I cultivate mushrooms in warhammer

(Author's Note: Important main storyline chapter, skipping is not recommended.)

Because of the transportation ban on the Nidalavin Sector, the Hive City was spared?

Why is this?

Li Nuo and Tide vaguely guessed that it was related to the plague, but they didn't quite understand the reason.

This matter has to start with a unique Mechanicus priest.

Her name is Koriel Zeth.

Zeth's teacher was Cass, and Cass's teacher was Lazlo.

The most outstanding work of these three masters and apprentices is the "Thought Space."

In the 30k era, very few Mechanicus priests used Thought Space, but in the 40k era, any Mechanicus priest who didn't have a Thought Space was definitely a low-end oiler.

Thought Space is a visualized data space exclusively for the Mechanicus priest, similar to Sherlock Holmes' mind palace.

In the Thought Space, the Mechanicus priest can view their knowledge and memories through virtual images.

The Thought Spaces of different Mechanicus priests can form a local area network.

The Mechanicus priest remotely commands combat units wirelessly connected to the space through the Thought Space.

In the Mechanicus (Note 1) game of exploring the Necron tombs, several Mechanicus sages communicated and deployed troops in the Thought Space.

During the Horus Heresy, Mars split, and the rebel Mechanicum representative, Calbor Hal, released the Chaos Code, attempting to destroy all equipment, factories, and loyalist Mechanicus priests connected to the Mars public network in one fell swoop.

The Thought Space developed by the three masters and apprentices, Zeth, Cass, and Lazlo, shielded the Chaos Code and was immune to its corruption, thus becoming one of the very few loyalist Mechanicus priests who were not killed.

From the end of the Great Crusade to the beginning of the Horus Heresy, Koriel Zeth was developing a technological creation that was so awesome it was explosive.

This thing is called the "Akashic Reader."

Akashic is Sanskrit, referring to "ether," which is the warp.

Zeth discovered that the warp contains immeasurable historical information and knowledge.

She used psykers and mechanical device components to assemble the reader, trying to read the information in the warp.

Because the warp energy is violent and crude, the research and development of the Akashic Reader was very difficult, and the violent death of psykers was commonplace.

In the past few days, the Akashic Reader has rarely operated successfully twice in a row, bringing two pieces of information of great value to Zeth.

The first successful operation occurred five days ago.

The experiment location was Zeth's secret laboratory.

On top of the granite platform, the golden throne refracted golden light under the force field light source.

Zeth's assistant and guardian, Romu 31, escorted the shaved-headed psyker to the throne, firmly fixing him with belt buckles and ropes.

The psyker was covered in tubes, and various colors of potion went in and out of his body. He himself looked listless and could only be manipulated by Romu 31.

First to be activated was the θ-wave amplifier, which would strengthen the psyker's connection with the ether.

Next was the dopamine dispenser, stimulating the psyker's body and consciousness, allowing him to overcome the fear of dying from a head explosion and actively observe the state of the ether.

When the trickle of ether entered his soul, passed through the connection between the soul and the body, and arrived at the brain, the wires connected to the psyker's head began to output obscure streams of information.

These streams of information, after passing through the logic circuits of the Akashic Reader, became a binary language that could be understood by machines.

In the past, when experiments reached this step, either the psyker's head exploded or the machine went on strike.

But this time, the situation was different.

Zeth was surprised to find that the typewriter printed a binary language that she could recognize on the parchment.

Although there were many garbled characters, Zeth still sorted out useful information from it.

"Stellar radiation waste area, plague, pathogenic strains, Bone Drinkers, rampant."

The fragmented words seemed to piece together some kind of prophecy.

Zeth searched the Mars public database based on the keywords and quickly discovered the anomalies in the Nidalavin Sector and four other sectors.

The sector governors of these five sectors all made their fortunes by processing radiation waste and built a large number of stellar radiation waste areas.

They have also recently encountered harassment from the plague, but have not publicly announced the results of the plague investigation.

Zeth is an expert-level Mechanicus priest, a high-ranking member of the Mechanicum.

She used her authority to search for information related to "Bone Drinkers" and obtained historical archives related to this fungal alien.

The historical records of the Bone Drinkers thus entered her sight.

In order to verify whether the Akashic Reader really brought her a prophecy, Zeth contacted the alien physiologists of the Nidalavin Sector and asked them to search for traces of the Bone Drinkers on her behalf.

This search operation was conducted in secret and was led by the local Mechanicus priest, Morgue.

The search results shocked both Morgue and Zeth.

The head of the tax affairs department and the head of the military supplies department of Nidalavin XV had actually been parasitized by Bone Drinkers.

Referring to the spread rate of the Bone Drinkers recorded in the historical archives, Zeth reasonably suspected that the sector governor himself had also been parasitized by Bone Drinkers.

The Mechanicus priests of the Nidalavin Sector are currently secretly inspecting every corner of the sector to confirm just how serious the infection situation in this sector is.

"Oh~ I understand," Tide nodded slowly, "Our transportation ban just isolated the Bone Drinker strains from the Nidalavin Sector. That's why you said we avoided a disaster in an invisible way."

"Yes, ma'am. According to the information currently available, as long as a Bone Drinker sneaks into the Hive City, we will not have peace," Delton opened the Bone Drinker archives on the Cogitator for Tide and Li Nuo to query.

Tide felt a burst of fear after reading the information, and her eyebrows furrowed tightly.

Li Nuo had already fought against Bone Drinkers and knew a lot of inside information. He appropriately showed a tense emotion, but was thinking about another matter in his heart.

As a Cloud Hammer, he had heard of Koriel Zeth's reputation.

This is a female Mechanicus priest who knows how to maintain herself. Unlike most Mechanicus priests who are smelly, she is a typical cyberpunk mature woman.

The Mechanicum internally promotes the theory that "the Emperor is the incarnation of the Omnissiah."

Zeth opposes this view.

Not only does she not believe that the Emperor is the incarnation of the Omnissiah, but she even denies the existence of machine spirits.

Of course, she did not publicly reveal her inner thoughts.

After the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, Zeth survived the impact of the Chaos Code, but was soon targeted for assassination by Calbor Hal.

In the end, she detonated the engines of the Lava City, perishing together with the enemy, taking her lifelong research achievements into the tomb and becoming dust in the magma.

After the end of the Horus Heresy, the High Lords of Terra and the Mechanicum recognized Zeth's heroic self-sacrifice and included her in the list of loyalists.

Yes, a high-ranking Mechanicus priest who does not believe that the Emperor is the Machine God and denies the existence of machine spirits is judged to be loyal, simply because she perished together with the enemy.

The standard for judging loyalty in the Warhammer world is so flexible.

"Speaking of which, Delton, you just mentioned that Ms. Zeth's Akashic Reader operated successfully twice. What was the result of the second time?" Li Nuo asked while reading the Bone Drinker information.

Delton operated on another Cogitator.

A passage of Low Gothic translated from binary language appeared on the screen.

After removing the meaningless garbled characters, a passage of text emerged.

Li Nuo's pupils shrank slightly after reading this passage of text, while Tide looked confused.

"It feels like this is another prophecy," Tide muttered, reading out the text:

"Let me tell you the truth, He is Alpha and Omega, the perfect cycle of beginning and end, the Lord of Flesh and Machine.

"He will become the most dazzling light in the dark hour, incarnated as the ignorant exorcist, the mentor of the blind believers.

"He will be the object of loyalty and allegiance, He will bring the Imperium's prosperity and the happiness that humanity seeks.

"A devastating war is destined to come, and peace is like the echo of the past. Conflict, strife, blood, the galaxy burns fiercely in the flames of war, and the Imperium collapses in lamentation.

"You must work together and regard Him as a brother, only in this way can the boundaries of the galaxy be united."

(Note 2)

Li Nuo's heart trembled after reading this prophecy.

The name of the special operations kid he created is Alpha Rhys, which is derived from the Primarch of the Alpha Legion.

Omega in the prophecy is said to be Alpha Rhys's younger brother. The two look very similar and often swap identities and names to prank others.

Before this prophecy appeared, Li felt that it seemed okay to give an Ork a Primarch's name.

It's Cloud Hammer, it's normal.

But now, after reading the second prophecy, Li Nuo suddenly felt uneasy, always feeling that the special operations kid seemed to carry some kind of karma.

This won't do.

He has to find an opportunity to change the name of the special operations kid.

Tide compared the two prophecies and found obvious differences.

The content of the first prophecy was intermittent, only presenting a few keywords.

Although the second prophecy also had garbled characters, it was generally smooth, and the content was richer than the first one.

"It seems that Ms. Zeth's Akashic Reader is about to be successfully developed," Tide sighed.

“No, Madam, the opposite is true.” Delton spread his hands, “After the second prophecy appeared, the Akashic Reader exploded, and Madam Jersey suffered heavy losses. It is said that it will take more than ten years to build a reader of the same specification.”

Tido clicked her tongue secretly, tugged at Li Nuo's sleeve, and whispered:

“Why don't we donate some money to sponsor Madam Jersey? If it weren't for her prophecy, we would still be kept in the dark.”

“Yes, yes, okay.”

Li Nuo nodded in response, adding in his heart:

It would be great if I could directly buy the logic circuit of the Thought Space with money.

This thing is very strong and powerful.

The machine connected to it will not be polluted by Chaos Code. For this reason alone, Li Nuo would be willing to pay Throne Coins to buy the Thought Space.

Provided that Jersey is willing to sell.

Now, donating money to help Jersey rebuild the Akashic Reader is a good opportunity to improve her impression of him, and there is no reason to refuse.

Li Nuo and Tido discussed it, and finally decided that Tido would come forward and discuss the sponsorship with Jersey in Li Nuo's name.

After Delton waited for the two to finish discussing, he took out a scan report and handed it over:

“You two, I have to tell you some bad news. This is the scan report from this afternoon. During a routine spot check of the spaceport, the agents found traces of Bone Drinkers on a freighter from the Menek star region. Fortunately, the ship only docked to replenish fresh water, and the Bone Drinkers on board did not disembark.”

The Menek star region does not make a living by selling the health of stars.

The appearance of Bone Drinkers on a freighter from this star region indicates that things are becoming tricky.

In places that everyone can't detect, Bone Drinkers are spreading widely, and the main medium of transmission is freighters running around.

Li Nuo and Tido could naturally imagine the negative impact of this without Delton saying more.

“We have to increase the inspection of promethium refining residue transport ships. Also, the supplies that rely on imports will become scarce, and we have to hoard more.”

Tido took out the data panel and recorded the main points she thought of.

Li Nuo asked:

“What are the movements of the Imperial Army?”

Delton shook his head slightly:

“Not for the time being. At least, before figuring out the scope of the infection, they can't carry out large-scale clearing operations. The Bone Drinkers will flee in all directions at the slightest disturbance. If they cannot be completely eliminated at once, they will inevitably make a comeback one day.”

“In other words, we can only rely on ourselves to deal with the infiltration of Bone Drinkers for the time being?” Li Nuo asked.

“Yes, sir.”

Li Nuo asked:

“How many Imperial worlds have received this news?”

Delton replied:

“Within the Solar Star Region, the Imperial worlds coordinated by the Schola Progenium have all received warnings, and the number of worlds should exceed a thousand.”

Hiss—if thousands of Imperial worlds know that the Bone Drinker plague is spreading in secret, wouldn't the price of necessary survival supplies skyrocket?

Delton said in a deep voice:

“Sir, the parasitic method of the Bone Drinkers is relatively secretive, and they know how to hide their biological characteristics. Existing scanners cannot detect their existence. The agents were able to discover the Bone Drinkers in the freighter during routine inspections because of the new scanning module purchased with the last allocation of funds. It can greatly enhance the penetration and accuracy of the scanner. I suggest upgrading all the monitoring equipment in the hive city as soon as possible.”

“Well, your suggestion is very pertinent.”

Li Nuo took out his data panel and recorded the matters of allocating funds and adding manpower to Delton.

He didn't want the starch industry he had worked so hard to build to be destroyed.

Therefore, spend the money that should be spent, don't save it. It would be a tragedy if people die and the money is not spent.

The three discussed countermeasures and formulated a set of effective response plans.

Later, Li Nuo and Tido went to see Voges. After listening to the description, the latter realized the seriousness of the matter and immediately issued a notice to hold an internal meeting tomorrow.

All participants in the meeting must be equipped with a 24-hour scanner to monitor the biological characteristics of Bone Drinkers to ensure that Bone Drinkers lurking nearby are discovered in the first time.

In the early days of the Great Crusade, the Eighth Legion and the Space Wolves conducted preliminary research on Bone Drinkers.

The biological characteristics, reproduction methods, survival habits, etc. of Bone Drinkers are all recorded in the database of the Terra Military Department.

This data is now open to the governor-level population, and corresponding scanners can be freely made based on the data records.

The difficulty lies in the underhive.

The total area of the underhive is ten times that of the upper hive, and the population is a hundred times larger.

Facing such a huge group, it is almost impossible to accurately scan everyone.

Li Nuo thought about a plan.

In the metabolites of Bone Drinkers, there is a large-molecule phosphate compound.

The "Phage Fungus Body Wart Virus" that Li Nuo made before automatically released the phage fungus body virus by monitoring this compound.

Now, Li Nuo has created a fluorescent reagent through fungal simulation.

This fluorescent reagent will be put into the sewage sedimentation tank of the underhive.

If the sewage sedimentation tank of a certain underhive district shows a fluorescent reaction, it means that the sewage in this district contains specific compounds.

In this way, as long as the sewage sedimentation tank is monitored at all times, the traces of Bone Drinkers can be discovered in time.

Li Nuo made the fluorescent tracer that night, and it is estimated that in at most half a month, millions of sewage sedimentation tanks in the underhive will be effectively monitored.

But this is not enough.

Far from enough.

After the Bone Drinkers turned to Chaos, their infectivity and destructiveness became several times stronger.

The historical archives from the early days of the Great Crusade are outdated.

The Bone Drinkers are no longer just a gestalt civilization.

The higher consciousness manipulating them behind the scenes can use some means to twist the scattered Bone Drinkers into tough ropes.

It is hard to say whether this rope can hang the Empire to death, but it will definitely strangle himself and Epimeteus.

Li Nuo felt a sense of urgency and became more and more invested in the research on exterminating toxins.

Unconsciously, seven days passed in work.

On this night, the artificial moon sprinkled silvery-white moonlight, and the garden of the Royal Court District was pure white.

Near midnight, the house was quiet inside and out, and Li Nuo was sitting alone in the private laboratory.

The wide desk in front of him was piled with textbooks from the Warhammer world, some from the Terra Medical Department and some from the Adeptus Mechanicus.

The content of the textbooks is closely related to genetics, and they are all very basic. Anyone who wants to engage in gene editing-related work must memorize the knowledge on these textbooks.

For the sake of his hive city and his life, Li Nuo desperately studied the basic knowledge of genetic engineering.

All of this was for a simulation experiment that started two days ago.

[Day 2229011.]

[You selected the Sample22 - Clone141 - Frag515573 gene fragment as the experimental object.]

[You used the Imperial Medical Department's universal sgRNA design tool to extract a 20-nucleotide RNA sequence from the TT011 - PSV-113 virus. Its 5' end is complementary to the experimental object, and its 3' end binds to the Cas9 protein.]

[You used CVCPSE - ABB-15 yeast as the expression vector.]

[… ]

[Day 2229015, you verified the functionality and toxicity of the gene-edited product—artificial bacteriophage virus.]

[It has been verified that this virus has a killing effect on Bone Drinkers.]

[However, the human spinal cord infected by Bone Drinkers undergoes severe gene collapse when the Bone Drinkers are killed by the virus. Within two days, the human spinal cord necroses, and this injury will lead to human death.]

“Okay, both the Bone Drinkers and the humans are dead, it's this situation again.”

Li Nuo supported his forehead and smiled lightly, his smile full of helplessness.

The Bone Drinker gene fragment he is using now comes from the Bone Drinkers killed by the Space Wolves clan.

The good news is that the variant of the TT011 - PSV virus, the TT011 - PSV-113 virus, has changed from only being able to infect plants and fungi to being able to infect humans parasitized by Bone Drinkers.

The bad news is that when Bone Drinkers are killed by the variant virus, the infected will also die.

This problem has plagued Li Nuo for many days, so that he has turned the textbooks upside down, but he has not been able to find a solution.

The reason is still in the parasitic method of Bone Drinkers.

After they infect a living body, they will fuse their gene fragments with the host's gene fragments.

The two are entangled together, inseparable from each other.

Killing any one of them will lead to the other's gene collapse, spinal cord necrosis, and then rapid death.

To avoid this situation, the genes of Bone Drinkers and humans must be separated first.

This is completely beyond the scope that drugs can solve, and only one-to-one gene editing can do it.

But in this world, where are there so many genetic devices to do gene editing for every infected person.

Li Nuo felt a little powerless, sighed softly, stood up and moved his joints, preparing to go to the bedroom to play the Orc simulator.

At this time, a line of system text popped up.