On the southwestern side of Ruigu City, a motley rabble in mismatched clothing marched in a crooked formation. Led by ten soldiers in black robes, they moved toward the northeastern urban district.
These irregulars in nonstandard attire were mostly local survivors. Some had once been scavengers, others hunters, and some were even farmers or herdsmen.
In the Legion, units made up of survivors from occupied territories or "non-core populations" within their lands were generally called "retainer forces."
Unlike the well-equipped Legion soldiers, they not only wore the sallow faces of malnutrition and had bodies as skinny as reed stalks, but their equipment was remarkably crude—worse than that of some slightly stronger raider gangs.
Each person received only a Ripper rifle. Before heading into battle, they were issued fifteen or thirty spare rounds. Once they ran out of bullets, they either picked up their comrades' weapons or fixed bayonets and fought hand-to-hand.
Before this, they had never received any professional training. At most, they had dealt with a few mutated cockroaches and rats.
But really, there was no need to train them.
In the eyes of the Legion soldiers, these people were merely cheap cannon fodder, expendable material meant to drain the enemy's ammunition.
No one expected them to come back alive. If anything, it was better if they died.
Of course, that was merely the view held by most people in the Legion.
Those branded as cannon fodder clearly did not see themselves that way.
The Legion had promised them that if they survived three battles, they would become "one of us" and have a chance to be promoted to squad leader. If they survived six battles, they might become a company leader.
And besides that, there was a shortcut.
The head of a Deathclaw!
As long as they cut