Chapter 4: Occupying the Foundry
The gang members, ready to answer, looked bewildered. Only one man, his face grimy, raised his bionic hands.
“Boss, I know. There’s a foundry in the Lower Nest that was once personally managed by Tech-Priests serving Mars.”
“The factory is surrounded by a deadly organic wire grass. It’s incredibly tough; even a knife can’t cut it, and if you throw a grenade next to it, it can regenerate after the explosion.”
“Its sharp thorns can pierce armor and cause bone-deep wounds, and it secretes an acidic sap that can corrode anyone trapped in it into a skeleton within minutes.”
He nervously clutched the spoon and basin in his hands. “Boss, that’s all I know.”
“Your information is useful. You can have two scoops of soup. You may start serving yourself.”
Hearing Ninglu speak, the man with the grimy face quickly went to the large pot. After scooping two portions, he tightly gripped the yellowish-green aluminum basin. Just as he was about to go aside to enjoy it, he heard his boss’s voice again.
“You seem to know that factory well. Can you provide me with more information about it?”
“Boss, my name is Rollslev. I used to work at that weapon foundry, designated D-46, as a shift leader for a furnace crew.”
“Before the Tech-Priests abandoned the factory and moved to the Upper Nest, life was tough, but manageable.”
“Ever since 'Vulture' of the 'Scavenger Gang' took control of the factory, he’s lived up to his nickname, squeezing everyone to their limits…”
After Ninglu inquired about the D-46 from Rollslev, he decided to capture this weapon foundry.
Lower Nest, D-46 Foundry, brightly lit.
“Vulture” leaned back in his chair, mockingly watching the foreman who was constantly pleading before him.
“Lord Vulture, those are children. If they keep working like this, they’ll die.”
“I’m willing to work three more hours a day; I’m much faster than them.”
“Oh really? Then you can work four more hours a day,” “Vulture” said mockingly. “As for them, they will continue to work.”
“Vulture” didn't notice a flash on the video screen behind him, showing a figure charging forward at extreme speed.
A two-meter diameter rubber tire crashed into the wire grass covered with countless sharp thorns.
Ninglu squeezed through the hollowed-out rubber tire, and with a wave of his right hand, silver-grey fragments precisely cut the center point between two thorns.
“Someone!”
Two members of the “Scavenger Gang” holding laser guns were patrolling nearby. He heard the sound and quickly ran over.
Ninglu reinserted the fragments into his waist. His gloved hands simultaneously gripped both ends of the wire grass, and the seeping acidic sap immediately corroded a hole in the gloves.
The Gene-Seed Primarch immediately sensed the small hole in his palm. His hand slightly bent, forming an angle, with the hollow part in the middle precisely where the hole was.
He charged forward swiftly, then flung the wire grass towards the two approaching men.
The sharp thorns accurately pierced the backs of the hands of the two men raising their guns to shoot. They let out a painful scream, and in an instant, their hands were corroded to mere bones by the sap.
Ninglu picked up a dropped laser gun and retrieved twelve energy cells from the two corpses.
He fired a shot into the air, a signal for his subordinates, then rushed towards the control room.
“Vulture” watched on screen after screen as his useless subordinates were killed by the boy.
“Useless! You’re all useless!”
“Vulture” stood up abruptly, grabbed his chainsword, and amidst its roar, the sound of “Kill, kill, kill” once again echoed in his ears.
“Vulture” strode out of the control room, leaped over the railing, and slashed towards the boy.
His eyes were blood-red. He felt as if he was back to that day when he killed the gang leader and seven guards, and the same bloody color rose in his eyes.
Afterward, he found himself taller and stronger.
He didn't know what had happened; he only knew that killing made him stronger.
Ninglu had just raised his hand to kill a gang member when he felt an enemy charging at him from above.
As he rolled backward, he pulled the trigger, hitting “Vulture” squarely in the chest.
A fist-sized bloody hole appeared in “Vulture’s” chest, but he felt nothing. The voice in his mind urged him to continue charging forward.
Ninglu's expression was calm as he quickly pulled the trigger. “Vulture’s” eyes, heart, hands, and ankles were almost pierced by the beams, and bloody flowers bloomed.
“Vulture’s” corpse crashed heavily onto the metal walkway, blood staining the vibrating chainsword.
Ninglu slung the laser gun across his body and picked up the chainsword, sensing that this weapon was somewhat different.
Rollslev, who had been appointed as the leader, rushed into the foundry and happened to witness his boss firing several shots to kill “Vulture,” which greatly shocked him.
The “Scavenger Gang” was not a large gang in the Lower Nest, but “Vulture” was known for his strength and ruthlessness, yet he was killed without even getting close.
【How can the boss be so powerful at such a young age? He'll definitely be a big shot in the Hive City in the future. Following him has prospects!】
Thinking this, Rollslev immediately shouted to his subordinates.
“What are you standing around for? Do you want to drink the dregs at the bottom of the soup? Get moving! Control the workers, capture the ‘Scavenger Gang’ prisoners, and kill anyone who dares to resist.”
Two hours later, Ninglu sat in the control room. The foundry was back in operation. Besides the workers, he had five hundred and thirteen subordinates.
Ninglu changed into a clean work uniform, with a laser gun and chainsword slung diagonally across his back, both taller than himself.
The factory cooks had prepared hard, brick-like black bread and red cabbage soup made from a few vegetable leaves for him—this was already the best food in the foundry.
Ninglu ate ten slices of black bread. His superhuman body felt no discomfort. He then drank a large bowl of soup before feeling full.
He looked up at the door, then heard a knock.
“Come in.”
“Boss, the foundry has resumed normal production.”
Rollslev pushed the door open, his face troubled, but he reported the good news first.
“Boss, the Hantmansi Dome, to which Foundry D-46 belongs, is under the jurisdiction of Arbitrator Dimitrov. He wants you to go there.”
Ninglu knew that the Lower Nest was composed of Domes, these buildings were built by the original settlers.
As the Hive City developed, the Domes were gradually abandoned.
The residents of the Lower Nest were little more advanced than the giant rats and other harmful animals living there in the eyes of the Hive City dwellers. They lived in Domes formed by clusters of buildings, surviving in a honeycomb-like underground city of Domes, tunnels, and ruins.
“Arbitrator?”
Ninglu thought of the “Arbitrator” from the “Lawyer” adjacent Pathway Sequence 9, but the Arbitrator of Vostronia would obviously not mean the same thing.
After inquiring, Ninglu understood that the so-called Arbitrator was similar to the law enforcement officers who would supervise the Domes under the governors of various Hive City worlds in the future.
The Arbitrators of the Lower Nest usually independently governed the Domes, adjudicating various matters within their jurisdiction.
The people who escaped from the foundry reported Ninglu’s defeat of the “Scavenger Gang” and occupation of the factory to Dimitrov.
“Boss, ‘Vulture’ had a terrible reputation. I think Dimitrov is probably curious about you, since you are so young.”
“Hmm, according to the Arbitrator’s style of doing things, he will also warn you. I heard he likes to use his big dog to scare people.”
“Chem-dog?”
Upon hearing this, Ninglu immediately became interested.
“Yes, Boss, you know that wicked dog too?”