Warhammer: Rebuilding the Golden Age Starting with Farming

Chapter 72 Selling the Planet

Chapter 72 Selling This Planet (Seeking First Subscription!)

Jessia sat in the dark living room, fiddling with the still-warm magnetic card.

She could spend the rest of her life in that place called "Grey Hope," gazing at the unchanging starry sky outside the window until she died of old age.

However, she was not willing to give up.

At least, she doesn't intend to run away like a stray dog.

If you want to leave, you must be personally taken away by the great sage of the Mechanicus, Kaul.

But there's a premise to this.

What Kaul wants is STC, ancient technology, but Jessia doesn't have it.

The black box is in the hands of a mysterious person, and the starship is in the hands of a machine spirit.

But that doesn't matter, because Jessia knows very well that Helios, with his current strength, simply cannot take those things back.

Since we can't get it back, let's sell it to someone who's more capable of getting it.

Since Kaul is nearby and wants these things, why not just send him the coordinates?

Just tell him directly, "Come on, it's in Forge No. 7, in the Bottom Nest, in District 9. Here you'll find the black box you've been dreaming of, and the relics of the wandering merchant you've been looking for."

Once the mechanical ark arrives, all those mysterious beings from the underworld and those crazed machine spirits will be nothing but trash in front of the Martian fleet.

This is Jessia's plan.

Betray Helios, betray Forge VII, betray everything on this planet.

They offered this planet as a gift to Belisarius Caul in exchange for a ticket to the true Martian core.

This decision is insane, even inhumane.

But in this world where everyone is worse off, loyalty doesn't exist; all that exists is the exchange of interests.

For the upper nobility, territory, companions, subjects, and even family were essentially just assets.

When assets turn into liabilities, and may even lead to the bankruptcy of the holder, selling off non-performing assets is the only and most rational business logic.

As long as she can survive, even if the planet is burned to a glass sphere, Jessia won't blink an eye.

However, there is a technical challenge now.

communication.

The communication channel announced by Kaul is a public channel.

Every day, tens of thousands of speculators like Jessia send spam messages into the site, trying to attract the attention of the Great Sage.

If Jessia had simply sent the message, it would have been drowned out by countless distress signals and false information.

She needs a private channel to bypass the screening mechanism and let the information appear directly in front of Kaur.

This kind of thing is only possessed by the higher-ups of the Cult of Mechanics.

The local foundry director, Sigma-7, certainly has it, but he can't give it to Jessie because he wants to claim all the credit for himself.

Therefore, Jessia had no choice but to find another person, the greedy, shrewd, and unscrupulous senior priest of the Mechanicus, Zor.

Zhongchao, the Heart of Gear Industrial Park.

Jessia walked into the towering gear tower alone, without any bodyguards.

She was wearing the uniform that symbolized her status as a Helios executive and was carrying a black briefcase.

Father Zor remained seated on his life-sustaining throne, with mechanical tentacles behind him performing maintenance on several servo skulls.

When Zor saw Jessia enter, his electronic eyes flashed.

"What a rare guest, Miss Jessia."

Zor's voice carried a hint of teasing.

"I heard things' been chaotic up there lately. What brings you here?"

-

That old fox, Zor, is very well-informed.

Without saying a word, Jessia threw her briefcase onto the table in front of Zor.

"Zor, I need something."

Jessia got straight to the point.

"I need a high-level identification code that can directly contact the Mechanical Ark fleet, one that is Mars-certified and can bypass public channel filtering."

Zor paused for a moment, then let out a shrill electronic laugh.

"Huh! An identification code?!"

"Jessie, are you still asleep?"

"That kind of thing is an internal secret of the Mechanicus, and each identification code is bound to the digital signature of a priest."

"If I give it to you, and you happen to spread some heretical doctrine, the Guardians of the Faith will track you down using the digital signature, and I'll be the one who dies!"

"Besides, why should I help you?"

Zor spread out that huge mechanical hand.

"Helios is in dire straits himself right now, so it's only right that I don't help you."

Jessia pointed to the briefcase expressionlessly.

"Open it and take a look."

Zor suspiciously extended a tentacle and unzipped the briefcase.

Inside were not some kind of financial chip or credit card, but five thick data hard drives and several paper contracts stamped with the Helios family's wax seal.

Zor picked up a hard drive, plugged it into his port, and read it.

The next second, his semi-mechanical body suddenly sat up straight, and all the tentacles behind him stood up.

"This—this is—"

"All control keys for the third, fifth, seventh, eighth, and twelfth industrial parks."

"It's Jessia," Jessia said coldly.

"These are also the land deeds, which are the transfer agreements for these five industrial parks. I've already signed them."

"As long as you nod your head, these five industrial parks, which account for 40% of Zhongchao's production capacity and have the most complete cooling systems and power supply networks, will all be yours."

Speaking of the power structure of Zhongchao, although Zor has technology and factories, he has been held back for many years.

The Helios Group is the one that's holding him by the neck.

Helios controlled the surrounding industrial park, the supply of cooling water, and the channels for the entry and exit of raw materials.

This resulted in Zor's production capacity remaining low, and Zor was forced to work for Helios whenever Helios needed him.

Zor dreamed of taking over these parks, but he couldn't, because they were Helios's core assets.

Before taking over that unfortunate bottom nest project, Jesia was Helios's real operator in the middle nest, specifically responsible for monopolizing the mouth. Her "relationship" with Zor was established during that time.

Although later, due to the power struggle within the family, perhaps to suppress her, or perhaps for some other consideration, Jessia was transferred to the bottom nest to gnaw on tough nuts.

Ironically, although the group's top management dismissed her, they didn't dare touch the resources and keys she had planted in Zhongchao.

Because the entire chain of interests is too complex, no one but Jieshia can handle it. If it is forcibly separated, the entire revenue of Zhongchao may collapse.

So in reality, she still wields terrifying influence in Zhongchao, only she no longer holds that title in name.

Thor, that senile old man, probably never dreamed that he had left these things behind for the sake of maintaining stability, but now, Jessia had packed them up and delivered them to Zor.

This means that as long as Zoller obtains these, he can instantly integrate the entire industrial chain of Zhongchao, become a true hegemon, and even have the capital to directly challenge Shangchao.

"Are you crazy?"

Zor looked at Jessia, his voice filled with shock.

"If that old bastard Saul finds out, he'll skin you alive!"

He never had the chance to find out.

Jessia's voice was eerily calm.

"Helios is finished, Thor just doesn't want to admit it."

Jessia stared into Zor's eyes.

"How about it? To switch or not? One identification code, in exchange for actual control of Zhongchao Industrial."

"You really hit the jackpot on this deal."

Zor fell silent, his logic revolving around frantic calculations.

Risk assessment and benefit analysis.

Of course there are risks. Providing internal identification codes to outsiders is a violation of regulations, and Jessia is clearly up to something big.

But the profits are enormous.

It was large enough that Zol could disregard any risks.

Moreover, Zor could actually guess what Jessia wanted to do, even though he hadn't attended the listening session recently.

They were simply like those desperate nobles, wanting to send a distress message to the mechanical ark and exchange their resources for a ticket.

What loss does this cause Zor?

not at all.

Even if Kaul really comes and takes Jessia away, Zol will still control these industrial parks and will still be the industrial god of Zhongchao.

For a fence-sitter like Zor, he takes advantage of any benefits and avoids any risks. As long as his core interests are not involved, he doesn't care about any major disasters.

"make a deal."

Zor swept the hard drives and the contract into his pocket in one swift motion, as if afraid that Jessia might change her mind.

"I can give you the code you want, but I have one condition."

Zor held up one finger.

"You must know that this identification code is for one-time use only and will be destroyed after use."

"Furthermore, when sending messages, an encrypted frequency band must be used, and no digital traces pointing to me can be left."

"No problem," Jessia agreed readily.

Zor pulled a data cable from the back of his head and connected it to a blank data chip.

A few seconds later, he tossed the chip to Jessie.

"Take it."

"Good luck, Miss Jessia. I hope this will give you a voice with that great sage."

Jessia took the chip and clutched it tightly in her hand.

He turned and left.

Half an hour later.

Upper Nest, Star Language Hall.

The place remained overcrowded, with the nobles still waiting for the half-dead Star Speaker to spill out more bad news.

Jessia, wearing that heavy ceremonial robe, walked into the place once again.

She bypassed the crowd and went straight to a small communication terminal in the corner of the hall.

That was originally a place specifically for sending private letters to nobles, although no one would normally use it to send anything serious.

The guards at the entrance glanced at the family crest on her chest and let her pass without any hindrance.

Jessia went into the cubicle and closed the door.

She inserted the chip Zor had given her into the terminal, and a line of green characters instantly appeared on the screen:

[Identification code verification successful.]

-

Access point: Mechanical Ark "King of Explorers" frequency band.

Jessia took a deep breath and began typing in the information she had prepared beforehand.

Because the person she was addressing was the great sage Kaul, Jessia didn't use any fancy words or pleading nonsense.

There was only a set of precise coordinates and a few extremely detailed data packets.

[Recipient: Belisarius Caul]

[Subject: The exact location of the STC standard construction template fragments from the Dark Technology Era, and detailed information about an unknown type of merchant ronin starship involving Dark Technology.]

[Attachment 1: Coordinates and Defense Map of the Military Base in the Bottom Nest Acid Swamp.]

[Attachment 2: Helios Black Box Project Experiment Log (including parameters of the reconstructor).]

[Attachment 3: Internal Structure Diagram of the Ninth Sector Starship and Analysis Report on the Behavior of its Machine Souls.]

Finally, she added, "I offer this planet as a gift in exchange for your protection."

Press the send button.

"Beep".

-

Information, like an invisible beam, pierced through the spire's dome, penetrated the atmosphere, and surged into that chaotic and dangerous void.

Jessia leaned back in her chair, looking at the "Sent successfully" message on the screen.

At that moment, she resembled a gambler who, after betting everything, revealed a crazed and relieved grin.

It worked!

She sold the planet!

It was sold to the most powerful buyer ever!!!

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