Chapter 409, Steel and Steam

Chapter 409, Steel and Steam

The ratmen's development of Black Iron Star has not yet been completed halfway, and the ratmen's war against the stone shell monsters, the indigenous people of this planet, has not yet ended. In the last cleanup war, the ratmen only drove these stone shell monsters completely into the deep underground of Black Iron Star, and did not completely exterminate these hard stone men.

These guys would occasionally pop up and cause some trouble to the ratmen.

On Black Iron Star, a ratman city is under construction. The city was built to mine an ordinary mineral, iron ore.

Iron ore can be regarded as the largest and most common thing in Black Iron Star. From the name of the planet by the ratmen engineers, black iron, we can get a glimpse of it.

These iron ores brought out from the core of the planet by volcanoes or geological movements do not even exist in the form of alloys with impurities, but are simply a large piece of iron, without even having time to oxidize and rust. They are simply a large piece of iron.

If you suddenly see a bit of black in the wilderness of this Black Iron Star, then there is no doubt that the black is an iron ore, an iron ore exposed on the surface.

This is the origin of the name Black Iron.

The extremely abundant metal veins on this planet have even spoiled the appetite of the rat people. The small veins scattered across the surface of the planet have even lost their mining value for the rat people.

At this time, a question arises. Since the iron ore on this Black Iron Star is so abundant, what kind of iron ore is worthy of the rat people to build a city specifically.

Several crude benzene steam tracked vehicles are driving on the wilderness of this Black Iron Star.

They set out from the super city that serves as a node in this area. This time, their mission is to transport the first batch of workers to the newly built city.

For cost considerations, the rats cannot endlessly transport immigrants to every colonized planet with the space battleship.

After transporting enough people, cultivating the first rat city, and when those new young rats begin to be born, the initial colonization of the rats is completed.

Later, after the rat cities are established, these second-generation and third-generation rats who were born and raised on this planet will take on the main responsibility of developing and building this colonized planet.

And begin to transport the mined resources to the outside of the planet.

In essence, the rats' colonization practice is almost the same as their establishment of resource cities at resource points, except that now what they regard as resource points is no longer one or two forests, one or two mineral veins, but an entire planet.

This steam track is not new, and there are even various traces all over it. It is not surprising that this is also an old car, which is a model from 80 years ago. It is possible that the grandfathers of these rats on the car are not as old as this tracked car.

At this time, the atmosphere in the car was not very good, very quiet, perhaps because the air was turbid and slightly smelly after leaving the city. The active volcanoes not only ejected a large amount of resources from deep underground, but also brought this turbid air with a slight smell.

A large amount of sulfide gas was sent into the atmosphere by active volcanoes. Even the rats who had excellent tolerance to various harsh environments could not tolerate this toxic air for a long time.

Although this unbearable time scale may be pushed to years, any guy who cherishes his life will at least hang a simple filter on his face.

For example, the big nose full-cover filter on the face of the rat mercenary driving the car.

But this requires financial support, and the guys who can be sent to work in the wilderness often have no money.

Blood money, some small flakes that are either yellow or copper-green, have officially become the standard currency of the Rat Empire.

It is a currency circulated among the rat free people who occupy the largest part of the Rat Empire.

And it only exists in the form of a small thin piece.

Of course, the currency in the Skaven Empire is not just blood money, but these Skaven freemen are actually enough to use blood money as a currency, and there are of course higher currencies.

For example, the soul stone, yes, these dark blue stones have also become a part of the Skaven currency system.

The inferior ones are those that are taken out of living flesh with a green tint, and the most precious ones are the azure soul stones that are scattered by the death comet.

These things have become a hard currency among the Skavens. After all, the normal navigation of the Skavens' space battleships is inseparable from these stones that are either inferior green or dark blue.

This is a hard currency.

Of course, there are also some higher ones.

For example, the blood mushrooms, after all the twists and turns, actually until now, the blood mushrooms still have some currency functions in the Rat Empire, and can still be circulated as currency, but because the life essence is over-sucked by the greedy vampires, the circulation of blood mushrooms has been greatly reduced, and it can hardly support the intelligence of conventional currency.

These are the things that can exist as currency in the Rat Empire at present. Of course, the form of barter still exists.

Can you imagine that this group of guys who can travel in space, when conducting internal transactions, even the most basic barter is retained by them.

Relative progress, this description is very appropriate for the rats.

A simple filter does not cost much blood money, that is, three to five blood money, which is not expensive.

But if you look closely at the situation of these rat freemen, you will find that almost none of them have purchased such a set of protective equipment for themselves.

Three to five blood money, this is not an expensive price, probably only two to three days' salary for a rat freeman.

But such a price that is not difficult to afford, as long as three to five blood money, then the simple filter foundation can greatly reduce the inhaled toxic gas, in exchange for health and longer life.

But none of these guys still made an exchange, which can only mean one thing, either these guys are so poor that they can't even take out three to five blood money, or these guys think that their lives and health are not worth exchanging with those small golden discs.

So which situation is it? In fact, both.

In fact, the newly born bureaucrats and new power holders in the rat empire soon discovered something very interesting.

That is, the cost-effectiveness of the rat freemen.

These guys absorbed the theory born in the Waste City and took it a step further. They found something very interesting. If you drive slave rats, you have to pay for the purchase, the food consumed, the pills you need, and the residence.

But if you drive these rat freemen who seem to have more say and are not so easy to control, the minimum money you need to pay is just enough to keep them from starving to death.

And compared to those slave rats who riot from time to time, these rat freemen are more active and more proactive. Even nodding and bowing to please you is more diligent than those slave rats.

You only need to pay a little insignificant money, enough to keep them from starving to death.

This is really a good deal, isn't it?

This is why the rat breeding house finally disappeared completely in the history of the rats.

Those bureaucrats, the ratmen in power, found that they only needed to invest the most basic food relief in the city, and then no matter what kind of ratmen they wanted, what kind of tools they wanted, they would grow among the free ratmen.

At most, at most, they would just pay a few more shiny copper pieces.

Is there anything cheaper than this?

No, no, and there will be no more.

A gust of wind blew over, bringing up the black gravel, and a sandstorm came in this wilderness.

The gravel hitting the metal shell of the tracked vehicle finally made the numb ratmen on the vehicle come back to their senses.

In fact, these guys are far from the worst among the free ratmen, at least before they failed.

Apprentice engineers, merchants, engravers, apprentices, yes, yes!

And the bureaucrats.

The sources are varied, and the reasons for being sent to this tracked vehicle are also varied.

The loser who risked everything and borrowed money to pass the test to become a real rat engineer but bought inferior materials.

The small businessman whose goods were burned in a fire.

The engraver who made mistakes in carving.

The apprentice with no achievements.

And the petty official who lost in the power struggle.

Damn, wasn't this guy's former boss just a security guard in charge of a small street? Can this also be a power struggle? It's crazy!

There are many guys who have to board this tracked vehicle heading to the wilderness for various messy reasons.

The only thing these guys have in common is that they belong to the rat freemen.

The Imperial Code is far from prohibiting the fighting and various crimes of the rats, nor does it think about prohibiting the various fighting and crimes of the rats.

The only advantage of these rat freemen over slave rats is that at least they still have choices on the surface.

For example, at this time, even if everyone knows what the most likely outcome they will face is, they still have some hope.

Maybe, maybe what I am facing is even more different.

Until the sudden collision and violent shaking sounded in the wild sand.

The group of guys were transported by a rather large convoy, with a full hundred tracked transport vehicles, which could transport tens of thousands of ratmen at a time. These guys who were forced to embark on the journey were stuffed into the rear half of the tracked vehicle like sardines in a can.

Leaving the city and stepping into the wilderness is indeed not such an easy thing, which represents danger, but in the past, the danger in the wilderness would gradually decrease as the size of the convoy increased.

These hundred tracked transport vehicles were enough to make most of the dangers in the wilderness give way, but unexpectedly, the accident still happened.

The leading transport vehicle of the team was paralyzed, and the convoy stopped. The wild sand blocked most of the sight. Looking out of the window through the glass grille window, all that caught the eye was the black sand.

The ratman mercenaries in the cab of the transport vehicle clenched their steam rifles.

This is the weapon that the rat people used to replace the magic energy rifle after they walked into the starry sky. The relative progress can also be experienced in these steam rifles.

While the soul gems became more and more expensive and rare due to the construction of the Star Fleet, the weapons in the hands of the rat people had to be downgraded.

Without the soul gem, even those inferior green stones will be useless, so what should be used to replace it?

At that time, the Big Claw Priests, who had just stepped onto the starry sky and had not yet changed their names to Rat Engineers, all invariably turned their attention to the things they were using with increasing proficiency.

steam.

The steam boiler is miniaturized, the pipes covered with rubber are connected to an ordinary iron pipe, a valve and a pressurizing device are added, and you're done.

This is how steam firearms came into being.

In the development of these years, steam firearms have made great progress in the hands of the Skaven.

Just like the styles on these rat mercenaries.

Equipped with a small steam boiler, continuous firing valves, and a dual-chamber pressurization device, it can spray armor-piercing steel needle bullets with hot steam at the enemy in a very short time.

Don't underestimate this strange thing. The bullets it fires can easily penetrate the bones of most creatures.

And this is not a real military model, but a stability maintenance model specially provided for rat-man security guards. It is still an old model that has been eliminated for forty years. It is only because of its simple structure and excellent portability. Loved by the Skaven mercenaries.

These rat mercenaries did not leave the armored vehicles rashly.

The fear from the unknown made them even more nervous, and they couldn't help but tighten their grip on the steam rifles in their hands. A scream suddenly came from the communicator on their waists, followed by the desperate wail.

"Death Worm!"

Suddenly, the communicator completely exploded.

"Death worms! Why are there death worms here!"

"It's those damn stone-shelled beasts! These guys ran out again!"

Listening to the messy words in the communicator, the rat mercenary also had a bit of fear on his face.

It comes from the death worm and also from those stone-shelled beasts.

Don't look at the fact that these guys have been defeated miserably since the Ratmen came to this planet. Those who were beaten even retreated deeper into the earth's crust to escape, just like a group of guys who are not worth mentioning.

But that also depends on who you compare with.

The group of people who were able to beat these guys to the ground were the regular troops led by the rat warlords. They were the arrogant storm rat warriors who had their eyes high above their heads. They were not the rat men like them who were busy running around in the wilderness for a few blood coins. Mercenaries!

There is no more or better way, they simply can't deal with the stone shell man carrying the death worm.

The only thing he could do was huddle in the car and pray that he wouldn't become the target of the stone-shelled man.

In despair, the young rat mercenary with a hideous scar on his face couldn't help but murmured in a low voice.

"Great God, bless me and keep me alive!"

Du Yuan's faith has not disappeared among the rat people. Even if the rat people today are no longer so fanatical about gods, they still can't help but call out to the great gods when they are in danger or when they are excited, which has become a kind of thing similar to Common saying stuff.

This is a remnant from that fevered era.

In fear, he whispered softly.

Of course, even he who was holding the steam gun was in such a panic, not to mention the goods he was transporting.

The rat-man freedmen who were crowded into the carriage began to scream in panic.

It seemed that he saw something in the roaring black sand.

But this angered the young rat-man mercenary. He stood on tiptoes, held the steam gun in his hand, poked his head into the carriage behind him, and shouted sharply.

"You damn fools! If you want to live, just shut up!"

It was very effective. Amid the dark muzzle of the gun and the ferocious scar on the face of the young rat-man mercenary, these guys quickly fell silent.

After doing all this, the young rat-man mercenary seemed to have remembered something.

The man in the corner was busy and pulled up a dark iron box under the seat that was only about the size of his two heads.

I fumbled for the pick and pulled it to the far right without hesitation. In an instant, a sharp buzzing sound sounded.

The iron box that he used as a stepping stone was the portable boiler of the steam rifle in his hand. Now, he had maximized the power of the portable boiler, and that was where the sharp buzzing sound came from.

He hoped it would save his life.

The death worm noticed him, and seemed to notice his crawler transport vehicle, or maybe not.

The young rat mercenary only saw a huge shadow flashing through the dark wind and sand.

With red eyes, this poor guy couldn't bear the pressure. With red eyes, he raised the steam rifle high in his hand. In a frenzy, he began to think about the place where the black shadow flashed and started shooting randomly. Until finally he could no longer hold the steam rifle in his hand under the burning of the hot steam.

The loaded armor-piercing steel needle had already been completely beaten by him.

There was no movement. In this dark sandstorm, he didn't know whether he had hit the target or not. He was even a little uncertain whether he had really seen the black shadow that flashed by.

The courage he had raised in the frenzy was completely removed in a very short time. Now there was only fear.

The steam rifle in his hand was thrown aside, and he huddled up in panic in fear.

A cowardly guy.