In a corner of the Chemical Refinery, boisterous cheers and the crisp sound of dice rolling echoed from afar, with most players immersed in the rare post-battle entertainment.
But Robert did not join them. He sat alone on a relatively quiet container, a translucent system store interface floating before him, his gaze slowly moving across the dazzling array of goods as he fell into contemplation.
A soft rustle of footsteps reached him, and Robert looked up to see a player approaching. It was the player with the ID Joker, whom Robert still remembered as a clever and perceptive fellow.
"Why aren't you joining them to watch the tabletop RPG?" Robert asked casually.
Joker shook his head, sitting down in the empty spot beside him, a hint of fatigue on his face: "Captain, you didn't go either, did you?"
He sighed, his voice a little low: "I saw some things, and after coming back, I really wasn't in the mood to watch the tabletop RPG."
So, he recounted everything he had just experienced in Sector C-1 to Robert, exactly as it happened.
After listening, Robert fell into a long silence. He looked at his carefree, shouting comrades in the distance, then recalled the image of the child Joker had described, and a strong sense of disconnect and heaviness weighed on his heart. In the end, he could only utter a somewhat powerless statement.
"You're right, all we can do is win the war. Maybe… maybe after the war ends, their lives will get better."
"I'm afraid what caused their plight might not just be the war," Joker shook his head again, a hint of doubt in his tone.
Robert reached out and patted Joker's shoulder, the force of his palm conveying an undeniable firmness: "At least on the current Perditia, what caused them to be like this is the war! Let's focus on what we need to do now."
His voice grew stronger: "Brave in war, lively in rest—aren't we doing quite well right now? Anything more than that isn't something we should be considering at this stage."
Joker was silent for a moment, then finally nodded: "Captain, you're right, I might have been overthinking it."
Saying this, he turned his gaze to the panel in front of Robert, changing the subject: "Captain, are you… thinking about what to buy with your merit points?"
"Yes," Robert also used this to pull his thoughts back to reality, "My merit points have already exceeded ten thousand, it's time to buy something to improve our overall combat effectiveness."
Joker was surprised to hear this: "Merit points over ten thousand? captain, haven't you been promoted yet?"
"Theoretically, I have been promoted," Robert said, "Commissar Walter spoke to me just now in a consulting tone; he clearly already considers me an officer of equal rank.
After all, holding a position with only a hundred men, killing a chaos sorcerer, taking down the Chemical Refinery, and even having slain a genestealer—it's simply too sensational."
He paused, then added: "But realistically, where would we find so many troops to assign to me, to elevate our Helldivers' prepared by to a regiment… This matter will probably have to wait until the third closed beta."
Speaking of organization, Robert thought of another issue. The Astra Militarum's organization was somewhat chaotic. Warhammer was a British creation, and the Astra Militarum's organization seemed to inherit the British army's historical tradition of not separating regiments and battalions.
He even considered whether to proactively establish a "battalion" level organization within the player forces. After all, whether it was Germany, which swept across Europe in World War II, or the America, which ultimately defeated Germany, both possessed mature and efficient battalion-level tactical units. Robert did not think he was smarter than the general staff of the German and American armies.
But the realism of this game made him somewhat apprehensive. What if the Astra Militarum's peculiar organizational structure had its reasons for existing in this brutal Warhammer universe?
After all, most Imperial systems were like this—things like noble enfeoffment, High Lords, and tithes. Each system couldn't be called reasonable, or even normal, but somehow, when put together, they just worked.
And as is well known, when you don't know why a system works, the best choice is not to try to fix its bugs… Joker nodded knowingly; he clearly hadn't thought that far ahead, merely excitedly suggesting: "Then, captain, do you want to buy a leman russ tank to drive? Your merit points should be enough now!"
"Enough is enough," Robert did not deny that his merit points were sufficient to exchange for a main battle tank, "But there's a problem: do you know how to replenish leman russ ammunition?"
He looked at Joker, saying seriously: "The tanks we buy come with one basic load of ammunition. What happens when it runs out? We can't just expect it to grow back, can we?"
"Uh…" Joker was stumped by the question. He scratched his head, saying somewhat uncertainly, "Didn't we just capture the Chemical Refinery? They should be able to produce shells there, right?"
Robert shook his head, refuting his presumptive guess: "A Chemical Refinery only produces explosives and promethium, not a machine factory. A tank shell isn't just a lump of explosives; it also requires a precisely machined casing, primer, and propellant. We can solve the explosives problem, but we can't make the casing."
Joker was dumbfounded: "That complicated? So, besides buying shells with merit points, we have no way to resupply?"
"Exactly. Without a forge or knowledgeable technical personnel, the tanks we buy will become expensive scrap metal once their ammunition runs out." Robert spread his hands helplessly, "We can't even make the most basic shell casings."
"It seems so…" Joker agreed profoundly, "Then indeed… buying an iron coffin to use as a disposable turret would be too much of a loss."
Robert then posed a second question: "And have you ever considered if there's anyone among us players who knows how to drive a tank?"
Seeing Joker about to speak, Robert preemptively added: "I'm not talking about the 'driving a tank' that means moving forward, backward, and firing. With an auxiliary system, that's easy for any of us players. I'm talking about another kind of 'knowing how'…
For example, how to use terrain to evade potential enemy anti-tank fire? There are guys among the cultists who can use psychic powers. What do we do if, while we're driving a tank in open terrain, an unexpected psychic missile suddenly shoots from a corner you can't see?"
He looked at Joker's thoughtful expression and softened his tone: "I'm not criticizing players for not knowing how to drive a tank; it's unreasonable to expect everyone to become an ace tank crew without any experience.
My point is, this is clearly a project that requires a lot of investment. We will have several, even dozens, of tanks easily destroyed by the enemy for this, and only then will we slowly train an excellent tank crew from countless deaths…"
Joker completely understood Robert's meaning; he suddenly realized: "At this stage, we clearly can't afford that."
"Yes." Robert nodded, concluding, "And the shells fired by tanks cannot be produced right now; we can only buy them with merit points, which is another huge expense. In short, we absolutely cannot afford the luxury of driving tanks right now."