Li Feng led this group of Penal Legion Soldiers across a desolate battlefield. The ground beneath their feet was covered in shell craters and scorched marks, and gray dust danced in the air with the wind. The entire world seemed to have been destroyed by war, devoid of any life.
In the sky, heavy clouds obscured the sun, casting a dim, oppressive light over everything. Occasionally, faint explosions echoed in the distance, seemingly indicating that the battle was far from over.
Along the way, Li Feng continuously checked the map in his hand, comparing it to the surrounding terrain. He knew that although there were no enemy forces around them for the moment, they still had a considerable distance to travel to reach the friendly landing point.
Although this group of Soldiers had endured the impact of the plane crash and the pursuit of the rebels, now, armed with weapons, they gradually regained some morale.
Li Feng felt as if he was leading a group of characters from a TV show he had watched in the past: a former Lieutenant named Xiao Meng, a machine gunner named Mi Long, an demolition engineer named Bratt, a cook nicknamed Snake Skin, and a medic.
These six had walked past countless crashed planes and bodies, and many surviving Soldiers had been turned into human totems by the rebels.
One can only say that an incompetent general can exhaust an entire army... Soon, the group arrived at a crashed plane. This was not a valkyrie transport, but a large cargo plane, bearing the insignia of the Inquisition.
Li Feng approached the plane and began to examine its interior. Inside the transport plane was a large iron cage covered with a tarp. Li Feng and a few others entered the cabin, turning on the flashlights on their guns... After everyone was in position, they pulled down the tarp... Inside the tarp were four prisoners: an old Soldier in a Cadia uniform, a red-robed Ecclesiarchy believer, a Psyker wearing a suppression collar, and a massive Ogryn. (The Darktide Four Strong, players, you have arrived.)
Seeing several flashlights and gun muzzles pointed at them, they immediately raised their hands to block the blinding glare of the powerful flashlights. Li Feng, seeing the four inside, immediately lowered his gun.
Goodness, it's the Darktide Four Strong. This lineup of mine is starting to get powerful.
"Put down your guns," Li Feng said, pushing down the muzzle of Mi Long's rifle beside him, then examining the people inside. At this point, the believer said:
"If you want to kill me, just do it! Before I die, I'll bite off a few pieces of your flesh for the Emperor!"
At this moment, the old Soldier beside him said, "Calm down, they are friendly forces. They show no signs of corruption."
The huge Ogryn also said, "Sturdy doesn't think they are bad people."
The Psyker leaned weakly against the cage, clearly suffering greatly from the suppression collar around his neck, so much so that he didn't even have the strength to speak.
Li Feng then explained, "I am Major Li Feng of the 12th Valhalla Field Artillery Regiment. My plane crashed nearby, and my comrades all sacrificed themselves... These others are also surviving Soldiers from the vicinity. We are heading to the landing point. Do you want to join us?"
Upon hearing this, the old Soldier shrugged, having no objection. The fanatic nodded, and the Ogryn scratched his head, seemingly trying to understand what a landing point was. The Psyker, however, raised a weak hand:
"Whoever can take this thing off my neck, I'll thank his ancestors for eight generations!"
At this moment, the one named Bratt told everyone to step back and stand in the corner of the cage. He then began to DIY thermite on the spot, simultaneously shouting:
"A really big fuxxing hole coming right up!"
When you mix fuel, metal oxides, and metal powders in the correct way, it can release temperatures of 2000 degrees Celsius, enough to cut through almost any obstacle known to man... As the thermite burned, a violent combustion reaction occurred on the lock of the iron cage door, and the chains broke. The four Penal Legion also walked out from inside.
The Psyker fell weakly to the ground. Li Feng immediately saw the body of an Inquisitor's assistant not far away and began to rummage through his pockets, finding a key for an electronic lock.
Li Feng took the key and went to the Psyker's side, unlocking the collar around his neck. The Psyker took several deep breaths like a drowning fish... "Thank you, you are practically my reborn parents..."
Li Feng patted the Psyker's back and looked at the others nearby: "Give them the weapons we picked up along the way."
Xiao Meng hesitated at this moment: "They... they are prisoners..."
"Between the Punishment Battalion and the Penal Legion, you're six of one, half a dozen of the other. I, a regular army Soldier, am not afraid, so what are you afraid of?"
Xiao Meng could only sigh, then handed an automatic rifle from his back to the old Soldier in front of him. The old Soldier took the gun and began to skillfully inspect the weapon... "Skulltaker Autogun MK.9. Good gun, but no optical sight, only iron sights. That's enough for me."
The believer, however, refused the firearm and picked up the Chainsword from the waist of the Inquisitor's assistant's corpse. These were all too small for Sturdy, the Ogryn, so the medic could only give Sturdy the pickaxe.
Sturdy was delighted to get the pickaxe. He felt he could swing it to send many bad guys flying. The medic, watching this big child act like he had received a toy, also smiled:
"This Ogryn child seems quite clever."
...The original six-person squad became a 10-person squad... As Li Feng, using "Super Affinity," continuously approached the rallying point, more and more stragglers joined this team. 10 people became 20, 20 people became 50... until it became a force of approximately 500 people.
Li Feng even led this force and encountered old acquaintances... Lieutenant Winters and his Soldiers, whom he had seen at the training ground before.
The planes of this batch of paratroopers had been forced to drop early due to anti-aircraft fire, deviating more than ten kilometers from their intended target. Since Li Feng had the highest rank among everyone, and Winters learned that Li Feng was heading to the landing zone, he also joined Li Feng's force and advanced towards the landing zone.
The force gradually reached battalion size. Even isolated armored units and artillery units joined Li Feng's force, and special squads from the Kharon Jungle also followed.
The most interesting thing was that Li Feng even encountered a group of Skitarii. They carried portable manufacturing lathes and a large amount of weapons and equipment. These Skitarii were originally here on this former arsenal Kharon to recover an STC. They didn't want to go with Li Feng.
But after Li Feng showed them the Adeptus Mechanicus rosary that Cawl had given him, these Skitarii ultimately chose to follow Li Feng's force... Li Feng looked at the massive force behind him. These officers and Soldiers came from different Kharons and Legions, had different troop types, different weapons, equipment, and uniforms, and different styles of combat.
In fact, Li Feng's force, in the eyes of the Department of Military Affairs, was rebellious. Because ever since the Horus Heresy, the Imperial Munitorum, in order to prevent such a situation from happening again, also followed the codex astartes compiled by Guilliman and split the Astra Militarum Legions.
The Department of Military Affairs demanded that an Astra Militarum unit was not allowed to have so many different troop types and mixed personnel.
For example, Li Feng's 12th Valhalla Field Artillery Regiment would only have artillery, basic rifles, artillerymen, and transport vehicles; it would not have main battle tanks or other armed personnel.
Similarly, an infantry regiment would only have infantry. An armored regiment would only have tanks.
This was to prevent a quick suppression if an Astra Militarum unit rebelled, because that unit's function would be very singular.
However, the "Cannon Fodder Battalion" that Li Feng had now organized covered infantry, artillery, armored forces, paratroopers, special forces, and even Skitarii and priests as logistics personnel. At the same time, these Soldiers came from units across various Star Sectors of the Empire, which also meant that this battalion could skillfully employ different tactics in combat.
This was a living, breathing 40K version of a "combined arms battalion." If the Department of Military Affairs knew about this, Li Feng would probably be taken away by the Inquisition for a "chat."
Everyone knew this, but in the current situation, everyone was scattered behind enemy lines like headless flies. It was better to unite and return to the landing point together, as this would increase their chances of survival.
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