Chapter 166: War Hammer: What Do You Mean You Conquered the Bug Race

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

Luna had someone recheck the "Precept Ruler".

This time, she watched it herself.

The focus of the search was clear: Genestealers, and psychic residue in various parts of the ship.

She knew the Tyranids, especially the Patriarchs of the Genestealers, were particularly skilled in psychic power.

Those terrifying Xenos could transmit information through the Consciousness Network, interfere with machinery through psychic power, and even subtly influence the minds of intelligent creatures.

If Lin En had really tampered with something, it was probably a trick along those lines.

Energy Scanner plus Bird Divination Device, double detection.

Servitors carried various instruments, shuttling through every corner of the ship.

Data jumped on the screen, alarms occasionally sounded, but were quickly judged as false alarms.

Ten hours later, the search ended.

They, as expected, found another Genestealer.

It was a Mechanical Priest responsible for managing the Gellar Field.

Although not from the engine department, it also ruled out an extremely dangerous bomb.

If the Gellar Field malfunctioned during Warp Travel, it would truly be game over.

This Priest was in his thirties, with a low degree of mechanization; only his limbs, part of his spine, and a small part of his brain had been replaced.

By the standards of the Machine Cult, this belonged to the "Flesh-leaning" level, and was also the target most susceptible to Gene Pollution.

When he was brought before Luna, he was trembling all over, still muttering incomprehensible prayers.

Luna glanced at him, said nothing, and just waved her hand.

Two Inquisition Army soldiers dragged him away.

Luna turned to look at the Mechanical Priests responsible for docking Servitor data.

"Any more?"

The Priests looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Some psychic residue higher than average was detected near the engine," a Priest reported,

"but the concentration is very low; it should just be within normal range, after all, the Hiliss Star System itself has Warp Turbulence, so having some residue is normal."

Luna frowned.

"Eliminate it."

The Priests did as told, having Servitors use special high-energy radiation offset devices to eliminate those residual psychic traces.

They checked two more times afterward.

After confirming there was no abnormality, Luna ordered: "Prepare for the second test flight."

This time, Luna chose from the bottom of her heart to stay at the Spaceport and not board the ship.

She stood in the Spaceport's Control Center, and through the Holographic Screen, watched the "Precept Ruler" sail out of the port.

The captain was a veteran with rich experience, having served in the Machine Cult for thirty years.

The vice-captain was Luna's confidant, responsible for recording all abnormalities.

All crew members were replaced with the batch of Inquisition Army soldiers or Servitors with the highest degree of mechanization and least likely to be infected.

Everything looked perfect.

The "Precept Ruler" began to circle Brevis.

First lap, normal.

Second lap, normal.

Third lap......

"Report!" The captain's voice came through the Communication Device, with a trace of tension.

"The secondary engines have an abnormality!"

Luna's heart sank fiercely.

On the Holographic Screen, data began to jump.

Of the four secondary engines, three suddenly dropped in power by forty percent.

Not a malfunction, but a power drop.

But for the spaceship, this was more terrifying than the main engine's output power dropping.

Because during Real Space Travel, the main engine provides propulsion for the ship.

The secondary engines are responsible for precisely adjusting the ship's posture, turning, and assisting docking.

So a problem with the secondary engines would cause the ship's maneuverability to drop greatly, which is far more lethal than slowing down.

Enemies wouldn't need to predict movement; as long as they calculated the lead time, they could precisely hit the ship.

"Duration?"

"About... thirteen minutes!"

In those thirteen minutes, the "Precept Ruler" was like a drunken giant, stumbling forward in space.

Its posture became crooked, turning became sluggish, and adjusting direction took several times the original time.

If this were in battle, Luna dared not think further.

Thirteen minutes later, the auxiliary engine's power returned to normal.

The "Precept Ruler" completed its final circuit unsteadily, heading back toward the spaceport.

Luna's face had turned as black as it could possibly be.

After the ship returned to position, Luna summoned someone.

Emile Van Horn, one of the Sages of the Machine Cult responsible for ship maintenance.

He had studied this field for over a hundred years and had handled more warships than Luna had ever seen.

Emile brought a squad of Priests and inspected the "Precept Ruler" inside and out.

Seven hours later, he walked up to Luna and removed those exaggerated protective goggles.

"There is no problem at all," his voice carried some impatience.

He was originally studying STC within the Temple, and being called out by Luna to help, it was normal that he wasn't very happy about it.

"All systems are functioning normally, components are intact, and all data meets standards."

Luna looked at him with some confusion.

"Then why did problems occur twice in a row?"

Emile pondered for a few seconds.

"There are only some slight psychic residues," he said.

"But the concentration is very low, insufficient to cause any substantial effect. Considering the current Warp turbulence in the Hiliss Star System, this falls within normal range."

The answer was almost exactly the same as those Priests last time.

Luna took a deep breath.

She trusted Emile's professional level.

If he said he couldn't find any problem, then the "Precept Ruler" indeed had no problem on the mechanical level.

But the problem truly existed.

The drop in engine power was a fact.

Her only explanation was that Lin En had tampered with things on the ship.

But how exactly did he do it?

Not to mention how strict her defenses were, she had never let outsiders enter the Precept Ruler.

The infiltrating Genestealers had all been ferreted out; she truly couldn't figure out where the problem lay.

Causing engine efficiency problems was already terrifying enough.

But even more terrifying was, if the other side could also cause problems elsewhere?

What if in a naval battle, the Void Shield's power suddenly dropped, or even shut down?

Luna felt a bone-chilling cold.

She was a Tzeentch Wizard, and like her patron god, what she excelled at most was calculation and conspiracy.

But this time, she felt she was facing an opponent she could not understand at all.

Just then, a message reached her hands.

Luna lowered her head to look, and her complexion instantly became remarkable.

The message was sent by Lin En.

The content was very polite, very proper, even could be said to be full of enthusiasm.

"Hearing that Lady Luna's ship had some problems on its maiden voyage, this Governor deeply regrets it.

Speaking of which, I previously encountered a similar situation, and it took a long time to resolve.

If Lady Luna does not mind, I have some technical personnel on my side who might be able to help."

Luna stared at those words, the data slate in her hand nearly crushed by her grip.

What did this mean?

She had once heard an uncle responsible for maintaining clan security say.

Criminal suspects liked to return to the crime scene to admire their own handiwork.

Did this Lin En have the same habit?

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

As far as she knew, the ships Lin En had contacted in this life did not exceed two.

One was the Xian Ge Hao, and one was the ship he took when coming to the Hiliss Star System, now unknown where it went.

And both were only ridden once, and both had sailed through the dangerous star system border regions.

If every ship he rode had problems, he should have already died in space.

This was clearly mocking her.

"Vile foreigner!" Luna gritted her teeth and cursed.

But she still held back.

She replied with an equally proper message:

"Thank you Governor Sir for your concern, it's just a minor problem, no need to trouble yourself."

"But if Governor Sir truly has a way to solve it, you might as well send someone to try."

She also wanted to see, what exactly Lin En was up to.