruit more unaffiliated priests to work illegally on their assembly lines. But for the priests, who had just learned of Maxim's abandonment, such news came as a surprise and shock. Grateful for their chance of survival, they now followed the Titans, carrying their belongings and making the entire team appear bloated and slow.

The deputy foundry supervisor frowned. "They should speed up."

"If by speeding things up you mean asking them to leave their luggage behind, then of course they won't agree to that."

"We don't have that much time to waste here!"

"If you don't want to see them rebel, you'd better let them take it with them."

The forger replied, "Your five ships of skitarii are much more than this luggage, aren't they?"

"I really want to cut your head open and stick electrodes in it to wake you up!"

The Deputy Foundry Supervisor finally discovered the source of his uneasiness: "It's not just those priests. Look at the Titans! The Warlord-class Titan's stride is 23.41% shorter than usual! It's intentionally controlling the entire team's forward speed!"

The speed of the expedition was naturally determined by the largest Titan in the group. If it slowed down, the entire group's speed would naturally decrease. According to procedure, these Titans should have walked to the spaceport and then carried out the installation work. If they had advanced at a normal speed, there wouldn't have been many Mechanic Priests gathered there. However, as the Titan's speed decreased, more and more Mechanic Priests had time to gather around it.

"Are you being too sensitive?"

"The forger asked. But soon, the Titan's pace dropped by more than 23.41% and gradually stopped. At this point, everyone present could see that something was wrong with the Titan.

The foundry officer frowned as he began to contact them, but Titan Captain Christina took the initiative to report the situation to them. Upon receiving the news, the foundry officer's brow relaxed and he explained to the foundry deputy supervisor:

"There's been some malfunction with the Titan's running gear, and we're currently investigating."

"What a coincidence?"

The deputy foundry supervisor glanced at the foundry technician and said, "Didn't you just complete maintenance on the Titan? In your report, you said the probability of failure was less than 5%."

"At least it's not the situation you're most worried about. Furthermore, she's proactively reporting this to us, which proves that the probability of her disobeying the Foundry Council is less than 10%."

The Foundryman sighed, "When we decided to evacuate, Captain Christina, who knew the news but disagreed with us, was the most unstable factor in our plan. But in the end, she chose to join. Perhaps I should adjust the priority of death in the negotiation logic."

The Deputy Foundry Supervisor nodded, his anxiety slightly relieved. However, he still called a servitor and asked him to check on the Space Marines again.

The Warhound-class Titans and Predator-class Titans that did not malfunction continued to head towards the spaceport. As for the Warlord-class Titans that were paralyzed in place, a group of priests in charge of maintenance among the military priests began to check the Titans' walking devices.

This didn't seem like a problem that could be fixed quickly. As time ticked by, the Deputy Foundry Supervisor began to consider the punishment for those responsible for maintaining the Titan. But just then, he noticed a tiny figure had somehow climbed onto the Titan's arm.

"...?"

The Deputy Foundry Supervisor adjusted his visual processor, hoping to see which priest, aspiring to make a pilgrimage, was so audacious. However, the image captured by the magnified visual processor made him tense.

On the arm is the Sage Lifar!

"When did he come here?!"

The Deputy Foundry Supervisor exclaimed, "He should still be under house arrest!"

He didn't believe that a biological sage would come to make a pilgrimage to the divine machine. He must have something to do when he climbed onto the Titan's arm!

Sage Lifar on the Titan's arm cleared his throat. There was a huge loudspeaker hanging behind him, and the noise it made was enough to attract the attention of all the priests around.

"Everyone on Maxim! I am Sage Lifar, in charge of investigating the Green Tide!"

Everyone gathered beneath the Titan cast their gazes at him. The combination of the public attention and the perceived danger made Lifar's scalp tingle. But remembering the script Leon had laid out for him, he could only bite the bullet and continue.

"Regarding the recent rumors circulating on Maxim that 'Forge World' is about to be abandoned, I can clearly assure you that this is true!"

"The Greenskin invasion has been broadcast across the entire star system, but in Maxim, everyone feels that we are not in the direction of the Green Tide, so it is rarely mentioned. But these are all illusions deliberately created by the Forge Council!"

"They've long known the Greenskins are coming, and knowing they're powerless to resist, they've already secretly prepared to evacuate! They only intend to leave us, the unaware ones, behind as their price and promethium!"

The priests below were immediately in an uproar. However, many of them knew Lifar, who had a conflict with the foundry director, and did not believe his words.

"Look, do the math yourself, because here's my proof!"

Lifar pointed to the chaplains who were following the Titan in a daze.

"Don't you find it strange? They're chaplains accompanying Titans on their campaigns, but only 19.7% of them actually participate in Titan maintenance! If they don't understand the Titan's structure at all, how could they become chaplains?"

"Take another look! You'll definitely find someone you know in there who has no connection to the Titan Order. The probability of this happening is 100%!"

The priests' uproar gradually turned into a commotion, simply because they discovered that the facts were exactly as Lifar had said.

Those "military chaplains" all kept their heads down and remained silent, and even deliberately concealed their identities. It was obvious that what they said was true!

"There's only one reason!"

Sage Lifar raised his arms and shouted, "It is the Forge Council that intends to abandon the entire Forge World. Using the name of military chaplains, they are taking the Titan Legion and the priests who know the truth away from Maxim!"

"They betrayed the will of Om Messiah, abandoned the sacred production line, and took away only what was valuable to them, leaving us, the devout believers of Om Messiah, to die on this planet!"

"My fellow countrymen, this is a betrayal!"

"A complete betrayal!"

Chapter 63: Gentlemen, this is a war!

Sage Lifar's impassioned speech didn't sound like something he could say. The forger looked at the deputy forge supervisor beside him and saw that his face had begun to twist horribly.

"This is betrayal!"

He roared, "The probability of him deducing the truth is over 62%. I've already taken this into account and increased surveillance on him. And yet, he's still able to escape house arrest and come here? Why haven't I received any news?"

"It's no big deal. The matter is settled now. All we need to do is get the Titan Legion aboard the transport ship and detonate the remaining production lines."

The forger didn't mind. Having already completed most of the production line transfer, he was more than happy to see the deputy forging supervisor make a fool of himself in his own field.

"Accidents are like the 5% of Titan failures, aren't they? But I think with this incident as a backdrop, they should be happy to evaluate whether your skills are sufficient to continue to take on the position of Deputy Forge Master in charge of the Skitarii."

"Fire!"

The mocked deputy foundry supervisor decisively ordered: "I will knock Lifar off the Titan!"

"Giving the order to fire on the God Machine? Are you crazy?"

"I'm just trying to stop the situation from escalating!"

"Even if the Forge World falls into chaos, the probability that these headless Mechanic Priests can hinder us is less than 0.1%. We just need to wait for the Titan to restart. No matter how much he says, it will be useless. Words cannot defeat steel."

The Forge Master was still debating with the Deputy Forge Supervisor whether to prevent the situation from escalating. The servitor, who had been ordered to check on the Space Marines, had returned. Having lost his emotions during the transformation, he spoke in a cold tone, stating a harsh truth:

"Instructions: Check the Space Marines. Report: The Space Marines are no longer in the designated area. Traces of implanted organs were found at the scene. It is speculated that they have completed their treatment and left on their own."

The blacksmith and the deputy foundry supervisor exchanged glances.

Even the blacksmith who had been dismissive before could now realize that something was wrong.

The servitor retreated to the door, awaiting instructions, only to be violently crushed by the Skitarii who had flung the door open. Sparks flashed all over his body, his limbs mangled by explosives. The Ranger Captain, treading on the wreckage of the servitor, frantically threw himself before the Deputy Foundry Supervisor and reported:

"Report: The hunting squad responsible for monitoring Sage Lifar was attacked by the Astartes. Sage Leon, who was accompanying them, used a jamming weapon!"

The probability of an accident suddenly soared from less than 0.1% to 99%. The blacksmith stood up in shock and looked at the cold-faced deputy forging supervisor. Although he had just mocked him, he could only rely on him to control the situation.

"Fire!"

The deputy foundry supervisor spoke word by word, "Let's start with the matter at hand and get rid of Sage Lifar!"

The Skitarii remaining on the Forge World filed out, and some squadrons of the Ranger Legion were the first to arrive near the Titan. They raised their galvanic rifles and aimed at Sage Lifar, who was still speaking according to the script given by Leon, and pulled the trigger of the flintlock-like weapon.

A specially crafted physical ammunition, carrying the force of thunder, struck Lifar with pinpoint accuracy from a distance. This weapon, capable of detonating the target's internal energy, causing its death through an electromagnetic explosion, was theoretically the nightmare of all mechanically modified Mechanicus personnel. However, the physical ammunition was ultimately swallowed by a thin, pale blue veil.