Chapter 3: Prisoners of the Void
The journey from the temporary camp to the Wasteland Society took a total of four and a half hours.
The elite marines were deployed in five-man squads, serving as vanguard and scouts.
Gu Hang, along with the victim Patel and the main force of his mechanized battalion, advanced steadily.
Midway, Gu Hang received a report from the marine reconnaissance team; they had discovered a small convoy, which appeared to belong to the “Prisoners of the Void” tribe.
Gu Hang authorized Captain Yan Fangxu to lead the marines and a portion of the mechanized soldiers to annihilate them and capture as many as possible alive.
Captain Yan, being a navy elite, handled this minor task effortlessly, without any surprises.
However, after Gu Hang listened to the captives’ confessions, his mood soured.
Gu Hang had Patel brought over and said to him, “It seems these bandits never intended to spare you.”
Patel, having seen the convoy’s contents, looked furious: “Yes, they were transporting a large amount of high explosives. Not only could they blow open the gates of the Wasteland Society, but they could also collapse the mines and bury us all inside.”
Gu Hang shook his head and added, “It’s more than that. According to the information Captain Yan obtained through interrogation, they had long since colluded with the Greenskins in the High Wall Ruins. They intended to sell all nine hundred plus members of your Wasteland Society as premium food to those Greenskin beasts.”
“What?!”
Patel knew the “Prisoners of the Void” bandits harbored extreme malice towards them, but he was still shocked by their brutality.
The term “Greenskin Beasts” was apt for those mutants.
They existed not only on Fury Owl Planet but were widespread across the universe, also known as the “Cancer of the Cosmos.”
They had no male or female distinction; they reproduced through symbiotic spores that fell from their bodies and “grew” from the ground.
Their food source was the same.
Technically, they didn’t need to buy food, but these Greenskin beasts had two favorite activities: fighting and eating the brains of sentient beings.
The former was their nature, while the latter was their means of technological advancement.
These beasts, grown from the ground, were initially primitive and barbaric, wielding stone axes and wooden clubs. However, after consuming enough and sufficiently intelligent brains, their technology rapidly advanced to iron weapons, guns, cannons, and even interstellar travel…
Their warlike nature and tendency to destroy everything made them increasingly devastating as they grew stronger.
Technically, such a race should be the enemy of all humanity.
The empire indeed had a kill-on-sight order for Greenskin orcs, exterminating them and purifying the land to destroy the spores, ensuring they wouldn’t grow back.
But… policy was one thing, and execution was another matter.
Fury Owl Planet was a place where even basic needs couldn’t be guaranteed, taxes couldn’t be paid, and various factions were in constant conflict.
The entire planet was a tangled mess, to the point where governors were forced to farm their own land.
In such a situation, it was unrealistic to expect bandits like the “Prisoners of the Void” to have any grand sentiments about the fate of humanity.
However, not only were they not hostile, but they were also doing business with these cannibalistic beasts, which was intolerable.
Eliminating the Greenskin Beasts was something that Gu Hang was determined to do.
Of course, not now.
According to the captives’ confessions, the so-called Greenskin tribe in the High Wall Ruins numbered in the thousands and had at least evolved to the point of possessing automatic weapons.
Their equipment was not significantly inferior to that of the humans on the planet.
Clearing out those beasts was not something Gu Hang’s current forces could accomplish.
Fortunately, the “High Wall Ruins” were quite far from here, so there was no immediate concern.
The primary focus should be on dealing with the wasteland raiders threatening the Wasteland Society.
Now, Gu Hang had precise intelligence on them.
Four kilometers away from the mines where the Wasteland Society was located, the “Prisoners of the Void” had set up a temporary camp.
These bandits never expected the Wasteland Society to dare engage them in open battle, so they hadn’t prepared any defensive fortifications.
“This is a great opportunity for a surprise attack! Our mortars can have a significant impact!” Yan Fangxu exclaimed excitedly.
“Alright, let’s do it.”
After a brief rest, what would have been a two-hour journey was completed in just over an hour.
They sped up, worried that the prolonged absence of the convoy might alert the bandits to something amiss.
After a rapid forced march, they still needed some rest before launching the attack.
The thirty elite marines were in good shape, but the mechanized soldiers needed rest.
They wouldn’t complain of fatigue, but they did get tired, and fatigue would reduce their combat effectiveness.
Following Yan Fangxu’s suggestion, the soldiers would set out again in forty-five minutes, and in an hour, the mortar positions would commence their bombardment.
From a distance where they could already see the “Prisoners of the Void” camp, Gu Hang patiently led his team in resting, consuming nutrient paste, and sitting quietly to recuperate, while setting up the mortar positions…
He knew that the patience now was to ensure a decisive victory later.
…
At this moment, Kaga was inexplicably troubled.
In these times, being a raider wasn’t easy.
They hadn’t had a successful raid in a while, and their supplies were running out.
Food was less of a concern; once they broke into the Wasteland Society, they wouldn’t worry about that.
Even if the miners didn’t have much food, a few hundred people could be slaughtered and made into jerky, which would last a long time.
But damaged weapons and depleted ammunition were harder to replace.
Major factions were reluctant to do business with raiders like them; only the Greenskin tribes were willing.
Although Greenskin technology wasn’t very reliable, with a high failure rate for weapons and frequent misfires for ammunition, and even when working, their weapons weren’t as powerful in the raiders’ hands as they were in the Greenskins’…
It was still better than nothing.
To be honest, Kaga didn’t care much for the ore that the Wasteland Society produced.
It was heavy and not very valuable, hard to fence. But the nine hundred people in the mines were valuable, both as food and as trade goods to exchange for Greenskin weaponry. Herding people was easier than herding sheep.
For this reason, the “Prisoners of the Void” had almost fully mobilized.
Except for a few old, young, and women, and a couple of guards left at their home base, Kaga had brought out the main force, more than a hundred strong.
The Wasteland Society had more people but fewer guns, so they weren’t a real threat.
Their survival in the wasteland was mainly due to their advantageous terrain.
Kaga had personally scouted the mine, and it was indeed easy to defend and hard to attack.
The entrance was sealed tightly with rocks and metal, and the heavy gate could only be opened from the inside, making it impossible to break through by brute force.
Yesterday, they had tried to blast the gate open but failed due to insufficient explosives.
Frustrated, Kaga had to send his trusted lieutenants back to their base to fetch more, including their stash of concentrated explosives.
His patience was running thin.
If he couldn’t trick the miners into opening the gate, he’d blow it open once the explosives arrived.
It was supposed to be done today, so there was no need to rush, but Kaga still felt uneasy.
According to his calculations, his transport team should have returned by now, but there was no sign of them.
He had already been urging his men to use radio communication to contact the transport team, but there had been no response.
This made him even more anxious.
Half an hour ago, he had sent out a squad to search the route, but there had been no word from them either, and even their radio had gone silent.
He became fully alert.
Such eerie circumstances could only evoke fear and suspicion.
Anyone not cautious enough would have been buried in the wasteland long ago.
He decided to send out four or five more squads to scout the area and also ordered the entire group to prepare to move out and investigate the situation.
Suddenly, a subordinate reported: “We’ve made contact with the transport team. They said they’re on their way back and will be here soon.”
Kaga’s brow furrowed tightly. “Why couldn’t we reach them earlier?”
“They said their radio had a malfunction, which they just fixed. They sent a message immediately to avoid worrying us.”
Kaga pondered for a moment and then ordered, “Reply: ‘You dog-sons, were you screwing zombie dogs on the way? Hurry back! If you’re any later, we’ll dock half your loot!'”
After giving the order, he quickly stepped outside and shouted to his men, who were preparing to move out, “Hurry up, we’re leaving immediately! Stop fooling around with your bullets, take as much as you can carry, and dump the rest! Get ready to break out! We’ve been spotted!”
The subordinate who had just received his orders was confused. He took two steps to catch up and asked, “Boss, this… I…”
“What do you mean? Go relay the message, grab your gun, and follow the team!”
“But why?” the subordinate asked, still bewildered.
Kaga gave him a knock on the head. “We’ve definitely been spotted! If the deception works, great. If not, you’ll die for being slow!”
With that, he ignored the bewildered subordinate, grabbed his gun, and called his men to prepare to leave the camp.
Just as he reached the entrance, he heard a whistling sound from the sky.
His face turned pale instantly.
That was the sound of artillery shells!
“Get down!”
He quickly dropped to the ground, cursing, “Damn it! They’re using artillery… ptoo, ptoo… don’t let me catch… ptoo…”
The rumbling explosions nearly drowned out his voice. He used foul language and bravado to vent his inner fear.
He had anticipated that someone might be watching them, even considering the worst-case scenario that they had been surrounded.
But he hadn’t expected that the people watching him had artillery!
Fortunately, his luck wasn’t too bad.
Aside from his ears ringing and his head feeling a bit dazed, he was mostly unharmed.
He half-crouched and looked around.
The artillery that bombarded them seemed to be of small caliber, likely mortars.
If it had been heavy artillery, a dozen or so shells landing densely would have left no one in the camp alive.
Nonetheless, in their rudimentary camp without sturdy fortifications, the mortars had still inflicted considerable damage.
A quick glance revealed at least twenty of his men either dead or missing limbs.
The rest were also stunned.
But now was clearly not the time to be dazed; staying here meant certain death.
He shouted, “Charge! Charge! Break out!”
At that moment, gunfire erupted outside.
They really were surrounded! After the artillery came the infantry!
The only piece of good news was that the gunfire sounded somewhat distant, likely indicating that the squads he had sent out earlier had engaged the enemy.
This was their only chance for survival.
He shouted, “Support them! This is the critical moment. If you don’t want to die, fight hard!”
Just then, the second wave of artillery fire hit.