---o---
Zhou Ye had not one shred of goodwill for the Imperium. If the day came when the Imperium truly pissed him off, he would happily smash both it and Chaos to pieces. As such, he couldn't be bothered to give a second thought to so-called heresies.
As long as it wasn't a product of Chaos, it wasn't a major problem.
One by one, he either reawakened the dormant Machine Spirits or simply seized control of the vehicle and infused a new one. Then, he began repairing the hulls. Truth be told, he could have made them brand new, but that would have been too conspicuous. Instead, Zhou Ye restored them to about eighty percent of their original condition.
After all, he had received a massive amount of materials from the Governor—relatively speaking, of course.
"I was mentally prepared for this, but seeing it in person is still disgusting."
After getting the vehicles mostly repaired, Zhou Ye stretched his back. He then noticed the things that had been following him and fell silent.
Servitors. Servo-skulls. And, making his skin crawl most of all… Cherubs.
Although he had braced himself for such sights, seeing them in the flesh still filled him with a profound sense of discomfort.
"Compared to these guys, the Nazis almost seem decent."
Thinking about things like corpse starch, Zhou Ye let out a deep sigh.
As much as he wanted to destroy them on the spot, he knew it would be too obvious, so he had to let it go.
These abominations were not his creations, of course. The local Adeptus Mechanicus contingent had been wiped out. While the Planetary Governor suspected he had been the one to slaughter them to get the STC, there were no other Tech-Priests around now, so the local Mechanicus shrine had been handed over to him.
These things were what he found inside. Zhou Ye was already contemplating whether he should convert them into Honkai Zombies. At least those didn't look so offensive to the eyes.
Though, given the choice, Zhou Ye would never create Honkai Zombies in the first place.
"Next up are the bikes for the White Scars. Get them ready."
Having dealt with the armored vehicles, Zhou Ye fabricated another motorcycle and then used the STC template to print out copies.
It was a brand-new design, incorporating many of his own little touches. Honestly, if this were any other universe, he might have even tried crafting a Kamen Rider belt, but here, that would get him labeled a heretic far too easily.
He might use such things in the future, but definitely not now. Three days later…
"Done."
Looking with satisfaction at the fully repaired armored vehicles and the incredibly cool motorcycles, Zhou Ye nodded in approval. Now he could finalize the deal with the White Scars.
This universe may have been a shithole, but Zhou Ye was one of the few with the power to protect himself. He had no reflection in the Warp, so the whispers were non-existent. Corruption was even less likely, and he didn't need to travel through the Warp at all.
He could simply play his own game, separate from the great filth, without having to dive in and eat shit with them.
However, when he stepped outside…
"What's with those looks?"
Zhou Ye couldn't help but shudder as he felt the scorching gazes of the crowd fixed upon him. This world was truly insane. These people didn't care for beautiful women; their eyes lit up at the sight of weapons.
"Excellent! Excellent! Quickly, quickly! We finally have some heavy armor again!"
"What's your reaction?"
Seeing the Planetary Governor on the verge of tears, Zhou Ye couldn't help but grumble. For a hive world, they shouldn't be this poor, right?
"Those Mechanicus priests kept saying these machines were holy relics, that they shouldn't be used on the battlefield. So they restricted our use of them. You saw the state they were in. They would rather let these vehicles gather dust here than allow us to take them out."
"Hmm…"
Zhou Ye glanced back at the Leman Russ tanks and a Baneblade tucked away in a corner. He knew these vehicles were ancient. Their Machine Spirits had been eroded by time itself—or rather, they had been until he'd repaired and modified them.
"What happened to your original vehicles?"
"All lost on the front lines. And while we had Chimeras, we had no Leman Russes. This is the last of our armor."
At Zhou Ye's question, a shadow passed over the Planetary Governor's face. Their situation was far from optimistic. The Chaos rabble hadn't launched a full-scale assault yet only because they weren't fully prepared.
But who knew what the future held? His expression was grim.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk… A holy Machine Spirit's final destination is the battlefield, not gathering dust in a reliquary."
"…"
The Planetary Governor froze at Zhou Ye's words. He shot the Tech-Priest a strange look, and his thoughts were instantly captured.
No wonder this cogboy was excommunicated from his Forge World. He must have done something incredibly blasphemous.
Zhou Ye said nothing. He then turned to the group of White Scar cans who were also staring at him with desperate longing.
Their gazes were all fixed on his motorcycle. Zhou Ye simply beckoned them over. He led the squad into another room and, with a dramatic flourish, yanked a large white cloth off a row of objects.
"Haaaaah…"
In that instant, the breathing of every Space Marine in the room became heavy and ragged. On the very first day of Zhou Ye's work, they had procured all the necessary materials from the Planetary Governor and delivered them. They just hadn't expected him to finish so quickly.
The Planetary Governor had been generous, especially since the White Scars' request was simple: they needed vehicles to conduct a reconnaissance mission to ascertain the enemy's disposition.
With Chaos Space Marines and the Dark Mechanicum now confirmed, the situation had become far more serious.
"Brand new motorcycles. I've made some modifications. They use a special technology that gives the armor a certain… vitality. It can slowly repair minor damage, though it can't recover from catastrophic hits."
"Oh, right. These bikes can now launch from the ground and fly straight into planetary orbit."
"I've also added a special compact weapons bay for storing extra ammunition…"
"GULP!"
The sound of swallowing came from the can at the front, mainly because he wasn't wearing his helmet.
Bigger, faster, more powerful motorcycles.
How could you test a White Scar with this? What White Scar could possibly withstand such a trial?