Alex had no interest in the academic disputes within the Mariupol Forge World.
During their brief meeting, he directly presented the Expeditionary Force's detailed equipment requisition list to the Forging Supervisor, emphasizing in a calm yet undeniable tone: "All orders must be delivered on schedule, and the quality must meet Imperial standards. This is crucial for the success or failure of the entire Expedition."
The Forging Supervisor's bionic eyes flickered with an obscure light, and his holographic projection appeared blurry and distorted.
He responded only with a short binary code, which, when translated, roughly meant: "The Forge World will fulfill its sacred duty." Beyond that, there was no further statement, not even the usual Adeptus Mechanicus ceremonial courtesies.
According to the intelligence Alex possessed, this enigmatic Forging Supervisor had almost completely withdrawn from public life in the past decade, immersing himself in a secret research project. His last public appearance dated back to when he took Donia as his apprentice.
Alex's Inquisitor instincts sensed a slight anomaly, but he restrained the urge to investigate further.
On one hand, the Adeptus Mechanicus's deeply ingrained xenophobic traditions meant that rash external investigations could easily trigger a violent reaction; on the other hand, with the Expedition imminent, a conflict with the Adeptus Mechanicus at this time could jeopardize the entire war effort's supply chain.
"Perhaps I should have 32 come here," Alex mused to himself.
As an Inquisitor of the Mechanicus, 32 was both well-versed in the Adeptus Mechanicus's internal rules and possessed legitimate authority to investigate heresy.
She could legitimately conduct routine inspections of the Forge World under the pretext of "ensuring the quality of Expeditionary equipment."
This thought circled in Alex's mind before he set it aside; unless concrete evidence of problems was found, now was not the time to act.
Having dealt with these matters, Alex still did not leave the Mariupol Forge World. He still had to go to Cawl's Forge on this planet to retrieve the reinforcements Cawl had promised him.
—
The sheer scale of Cawl's Forge left Alex in awe.
Compared to the Forge he had purchased and installed at the Rostov Starport, the difference between the two was as vast as that between a knight titans and a Titan.
As the shuttle slowly entered the Forge's airspace, the sight outside the viewport made Alex sit up straight.
If his own "small but complete" Forge was a fully functional forging factory, then this Forge of Cawl's was practically a living industrial mega-city.
Its grandeur was so immense that it even reminded Alex of the legends of the "Tower of Babel" from the ancient Terra era.
From a high altitude, the footprint of this Forge was probably no less than a super-city from the 3k era.
Even more astonishing was its three-dimensional structure, with countless towering chimneys and adamantium spires piercing the clouds, some even extending into the stratosphere.
The shuttle pilot skillfully adjusted the altitude, avoiding the cloud-piercing structures.
Alex noticed that between these gigantic structures, countless transport pipelines crisscrossed like blood vessels, delivering raw materials and semi-finished products to various processing nodes.
This connected all the giant buildings within the Forge into a single entity, making it look like a living steel behemoth from afar.
Those spires piercing the sky, those factory clusters covering several square kilometers, all spoke of humanity's persistent pursuit of "grandeur."
Even in the technologically regressed 40k era, this architectural aesthetic, ingrained in the genes, still influenced every corner of the Imperium.
In a sense, these colossal structures were themselves monuments to humanity's glorious past, the last echoes of the lost Dark Age of Technology.
Alex slowly descended from the shuttle, the heavy footsteps of his Power Armor echoing on the metal floor.
He was not fully armed for battle—the environmental conditions in the Adeptus Mechanicus's Forge zones were far more severe than ordinary people could imagine.
On the Power Armor's internal display, glaring blood-red warning boxes constantly popped up: [Environmental Radiation Value: 17800 Roentgens]. This number was equivalent to lethal radiation levels in the epicenter of a nuclear explosion.
The auxiliary cogitator continuously emitted shrill alarms, creating an uncomfortable tingling sensation in Alex's auditory nerves.
"What a hellish environment," Alex cursed under his breath, looking at the constantly fluctuating data on his helmet display. He had to turn off the cogitator's alarm notifications to avoid interfering with his actions.
Under this intensity of radiation, an unprotected ordinary human would have their entire DNA chain completely shattered and cellular structure disintegrated by high-energy particle streams after just ten minutes of exposure.
In fact, he had already noticed that the metal surfaces in certain areas were emitting an eerie blue-green glow—that was Cherenkov radiation produced by the decay of radioactive materials.
[Warning: Fatal level air pollution detected]
[Analysis results: Plutonium-239 particles, osmium tetroxide vapor, nerve gas residue...]
The Power Armor's environmental control system immediately cut off air exchange with the outside, switching to a closed internal circulation.
Alex could hear the hum of the oxygen circulation device behind him, and triple-purified air with a metallic, cold scent flowed into his rebreather.
The outside air was not only filled with radioactive dust but also mixed with various highly toxic chemical substances; even a single breath would be enough to instantly fibrose the lungs.
Despite the perilous environment, Alex was able to advance steadily under the full protection of his Power Armor.
The environment here was so harsh not because Cawl deliberately chose such a place comparable to a nuclear blast site.
However, if such a place truly existed, for the Adeptus Mechanicus, it would be a blessed land from the god of machines, because radiation, in the Adeptus Mechanicus's doctrine, was a blessing from the god of machines.
The fact that mortal bodies could not withstand it was merely due to the weakness of flesh and blood.
It was precisely for this reason that most Adeptus Mechanicus Forge Worlds had such terrifying environments; only a very few areas, needing to be open to the outside world, had relatively normal environments where ordinary people could survive.
This Forge was also operating at full capacity, processing massive amounts of materials for the Expeditionary Force's orders.
However, Alex was not here to inspect the Forge's production; his target was something Cawl had hidden beneath this Forge, and that was the support Cawl had promised him.
Following the map stored in his Power Armor's auxiliary cogitator, Alex successfully arrived at the large door leading underground that Cawl had mentioned.
It was a heavy isolation door carved with the Adeptus Mechanicus cog-skull emblem. As his Power Armor approached, the Servitor acting as gatekeepers automatically recognized the authentication runes in his armor, and the heavy gate began to slowly rotate open, revealing the deep, dark passage beyond.
Alex looked at the passage before him, took a deep breath, and then stepped inside, continuing deeper.
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