Chapter 192: Warhammer: What Do You Mean You Conquered the Zerg

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

Lin En shoveled dung while dodging Squigs that might charge at any moment, exhausted like an ox and horse.

This body was already stiff and uncoordinated, and with tension added, he nearly got hit by Squigs several times.

Once, a big red one suddenly charged at him, and he scrambled out of the way, dropping his shovel.

That Squig rushed past him, slammed into the fence, and made a huge noise.

If he had been a second slower, he'd be a goner now.

Yaduoduo, on the other hand, was very skilled.

It shoveled while cursing, occasionally finding time to slap a disobedient Squig with a shovel.

Those hot-tempered guys actually became much more obedient in its hands.

"Don't just stand there!" Yaduoduo shouted, slapping its shovel onto the face of a Squig trying to charge over.

"Hurry up! If we don't finish shoveling before dark, Big Boss will deduct our teeth!"

The Big Boss Yaduoduo mentioned was a gang boss who ran the Muscle Squig Zone.

Under him, besides the Muscle Squig Zone, there was also a "Red Siguge" Zone.

Anyway, neither zone was particularly good.

Lin En gritted his teeth and kept shoveling.

Shovel by shovel, he shoveled dung piles nearly as tall as Yaduoduo into the cart.

Sweat ran down his forehead and dripped onto the dung.

His arms trembled, his back ached, but he dared not stop.

After finishing the whole fence, Yaduoduo took him to collect his pay.

The little chieftain of this fence, a runt even skinnier than Yaduoduo, sat behind a table made of ammo crates.

It had its legs crossed, a cigarette dangling from its mouth, looking arrogant.

Yaduoduo dumped the dung from the cart into the designated pit, then led Lin En to the window.

"Today's wages."

The runt glanced at them, fished two things out of a drawer, and tossed them onto the windowsill.

Two teeth.

Ordinary quality, smaller than the fakes on Yaduoduo's necklace, with cracks on the surface, yellow color, and worn edges.

Probably enough for two Squig meat pies plus two cups of mushroom beer.

Lin En held the two teeth and sighed.

This was the least and most exhausting money he'd ever earned in his life.

When he was a tax collector on Necromunda, he could at least sit in an office drinking tea, and occasionally make some extra money from the Black Market.

When he was Governor of Brevis, a word from him could mobilize the rations of tens of millions, and one raid could harvest over ten thousand tons of grain.

And now, he worked himself to death shoveling shit all day, only to get two broken teeth.

But there was a benefit: his control over this body was higher, not as sluggish as at the beginning.

Darkness fell, and the day's work finally ended.

Yaduoduo took Lin En back to its "home."

A shack made of scrap iron and plastic sheeting, low, narrow, drafty everywhere.

The iron was covered in rust and holes, the plastic flapped in the wind.

A rag hung at the doorway as a curtain, inside lay a few pieces of cardboard and a moldy smelling ragged blanket.

But Yaduoduo was very satisfied.

"This is what I saved up many teeth to get!" it said proudly, pointing to every corner of the shack.

"Good location, close to work, convenient for work!"

"Look at this wall, how sturdy! Look at this roof, no leaks! Look at this floor..."

It kicked the cardboard under its feet: "So soft!"

Lin En looked at the space barely enough for two people to lie down, not knowing what to say.

This place probably wasn't even as good as the toilet of his rental house in his previous life.

But Yaduoduo's expression was serious; it really thought this was a good place.

In its eyes, a place to block wind and rain, stable work, and food to eat—that was a good life.

Lying on the hard ground, Lin En felt like his whole body was falling apart.

Controlling this body was far more tiring than his own body.

Muscles ached, joints stiffened, his back felt like it had been beaten with a stick.

After all, that body's nervous system wasn't his original one, and the fatigue fed back was greater.

Not the "so tired I want to sleep" feeling, but the "I'm falling apart" feeling.

Yaduoduo soon fell asleep.

It snored, occasionally muttering sleep talk in a hazy voice.

"My teeth, all my teeth..."

"Pi Ke, you bastard! Sooner or later..."

Lin En listened to those sleep-talking words and closed his eyes.

Consciousness began to rise.

The feeling was like surfacing from deep water, everything around receding.

Squig's stench, Yaduoduo's purring.

On the Bridge of the Peak Black Radiance.

His body still sat there, maintaining the posture from when he left.

Outside the window, Brevis could still be vaguely seen.

The Expedition Fleet had only just left Brevis not long ago.

Lin En opened his eyes.

Beside him, a Miniature Shredder Worm lay on his shoulder.

The little thing tilted its head, as if waiting for him to speak.

"How is it?" Lena's voice echoed in his mind, carrying a hint of curiosity.

Lin En thought for a moment first.

"Tired." He sighed, then smiled.

That smile carried fatigue and helplessness.

Afterwards he stood up, and only that feeling of bodily lightness gave him a real sense of having returned.

Moving his body a bit, he turned to look at the timer on the Bridge.

Since his consciousness transfer, three Standard Hours and seven minutes had passed.

Only three hours had passed.

But inside that Green Skin Shell, he felt at least twelve hours had passed.

From waking up, familiar surroundings, meeting that Pi Ke fart-spirit, hearing Yaduoduo talk about the Pasture, to shoveling shit for a whole day.

Every detail was vividly before his eyes, every shovel's fatigue was incredibly real.

Lin En leaned against the chair back, closed his eyes.

His brain began to review that difference in time perception.

The Green Skin growth cycle and growth speed, within the Galaxy, only the Bug Race could match.

A Green Skin Grot grows from a spore to being able to go to the Battlefield to fight, needing only a few days, sometimes not even needing time, growing out of the ground and able to fight.

And that difference in "time perception" might be the reason they can expand so quickly and evolve.

In their perception, time is stretched, so they grow faster and learn more quickly.

This gave Lin En a completely new understanding of the terror of the Green Skin race.

Not just numbers and "Wo Xun Si" Power, but also this growth speed engraved in their Genes.

They grow into individuals using one percent of human time, then learn to make guns using one thousandth of human time.

Afterwards they swarm over in overwhelming numbers, drowning you with numbers.

He took a Deep Breath, pulling his thoughts back.

Now was not the time to sigh about how terrifying Green Skins are.

He had more important things to think about.

Being a shit-shoveling fart-spirit lackey for a seven-on-one, even working a lifetime, he would never get ahead.

He must find a way to finish Primitive Accumulation as soon as possible, putting the means of production in his own hands.

But mixing in Green Skin Society is much simpler than human society.

Their rules are more brutal, logic more direct, not like climbing up in the human world where you need to consider external factors like the Legal Affairs Department and Tribunal.

But Lin En also knew that this seven-on-one Shell was not yet perfect enough.

If exposed in front of everyone too early, it would easily attract attention.

He needed a public face to stand in for him, an agent who wouldn't arouse suspicion.

And Yaduoduo was very suitable.