Warhammer 40 A New Hope

Bang bang bang!

Three consecutive shots from the explosive pistol blew up all three cameras in the room.

"The servitors go to the exit of the robot uplink passage and destroy any enemies that appear from there, but they are not allowed to damage the equipment here." Kadoc ordered. "The others continue to move forward."

This time, the Crusaders walked in the front, while the mechanical slaves stood in groups in front of the robot uplink passages, ready to annihilate any enemies that emerged from them.

squeak--!

boom!

A MEC robot was lifted up, but its head was instantly knocked off by a pair of pliers from our slave workers at the exit.

Afterwards, the transport ports of several robots stopped responding until Father Kadoc and Shen Lili reached the ascending passage at the end of the room.

The [Elf] robot accompanying Shen Lili flew to the control panel and began the invasion operation.

"There is no doubt that my father's system is in most of the equipment here. Why did he..."

squeak--!

BOOOM! (×6)

The six rising channels made rising sounds at the same time, followed by a huge explosion.

[I admit that the number of you came was beyond my expectation, but it’s not a big problem] (???)

[Even though there are no more supplies coming in, a lot of MEC has been accumulated here over the years, enough to bury you] (???)

Seeing this, Father Kadoc stretched out a metal tentacle with an access port and inserted it into the control panel in front of him.

"It will take some time to open the uplink channel, you..."

"Focus on your work." Father Caddock interrupted Shen Lili. "Don't bother me either."

Because of the existence of the [Iron Man Rebellion] and the [Electronic Demon] in the Warhammer 40K universe, almost all complex electronic equipment in the Human Empire of the Warhammer 40K universe uses some biological tissue to ensure safety and purity.

This means that, in some ways, some people in the Mechanicus are really uncomfortable with this kind of purely electronic mechanical creation.

Coupled with the various differences between the two worlds, the Mechanicus' initial attempts to crack, dismantle and study the complex equipment of this world were not smooth.

But this does not mean that they do not understand at all. After all, humans in the Warhammer 40K world used a large number of fully automatic equipment and artificial intelligence, and therefore had a glorious period of time.

Father Kadoc, who has undergone a lot of mechanical modifications, can feel the flow of data more intuitively and tamper with it.

boom!

A dull explosion sounded from below them, and the six passages in the room remained unresponsive.

[You slowed down the ascending speed I set, so that my MEC robot, which had set the explosion time in advance, could not reach the ground on time, thus blowing up the ascending track? ] (???)

[I am getting more and more curious about you. As far as I know, human technology more than 20 years ago was far from this level, and there is no reason for them to develop so fast] (???)

squeak--

Once again, the sound of the elevator sliding was heard, but this time it was the elevator to the upper floor. Under Shen Lili's operation, it went down to this floor.

"There is only one elevator going up here. The other one is damaged, and there are no stairs or anything like that." Shen Lili said. "And considering the elevator's condition, we can only transport a small number of members to the second floor at a time."

"There's a high chance there's a trap up there."

"Let the remaining slaves go up first to clean up and deal with possible enemies."

"But in this case..."

"With any luck, they'll survive."

Facing Father Kadoc's answer, Shen Lili felt a little disgusted. Although she already knew that most of these transformed beings, called mechanical slaves, were rebels and criminals, this indifferent attitude made her uncomfortable.

"I'll go up with them." Shen Lili said.

"You should be aware of your importance in this mission."

"I know, but it's obvious that this unknown voice wants something from me, so he probably won't kill me."

"Careful and bold," said Father Cadoc. "But also reckless and unnecessarily compassionate."

"They are also human beings, at least they used to be!" Shen Lili said. "I may not be able to change the environment you live in, nor can I change the system you have maintained for so long..."

"But this doesn't mean that I will treat them as consumables like you do!"

"I'll go up with the first group."

"... whatever you want..."

Mechanical slaves, no matter what kind, are the property of the Mechanicus.

Yes, they are considered property rather than people, and in fact most mechanical slaves do not have much self-awareness, and even if they do, most of them only have a little bit. (But there are slaves with complete self-awareness).

Shen Lili's sympathy was completely unnecessary. These cannon fodders who had little self-awareness might not even realize that the person in front of them who could stand with their master was speaking for them.

However, looking at Shen Lili hanging in the upward elevator with two slaves and moving upward, Father Kadoc seemed to remember some memories that should have been deleted long ago.

"...One became a priest, while the other spent his whole life copying books in a library..."

"What did I do?"

"I didn't say anything..."

52. Lao Shen’s Gift (V)

squeak--

The elevator reached the second floor and the lights came on.

Two mechanical slaves jumped down first and began to investigate. Shen Lili also jumped down and looked around.

squeak--

The elevator went down and started to pick up the next wave of people.

Squeak—Biubiubius!

Along with the sound of alien magnetic weapons firing, a large number of bullets were fired and a slave laborer walking in the front was shot to the ground on the spot. Shen Lili, who heard the gunshots, immediately found a cover and hid.

Bang bang bang bang!

BOOM!

Another mechanical thrall fired at the magnetic turret that attacked them, destroying it, but another turret rose up right after.

It's sizzling!

boom!

Shen Lili's [Elf] released a high-intensity electric current above the turret, paralyzing the newly raised turret, and then a bullet destroyed it.

[Your combat abilities are not weak either] (???)

At this moment, the voice sounded again.

[It’s been so long, you still don’t know my name? ] (???)

[Your father named me Julian, which is one of his proudest works] (Julian)

Ignoring the words of the human intelligence named Julian, Shen Lili, after judging that the surroundings were safe, came to the side of the mechanical slave who was knocked down at the beginning.

"Two bullets in the chest and one in the head..."

"He's dead." Kadoc's voice sounded beside Shen Lili, who had just come up with his [Castle Master-class Automaton]. "Even if he is partly mechanical, he is still partly flesh. If that part is damaged, there is nothing we can do."

"..."

"Sacrifice is their destiny."

Soon after, the Skitarii troops and the remaining mechanical slaves also took the elevator to this floor, and the exploration began again.

However, the AI ​​that called itself Julian did not launch an attack until they reached the room in the middle of the floor where something was obviously contained.

At this moment, a robot that was clearly different from the other robots was standing quietly in the center of the room.

"This is..."

[Your father's last masterpiece, the SPARK robot, my body] (Julian)

The surrounding screens began to change, and Julian's voice appeared again.

[This is your father's gift. All you have to do now is...] (Julian)

Suddenly, Father Kadoc touched the chest of the robot called SPARK, and the armor opened, revealing the handprint authentication screen. At the same time, the robot's leader lit up and looked at her (Shen Lili).

【Welcome, Shen Lili】（SPARK）

【Waiting for your certification】（ＳPARK）

"I've had enough of that Hateful Intelligence's chatter." Father Kadoc said. "This is your true gift from your father."

Then, Kadoc stepped back and Shen Lili came up.

"Father..."

[This... This is impossible, I am...] (Julian)

As SPARK was activated, Julian's program was isolated, and a video began to load, and the deceased former XCOM chief engineer Shen Reid appeared on the screen.

"It is true, Father..."

[I'm sorry, Lily, when you saw this video, it means you had already activated the SPARK robot, which also means that I'm probably dead...]

In the video, Shen Reid expressed his love for his daughter and his guilt for not being able to accompany her, and hoped that she could live well and make contributions to mankind.

During this time, Father Kadoc took a preliminary scan of the SPARK robot in front of him, and after admiring its ingenious design, he detected unusual movements.

[That body is mine, no one can take it away! ] (Julian)

[Activate the poison gas and kill them! ] (Julian)

Green gas spurted out from all around and began to spread. Seeing this, Kadoc immediately closed the door of the room.

[I once watched a berserker die in agony after inhaling poison gas. You will too...] (Julian)

As Julian was speaking, he suddenly discovered that the Crusaders and mechanical slaves exposed to the green poisonous gas had no reaction.

"That's it? I'm beginning to seriously doubt your role in his current job."

You know, some of the Mechanicus's [Forge Worlds] are planets with strong corrosion and toxins in the entire atmosphere. Therefore, in order to live a good life, the slaves and crusaders on them generally wear breathing devices and have perfect protective measures. Therefore, the poison gas released by Julian, which is said to be able to easily kill alien berserkers, has no effect on the slaves and crusaders. The room where Shen Lili and Kadoc are located seems to be able to isolate the poisonous gas spread around.

[Toxic gas detected, you'd better stay in this safe room] (SPARK)

[You damned humans, for your father's sake, I was thinking of helping you...] (Julian)

"My father never mentioned you." Shen Lili interrupted Julian. "If you really have that ability and are friendly enough, he has no reason to imprison you here, and no reason to put the SPARK so close to you and not let you use it."

This series of evidence shows that the artificial intelligence that calls itself Julian is most likely not as friendly as he says. Instead, it may be because it has malicious intentions towards humans that Shen Reid trapped it in this old building.

[... You are just as annoying as your father!] At this moment, Julian's life was no longer calm and indifferent as before, but was replaced by anger [I am so excellent and powerful! But your father isolated me and trapped me here for decades because he said 'I am too dangerous'!]

[That body is mine! Only I can use it! ] (Julian)

[I want freedom! All of you humans, go to hell!] (Julian)

Bang bang bang!

squeak--!

Four MEC robots fell from the opening in front of the room, and then all the surrounding turrets rose up and aimed at the room where Kadoc and Shen Lili were.

Biubiubiu!

Sizzle——!

Bang bang bang!

The exchange of fire began, and the heavy magnetic rifles in the hands of the MEC opened fire one after another, and the Crusaders and mechanical slaves also fought back immediately.

Because of the information provided by Zhang Yi, all troops, including the [Castle Lord-level Automatic Robots], were equipped with weapons designed to target mechanical units.

In addition to the large-caliber automatic firearms used by the mechanical slaves, the Crusaders were equipped with plasma pistols and arc rifles.

The former can easily melt these MEC robots that have basically no armor, while the high-intensity electric current emitted by the latter can short-circuit and damage the enemy's internal structure, or even cause them to explode from the inside.

The first wave of enemies was quickly cleared, and the Skitarii suffered almost no losses, but soon more MEC robots fell.

This is not a game. The enemies cannot appear one by one slowly. Julian, who is already a little furious, will definitely deploy troops as quickly as possible.

[The ventilation system of this room has been discovered. It can be used to shut off the poison gas and exhaust the poison gas already in the room] (SPARK)