Chapter 33: Logic Wins Support

Altar No. 3 of Lukebo Hive City.

Kivior-15 withdrew the data probe of his mechanical tentacle from the data slate brought by Mulafusiji.

The name Kivior originated from the Sage who led the Mars exploration fleet that discovered Vostonia; it is an identifier with a glorious history, used by many local members.

The extended number 15 is a custom addition by the Sage to highlight the unique personality of this unit, much like another Tech-Priest with the custom number 23.

Thierry spoke first: "Sage, as you can see, Puhachi is dead. The new king from Teziwoke Hive City, Ninglu, has already occupied the Hive Tower and the Upper Hive."

Mulafusiji then added: "Sage, Puhachi had long been a madman. Without King Ninglu appearing, Lukebo would have collapsed in the near future."

"Foolish Puhachi, fragile human."

The voice echoing from the red robes indicated Kivior-15's assessment: Puhachi's idea of pursuing a perfect body was not wrong, he simply overestimated the wisdom and endurance of fragile flesh-and-blood life.

Mulafusiji and Thierry exchanged a glance; they naturally understood the Sage's attitude. Without his tacit approval, the Mad King could not have ruled Lukebo for so many years.

The white-haired Marquis hurriedly said: "Sage, King Ninglu has already noticed the recent decline in Lukebo's production capacity, and he promises to restore it rapidly."

Thierry then added: "King Ninglu has already achieved this in Teziwoke, and has reached an agreement with Sage Kaminski."

Kivior-15 did not speak; binary language in red and green flashed on his golden mechanical eyes as he contacted Sage Kaminski through the exclusive communication channel of the Mechanicus.

After the torrent of binary data surged for a moment, the Sage spoke.

"I want to see this new king. Lead the way."

Sixteen standard minutes later, Kivior-15 met the new king. Believing more in the perfection of the mechanical body than Kaminski and Puhachi, he only spoke after a five-minute struggle with his new king.

"Kaminski tells me you have restored Teziwoke's production capacity and completed reforms in the Lower Hive Dome."

"But you did not follow the agreement to resolve the Xenos pirates, and instead attacked Lukebo and slew Puhachi, who was blessed by the Omnissiah. This is a breach of contract."

Ninglu shook his head, "On the contrary, I attacked Lukebo precisely to fulfill the contract."

"What you say does not conform to logic."

"To resolve the pirates, one needs ships. All three ships of Teziwoke set sail under the command of Luobote Boleslaw."

Ninglu's eyes shone, "I did not attack Mazov and Szczecin first, but attacked Lukebo, precisely for the Frigate of the Piontkowski Family."

After occupying the Hive Tower, he had three major gains after searching Puhachi's palace.

First, naturally, was the foundation of the Piontkowski Family: the STC for the Mag-trans and some incomplete technologies regarding mechanical modification.

Second, were the Potion Materials that only he could utilize to the maximum; he found a total of twenty-five types, amounting to forty-three Potion Materials.

Besides completing another "Sailor" Potion, his greatest gain was completing two "Knower" Potions.

Ninglu found the main materials for the "Knower" in the study: two data slates of deceased Tech-Priests.

He also found seven auxiliary materials in the laboratory: unused Mars Class-I helical gears.

He did not yet have suitable subjects; otherwise, he would have long since ordered Bukayo and Luoersiliefu to head to other Hive Cities, kill a few Tech-Priests, and obtain their data slates.

The final gain was the Frigate docked at the Xinggang.

Unlike the Teziwoke warships scattered among the three great families of Boleslaw, Finde, and Kurnikova, Lukebo had only one ship: the Piszczek.

After discovering this gain, Ninglu immediately dispatched Bukayo and the First Regiment, carrying the keys and boarding a flight vehicle, to head to the spaceport to take control of the Piszczek.

At the same time, based on this new gain, he reorganized his response with "extraordinary eloquence."

After promoting to "Barbarian," the extraordinary abilities from his "Lawyer" period were more or less enhanced. The improvement in "extraordinary eloquence" was not as great as capturing loopholes in rules, but it was a greater improvement than his ability to sift through data.

"Possessing a Frigate, I can head to the sea of stars to strike at the Xenos pirates."

He took out a data slate. He had previously spent fifteen minutes using his superhuman brain to process the data of all factories in the Lukebo Upper Hive for six work cycles, used his ability to sift through data to find the key points, and finally formed charts.

"The trapezoidal chart in the first table is the production statistics table for every ten minutes of the Rini Class B-14 weapon foundry in Lukebo Hive City six cycles ago."

"As you can see, after working for more than five hours, production dropped rapidly, with a decline of 8.52%."

He tapped his finger and pulled up another table.

"This is the production statistics table for the same factory, same shift, and same time five cycles ago. As you can see, the production in the first standard hour was only that of the third standard hour of the previous day, and it began to drop rapidly at the fourth standard hour, by 10.83%."

Ninglu showed the charts to Kivior-15 one by one, letting the data speak.

Finally, he pulled up a comprehensive industrial production statistics chart, using Mars Currency as the unit of measurement to calculate the production capacity of the Lukebo Upper Hive over six work cycles.

"This chart shows that the total production capacity of the Lukebo Upper Hive dropped from 2.508 billion to 1.635 billion Mars Currency per work cycle."

"Combined with the previous charts, one conclusion can be drawn: Lukebo's production capacity is rapidly declining."

"Data accurate, logic rigorous, conclusion correct."

Kivior-15 made his assessment immediately, and he asked the giant before him for advice.

"King Ninglu, how should this be resolved?"

"Naturally, by solving the problem. There is only one reason behind this, and that is the food problem."

"Workers are not machines, not servitors, and certainly not bodies of steel."

"The weakness of flesh," Kivior-15 looked down on flesh-and-blood mortals, but had to accept reality, "Kaminski and I request that you fulfill your promise as soon as possible."

"Of course, I always keep my promises."

"I need twelve work cycles to prepare."

Only after occupying Lukebo did Ninglu realize the severity of the food crisis.

The losses of the Vostonia First Regiment in battle were also relatively low, so he decided to launch an attack on Mazov and Szczecin ahead of schedule, after which he would immediately set sail to resolve the Xenos pirates.

Seeing Ninglu easily make Kivior-15 acknowledge his status as the new king of Lukebo, Thierry and Mulafusiji let go of their final worries.

The giant not only possessed god-like combat power, but he was also not as insane as Puhachi. When not in battle, he was rational and wise, grasping the points the Sage cared about and using logic to win support and achieve his political goals.

The two thought in unison: 【The landscape of Vostonia will change; Ninglu will unify all thirty-three scattered Hive Cities and become the only true king.】

Considering he was about to leave Lukebo and head to the sea of stars, Ninglu decided to reform Lukebo after his return.

"Mulafusiji, you are temporarily in charge of Lukebo's government affairs."

"As you command, my King."

After Mulafusiji left, Ninglu sent a message to Luoersiliefu and Bukayo, summoning them to the palace for a military meeting; he was going to carry out a new round of military expansion.

Szczesny was also specifically pointed out by him to attend this meeting.

(End of this chapter)