Chapter 66: Exchange of Children and Farewell

Cruiser Sotharan, bridge.

Vlahos sat in the captain's chair with his chin in his hand, thinking.

After thinking for a while, he turned around and asked:

"How long?"

The technical priest standing nearby immediately replied:

"A quarter of an hour yet, sir."

Vlahos nodded and asked:

"Hasn't any of the teams sent back any news?"

The attendant standing on the other side shook his head and said, "No, sir."

"Including Qingshan's White Scar team?"

The aide hesitated for a moment, not knowing why Vlahos asked about the situation of this small team alone, but he still answered:

"Yes, sir. There has been no news from them either."

Vlahos touched his chin, grinned, and thought: Yes, if the space marines sent into the space hulk destroyed the gravity siphon device of the space hulk, the spacecraft would naturally be out of control.

Looking at Vlahos's appearance, the technical priest whispered a reminder:

"Sir, if the current engine thrust remains unchanged, the tail engine nozzle of the Sothalan will touch the space hulk in a quarter of an hour. Once the engine plasma channel crashes and melts, we will completely merge with the space hulk."

Vlahos nodded and said calmly, "I know."

"Should we increase the engine output so we can delay the battle a little longer?" the technical priest suggested.

Vlahos shook his head and said, "That's not necessary."

After thinking for a moment, he asked,

"Has the self-destruct protocol been locked?"

"All ready, my lord."

Vlahos looked forward, was silent for a while, and whispered:

"For the Emperor."

The attendant saluted with his fist: "For the Emperor!"

The technical priest lowered his head slightly:

"For the Emperor, for Om Messiah."

If someone was standing by the porthole at the rear of the Sothalan cruiser at this moment, he would be able to see it.

The giant asteroid behind the Sothalan, which is made up of densely packed scrap metal.

It is close enough to be visible to the naked eye.

…

The White Scars team circled around in the winding corridors and gradually approached the target location.

The increasing number of corpses on the ground can prove it.

Fu Qinghai carefully examined the wounds on the bodies of the Ultramarines and Mortal Auxiliary Forces.

Many of them were from large-caliber energy weapons, and there were two tragic corpses that were crushed into meat paste with their armor, like beetles hit by a large truck. Fu Qinghai was not sure what to make of this.

The enemy has changed again.

At least this time it's not a slaver anymore.

Fu Qinghai was very sure that the enslavers would not cause such harm.

The White Scars team hurriedly turned a corner and saw a row of Ultramarines in dark blue armor. They were using some debris from junked space ships to build a makeshift shelter, which served as an obstacle and they were shooting at the enemies outside the shelter.

The Ultramarines in the middle heard footsteps coming from behind and turned back. When he saw the White Scars team, he shouted excitedly:

"Qingshan, you are here!"

As soon as Fu Qinghai heard the voice, he recognized it as his old acquaintance Gourt.

At this moment, a blue plasma beam shot past Gult's head, scaring him so much that he quickly shrank his head and ran towards Fu Qinghai with a bent waist.

"Qingshan." Gult said as he ran.

"Gurte, what's the situation now?" Fu Qinghai took off his helmet and asked.

"We have encountered a hateful intelligence, Qingshan!" Gult came to Fu Qinghai and briefly explained the current situation:

"Several teams of soldiers who landed from different routes have gathered here. We can already hear the rumble of that weird gravity siphon device when it's in operation, but a group of rebellious cybernetic mechas are guarding this place. Damn, they have strong firepower and very sturdy bodies, but I can't identify their models."

Gult waved his hand and said:

"You've come at the right time, Qingshan. You're a technical sergeant, maybe you know these guys."

Fu Qinghai followed Gult and crouched to the side of the makeshift shelter. Through the gap in the shelter, Gult pointed at the tall robot that was shooting at the Extreme Warriors in the distance.

"Look, those are them!"

Fu Qinghai looked up and immediately understood.

Outside the passage was an open and towering space, which looked like the interior of a giant spaceship.

Seven or eight huge bipedal humanoid robots, carrying weapons and bearing the volleys of fire from the Extreme Marines, were slowly advancing towards this line of defense.

They are five meters tall, with a huge and solid main body fixed to the two-legged chassis by a short and thick main shaft. On both sides of the main body are wide shoulder armor plates, and two huge mechanical arms extend from under the shoulder armor plates. Each arm is fixed with a rectangular device with a muzzle. Two thick black cables connect the two iron box devices to the power reactor behind them.

The robot's head is in the middle of the main body. It is an ellipsoidal head with three circular detectors on one side of the head. Their heads are not located above the shoulders like other humanoid robots, which makes them look like a group of short and strong hunchbacked men with big arms.

This design is a feature of Warhammer 40K. All the humanoid mechanical units of the Human Empire, from the cybernetic robots, the Knight Titans, to the towering Emperor Titans, have their heads placed in the middle of the fuselage instead of on the top, which makes them look like a big hunchback.

These robots also carried a thick cannon on their right shoulders. As they slowly moved forward, the muzzles of the cannons continuously fired plasma or heavy bombs in the direction of the Extreme Marines.

"Domita-type intelligent robot, with additional long-range weapons installed on the shoulders."

Fu Qinghai said in a deep voice.

He identified the enemy's model at a glance.

Gult asked: "So these are the products of the Mechanicus? Then why haven't I seen them before in the Cybernetic Corps that follow us?"

The Adeptus Mechanicus has three major military forces: the Skitarii, the Cybernetic Legion, and the Titan Legion.

Skitarii usually stay in the forge world to protect the safety of the production line.

The Cybernetics Legion and the Titan Legion are the Mechanicus troops that followed the Space Marine Legion in the Great Crusade.

The Intelligent Control Corps is a collection of various types of mechas, intelligent war robots created without violating the Crimson Protocol that restricts artificial intelligence.

The Titan Legion is a group of giant war machines controlled by human pilots. They are often hundreds of meters tall and are responsible for the fire support of each legion.

Fu Qinghai turned his head to look at Gult and snorted, "This model is the most advanced model that was only put into service in the late stage of the Great Crusade. The Warmaster will certainly not give priority to the Ultramarines."

Gulte understood immediately.

Like the MK4 extreme power armor, the Domitar mecha is also the most advanced weapon and equipment of the Mechanicus. The Warmaster, who had long begun to plot a rebellion, used his power as the supreme military commander to allocate supplies, and would certainly give priority to equipping these good things to his own legion and other traitor legions.

Gulte spat, calling He Guangtou shameless, and turned to ask,

"So Qingshan, as a technical sergeant, you must know the weaknesses of these intelligent robot soldiers, right?"

"…"

Looking at Gult's eager and expectant eyes, Fu Qinghai didn't know how to explain to him for a moment.

"Gult, do you think... Space Marines have weaknesses?" Fu Qinghai asked.

"No!" Gult shook his head firmly. "Space Marines are the most perfect killing weapons carefully designed by the Emperor. It is impossible for him to set weaknesses and shortcomings for us."

You can see that he is very proud of his identity.

"Then..." Fu Qinghai said seriously: "The Mechanicus has the same attitude towards intelligent robot soldiers."

Fu Qinghai said it very politely, but Gult understood it. He looked embarrassed and pointed at the bodies lying in disorder outside the bunker and said:

"You see, we once advanced to the vicinity of the gravity siphon device, but were forced back by this group of intelligent robot soldiers. Now they are launching a counterattack against us. The temporary shelter here cannot last for too long."

What this means is that whether the mission is completed or not is another matter. If we don't retreat, everyone will be killed here by these robots.

Intelligent cybernetic robots are very powerful, as can be seen from the number alone: ​​a Space Marine Corps may have hundreds of thousands of Space Marines, but only thousands to tens of thousands of intelligent cybernetic robots.

The cost of a large-scale intelligent robot is equivalent to that of several Space Marines.

Upon hearing this, Fu Qinghai also felt the thorniness of the problem.

He turned his head to look at the intelligent robots that were marching in an orderly manner toward the defense line outside the bunker, and then looked up at the towering dome that seemed to have no top. The rumbling sound of large machines operating echoed in the huge empty space.

Fu Qinghai shouted: "To deal with this group of intelligent robot soldiers, the power of the grenade launcher is not enough. I need a hot melt gun, a plasma gun and an incendiary weapon. Where is our heavy firepower support team?"

The sound had to be loud enough to cover the vibrations caused by the intelligent robot soldiers stepping on the floor not far away and the sound of the giant device running.

The various assault tanks and infantry fighting vehicles of the Space Marines cannot enter the Space Hulk, but the Space Marines generally have a fire support team equipped with heavy long-range weapons to provide anti-tank or anti-fortification support.

Gult also responded loudly: "Dead, or out of ammunition. On the way here, we fought a group of psychic jellyfish and broke through the various bulkheads of the space hulk to open up the road. We consumed too much ammunition."

"If Commander Vlahos hadn't anticipated this situation and sent a group of mortal auxiliary troops to give us some additional ammunition, we wouldn't even be able to fire our double-barreled melta guns now!"

Damn it, you guys actually used precious melta guns and plasma guns to blast and cut the bulkheads of a wrecked space ship... Fu Qinghai felt a pang of pain when he heard this: When I led a team and encountered doors and walls that could not be opened with welding guns, we would just take a detour. I didn't expect that you would use heavy weapons to break down the doors. How rich are you?

No wonder all the Extreme Warriors arrived at the target location before me, it turned out that they had used brute force to clear the way all the way here, there was no such thing as taking a detour.

Gult was waiting for his suggestion, and the White Scars behind him were waiting for his order, but Fu Qinghai was in a stalemate at this time - how to fight without heavy weapons?

Gult saw that Fu Qinghai couldn't think of a solution for a while, so he turned around and walked back to the defense line, shouting:

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

"Ultramarines, form a formation!"

Except for a few Ultramarines with heavy weapons who were still lying on the bunkers and firing, the Ultramarines without heavy weapons quickly gathered in a row and slammed their boarding shields, which were as square and thick as door panels, to the ground.

"Boom!" A uniform and heavy sound.

The Ultramarines quickly formed a tight shield wall.

Grenade launchers extended from the L-shaped gaps on the side of the boarding shield, turning the shield into a prickly hedgehog.

This is preparation for a hard fight, Fu Qinghai watched this well-trained scene.

This shield wall of the Ultramarines is firm, fearless, and full of courage.

But he knew it was all in vain.

Fu Qinghai recognized the square box-like device fixed on the arm of the Domitar-type mecha. It was a gravity hammer, a terrible weapon that could crush the enemy into a meat paste with gravity shock waves at close range.

The long-range weapons on the shoulders of the mechas are additionally modified. This is an assault-type intelligent control mecha. Its real battlefield positioning and role is not to stand far away and fire, but to rush into the enemy's line and use the gravity hammer on its arm to hammer the enemy's armored vehicles and fortifications into meat patties one by one.

This shield formation can't even withstand a single punch.

"Gurt!" Fu Qinghai shouted to the commander behind the shield formation.

Gult turned around and looked over in surprise.

Fu Qinghai said: "I have a way."

Gult came over and asked, "What's the solution?"

Fu Qinghai said:

"Think carefully, what exactly is our goal?"

Gult was stunned.

Without waiting for his answer, Fu Qinghai said in a deep voice:

"Our mission objective is not to fight this group of intelligent robot soldiers head-on, but to destroy the strange device behind them and resolve the crisis of the Sotharan."

Gult suddenly realized and said, "You mean..."

Fu Qinghai continued:

"I counted them. Excluding the one whose legs you just destroyed and can't move, there are a total of seven Domitars here. That gravity siphon device is bigger than a house. Seven robots can't defend it. There are a total of sixteen of us here. We can break up into smaller units and attack and destroy the device from other directions. As long as we destroy the operation of this device, our goal will be achieved. We don't have to destroy these intelligent robots."

Gult was delighted when he heard this, and was about to ask why you didn't tell him about this good idea earlier, but he saw that Fu Qinghai's face was still heavy.

Gourt was no fool, and he immediately realized the problems with Fu Qinghai's proposal.

First of all, someone needs to stay on this line of defense to attract the attention of the intelligent control robots, and anyone who stays behind will almost certainly die.

Secondly, the others need to be dispersed into smaller groups than the seven intelligent robots, or even single individuals, to destroy the device so that the seven robots will be unable to cope with it.

The intelligent robots will naturally disperse to defend. If a group of people form a tight defense line, they can still fight against the intelligent robots. But if they are dispersed, with one or two people facing one intelligent robot, then the unfortunate person who faces it will be dead.

This is the exchange of children.

The inevitable sacrifice of some people is exchanged for the achievement of the mission objectives.

After realizing this, Gult suddenly fell into hesitation and entanglement.

Who should be sent to stay behind? Who should be sent to disperse?

Fu Qinghai did not wait for him to figure out the result, and said directly:

"Gather all the heavy weapons that can be used to me, I will be responsible for staying on this line of defense."

Gult was surprised and asked, "You?"

Fu Qinghai nodded: "Yes. By the way, do you have phosphide grenades or phosphide bombs?"

Gult shook his head: "Only the Death Guard are equipped with such weapons."

Like plasma, melta and deflagration weapons, phosphide weapons are an excellent anti-heavy armor weapon that is said to be able to burn everything. However, the disadvantage is that they cause extremely serious pollution. Areas where phosphide weapons have been used cannot be reused for thousands of years.

It was originally a subspace garbage dump, and Fu Qinghai had no psychological burden about using phosphide weapons on the abandoned space ship.

Unfortunately, the Sotharan had no such weapon in its arsenal.

Gourt didn't expect Fu Qinghai to choose the mission with the highest chance of death.

If you choose to disperse and destroy the gravity siphon device, there is still a glimmer of hope. This is a test of luck. If you are unlucky and encounter an intelligent robot, no one can withstand the gravity hammer and it will be difficult to survive.

But if we stay here and delay the intelligent robot soldiers to buy time for others to take a detour, we will basically be sacrificed.

Fu Qinghai didn't wait for Gult to hesitate any longer and said directly:

"It's settled. Let's go quickly. The White Scars should disperse and look for ways to destroy the gravity siphon device from other directions."

Fu Qinghai patted Gulte on the shoulder.

Gult's eyes were red and he pursed his lips tightly. He looked at Fu Qinghai deeply, nodded, said nothing more, and turned to convey the order.

Albus Lang, who was standing behind him and listening to the entire conversation, nodded at Fu Qinghai and said,

"Take care, Qingshan. I believe you can come back alive."

Then, without further ado, he led Aaron and another White Scar warrior and turned around and quickly left in another direction.

Seeing that both of them had left, Fu Qinghai turned around and said to Chen Xue behind him:

"You stay here and follow me."

In fact, to be honest, it is very embarrassing for Fu Qinghai to make such a decision.

The others are all Astartes, Imperial soldiers. Obeying orders and dying in battle are their duties as a soldier, and they have no other choice.

But Chen Xue is just a reincarnation. Although she belongs to the Emperor's camp, there is no need to risk her life for an indigenous NPC.

But Fu Qinghai had no choice. The only reason he dared to stay was Chen Xue.

By utilizing the ability of the spell dimensional gate to ignore armor and cut directly, Fu Qinghai still has a chance to fight with the Domita mechas, or at least be able to deal with them.

If it weren't for Chen Xue, Fu Qinghai wouldn't be able to hold on for even a second.

Fu Qinghai gave this order to Chen Xue with great difficulty, but he did not expect Chen Xue to listen to him.

If you want to go, just go.

Unexpectedly, Chen Xue behind him just nodded slightly and didn't say much.

It was such a simple decision to stay.

Gult walked back and handed Fu Qinghai a double-barreled melta gun and two different types of plasma pistols, saying,

"These are anti-vehicle weapons that still have ammunition."

After saying this, he led the Extreme Warriors and left.

He didn't even look at the mortal auxiliary soldier standing behind Fu Qinghai.

Fu Qinghai took the weapon, looked down at Chen Xue, who was wearing the uniform of the Mortal Auxiliary Army, a helmet and a mask, and whispered:

"Come on, follow me and take a look."

...

　In order to highlight the protagonist, this chapter makes Gult a bit dumber, and makes the Ultramarines a bit like ground-breaking fighters. I'll criticize myself first, so you can't criticize me, ∠(」∠)＿

(End of this chapter)