Robert held a piece of parchment in his hand. What was written on it was Reddito's plan for him: "Large-scale restoration of hive city production."
It was called a plan, but in reality, it was incredibly concise, with only two lines of text.
The first line was "Relocate Lower Hive population." Given the current massive loss of hive city population, relocating the Lower Hive population to the Mid-Hive would concentrate them, making management easier and filling labor shortages.
The second line was "Strengthen labor discipline." How to strengthen it? Naturally, with whips, bayonets, and gallows.
Watching Robert hold the plan in silence for a long time, Reddito said directly, "Do you think it's too cruel?"
Robert did not hide his thoughts: "Yes."
"We must restore the hive city's production capacity as quickly and as fully as possible. We must have enough artillery, tanks, and aircraft to resist the green tide that could arrive at any time…" Reddito repeated Robert's previous words verbatim. "If I'm not mistaken, those were your exact words."
Reddito continued, "If you want to emulate your Military Committee and establish a Workers' Committee among the hive city workers, I can't say what the final outcome will be. At first, this Workers' Committee will quickly evolve into a workers' gang. T
hey will use this to resist the production tasks assigned by their superiors. The committee members chosen will definitely only be those who are willing to shield these workers and prevent them from working.
"In this situation, the expectation of 'restoring production as quickly as possible' has undoubtedly failed. To correct it, most likely, the army will have to suppress the riots."
"Honestly, I originally thought your Military Committee would also evolve into something similar," Reddito admitted. "Soldiers unwilling to train, completely demoralized, using this to resist officers, constantly thinking of demobilization, throwing down their weapons and fleeing when the enemy arrives…
But because the army was within your jurisdiction, I didn't intervene. I didn't expect it to succeed in the end."
Reddito said, "But the factories are different. This is my jurisdiction, and the hive city workers are also very different from your army. If you intend to mess around, I will definitely stop you… My words might be a bit harsh, but I hope you can understand."
"More than harsh," Robert sighed. "Let's do as you say."
"Oh?"
"You seem surprised?" Robert raised an eyebrow.
"Yes," Reddito did not hide it. "After all, those who achieve great success at a young age often hope to replicate their successful experience in all situations and often view those who hinder them as stubborn, old-fashioned opposition."
"Heh heh," Robert gave two dry laughs. "I know the principle of concrete analysis of concrete problems, okay?"
Just then, a beeping sound of a communication request reached their ears. Robert looked at Reddito, who directly connected and projected Archer's holographic image in front of them.
Archer spoke, "Master Reddito, uh… and Battalion Commander Robert?"
Reddito didn't waste words and said directly, "Just say what you need to say."
"Mm," Archer nodded, his expression serious. "I think you two need to know about this situation… Just now, an Imperial warship crashed."
"What model?" "Whose warship?"
Reddito and Robert spoke almost simultaneously, asking questions that were different on the surface but identical in essence.
"It seems to be a Battle Barge," Archer on the other end of the communication said. "Although I only glanced at it in a hurry, I didn't see any lance-type long-range weapons. It was all broadside macro cannons, bombardment cannons, hangars, launch platforms, and other close-combat and boarding modifications… a 'Textbook Level' Battle Barge."
Perhaps only medical students could understand how much bitterness was contained in Archer's five words, "Textbook Level"… Reddito and Robert exchanged glances, and Reddito spoke first, "I'll go. Someone needs to stay in the hive city."
Robert nodded, saying, "Good."
Meanwhile, inside the Battle Barge's bridge.
After RNGesus put the data slate back into Hobbes' arms, he began to feel a bit troubled: "Speaking of which, how am I supposed to find my teammates? It would take at least a few hours to drive back to the hive city from here, not to mention that after that desperate escape just now, that chimera is almost out of fuel and probably can't go much further…"
He looked around. This ruin seemed to offer nothing but dead silence.
Just then, the creak of a door opening came from behind him. RNGesus turned his head and saw Reddito pushing the door open and entering, followed by a squad of Servitors filing in after him.
Before RNGesus could react, he was pushed aside by Reddito. Reddito didn't even glance at him, walking directly to Hobbes, who was lying on the ground. He bent down and performed a quick and precise examination of Hobbes. His cold voice rang out in the quiet bridge: "This one isn't dead yet."
RNGesus: "???"
As soon as Reddito finished speaking, the Servitors, like precise machines receiving instructions, gathered around in an orderly manner. They carefully placed Hobbes into something that might have been a stretcher, but to RNGesus, it looked more like a cold, metallic coffin.
Then, with practiced movements, they lifted him and walked out with silent steps. From beginning to end, these Servitors, and even Reddito himself, acted as if RNGesus didn't exist.
"Uh," RNGesus was a bit bewildered. He looked in the direction Hobbes was carried away, muttering to himself in confusion, "Not dead yet? But he had no pulse or breath, and his chest was hollowed out…"
"Space marines' suspended animation must have a lot of concealment," RNGesus then noticed that four other players had also followed Reddito's Servitors in. The one who spoke was Archer. He was explaining earnestly, "At least it shouldn't be something ordinary people can distinguish, otherwise it wouldn't be suspended animation, it would be a coma."
RNGesus pondered for a moment: "That seems to make sense… Speaking of which, how did you all get here so quickly? I haven't even reported the situation here yet."
"Because we already saw it," Garry shrugged, opening his hands exaggeratedly. "This warship is so big, it would be strange not to see it, right? When it crashed, we were about three kilometers from here, and we saw it fall from the sky, smoking."
"Oh, I see," RNGesus said with sudden understanding, but in reality, he was thinking… This god dice is so amazing, it can even calculate the players' movements? It's a pity this duration is almost over, and "42" definitely can't be rolled every time.