Eventually, following the most concentrated and stable heat signature areas, the servo-skull guided him to find a maintenance passage entrance leading underground at the edge of the town square.
The heavy metal cover had long been corroded and stuck, but with a slight exertion, his mechanical arm's strength twisted and tore it open.
Below was a small pump station or storage room, now occupied by a nest of more numerous and slightly larger mutant weasels. They had made this their lair, filled with gnawed animal remains and various indigestible waste, emitting a nauseating stench.
"Physical cleanup, maximize energy conservation." Cairo issued a concise order.
The servo-skull flew first into that dark space, using weak electric shocks and ultrasonic pulses to effectively interfere with and drive out the rat swarm.
Cairo himself stood guard like a door god at the narrowest entrance point. His mechanical tentacles transformed into an efficient net of death, precisely whipping and piercing, instantly eliminating any creature attempting to rush out.
This was a silent, efficient, and one-sided cleanup operation. After several minutes, no more life signs remained in the nest.
After thoroughly eliminating all potential threats, Cairo began a systematic scan and assessment of the town's resources.
The servo-skull expanded its scanning range.
"Small substation discovered, located northwest side. Main structure intact, but primary energy source—rooftop solar panel array completely covered by dust and sand, output circuits have multiple aged breaks. Assessment: Repairable, requires cleaning and partial circuit replacement."
"Deep water well with supporting pump machinery discovered, located in central square. Well structure intact, but electric pump core components severely rusted, power supply completely interrupted. Assessment: Repairable, requires rust removal, lubrication, and power restoration."
"Current garage structure most stable, entrance can be reinforced, internal space highly utilizable. Recommend establishing as main workshop and temporary base."
The energy level of his internal miniature fusion reactor still hovered at the low warning line—the abnormal energy consumption during transmigration was extremely astonishing, far exceeding the theoretical values needed to maintain his body's operation and space-time leap.
He strongly suspected that most of the missing energy had been greedily absorbed by that ancient artifact at his waist, which was now incredibly quiet, seeming harmless as a lamb.
For this reason, he had to calculate every detail to the point of miserliness.
He activated the lowest power setting of his wrist-mounted laser cutter. The energy beam was so weak it was almost red. He carefully cut down the relatively intact metal portions of the garage rolling door, then used the mechanical tentacles' strength to bend and rivet them, creating crude but sturdy metal panels to temporarily block up the workshop's only entrance.
Having done all this, he finally allowed himself to relax a strand of his tense logic circuits. He had a relatively safe base, identified sources of energy and water (though both needed repair), and cleared immediate troubles.
The first step in this unfamiliar world had finally been taken steadily.
"Smoother than expected." He told himself, surveying this shabby garage that was about to become his new starting point. "At least there are no warp whispers requiring constant prayers for banishment, and no need to calculate ammunition reserves the moment you see Orks."
After careful consideration, Cairo ultimately didn't choose the more conspicuous but more structurally damaged city hall or large warehouse.
That garage he'd cleaned and initially reinforced—the right size, structurally solid, and more critically, it gave one that reassuring feeling of "everything under control."
For a Tech-Priest, this was often more important than grandeur.
Top priority: Energy.
His micro-reactor urgently needed external energy input to escape its low point, but before that, he had to first give this base the most basic power supply capability.
He spent most of the day carefully cleaning the solar panel array almost buried by sand and debris atop the substation.
The mechanical tentacles became the most efficient cleaning and hauling tools at this moment.
Next, using those old, nearly falling-apart tools found in the garage, along with still-usable wires and parts stripped from that "dedicated" cleaning robot and abandoned vehicles, he began carefully repairing the main circuit connecting the substation.
The process was tedious and boring, yet brought him a strange calm.
Applying the ancient knowledge of the Mechanicus—that profound wisdom regarding energy flow, material resistance, circuit logic—to revive a long-dormant system always brought him the purest satisfaction.
"Praise the Omnissiah, the underlying logic of the universe is always universal." He murmured softly, carefully connecting the last repaired circuit section to the terminal, then solemnly closed that rust-covered main circuit breaker.
A low, sustained humming gradually rose. Several indicator lights on the substation control panel, sealed for who knows how many years, struggled and flickered a few times before finally stabilizing into warm yellow or green light!
"Success! Output power... stable at 17%, far below design standards, but sufficient to maintain basic lighting, tool operation, and my low-power charging needs." A clear sense of accomplishment surged through his processing core.
He prioritized directing power to the garage workshop's lighting sockets and himself—a temporarily rigged cable of varying thickness connected to the energy port on his back. That long-absent (though weak and unstable) sensation of energy infusion almost made him want to sigh comfortably like a carbon-based lifeform.
The anxiety-inducing energy decline trend of the reactor was finally arrested.
Next step: Water.
The rust corrosion of the deep water pump was a more patience-testing physical task.
He didn't have ready replacement parts, but this didn't stump him.
The laser cutter was adjusted to minimum power, carefully cutting away completely rusted pipe sections like a scalpel, then removing similarly-sized metal pipes from abandoned vehicles. Using tentacles to secure them, he performed precise high-temperature welding and polishing with his wrist laser.
This consumed more of his energy reserves, but the result was worth it.
After connecting the repaired circuit, the ancient pump emitted dull but powerful impact sounds, like a heart that had slept for years beginning to beat again.
Turbid groundwater was forcibly pumped up. After passing through a multi-layer filtration system he'd improvised from waste barrels, sand gravel, activated carbon fragments, and a ceramic filter screen he'd accidentally found, it became much clearer.
"See, resource scarcity is never the problem—lack of wisdom and hands-on ability is." He said to the hovering servo-skull, his tone carrying a barely perceptible note of showing off. The skull's jaw clicked twice, seemingly indicating agreement.
With stable power and basic water purification, the real "turning trash into treasure" project began.