Chapter 153: The Plan

"I think these greenskins are starting to show signs of atavism. At this rate of evolution, even Gork and Mork's blessings wouldn't make them progress this fast, would they?"

Li Xin, Commander of the Sixth Chapter, looked at the holographic projection of a greenskin warlord wearing armor resembling Mark 10 power armor, and spoke to Wang Ming after a moment of thought.

Ever since they first arrived on Fourth Castle Star, the Astartes-like travelers had realized that the greenskins on this world were entirely abnormal. First, they managed to handcraft weapons that even the local Planetary Defense Force did not possess; later, they cooked up technologies that completely defied understanding—things entirely conjured into reality through the power of "Waaagh!" and absolute belief.

"Uh... surely not?"

Hearing Li Xin's conjecture, Wang Ming swallowed nervously before speaking in a tense voice.

If the greenskins truly atavized back into primordial Krork, this war would change completely. Wang Ming could already envision a horde of greenskins standing over five meters tall, clad in high-tech power armor, marching right over him.

"This kind of thing must absolutely not be allowed to happen."

Wang Ming raised his insulated mug and took a sip of Mols tea to calm his nerves, then addressed the other travelers.

"Mm."

The travelers envisioned the scene as well and nodded in unison toward Wang Ming. None of them wanted to witness the rise of a new Ork Empire, nor did they wish to see Fourth Castle Star become the next Ullanor.

"We must nip them in the bud right here on Fourth Castle Star. Not a single greenskin must leave this world alive."

Wang Ming stared at the greenskins on the holographic projections and declared to the travelers.

If these potentially atavized greenskins were allowed to escape this world and head toward Imperial worlds with sparse garrisons, the consequences would be catastrophic—at the very least, the travelers certainly did not want the greenskins to cobble together a Battle Moon.

"Captain Wang Ming, I've discovered a new situation. Those savage aliens seem to share a unified faith?"

Suddenly, Captain Jiang Tao's holographic projection materialized inside the governor's office, reporting his latest discovery to Wang Ming.

"A unified faith? Gork and Mork, presumably? That's totally normal."

Listening to Captain Jiang Tao, Wang Ming pondered with a puzzled frown, figuring it must just be the Orks' traditional worship of Gork and Mork, which was standard procedure.

Just as Wang Ming and the travelers assumed the greenskins were worshiping Gork and Mork, Captain Jiang Tao pulled up an image.

"Why does this Gork-and-Mork colossal statue look so much like the Emperor? The more I look at it, the more it resembles Him!"

Looking at the picture brought up by Captain Jiang Tao, Wang Ming and the travelers felt a bizarre thought arise in their minds: the giant Gork-Mork statue in the image looked far too much like the God-Emperor, albeit a greenskin version.

"What the hell... it really does... and that Imperial Aquila on its chest..."

Wang Ming stared at the image before him, silently glancing at the portrait of the Emperor hanging on the wall of the governor's office, a deep sense of shock gripping his heart. Why on earth were these greenskins starting to worship the Emperor?

"This... this..."

Hu Jin stared at the image, feeling as though his brain was about to short-circuit. What kind of situation was this? Greenskins worshiping the Emperor? Did Gork and Mork know about this?

"Things have gotten even more complicated."

Wang Ming looked at the Emperor-like Gork-Mork colossus, feeling rather numb. This was utterly absurd.

"What do we do now? Those greenskins are obviously worshiping the Emperor."

Hu Jin asked Wang Ming, watching him closely. Those greenskins had clearly fallen under the spell of the Emperor's cult.

Wang Ming stared at the picture in deep thought for a long time. Seeing him remain silent, the others sensed that this current situation was going to be quite tricky to handle.

"We fight them head-on for now. I'll supply you with a batch of tactical gear, and have Cassator lead a team to destroy the greenskins' long-range fire support and all their supply depots. Even greenskins will starve without provisions. Then, I'll send Edvie and Cloas to scout out the greenskin situation, pinpoint the warlord's location as accurately as possible, and hit them directly with a Deathstrike missile."

Wang Ming put down his insulated mug, looked at the travelers, and spoke slowly. Every battle against this particular group of greenskins was only enhancing their technology; faced with the travelers' massive array of high-tech gear and lavish combat methods, the greenskins were gradually inventing matching equipment. Wang Ming even suspected that the greenskins' sudden faith in the Emperor was something they had learned from the travelers themselves.

"Understood."

Hearing Wang Ming's instructions, the travelers all nodded. Up to this point, besides this approach, there were no other viable options.

Only warfare was effective against greenskins, but the most headache-inducing part was that Ork technology would rapidly adapt and match the technological level of their opponents.

After finalizing the plan, Wang Ming headed over to the *Imperial Truth*, personally dragging out two Immortals who had been slacking off for a long time. Having idled about for so long, it was high time they did some work.

Cloas, Edvie, and Wang Ming sat inside a transport aircraft bound for the surface, where Wang Ming briefly outlined the mission they were about to execute.

"Wang Ming, why do these greenskins look so familiar to me?"

Cloas held a data-slate, reviewing intelligence regarding the greenskins of Fourth Castle Star, and spoke doubtfully to Wang Ming.

"Indeed, Wang Ming. I also have a feeling that these greenskins look familiar, like I've seen them somewhere before."

Hearing Cloas's words, Edvie reminisced for a moment before speaking to Wang Ming as well.

"Familiar? That's impossible. Where on earth could you have seen these Orks?"

Wang Ming looked at the two Immortals in confusion. He knew that having lived for so long, these two Immortals must be exceptionally well-traveled and knowledgeable, but how could they possibly find these greenskins familiar?

"The War of the Beast..."

Cloas looked into Wang Ming's eyes and slowly uttered the name of that ancient, monumental conflict.

"Although they lack the technology and sheer scale of the Beasts from that war, their organizational cohesion already carries a hint of 'The Beast's' shadow. If left unchecked..."

Cloas looked at Wang Ming and voiced his thoughts. He had lived through the War of the Beast; back then, serving as a member of the Astra Militarum, he had landed on the surface of Ullanor alongside the Lord of Drakes. He had witnessed firsthand the sheer terror of those Beasts.

"Moreover, compared to those Beasts, these ones might be even more coordinated and unified. At the very least, they are starting to adopt standardized uniforms and relatively uniform equipment."

With that, Cloas placed a photograph before Wang Ming. The image showed an enlarged view of camouflage clothing worn by an Ork boy. It was an imitation of the uniforms worn by mortal auxiliary troops, though extremely crude; the camouflage pattern compared to the auxiliary uniforms looked as though colorful paints had simply been smeared onto a dirty rag.

Cloas pulled up another image—the firearms clutched in the hands of the Ork boys. Though still slapped together like a pile of scrap iron, these weapons now shared a uniform shape.

"They have already developed a unified command system and a degree of organizational deployment. These beasts are beginning to transform into a real army."

Cloas told Wang Ming, his tone tinged with a faint trace of dread. Orks equipped with combat planning and unified command—the mere thought of it was terrifying.

"Indeed, Orks in this state are truly formidable, which is why we must curb them and prevent them from developing any further."

Listening to Cloas's analysis, Wang Ming nodded. He deeply respected the Immortal's insights. Cloas was a living witness to human history who had truly experienced wars of all scales. He was infinitely superior to Edvie, a "Child of the Stars" who had spent thirty thousand years fishing and slacking off. Of course, psychic power excluded; Edvie's psychic potential, after being tested by the equipment aboard the *Imperial Truth*, had been confirmed to be immensely close to that of an Alpha-level psyker.

"Sigh~ Um, Wang Ming... can I not go?"

Just as Wang Ming and Cloas were analyzing the current state of the greenskins, Edvie—who had been sitting nearby listening to their entire conversation—weakly raised a hand and asked Wang Ming.

"No."

Wang Ming looked at Edvie and replied earnestly. Even at a time like this, Edvie still wanted to slack off.

In truth, it wasn't just that Edvie wanted to shirk duty; having spent the War of the Beast idling on Terra, she harbored deep psychological trauma regarding Orks.

"Alright..."

Edvie looked at Wang Ming's serious expression, muttered a weak reply, and then nervously began rubbing her palms together.

The transport aircraft landed smoothly in the governor's mansion plaza. Once grounded, Wang Ming and the two Immortals proceeded directly to the Primarch's Honor Guard barracks, as Wang Ming needed to equip the pair.

Arriving at the barracks, they found that over the past month, Jose had converted the compound into a military stronghold. Firing points had been established throughout the various buildings, and Primarch's Honor Guardsmen stood watch over every corridor and defensive position.

Inside the barracks, Jose had already prepared equipment for Cloas and Edvie, displaying every piece of gear available to the Honor Guard before the two Immortals.

Cloas did not select a vast array of weaponry; he merely picked up a standard set of master-crafted power armor belonging to the Primarch's Honor Guard and a standard-issue laser rifle.

In contrast, Edvie exaggeratedly loaded herself down with a mountain of arms and equipment. She even strapped an extra layer of reinforced ballistic plating over her power armor and hung a dense cluster of melta-bombs all over her body.

"Uhm... sister... what are you taking so much gear for? Isn't this a bit too excessive?"

Wang Ming looked at Edvie, who was wrapped up like a Christmas tree, and said with a helpless sigh.

He watched as she transformed herself into a mobile bomb encased in various explosives, along with several pole-arm weapons strapped to her back that were taller than she was. Wang Ming deeply doubted whether she could even run while carrying all that gear.

"Fear of insufficient firepower?"

Cloas looked at Edvie and tested the waters with a prompt.

"Uh... pretty much, old habits die hard."

Edvie looked awkwardly at Wang Ming, quietly put down a few of the pole-arms, and spoke in a small voice.

This was a habit Edvie had cultivated over ten thousand years of being hunted by the Inquisition. Whenever ample supplies were available, she would hoard everything she could carry like a hamster, desperate to avoid running out of resources during Inquisition manhunts.

"There's no need for that, Edvie... you two are just going on a recon mission, not leveling a greenskin tribe. There's no need to carry this much weaponry."

Wang Ming looked helplessly at Edvie and unstrapped the melta-bombs from her body, genuinely worried that she might accidentally blow herself to kingdom come.

"Well... if you really want some heavy firepower, take this instead."

After removing the melta-bombs from Edvie, Wang Ming pondered for a moment before pulling a tactical micro-nuclear warhead out of his system inventory and handing it to her. He figured that if they really managed to locate the greenskins' main headquarters, they could potentially use the nuke to send the warlord straight to the stars.

"Uh... Wang Ming... aren't you going a bit overboard here?"

Cloas and Edvie stared at the micro-nuke handed to them by Wang Ming. Looking at the radiation symbol stamped on the warhead, they gazed at him in speechless silence. He had just called Edvie excessive, but he was far worse! Giving a nuclear weapon for a reconnaissance mission?

"It's fine, just take it. If you actually find the greenskins' headquarters, use this to blow them sky-high."

Wang Ming shoved the micro-nuke into Edvie's hands and told them with a straight face.

"Ah, well..."

Cloas looked at the micro-nuke in Edvie's hands, lost for words. Even if they somehow found the greenskins' main base, figuring out how to plant this device inside would be a nightmare in itself. Did Wang Ming expect him to charge in hugging a nuclear bomb?

Before long, the two finally finished gearing up. Persuaded by Wang Ming and Cloas, Edvie abandoned most of her excessive load, retaining only a laser rifle, a plasma pistol, and a power sword.

However, she still insisted on bringing a massive backpack crammed with compressed food rations—emergency provisions, in her words, because going hungry was an exceptionally miserable experience.

Finally, under Wang Ming's watchful gaze, the two stepped out into the howling wind and snow outside the city of "Wind and Snow," embarking on their infiltration behind enemy lines to locate the greenskin stronghold.

Now, let us shift our perspective to the heart of the greenskin stronghold, focusing on a familiar individual to Wang Ming.

The greenskin tribe's main base was situated in a medium-sized city occupied by the Orks. The original municipal government building had been converted by the greenskins into a sprawling fortress bristling with all sorts of bizarre, makeshift fixed weaponry. A massive, greenskin-style colossus of the Emperor stood proudly in the plaza before the government building's entrance, while hordes of greenskin boys clutched weapons and patrolled back and forth across the square.

"Ayala Mad-Dok, you were spot on! Believing in the big golden boss was the right call—I'm actually a WarBoss now!"

Inside the government building, within a mayoral office remodeled into Ork aesthetic, a five-meter-tall greenskin Warlord spoke cheerfully to a greenskin painboy standing nearby in a white lab coat.

The office, decorated in full Ork fashion, featured a massive sacred portrait of the Emperor dominating an entire wall, standing out in stark, bizarre contrast to the surrounding crude greenskin decor.