Chapter 481: Undercurrents in the Land of Darkness

"The range of the gyrocopter is still too limited; replacing weapons with passengers and their luggage still leaves no room to carry extra fuel. Without major modifications, getting from here to Red Cloud Mountain would require at least three refueling stops to be safe."

Kalade caught onto Sinuoli's further thoughts; the demand for civil aviation in the Southlands existed but was not urgent. But what about north of Red Cloud Mountain? Crossing the Dushuihe and the East Badlands to Eight Peaks, or continuing further north, passing through Mad Dog Pass directly to the Everpeak?

"Isn't that why I'm looking for you? The sky-ships over in Zhendan are powered by the Vermillion Bird; maybe we could borrow a little, but bringing in a large amount is definitely out of the question."

Sinuoli understood the disadvantages of the gyrocopter better than Kalade, and he also knew how aircraft should be developed. Developing helicopters was a result of the Dwarfs having skewed their technology due to the lack of conditions for building long runways while living in the mountains.

But compared to hand-crafting an entire aviation industry, he might as well just go and craft nuclear weapons! Never mind Buluokesen, who held the Focusing Lens; even if Mogelimu were resurrected, he couldn't complete it.

"If we're carrying passengers, is flexibility not that critical? Well, I have a friend who tried installing mechanical power onto the observation airships at Haimenguan."

"Observation airships, wait! You don't mean that god-forsaken Slayer Engineer Malakai Makaisson, do you?"

Yanmei was just about to turn and leave when he suddenly jumped back in front of Sinuoli. He was originally an airship engineer on the Dreadnought Grimnir's Thunder; that kind of thing relied on foot-pedaled propellers for weak power, mainly relying on the warship below to tow it.

"That's him..."

Kalade looked embarrassed; he had truly made too many poor choices while recruiting talent along the Yinyuan River. If he weren't a new official wanting to make a contribution, he wouldn't be willing to mention it.

"You are also a member of the Haiyang Engineer Hanghui, so let's put it this way: after the headquarters exiled him, they had to carve off two pieces of flesh just to confirm he wasn't a rat in disguise."

"That Snuo, is Throt really greedy, or is he playing, playing dumb?"

Kratch's Warpstone claws carved harsh, grating noises into the throne cast from withered gold. The self-proclaimed decisive Warlord felt powerless and lost for the first time.

Sinuoli sent Dietuike-Grenison and the elite Slayer warband that called itself the "Axe of Grimnir" to lead by his side, serving as both assistance and surveillance.

Most of the residents here had never received or had been stripped of the Bull God's grace, but thousands of years of education still left their hatred for the Dwarf gods deeply ingrained. Drazhoath believed that the Infernal Guard, led by the Undying Legion, would support him, but he still needed a team he could truly trust to purge those tainted individuals.

"This damn smell plus the mask, I can't even breathe! If it were up to me, the Mother Goddess is too soft-hearted; if the God of War were here, their heads would have been hung on the wall long ago!"

"Where is he? Call him over and let's try! Once it's put into use, make sure the risk assessment is done well; if there really is a problem, the worst we can do is shelve it."

On the desolate plains of the Baian Zhidi, there was a lone mountain extending from the World's Edge Mountains. It stood vertically from the mountainside, looking like a hunchback from afar. The hall of the Rictus Clan inside the mountain displayed a sense of order different from the chaotic and corrupt nature of most Skaven settlements.

"No, the 'Never-Sinking' deep-submergence vehicle—sank on its maiden voyage; the 'Never-Crashing' airship—crashed on its maiden voyage! How many good hands and warriors were buried by him? It made us unable to hold our heads up in front of Jiliuguan for decades!"

Kratch Doomclaw roared indignantly; he basically hadn't participated in the meetings to exercise his rights as a Councilor. Once those guys reached a consensus, they just drafted documents and issued them—did they think Rictus was some minor clan?

Drazhoath unexpectedly discovered that the Tower of Zharr was not as urgent in pressing for troops as the Inspector had described. The Chaos Dwarfs wouldn't distinguish which clan the Skaven belonged to—as long as the ones being caught were rats, that was enough.

Should they not send troops and let the beard-things develop? The Shier Yihui's orders were from far away, which was one thing, but their strategic intent to head north and connect to the Old World was too clear; no normal person could let the Rictus Clan threaten Mad Dog Pass. Perhaps it would wait until two or three generations of Skaven later, but a major war was bound to break out.

Altman clearly had relatives who died in the accidents, and he and Kalade couldn't stop arguing. Sinuoli waved his hand and made a decision; powered airships having strong transport capacity seemed like a good choice.

The Baian Zhidi was filled with minotaurs, Chaos Dwarfs, and bovine Warcraft that had undergone varying degrees of mutation. These creations, polished by the minor god Hashut, had fewer defects and were more formidable than the Beastmen born from passive erosion by Chaos Energy.

"My lord, I, I have something to say!"

"If we really wait for the beard, the beard-things to stand firm, we might as well, might as well not fight!"

Inside the Baise Yaosai, several guys wearing Infernal Guard armor, their faces hidden behind iron masks, were patrolling. The leader among them weighed the Zhanren Firearm in his hand and complained in a muffled voice.

"Karak-Kadrin, that's where Slayers belong!"

Kratch Doomclaw frowned, clutching an order written in Warpstone powder. His power had passively risen to become the number one Warlord clan in the Skaven world, but no rat was in the mood to be happy about it.

"Not bad! I shouldn't go to the council, go for a visit; they seem to have, have forgotten that the Rictus Clan holds the third seat. They give, give me some scraps and then order us to fight, fight for our lives? No way!"

"The beard-things have recruited troops from all over the world to fight, fight for the Pillar City. The group I, I wiped out were all from, from Norsca! Why don't you ask the major clans to contribute more?"

"It's possible it was just bad luck or some other reason; his blueprints and physical objects were reviewed and verified by many parties..."

The Rictus Clan was thinking about how to keep this master of deformity from the corrupt clan a little longer, to squeeze some techniques for cultivating war beasts out of him, but unexpectedly, he felt like he was in heaven and refused to leave Tuobeishan.

"Zzzzt, zzzzt!"

Gortz wanted to take the opportunity to weaken or even destroy the Azog Legion, but he couldn't force them to go to their deaths without the necessary conditions.

For this reason, a large number of test subjects were indispensable; Throt threw the Shier Yihui's order to "ally with the Chaos Dwarfs to attack Eight Peaks" to the back of his mind, which directly resulted in Kratch being unable to carry out his work.

Cuitesi's tail trembled under Kratch's gaze; because of his successful support, he had filled the position of the left claw who was killed by Dietuike in the Battle of Bofeng. If war broke out, he would have to be the vanguard if he wasn't the main general.

Below the throne, his right claw spoke while weighing his words. Cuitesi-Fear-Tail had supported the remnants of Clan Mors in retreating to Tuobeishan, and the accompanying Throt-the-Unclean was also invited to go and rest.

Undoubtedly, they had a fatal attraction for Throt; he hoped to use this to catch a glimpse of the power of gods beyond the Great Horned Rat. If he could comprehend even a trace of the rules, he would ascend to the heavens in a single step.

Sending troops—the Shier Yihui's support was limited, and Belegar Ironhammer had a Demigod and a true God behind him. Although the Chaos Dwarfs were at odds with them, they had accumulated many grievances with their own kind over thousands of years, making it difficult to trust them completely.