What lay before Fu Qinghai was a brutal scene: collapsed ruins, twisted steel walkways, and broken corpses everywhere. A small giant, clad in dirty white power armor, was slumped in front of the ruins. Dried blood scabs and semi-dry fresh plasma formed a dark red carpet before him. His entire lower body was pinned by a massive metal pipe, his legs visibly twisted and deformed, with shattered leg armor mixed with flesh and bone.
Yet, he seemed to feel no pain. This burly man had a hairstyle similar to that of the great Ronaldo, a 'bowl cut.' If Fu Qinghai were familiar with Chogoris culture, he would know this hairstyle was called a 'topknot.'
The bowl-cut small giant looked at Fu Qinghai, who was holding an electric shock spear, with a puzzled expression, as if seeing an ant lift a toothpick.
"So... you prepared for a long time, just to deal with me with this thing?" He finally spoke, his voice hoarse, rough, and unpleasant.
"It's for self-preservation, Sir," Fu Qinghai calmly replied, not moving closer but instead beginning to observe.
Although his power armor was covered in laser scorch marks and various cutting scratches, and the Legion emblem was blurred, Fu Qinghai still recognized it from the bone-white base color, blood-red trim adorned with light gold lines, and the decorative hemp rope on the shoulder pad.
White Scars, Fifth Legion.
"Are you from Chogoris?" The burly small giant frowned, scrutinizing Fu Qinghai's distinctly Eastern features.
"No, I come from Levant Hive," Fu Qinghai replied, while observing the Space Marine's hands.
They were empty, with neither a Boltgun nor a power sword.
"They came from the same place," Fu Qinghai said, raising his chin and pointing to the broken corpses on the ground, adding a supplement.
He had already recognized them; the torn bodies were those of Sidrick and his men.
The Space Marine followed Fu Qinghai's gaze to his feet and chuckled, "Hahaha, so, like them, you intend to get something from me, a warrior with my feet trapped and unarmed?"
"No, I just want to talk to you."
Fu Qinghai was certainly not foolish; an unarmed Space Marine was still a Space Marine. They could easily tear a Hive City thug like Sidrick in half with their bare hands, literally tear them in half.
Moreover, Fu Qinghai had deduced that this Space Marine was cunning. His legs were trapped, and he lacked mobility. Theoretically, Sidrick and his men would not have been in danger as long as they didn't approach him. Yet, they were all annihilated, likely because he feigned weakness to lure Sidrick and his men close, then tore them to shreds one by one.
This was also why Lazor could escape back to the stronghold and only then die, despite facing a Space Marine.
"You are a White Scars warrior," Fu Qinghai asked, while observing the Space Marine's legs, which were flattened by the metal pipe.
A normal person facing such injuries would have long since died from excessive blood loss from the major arteries in their legs. Fu Qinghai couldn't help but marvel at the Space Marine's tenacious vitality. Of course, this was also partly due to the power armor's life support system repairing some of the damage. Fu Qinghai could see the coagulated hemostatic gel at the shattered leg armor, but it still couldn't prevent some blood and tissue fluid from flowing onto the floor, mixing with the semi-dry plasma in front of him.
"You know quite a bit," the Space Marine said, looking at Fu Qinghai with interest.
"How should I address you?" Fu Qinghai lowered the tip of his spear slightly, relaxed a bit, and took a small step forward, but still dared not let down his guard.
"Wokotai, Wokotai Magnut. If you were a soldier of our Legion, you could also call me Wokotai Nayan Khan," the burly man with the rough face replied, maintaining his relaxed expression, a slight curve even appearing at the corner of his mouth.
Oh, he's an officer, a company commander.
The Imperial Space Marine Legions naturally had fixed combat organizations, with squad-level combat teams and company/platoon-level combat companies. However, each Legion had different divisions and titles based on the tactical habits and cultural customs of their Gene-Seed Father.
For example, the combat companies of the White Scars Legion were called Brotherhoods, and the company commander was referred to as "Khan."
These names originated from the native cultural customs of Chogoris, the White Scars Legion's homeworld and primary recruitment planet.
Although Fu Qinghai knew that the White Scars were a loyal Legion that sided with the Emperor throughout the Horus Heresy, he still dared not let down his guard.
Because he also knew that in the early stages of the Horus Heresy, nearly half of the White Scars Space Marines secretly chose to side with the Warmaster, intending to stage a coup and seize effective control of the Legion fleet when the Gene-Seed Father Chaghatai Khan landed on the surface of Prospero.
Although it ultimately failed, it indicated that the White Scars were not united internally, and there were many traitors who disobeyed their Primarch's command. Who knew if the White Scars warrior in front of him was a rebel?
Fu Qinghai took another small step forward and said:
"Uh, that... Esteemed Wokotai Nayan Khan, as I said before, I am an ordinary, lawful citizen of the Imperial Cheslatan planetary colony. I have no ill intentions. I noticed your current predicament and hope to help you out of it."
"But," Fu Qinghai continued before Wokotai could speak, "before that, I have one last question."
Fu Qinghai took a deep breath, looked directly into Wokotai's eyes, and said in a low voice:
"Are you loyal?"
Upon hearing this, the White Scars warrior's previously indifferent expression suddenly changed. His brows instantly furrowed, and his sharp gaze shot directly into Fu Qinghai's eyes. A low voice squeezed out from his throat and between his teeth, word by word:
"Boy, I have fought for the Imperium and the Khan for two hundred years, not for a ridiculous mortal like you to question my loyalty!"
By the last sentence, he was practically roaring.
This seemed to touch a raw nerve. He continued to roar, "We fought from Ullanor to Prospero, we hunted down every ship and every person of the traitors, and the bodies of my brothers are still floating in space above your head!"
"You! You, a lowly, pitiful mortal, holding a lighter, dare to doubt me? To judge me?"
The White Scars warrior was so enraged that he grabbed a severed arm next to him, preparing to hurl it at Fu Qinghai.
"I..." Before Wokotai could finish his rant, Fu Qinghai plunged the tip of his electric shock spear into the semi-dry plasma in front of him.
"Crack!" The powerful voltage from the Warship's energy instantly pierced the plasma, directly connecting to Wokotai's lower body, which was seeping blood, tissue fluid, and gel.
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah!" The Space Marine screamed in agony, caught off guard, his voice trembling uncontrollably.
He had, of course, seen the electric shock spear in Fu Qinghai's hand, but the slender shaft led the White Scars warrior to believe that its power would at most make a Space Marine's body twitch, unable to cause any real harm.
This thing was indeed just a civilian animal capture device, theoretically not even considered a weapon.
He had been careless.
"Hiss~" A puff of white smoke emerged from the tail end of the spear. After one discharge, the electric shock spear burned out as expected.
Wokotai also stopped trembling. He sat stunned on the ground, his eyes somewhat unfocused.
The severed arm he had already raised in his hand dropped with a "thud."
"Phew..." Fu Qinghai let out a sigh of relief. From Wokotai's tone, he had roughly determined that this Space Marine should belong to the loyalist faction, but his small body couldn't withstand a Space Marine's furious throw, so he could only make him calm down first.
A few seconds later, Wokotai's eyes blinked and finally regained focus.
Coming back to his senses, he glared at Fu Qinghai: "You little..."
"No, no, calm down, Khan, I just wanted you to calm down!" Fu Qinghai quickly raised his hands and threw the electric shock spear to the ground, indicating he had no weapon.
"I am a loyal citizen of the Imperium, and I am on your side. I also hate Horus, and I love the Emperor as I love my father!" Fu Qinghai spoke quickly.
"Please calm down. Your current condition is very bad. To prove my sincerity, I will find a way to get you out of here right now." Fu Qinghai said as he backed away.
"You..." Wokotai was a little stunned, watching Fu Qinghai turn and dart out the door.
Soon after, he heard the roar of a jet bike engine.
Wokotai saw Fu Qinghai dragging a long iron chain and walking in. Fu Qinghai squatted at one end of the metal pipe, trying to tie the chain securely to the heavy pipe.
Wokotai understood what he was trying to do.
At this moment, a girl's head poked out from the doorway. She glanced at the mutilated corpses, severed limbs, and plasma inside, covered her mouth, retched, and quickly pulled back.
After tying it securely, Fu Qinghai pulled hard, ensuring it was firm. Then he walked to Wokotai and said, "Bear with it."
"Hmph," Wokotai sneered disdainfully, "I am an Astartes. Am I afraid of pain?"
You probably forgot how miserably you screamed just now... Fu Qinghai muttered to himself, saying nothing more, and turned to walk out the door.
The engine's roar sounded again, and the chain instantly became taut.
The taut chain turned around the corner of the doorway, and as the jet bike outside pulled, the metal rings "clacked, clacked" one by one, being pulled out of the doorway.
The metal pipe also began to move slowly, the heavy pipe grinding over the Space Marine's legs like a millstone, moving outward.
“Hiss…” Even though the flesh of his legs had long since necrotized, facing such torment, with the nerves at the base of his thighs being pulled, Wokotai still hissed in pain.
The metal pipe was finally pulled open.
Wokotai’s forehead was covered in cold sweat. The sedatives and painkillers built into his power armor had long been depleted in previous battles. He was now enduring the pain purely through willpower.
“Ha…” Wokotai gasped for air, looking at his legs, which had been crushed beyond recognition, and thought to himself, “I might have to be sent into a Dreadnought…”
Fu Qinghai walked in again.
“You saved the life of White Scars Space Marine Wokotai Magnut, achieving a stage milestone event!”
That familiar, cold voice appeared once more.
“Calculating assimilation points… 209 points.”
“OJBK!” Fu Qinghai secretly praised himself, having successfully earned assimilation points.
Wokotai, who had been staring at his legs, looked up at Fu Qinghai and said, “I can’t stand or walk.”
“It’s okay, I’ll get a metal plate to drag you,” Fu Qinghai said, expressing his idea.
Wokotai pondered for a moment, then said, “Alright, but you have to help me first. Behind the wall behind me, there should be a few corpses of Horus’ Sons. Bring one over, and if there are any power weapons, bring those too.”
Fu Qinghai followed his instructions and went behind the wall where Wokotai was. Indeed, there were two Space Marine corpses in grey-green painted armor lying behind the wall, both wearing helmets. One was already half-buried in the collapsed rubble.
Fu Qinghai felt much more at ease. The enemy of his enemy was his friend. Almost all of Horus’ Sons were staunch supporters of the Warmaster, with only a very small portion loyal to the Emperor. The White Scars fighting Horus’ Sons could almost certainly be confirmed as loyalists.
Fu Qinghai found a power sword, lying quietly by the hand of one of Horus’ Sons.
From its design, it was a broad-bladed greatsword with a curved crossguard. The hilt was long enough for Fu Qinghai to grip with both hands, but when compared to the size of a Space Marine’s hand, and considering the ratio of the hilt to the blade, it should have been a one-handed sword.
The hilt and crossguard had only simple decorative patterns. The Low Gothic runes inscribed on it indicated the name of the Forge World it originated from. It wasn’t a master-crafted weapon, which suggested that its wielder was not an officer.
Fu Qinghai lifted the power sword with some effort. For Fu Qinghai, it was too heavy to wield. After all, it was a weapon designed for a Space Marine.
Fu Qinghai was somewhat reluctant to put it down. From the moment he saw this sword, his sea of consciousness had been constantly fluctuating. Fu Qinghai gently pressed a button on the hilt.
“Zzz…” With a barely perceptible hum, the entire blade was instantly enveloped in a faint, hazy blue force field. Wisps of white electrical arcs flickered around it, and the blue light emitted by the blade slightly illuminated the dim compartment.
This sword’s disruption field generator was still functioning normally.
“Kid, be careful. Don’t touch that blue light, or you might cut your own head off,” Wokotai’s hoarse voice came from behind him.
Wokotai had heard the sound of the power sword activating. For a Space Marine, this sound was all too familiar.
Of course, Fu Qinghai wouldn’t be foolish enough to touch this blue energy field with his hand.
The disruption field, the core of a power weapon, could directly destroy the molecular bonds of solid matter it came into contact with, capable of disintegrating almost all solid substances. Power weapons were standard issue for Space Marines and were also equipped by some individual high-ranking human officers. However, this was not a common technology; at least, many xenos races did not possess the technology to manufacture power weapons, and even many human Forge Worlds in the 40th Millennium no longer had the ability to produce them.
This standard power sword could fetch a high price in Fu Qinghai’s former Levant Hive City.
Fu Qinghai turned off the disruption field generator, carried the power sword back to Wokotai, placed the sword by his hand, then returned to the wall, and with all his might, dragged a corpse of Horus’ Sons next to Wokotai.
Wokotai picked up the power sword, skillfully swung it twice, and instructed Fu Qinghai, “In the power pack behind the corpse, find the storage compartment for the life support system. It’s… it’s… damn it, his armor is a cobbled-together MK5. I remember it being on the side. Try to find…”
“Is this it?” Before Wokotai could finish speaking, Fu Qinghai pulled out a compartment from the side of the power pack, fixed with various unknown liquids.
“Huh? You kid… have you had contact with power armor before?” Wokotai looked Fu Qinghai up and down in surprise.
His torso and limbs were all intact flesh and blood, not like an Adeptus Mechanicus monk…
“First time. You can think of it as talent,” Fu Qinghai casually explained.
Fu Qinghai took this life support device, came to Wokotai’s side, found and pulled out the same equipment compartment, which was empty of liquid tubes. Fu Qinghai then inserted the device from Horus’ Sons into it.
“Buzz…” Wokotai’s power pack trembled slightly, and the two spherical exhaust ports behind his shoulders spewed out a puff of hot air. The motor in the power pack began to operate.
Immediately after, Wokotai sighed, a comfortable and relaxed expression appearing on his face.
Fu Qinghai guessed that at this moment, painkillers, medicines, and hormones were being injected into Wokotai’s body through the power armor.
From the second-generation MK2 Crusade pattern power armor onwards, the massive power pack on the back of a Space Marine’s armor integrated devices such as a miniature plasma reactor, life support system, automatic medical equipment, air filtration system, and liquid circulation system.
“You could apply to be a Legion Apothecary,” Wokotai, slightly relieved from the continuous pain, even had the presence of mind to crack a joke.
Of course, it was just a joke. Not to mention the medical skill of a Legion Apothecary, there was one simple point: a Space Marine Apothecary was also a Space Marine.
“And then, there’s you,” Wokotai said, activating the power sword’s disruption field and looking down at his shattered legs.
“Holy cow, you’re not going to…” Seeing this, Fu Qinghai was startled.
Wokotai held the power sword and gestured at his legs for a moment, then swung it down sharply.
The ethereal blue disruption field, like a hot dinner knife cutting through butter, seamlessly severed Wokotai’s legs, which were still attached to the shattered leg armor, into two halves.
Wokotai grunted, blood gushing out. The wound was immediately covered by the armor’s life support system’s hemostatic gel. The blood at the base of Wokotai’s thighs visibly coagulated into clots and further scabbed over at a rapid rate. This was due to the rapid action of the Larraman cells secreted by the Larraman’s Organ in the Space Marine’s chest, distributed throughout his blood vessels.
“Performing an amputation on himself… are all Space Marines such ruthless individuals?” Fu Qinghai thought to himself.
At this moment, Fu Qinghai’s peripheral vision suddenly noticed the scattered corpses of Sidrick and others. On the arm of one corpse, there seemed to be strange marks.
Fu Qinghai couldn’t suppress his curiosity and knelt down to observe.
It was a mark of gnawing.
Fu Qinghai’s eyes widened. He suddenly looked up at Wokotai, subtly taking two steps back.
“You eat people?” Fu Qinghai asked in a deep voice.
Wokotai looked up, his gaze calmly meeting Fu Qinghai’s eyes, and said, “The nutrient fluid in the life support device is only enough for me to survive for three days, and my stomach can digest many types of organic matter to provide my body with necessary energy, including the corpses of enemies.”
“Corpses of enemies…” Wokotai’s frankness left Fu Qinghai momentarily at a loss for words. The moral concepts of the Warhammer 40K Universe differed greatly from those of his previous life on Earth. Fu Qinghai had initially found it difficult to adapt to the practice of cutting out the brain lobes of living people to convert them into Servitors, yet here, people took it for granted.
Fu Qinghai could only nod and say, “Alright.”
Indeed, a mature Space Marine couldn’t just starve to death; that would be too pathetic.
In the time that followed, Fu Qinghai began to pick and choose within the safely accessible areas of the Warship wreckage, finding suitable materials to construct a trailer to be hitched behind the jet bike. This was because, although Wokotai had lost his legs, as a Space Marine, his size was still far greater than that of an ordinary person, making it impossible for him to sit on the jet bike.
This trailer had no wheels; it was simply a piece of steel plate with a certain curvature, placed on the ground.
In the process of manufacturing this trailer, Fu Qinghai had to admit that the indestructible power sword was truly an excellent cutting tool. Even if not used for cutting people, it was highly efficient as a production and manufacturing tool.
After finding some usable weapons and supplies in the ruins, the trio prepared to set off back to the colonial outpost.
Wokotai propped himself up with his hands and placed himself on the trailer Fu Qinghai had built. His hands gripped the edges of the trailer tightly, and his gaze towards Fu Qinghai was filled with suspicion.
Fu Qinghai reassured him, “Don’t worry, I’ll tell Fei Yi to drive slowly.”
“Rumble…” With a twist of the girl’s slender hand, the jet bike started.
Wokotai, now without legs, sat in the trailer, feeling somewhat nervous. For some reason, he thought of the first time he participated in a Warship boarding action, and the first time he participated in an orbital drop…
………………