Ten seconds later, John Doe stopped convulsing and slumped in the chair, his pupils dilated.
The white coat stepped forward and checked his vital signs with an instrument.
"Subject Number 001. Exhibited severe rejection response to Psionic Suppressant Type-7. Nervous system collapsed. Brain dead."
"Note: Suspected to be an untrained psychic sensitive or possess specific genetic resistance."
He waved his hand. "Drag him away. Send him to the dissection room. The organs should still be viable."
Two soldiers dragged John Doe's corpse away like a sack of potatoes, leaving a trail of pale yellow liquid on the floor. He had lost bladder control.
Dead silence fell over the entire underground containment center.
The players who witnessed this scene turned as pale as a sheet of paper.
Zeke felt his stomach churn violently.
The deaths in this game are way too realistic.
And it was a completely undignified death. Dragged away like a dirty rag, soon to be dissected and have his organs harvested for use.
"Next."
The white coat's cold voice rang out again.
A soldier walked toward another cage.
–
Meanwhile, deep within the Warp.
Lucian's constantly shifting mass of energy was stretching out in delight.
"Ah... this flavor..."
He felt the emotional energy pouring in endlessly from the real universe. The concentration and quality were leagues above what they produced while mining.
Fear, despair, anger, mental breakdown, and a hint of madness...
"Yes, exactly like that." Lucian absorbed it, completely intoxicated. "More, make it stronger..."
"There's nothing I can do about the players getting captured. Who knew the local faction would be this cautious?"
"Now I just have to wait for them to die and resurrect. It seems I'll have to pick a spawn point further away next time."
Through the System interface, he observed the situation inside the Aru City underground containment center.
The players were being locked up, interrogated, injected with drugs, dissected...
Every step generated massive amounts of negative emotional energy.
And these emotions, after being filtered and purified by the System, all became his food.
"The 5,000 units of energy I spent earlier were primarily used to establish a stable cross-universe conduit and pull their consciousnesses over."
"Now that the conduit is stable, simply reconstructing their physical bodies costs far less."
He checked his energy reserves.
Between the players mining, scavenging, completing quests, and the massive fear output right now, his energy reserves had recovered from the initial 2,000 units to over 53,600 units.
"Right now, even if all five thousand of them died once... I'd still have enough to resurrect them many times over."
"Not a big problem."
Lucian's mind was very relaxed.
If players died, they could resurrect. Once resurrected, they could continue working and producing emotional energy.
As for the people of the Aru Group?
They were just NPCs. Decades from now, who knows how many generations of factions like theirs would have died out.
"Let's just observe the situation for now," Lucian thought. "Let's see what kind of chaos these players can stir up."
He made his plans gleefully.
As for the players' fear and pain?
Jie! Jie! Jie!
"Huh! When did I start becoming so evil?"
"But sorry, Chaos Gods don't have humanity."
Lucian simply felt that... they were delicious.
At most, I'll add a 'Pain Reduction' setting the next time they resurrect. I'll set the minimum threshold at 30%!
Praise the Holy God, for I am far too merciful!
–
Underground Containment Center.
The second player dragged out had the ID [I'm Just a Passing Loyalist].
He was slightly calmer than John Doe, but his legs were still shaking.
"Name."
"Jane Doe."
"Age."
"25."
"Origin."
"I... I don't know, I have amnesia!"
The white coat looked up, a flash of impatience seemingly crossing the eyes behind his mask.
He nodded to the soldier once again.
This time, it wasn't a syringe. A helmet-like device was placed over Jane Doe's head.
"This is a psychic potential scanner. If you lie, or attempt to hide anything, it will overload your brain and turn you into an idiot."
Jane Doe's face went even paler.
The scanner activated, emitting a low hum.
A few seconds later, the white coat frowned as he looked at the readings on his data slate.
"Psychic potential... zero? That's impossible."
"Even untrained baseline humans possess faint potential fluctuations."
He looked at Jane Doe. "Have you undergone psychic suppression surgery?"
"I... I really don't know!"
"Or perhaps, you aren't human at all?"
Jane Doe looked like he was about to cry. "I'm human! 100% genuine human!"
The white coat remained silent for a few seconds.
"Send him to the genetics lab."
"Draw blood, take a bone marrow sample, full-body scan."
"If it's confirmed he's human, but his psychic potential is zero... then his genetics are barely worth studying."
Jane Doe was dragged away.
In the regional channel, the players were going insane.
[Soul of Cadia]: "Fuck! Psychic potential scanning! Genetic testing! What exactly are they trying to do?!"
[Fugitive Cogboy of the Mechanicus]: "Obviously, they are screening us."
"Screening for psykers, screening for those with unique genetics. The former can be used for psychic experiments, the latter for genetic research. As for baseline humans... we're probably just organ donors or hard labor."
[I Want the Halo of Tranquility But I'm Broke]: "So we're being picked over?! Like pork at a wet market?!"
[Slaanesh Champion Candidate]: "I feel like being a lab rat is truly terrifying... even scarier than falling to Chaos..."
[Papa Nurgle Loves Everyone]: "Accept reality, brothers. In the Warhammer 40k universe, people without background or status like us are just consumables."
[Did the White Scars Speed Today?]: "Then what do we do? Wait to die?"
[I'm Not the Lord Regent, I'm Just a Passing Guilliman]: "I suggest the next time someone gets dragged out... they try to fight back."
[Schrödinger's Loyalist]: "Fight back? With what? We're unarmed! And locked in cages!"
[Pay the Tithe Even if the World Ends]: "Bite them! Headbutt them! We're dead either way, might as well die a spectacular death!"
[Eternally Loyal to the Emperor]: "Everyone calm down! Do not be afraid."
Zeke spoke up in the channel.
"Since we can't log out right now, we need intelligence."
"We need to figure out the guard strength of this facility, the locations of the exits, and the blind spots of the cameras."
"We need a plan. Even if we die, we have to inflict some damage on them!"
"Until then... try your best to stay alive."
He paused, then added: "Also, remember who we are."
"We are players."
"We are the Fourth Scourge."
"Death is not the end for us."
"It's just... reloading a save file."
"We can fight Chaos, Tyranids, and Greenskins in PC games. Just treat this as playing a new virtual reality Warhammer game. There is nothing to be afraid of."
The channel was quiet for a few seconds.
Then, a flurry of messages scrolled by:
"For the Emperor!"
"For survival!"
"For... the day we drive mechas back here and blast this trash city to ash!"
Zeke looked at the revitalized messages from the players.
These guys... they really are a scourge.
Fine. This way... it's more interesting.
He looked up at the dim lights outside the cage, his eyes gradually hardening with resolve.
"Aru Group... Ximans Trade Consortium..."
"You capture us, lock us up, and use us for experiments."
"Then don't blame us..."
"For turning your entire world upside down."
"In the name of the Emperor and the Fourth Scourge."