The Imperium of Man's territory spans the entire galaxy. Even excluding vast regions like the Orc Empire, Tyranid-occupied zones, Tau Empire colonies, and Necron tomb worlds, the Imperium still commands at least millions of life-sustaining planets, alongside countless more barren worlds. Such is the scale that even the most seasoned Rogue Trader wouldn't know how many seashells in the hands of a Stone Age primitive would be needed to buy a laser gun.
Consequently, the various worlds of the Imperium of Man utilize diverse currencies—be it precious metals, parchment, or credit points. There is no unified galactic currency whatsoever. When engaging in inter-planetary trade, most worlds resort to direct bartering. The planet Avarax, where Marcus is currently operating, uses a credit point system. An Underhive worker, toiling twenty hours a day, year-round, earns approximately twenty to thirty credit points a month, depending on their specific role. A PDF soldier, or Planetary Defense Force soldier, earns around seventy to eighty credit points. To support a million full-time PDF soldiers would necessitate a massive, sustained supply of resources.
Marcus had already foreseen this challenge. Over ten days prior, when he first gained control over the majority of the noble families' lives, he had begun systematically collecting various antique displays from the homes of the Upper Hive's elite. He then dispatched trade ships to the nearest Imperial world to conduct resource exchanges.
A few days later, just as Marcus was contemplating his next strategic move, a man dressed as a noble, who also served as Avarax's Minister of Trade, entered and reported, "My lord, the trade convoy has returned. Of the five ships sent, one unfortunately got lost in the Warp before reaching its destination." Due to the star system's relative proximity, the journey this time had not been unduly long, nor had the dire scenario of losing the entire fleet in the Warp materialized.
Marcus nodded and accompanied the noble to personally greet the four surviving ships. For this critical trade mission, Marcus had virtually emptied the ancestral antique collections from most of Avarax's noble families, exchanging them all for essential supplies such as food, water, and weapon equipment. Additionally, over a million workers were brought in to supplement the severely depleted population in the Underhive. As he considered this, Marcus couldn't help but marvel at the Imperium of Man's miraculous voidships. Just four vessels, neither excessively large nor small, had managed to cram in a million people. Even a skilled packer would be thoroughly impressed.
"Take all these supplies to the Underhive first, and these people as well," Marcus commanded, observing the massive quantities of provisions and individuals being unloaded from the ships.
"But, My Lord, shouldn't these be supplied to the Upper Hive and Top Underhive first?" the official responsible for registering the supplies hesitated, clearly perplexed. They had never imagined that these costly traded goods would be prioritized for the commoners in the Underhive.
"Just do as I say," Marcus replied coldly. There was no need to explain much to these corrupt officials and nobles with their deeply entrenched views; simply issuing orders was sufficient.
"Well..." Several officials and nobles exchanged uneasy glances but asked no further questions, directing the other workers to move the supplies. Watching these inefficient and corrupt individuals, Marcus shook his head. "I need to find a way to get some management talent from the Resident Evil world first; relying solely on these worms won't do."
After observing the scene for a while, Marcus was about to depart when his superhuman vision suddenly detected a strange purple hue among the millions of newly arrived workers. Frowning, Marcus summoned the two Elite Marauders he had already recalled, and also called for several bailiffs. "Stop all the transport elevators first," he ordered. Then, Marcus led the two Elite Marauders, pushing through the obstructing crowd, moving directly towards those pale-skinned workers. Along the way, everyone, fearing Marcus and the two towering Marauders beside him, voluntarily cleared a path. His Psychic Flying Knife unsheathed, swiftly flicking open the hoods of those individuals. Sure enough, on their pale scalps, there were sizable purple carapaces.
"Gene Stealer!" The official in charge of supervising the scene immediately issued a warning and sealed all entrances and exits. Now that the identities of these individuals had been confirmed, Marcus did not hesitate. Beside him, the two Marauders raised their arms and fired powerful K12 Punisher Grenades. These grenades were originally designed to deal with heavily armored targets, but they proved equally effective against these smaller, lightly armored targets.
Seeing that they had been discovered, the Gene Stealer, who were most likely third or fourth-generation infected, ceased their disguise, tore open their black robes, and let out terrifying roars. However, in the very next second, before these Gene Stealer could make a single move, the Punisher Grenades whistled through the air and struck them. With a loud bang, the Punisher Grenades easily tore the Gene Stealer into pieces.
Levitating with Psionics, Marcus quickly scanned his surroundings and soon found many more traces of Tyranid Genestealer in the crowd. Under his command and orders, the supporting Hive City bailiffs, in cooperation with a small number of Astra Militarum units, systematically cleared out these hidden Tyranid Genestealer who had originally intended to infiltrate the Hive City.
After completing the cleanup, Marcus quickly sought out the still-shaken trade fleet leader. "Contact those ships in space; tell them to cease all activity and stand by." The leader nodded tremblingly, indicating his understanding. With this incident, he, as the leader, bore significant responsibility; even if Marcus were to summarily execute him, no one would protest. "Also, bring back all those workers who were just transported down; not a single one can be missing. Re-examine all of them." Marcus ordered the officials beside him.
Then, he looked up at the sky. He didn't know how many Tyranid Genestealer were hidden in those ships, but since even the fleet leader had disembarked safely, the number shouldn't be too large. It was fortunate that Marcus was on-site and timely discovered those Tyranid Genestealer attempting to enter the Hive City; otherwise, once these Genestealer multiplied and grew strong, it would likely attract another Tyranid fleet.
"This is a good opportunity for Isaac, Wesker, and Jill to gain some experience," Marcus thought to himself. He had no intention of personally clearing out the Tyranid Genestealer on those ships; such tedious tasks were better left to the PDF and the kill team he had recently formed.