"Neither do I."
White Scars took over the conversation. The shadow of that mother and daughter from Red Town still lingered in his eyes. "But what I want even less is..."
"Knowing we have the potential to do something, but being forced to just watch these tragedies happen because we haven't scaled up enough and lack the strength."
Cogboy continued his analysis, pointing out:
"I've built a basic mathematical model."
"At our current rate of earning Imperial Coins—relying mostly on hunting mutant beasts and scavenging ore and abandoned facilities—it'll take us about six months to reach a level where we can go toe-to-toe with a regular Aru Group infantry regiment."
"And that's assuming the four major factions and Chaos don't make a move on us."
He paused, his tone growing heavier. "But reality is a different beast. The Chaos corruption in the industrial zone is spreading. Sooner or later, the four major powers will notice this unidentified armed group that just suddenly popped up out of nowhere."
"Optimistically speaking, the safe farming time we have left... is no more than three months."
The conference room fell silent once more.
Cold, hard numbers were infinitely more persuasive than any impassioned speech.
Three months.
Five thousand players who had only just completed their Type-I enhancements, plus over two thousand unarmed workers, standing against the inevitable encirclement by the four major factions, Chaos invasions, and maybe even... an Imperial purge.
"So..." Zeke spoke slowly. "What's your plan?"
The four Chapter Masters exchanged glances.
Finally, Cogboy spoke on their behalf.
His voice was calm, almost freezing. "We've discussed this privately many times, and we've reached one conclusion. In the Warhammer universe, especially at this specific point in the timeline, playing it slow means death."
"We have to take an unconventional development path."
"And the core of this path requires meeting three conditions. The first is that we need to form a sufficiently powerful tip-of-the-spear fighting force in the short term."
"The second is having sustainable expansion capabilities, and the third is possessing a clear ideological manifesto to unite the people."
Cogboy looked at Zeke. "For the first point—the tip of the spear—we need a hero. A banner. An entity strong enough to face Chaos Daemons head-on, crush corporate armored divisions, and inspire absolute confidence in everyone."
"In the Warhammer universe, what kind of existence fits that criteria?" He answered his own question. "A Primarch. But those are natural-born demigods. We can't craft one."
"A step below that... an Astartes Chapter Master. A transhuman warrior with centuries of combat experience."
"A step below that, a newly ascended Astartes initiate. But even they are still transhumans."
"Psykers rely too heavily on innate talent, their training is agonizingly slow, and they're too prone to falling into ominous corruption. So they're out of the question."
Cogboy tapped his finger against the tabletop. "Gene-seed. It's currently the most reliable path to achieving man-made transhumans that we have access to."
"As for the second point, sustainable expansion."
Bro G took over. "Just having one transhuman isn't enough. We need an army, a base of operations, and a system capable of continuous growth."
He pointed to the map. "Aurelian IV has a population of twenty-three billion. Over ninety percent of them live in the underhives, the mines, and the manufactorums, living lives even more miserable than those people in Red Town."
"It's not that these people lack the will to resist. Over the years, rebellions of all sizes have sprung up and made waves, but they all ultimately failed."
"The Siclaeman rebel forces fought back, but they walked the twisted path of colluding with Chaos."
"What they lack is true hope. A leader who can guide them out of the dark, and a practical, viable blueprint."
Bro G looked at Zeke, a certain light flickering in his eyes.
"Zeke, do you know what Pavel Korchagin said in How the Steel Was Tempered?"
Zeke froze for a moment, instinctively replying, "Man's dearest possession is life..."
"No, not that part."
Bro G shook his head. "It's another line. 'Under our banner, the oppressed are gathering.'"
He stood up, his voice gradually rising.
"We're not here to build an empire. We're not here to replace the four major factions and become the new oppressors."
"What we need to do is give those oppressed souls a banner, a reason to unite, and a path to survival!"
Tax Bro slammed his hand on the table. "Exactly! Just like you told the workers out on the wasteland, Zeke. Labor in exchange for survival, effort in exchange for respect!"
"Why should Hive workers slave away until they die, only to eat moldy nutrient paste?"
"Why should a miner's son be doomed to be a miner the moment he's born?"
"Why do those Aru Group bastards get to use living people for their experiments, and then act like they're the fucking superior class?"
White Scars sneered coldly. "Just because they have guns, tanks, and psykers?"
"Well, what if we had them too?"
"What if we not only had them, but could arm even more people with them?"
Cogboy continued to lay out the analysis.
"I've run the numbers. If we can control three small towns like Red Town, use them as base camps, organize the planet's citizens for production, train militias, and establish order..."
"Within a month, we could arm a light infantry force of at least three thousand."
"In three months, if we can take Kent Hive and secure its industrial equipment, we can begin mass-producing standard-issue weapons and rake in a massive amount of Imperial Coins."
"In six months..."
He paused. "If we manage to cultivate a second, and then a third Astartes during this process..."
"A full squad of Astartes."
"Then we'll finally have the right to sit at the same negotiating table as the four major factions."
"Or..."
Cogboy finished, "...flip the damn table."
"And bring about a total revolution..."
The conference room was so quiet you could hear the wind howling across the wasteland outside.
Zeke looked at his comrades around the table. Bro G's composure, Tax Bro's straightforwardness, Cogboy's cold rationality, and White Scars' razor-sharp edge.
They came from all corners of the world. In reality, they might have been programmers, drivers, students, or rich kids.
But in this grimdark world, they were plotting something... truly insane.
"So..."
Zeke's voice was soft. "You guys chose me?"
"Yeah."
Bro G didn't hesitate. "The rest of us talked it over. Tax Bro has a wife and kids. Even though they aren't hurting for money, he can't pour his entire heart and soul into this."
"Cogboy's parents are in poor health and need him to take care of them. As for White Scars... he's too hot-headed. Built for the frontline vanguard, not for sitting back and calling the shots."
"And me?"
Bro G chuckled. "In reality, I'm just a minor trust fund kid. I'm fine pulling the strings behind the scenes and drawing up blueprints, but asking me to stand at the very front and carry the banner..."
He shook his head. "I don't have the grit for that. Nor do I want to be that exhausted."
"But you're different."
Bro G stared at Zeke. "Your parents… are gone. You have no attachments. You don't even have a girlfriend."
"What the hell do I need one of those for?" Zeke shot back instinctively. "Do you know how expensive dating is nowadays? They want luxury fucking vacations just to get tanned."
Tax Bro laughed. "See, that's exactly why we chose you."
"There's this... how do I put it? This stubborn, idealistic streak in you. Once you lock onto something, you see it through to the bitter end."
"You saving the workers in the industrial zone, you taking in the refugees on the wasteland—we saw all of it."
"But most importantly..."
Bro G paused, his tone turning solemn. "You treat people like actual human beings."
"In a world that treats people as consumables, as statistics, as sacrificial lambs... that trait is more precious than any superpower."
"In this grimdark galaxy, kindness is a luxury and mercy is suicide. But if we throw away even this basic shred of humanity, then what makes us any different from Chaos?"
"What makes us any different from those Imperial bureaucrats who treat mortals like disposable batteries?"
Tax Bro nodded emphatically. "Zeke, you little punk, we've known each other for over five years. We know exactly what kind of guy you are."
"Having you as our banner—we're convinced."
White Scars chimed in. "Convinced."
Cogboy added, "From a purely rational standpoint, you are the optimal solution."
"So our plan is simple. We pool all our resources and power-level you into a fully-fledged Astartes first."
"Not some half-baked augmentation. A genuine Space Marine, fully developed gene-seed and all nineteen implantation surgeries completed."
"Then, you'll lead the charge with your transhuman strength."
"We'll start from Red Town and conquer them one stronghold at a time."
"The four major factions control the Hives and the mining zones, but they can't control every single small town and wasteland settlement."
Bro G stood up and walked over to the crude map of Aurelian IV pinned to the wall.
He tapped his finger against the markers one by one.
"Eighty kilometers south of Red Town, there's a settlement called Merida Town. Their primary industry is scrap metal recovery."
"A hundred and twenty kilometers east from there is Narvik Town, guarding a small water source."
"To the northwest is Bordeaux Town. They've got some underground manufactorums left over from the Blaec House era. It's currently occupied by a massive gang of bandits, and the town itself houses over ten thousand residents."
His finger traced a circle on the map.
"These towns—each one has anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands of people."
"They are squeezed dry by the four major factions and pillaged by bandits. They live worse than dogs."
"That man in Red Town who sold his wife and daughter for five hundred coins? He's not an isolated case. That's the baseline reality of this entire planet."
Bro G's voice rang out. It was calm, but every word felt like red-hot iron.
"So what we're going to do isn't directly head-butt the four major factions."
"Instead, we're taking the route of using the wasteland towns to encircle the Hives."
"We'll secure these small towns first, and liberate those oppressed Imperial citizens."