Chapter 117: The Global War Situation in Gobei

“Are you Lauster? The recruitment office director?”

Wang Ming and Lauster sat together in a private tent, engaged in conversation. Upon hearing Lauster’s name, Wang Ming immediately recalled what the Emperor had told him earlier—that was the recruitment office director.

“Yes,” Lauster replied.

Looking at the time-traveling gene primarch before him, Lauster breathed a sigh of relief. He had initially been startled by the markings on the supply cans, mistaking them for the Grey Knights.

“Since I’ve found you now, I need a favor. The Emperor said you can selectively recruit psykers. Help me recruit a batch of reliable psykers—I need a think tank. Of course, we’ll pay them, but in return, you must prioritize supplying us with premium recruits going forward.”

Wang Ming was straightforward. He needed Lauster to recruit a group of time-travelers capable of using psychic powers to serve as his think tank. At present, there was only one such think tank among the time-travelers—a Midnight Lord from the Great Crusade era.

Wang Ming had seen the soul of that Midnight Lord. Like other time-travelers, his soul was a pale golden light within his body, blessed by the Emperor. Though there was no concern about corruption by the Chaos gods, Wang Ming worried about his mental state. That Midnight Lord always seemed a bit… unhinged.

After speaking, Wang Ming handed Lauster a supply list—a requisition drawn from the Mortal Auxiliary Army’s equipment depot, intended to re-equip the Thirteenth Legion.

“Understood.”

Lauster accepted the list and, upon seeing the items, his excitement was barely containable.

“Ten thousand sets of ‘Stellar Time-Traveler’ standard force-feedback power armor for the auxiliary troops, ten thousand QBZM21 laser rifles, ammunition and various supplies for ten standard units of the Astral Legion, one hundred heavy grenade launchers, one hundred heavy laser cannons, one ‘Emperor’s Venom’ super-heavy tank, ten Riemann Rus tanks, forty Chimera troop carriers, and five Petrifying Lizard self-propelled artillery units.”

Lauster’s grin stretched almost to his ears.

“This shipment is massive!”

He extended his hand toward Wang Ming, who reciprocated with a firm shake—the giant gene primarch’s massive hand and the mortal’s slender one meeting briefly.

“Pleasure doing business.”

They said in near unison, sharing a knowing smile like two shrewd traders who had just closed a lucrative deal.

“Fifty psyker time-travelers will be delivered to you in five days.”

Lauster looked at Wang Ming, relaying the expected arrival time.

“Fine. When they arrive, bring them to our base. Hand over the recruits and receive payment. Also, Lauster, as a long-term partner, I’m personally gifting you a bottle of Quartis wine. Here’s to a fruitful collaboration.”

With the transaction settled, Lauster cradled the Quartis wine Wang Ming had given him and went to coordinate recruitment with Lyle.

Though Wang Ming, empowered by the Emperor, had already cleared many of the Nurgle’s demonic forces, the surface of the planet Gobe was still under sustained assault by Nurgle’s undead and remaining demons.

“Anton! Anton! Where are you? What about the Land Raider? Respond!” Li Weihua popped his head out from the turret of the super-heavy tank “Savage Blade.” Watching the Nurgle zombies steadily advancing on their position, he raised his comm and called out to Anton, who was driving a Land Raider.

After Anton completed his original Astartes surgery, Feng Fan handed him over to Li Weihua to learn armored vehicle operation. Feng Fan believed Anton had great potential as a tank driver, so he entrusted him directly to Li Weihua of the First Armored Company. Li Weihua welcomed the responsibility, sharing the same intuition about Anton’s talent.

While aboard the “Imperial Truth,” Li Weihua personally trained Anton in driving various armored vehicles. Upon reaching the Gobe system, Li Weihua procured a Land Raider for Anton to ferry troops and casualties between front lines.

But now, Anton’s whereabouts were unknown. He should have returned with Wang Lei’s squad ten minutes ago, but twenty minutes had passed with no sign of him. Li Weihua’s concern grew—had Anton encountered danger?

“Li Weihua! This is Wang Lei. That rookie with you? He’s doing great. We’re moving closer—prepare your weapons. We’ve brought something ‘special’ with us.”

Just as Li Weihua fretted about Anton, Wang Lei’s voice crackled through the comms.

“What ‘special’ thing?” Li Weihua glanced around. Surrounded by Nurgle zombies and demons, what could possibly be ‘special’ here?

“Prepare the main cannon—switch ammo to high-explosive.”

Suddenly recalling Wang Lei’s meaning, Li Weihua ordered the gunner to switch the twin-linked rapid-fire cannon’s ammunition to high-explosive rounds.

As the gunner complied, a tremendous commotion erupted from the distant horde of Nurgle zombies. A Land Raider was charging through the undead, its twin-linked laser cannons relentlessly firing at the surrounding abominations.

On top of the Land Raider, Wang Lei manned the twin-linked grenade launcher, aiming at a colossal creature trailing behind.

“By the Emperor’s grace, a Great Unclean One!”

Li Weihua ducked into the “Savage Blade” with a snap.

“Quick, aim at the Great Unclean One, rapid-fire the main cannon!”

Just inside the tank, Li Weihua commanded the gunner.

“Target locked, main cannon rapid-fire.”

The twin-linked rapid-fire cannon of the “Savage Blade” unleashed a volley at the Great Unclean One. The high-explosive shells detonated against its swollen, distorted flesh, blasting away enormous chunks of putrid meat. After two salvos, the main cannon abruptly ceased firing, but the tank’s two quad-linked laser cannons immediately took up the assault.

“Machine spirit, why now? The machine spirit is displeased!” Ohm Jarladon, the tech-priest mechanic aboard “Savage Blade,” wailed electronically as the firing abruptly stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Li Weihua asked, watching the mechanic crouched over the ammo feed.

“The machine spirit is displeased,” Ohm replied quickly, then buried his head back into the feed mechanism.

“Enough of this—get out of there, I’ll handle it!”

Li Weihua grabbed Ohm from the feed and inserted his own head into the mechanism.

A loud ‘snap’ echoed, and Li Weihua withdrew.

“All clear! Continue firing!”

He shouted to the gunner and climbed back atop the turret to survey the battlefield.

Anton’s Land Raider had arrived at “Savage Blade’s” side, firing twin-linked laser cannons at the Great Unclean One.

“Pfft!”

A high-explosive round struck the creature’s head, unleashing a massive explosion and sending gore and shrapnel flying. Half its head was obliterated, chunks of vile flesh raining down.

“It’s not dead! Damn! It’s charging! Keep firing!”

Li Weihua barely exhaled before seeing the Great Unclean One lurching vigorously towards “Savage Blade.”

He urged the gunner to keep shooting. Nurgle’s demons and Great Unclean Ones were notoriously resilient; typical attacks rarely killed them outright.

The “Savage Blade’s” rapid-fire cannon continued hammering the creature. Its vacuum-based twin-linked rapid-fire cannon was devastating. The high-explosive rounds shattered what remained of the Great Unclean One’s head, utterly destroying it.

Still cautious, the gunner fired several more volleys into the headless corpse, reducing it to a vile, oozing mass.

“That’s enough. Call in the transport. Spray the phosphor burning agent and incinerate the rest.”

Li Weihua, gazing upon the corpse and the Nurgle demons and zombies cleared by their armored vehicles’ laser cannons, keyed the comm to the hovering transport aircraft.

With the primary ground threat neutralized, the transport could safely fly low. A massive transport plane passed overhead, dispersing phosphor burning agent evenly among the Nurgle forces.

“All set. Prepare ignition.”

Li Weihua entered “Savage Blade,” closing the turret hatch. Both “Savage Blade” and the Land Raider began slowly retreating from the battlefield.

After dispersing the agent, the transport circled once more, releasing the attached phosphor storage tank, which detonated upon impact, igniting the battlefield.

The phosphor agent’s even spread meant even a single spark would engulf the area in flames, and the explosion ensured a widespread inferno.

The raging fire would purify the plague Nurgle had spread, though not completely. After the flames died down, the time-travelers would conduct thorough disinfection using various cleansing agents and the “Emperor’s Codex” to fully eradicate Nurgle’s taint.

This was the routine on every battlefield in the Gobe system. Nurgle’s threat to humanity was paramount—the deadly plague spread rapidly, killing countless humans and sowing despair, driving them into the embrace of the Plague Father.

Though most battles proceeded smoothly, some were far from easy.

Inside a fortress, a grievously wounded time-traveler struggled to raise his power sword with his only remaining hand, facing three plague marines wielding chainsword scythes.

Originally, his squad had been clearing Nurgle zombies from this fortress, but they were ambushed by plague marines deploying plague drones, which swiftly killed half the squad. The survivors fought desperately, but only this one time-traveler remained—and he was badly wounded.

“They’ll arrive in about thirty minutes. Damn it, I can’t hold out that long. There are civilians in the room behind me. By the God-Emperor, this is bad.”

The time-traveler stared at the plague marines before him, hopeless. He lifted his power sword with all his strength. He couldn’t die—not now. He had to protect the civilians behind him. His only option was to defeat these plague marines before he could rest in peace.

“Brother, why do you care so much about these mortals?”

One plague marine circled the time-traveler, chainsword scythe raised, speaking as the other two watched idly, convinced the wounded time-traveler was no threat.

“My brother, join the Plague Father’s embrace. He grants eternal life. If you care so much for mortals, only by joining him can you be with them forever, sharing eternal life and joy in the Father’s garden.”

The plague marine tried to tempt the time-traveler into submission.

“You mean becoming like you? A walking cesspit? Forgive me, but I refuse. You’re too hideous.”

The time-traveler eyed the three plague marines carefully, searching for any chance to kill them.

“Oh, my brother, I know what you think. You fight bravely, but you’re like a recruit who just had surgery—we see all your moves clearly, understand?”

The plague marine hoisted the chainsword scythe onto his shoulder and leisurely paced around the time-traveler.

“Tyriel, put down your weapon. We can’t meddle in the giants’ battle—they are like demigods in myth.”

On the battlements, amid a heap of slaughtered humans, two local knights hid among the corpses. One held a crude bolt-action rifle, aiming at an unhelmeted plague marine.

“Kratt, you know we’re already… how to put it? Right, infected. We’ve seen those infected by the so-called virus the giants speak of. None survive. Better to help that giant take down the other three.”

Tyriel spoke without looking back, eyes fixed on the plague marine’s head.

“Fine, Tyriel. We’re dead anyway.”

Kratt hesitated briefly, then aimed his rifle at the unhelmeted plague marine as well.