Time slowly passed, and several more months went by.
The Lower and Middle Hives of Paratos became increasingly different.
With the deployment of two waves of auxiliary troops 16 million and 32 million respectively the Astral Claws’ control over the Lower and Middle Hives grew stronger.
With a sufficient supply of starch, the crime rate in both hives gradually decreased.
Especially in the Lower Hive, with the deaths of numerous anti-human gangs and their leaders, and the remaining members being incorporated into the outer ranks, the mortality rate plummeted by an order of magnitude.
Several large-scale projects also began to show results.
Water and air purification systems in many areas were completed and began trial operation, removing toxic and harmful substances from the water and air.
Although pollution remained severe, for the inhabitants of these Lower Hives, this was a luxury they had never dared to dream of.
Breathing no longer caused a burning sensation, suffocation, drowning, dizziness, or nausea; only a choking sensation!
After drinking, there was no burning sensation from mouth to stomach, no stabbing pain in the abdomen, no convulsions; it just felt a little choking!
For the Lower Hive people, this was like a dream.
No, they couldn’t even dream of such a wonderful thing, because they had never experienced it, couldn’t even imagine it.
These actions greatly increased the Lower Hive people’s trust in the Astral Claws, which in turn accelerated the progress of various projects.
As manpower gradually increased, more projects began to commence, such as the construction of a monitoring network, the clearing of rubble, and road maintenance.
These projects, apart from a few delicate tasks, were mostly simple manual labour, requiring only the movement of materials.
After all, without the support of civilian factories, and with most of the Lower Hive people being illiterate, asking them to undertake complex, large-scale projects would likely result in a high number of casualties.
Even if people died, their enthusiasm wouldn’t diminish, but Huron wasn’t a monster, and he wasn’t in a hurry for a year or two.
Naturally, he’d let them do some simple tasks to practice.
The construction team had expanded slightly, reaching a scale of 6 billion, basically covering all the lower-hive families.
This was a major reason for the surge in lower-hive stability.
With food to eat, work to do, and a gradually improving living environment, they naturally became more obedient.
As the superior stock carefully selected by the Imperium over millennia, most lower-hivers were the type who would behave once they were fed.
Those who dared to cause trouble, regardless of their reasons, had basically been wiped out by the millennia-long purges.
As for those born evil, those bastards who enjoyed torturing and abusing others?
Huron wasn’t without an army; millions of auxiliary troops hadn’t become administrative personnel but served as armed police to maintain stability in the lower-hives.
Plus, there was the support of the boarding special forces divisions and Astartes companies; those who dared to cause trouble would be sent straight to heaven!
That’s right.
In addition to the regular infantry divisions, Huron has trained several 10,000-strong special operations divisions.
They are conducting exercises while fighting regular enemies such as gangs and mutated creatures to gain experience and try to reach Level 3 training as soon as possible.
After several months of production, the military factories had produced over a hundred sets of Indomitus Terminator armour.
Including the existing Terminators in the Chapter, the veteran companies of the two companies finally had every soldier equipped with Terminator armour, becoming veritable “Terminator Companies.”
This equipment was normally not used, given its high cost.
But Huron didn’t care; he simply waved his hand, ordering the veteran companies to wear the Terminators on duty to accelerate their proficiency.
Since a set of Terminators was being produced daily, even if one broke, it could be replaced immediately.
This caused great distress to the various monsters in the Lower Hive.
Being hunted by Space Marines was bad enough, but now even Terminators were appearing.
How could they possibly be surrounded and attacked by so many Terminators?!
Under the combined daily suppression efforts of large-scale armed police, elite special forces divisions, the Astartes companies, and Terminator companies, the accidental death rate in the Lower Hive decreased significantly, and some previously dangerous areas were brought under the control of the Astral Claws.
In the lounge of the Astral Claws Monastery, Huron watched the stability level in his system steadily rise and couldn’t help but hum softly.
The buffs from over 50% stability were quite good: support increased by 5%, factory and shipyard output increased by 5%, civilian construction speed improved, military production capacity increased, and frigate repair time was reduced by nearly 20 days.
More importantly, the high stability level put him in a good mood.
“Before I came, the stability was terrible; now it’s still terrible.
What the hell did I come here for?”
Transmigrating into the cesspool of Warhammer 40,000, and into the body of Huron Blackheart, the future traitor Astartes, had never lessened his mental stress.
Even with the system, he wasn’t sure how strong it was.
What if it was a useless system that only knew how to transform into a human and wait to be beaten?
Then the two weaklings would be in jail together.
Fortunately, the system’s functions were quite powerful; in less than a year, it had accomplished so much.
Huron popped a few grape-like xenos fruits into his mouth, chewing as he admired the data on the system panel.
Over six hundred armed police divisions, six special operations divisions, two Astartes companies, and an inventory of over two hundred sets of MK VII power armour and six sets of Terminator armour.
“We common folk are truly happy today…”
He had barely hummed two lines of a song out of tune when there was a knock on the door of the lounge.
Huron’s face instantly contorted with pain, then returned to its usual expressionless state: “Come in.”
Odinson pushed open the door, his expression somewhat strange: “Chapter Master, former planetary governor Valen Watt has invited you to a banquet.”
“?” Huron was somewhat surprised.
“Invited me?
Did he say why?”
“He said he wanted to discuss how to deal with those unruly nobles.”
“Unruly?
I think he’s the most unruly noble of all.”
Huron was speechless.
Valen, who was constantly conspiring with nobles in meetings, had the nerve to call other nobles unruly?
He almost laughed, which was why Odinson’s expression was so odd.
“So, Chapter Master, are you going to this banquet?”
Huron pondered for a moment: “Go?
Why not?
I want to see what he’s up to.
But I need to be prepared first.”
Huron took the invitation from Odinson, checked the time, and then ordered, “Arrange for Corian to bring his company with me.
Have all units ready to deploy at any time.”
“Yes, Chapter Master.” Odinson gave an Aquila salute and left to make the arrangements.
Huron stroked the intricate gold patterns on the invitation, somewhat curious about what this man was planning.
“Hopefully, he’ll behave himself.”