Chapter 167

Vigilus, what kind of place is that?

A place that gathers elites and talents from all sides, full of people, with simple folk customs—a great place to have your heart and lungs ripped out.

But Alvin felt it was better not to join in the fun.

"Oh Emperor, it's not that I'm disloyal!" He silently made the Aquila sign in his heart, looking toward Holy Terra: "You know, I'm just a Rogue Trader. This matter isn't something I can get involved in. Please, spare me, I beg you!"

Heaven knows if the Emperor on the Golden Throne actually heard his prayer.

In any case, Alvin felt that He must have heard it.

"Respected Lord Rosales, I have one more presumptuous request." Alvin's eyes rolled, and one look told you he had another devious idea.

For some reason, Rosales suddenly felt it wasn't good, having the illusion that a "thief" had entered his home, and stared at him vigilantly: "What are you plotting again?"

It wasn't a misunderstanding, but ever since he started cooperating with Alvin, he discovered that this kid... he truly is the bloodline of that old thing Holn!

In every aspect, he is simply a natural-born "Rogue Trader"!

"Ahem, when I first walked in, I saw a Valkyrie gunship parked inside your forge, didn't I?" Alvin rubbed his hands, his eyes full of anticipation.

That thing had been lying in the warehouse, almost covered in dust; one look and you could tell it was something "unwanted."

It might as well be given to him, treating it as recycling waste—wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?

"You want it?" Rosales completely shed the "burden" of a Sage and turned into a shrewd merchant, smiling coldly: "That thing is cheap. If you want it, I can specially modify it according to your needs, but it's just..."

The words that followed weren't said, but Alvin already understood: "10 milligrams of Black Water."

"Too little, 500 milligrams." Rosales argued on grounds and even gave conditions: "I can specially add a small energy shield for you, and I have 3 twin-linked lascannons here, Hellfury missiles—as long as you need them... I can modify it into a 'Vendetta-type' Valkyrie gunship for you!"

Good fellow, worthy of being a Fabricator General of the Dark Mechanicus... Alvin gritted his teeth, pretending to be reluctant: "But I don't have much Black Water left either."

Rosales looked at Alvin suspiciously, always feeling that this kid was lying to him, but his expression didn't look fake.

After hesitating repeatedly, Rosales coughed lightly and decided to increase the stakes: "How about this, 1000 milligrams of Black Water, and I'll throw in a combat servitor, how about that?"

"Deal!"

Upon hearing the words "combat servitor," Alvin didn't hesitate at all and agreed immediately, fearing Rosales would go back on his word.

Don't think that the Tech-Priests of the Mechanicus all charge forward yelling when they need to fight.

As one of the representatives of the Imperial Aquila, the Mechanicus possesses independent armed forces, the vast Skitarii, and combat servitors are one of them.

By biologically modifying heinous criminals and adding various enhancements, combined with all kinds of life-support equipment and interfaces, they are finally crafted into a killing machine that fuses biology and machinery, contains no emotions, retains absolute loyalty, yet has a strengthened will for slaughter and ferocity!

This thing on the front lines is absolutely no less than a "tank"!

Just the value of one combat servitor, in Alvin's view, was completely worth a thousand milligrams of Black Water.

Calculating it this way, it was equivalent to getting a Vendetta-type Valkyrie gunship for free.

If the old man were here, he'd probably praise him as a "profiteer"!

"..." Rosales was so shrewd that he immediately guessed he had asked for too little.

But since the words were already out, he naturally couldn't go back on them. He was so angry that his data streams flashed wildly, and he cursed a few times in binary, saying unhappily: "Fine, it's a deal, but the modification will take ten days. Come back when it's ready."

One trade for another, it wasn't a loss.

Alvin agreed happily, but Rosales felt the pain.

It wasn't about throwing in a Vendetta-type Valkyrie gunship; that thing wasn't worth much. The real value was his combat servitor!

That was a Kataphron Destroyer-type. Although it was also considered a "consumable," among many consumables, it could at least rank at the top.

Especially when modifying this Kataphron Destroyer-type servitor, he had put in a lot of effort, specially incorporating a large amount of ceramite armor, plus heavy grav-cannons, plasma culverins, heavy flamers, phosphor blasters, and other large-scale lethal weapons!

This deal was a loss!

This was the thought that emerged in Rosales's mind.

Seeing Alvin next to him seemingly about to speak again, Rosales was a bit scared and hurriedly said: "I have other very important matters. If there's nothing else, you should leave first."

It looked like he was truly drained. Alvin, still feeling unfulfilled, said goodbye to him reluctantly.

People as honest as Rosales are rare; he really hoped this guy could live, but unfortunately, he had to go to Vigilus—even the gods couldn't save him!

With the thought that every meeting is one less, after draining Rosales dry, Alvin left in a happy mood.

Finally gone!

Rosales felt inexplicably relieved. If he chatted with this kid a few more times, he was afraid his entire bottom line would be hollowed out!

But, although it hurt, it also brought him quite a harvest.

At least from that kid's performance, the reserves of "Black Water" were far from being that scarce.

Researching anything requires a large amount of "materials," especially at the level of biological genetic engineering, which requires a large amount of "Black Water" to achieve.

Originally, Rosales was worried that if the reserves of "Black Water" were too small, even if he reported it to the Fabricator General, it would be hard to get attention.

But now there was no need to worry. With a large amount of "Black Water" as a foundation, it could completely be treated as a merit and reported to the Fabricator General. Otherwise, the fact that he was played by Galken during this exploration of the Losel ruins would likely be a stain no matter what.

Having made up his mind, Rosales felt slightly more at ease and dialed the communication array.

A star-signal from the projection of the servo-skull was sent to the dark side of the Imperium via the Warp. After waiting for about half an hour, an extremely blurry projection appeared.

"Rosales, you sent a communication—has there been progress in the investigation?"

The voice of that blurry projection was low, containing a trace of majesty and oppression.

"Fabricator General Amos, I am Rosales."

Rosales was very respectful, lowered that proud head, and bent his waist: "There is an important matter I need to report to you."

Warp star-signals are not stable, so "Amos" in the projection did not look very clear.

After a long while, a low voice came: "Are there results from the investigation of Losel?"

"No, regarding the ruins on Losel, there has been no in-depth investigation yet."

Rosales submitted the data regarding the "Necrons" and said with a slight apology: "I am very sorry to have failed your expectations, but that Necron tomb is located in a hyper-dimensional space, and it is very difficult to enter using external force. I suspect that unless large-scale weapons of mass destruction are used, it cannot be explored in depth."

"Besides these, is there anything else you have to report to me?"

Amos was clearly extremely dissatisfied with the data submitted. As a high-ranking member, he had known some information about the Necrons a long time ago.

And in Rosales's data, there was nothing worth being surprised about.

"What I want to report to you is another matter, Fabricator General Amos." Rosales held the container holding the "Black Water" with his prosthetic limb and presented it before the projection, saying cautiously: "I have reached a deal with the heir to the Valerius family on the Losel hive."

Amos's scarlet gaze stared at him coldly, saying nothing, clearly waiting for the follow-up.

If Rosales could not provide a reasonable explanation, then he would need to consider whether to reduce some supplies from the interest distribution within the sect.

"Respected Fabricator General, this thing is called 'Black Water'." Rosales said slowly: "According to my preliminary testing, 'Black Water' contains extremely high value in biological genetic engineering and can even create... brand new life!"

"Create life?!"

Amos's tone rose sharply and then became somewhat stern: "Do you know what you are saying? Rosales!"

Creating life is a domain that belongs only to "Gods," completely incomparable to products like servitors!

Precisely because of this, he questioned whether such a tiny bit of "liquid" could create life.

Facing the questioning of the stern Fabricator General, Rosales summoned his courage and spoke again: "I can swear to the Omnissiah, great Fabricator General Amos, I have indeed discovered amazing biological genetic engineering value in the creation named 'Black Water,' but whether it can recreate life, I am not certain."

In Amos's eerie silence, he hurriedly added: "With my shallow knowledge, it is hard to distinguish the true value of 'Black Water,' but I am certain you must need 'it'."

"What are the other party's requirements?"

Amos, across the Warp, looked at the product named "Black Water" and couldn't help but feel tempted.

"Fifty gene-seeds and the full set of surgical data for Space Marine transformation." Rosales fully exerted his "subjective initiative" and lied casually: "Of course, the other party is willing to pay a full eight hundred grams of 'Black Water' as a condition for the trade, great Fabricator General Amos."

As soon as he spoke, he deducted "two hundred grams" of Black Water.

As for the remaining 40 Space Marine gene-seeds, Rosales planned to use them to trade for something better from Alvin.

He believed that Alvin must have found the treasure of some alien civilization.

That day, he had seen the spaceship falling from the sky clearly, and with a little thought, he knew it must have something to do with that kid!

The technology of an alien civilization is the real big prize!

"Tell him I agree."

Sure enough, Fabricator General Amos's reaction did not exceed Rosales's expectations.

After all, with various factions within the sect trampling on each other, Amos, as a Fabricator General, wasn't having an easy time either; otherwise, why bother getting involved in the Vigilus affair?

The value of fifty gene-seeds is indeed greater than "Black Water."

But the problem is that gene-seeds can always be found, but Black Water, apart from Alvin's family, cannot be found anywhere in the entire universe!

The so-called "rarity makes things valuable" is exactly this.

"That person has one more request..."

In order to extract the maximum profit for himself, Rosales directly used Alvin's name as a shield.

"What request?"

Amos frowned slightly, his tone somewhat unhappy, feeling that the person was too greedy.

"That person hopes the gene-seeds will not have 'Chaos' pollution."

Rosales relayed the request truthfully, not daring to add oil and vinegar this time, for fear of being discovered by Amos.

"Good!"

This request was not difficult, and Amos agreed immediately.

Isn't it just fifty gene-seeds?

As it happens, there is a renegade Space Marine chapter visiting within his jurisdiction.

Still a day of ten thousand words~ There are two more chapters at six o'clock, asking for votes.