Warhammer: I don't want to become a stinky can!

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As Po'Nivaan spoke, he gently pressed Maiga down to sit in that position. Ignoring Maiga's slight resistance, the Titan blinked.

"Keep trying, we won't be critical of your failures."

Polonium Nivan patted Maiga on the shoulder with three of its fingers in encouragement, and then the two Titaniums left the room under Maiga's watchful gaze.

The door closed again.

The room fell silent, with only the rapid beating of Maiga's heart and the buzzing sound emanating from the mechanical sage.

Maiga struggled to turn his gaze back to the sage, and almost instinctively jolted, to the sage's unwavering stare at him.

"traitor."

The sage emitted an electric sound from his throat, speaking through a vocal apparatus.

This word struck Maiga, but Maiga did not flinch. He subconsciously grinned and stared at the sage's tattered red robe. The texture of it... he must be an important person.

"traitor?"

Maiga countered with a question that, to his surprise, was unusually calm.

"The empire has never acknowledged the ants beneath its feet. It doesn't care about my life or death, so why does it care about my loyalty?"

"I just want to live, that's all."

Maiga stared calmly into the sage's eyes.

"Before this, I served the Empire in the Nest City, I served the Empire on the front lines. I mortgaged everything I had to this behemoth. I was sleepless, hungry, and constantly living in fear. But what did the Empire give me in return?"

Maiga swallowed hard, meeting the sage's sharp eyes. His tone became intense, and his voice unconsciously rose.

"I eat food worse than that of pigs and dogs, struggle among garbage and corpses with the worst equipment, the clothes the Empire gave me are barely enough to keep me warm, and anyone of higher rank or bloodline than me can beat and scold me! If they want, they can even kill me for their own amusement!"

"Before I joined the Astral Army, my wife died from the plague that spread through Hive City. She was still alive at the time! But that bio-sage just shot her dead! And then burned her in front of me and the children."

Maiga felt himself getting more and more emotional as he spoke. His heart was pounding, and tears were streaming down his face. If his wife and children were still alive, how he wished they could be living the good life he was living now!

"I joined the Astral Army just so my children could live. I fought desperately on the battlefield to survive so they could get an extra month's pay, but they still died, and I don't even know how they died."

Maiga's vision blurred. He was on the front lines when the commander gave him the obituary for the children. He stared at the signal and wept bitterly, but it was too late.

He wanted to leave the army, but leaving without permission was not allowed.

Later, during a long blockade, in order not to eat the corpses of his comrades, Maiga tearfully read the letter again and again. Then he tore the letter into small pieces, put them in his mouth, and swallowed them little by little with his saliva.

The obituary letter bearing the death of his child became the stepping stone to his new life, and Maiga successfully survived until the arrival of rescue—but the rescue did not come from the Empire, but from Titanium.

"For an ant like me, believing in the empire would only lead to a painful death."

Maiga wiped away his tears and calmed himself down.

"Following the Titanium, they gave me food, clean water, and single dormitories. They cared more about the soldiers' weapons and vehicles. How ridiculous! On the other side, I felt that I was treated as a real person, not as a consumable that could be wasted and discarded at any time."

These Titans spoke to him in a friendly manner and befriended him. As long as he worked normally, he would have a comfortable living environment.

He laughed, staring directly at the mechanical sage in a defiant manner.

“I know what you’re trying to say. You people only condemn our cowardice and our betrayal—but before that, why has no one ever seen our sacrifices and suffering? Those in power whip us and suck our blood.”

"People in positions of power like you will never understand us. It is titanium that has given us a real life."

Maiga said with a mix of sadness and relief that he was sorry he couldn't help Tai. His words didn't sound like a plea for surrender; they were more like a simple rebuke.

But he had wanted to say these words for far too long.

"traitor."

The mechanical sage spoke in a monotonous tone, which made Maiga think that the sage was powerless to refute him, but the next moment, the sage spoke.

"If the Empire needs it, everyone will sacrifice and endure suffering."

He stated the facts.

"Everyone is in pain, but you only see your own pain."

"Only in this way can we fight against the ferocious galaxy. You surrendered only because your tiny eyes never saw the real beast—did you really think that TNT was kindly taking you in?"

"No,"

The sage said coldly,

"You are valuable to Titanium only because the human empire still exists. Your comfortable life now is only because the empire exists. You obtained your current life by betraying it—you exchanged the loyalty you could have had for a worthless life and pleasure."

"No!"

Maiga slammed her fist on the table.

"The Tau, who believe in the highest good, are tolerant of the races that establish relations with them. In the cities established by the Tau, you can see various races living in harmony. The Krut have become a member of the Tau representative council—the Tau are not as sick as the Empire is."

"So what did the Krut people give in exchange for their status? The lives of their people on the battlefield, right?"

The wise man said,

"The benefits they currently offer make titanium still welcome them, but what will titanium do with these alien races once their value is gone?"

“Even if you claim to be working for them, you will always be a second-class race. If the Empire disappears, guess how the Tau will treat you? They will eliminate you immediately. Your comfortable life now is because the Empire exists.”

Maiga gritted his teeth, spitting out the words between them.

“Each race will find its own place in the path of supreme goodness, just like the Water Clan and the Fire Clan—”

"They will only treat you as pets and slaves. These clans are always inferior to the Ether. That is the truth. The moment you hand over the right to fire a gun to another race, you are destined to be their slave."

"But at least it's better than being a slave to the empire!"

Maiga shouted,

"At least titanium respects me! It gives me food and shelter! It gives me my own life! It gives me—it gives me the environment to continue living!"

If his children were with the Tau tribe, they would have grown taller than Maiga by now, but they are dead, their bodies lying alone in some dark, bitter corner.

"Hehehehehehehehehe."

To Maiga's surprise, the mechanical sage laughed, but the electronically simulated laughter sent chills down his spine.

“A naive race,”

The sage began to convulse, and Maiga stared in horror at the sage who was now unrecognizable.

"They are so lenient with you only because they have not yet glimpsed the truth of the Milky Way—once they realize the truth, they will realize how wasteful and extravagant their past actions were."

"And as a inferior race, all that awaits you then is a hypocritical betrayal."

An electric current exploded through the Sage's body, and Maiga abruptly stood up, calling out to his Tau friend Po'Nivaan. Maiga realized that the Sage was attempting suicide.

"You could have earned your loyalty; the Emperor and Hades would have accepted you—but you betrayed them, traitor! You betrayed the pain and loyalty of others! Judgment will fall upon you, traitor!!!"

"I just want to live!!!"

Maiga screamed, "He just wants to live! He wants food! He wants water! He doesn't want to be a slave to the nobles anymore!! He wants his wife and children to live!! He just chose the life he wanted!!!"

"If loyalty is so valuable!!! Then I'd gladly exchange it!!! Rather than die suffering with it in my heart!!!"

Maiga's scream was drowned out by an even more ferocious roar. In the final moment before her body exploded, the sage's powerful shout shattered through the walls.

"For Om Messiah!!!"

Yay, it's gone!

I referenced many novels by the Titans.

The words spoken by the characters in this article do not represent the author's thoughts; I am merely narrating.

Chapter 754 Mutual Fantasy

How is your friend?

In the quiet and comfortable room, light quietly streamed down from the gaps in the ceiling, illuminating the two titanium figures and giving their gray-blue skin a special kind of light and shadow.

The Fire Clan warriors asked the Water Clan diplomat, Po'Nivaan, with concern, but Po'Nivaan silently shook his head.

“I think the self-destruction of the mechanical sage put a lot of psychological pressure on him—but more dangers are still lurking underwater, and I think he wavered a bit.”

Yingyang grunted, then turned its face away apologetically.

“I’m sorry to have put this kind of psychological pressure on your friend. I should have searched the prisoner more carefully.”

Polonius Nivaan was silent for a moment, then touched its smooth forehead with three fingers. There was no hair there, and a thin slit extended downwards from the center of its forehead.

“I’m not blaming you, perhaps I’m only blaming myself. I shouldn’t have let this poor human warrior witness all of this, even though he did it willingly.”

Shadow shrugged; the Fire Clan was trying their best to express their emotions.

"Spend more time with him,"

it says,

“My core also contains soldiers from the Human Empire, and I often fight against this behemoth—the Human Empire is such a cruel and enormous beast that it usually leaves unimaginable scars on its people.”

Polonius Niwaan supported his forehead with his hand.

“Most of them were very enthusiastic, at least in the early stages.”

"Yes,"

Shadow Sun nodded. The soldiers of the human empire usually displayed a fanatical, even foolish, devotion, which was incomprehensible to Tau.

The faith of the human empire sustains them, making them willing to accept suffering for a specific person, or for their "Emperor" or "Pluto," forcibly inflicting suffering on innocent alien races, plunging one vibrant planet after another into the quagmire of destruction.

“But your work is very effective, Mr. Shui.”

Yingyang immediately added the next sentence, looking at Po'Nivaan, who smiled and made a gesture that signified humility.

"Because the highest good endures forever,"

Polon Niwaan smiled and said,

"After experiencing warmth and hope, these people who have suffered greatly will understand that the path of goodness is their true destiny. Everyone for me, and I for everyone. A small part of the human race is not stubborn. After receiving aid from Tau, they will know who their true friends are."

To date, the Tau Empire has a vast human population—a number that, if accurately counted, might be staggering.

This phenomenon is extremely rare. After all, it is unimaginable, almost impossible, for humanity, which has civilized the galaxy with its extreme racism, to submit to other races on a large scale.

However, the Tau Empire has a large number of human subjects, and these blue-skinned aliens often do this—

They would send out trade ships composed of water clansmen and soldiers, persistently exchanging their convenient and cheap creations or food for the most worthless things in the local area, such as bricks or dirt.

At first, humans would attack them and steal the supplies brought by the Tau, but some humans later found that attacking these little Tau was extremely boring. If they didn't attack them, the Tau's trading ships would still arrive next time and give them the supplies almost for free.

So humans would try to trade with the Tau.

Once they started trading, the door was opened. The eloquent Water Clan knew how to win the favor of the local humans, and the technological creations they brought did indeed save the local people.

So, over time, as the time came, a member of the Water Clan carrying a cooperative covenant would visit the highest leader of this human civilization. Initially, it would be an extremely ordinary contract, but gradually, Titanium would replace it with an even more unbreakable covenant.

Of course, if someone were to ask, what if humanity had resolutely resisted the merchant ships sent by Titan from the very beginning?

It's quite simple: before starting trade, titanium will station an army near this human settlement.

If humanity refuses to trade, then titanium will send in an army.

"For the Greater Good."

Hearing Polon' Niwaan's words, Yingyang echoed them, and then the Fire Clan added a point that had puzzled it.

"Our prisoner this time is a mechanical sage."

it says,

“I originally wanted to call on a Human Belonger with a similar background to persuade him, but after I looked through all our data, I found that there was no such person among the Human Belongers.”

"But I have encountered them in combat. They are more fanatical than ordinary Imperial soldiers. From what I understand, it seems that the Mechanicus are a faith faction independent of the Empire, and a branch of the Empire specifically responsible for scientific research."

"Just like the Tu clan."

Poloniwaan received the message, "But the Turks won't be as crazy as they are."

"Yes,"

Yingyang looked away, recalling some unpleasant memories of his time on the battlefield.

Within the blasphemous creations controlled by the Mechanic Sage of the Human Empire, it witnessed firsthand a human, transformed beyond recognition by the Mechanic Sage, screaming—the human's brain was half-exposed, with electrodes inserted directly into it.

"They...they are terrifying, bizarre."

Yingyang said, and it began pacing around the room.